Finally, I have time to give bit of a trip report from my trip this April. Now, I’m not going to give you every detail, but I will highlight my thoughts on “new to me” attractions and so on.
Please bare in mind these are my own opinions. If you have any questions, please feel free to ask.
We arrived in Orlando from the UK on Monday 12th April, we stayed at the Howard Johnson Universal Plaza, just off I-Drive, near Universal Orlando.
Who went – me, My last trip was Sept 2001, just before the 100YOM celebration, and Ross, my boyfriend, went about 11 years ago, just before ToT opened.
Tuesday 13th April – Universal Studios.
Just as an aside, we rode The Mummy, although in “dress rehearsal” stage it was fantastic.
Wednesday 14th April – Animal Kingdom.
Well, new to me was Dinorama, I have heard both negative and positive comments about this; I kind of knew what to expect. I unfortunately was disappointed, although Primeval Whirl is a fun ride, 20 minutes from my house I can ride, the exact same ride. Some of the swingy twirly bits weren’t working either. The area does look like a cheap carnival, I know that’s the idea to an extent, but it’s a sad sight to see. I’m sure the Imagineers did the best job they could with the allocated finances.
Is it me, or has Dinosaur become a lot tamer? The Dinosaurs didn’t seem to jump out and be as scary; you could see them before you got to them? Still a great ride, nether the less.
We were taking pictures of us by the Tree of Life, when a man asked me if I knew the history of the tree, I looked at him in a blank manner and said “well….. the park opened in 1998…”, he interrupted me and said, “no…. is the tree imported from somewhere?” He thought it was a real tree, with carvings stuck onto it. At first I thought he was messing, but I don’t think he was.
Mickey’s Jamming Jungle Parade, was ok, I wish they installed the sound technology like at the MK. Was a good way to see the characters.
Expedition Everest – it looks like it’s going to be one beast of a ride, I can’t wait.
New enclosed Lion King Theatre seems better, although we did seem to go in a funny way through a fire door at the back.
The queues (lines) were moderate, our longest wait was ITTBAB, we made good use of FastPass, we were also given two for Dinosaur from a women who’s family backed out, people can be so friendly.
There has been a lot of negative comments about the cast recently. Only once, during our visit did we encounter rude cast, which was at the turkey leg stand at AK. After seeing the Travel Channel Unwrapped programme from MIRC, we had to have one!
On this trip I rode Kali for the first time. It was OK, I actually didn’t get that wet, maybe I was lucky. I think Popeyes at IOA is a much better ride though.
We did Kilimanjaro Safari twice, this really is one of the best attractions at WDW! I still love Animal Kingdom, and hate the fact people call it a zoo.
Thursday April 15th – Typhoon Lagoon / IOA
I absolutely love T.L. It’s my favourite water park. We swam with the fish about 7 times, the fish tanks seemed a lot water than when I had been before. The upkeep of the water parks is impeccable.
The park wasn’t really busy at all, we arrived early and left early to head for IOA.
Friday April 16th – IOA / Boardwalk / Downtown Disney
Around 5:00pm we headed to Disney’ Boardwalk, I have never been before, I have to say it’s absolutely beautiful. We had a walk up and down the boardwalk itself, looked in the shops and the bakery – WOW. We also looked around the resort a little too, it looks lovely, was most impressed. I seem to have fallen in love with this resort, and one day I WILL stay there ;-)
Headed to Downtown Disney where I went SHOPPING and bought a few bits and bobs. We had dinner in the Earl of Sandwich – it was very busy, and seems very popular. It was reasonably priced, and very tasty, highly recommended.
Saturday April 17th - Blizzard Beach / Old Town
The water park was very busy; I’m assuming many guests were locals. Had a great time, but I now officially prefer Typhoon Lagoon, although BB has great rides, I think I prefer the theme and tropical feel of TL. We took advantage of the refill mug. It worked out to very good value, especially considering we ate lunch there.
Headed to Old Town at night to see the cars, I know people have mixed views of the place, but I think its kinda quaint.
Sunday April 18th - MGM
Headed to MGM, the first thing we did was book the Fantasmic dinner package at the front of the park. We did most of the attractions there, I loved the ToT random drop sequencing. One Man’s Dream was great, I loved seeing all the models. The Backstage Tour thing was disappointing where is Walt’s plane? Still love Muppet Vision and RnR Coaster. Star Tours is getting a bit old. Saw Stars and Motor Cars parade, again, its not like the MK parade, but I good chance to see the characters, and a few different ones like R2D2, CP30 and the Muppets.
Had priority seating at Hollywood and Vine for 5:15 (I think). We had to wait quite a while to get a seat. I have to say, the dinner buffet was lovely – the pastrami smoked salmon was to die for! Excellent CM serving us. We headed to Oscars at about 8:00 for the 8:30 Fantasmic showing (I think). Fantasmic – best night time show in WDW. We stuck around for a while afterwards to go round the shops and take some night time photographs, this is a great time to be in the parks as the bulk of guests have left.
Question – What was the ABC theatre thing used for?
Monday April 19th - EPCOT
My BF had been looking forward to EPCOT all holiday, however, he was disappointed. Epcot by far still needs work doing to it. Parts of it are looking well dated. We got Fastpasses for M:S and headed to UoE. It was OK, but old hat, relaxing I guess, would not be sorry if it left. Headed to M:S – what a fantastic ride! Loved it! I loved the “hidden Horizon” details in the middle of the giant spinning space ship and in the shop, a very well thought out ride, and I didn’t feel sick!
Got fastpasses for TT and headed over to HISTA via Ice Station Cool (I knew about this thanks too WDWMAGIC, what is Beverly all about?) The HISTA film itself is looking dated and I miss True Colours! Went on JIYI – it was walk on, I don’t think anybody knew it was there – its quite a sad little ride from what it used to be…. Well from what I remember. What did used to be upstairs? Headed into the land, and stepped back in time – it’s very retro in there. Decided to go back later to LWTL. Headed to the Living Seas. Nemo exhibit was busy, I personally don’t care much for this type of thing. I didn’t think this pavilion was in the best state, with no sea cabs etc. But, it was busy. Headed back to TT – BROKEN!
Had lunch in Mexico had fajita thing – it was very good indeed, was nice to sit out round world showcase lagoon. Went back for LWTL to get fastpasses then to SSE. Gut SSE, it needs a new ride system and re-inventing, and what is going on at the end? Its like a building site.
Headed to LWTL, now, this technology for growing fruit and veg was there over 20 years ago, if it’s so ahead of its time, why are we not using now? Hello to Cody – he was a great CM doing the tour.
Finally began our tour of world showcase starting with Canada – the film needs to go, it is DATED!
Headed to the UK, always a good laugh. The Rose and Crown was closed, is it open yet?
Went to France for a pastry and drink – well, you have to don’t you?
Then to America, where one of the Monkees was playing, he attracted a huge audience, this was part of the “Flower Power” music event. Then to American Adventure, great show, although over 20 years old, doesn’t look dated.
Time was getting on so we skipped through World Showcase to TT which was up again, we used our now expired fastpasses. Great ride, great fun. Back to Mission:Space for a second time.
Finally we stopped for Illuminations with a snack from Germany. Illuminations is a great show, however, I remember Illuminations 25 – wasn’t there more lasers and lighting of the WS pavilions?
To sum up, EPCOT has extremes. New innovative rides like M:S, TT and soon Sorin’ are great, but they sit alongside dated, old rides like SSE and UoE. I would like to see all pavilions updated one by one.
Worlds showcase pavilions themselves can’t really date, but the films can!
Unfortunately, we didn’t see as much as Epcot as we should have, we didn’t step foot into Innovations, nor did we see all of World Showcase.
Tuesday April 20th – Magic Kingdom
We purposely left MK towards the end of our trip while Easter Holidays finish. Got to MK early and headed out on the boat. It was busy, but not as busy as I’m sure it can get. We did all the big rides using a combination of fastpasses and queuing. New things that I did were Philharmagic – which is the best 3D show on property! Buzz, good, but I prefer Men in Black at Universal, the railroad, I have never done this ride. TTA and the race track and …….CoP.
Tomorrowland needs a lot of work, to me it seemed very dirty and dated. A new, New Tomorrowland needs to happen.
We did HM, the queuing system there seems very unorganised when its busy.
Saw Share a Dream Come True Parade. Great parade, no Princess float, instead it was the castle float from decades ago.
Had a Dole Whip – Yummy Yummy!
Saw Spectromagic (Love it) and Wishes, was not impressed – why, I was stood in the wrong place, to enjoy this, you need to be down main street, quite far back from the castle. We stuck around again to look down the Main Street shops. As we stepped out of the Magic Kingdom – the Electrical Water Pagent was playing, again, its down to WDWMAGIC I knew about this.
Wednesday 21st April – Resorts and Magic Kingdom
One day of the 5 Day Hopper left. Headed to MGM to re-ride ToT, RnR did WWTBAM again, got on the score board, my bf got second from top, a spilt second earlier and could have been winning me some pins. Had lunch at the Sci Fi Diner. Food was not that good, had the ribs, they were dry, but a great themed restaurant.
Headed to TTC and got the monorail to the Contemporary where we had a wonder. It’s a great resort, but after falling in love with the Boardwalk, the Contemporary would not be the first resort I stay in. We headed out to the back and hired a mouse boat for an hour. I thought this was very reasonably priced. It offered a great way to view the resorts and MK. Back onto the monorail – we sat up front – yes grow up Darren!!!!! We were given our licences (a great Disney Magical Moment). Monorail Orange I believe had broken down, so we sat on the Monorail waiting for clearance. About 15 minutes later we arrived at the Poly where again we had a wonder, Kona (I think) looks a great place to eat – we wish we had gone there instead of Sci Fi. Headed on a boat to the MK, we were then given Disney Watercraft stickers.
Back at the MK we re-rode some of our favourites, this time we saw Wishes from main street – it was EXCELLENT!
Thursday April 22nd – Home
To sum up, we had a great time. Being from the UK we do go less often, but for longer periods of time. We went for 10 nights, most people go for two weeks. We needed longer to really appreciated everything. A couple of days to relax would have helped, we had very very long days indeed.
There has been much said about the up-keep of the parks, unfriendly CM etc, I’ve got to say, that wasn’t the case. We had one unfriendly CM at AK, that was it, everyone else was great and bent over backwards to help, the most friendly I found were shop staff at Downtown Disney, Main Street, MGM and at MCO Disney shops.
The parks looked well maintained – with the exception of tomorrowland and Future World. Regulars may notice more when things aren’t how they should be, but to what is probably the “average guest”, the parks look great.
We plan to go back to WDW in about 4 years, whilst of course, I would like to go every year, this just isn’t feasible when the world is so big
. Having now visited in May 97, September 01, and April 04, May would be my preference for another visit. Schools are still in session, but the weather is good and crowds not overly quiet, but not overly busy. (Would you agree)
When I go back I know that SGE, Soarin’, E.E ans Stunt Show. will be open. I would like to see something done with the rest of Epcot, I know people don’t like change, but it needs updating. Tomorrowland also needs re-working too.
Whilst parts of my report may sound negative, WDW is truly an amazing place, I was merely highlighting these points for discussion. Please, if you have any questions, let me know.
Please bare in mind these are my own opinions. If you have any questions, please feel free to ask.
We arrived in Orlando from the UK on Monday 12th April, we stayed at the Howard Johnson Universal Plaza, just off I-Drive, near Universal Orlando.
Who went – me, My last trip was Sept 2001, just before the 100YOM celebration, and Ross, my boyfriend, went about 11 years ago, just before ToT opened.
Tuesday 13th April – Universal Studios.
Just as an aside, we rode The Mummy, although in “dress rehearsal” stage it was fantastic.
Wednesday 14th April – Animal Kingdom.
Well, new to me was Dinorama, I have heard both negative and positive comments about this; I kind of knew what to expect. I unfortunately was disappointed, although Primeval Whirl is a fun ride, 20 minutes from my house I can ride, the exact same ride. Some of the swingy twirly bits weren’t working either. The area does look like a cheap carnival, I know that’s the idea to an extent, but it’s a sad sight to see. I’m sure the Imagineers did the best job they could with the allocated finances.
Is it me, or has Dinosaur become a lot tamer? The Dinosaurs didn’t seem to jump out and be as scary; you could see them before you got to them? Still a great ride, nether the less.
We were taking pictures of us by the Tree of Life, when a man asked me if I knew the history of the tree, I looked at him in a blank manner and said “well….. the park opened in 1998…”, he interrupted me and said, “no…. is the tree imported from somewhere?” He thought it was a real tree, with carvings stuck onto it. At first I thought he was messing, but I don’t think he was.
Mickey’s Jamming Jungle Parade, was ok, I wish they installed the sound technology like at the MK. Was a good way to see the characters.
Expedition Everest – it looks like it’s going to be one beast of a ride, I can’t wait.
New enclosed Lion King Theatre seems better, although we did seem to go in a funny way through a fire door at the back.
The queues (lines) were moderate, our longest wait was ITTBAB, we made good use of FastPass, we were also given two for Dinosaur from a women who’s family backed out, people can be so friendly.
There has been a lot of negative comments about the cast recently. Only once, during our visit did we encounter rude cast, which was at the turkey leg stand at AK. After seeing the Travel Channel Unwrapped programme from MIRC, we had to have one!
On this trip I rode Kali for the first time. It was OK, I actually didn’t get that wet, maybe I was lucky. I think Popeyes at IOA is a much better ride though.
We did Kilimanjaro Safari twice, this really is one of the best attractions at WDW! I still love Animal Kingdom, and hate the fact people call it a zoo.
Thursday April 15th – Typhoon Lagoon / IOA
I absolutely love T.L. It’s my favourite water park. We swam with the fish about 7 times, the fish tanks seemed a lot water than when I had been before. The upkeep of the water parks is impeccable.
The park wasn’t really busy at all, we arrived early and left early to head for IOA.
Friday April 16th – IOA / Boardwalk / Downtown Disney
Around 5:00pm we headed to Disney’ Boardwalk, I have never been before, I have to say it’s absolutely beautiful. We had a walk up and down the boardwalk itself, looked in the shops and the bakery – WOW. We also looked around the resort a little too, it looks lovely, was most impressed. I seem to have fallen in love with this resort, and one day I WILL stay there ;-)
Headed to Downtown Disney where I went SHOPPING and bought a few bits and bobs. We had dinner in the Earl of Sandwich – it was very busy, and seems very popular. It was reasonably priced, and very tasty, highly recommended.
Saturday April 17th - Blizzard Beach / Old Town
The water park was very busy; I’m assuming many guests were locals. Had a great time, but I now officially prefer Typhoon Lagoon, although BB has great rides, I think I prefer the theme and tropical feel of TL. We took advantage of the refill mug. It worked out to very good value, especially considering we ate lunch there.
Headed to Old Town at night to see the cars, I know people have mixed views of the place, but I think its kinda quaint.
Sunday April 18th - MGM
Headed to MGM, the first thing we did was book the Fantasmic dinner package at the front of the park. We did most of the attractions there, I loved the ToT random drop sequencing. One Man’s Dream was great, I loved seeing all the models. The Backstage Tour thing was disappointing where is Walt’s plane? Still love Muppet Vision and RnR Coaster. Star Tours is getting a bit old. Saw Stars and Motor Cars parade, again, its not like the MK parade, but I good chance to see the characters, and a few different ones like R2D2, CP30 and the Muppets.
Had priority seating at Hollywood and Vine for 5:15 (I think). We had to wait quite a while to get a seat. I have to say, the dinner buffet was lovely – the pastrami smoked salmon was to die for! Excellent CM serving us. We headed to Oscars at about 8:00 for the 8:30 Fantasmic showing (I think). Fantasmic – best night time show in WDW. We stuck around for a while afterwards to go round the shops and take some night time photographs, this is a great time to be in the parks as the bulk of guests have left.
Question – What was the ABC theatre thing used for?
Monday April 19th - EPCOT
My BF had been looking forward to EPCOT all holiday, however, he was disappointed. Epcot by far still needs work doing to it. Parts of it are looking well dated. We got Fastpasses for M:S and headed to UoE. It was OK, but old hat, relaxing I guess, would not be sorry if it left. Headed to M:S – what a fantastic ride! Loved it! I loved the “hidden Horizon” details in the middle of the giant spinning space ship and in the shop, a very well thought out ride, and I didn’t feel sick!
Got fastpasses for TT and headed over to HISTA via Ice Station Cool (I knew about this thanks too WDWMAGIC, what is Beverly all about?) The HISTA film itself is looking dated and I miss True Colours! Went on JIYI – it was walk on, I don’t think anybody knew it was there – its quite a sad little ride from what it used to be…. Well from what I remember. What did used to be upstairs? Headed into the land, and stepped back in time – it’s very retro in there. Decided to go back later to LWTL. Headed to the Living Seas. Nemo exhibit was busy, I personally don’t care much for this type of thing. I didn’t think this pavilion was in the best state, with no sea cabs etc. But, it was busy. Headed back to TT – BROKEN!
Had lunch in Mexico had fajita thing – it was very good indeed, was nice to sit out round world showcase lagoon. Went back for LWTL to get fastpasses then to SSE. Gut SSE, it needs a new ride system and re-inventing, and what is going on at the end? Its like a building site.
Headed to LWTL, now, this technology for growing fruit and veg was there over 20 years ago, if it’s so ahead of its time, why are we not using now? Hello to Cody – he was a great CM doing the tour.
Finally began our tour of world showcase starting with Canada – the film needs to go, it is DATED!
Headed to the UK, always a good laugh. The Rose and Crown was closed, is it open yet?
Went to France for a pastry and drink – well, you have to don’t you?
Then to America, where one of the Monkees was playing, he attracted a huge audience, this was part of the “Flower Power” music event. Then to American Adventure, great show, although over 20 years old, doesn’t look dated.
Time was getting on so we skipped through World Showcase to TT which was up again, we used our now expired fastpasses. Great ride, great fun. Back to Mission:Space for a second time.
Finally we stopped for Illuminations with a snack from Germany. Illuminations is a great show, however, I remember Illuminations 25 – wasn’t there more lasers and lighting of the WS pavilions?
To sum up, EPCOT has extremes. New innovative rides like M:S, TT and soon Sorin’ are great, but they sit alongside dated, old rides like SSE and UoE. I would like to see all pavilions updated one by one.
Worlds showcase pavilions themselves can’t really date, but the films can!
Unfortunately, we didn’t see as much as Epcot as we should have, we didn’t step foot into Innovations, nor did we see all of World Showcase.
Tuesday April 20th – Magic Kingdom
We purposely left MK towards the end of our trip while Easter Holidays finish. Got to MK early and headed out on the boat. It was busy, but not as busy as I’m sure it can get. We did all the big rides using a combination of fastpasses and queuing. New things that I did were Philharmagic – which is the best 3D show on property! Buzz, good, but I prefer Men in Black at Universal, the railroad, I have never done this ride. TTA and the race track and …….CoP.
Tomorrowland needs a lot of work, to me it seemed very dirty and dated. A new, New Tomorrowland needs to happen.
We did HM, the queuing system there seems very unorganised when its busy.
Saw Share a Dream Come True Parade. Great parade, no Princess float, instead it was the castle float from decades ago.
Had a Dole Whip – Yummy Yummy!
Saw Spectromagic (Love it) and Wishes, was not impressed – why, I was stood in the wrong place, to enjoy this, you need to be down main street, quite far back from the castle. We stuck around again to look down the Main Street shops. As we stepped out of the Magic Kingdom – the Electrical Water Pagent was playing, again, its down to WDWMAGIC I knew about this.
Wednesday 21st April – Resorts and Magic Kingdom
One day of the 5 Day Hopper left. Headed to MGM to re-ride ToT, RnR did WWTBAM again, got on the score board, my bf got second from top, a spilt second earlier and could have been winning me some pins. Had lunch at the Sci Fi Diner. Food was not that good, had the ribs, they were dry, but a great themed restaurant.
Headed to TTC and got the monorail to the Contemporary where we had a wonder. It’s a great resort, but after falling in love with the Boardwalk, the Contemporary would not be the first resort I stay in. We headed out to the back and hired a mouse boat for an hour. I thought this was very reasonably priced. It offered a great way to view the resorts and MK. Back onto the monorail – we sat up front – yes grow up Darren!!!!! We were given our licences (a great Disney Magical Moment). Monorail Orange I believe had broken down, so we sat on the Monorail waiting for clearance. About 15 minutes later we arrived at the Poly where again we had a wonder, Kona (I think) looks a great place to eat – we wish we had gone there instead of Sci Fi. Headed on a boat to the MK, we were then given Disney Watercraft stickers.
Back at the MK we re-rode some of our favourites, this time we saw Wishes from main street – it was EXCELLENT!
Thursday April 22nd – Home
To sum up, we had a great time. Being from the UK we do go less often, but for longer periods of time. We went for 10 nights, most people go for two weeks. We needed longer to really appreciated everything. A couple of days to relax would have helped, we had very very long days indeed.
There has been much said about the up-keep of the parks, unfriendly CM etc, I’ve got to say, that wasn’t the case. We had one unfriendly CM at AK, that was it, everyone else was great and bent over backwards to help, the most friendly I found were shop staff at Downtown Disney, Main Street, MGM and at MCO Disney shops.
The parks looked well maintained – with the exception of tomorrowland and Future World. Regulars may notice more when things aren’t how they should be, but to what is probably the “average guest”, the parks look great.
We plan to go back to WDW in about 4 years, whilst of course, I would like to go every year, this just isn’t feasible when the world is so big
. Having now visited in May 97, September 01, and April 04, May would be my preference for another visit. Schools are still in session, but the weather is good and crowds not overly quiet, but not overly busy. (Would you agree)When I go back I know that SGE, Soarin’, E.E ans Stunt Show. will be open. I would like to see something done with the rest of Epcot, I know people don’t like change, but it needs updating. Tomorrowland also needs re-working too.
Whilst parts of my report may sound negative, WDW is truly an amazing place, I was merely highlighting these points for discussion. Please, if you have any questions, let me know.
