Just got back from a great long weekend at WDW with some friends who had never been on Everest before. They absolutely loved it. All 4 of them commented on how "high quality" the ride was...and they aren't as big of Disney nuts as many of us here are. Anyway, I managed to hit all 4 parks. The following is just some things I noticed here and there. Sorry, no pics. I forgot my camera at home :hammer:
Epcot
Nothing too new.
TT looks great after its rehab. The main queue area obviously got some TLC and paint. The ceiling in the main portion was replaced and looks as good as new...no more water stains
. Unfortunately the industrial insulation roofing material was not replaced over the holding area before the pre-show rooms, and it could use it. In the pre-show rooms, the TVs do appear new, but they are NOT flat panel/plasma screens as you see in the pre-shows on MS or Soarin' as I had misintepreted from other reports. Otherwise, the ride looked and sounded great. Only thing missing were the ABS cones
MS is still holding up very well. However, as I feared, it appears that many pods now have nonfunctioning "control sticks". They used to vibrate and shake all over the place, but on my 3 rides, none of the 4 control sticks in each pod appeared to be working.
Soarin' does seem to have some problems with dust getting on the film. Not that big of a deal, but sometimes it looks like UFO's are off in the distance in some scenes before quickly vanishing. Otherwise, all the scents and wind effects worked great. I never even knew there was an ocean-breeze scent until this last ride
Animal Kingdom
Rode Everest 5 times on 3/4/06. Just as great as I remember it from the AP weekends. Unfortunately the steam effect on the train was MIA and the mist in the tunnels were MIA as well. Otherwise, still perfect. The vegetation has grown in a little during the first terrain portion of the ride over the last month, and I imagine will continue to get fuller and better looking within the next year. Yeti was working great. I didn't notice it during the AP weekend, but his eyes glow red as the train gets closer to him. It also seemed like the either added or pumped up the volume of a Yeti roar right after you pass the AA while the train is braking before exiting the mountain to the unload station. As posted elsewhere, the photo system is installed right before the main drop and photos can now be purchased inside the store.
Theater in the Wild continues to be demolished. They really wasted no time in tearing it down, did they?
The running Carnotaur on Dinosaur is still broken, but the one thing I had never noticed before were so many of the little "volcanos" throughout the ride before. They glow bright red with fog effects spewing from them. I don't know why, but I never noticed them before. Are they new or were they just fixed?
Magic Kingdom
Not much to report. Visited Saturday night, but with all the threads I read on cleanliness, the place looked spotless to me. I never noticed any trash anywhere and actually saw other visitors cleaning up for themselves!! I was shocked
One tiny thing, the buns served at Liberty Tree Tavern were different than usual. Still good, but I prefered the softer, fluffier, powdered buns that are usually served. Don't know if this was a permanent change or something they served because they ran out of the normal buns.
MGM
ESPN weekeds were a lot of fun again. This was my second visit to this event (I went last year) Basically the same as last year, but still fun.
TOT continues to undergo a massive roofing rehab. Most of the roofing tiles have been removed from all over the building and they appear to be re-installing new tiles on the lower roofs first.
The Chicken Little Advertisement over the Brown Derby is no more. They painted over the "Walt Disney Pictures Presents Chicken Little" writing with more blue sky and clouds, as well as painting over the hexagon black spot that was there to represent the sky "falling". It is now all one solid sky mural. Its a nice backdrop for the Brown Derby vs a simple soundstage building. I'm glad they kept it painted as a sky backdrop.
It was during the day, but the strobes/pixie lights on the Hat were going and it looks like they finally fixed them all. Over NYE when I was there, there was only one working on the Moon. It appeared there were many blinking on the moon and the three stars once again.
That's all....
Epcot
Nothing too new.
TT looks great after its rehab. The main queue area obviously got some TLC and paint. The ceiling in the main portion was replaced and looks as good as new...no more water stains
. Unfortunately the industrial insulation roofing material was not replaced over the holding area before the pre-show rooms, and it could use it. In the pre-show rooms, the TVs do appear new, but they are NOT flat panel/plasma screens as you see in the pre-shows on MS or Soarin' as I had misintepreted from other reports. Otherwise, the ride looked and sounded great. Only thing missing were the ABS cones MS is still holding up very well. However, as I feared, it appears that many pods now have nonfunctioning "control sticks". They used to vibrate and shake all over the place, but on my 3 rides, none of the 4 control sticks in each pod appeared to be working.
Soarin' does seem to have some problems with dust getting on the film. Not that big of a deal, but sometimes it looks like UFO's are off in the distance in some scenes before quickly vanishing. Otherwise, all the scents and wind effects worked great. I never even knew there was an ocean-breeze scent until this last ride
Animal Kingdom
Rode Everest 5 times on 3/4/06. Just as great as I remember it from the AP weekends. Unfortunately the steam effect on the train was MIA and the mist in the tunnels were MIA as well. Otherwise, still perfect. The vegetation has grown in a little during the first terrain portion of the ride over the last month, and I imagine will continue to get fuller and better looking within the next year. Yeti was working great. I didn't notice it during the AP weekend, but his eyes glow red as the train gets closer to him. It also seemed like the either added or pumped up the volume of a Yeti roar right after you pass the AA while the train is braking before exiting the mountain to the unload station. As posted elsewhere, the photo system is installed right before the main drop and photos can now be purchased inside the store.
Theater in the Wild continues to be demolished. They really wasted no time in tearing it down, did they?
The running Carnotaur on Dinosaur is still broken, but the one thing I had never noticed before were so many of the little "volcanos" throughout the ride before. They glow bright red with fog effects spewing from them. I don't know why, but I never noticed them before. Are they new or were they just fixed?
Magic Kingdom
Not much to report. Visited Saturday night, but with all the threads I read on cleanliness, the place looked spotless to me. I never noticed any trash anywhere and actually saw other visitors cleaning up for themselves!! I was shocked
One tiny thing, the buns served at Liberty Tree Tavern were different than usual. Still good, but I prefered the softer, fluffier, powdered buns that are usually served. Don't know if this was a permanent change or something they served because they ran out of the normal buns.
MGM
ESPN weekeds were a lot of fun again. This was my second visit to this event (I went last year) Basically the same as last year, but still fun.
TOT continues to undergo a massive roofing rehab. Most of the roofing tiles have been removed from all over the building and they appear to be re-installing new tiles on the lower roofs first.
The Chicken Little Advertisement over the Brown Derby is no more. They painted over the "Walt Disney Pictures Presents Chicken Little" writing with more blue sky and clouds, as well as painting over the hexagon black spot that was there to represent the sky "falling". It is now all one solid sky mural. Its a nice backdrop for the Brown Derby vs a simple soundstage building. I'm glad they kept it painted as a sky backdrop.
It was during the day, but the strobes/pixie lights on the Hat were going and it looks like they finally fixed them all. Over NYE when I was there, there was only one working on the Moon. It appeared there were many blinking on the moon and the three stars once again.
That's all....
