I just got back from my trip to the World from the 12th to the 20th. Stayed at Saratoga Springs, and bought the Magic your Way Stars and Stripes ticket from Shades of Green since I’m a DOD employee. Although we kept having a problem getting our cards to read at the turnstiles. I eventually overheard a CM saying something like apparently Disney was trying out a new card stock and that this problem was happening to a lot of people. The parks were fine on the weekend but towards the end of the week they were pretty darn full. I look forward to being able to go in Sept sometime since I really don’t like the heat or the crowds. Anyway, rather than a full on report, this is mostly just a list of my thoughts from the trip, broken down into sections since we like to skip around a lot. Oh, by the way it was a fantastic trip! Cant wait to go back!
Epcot-
Soarin’ is a great ride and all but a 2 hour wait? I’ve seen lines at the DMV shorter and even THEN I’ll say screw it and leave, even when my license has expired!
Test Track I find to be incredibly boring. I feel like I’m riding in a car with a bad driver, and that’s usually something I avoid.
The changes to SSE were cool, but I still kinda miss the look into the future that they used to have at the end. The new animated thing at the end was amusing, but mostly because I was making an angry face in my picture, so it was funny to see my angry self going on a vacation.
We did the Drink/Eat around the world thing in World Showcase, which was a good time (although, we mostly were splitting drinks between us so as to avoid not being able to fully make it around!). We also spent more times exploring the pavilions than we ever have before. I didn’t realize the Moroccan pavilion was so big! It makes the Italian one look rather empty! Its probably the saddest out of all of them.
Also did the Canadian movie for the first time since they’ve redone it, which was very entertaining and made me want to go to Canada.
DHS-
After many trips of always heading to the ToT/RnRC area of the park first, it seems the new place to head is TSM. Most of our day was pretty much just killing time before our fastpass for TSM was valid!
I do have to say, TSM is a lot of fun! We did it twice, one with fastpass and the other in the single rider line (I just do not wait in lines over 30 minutes, and 170 minutes is absolutely absurd to me) so I unfortunately missed the Mr. Potatohead part of the queue. I will say that the ride is (obviously) more of a game than an actual ride. Which is cool and all, but while some people were saying it makes Buzz lightyear’s ride seem lame, I feel that they cant compare because buzz is still a ride.
We avoided the park on the weekend because we did not want to deal with the star wars crowds, but even during the week, this park had mobbed, probably because of TSM.
I had been in One Man’s Dream before, but for some reason, never knew there was a movie at the end. Before we had just walked through thinking it was like a museum exhibit, which was fascinating enough by itself, so this time when the doors opened to a theater, we were all like “has this always been here?”
Ok so I know HSM is popular, but that freakin show seemed to be on at least once every hour! Seriously?! It made it really hard to get through the CENTER of the park! I found it quite annoying but obviously I was in the minority since it drew a huge crowd every time.
Ok so we did Fantasmic for the first time since... i dont know its been so long, but i completely forgot why we havent been back and thats because i think it is incredibly underwhelming. the whole thing is practically a clip show projected on water. there are really only a couple scenes of actual characters and most of it is an oddly placed sequence from Pocohontas. really? pocohontas? when Mickey dreams, i find it odd thats what he dreams about. it just doesnt seem to fit to me. and then the "fight" with the dragon is basically mickey half-heartedly trying to hide while the dragon just sits there barely moving. maybe i just came on a bad night. anyway, totally not worth the wait, IMHO.
AK-
Everest is still great. We overheard a guy saying he comes everyday (seriously, everyday) and rides Everest first thing. We followed the rope walkers from the opening through asia to the ride, but we saw this guy come running from dinoland by the time we got to the ride. We got there the same time just by walking. Weird.
Kali was fun although go figure, as soon as we get off (completely soaked) the sun goes behind some major clouds and it downpours for the rest of the afternoon. I was looking forward to the hot sun (which had been there all morning) to dry me off after the ride.
The Nemo musical was cool and confusing at the same time. I wasn’t really enjoying the songs, and probably would have preferred if they just preformed the movie without them. Also I understand the format of the show, but I found it annoying how the “voices” of the puppets would act as the character from time to time. So are we watching the puppet or the voice? Also, that’s not how I would imagine Crush’s singing voice to sound…
MK-
I was bummed that pirates was down pretty much the entire week until Thursday, which caused a huge line, allowing me to only ride once. Oh well, I understand, plus its not like I wont be back!
Monsters Inc was hilarious! First time doing it since its opened. However, we went twice and my mom got picked to do the mind reading gag with buddy on both occasions! Weird! We were sitting in different places each time. Plus my dad got picked to be “that guy” and we noticed that he was sitting in probably the same spot that the “that guy” from the other show we’d seen was sitting. Do they do the same show every time? I mean I know its not EXACTLY the same, but the mind reading, the telling the monsters inc story, and actually even the audience’s jokes were pretty much all the same. Are there any other show formats?
SM seemed to not be having a good week. At the beginning of the week we went on TTA and the lights were on. When we came back later, the lights were on again and the ride was still operating, but when we got off to get on the ride, we were told SM was shut down.
My fiancé pointed out to me how Carousel of Progress is incredibly sexist. I figured they were just playing the part of the time, or that it was unintentional. We are incredibly un-PC people we just figured other people would probably have noticed it.
BB vs. TL
We did BB for the first time since we went soon after it opened and I was immediately reminded of why we never went back. That is a serious hike up that hill to get to the slides! Does anyone else feel this way? By the time I got up there I was dreading the ride because I didn’t want to have to climb back up! Now that may change once the parks fill up and the lines stretch down the hill allowing you to only move every 30 seconds but still, that’s just not pleasant. Ill take TL lack of slides and relaxed atmosphere over that any day!
Hoop-de-do Review was fun, but ive done it 3 times now and the jokes have gotten old. Although the actor who played 6 bit was HILARIOUS and you could tell he was going off the cuff half the time and was even cracking up his fellow performers.
I did La Nouba for the second time with my fiancé for her first and that show is still awesome. We sat in the very last row and there really is not a bad seat in the house! Also by far the act that got the most cheer are the Chinese Yo-Yo girls. The crowd went more nuts over them than anything else. i feel like the chair stacking act was not as cool being that I had just seen it in the france pavilion earlier that week and THAT guy did it WITHOUT a safety rope.
Again, it was an awesome time! Although now that Im getting older, I realize that trips were I can just sit there and do nothing but enjoy the atmosphere of Disney are probably going to happen a lot more often!
Epcot-
Soarin’ is a great ride and all but a 2 hour wait? I’ve seen lines at the DMV shorter and even THEN I’ll say screw it and leave, even when my license has expired!
Test Track I find to be incredibly boring. I feel like I’m riding in a car with a bad driver, and that’s usually something I avoid.
The changes to SSE were cool, but I still kinda miss the look into the future that they used to have at the end. The new animated thing at the end was amusing, but mostly because I was making an angry face in my picture, so it was funny to see my angry self going on a vacation.
We did the Drink/Eat around the world thing in World Showcase, which was a good time (although, we mostly were splitting drinks between us so as to avoid not being able to fully make it around!). We also spent more times exploring the pavilions than we ever have before. I didn’t realize the Moroccan pavilion was so big! It makes the Italian one look rather empty! Its probably the saddest out of all of them.
Also did the Canadian movie for the first time since they’ve redone it, which was very entertaining and made me want to go to Canada.
DHS-
After many trips of always heading to the ToT/RnRC area of the park first, it seems the new place to head is TSM. Most of our day was pretty much just killing time before our fastpass for TSM was valid!
I do have to say, TSM is a lot of fun! We did it twice, one with fastpass and the other in the single rider line (I just do not wait in lines over 30 minutes, and 170 minutes is absolutely absurd to me) so I unfortunately missed the Mr. Potatohead part of the queue. I will say that the ride is (obviously) more of a game than an actual ride. Which is cool and all, but while some people were saying it makes Buzz lightyear’s ride seem lame, I feel that they cant compare because buzz is still a ride.
We avoided the park on the weekend because we did not want to deal with the star wars crowds, but even during the week, this park had mobbed, probably because of TSM.
I had been in One Man’s Dream before, but for some reason, never knew there was a movie at the end. Before we had just walked through thinking it was like a museum exhibit, which was fascinating enough by itself, so this time when the doors opened to a theater, we were all like “has this always been here?”
Ok so I know HSM is popular, but that freakin show seemed to be on at least once every hour! Seriously?! It made it really hard to get through the CENTER of the park! I found it quite annoying but obviously I was in the minority since it drew a huge crowd every time.
Ok so we did Fantasmic for the first time since... i dont know its been so long, but i completely forgot why we havent been back and thats because i think it is incredibly underwhelming. the whole thing is practically a clip show projected on water. there are really only a couple scenes of actual characters and most of it is an oddly placed sequence from Pocohontas. really? pocohontas? when Mickey dreams, i find it odd thats what he dreams about. it just doesnt seem to fit to me. and then the "fight" with the dragon is basically mickey half-heartedly trying to hide while the dragon just sits there barely moving. maybe i just came on a bad night. anyway, totally not worth the wait, IMHO.
AK-
Everest is still great. We overheard a guy saying he comes everyday (seriously, everyday) and rides Everest first thing. We followed the rope walkers from the opening through asia to the ride, but we saw this guy come running from dinoland by the time we got to the ride. We got there the same time just by walking. Weird.
Kali was fun although go figure, as soon as we get off (completely soaked) the sun goes behind some major clouds and it downpours for the rest of the afternoon. I was looking forward to the hot sun (which had been there all morning) to dry me off after the ride.
The Nemo musical was cool and confusing at the same time. I wasn’t really enjoying the songs, and probably would have preferred if they just preformed the movie without them. Also I understand the format of the show, but I found it annoying how the “voices” of the puppets would act as the character from time to time. So are we watching the puppet or the voice? Also, that’s not how I would imagine Crush’s singing voice to sound…
MK-
I was bummed that pirates was down pretty much the entire week until Thursday, which caused a huge line, allowing me to only ride once. Oh well, I understand, plus its not like I wont be back!
Monsters Inc was hilarious! First time doing it since its opened. However, we went twice and my mom got picked to do the mind reading gag with buddy on both occasions! Weird! We were sitting in different places each time. Plus my dad got picked to be “that guy” and we noticed that he was sitting in probably the same spot that the “that guy” from the other show we’d seen was sitting. Do they do the same show every time? I mean I know its not EXACTLY the same, but the mind reading, the telling the monsters inc story, and actually even the audience’s jokes were pretty much all the same. Are there any other show formats?
SM seemed to not be having a good week. At the beginning of the week we went on TTA and the lights were on. When we came back later, the lights were on again and the ride was still operating, but when we got off to get on the ride, we were told SM was shut down.
My fiancé pointed out to me how Carousel of Progress is incredibly sexist. I figured they were just playing the part of the time, or that it was unintentional. We are incredibly un-PC people we just figured other people would probably have noticed it.
BB vs. TL
We did BB for the first time since we went soon after it opened and I was immediately reminded of why we never went back. That is a serious hike up that hill to get to the slides! Does anyone else feel this way? By the time I got up there I was dreading the ride because I didn’t want to have to climb back up! Now that may change once the parks fill up and the lines stretch down the hill allowing you to only move every 30 seconds but still, that’s just not pleasant. Ill take TL lack of slides and relaxed atmosphere over that any day!
Hoop-de-do Review was fun, but ive done it 3 times now and the jokes have gotten old. Although the actor who played 6 bit was HILARIOUS and you could tell he was going off the cuff half the time and was even cracking up his fellow performers.
I did La Nouba for the second time with my fiancé for her first and that show is still awesome. We sat in the very last row and there really is not a bad seat in the house! Also by far the act that got the most cheer are the Chinese Yo-Yo girls. The crowd went more nuts over them than anything else. i feel like the chair stacking act was not as cool being that I had just seen it in the france pavilion earlier that week and THAT guy did it WITHOUT a safety rope.
Again, it was an awesome time! Although now that Im getting older, I realize that trips were I can just sit there and do nothing but enjoy the atmosphere of Disney are probably going to happen a lot more often!
