Manifest Destiny: A Lifetime Walt Disney World Fan's First Trip To Disneyland

Mike S

Mike S

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Some of you may be wondering how Red Rock Canyon was. It was amazing. Nothing can touch the real thing.
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TalkingHead

TalkingHead

Well-Known Member
Sage of Time

Sage of Time

Well-Known Member
Those rock pics are amaaaaaazing. Makes me really miss being out west.
Magenta Panther said:
No, I haven't been to Diagon Alley yet. But I made the comparison because Toontown is a realized fantasy world. Not as detailed as Diagon for sure, and not as detailed as it SHOULD be in and of itself. But still a great concept that really ought to remain in a park based on Disney-created concepts, especially those revolving around animation. I'd hate to see it go.
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I'd say that's fair, but even in doing so, Toontown is not like Diagon, just by nature of how Diagon is put together and how it functions. Toontown is secluded, but not as nuanced or as layered as Diagon. Diagon has a lot of little areas that totally envelope you. Toontown flirts with the idea but never gets there.

Endor Sightseer said:
Still catching up here, but Space Mountain Vs. Space Mountain: I want to say that DL's is basically the preferred one of people who have experienced both, but I kinda prefer WDW. DL's just glides around and there's only one drop. Now, I'm not saying any of this is a deal breaker or that I don't like either version. They're basically both fun unless you're a super-tall person that can't fit into the WDW rockets.
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As a person who hates the WDW rockets (I'm 6'3) this is quite accurate. WDW's version would rank higher with me if it had the music and effects and better seating. It already has the better queue and facade.
 
flynnibus

flynnibus

Premium Member
Sage of Time said:
I'd say that's fair, but even in doing so, Toontown is not like Diagon, just by nature of how Diagon is put together and how it functions. Toontown is secluded, but not as nuanced or as layered as Diagon.
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Toontown has a ton of thought and detail - but the textures and plastic nature of it takes away from it verse the realistic looking detail/textures you find in a space like DA. One can understand where someone comes from those ideas when trying to re-create a cartoon environment.. but it recreates the imagery without embracing the problem of transforming that kind of fake reality into real.
 
JediMasterMatt

JediMasterMatt

Well-Known Member
‹Skippy› said:
I wouldn't say it 'would never, ever happen' at WDW. Someone mentioned it happening to their daughter in another thread a few days ago:
Is the clock ticking on the Sorcerer Mickey Hat icon at the Studios? YES!

These types of interactions are still probably rarer at WDW though.
Click to expand...

The Alice ride on the teacups does happen at WDW (I've seen and photographed it a few times); but, there is a big difference to the way it happens at WDW vs. DLR.

At WDW, Alice does a controlled meet-and-greet in the mornings at the southern edge of the teacups. She is there with a PhotoPass handler and usually the White Rabbit, Hatter, or the Queen of Hearts will be in the area. At the end of Alice's shift, the PhotoPass handler leaves and she takes a child by the hand and walks the 20ft to the attraction and does the ride.

At DLR, the behavior is that Alice and Hatter (almost always in pair) are on the outside of the train station gateway in front of the Mickey head planter along with the DL Band doing the morning welcome. While the band performs, Alice and the Hatter interact with the audience and get kids to come up and dance. Sometimes other characters will join - usually Mary and Bert. At the end of the performance, Alice will ask a child to ride and they proceed to walk through the original magic kingdom, hand in hand, down Main Street, past the Castle and into Fantasyland and unto the ride. All in all, a very magical moment for the child and family and very different than the quick step onto the ride platform at the MK. This stroll through the park is unsupervised by an Cast Member other than Alice (or the Hatter if he tags along). They go the equivalent of 3/4 of the way through the entire park together. Other than guests stopping and looking as the Disney character comes strolling along, there isn't anything "eventful" that happens. It's just natural.

The sightings of characters at WDW always come across as if they are part of the presidential motorcade. Cast Members clear a path. They dissuade anyone from getting a photo (lest someone's child get in the way) and then when the time for the interaction is up... they shoo the guests away as the character makes a quick exit backstage. It's this behavior and the increasingly rare probability of character sightings that makes guests resort to waiting in huge lines for their chance of seeing a character. If they were out and about all the time in Orlando, you may decide to see Mickey later since you know he will be around.

I've walked into Disneyland at odd hours and found the Fab Five just goofing (pun intended) around in the plaza on Main Street. Just dancing with each other and guests. Not even doing meet-and-greets. The only Cast Members present were the ones watching and laughing.

The last time I can recall a moment of spontaneous multi-character interaction at WDW was about 5 years ago. I was at MK on an EMH night and was loitering around for photos in Fantasyland as the park was closing at 1:00 AM (the end of EMH). It was a very cold January night and the park was pretty much empty. On the 2nd to last ride of the night on the Carousel, Goofy came out and rode with the guests. Then on the last ride, Minnie showed up and joined them. As the ride was cycling, I was already thinking how rare this occasion was. When the ride ended, they got off and walked over to the Sword in the Stone, when out came Donald and Daisy. Then Pluto. Then Mickey and finally Chip and Dale. They all then proceeded (sans Pluto) to try to pull the Sword. After they all tried, they waved to everyone goodnight and walked back deeper into Fantasyland that already had been cleared. This was all for a crowd of about 40 people at 1:00 AM on some random night. No PhotoPass handlers present or anything. The only Cast Members were the ride ops and security watching and laughing. As they left the area, I turned towards the team lead for the Carousel and asked if she had ever seen this happen before and she told me no. She said they will sometimes get one or two of them to come out and ride; but, she's never seen the impromptu display at the Sword.

I would never go out of my way for a meet-and-greet.

I will always stop and watch little moments of magic when they happen spontaneously (even if you know they are part of the plan).
 
Furiated

Furiated

Well-Known Member
flynnibus said:
Poor toontown... in many ways a microcosim of the struggles of Disney today.

They built an amazing area... with so much imagination, attention to detail, humor, cute, etc. But aimed too much at little kids ONLY with much of the attractions... leaving much of the fan base left out... and hence they don't appreciate it for what it is. Add to that all the later 'dumbing down' of things for liability reasons, and then even the kid-only stuff gets crippled. So you have this amazing space... that is only able to deliver on a fraction of it's potential. Combine that with the location compromise (distance, fireworks fallout shutdowns)... the poor thing was at risk, and then beat down by its own creators.
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I've seen a few different people reference the dumbing down of Toontown due to liability issues but have never heard the whole story, what was changed besides the trolley? Is there a Yesterland type page that goes over all the changes? Love to know more about this.
 
flynnibus

flynnibus

Premium Member
Furiated said:
I've seen a few different people reference the dumbing down of Toontown due to liability issues but have never heard the whole story, what was changed besides the trolley? Is there a Yesterland type page that goes over all the changes? Love to know more about this.
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There used to be a chip and dale acorn 'ball pit' that was removed (for similar reasons to most ball pits). There was a Goofy bounce house setup and slides that were removed and converted to the playground they have now. And the jolly trolly was parked.
 
GiveMeTheMusic

GiveMeTheMusic

Well-Known Member
Furiated said:
I've seen a few different people reference the dumbing down of Toontown due to liability issues but have never heard the whole story, what was changed besides the trolley? Is there a Yesterland type page that goes over all the changes? Love to know more about this.
Click to expand...

Enough has been removed over the years that at least a third of the land is entirely useless. Donald's Boat, Chip N Dale's Treehouse/Acorn Crawl, Goofy's Bounce House/Playhouse - useless. Those were all once open play areas, now not so much. Expensive props.
 
PacNWTigger

PacNWTigger

Well-Known Member
Thank you so much for sharing your incredible trip and pics with us! I'm glad that you had a great time, and hopefully you will be able to come back soon to experience the stuff you missed!
 
Figments Friend

Figments Friend

Well-Known Member
JediMasterMatt said:
The Alice ride on the teacups does happen at WDW (I've seen and photographed it a few times); but, there is a big difference to the way it happens at WDW vs. DLR.

At WDW, Alice does a controlled meet-and-greet in the mornings at the southern edge of the teacups. She is there with a PhotoPass handler and usually the White Rabbit, Hatter, or the Queen of Hearts will be in the area. At the end of Alice's shift, the PhotoPass handler leaves and she takes a child by the hand and walks the 20ft to the attraction and does the ride.

At DLR, the behavior is that Alice and Hatter (almost always in pair) are on the outside of the train station gateway in front of the Mickey head planter along with the DL Band doing the morning welcome. While the band performs, Alice and the Hatter interact with the audience and get kids to come up and dance. Sometimes other characters will join - usually Mary and Bert. At the end of the performance, Alice will ask a child to ride and they proceed to walk through the original magic kingdom, hand in hand, down Main Street, past the Castle and into Fantasyland and unto the ride. All in all, a very magical moment for the child and family and very different than the quick step onto the ride platform at the MK. This stroll through the park is unsupervised by an Cast Member other than Alice (or the Hatter if he tags along). They go the equivalent of 3/4 of the way through the entire park together. Other than guests stopping and looking as the Disney character comes strolling along, there isn't anything "eventful" that happens. It's just natural.

The sightings of characters at WDW always come across as if they are part of the presidential motorcade. Cast Members clear a path. They dissuade anyone from getting a photo (lest someone's child get in the way) and then when the time for the interaction is up... they shoo the guests away as the character makes a quick exit backstage. It's this behavior and the increasingly rare probability of character sightings that makes guests resort to waiting in huge lines for their chance of seeing a character. If they were out and about all the time in Orlando, you may decide to see Mickey later since you know he will be around.

I've walked into Disneyland at odd hours and found the Fab Five just goofing (pun intended) around in the plaza on Main Street. Just dancing with each other and guests. Not even doing meet-and-greets. The only Cast Members present were the ones watching and laughing.

The last time I can recall a moment of spontaneous multi-character interaction at WDW was about 5 years ago. I was at MK on an EMH night and was loitering around for photos in Fantasyland as the park was closing at 1:00 AM (the end of EMH). It was a very cold January night and the park was pretty much empty. On the 2nd to last ride of the night on the Carousel, Goofy came out and rode with the guests. Then on the last ride, Minnie showed up and joined them. As the ride was cycling, I was already thinking how rare this occasion was. When the ride ended, they got off and walked over to the Sword in the Stone, when out came Donald and Daisy. Then Pluto. Then Mickey and finally Chip and Dale. They all then proceeded (sans Pluto) to try to pull the Sword. After they all tried, they waved to everyone goodnight and walked back deeper into Fantasyland that already had been cleared. This was all for a crowd of about 40 people at 1:00 AM on some random night. No PhotoPass handlers present or anything. The only Cast Members were the ride ops and security watching and laughing. As they left the area, I turned towards the team lead for the Carousel and asked if she had ever seen this happen before and she told me no. She said they will sometimes get one or two of them to come out and ride; but, she's never seen the impromptu display at the Sword.

I would never go out of my way for a meet-and-greet.

I will always stop and watch little moments of magic when they happen spontaneously (even if you know they are part of the plan).
Click to expand...

Well said.
The differences are noticeable, but so is the different situations between the two properties.
Just another *win* for Disneyland...in my opinion....in the character department.


Regarding the *last ride of the night* at the Carousel at WDWs Fantasyland....
This used to happen fairly regularly several years ago during EMH.
At the end of the night, midnight or 1am, the characters would gather in front of the Carousel for a group ride.
I saw this a few times over the course of a couple of years around the same time period you mentioned.

The scenario you described is similar to what i had seen, but with less characters.
It was usually only the Fab Five ( no Chip & Dale ) that would gather in front of the Sword*s Stone and pose for group photos.
They would then all get on the carousel together for the final ride of the night with Guests who were present.
The *rarity* factor was seeing seven or more characters. Typically it was only five.

It was a cool moment for those who would stumble across the scene on their way out of the area for the evening.
 
Figments Friend

Figments Friend

Well-Known Member
Regarding pulling on the bamboo pole in the *Indiana Jones Adventure* queue....

Mike S said:
I think I got it to work one time but it didn't move down very far. Is that what it's supposed to do?
Click to expand...


( SPOILER below for those wanting to wait and try themselves... )


......


In the queuing area with the spiked ceiling and holes in the floor,( the *Spike Room* ) there is a single bamboo pole on the left side of the room holding up the ceiling.
It is marked "Do not shake the pole".

Shake it vigorously (and I do mean vigorously!) and all the people around you will be surprised by the loud sounds of the ceiling collapsing upon them and the ceiling dropping - about 1 - 1 1/2 inches!

Note : The pole is on a time delay so it will not trigger off every time someone pulls on it.
 

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