Trip Report After five years of being spoiled at DLR, WDW is having me return.

Figments Friend · Sep 13, 2018

One of the many revelations made during this trip was that the FP+ nonsense i have been inevitably avoiding since right before it launched in 2013 was this -

One can still tour the Parks at WDW and NOT NEED THEM for most of the Attractions!

You heard me...
No booking months in advance.
Walk in, decide on a whim, and just do it.
Do it like you can at Disneyland, somewhat.
Yes!
And that my friends is what I did.

Now...your mileage may vary, and of course seasons and crowd levels in general at any given time may effect this, but the entire week I was there I happily discovered it was not needed with the exception of four Attractions - 'Flight of Passage' at DAK, 'Slinky Dog Dash' at DHS, 'Frozen Ever After' at Epcot, and 'Seven Dwarfs Mine Train' at MK.
If you attend a Halloween Party, then you can scratch 'SDMT' off of that short list.
The three that did need it are of course the newest experiences, but one could still ride without long waits if you chose your time to line up properly.

This was a big and very welcome surprise.

For years since it launched, i have heard nothing but complaints and horror stories about the FP+ hassles.
The process and the quest to score certain hard-to-book Attractions months in advance just seemed to suck any possible chance of anyone having a real vacation that is 'schedule free'.
It was , to put it mildly, a HUGE turn off to me...the entire concept ( not to mention feeling that investment money could have been better implemented into Park Attractions ).
I was so displeased with the proposed system and the perceived results that it kept me away and had me looking West.
Disneyland is wonderful in many regards, and not having the inane FP+ complications was very appealing to me.
So it drove me away from WDW and I explored elsewhere.

Pretty much any major E-ticket was said to need to book a FP+ for now...but I found that to not at all be true.
Not in my case, but I did choose the typical 'sweet spot' to visit which has worked very well for me all these years ( the week starting immediately after Labor Day ).

I had booked some FP+s in advance, but only ended up using five out of the dozen I had the week I was there.
Several Attractions i was able to ride multiple times with short 10 to 20 minute waits during the afternoon or evenings so I just didn't need them. Space Mountain, 'Tony's Mountain', Soarin' Around the World, etc.
In two cases, I had FP+ but didn't use it as I had already had the chance to ride earlier with just as short a wait.

So it was a great relief to discover my fears of never being able to enjoy WDW the laid back way I used to in a non-Commando, non-schedule, do-whatever-on-a-spontaneous-whim mode could STILL be done on the East Coast!
Was not expecting that....and it was very nice to realize that element has not been completely destroyed there.

It was great to be able to ride 'Tony's Mountain' five times without booking anything in advance.
As it should be!
Yee haw!

Take that, stupid FP+...!

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Figments Friend · Sep 17, 2018

Before I move on to my Epcot experience, I almost forgot to include this photo of my 'room mate' upon checking in at my Resort.
Awww...isn't he cute....?

Forget Texas, everything ( exspecially insects ) is bigger in Florida!

Okay, so now let's move on to Epcot...
Despite the Parks many changes, I still consider it my 'home' away from home in some respects.
The Park and I go back a long time...1983, actually....and we have both had our ups and downs.

I have to confess that after being away for five years, and now coming back, was a mixed emotional experience.
There were some bittersweet moments...and alas, also a tinge of sadness.

Probably the two areas that hit me the hardest was the starkness of the Imagination Pavilion, both inside and out.
Being a huge fan of the Original Attraction, it really hurts to see how empty this entire Pavilion has become over the years since the departure of the brilliance that was once housed there.

Even the outside areas, once full of laughing kids and happy Guests has become a deserted wasteland.
I took some time to stop and enjoy the whimsical dancing fountains, still there after all these years, but not a soul to enjoy them except this fan who remembers a brighter era -

I think visiting here hit me a little harder than I thought it would, part of the reason being that I now know the real story as to why it closed.
Having the privilege of spending time with Tony Baxter a couple of years ago and hearing his side of the story just made it all the more melencholy.
So this was a very mixed experience at Epcot this visit.

Another aspect that kind of hit me harder then I expected was seeing the now closed Energy Pavillion.
I really liked the 'Universe of Energy' a lot.
It was a amazing engineering marvel...the 'traveling theater' concept and the awesome prehistoric diormama.
Even after the changes were made to add in 'Ellen's Energy Adventure', I still enjoyed it.
It was a must ride every visit....sometimes twice.
But no more.

Seeing the original mirrored tiles that once graced the entranceway into this massive Pavillion now completed stripped away made me shed a tear or two.
I wasn't expecting to come 'home' and feel depressed, but dang......
Right in the feels.

No wonder they sell so much alcohol at this Park !

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flynnibus · Sep 17, 2018

..and yes, guest relations in Disney Springs can do ticket exchanges

Parks and DS guest relations windows. DS is nice because they have seating and will call you when the person is ready vs standing in a chain queue

Best location is often International Gateway... as it's not crowded.

Figments Friend · Sep 17, 2018

One of the things I enjoyed was getting to visit the old 'Wonders of Life' Pavillion since the Food n' Wine Fest was happening.
Yet again, visiting another 'empty' ex-Pavilion.

Yeah, visiting Epcot was a bit of a downer this time around.....

I ended up leaving early as the Fest crowds were descending in a big way for the evening and 'Drunky Town' was already fully lit.
It truly is something to see how quickly the clientele changes in just a couple of hours.

Some of the positives, though -

First ride on 'Frozen Ever After'.
I'm not a fan of 'Frozen' at all, but this Attraction I thought was very well done.
The queue is charming, the AAs were great, and it was nice to finally experience it in person.

I noticed on the current Guide Map for the Park that they are now referring to the main tank viewing areas at The Seas as the ' SeaBase' again.
That was a nice little throwback I hadn't heard about....

Spent a bit of my time over at The Land.
I was letting my inner geek come out getting photographed with 'Tony's Balloons' ( long story...ask me sometime...) and enjoying a close view of the beautifully designed 'wall carpenting' inside the old Harvest Theater.
Old school EPCOT Center, right there....still on those walls.
So very few original remnants of the Old Park remaining.

The American Adventure is still a awesome wonder to behold.
Absolutely love that presentation...what a marvel in concept and engineeing!
As a huge Animatronic and figural animation fan, it doesn't matter how many times or how many years I have seen this Show.
It STILL blows me away in it's scope and design effort.
The new digital projection looked terrific, and I didn't 'hate' the updated finale song.

The restrooms over at the ol' Odysessy are still nostalgic.
And yes, I HAD to visit the restrooms over at the Imagination Pavilion's backside to hear that ol' music again.

Spaceship Earth looked good...but the re-entry when your vehicle turns around right before unload was a bit rough.
Very jarring and quite noisy, too.
Hoping it's looked into.
The descent is another thing I look at and feel down about....
:/

All of the Food n' Wine offerings I tried were quite yummy.
I didn't have a lot of things, but both the booth from India and Greece had goodies right up my alley.

And no visit to Epcot is complete without a stop over at Mouse Gear to solemnly bow ones head in respect to this cherished symbol from the past -
One of the five flying machines Dreamfinder used in the Original 'Journey Into Imagination' Attraction -

Figments Friend · Sep 17, 2018

flynnibus said:
..and yes, guest relations in Disney Springs can do ticket exchanges Parks and DS guest relations windows. DS is nice because they have seating and will call you when the person is ready vs standing in a chain queue

Best location is often International Gateway... as it's not crowded.

Thank you for confirming this for me, Flynnibus.
I had been curious as to if DS Guest Relations still did old ticket media exchanges at that location.

Good to know!

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wplong1 · Sep 17, 2018

Figments Friend said:
I think visiting here hit me a little harder than I thought it would, part of the reason being that I now know the real story as to why it closed.
Having the privilege of spending time with Tony Baxter a couple of years ago and hearing his side of the story just made it all the more melencholy.

This post is pretty much my feelings exactly. Take me back to 1983. But I don't think I know the "real story" on why original Imagination closed. Could we have a sidebar on this?

Figments Friend · Sep 17, 2018

wplong1 said:
This post is pretty much my feelings exactly. Take me back to 1983. But I don't think I know the "real story" on why original Imagination closed. Could we have a sidebar on this?

It's a long, complicated story.

I've posted it elsewhere, in one of the 'JII' related threads...but in a nutshell, it happened for several reasons, but also because it was purposely targeted by certain parties to be closed and removed.

It sadly was the combination of many factors.
Everything from horrendous budget cuts happening at the Parks at that time, to changing partnership relations between the sponsor, to certain parties purposely manipulating the ride count numbers.
The late 90s was a shadowy time, exspecially if you were a expensive to maintain and operate 'old' Attraction.

Kodak didn't kill Imagination.
Inter-company politics and short sighted, budget cutting fools did it in.

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Trip Report After five years of being spoiled at DLR, WDW is having me return.

Figments Friend

Well-Known Member

Figments Friend

Well-Known Member

flynnibus

Figments Friend

Well-Known Member

Figments Friend

Well-Known Member

wplong1

Figments Friend

Well-Known Member