So.... I'm back.
I rode Mission: Breakout! twice this morning. I was out the door by 5:30am, stop at Starbucks near Angel Stadium, and in line with a horde in the Esplanade by 6:30am. It was controlled chaos, but the crowds vibe was fun and upbeat. Pardon the stream of conciousness Trip Report/Review here, I'm taking a nap immediately after this....
Was at the tail end of a giant rope drop crowd, and while everyone herded into the ride directly I veered to the right and waited two minutes to grab a Fastpass for 11:20am. Then I backtracked to the end of the Standby line and waited with some very confused tourists who just got caught up in the frenzy; behind me was a nice family from Seattle, and ahead of me was a retired couple from New Zealand (who literally live on a sheep farm!).
Waited about two hours in a shuffling Standby line. They use both sides of the street for Standby queue, with an alley behind Bug's Land used for switchbacks decorated with Guardians posters with CM's entertaining you with props and stuff. The entry lobby is not done justice by photos and videos; it's full of stuff to look at and observe and enjoy. I haven't seen Disney do an elaborate queue like this since Indiana Jones in '95. (Although I hear Pandora queues are done very well too). Unlike the Tower queue where it was set dressing you weren't allowed to enter, they use the entire space here for queue and you wander through all of it, which makes it feel more real than Tower.
Tivan's Office pre-show thing is extremely well done. Very elaborately decorated with lots of "Easter Egg" items in the display cases and bookshelves, stuff from the Disney universe, the Marvel universe, and just the universe in general. And yes, the Rocket animatronic is a fun surprise and extremely impressive to watch. I have not seen the Guardians movies, but the Rocket dialogue sets up the ride perfectly and I needed no further info to follow the plot here. Keep an eye on that Sony Walkman in the display case!
The basement boiler room queue is familiar yet different. They have crammed a lot more stuff into this space. It looks and feels far more elaborate than Tower of Terror. They have dripping water, weird video panels, and lighting effects everywhere. The CM's are into their roles PERFECTLY and really seem to dig their new gig.
And then the ride itself... FANTASTIC!!! My first ride I got the Jackson 5 song, which was so much fun. When Rocket takes over and the ride crashes into the song, everyone in the lift couldn't help but start chair dancing. But then the ride takes over and it starts immediately. Wow. The thing never stops moving; flying up and down, dropping suddenly, shaking, bobbing, bouncing, dropping more. The doors are opening and closing, Rocket is yelling funny lines, the Guardians show up and the action just never stops. This thing makes Tower of Terror feel like an old episode of Lawrence Welk compared to the Guardians being a rock n' roll comedy skit from SNL.
I fought my way out of the gift shop where there were long lines with people buying anything they could get their hands on. I'll save that for later, but they did have a lot of cool old 1980's toys and games for sale in there along with the Guardians souvenirs.
Hollywood Land was now a zoo of people cramming their way into line, and I had 90 minutes until my Fastpass, so I wandered the Backlot area and checked out the Summer of Heroes stuff. You'll need to be familiar with the Marvel gang for that stuff to make sense, but it looked nicely done and already very popular.
Gosh I wish Paul Pressler hadn't built such a crappy, stucco box theme park back in 2001! The Hollywood Backlot area is still a cheap and charmless looking wasteland of failed concepts, no matter how many Summer Of Heroes banners they put up. And the new hyper-themed and obviously expensive Guardians building and ride clashes horribly with the bland, themeless, cheap stucco warehouse buildings that surround it on the fake Sunset Blvd. WDI has a lot of work to do to remake Hollywood Land Backlot into something relevant.
Second ride at 11:30am was via Fastpass and you zip right into the lobby. You miss a lot of the pre-show displays and the Tivan video via Fastpass, so the explanation from Rocket animatronic in the office is doubly important if you go via Fastpass. Second ride I got Pat Benatar's Hit Me With Your Best Shot, which I was thrilled with. A different experience visually than the Jackson 5, with different Guardians imagery and dialogue from everyone. The screens are extremely impressive. As usual, photos and video don't do justice to how seamlessly they meld and look when you are on the ride.
The crowd reaction both times I rode was genuinely impressed and entertained. The ride experience is so much fun, just bouncy and thrilling and toe-tapping and silly. You can't help but have a huge smile when you get off this ride. People were dancing their way down the exit hallways both times as rock n' roll plays in the hallways.
It was a crazy morning, a bit of a whirlwind, but DCA has an extremely well done and unique new E Ticket to offer. I easily imagine the demographic of the 30 and under set will absolutely love this thing. But this old codger really enjoyed it too.
Bravo WDI and TDA! Guardians of the Galaxy - Mission: BREAKOUT! is a huge hit!