First time to WDW - Sep 2012

Hi everyone, I've been reading these forums for a couple of years but I've never signed up to post before. I thought it'd be nice to share my experience of going to Orlando for the first time with everyone. A little bit of background first, I'm a regular poster on other theme park forums and I visit Disneyland Paris a couple of times a year. Due to mainly being a fan of the Paris resort I will probably end up comparing a lot of the differences, I hope I don't upset anyone in the process, it's just my opinion. Thanks for taking a look at my thread and I'll try to update it as much as I can.

September 1st - Travelling

After booking up our two week vacation all the way back in November 2011 it was finally time for Patrick and I to get on our plane at London Gatwick to Orlando International Airport. There was a bit of faff getting on to our BA flight due to people being silly and taking forever but once on there wasn't much of a wait before we were up in the air and on our way to the States. The flight flew-by with lots of choice on the Entertainment system and luckily enough the guy next to me wasn't an annoyance.

Once in Orlando we went down to the Disney Magical Express desk to check in for our coach to the hotel. This is clearly one of the better perks when staying on Disney property and we had clearly selected a great hotel to stay at. There was barely anyone on our coach and we were the only ones getting off at Disney's Old Key West Resort, it was also the first Resort the coach stopped at.

The Old Key West Resort is quite amazing, it's very large yet calm and relaxing and all the staff are amazing. After we were given about a billion booklets when we checked in we were driven on this large golf buggy thing with our suitcases to our building. Ya see, this resort is made up of lots of little buildings, each with 2 or 3 floors and rooms of varying sizes. We were in building number 35 in room 20-something. It was a very decent sized room, two large double beds, a HD TV, a large bathroom, a tiny kitchenette and even a balcony with a view of a tree and one of the many lakes around the resort.

After sorting our lives out we were a bit peckish so we decided to walk to the Downtown Disney boat. It was really hot which was really odd considering how dark out it was (we're talking about 9pm, maybe a little earlier). Up until this point we'd mainly been in air conditioned spaces so this was the point that the heat really affected us for the first time.

The boat service was really nice and relaxing and a nice way to start off our trip really. Once we arrived at Downtown we headed to Earl of Sandwich, we love the ones in London and Disneyland Paris so it was a must that this is how we began our culinary experience on this trip. It was very busy, in fact the whole of Downtown was really busy. Despite the long queue we managed to order and get our sandwiches in a decent time. As we expected it was just as good as the other stores. I also tried one of their cakes, it was just too much for me. Oh and it was also our first use of our Disney Dining Plan, so that's -1 quick service credit.

After food we decided to have a look around a few of the stores nearby. We started off by looking in the large pin trading store, it had quite the large selection. It was very hard all trip to stop myself from buying some, the last time I did that on a Disney trip I nearly didn't have any money left. We also popped into the World of Disney store which is very big and had quite a lot on offer. This would be a shop that we'd keep coming back to over our two week trip.

I think it was already getting fairly late and we were exhausted from our long travels so we hopped on a shuttle bus to the hotel. As it was dark and we were still new to where everything was at our resort we did end up getting a little confused as to which bus stop we needed to get off, not really helped by the random route the bus decided to take. Anyway we finally managed to get off at the right stop and went straight to our room to get some sleep to prepare us for our first day in a Walt Disney World theme park.

Thanks for reading folks!

 

[HouCuseChickie]

Nice start to your report- can't wait to read more! Also, welcome!!!

 

[peep]

Thanks!

September 2nd - Let the Magic begin

After our first day being uber long and actually having a rather late night too we decided to get up rather late and just take our time. I think the first thing we did once we left our room was keep taking note how ridiculous the heat was. The second thing we did was go to the fast food desk at the hotel to get our complimentary refillable drinks capsules. They were pretty cool and very good at keeping in liquid (take note Merlin!). So we filled our cups up and headed to the bus stop to catch the next bus to the Magic Kingdom. On our route to the park we actually went past the place they were storing the Seven Dwarves coaster track (you know that famous pic that was everywhere), was pretty cool going past it each time we went to MK.

The bus journey didn't actually take us that long, about 15-20 minutes. We decided to just stroll up Main Street USA and see what we wanted to do once we got to the main hub area. It felt quite busy and when we looked at the queuetime board it slightly confirmed this. The area with the shortest queues was Adventureland so we opted to go there and work our way around the park in a clockwise fashion.

So off to Adventureland we went. It was weird going into this area first because I'm so used to the layout in Paris, the design and look of it was also very different. It was weird seeing so many buildings in Adventureland and you could barely see the Family Robinson Treehouse from the main pathway, just felt odd but kinda cool. I've been curious about the Jungle Cruise ride for a long time now so asked if we could do that as we were coming up to it. Barely anyone else was waiting for it too (about enough to fill the next boat or so) which helped us make the decision. The heat was killing me too so I just wanted to sit down for a bit lol.

I quite liked the Jungle Cruise. It's a bit of a weird ride in that it solely relies on the cast member being awesome. Our guide kept telling very bad jokes, most of which I think went over Patrick's head but I found it all quite amusing. Overall it's a nice little attraction and most of the effects looked like they were working.

The Tiki Room, Patrick kept wanting to just walk past it, don't worry, we finally went in near the end of the trip

We still hadn't eaten anything so we took the decision to seek food before the mad rush. On our way to find food we walked past Pirates of the Caribbean, opposite was the Pirate Tutorial show which was ok, attracted quite a decent crowd. Moving on we finally sought out food in Tortuga Tavern, a fast food restaurant that did Mexican food. I got a burrito which had a decent amount of chicken, beans and rice in and then you're able to go over to a fillings table and fill to your hearts content. I'm always a bad judge with these things and maybe added a little too much. So I wasn't able to close up the wrap in the traditional way and I made a right mess but I don't care, it was absolutely nom. Oh and we were given humongous soft drinks, we had a little bit and then filled our hotel cups with the left over, of which there was plenty. Fantastic, now we can make it last longer. It also came with a dessert, we both went for gelato which stands for European Ice Cream, not real Gelato, still it was nice and cooling. Oh yeah -1 Quick Service Meal credit.

Patrick's food

So after filling up on lots of awesome food we headed slightly back for Pirates. Ok, so this confused me, before you even enter the building the queue splits into two and each side gets a slightly different route to the station. We entered in via the right hand side which turned out to be the longer queue of the two, oh well. Well, I say that but it was still only a good 15 min wait. We were getting close to the loading dock when the ride decided to break down. It took forever to deal with whatever the problem was and it felt like once they did fix the problem they made sure they sent every boat round empty before loading again. This was such an epic fail and was very random.

Anyway we were finally on (no idea how long we waited in the end) and off on our little journey. Right from the off I was a little confused with the layout. The steam effect with the projection of Davy Jones was very random however I thought the Barbosa and Sparrow additions worked really well within this version of the ride. The cannon blast effect worked really well too which was cool.

So what's better, Paris or Orlando? Paris hands down, from the epicly themed queueline to the sheer scale of the attraction. I'm still not sure if the film update would work in Paris, part of me hopes it doesn't turn up.

We then went into Frontierland up the ridiculous dead-end to Big Thunder Mountain. It had a fairly long wait, as did Splash Mountain so we grabbed a fastpass ticket for BTM. I don't think we had much of a wait so we just waited around until it was time. We then got on rather quickly which was nice. I wasn't sure how this was going to compare to the one in Paris and it had only recently come out of a massive refurbishment too. I really enjoyed it, very good fun. The random twisty track bit where they take the photo is very odd but I kinda loved it. It was all in fantastic condition and the coaster was super-smooth. I still loathe the ridiculous sound effects on the lift hills, they really aggravate my hearing, I was so sad when I heard it for the first time on this version too.

So we came off very happy guests and we wandered over to Splash to get a fast pass for that too. There was quite a long wait for this fast pass return so we headed over to Liberty Square for the Hall of Presidents but we'd just missed a performance so we had to wait 20 minutes or so. Hmm, after a little bit of " do we do now?" we finally entered Fantasyland (which just looks awful) and entered the queue for It's a Small World. It was quite a long queue but as with these rides the queue moves quickly.

I kinda liked that each continent was in it's own room but there were so many random scenes and I'm not sure what it was but I weirdly prefer the Paris version (the exterior is definitely superior).

Eww

So after It's a Small World we headed back into Liberty Square to check on Hall of Presidents. Turns out that we had missed the next one too but it wasn't much of a wait for the next one. We had a little browse in the nearby shops including the Christmas shop. When we went to actually go and see Hall Of Presidents we clicked that there wasn't much of a wait until the parade. Also turns out that the show in front of the castle was about to start. We rushed over to there to catch the show which was alright.

After the show we decided to grab a good spot on Main Street for the parade. The parade was preceded by the Philharmonic band which was cool.

The parade itself was rather random but as with all Disney parades, it's generally quite fun.

So that was over and we went over to the Hall of Presidents again. This time we only had a few minutes to wait so we finally timed it right. It was quite an interesting show. The Lincoln animatronic is incredible and I can see why he's popular. Obama really doesn't look like Obama though, even from a distance it looks nothing like him, silly Disney. I loved how all the presidents would slightly move throughout the entirety of it, as if they were real people. I saw one pat the one next to him on the back after he was mentioned, I thought that was amazing, just that level of detail and care when probably 1 in 50 people notice it <3 So yeah, lots of American history yadda yadda but still cool what they can do with some amazing animatronics. OH and some peeps got a little political with whoops and boos when certain peeps were mentioned - lol.

It was then finally time for our journey down Splash Mountain. It's weird seeing a log flume but with such a wide boat and proper seating, still it was comfortable and cool. I absolutely fell in love with this ride, it's just so epic, the detail of theming is fantastic and just how many drops does it have? So many animatronics too and just, wow, love it. There were clearly a few effects that weren't working but overall it didn't detract from the ride and I can see why it's so raved about.

We decided to walk back to Fantasyland to check out the new Circus area. The Dumbos had quite a queue so we didn't bother with that but I wanted a go on Barnstormer. This was after we spent a little bit of time going 'I want to cool down in the Casey Jr water thing but I don't want to get too wet'. We ended up standing next to the front of the train as we hadn't seen any effects at that end and then he just went 'boom' and we got fairly moist lol. We spent a little bit of time of running under the shoots of water and that, such big kids lol. Overall it's a really nice little area and it compliments the train station really well. Kids were absolutely loving it (not surprised, it was so bloomin' hot) but it's a shame that because of their actions a fence has been put up around the front bit of the train.

So yeah, cred. Barnstormer actually had quite a queue but we didn't really care too much about that so we joined the back and awaited our turn on this Vemoka family coaster. For starters, I really love all the theming in the area, some of it is quite subtle but overall it's just fun and I really liked it. The coaster was your generic Vekoma rollerskater (or whatever they call them). So it's fun, shame there isn't a whole load of theming around the coaster itself but it's still fun. Oh and how long is that exit path? It's ridiculous.

I'm not 100% on the order of things to be honest but I think we popped into Tomorrowland and we randomly rode Carousel of Progress. This attraction, which may be a little outdated, was very fun and that song, gawd that really does imprint itself into your head doesn't it?

Next up was Stitch's Great Escape which had no wait. It's quite good fun if a little scary at times but that Stitch animatronic is amazing and I want it.

I think we were running out of time because of our dinner reservation so we just headed over to Liberty Square to wait for our reservation. Our dinner reservation was at the Liberty Tree Tavern. I think it looks great from the outside and the entrance hall is fantastic. We had apparently booked a popular time as there were lots of families waiting for tables.

After a little bit of a wait we were called up and taken to our table. All the seating areas were quite small and had quite a homely feel to them, I liked it, created a nice atmosphere. The dinner option is that they basically come out and place a family roast style buffet on your table. It gets a little cramped but we really liked it. The food they give you is really good and OMFG honey butter *drools*, who knew butter could get any better. Our amazing waitress was shocked when we said we couldn't deal with any more food but we still had desert to go. Wow, I think it was like an apple crumble thing and it was amazing. -1 Table service credit

After we had finished our epic meal it was already dark out which meant it was nearly time for the night entertainment. We went to the bottom of Main Street USA for the Main Street Electrical Parade. Turns out we managed to get a great spot, it was right outside the gate where the parade came from and there was no one in front of us. I really didn't like the huge spotlights they turned on at the top of the buildings, they were just a bit too bright, it was fantastic at ruining photos.

Getting ready for Halloween <3

....

 

[peep]

It was then time for the parade. I love the music for this parade and have done for many years. Overall it's really fun, if random at times and it's clearly been updated within the last couple of years with projected faces on characters and that. I was really shocked by the use of characters actually live talking to the crowd from atop of floats, was cool.

we lol'd

He was talking to everyone - awesome

It was then time for [strike]Dreams[/strike] The Magic, The Memories and You. A random projection show on the castle where they show random pics taken on that day, however unless you're right in front of the castle you can't actually see any of the pictures properly, all very random and pointless. The random scenes were clearly cut outs from tests for Dreams at Paris which was quite amusing. However with the poor projection system used it just looked a bit odd and some of the mapping on the castle was very off. That was actually the last night of that show too, they're changing it into something slightly different so it'll be interesting to see what they do.

TronCastle

So after that random show it was time for Wishes. It was alright, nice to hear that main song again as it reminds me of my first time at Paris.

So the park was now closed but we were Disney hotel guests and there was Extra Magic Hours to be had, hurrah. I think the first ride we went on was Buzz Lightyear's Space Ranger Spin. There was no queue, we approved of this. Patrick didn't approve of the ride though, I agreed that the Paris version was better but I still enjoyed it, I do like shooter attractions despite their flaws. I think I beat Patrick by quite a bit which resulted in him moaning about the trigger not working properly.

Next up was Space Mountain. It actually wasn't walk on, there was probably a 20 minute wait. This is obviously when we found the interactive games in the queue, so addictive, you end up not wanting the queue to move on, so much fun to be had. I think they were closing off one of the coasters so they were sending everyone to the left hand side. Finally on and sitting in the very odd coaster train. Quite a comfy seat but it's such a hassle get in and out of. There are some moments I really loved, like the random tunnel at the start with all the light and sound effects and the helix of doom with the whizzing noise. It's very good fun but I do prefer the Paris version, not like you can really compare them though as they are completely different.

The uber long exit out of the attraction seems like a big joke though, takes about 10 minutes just to exit. Just what were they thinking when they designed it?

We then randomly decided to ride the People Mover. Such a random attraction. Not a lot to really say about it either really.

So after the People Mover we decided to head back over to Liberty Square for Haunted Mansion. It was basically walk on but we decided to venture through the interactive graveyard anyway. I think we missed some of the elements of the new graveyard but the bookshelf was fun, quite easily amused. The Madame Leota gravestone next to the building entrance is amazingly creepy, I thought it was me seeing things at first but after just staring at it for ages and saw it proper move I was like holy cow that's amazing.

So, anyway on to the actual attraction. First things first, it's nice to have the audio in English so I can understand what's going on. Not like there's much of a storyline to the attraction. I didn't get why there was a really cramped narrow queue alongside the conveyor belt/loading area, felt unnecessary. Still, the ride is quite fun, I'm not sure story wise how we're meant to magic from the top of the building to the graveyard though. Meh. The updated effects were fantastic, floating Leota and the different effects in the mirror were just excellent and I'd love Paris to get them.

Btw I prefer the Paris version, it just works with the whole Frontierland story so much better and that.

We decided to end our day with another ride on Big Thunder Mountain. It was also walk on. Loved it even more in the dark, great fun was had and so we went round again, awesome.

It was very late, about 12:45 or something and we were uber tired by this point. So off to the bus to get back to the hotel room. And that was that. A great first full day in a park. The crowds weren't too bad and it would also be the busiest we'd see the park throughout our entire trip. There are some aspects which I really like about the Florida park but I think the attention to detail in the architecture and overall design of the park among other things make me prefer Paris.


Thanks for reading. Coming soon - O! Canada and the nightmares of Ellen

 

[sam_disney]

Really enjoyed reading your report so far! I can see you have a high regard for disneyland paris.

I completely agree about splash mountain. its my fave ride of all time.

I personally love the projection show.. i cried when I saw it.. didn't think it was random at all- just disney magic at its best! "we're going to disney world.. " awesome!

anywho, hoping to try paris myself sometime next year maybe- but people have told me it is a smaller version of florida? Would you reccommend staying onsite in paris? x

 

[peep]

Thanks for your very kind comments

I can sort of see where people are coming from on the 'smaller version of Florida' but there are enough differences to make it a totally different experience. I'm personally not the biggest fan of the Disney Paris hotels but the rooms that have been refurbed recently do look nice. I just feel you don't get an amazing room in comparison to how much you pay, depends on what deals you can find at the time to be honest. It is nice to be able to just stroll from the hotel to the parks. If you want any more advice etc feel free to leave a message on my account wall.

Hopefully I'm going to get time tomorrow night to post the next instalment.

 

[maryszhi]

i am loving the food and other photos. they are so crisp and clear! old key west rooms look awesome

 

[DisneyPrincess5]

Great report so far! Old Key West looks great I've never really seen it before. Beautiful photos too.

 

[ajrwdwgirl]

Sounds good so far. It is interesting to read your comparisions to Paris. Some day I'll make it there.

 

[CinderALLIE]

Great report so far. Look forward to reading more

 

[sam_disney]

Thanks for your very kind comments

I can sort of see where people are coming from on the 'smaller version of Florida' but there are enough differences to make it a totally different experience. I'm personally not the biggest fan of the Disney Paris hotels but the rooms that have been refurbed recently do look nice. I just feel you don't get an amazing room in comparison to how much you pay, depends on what deals you can find at the time to be honest. It is nice to be able to just stroll from the hotel to the parks. If you want any more advice etc feel free to leave a message on my account wall.

Hopefully I'm going to get time tomorrow night to post the next instalment.

Brilliant! Thank you

Looking forward to reading more of your report x

 

[peep]

Wow, thank you everyone for your very kind comments <3

September 3rd - Ellen's Nightmare welcomes us to the World Showcase

Our resort boat to Downtown

We got up at a more sensible time on this day and opted to grab a snack for breakfast so I think we just grabbed a danish or something from the fast food desk.

OMG, these guys were everywhere, I want one

So, we got on the next shuttle bus to Epcot which was just round the corner so a nice and quick journey.

We only had like an hour or so until our lunch reservation in Canada so we decided to go on an attraction or two in Future World. We headed to the left where we could see a very closed Test Track. Universe of Energy looked interesting and it was close by so we headed over to that. Both of us had absolutely no idea what it was and the next pre-show was just about to begin, excellent.

Well, weren't we in for a big surprise. The cast members make sure everyone is quite aware that the whole attraction (including pre-show) takes a total of 45 minutes. 45 MINUTES, what the hell? We had just enough time to do this before our reservation so we were ok with this. The pre-show introduces us to Ellen and Bill Nye the Science Guy (we thought he was just a character for this, oh boy were we wrong, more on that as the TR goes on). Ellen is actually amusing and overall it's quite a cool little pre-show. It also has unexpected Jamie Lee Curtis! !!! So yeah, we were then told that we were entering Ellen's dream/nightmare sequence where Bill Nye the Science Guy will tell us the history of Energy.

You then enter into this huge room with several very large vehicles which just have massive rows of seats. After a lot of faff getting everyone in the show then begins. Just everything about this attraction is just ridiculous and massive, I'm still baffled by how much energy it must take to move those ridiculous vehicles. According to a fan site the 2 acres of solar panels on the roof are able to provide enough to power the entire attraction but I find that so hard to believe. So I'm calling their bluff and say that they're just using magic. So yeah, quite a few funny moments, quite informative (if you know nothing about fuels etc) and has more Jamie Lee at the end <3 Yeah, Patrick and I became big fans of what we referred to as "Ellen's Nightmare ride".

Obviously time was moving on and we were close to our reservation time so we made our way to Canada, which is luckily the first country in the World Showcase. On our way I had to get my photo taken with the Phineas and Ferb topiarys because Phineas and Ferb is awesome.

So yeah, on to Le Cellier Steakhouse in Canada. I kinda liked that anyone that served us basically told us about their home town, it's a little weird but it's quite cool. The restaurant felt a little small but it was very nice, felt very upmarket. With the Dining Plan we were able to have a three course meal here so for some reason we did. Our starter was a cheese soup which was surprisingly nom, well it would be, it contained bacon My main course was a burger (I felt so unadventurous ordering it) which was absolutely amazing, the meat was fantastic and it was very filling. Still, we also had a dessert to go. We both opted for the chocolate mousse. We were both expecting a mousse in a pot like you get from the supermarkets. Instead we got the below...

It was awesome, I love how the antlers were maple syrup as well, lol, so Canadian <3 Overall it was an incredible meal and we were so glad we chose to eat in there. -1 table service credit

As we were already in Canada it was decided that we should just get O! Canada out of the way. So past quite a nice waterfall you enter into this little waiting area which smells of manure or something atrocious before moving into the main room where the circlevision film plays.

The film is alright, just a random mash up of helicopter shots really with the occasional amusing moment from the amazing Martin Short. It also ends with a very addictive song which easily gets into your head.

Moving on from Canada we had a little look around the British area which was quite quaint, kinda saddens me that there isn't more to it though.

At the back of the shops is a little meet and greet area with characters. Tigger and Winnie the Pooh were there so we had our pic with them...

There's then a little walk to the next pavilion which is France. We went to see the Impressions of France film but had just missed a screening so we had a little look around the shops before heading back in.

The show was quite nice, I liked their selection of classical music, was very relaxing. The air con was also appreciated. When we exited we noticed that Marie from Aristocats was out so we went and had our picture taken with her.

Patrick had also made note of when Mary Poppins was out in the UK section so we headed over as she was just about to head out. After a little wait Patrick finally got his photo with Poppins. She was having quite a good ol' chin wag with pretty much everyone and she loved talking about the parrot on her umbrella.

Morocco was next which was really nice to look around. It was mainly shops and a restaurant (a standard for each pavilion it would seem) but it was still really nice. The heat however was not so nice and I was finding every opportune moment to pop into somewhere with aircon.

The next Pavilion is Japan which was really cool. I love the architecture of it all and the shop was humongous. They also had a very large selection of Sake. Exiting the shop we found ourselves in a little exhibition space, it was something to do with manga which was cool.

 

[peep]

Next is America and the American Adventure show. As we entered the building in the foyer was the Voices of America group who were amazing. Very talented group of singers. The show was pretty good (some amazing animatronics) but it was all a bit too patriotic which is expected but yeah, too much.

The next pavilion is Italy which is beautiful, just like Italy. We caught the end of this little comedy group's show which was really random but quite funny.

Next was Germany which looks fantastic. We decided to have a German beer. It tasted like beer.

China was next but we decided to walk past it to go to Norway next for Maelstrom. Norway has a very nice area too and it's cool that it has a boat ride. The ride is actually very random, not 100% sure what was going on but it was fun. The ride exit brings you into a room where a promo video for Norway plays, it's very dated and the doors were just left open so most people were just walking straight out. We only watched it for a little bit ourselves because it was dated and a bit boring.

We also popped into the little Norway exhibition to do with Vikings. It was small and random, it would have been fine (because of the aircon) but some lady was just awkwardly standing by the door just staring into space, it was odd.

We then went back to the China Pavilion for Reflections of China. Another circlevision film but with an amazing building which also housed a little exhibition on the terracotta army.

I liked this circlevision film, it was relaxing and very interesting.

We then headed down to the Mexico pavilion for the Gran Fiesta Tour. Wow, this building is huge, to house a dark ride, a marketplace and a restaurant, it's pretty cool. I loved the boat ride too, the three caballeros are awesome and make what was clearly a boring boat ride into something really fun and energetic.

 

[peep]

By the time we exited the building the sun was setting so we decided to grab a little meal before finding a good spot for the night show. We ended up in China for a simple meal. I had orange chicken with rice (basically sweet and sour) with some gelato for desert. It was quite nice and filled us up nicely.

Patrick's food

So we went in search of a good spot for Illuminations: Reflections of Earth. We found a decent spot near Mexico, however we were right next to one of the fire lamps, it was hot enough as it was, didn't need more heat.

The show is great, it starts off with such a great bang that it does go a little downhill in my opinion. Some nice effects though.

That huge amount of fire was insane, you could really feel it from the lake edge too

So that was that, our second day was already at an end. We had a little look around some of the shops near the entrance before getting the bus back to the hotel. We had such a nice day at Epcot despite the intense heat but luckily there is plenty of aircon. I love the World Showcase. I wish some pavilions had more to see and do but it's still fantastic to walk around.


Thanks for reading - next is our journey to find a yeti

 

[OswaldTheRabbit]

Enjoying your TR and all your info about Disney Paris! I am always so curious how the other parks are! Looking forward to your yeti tales!

 

[peep]

^Thanks for your comment Oswald!

September 4th - Expedition Yeti

Due to small opening hours we made sure we got up at a decent time and on the bus to get to the park a little after opening. I think we grabbed a quick breakfast at the fast food place at the hotel too so -1 quick service credit. It felt like quite a long journey to Animal Kingdom, what with it being all by itself on the other side of the resort. Finally we were there though and the heat felt really intense, something that didn't change during the day.

The entrance to Animal Kingdom feels really unusual, with lots of overgrown animal enclosures and meandering pathways. Finally you come to a wide bridge into a more open area which gives you the excellent view of the Tree of Life in the center of the park. You then have to make the choice of going left or right. We decided to head for Asia as we had no idea what the queues for the rides were like.

On our way we spotted Doug and Russell from Up, there was a little wait but how could we pass up such an opportunity like that!

We then continued our trek onwards to Asia, passing more random animal enclosures. We saw some Macaws and I can't work out how Disney get them to stay within the enclosure, there are no high walls/fences, big rope over the top or anything, just very open. This wasn't the only enclosure we saw like this either.

Once in Asia we found a massive Gibbon enclosure which was also open. It was amazing though and the Gibbons seemed to love it, I spent quite a bit of time watching them on this day. Round the corner and we find this incredible view...

Obligatory shot #402

It's such an incredible sight, the way it just dominates over all the trees is fantastic. Obviously this is where we were heading and before long we were at the entrance.

I'd heard so much about this queueline and I'd seen lots of amazing photos but nothing truly prepares you for the level of theming in this queueline, there is just so much to look at it's incredible. So much detail in every direction you look, I loved the ride already and I hadn't even stepped on the train. There was one problem with the queue, there wasn't anyone else in it which meant we was going past all the awesomeness too quickly.

So, we got on the ride and the level of detail doesn't stop at the end of the queue. I thought the first random little section was random but fun and then the big lift hill is nicely split with the random building with the awesome picture of a yeti. Once at the top of the lift hill you get a good idea of just how high this mountain coaster is, fantastic views at the top and you can see the other parks quite clearly. I thought the first stop "oh no the track in front has been destroyed" took way too long, just sitting there for ages waiting for something to happen, got quite boring up there as there's nothing to really look at. Then you fall back and into the mountain. Woah, I was not expecting such intense forces in there, totally insane and I loved it. The second stop took just as long but at least this time there's something to look at, going down that big drop is fantastic and the other indoor sections were great. We also found the yeti! To be honest, because I've not seen anything of him really moving and because there was only one weak strobe light on him I wouldn't have been any wiser. You can't even really see him properly until you're just under him (has this always been the case or have they lessened the light so his brokeness isn't so noticeable?).

Anyway, it's a fantastic coaster that I really enjoyed despite the long pauses.

We then headed over to the rapids. I love that the boats have a sealed area to help protect your belongings. I also love that the lift hill is at the start of the ride. The big fountain effects are quite funny, because everyone panics about the one that's in the path that the boat is going to take, a fun way to start the ride. Then you move swiftly into the whole "Oh noes, we're cutting down all our forests" message scene which is a little boring despite how well done it is. Then you go down the drop which, for me, wasn't amazing because I've ridden Phantasialand's River Quest which has bigger, steeper? ones. Then there's a few effects here and there and not a lot of actual rapids action. I have to admit that I was expecting better from Disney but I was really let down. Especially as not everyone in the boat gets really wet which on a day like that I totally needed and I didn't get. Sad face. It's still fun, because it does have moments of 'will I get soaked or not' and does have the general fun with randomers that I like about rapids attractions but I've just been on better.

We then decided to go back for more Expedition Everest via the Maharajah Jungle Trek. I loved this walk-through. The first animal we came across was bats, they were huge.

I loved all the amazing theming everywhere, the ancient ruins of Asia vibe was excellent and worked really well.

They had Tigers <3

We were then back at Everest where I think we walked on for another ride.

We then made our way over to Dinoland USA and it just so happened that by the time we were over by Finding Nemo: The Musical there wasn't much of a wait for the next performance (it looked like the whole park was waiting for it).

I love Finding Nemo and I was always sceptical about the musical. It was ok, I was very impressed by the visuals they created, was just like seeing a show on the West End. For me a musical can only be good classed on how good or bad the songs are and I just wasn't a fan of any of the songs, it just didn't appeal to me at all. So I ended up being all meh about it.

We then continued into the awful part of the park where Primeval Whirl lives. Astonishingly both of them were running (I heard only one of them opens or neither of them) and as neither side had much of a wait we went round and got on both within a very short space of time. The first one was ok and it helped that it was just us two in the car, we had space to move about a bit. We also managed a fair amount of spinning. On the other side however we were sat in the same car as these two little kids, it was quite a tight squeeze with Patrick and I in just half the car, this also resulted in quite a lot of spinning which I think took the kids by surprise. There was also a lot of groaning from our side any time we went round a corner lol.

It was then time for Dinosaur, I was really looking forward to this ride as I'd heard so much about it and I knew it had the EMV system. As we were just leaving the very Jurassic Park-esque hall we heard "Bill Nye the Science Guy" come over the sound system. This is when we basically just looked at each other and went "WHAT!?" For us, the mystery thickened, just who was this guy? And why was he all over the Resort as the resident Science guy? Ha, only time will help answer our little questions.

So, back to the pre-show and there were MORE cameos. The guy teaching us about our vehicle I knew from CSI as one of the resident science guys and the main Lady was from the Cosby show (apparently, I only this from a quick research trip on the internets). Still, they had set us up with the story for the ride and we were on our way to the vehicles. I loved all the piping with detailed labels everywhere. The ride itself is fantastic fun, the ride system is the real star here though and is just amazing.

We then headed over to the other side of the park for Camp Minnie Mickey. We went for the Festival of the Lion King show which we only just about made it into (literally running down the very long path to the theatre). It's a fun show and more interactive than I thought it would be. Anyway, you can't go wrong with the amazing music of the Lion King. Oh and talking Timon was amazing, just makes these characters look so much more alive.

We then hung out in the characters area where Gi-Tar Dan was playing some classic Disney tunes on this guitar. The first characters we said hello to was Baloo and King Louie.

We then went over to see Pocahontas who was obsessed with Patrick's compass "John Smith had a spinning needle like yours". She was brilliant.

We then had an ice cream before heading to the center of the park for It's tough to be a bug. Parts of the paths near the tree are still cut off due to the branch falling off earlier in the year. They've also added protection netting over all the queue. Doesn't make too much of a difference though. We loved that in the waiting area they have posters for musicals but big related and the music playing are songs from those shows but 'sung' by bugs, fantastic. The show itself is pretty good and does put all over 4D shows to shame. Entering the theatre you wouldn't think any of the stuff that happens would be possible, pretty amazing. I found the 3D a little blurry but I don't know if that was down to the glasses or what. The Hopper animatronic is amazing and really makes this show stand out from others. I really like the song at the end too. Things I don't like in the show though are the stabbing in the back effect and the smell effect (eww).

 

[peep]

We then went back into the Asia area. Randomly caught the DJ show which also had a dancer, I felt so sorry for her because she was directly in the sun and was just dancing for a really long time.

Still, it was next to the Gibbon enclosure, so I had more time to watch these fascinating creatures while some decent music was being played.

Such an amazing enclosure

We then found a spot along the parade route which was slightly in the shade. I had one of those fans that also sprays water, I think if I didn't have that I would have just died waiting for this parade. The parade itself was random, especially how every other car just had random families in it. I just found that a little awkward? I just didn't get it.

After the parade we went for a couple more goes on Everest before heading over to Africa. By the time we reached the area everything was coming to a close but this amazing band were playing. Unfortunately for them only us and some cast members were watching but they were fantastic and created a really cool atmosphere in the area. The cast members were dancing away too which was fun.

Towards the end the singer got off the stage and created a little conga line with the other staff members lol. It was a great way to end our day at the park.

I really love Animal Kingdom, I wish the weather wasn't so hot so it was nicer to hang out and just watch the amazing animals for longer periods of time. The rides are really good too but Dinoland USA just looks awful, looks like an American amusement park rather than a highly themed area in a Disney park, the quicker they re-theme it the better imo.

In the evening we had a reservation at Ohanas at the Polynesian Resort. We managed to actually get there in such good time that we had about an hour to kill. So we just hung around, checked out there beach and that. It's a very nice Resort.

Our meal at OHanas was like a mix between Liberty Tree Tavern (a selection of sides laid out in a buffet style on your table) and a Brazilian restaurant I've been to in London (various meats come over to your table on large sticks and however much you want of said meat is put on to your plate). It was really nice food and there was a good selection of meats (the chicken was delicious). Desert was this amazing bread pudding which was just om nom nom.

There was event entertainment during our meal. A lady was going round the restaurant and teaching everyone about some Hawaiian traditions and got a bunch of kids to dance and that and ended with a huge group of people to basically congo line around the restaurant, it was all very entertaining and fun.

We then went back out to the beach area to watch the boat parade thing (like Main Street Electrical Parade on boats) on the lake. However when we got there they had paused and the music had switched to Wishes as from the beach you can watch all the fireworks, was all rather random but very cool.

The parade then decided to continue but without it's music while Wishes was still going on. I don't get why they would time it to clash like that?

Once both had finished the film they were screening on the beech started up again, it was only Lilo & Stitch! I kinda wanted to stay and watch but Patrick didn't agree.

So back to our hotel we went. I think we just went to our room and ended up watching lots of TV. This might have been the night we introduced ourselves to Golden Girls, something neither of us had seen before, it was quite amusing and there was an endless stream of episodes - not good if you need some sleep for the next day!


Thanks for reading - next we learn to draw

 

[wiigirl]

Loving your report and pics!

 

[peep]

Thanks wiigirl!

September 5th - Learning to draw

Once again we got up at a fairly decent time and had some breakfast before getting on the next bus to our next destination - Disney's Hollywood Studios. I was really looking forward to visiting this park, most of all I was really looking forward to Star Tours II: The Adventures Continue.

I'm easily won over with these Hollywood themed streets, so much to look at and it's such a nice style of architecture.

We headed straight over to the Pixar Studio for Toy Story Midway Mania. Expecting there to be a huge queue as that's all we'd heard about this ride in preparation of the trip. Turns out there was only a 15 minute wait in the very well themed queueline. During this time we never saw Mr Potato Head take off his ear or hat which made us sad, but it's still a very impressive animatronic.

The ride itself was fantastic fun, even if it does absolutely kill your arm muscles. I like how it tells you how accurate you are throughout the attraction. We could easily see why this is a very popular attraction but it's not exactly something you can just re-ride straight away. I'm still quite confused as to how the huge scores you see come up at the end happen though.

I think we then walked round to do the Studio Backlot Tour next. I quite liked the first section where the poor volunteers are drenched. The actual tram tour section was very boring though, the most interesting part was probably when they pointed out the plane that Walt and his team used to fly between Florida and California during the purchasing of the land and construction of WDW.

We then walked down one of the street sets to Muppetvision 3D. I don't really get the street sets at this park, it feels like they are there for no particular reason, they're not awesome façades for attractions or anything, it just feels a bit pointless.

I was so excited about seeing the last true Muppet awesome-ness overseen by Jim Henson and I wasn't let down. Everything about this attraction is just amazing, the pre-show film is hilarious and the props hanging everywhere are amazing and full at hints towards previous Muppet capers. It's a Muppet fans dream. The film itself is amazing, the 3D worked really well, the animatronics were amazing (Swedish Chef <3 ) and just, wow, I loved it so much. The only thing that I felt was missing from it was Animal and the band, was a shame they didn't make an appearance at some point. If the Paris studios park is missing one thing it is totally this attraction.

The shop was also quite cool with it's little section that looks like the backstage area we see in the TV show. Just a shame the whole store isn't full of Muppets merchandise.

It's also weird how next to it is a Pizza Planet and a couple of meet and greet areas. Although as soon as I saw Phineas and Ferb I made sure we queued up to meet them. It would appear that every child that exited MuppetVision thought the same thing so we did have to wait quite a while.

I see you Agent P!

How could they NOT reference the best episode the show has ever had?

When we turned a corner and saw the heavily themed store for Star Tours I got a little too excited lol. To actually see a themed exterior for this attraction was awesome and obviously we had to just head right in.

It was really cool to see the new changes to this queueline that may one day come to the Paris version. The updated screen board was brilliant, the weather reports were a very nice touch imo. The security bag check animatronic was hilarious too. The little nods to the original version were cool too.

The ride itself was a complete joy and totally worth the wait. The 3D was amazing, the C3-PO animatronic was amazing, the film was amazing. OMG the first ending we had probably had the best 3D moment on any attraction ever, I loved it.

Spoiler

We crashed into another ship with a pointy front, said front comes right into the cabin

So on a massive high after experiencing two absolutely amazing attractions where should we go next? I think we decided to chill for a bit, go and check out the merchandise etc. We had a little look at the sculptures of actors outside the American Idol building. Angela Lansbury <3

We were then walking about when we came across one of the random little shows that take place around the park. It was hilarious and I'm really glad we caught it. Basically it was this film maker and his assistant trying to get this dumb policeman to say one line correctly.

 

[peep]

I think it was then time for our dinner reservation at the Brown Derby. It was very posh, so it was weird going in wearing ordinary clothes. Our waiter was pretty awesome. We decided to keep up the whole posh-ness of it all by ordering alcoholic cocktails which were really strong, their alcohol measurements are clearly bigger than here in the UK. Patrick was loving the glowing ice cube too.

I had a pork chop which was very nice but it randomly came on a bed of crisps (British term), lol, I must have looked so confused when it came out. For desert I had a fruit cobbler which was very nice. -2 table service credits.

It's all about the little touches

When we exited the restuarant it was nearly time for the parade so we went and found a spot, unfortunately there isn't any shade along the parade route so we had to wait in the sun </3 Pre-parade a bunch of guys got people to create a 'flash-mob' dance. It was a bit random but it helped kill some time before the parade.

There didn't seem to be many people watching the parade but I think that was purely down to the heat. Luckily when the parade began a big cloud decided to get in the way of the sun making life a bit more bearable during the parade.

This just doesn't look right

The parade was fun, the song was addictive and it was great seeing characters from most of the Pixar films. I thought Bullseye and Mr Potato Head looked a bit weird but apart from that it was all cool.

We decided that the next attraction to hit up would be the Great Movie Ride. The entrance is pretty spectacular and I like the queueline with all the memorabilia, the trailers for old films is really cool too. However on several occasions I found myself watching it so intensely that I didn't realise that the queue had moved on.

The ride is good fun but I get the feeling it's another attraction which relies heavily on the cast members and I don't think ours were the best out there. Shame.

Upon exiting we noticed that it wasn't long before the Indiana Jones stunt show was on so we headed right over to that. I was really looking forward to this being a big fan of the Trilogy. I don't know how Disney have managed it but I found it quite dull. I think it fails in the same way that Motors Action fails, they spend too much time faffing and explaining simple things in a really drawn out way. I think stunt shows should flow and they really don't. Sad face.

I think we may have gone to see Beauty and the Beast next. The heat was really getting to me in this very open theatre and the show packed out which was unexpected. The show was allright, it compacts a fantastic film into a 20 minute show and has a couple of the best musical numbers from the film. It was good fun but it was hard to keep concentrating on it due to the immense heat that was clearly trying to kill me lol.

It was then time to head over to Rock 'n' Rollercoaster. I love the exterior to this version, that giant guitar is pretty cool. There wasn't really a queue so we basically just headed straight into the pre-show room. It's so similar yet so different to the Paris one it's really surreal. I like the loading room, the theming is pretty cool.

So how did I find the ride experience compared to Paris? Well the actual coaster is 100% the same, I knew that beforehand but it's odd how the difference in theming during the coaster changes the ride experience so dramatically. I love the way the Paris version is masses of lighting rigging with an awesome light show, I really don't love the horrible cardboard cut-outs on the Florida version. It just looked cheap and tacky, not something I expect from a Disney attraction. So Florida has a better exterior but Paris has the better overall attraction.

Next up was time for yet another comparison to the Paris Studio park. Hollywood Tower of Terror. I'd heard mixed things before going as to which Resort had the best version and I can say that my favourite between the two is definitely the Paris one. The area in which you wait for the elevator feels really squashed and like they ran out of space. I also don't like the whole moving forwards corridor, it just felt like a really unnecessary delay before the main thrill section of the attraction. The random drop sequence was random and I didn't really get the screen projecting random Twilight Zone images on it in the bottom of the drop area. It's still great fun, it's hard for Tower of Terror to be anything but, I just prefer the Paris one.

We decided to go back over to Star Tours for another ride. On the way we were distracted by what sounded like Rock music, I was intrigued so we went to check it out. It was Mulch, Sweat and Shears, a little rock group that comes out and plays some rock music at designated times. They were really awesome and the lead guy was fantastic with interacting with the crowd. I loved how the sound technician was dressed up as a car mechanic and looked like he was just fixing the engine, I thought that was genius.