A few observations (recent trip)

rodserling27

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Just got back from a wonderful 13th trip with my sister (1/13 to 1/17) and I wanted to share some of my observations and experiences with the people who will appreciate them the most hah! I'd never been there in teh winter, so it was quite a change to wear some comfortable jeans and long sleeve shirts. This was the "no cell phone, no camera, no iPod" and trip. I turned everything off and left it in the hotel, thus I was fully immersed in the magic!

I have a lot of good things to say, but with some criticism too.

WDW - General
- Overall, the entire place looked great.
- I've come to the conclusion that 99% of people at WDW either don't know or care about the things we find so fascinating here on the boards (MSEP vs SpectroMagic, B-Mode Yeti, etc).
- The entire nation of Brasil was on tour there. Seriously, we counted about 60 different tour groups.
- There seemed to be A LOT of first-timers in the park, which was cool. I struck up a lot of conversations with people in line this time.
- There were a lot of little kids in the park,more than usual (at least it seemed that way) presumably because of the MLK weekend?
- The crowds were great, except on Sunday when it was PACKED in all four parks. (We did 4 parks in 1 day on Sunday and are very proud of it).

Magic Kingdom
- Carousel of Progress still amazes me every time I ride it. The first scene needs a bit of work, as Dad's mouth doesn't quite move properly.
- Space Mountain's audio adds SO MUCH to the ride, especially since I was just on it in June, it felt like a new ride all over again. It's subtle enough to not distract but prominent enough to add enough a fun element to it. We rode it 8 times!!
- Fantasyland construction looks like it's really coming along quite well.
- "Winnie the Pooh" queue is just a major headache with all of the noisemakers they put there for kids to play with.
- Haunted Mansion queue was being worked on late at night in the rain on Sunday night, we could hear hammering and see overhead "flood lights" as they are called...very interesting.
- I really like Monster's Inc.Laugh Floor. I dont' know why it has such a bad rep on the boards; sure, it doesn't belong in Tomorrowland, we all know that, but I think it's a stellar attraction, it always cracks me up.
- Pirates needs some serious audio work and a lot of the AA's weren't working to the best of their ability.
- It was cool to see Splash Mountain without any water in it on the outside.
- MSEP continues to blow me away. We watched it twice, I dont' know how anyone can watch this thing and not absolutely love it. Main Street USA was PACKED with people to see MSEP.
- Wishes is FAR superior to "Summer Nightastic Craptacular." Ha ha, I'm glad it's back. :)

EPCOT
- I finally saw the hidden Mick on the golfball in Soarin'! I was so excited that I found it.
- Ellen's ENergy Adventure isn't all that bad, I've always liked it...but it's not all that good either.
- Test Track has seen better days. It's time to severely update it or completely re-do it.
- Captain EO was freaking awesome. I hadn't seen it in a very long time, I freaking loved it. My sister thought it was the dumbest thing in the universe.
-I'm ready for some updates to IllumiNations. Just some small updates, maybe some different music in the middle.
- I really like the "O Canada!" film with Martin Short. It doesn't get the credit it deserves.

DHS
- How can anyone say this is a half-day park? No way!! If you really want to see everything the park has to offer, you need at least a day, maybe a day and a half.
- "Sounds Dangerous" is atrocious. I remember liking it in 2006 (maybe?) but this time it was just a joke. I'm totally hopping on the "" train on this one.
- Twilight Zone music is still out-of-synch in the corridor scene on the Alpha and Beta elevators.
- There were THREE CM's inside the studio pretending to clean up and record some stuff with Aerosmith, including "Chris" to get Joe Perry's black Les Paul. AWESOME stuff.
- It seemed that there weren't as many special effects working on TSMM. Did they turn some of them off?
- Fantasmic! is easily the best nighttime spectacular in all of Walt Disney World. We wanted to watch it twice, but byt the time the 6:30 show was over, there was already a line stretching all the way to the front of the park to get in, so we said "Forget it."

Animal Kingdom
- Hardly any of Everest effects were working. The Yeti looked terrible like a cardboard cut-out.
- Dinosaur/CTX effects are similarly terrible looking (the pteradon that is stationary over you, and the compy's that don't jump over you anymore). THey also didn't get everyone into the preshow in time to see the whole video, thus ruining the presentation. This really irritates me, A LOT.
- I forgot how much fun "It's Tough to be a Bug" 3D film was!!! What a neat little show.

My sister and I were picked yesterday to be the grand marshals of the 3pm parade! I couldn't believe it. It's an experience I will never EVER forget. We got free photos, a certificate and free Mickey ears with our names embroidered on the back!! I joked with the cast members who spelled our last name wrong (Kitching) on the certificate, and they said "No, we'll fix it and get you a new one, this is Disney: we dont' make mistakes." To which i replied, "No mistakes? How about Stitch's Great Escape?" And one said "I know someone who actually likes it," to which I said "Michael Eisner was your biggest mistake." And they both cracked up laughing :) Then the one said again "I'll give you one big mistake...EPSN Wide World of Sports..."

We stayed at Pop Century. The place looks good, but it's still spooky to see the unfinished legendary years across the way. Will they ever remove signage that keeps calling Pop Century the "classic years?" And the "Generation Gap Bridge?" I really wish they ahd finished the Legendary Years, but I think the new Animation ones will be good too.

Ok that was really long, sorry!
That's all, folks!

Edit: OH! The merchandise is getting SO much better, I think. I really liked the 40th Anniversary stuff, I got a laptop case and hooded sweatshirt, and also some pins! But I really like that they are also embracing the original WDW logo with the globe and Mickey ears. Good stuff!!
 

thelookingglass

Well-Known Member
- Twilight Zone music is still out-of-synch in the corridor scene on the Alpha and Beta elevators.
I have noticed it is out of sync, no matter which "elevator" you ride. Also, the audio was popping and crackling, and was generally hard to hear "Rod Serling" or the music, and in one case, it was SO quiet in the "5th dimension" scene, that it seemed like the ride had just been "turned off."

Why does TDO treat its E-Ticket attractions like this??? People on here put so much emphasis on Everest and the Yeti, but its really not limited to Everest at all. Also, in Everest's case, its still a great roller coaster whether or not the Yeti swings it's arm at you. Rides like Tower of Terror and Dinosaur rely heavily on the show elements, and if they're not working, it detracts from the ride experience even more.
- It seemed that there weren't as many special effects working on TSMM. Did they turn some of them off?
Like everything else, they're probably just broken and WDW maintenance is too cheap and lazy to fix it.
 

Jerm

Well-Known Member
- There were THREE CM's inside the studio pretending to clean up and record some stuff with Aerosmith, including "Chris" to get Joe Perry's black Les Paul. AWESOME stuff.

The cast members were back in the studio?????????????? Did you get any pics or video of this? I have not heard of this in YEARS!!!!!
 

Tiggerfanatic

Well-Known Member
Sounds like you had a good trip. Congrats on getting picked to be parade marshalls - if someting like that ever happened to me I'd probably need CPR!
 

rodserling27

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
A few more things I forgot:

- The Green Inchworm was not in MSEP.
- I was annoyed that they are still selling SpectroMagic CDs (which I already have) and there is no sight of an official 2010 version of MSEP in the parks...or even the 2001 DCA version, for that matter.
- After multiple rides, I figured out that the narration audio on the doom buggies in Haunted Mansion sounds good on some buggies and bad on others.
- Picked up a CD copy of "The Story and Song from The Haunted Mansion" which was an original promo LP from back in the day.
- The Festival of the Lion King show is one of the best on property at WDW. I was picked to lead the "elephant call" for our side of the room.
- Twilight Zone Tower of Terror has numerous audio problem, aside from being out-of-synch. I agree with thelookingglass' post, that there was one time in the 5th Dimension scene where it was too quiet. Also, when you move forward to click into the drop shaft, you can hear Rod Serling's spiel from the end of the ride down below along with the last few notes of the Twilight Zone theme. This badly needs to be cleaned up, despite the fact that it's a small little thing. Oh one more thing about ToT. During some of the drop sequences, the elevator stops in front of a black background and lights flicker to reveal ghosts standing there. These ghosts did not light up as well as they used to...slightly disappointing. I don't mean to spit all over ToT, but there are improvements to be had.
That having been said, it's still a helluva ride!! :sohappy: (Can you tell from my username and profile picture?)
 

loveofamouse

Well-Known Member
i totally agree on FotLK! That is my all time fav show. A girl I used to dance with in high school performed in that show for years! She just recently stepped out to "part time."


When we were on our trip in June, I noticed alot of "issues" with ToT. The sound was offf then and the whole thing felt rushed. I would even swear they cut the drop sequences. I also noticed that we could hear the previous car's exit as we were entering the shafts. I remember it kinda creeped me. Admittedly, the scariest part of ToT for me is loading in the shaft. lol. The silence and darkness while the car moves into the the track and harness. I fear mechanical failure. lol

Fantasmic was cut on our trip due to rain. What was funny, though, were the people dancing in the rain infront of the Hat stage.


I liked the summer nightastic fireworks. lol. I liked the pirates' attack on the castle with the "explosions" on the sides of castle. That was my fav part. hee hee
 

gustaftp

Well-Known Member
Thanks for the update! We must've been there around the same time.

Compared to my last visit in 2008, I thought a lot of maintenance had been done everywhere: rides, exteriors, and all sorts of random areas. There were construction walls all over the place. They really have improved throughout the past 3 years.

Crowds were also incredibly light. My first day in the parks was on Thursday, and I was able to walk on to just about everything at EPCOT. The longest line was Soarin', which clocked in at about 25 mintues when I saw it. I just Fastpassed everyone.

Universe of Energy was looking better than I remember it. The dinosaurs were all actually working, with fluid movements! I was impressed to see the fog effect that covers the floor working too.

Captain EO was... odd. I hope this doesn't stick around. It was fun seeing Michael Jackson, but I had even less desire to see EO again than I do to see HISTA. Imagination just needs a reboot in general.

Not much to report on MK, but the Space Mountain really does feel like a new ride to me. I can tell they smoothed it out. One thing I noticed while riding though, was that there was some light seepage from the Peoplemover TTA. Are there doors which block out the light? I ask because in "mid-flight", it seemed that the brightness from the TTA tracks was suddenly flipped off, and it didn't look like it was from worklights or anything like that.

DHS really needs the most work. I felt like there was plenty to see/do, but as always, it is weak on rides. It was such a rainy day when I went that in the morning I felt like I had seen most of the park due to no shows operating. They even opened Sounds Dangerous. Sounds Dangerous must go. I don't understand why I would sit in a dark theater with headphones on when I can just do the same at home with an iPod? I actually despised this attraction; it just seems ridiculously cheap on all levels with SFX from CDs used by your local theatre company.

Despite being a huge Disney fan and having been to WDW several times since Animal Kingdom opened, this was my first time in the Animal Kingdom. I was impressed! I like that park very much; much better than Hollywood Studios. There weren't a lot of rides... but in this case, it was okay! I had fun simply exploring the park. And Everest is the MOST DETAILED coaster I have ever been on. They do need to fix the Yedi though, compared to the immersive theming on the rest of the ride, the Yedi Rave Party was somewhat underwhelming.

Other than the sad state of Pleasure Island, DD seemed to be hopping. I was surprised to see as many folks as I did there, since the parks were pretty quiet with minimal crowds and minimal lines.

Anyhow, putting everything in perspective, I'd say that WDW has greatly improved since I was there in 2008. I held back on spending or going there due to the poor maintenance and desire to see other parts of other continents. So it was nice to return and have everything generally looking nice!
 

Disney_Belle

Well-Known Member
i totally agree on FotLK! That is my all time fav show. A girl I used to dance with in high school performed in that show for years! She just recently stepped out to "part time."

It's one of my favorites too! And my best friend in elementary school is in that show as well :)
 

ryno1982

Active Member
I have noticed it is out of sync, no matter which "elevator" you ride. Also, the audio was popping and crackling, and was generally hard to hear "Rod Serling" or the music, and in one case, it was SO quiet in the "5th dimension" scene, that it seemed like the ride had just been "turned off."

Why does TDO treat its E-Ticket attractions like this??? People on here put so much emphasis on Everest and the Yeti, but its really not limited to Everest at all. Also, in Everest's case, its still a great roller coaster whether or not the Yeti swings it's arm at you. Rides like Tower of Terror and Dinosaur rely heavily on the show elements, and if they're not working, it detracts from the ride experience even more.
Like everything else, they're probably just broken and WDW maintenance is too cheap and lazy to fix it.

In this case it's not TDO, it's the moronic imagineers. They have basically decided that it's "good enough." Anyone that works at ToT on here can vouch for this. Money isn't going to save an attraction when you have people so completely out of touch doing the creative work.
 

Texas84

Well-Known Member
Good stuff. I took some newbies last fall and actually saw a CM grab the Les Paul. I was freaking out and the other guys thought I was insane. :eek:
 

rodserling27

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Good stuff. I took some newbies last fall and actually saw a CM grab the Les Paul. I was freaking out and the other guys thought I was insane. :eek:

Haha, I freaked out too, and everyone DEFINITELY thought I was insane. i also NAILED the timing for shouting "How 'bout some backstage passes?" Steven Tyler turned around and looked out at us right on cue, I was so proud of myself! :lol:
 

DWLove

Active Member
Well ToT has always been mine and my sisters all time favourite ride but after August 2010 I am going to always be afraid of riding it. I will still go on it, and we did go on it once after this experience just so we didn't end it on a bad note.

So this happened on our 2nd last day, we had ridden it atleast 10 times that trip and have ridden it many other times on trips. We do not know if this happened because they were in the process of deactivating some of the nightastic effects, but either way there was a huge technical difficulty. The entire ride went smoothly, until our car started to back up out of the drop shaft and into the unloading area.

So our car backed up like normal and then stopped, sometimes it takes a few seconds before it starts to turn so we just thought it was one of those moments. We then heard the elevator door open for us to unload, and my sister and I could hear the cast members get worried. We were the only ones in our car who had been on the ride before so we were the only ones who knew there was something wrong. Next the music shut off and all of the light went out, this was when we really started getting worried, and I have to add that we were sitting in the front row (will be relevant later). We could hear screams from the next car in the shaft and could tell that the next car had already started it's drop series, it seemed as if only our car was broken. Next thing we know the screams stopped and the door infront of us opened, and what we feared started to happen. That car started to back out of the drop shaft and was heading straight towards us, sitting in the front row and it wasn't stopping, and of course the people in that car didn't know our car was there! Right as it was about a mm in front of us it stopped and our car finally turned(still with the lights out), and theirs stopped.

Lets just say we were shaking like crazy and we knew the cast members from the last trip so when we got off the ride we had to talk to them to tell them what happened (when lights went out etc), lets just say they closed the ride down for awhile after that. I will never get that experience and I must say I will be nervous to go back on it during my next trip in February
 

Lord Pheonix

Active Member
There were THREE CM's inside the studio pretending to clean up and record some stuff with Aerosmith, including "Chris" to get Joe Perry's black Les Paul. AWESOME stuff.

wait, what??

i dont get it. what were they doing there?
 

Tom Morrow

Well-Known Member
So our car backed up like normal and then stopped, sometimes it takes a few seconds before it starts to turn so we just thought it was one of those moments. We then heard the elevator door open for us to unload, and my sister and I could hear the cast members get worried. We were the only ones in our car who had been on the ride before so we were the only ones who knew there was something wrong. Next the music shut off and all of the light went out, this was when we really started getting worried, and I have to add that we were sitting in the front row (will be relevant later). We could hear screams from the next car in the shaft and could tell that the next car had already started it's drop series, it seemed as if only our car was broken. Next thing we know the screams stopped and the door infront of us opened, and what we feared started to happen. That car started to back out of the drop shaft and was heading straight towards us, sitting in the front row and it wasn't stopping, and of course the people in that car didn't know our car was there! Right as it was about a mm in front of us it stopped and our car finally turned(still with the lights out), and theirs stopped.
What you experienced was 100% normal, all that happened was the elevator before you was taking longer than normal to unload, for whatever reason, so your vehicle couldn't back up any further. The ride system knows where each vehicle is and how much space it occupies and will never allow two to touch.
 

DWLove

Active Member
What you experienced was 100% normal, all that happened was the elevator before you was taking longer than normal to unload, for whatever reason, so your vehicle couldn't back up any further. The ride system knows where each vehicle is and how much space it occupies and will never allow two to touch.

Wow, then it surprises me that the ride system lets them get so close before stopping. The thing is that is didn't sound like there was another car unloading. We heard to doors open (and defiantly heard them open, not close) and you could hear that the cast members were kind of shocked as they expected to see our car there and it was not
 

Tom Morrow

Well-Known Member
Wow, then it surprises me that the ride system lets them get so close before stopping. The thing is that there was no other car unloading. We heard to doors open and the cast members were kind of shocked as they expected to see our car there
How do you know there was no other car there? When you pull out of the drop shaft, you can't see the unload doors. What you most likely heard was the doors for the previous elevator closing. Also, if the CM was "shocked" to see you there, they were either faking it, or it was their first day.

I mean, why else would they be surprised that an elevator showed up exactly where it should?
 

TiggersPooh

Active Member
Not much to report on MK, but the Space Mountain really does feel like a new ride to me. I can tell they smoothed it out. One thing I noticed while riding though, was that there was some light seepage from the Peoplemover TTA. Are there doors which block out the light? I ask because in "mid-flight", it seemed that the brightness from the TTA tracks was suddenly flipped off, and it didn't look like it was from worklights or anything like that.

Anytime TTA stops they must turn on their lights...Space Mountain has no control of those lights. From what you described that seems to be what happened.
 

thelookingglass

Well-Known Member
In this case it's not TDO, it's the moronic imagineers. They have basically decided that it's "good enough." Anyone that works at ToT on here can vouch for this. Money isn't going to save an attraction when you have people so completely out of touch doing the creative work.
Well thats, thats just.... :brick:
 

GenerationX

Well-Known Member
I've come to the conclusion that 99% of people at WDW either don't know or care about the things we find so fascinating here on the boards (MSEP vs SpectroMagic, B-Mode Yeti, etc).
Yep. There have been a number of disagreements on WDWMagic throughout the years where folks on one side have forgotten this. Typically, it's when someone states how tragic to WDW's bottom line it would be if this or that attraction were removed.
 

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