I just got back from a week in WDW with my family and I wanted to give ever my views and thoughts on the things that we experienced while I was in town. Let preface the rest of this as I am a huge WDW fan but I also am in the business to point out flaws and area of improvements because as I know with my business sometimes you miss things after looking at it everday.
Hotel: We stayed in the Villas at Grand Floridian - It was absolutely fantastic! The one bedroom was top notch and everything about the service at this hotel was the way it should be. Down side was the filming of the middle was in the way but that is life. I am very happy with my purchase in this building.
Monorail - They are in really bad shape... We got their on the last day of repairs and they still need to be worked on. 3 different times are rail could not get moving and had to crawl to epcot. Drivers over shot stops and was just really poor. This was common practice this week for them to not be able to park on a first try.
Magic Kingdom - Overall the park is in the best shape it has been in years!! Main street look out of this world! The painting of the buildings all make the street pop and looks great!
Starbucks - should not be on the street! I love them and they are a great company but the streets needs the bakery and true breakfast option!
Castle - The painting of the roof of the castle look great! What a difference as I was able to see the old and new next to each other! Love that they are fixing the place up.
The Hub Project - As much as it is needed I am concerned that it is going to wreck the look of the park. I will keep an open mind but it is a concern with seeing the work being done.
Tomorrowland - This area needs work! I understand that recovering the building and making it modern for today may not ever happen but paint them and make them look sharp! Anything will help here....
Stitch even though my youngest loves this ride it is time to put something else in its space. My concern and I am sure theirs as well it is not that big of a show building so the options are min. Space Mountain - Those that complain about the track being bouncy etc need to stop. The ride is still a wonderful ride and still a thrill after 30 years of riding it.
Speedway - This needs to go I have defended it for years but it is time to put it out of its misery. My kids love it but it is just so outdated and blah!! Especially next to the wonderful work they have done in Fantasy land.
Circus Land/Dumbo Etc - The theming is out of this world the detail work int he street everythign is just well done. The fact that I could get on dumbo in less then 25 min is great! no complaints in this land at all as it is for the younger families with kids and they were all loving it. Event the Water effects with the train are well done.
New Fantasy land - Yes we may have only gotten 2 new rides and yes 1 to some people the area is incredible. It makes the rest of WDW look old because of all the detail that went into it. The reason why it cost Disney more then anyone else to put up simple rides is the amount of detail work they put into every inch of the buildings. It is just amazing to see. Even the mine ride though it is a lesser coaster looks like it will be fun to ride with my kids and one day their kids for generations to come.
Complaint about this area is the lack of meal options... Gastons is horrible besides the cinammon roll. They need another option as the line for Beast castle for lunch was over 2 hours.
Old Fantasy Land - looks better then it has years and the new stroller parking is helping but the walk ways are stll to congested.
Adventurland - Needs another ride! plain and simple it just needs something... We spent the lease amount of time over here. We went to ride Jungle Cruise once which is still a good ride thanks to the drivers.... And then Pirates evry chance we got. Tiki Room is a classic and desrves to be preserved but the space needs something.
Frontierland - Rode Splash mountain the day it reponed and 7 days later and everything was working. It is a great water ride and even though things break in it is a good solid ride.
Thunder Mountain same thing but I miss the falling rock everytime I ride it.... Put it back.
Again this area needs something... it is not to to the level it could be if it had another ride. Not a thrill ride as it has two but somehting for all ages... Tom sawyer island needs to go if it means this can happen.
Haunted Mansion/ Liberty Square - Again would be nice if we could get another ride. Haunted the ghost effect at the end was not working all week. It is so cool when it works.
New Parade - It was great the floats were all really really cool that I watched it 3 times. This is the best entertainment upgrade in a long long time.
Night time castle show - It is just cool and really well done...
Epcot - Can sum it up real fast time for a major investment. Yes some of the rides are good and fun but the overall Future World needs an upgrade. I love this park and I spend a ton of time in it because my family loves walking the countries and eating in them nightly but the front part of this park is horrible! Test Track soarin are good everything else needs an upgrade! I know people will disagree with me that Soarin needs one to but I would much rather have them spend money on the others before they touch Soarin.
Everything that is dated just needs a refresh... Ellen gone same story is fine but upgrade the movie to today... Journey gone- This is a major build fix it, Mission to Mars - worse ride on all the properties.
Countries - This is what epcot has become and it is so obvious. The place is a blast and the food and restuarnats are all good. Again this shows me they know what they are doing but they need to do it everywhere.
Hollywood Studios - Blah.... Please hurry and start starwars land nothing else to say... it is a fun park good 1/2 day but by putting this in it will be great! I will say we did the drawing class for the first time and it was really cool. The park has a ton of potential just needs some money invested.
Magic Bands - I was ready to rip these before I got their but I will say they surprised me... The only negative was the number of rides you could use etc but that is being fixed along with park hopper but they were not bad otherwise.
We got on every ride we wanted yes we stood in line a little longer then normal but my ride count was the same as every other year. We got to be part of a test at Beast Castle for lunch where we pre ordered our food online and ten just checked in when we got their. Then found a table and the food was brought to us was great!!! It worked perfectly and if that is where the future of this goes it is well worth it because the lines for the QSR places to eat were out the door everyday.
Magic Bands are going to be a great feature when they get it all up and running but it is going to take some time but the flashes I saw made me change my mind on them.
Hotel: We stayed in the Villas at Grand Floridian - It was absolutely fantastic! The one bedroom was top notch and everything about the service at this hotel was the way it should be. Down side was the filming of the middle was in the way but that is life. I am very happy with my purchase in this building.
Monorail - They are in really bad shape... We got their on the last day of repairs and they still need to be worked on. 3 different times are rail could not get moving and had to crawl to epcot. Drivers over shot stops and was just really poor. This was common practice this week for them to not be able to park on a first try.
Magic Kingdom - Overall the park is in the best shape it has been in years!! Main street look out of this world! The painting of the buildings all make the street pop and looks great!
Starbucks - should not be on the street! I love them and they are a great company but the streets needs the bakery and true breakfast option!
Castle - The painting of the roof of the castle look great! What a difference as I was able to see the old and new next to each other! Love that they are fixing the place up.
The Hub Project - As much as it is needed I am concerned that it is going to wreck the look of the park. I will keep an open mind but it is a concern with seeing the work being done.
Tomorrowland - This area needs work! I understand that recovering the building and making it modern for today may not ever happen but paint them and make them look sharp! Anything will help here....
Stitch even though my youngest loves this ride it is time to put something else in its space. My concern and I am sure theirs as well it is not that big of a show building so the options are min. Space Mountain - Those that complain about the track being bouncy etc need to stop. The ride is still a wonderful ride and still a thrill after 30 years of riding it.
Speedway - This needs to go I have defended it for years but it is time to put it out of its misery. My kids love it but it is just so outdated and blah!! Especially next to the wonderful work they have done in Fantasy land.
Circus Land/Dumbo Etc - The theming is out of this world the detail work int he street everythign is just well done. The fact that I could get on dumbo in less then 25 min is great! no complaints in this land at all as it is for the younger families with kids and they were all loving it. Event the Water effects with the train are well done.
New Fantasy land - Yes we may have only gotten 2 new rides and yes 1 to some people the area is incredible. It makes the rest of WDW look old because of all the detail that went into it. The reason why it cost Disney more then anyone else to put up simple rides is the amount of detail work they put into every inch of the buildings. It is just amazing to see. Even the mine ride though it is a lesser coaster looks like it will be fun to ride with my kids and one day their kids for generations to come.
Complaint about this area is the lack of meal options... Gastons is horrible besides the cinammon roll. They need another option as the line for Beast castle for lunch was over 2 hours.
Old Fantasy Land - looks better then it has years and the new stroller parking is helping but the walk ways are stll to congested.
Adventurland - Needs another ride! plain and simple it just needs something... We spent the lease amount of time over here. We went to ride Jungle Cruise once which is still a good ride thanks to the drivers.... And then Pirates evry chance we got. Tiki Room is a classic and desrves to be preserved but the space needs something.
Frontierland - Rode Splash mountain the day it reponed and 7 days later and everything was working. It is a great water ride and even though things break in it is a good solid ride.
Thunder Mountain same thing but I miss the falling rock everytime I ride it.... Put it back.
Again this area needs something... it is not to to the level it could be if it had another ride. Not a thrill ride as it has two but somehting for all ages... Tom sawyer island needs to go if it means this can happen.
Haunted Mansion/ Liberty Square - Again would be nice if we could get another ride. Haunted the ghost effect at the end was not working all week. It is so cool when it works.
New Parade - It was great the floats were all really really cool that I watched it 3 times. This is the best entertainment upgrade in a long long time.
Night time castle show - It is just cool and really well done...
Epcot - Can sum it up real fast time for a major investment. Yes some of the rides are good and fun but the overall Future World needs an upgrade. I love this park and I spend a ton of time in it because my family loves walking the countries and eating in them nightly but the front part of this park is horrible! Test Track soarin are good everything else needs an upgrade! I know people will disagree with me that Soarin needs one to but I would much rather have them spend money on the others before they touch Soarin.
Everything that is dated just needs a refresh... Ellen gone same story is fine but upgrade the movie to today... Journey gone- This is a major build fix it, Mission to Mars - worse ride on all the properties.
Countries - This is what epcot has become and it is so obvious. The place is a blast and the food and restuarnats are all good. Again this shows me they know what they are doing but they need to do it everywhere.
Hollywood Studios - Blah.... Please hurry and start starwars land nothing else to say... it is a fun park good 1/2 day but by putting this in it will be great! I will say we did the drawing class for the first time and it was really cool. The park has a ton of potential just needs some money invested.
Magic Bands - I was ready to rip these before I got their but I will say they surprised me... The only negative was the number of rides you could use etc but that is being fixed along with park hopper but they were not bad otherwise.
We got on every ride we wanted yes we stood in line a little longer then normal but my ride count was the same as every other year. We got to be part of a test at Beast Castle for lunch where we pre ordered our food online and ten just checked in when we got their. Then found a table and the food was brought to us was great!!! It worked perfectly and if that is where the future of this goes it is well worth it because the lines for the QSR places to eat were out the door everyday.
Magic Bands are going to be a great feature when they get it all up and running but it is going to take some time but the flashes I saw made me change my mind on them.
Very nice to read!
