So, I did a thing. Yesterday I had to deliver my GF to the airport which is about an hour's drive from where I live (Daytona). I'm a passholder this year and really want to make it pay for itself so I made a park reservation at EPCOT, charged up my magic band and headed straight there from the airport.
I was hoping to join the virtual queue for the Guardians ride, and tried to do so (from my car, whilst driving) at 7am, but I couldn't monitor the time that closely and by the time I got to the virtual queue in the app it was already unavailable. That was a bummer. I was, after MUCH effort, able to purchase LL for Guardians for about $15 but there was some issue with the app/site and I must have spent over 20 minutes just trying to get the payment transaction done. It was a PITA (um, a pain in the ), but I was determined to ride that ride. LOL!
I also purchased Genie+ so I could pretty much ride what I wanted without standing in standby queues. I'm against having to pay for reasons that have been stated an infinite number of times on this site, and having LL on the really high-capacity rides like HM and POTC just seems like a cash grab as EVERYONE would have a reasonable wait on those rides if we were truly all created equal. I loved the free FastPass system as it gave you the ability to plan your rides to an extent, but paying for the privilege. Yuck. That said, since this is Life at Disney these days, I liked being able to breeze right on.
I had a late Starbucks breakfast of a ham & cheese croissant along with a chocolate croissant (cuz who says you can't have dessert with your breakfast?), then grabbed a beer at the Germany Pavilion. Hopped on the Frozen ride (via LL, of course). Oh, PSA regarding Frozen...This was my first time riding in row 1. I was on the left side (from the seated perspective) and I had no idea the ride sprayed you at one point. I took it full in the face. LOL! It was beastly hot yesterday so it was actually refreshing. That's a very cute, fun ride. From Frozen I stopped in Mexico and ordered a blood orange margarita. I was considering getting a frozen strawberry one initially, but changed my mind after seeing the menu. It was deliciously salty (salt on the rim) and sweet at the same time. I sipped that and headed over to the Guardians ride, found a shady spot to sit and enjoyed the rest of my drink before getting in the LL. I have ridden Guardians four times now. That ride has so much going on it's hard to take it all in on a single ride. This time around I was able to focus on all of the action and story. If you're not a Guardians fan and haven't seen the films (all of the MCU films), you won't get that the "giant man" is actually a Celestial being from The Eternals. From a story perspective, I find it funny that the GOTG crew along with IDK how many ships from the Nova Corps (think GOTG, V1) are able to "restrain" the Celestial. Anyway, I digress. I have loved every visit to this attraction but think I loved it the most this time around. Maybe it was the slight buzz I had? LOL!
Managing the rides that way worked out perfectly and I was able to hop over to MK at 2PM. I drove there (thanks for the free parking, Bob I!) and was able to use LL to ride a few things. I wasn't on a mission and am still familiarizing myself with the WDW parks (I am intimately familiar with the Anaheim parks after living most of my adult live in Cali.). Because of my deep familiarity with Disneyland/DCA, I can't help but make comparisons between like attractions, and similar ones. Here are some examples:
Haunted Mansion - The exteriors of these attractions are very different. Some of the ride elements differ too. For example (and someone please correct me if I'm mistaken here), but at WDW, there is an area with staircases riders pass beneath that have ghostly/glowing footprints you can see from underneath. This doesn't exist in Anaheim. Conversely, and rather disappointingly, WDW/HM does not do a Nightmare Before Christmas overlay during the holidays. Frankly (and I know many will disagree), I prefer the overlay to the original. They could leave it up all year. LOL!
Space Mountain - I didn't ride it this visit, but have ridden both numerous times now. I think the Anaheim version is far superior. I like the car arrangement better (rows of two versus single file. Actually, the WDW cars have more in common with the Matterhorn Bobsled cars than with SM in Anaheim), and there is NO music. In Anaheim, there are speakers behind each row playing what I like to call "exciting space music." Interestingly, ride photos are captured at the beginning of the WDW/SM ride and at the end of the ride at Disneyland. I prefer the DL version.
Big Thunder Mountain RR - Again, I have a strong preference for the DL version. A few years back, the track was replaced in Anaheim making the ride much smoother (not something I necessarily agree with since it's sorta sposed to be a runaway mine train, right?), but they also added some really cool FX inside the mountain of the last incline of the ride. As you enter the tunnel, you see fuses light up and quickly follow you, running parallel to the car as it ascends the hill. When the fuses "burn" to their endpoint at the top and ahead of you, there's an "explosion." It's pretty dang cool. None of that exists at WDW. For me, the herky-jerkyness of the WDW version combined with the FX of Anaheim would make this ride "perfect." LOL!
Pirates of the Caribbean - I don't have too much to say about this one. I have my opinions on the PC "updates" they have made (don't like'em), and the "movie imitates ride/ride imitates movie" aspects (love'em). The main differences I can see is in the ride queue (longer and has actual theming compared to virtually zero theming at DL which I'm sure is due to the difference in availability of space). The layout is a bit difference, but the ride elements are virtually identical. At the end of the WDW version, the Jack Sparrow animatronic sits in what looks like a big library with a bunch of treasure. At DL, he's in a space that's about the size of a largish closet. This ride is another example of the LL cash grab. Not really needed, IMHO.
The Seas with Nemo & Friends (WDW/EPCOT) vs Finding Nemo Submarine Voyage (DL) - Okay, these are completely different rides, BUT, I'm pretty sure DL stole from WDW when they "reimagined" the submarine ride. I rode the Nemo & Friends ride for the first time yesterday and couldn't help but notice the similarities. And after consulting the Google Oracle, I see The Seas was opened in January of 2007 and the DL Sub ride re-opened as Nemo in June of the same year. So I'm fairly confident they used Nemo & Friends as inspiration when they rethemed the submarine ride. Sadly, I never got to experience the Captain Nemo version of the sub ride at WDW before it closed. Someone on this site was kind enough to post a VERY cool video presentation that described the design and construction of the original ride that also included a full-length video of the ride experience itself, in a split screen view so you can see what's happening on both sides of the sub.
Well, I sorta ratholed myself a bit in describing my solo Disney day. Sorry about that. But I gotta say I enjoyed my first ever solo experience. It was a little bittersweet. On the one hand, it was pretty cool being able to just do things on my own, but a big part of why I do Disney at all is to experience it with loved ones. When I entered MK yesterday I welled up thinking about my daughter with whom I have skipped down Main St. MANY times (picture the "skip" seen in Wizard of Oz when Dorothy & friends are singing "we're off to see the wizard..."). =] Thanks for reading.
I was hoping to join the virtual queue for the Guardians ride, and tried to do so (from my car, whilst driving) at 7am, but I couldn't monitor the time that closely and by the time I got to the virtual queue in the app it was already unavailable. That was a bummer. I was, after MUCH effort, able to purchase LL for Guardians for about $15 but there was some issue with the app/site and I must have spent over 20 minutes just trying to get the payment transaction done. It was a PITA (um, a pain in the ), but I was determined to ride that ride. LOL!
I also purchased Genie+ so I could pretty much ride what I wanted without standing in standby queues. I'm against having to pay for reasons that have been stated an infinite number of times on this site, and having LL on the really high-capacity rides like HM and POTC just seems like a cash grab as EVERYONE would have a reasonable wait on those rides if we were truly all created equal. I loved the free FastPass system as it gave you the ability to plan your rides to an extent, but paying for the privilege. Yuck. That said, since this is Life at Disney these days, I liked being able to breeze right on.
I had a late Starbucks breakfast of a ham & cheese croissant along with a chocolate croissant (cuz who says you can't have dessert with your breakfast?), then grabbed a beer at the Germany Pavilion. Hopped on the Frozen ride (via LL, of course). Oh, PSA regarding Frozen...This was my first time riding in row 1. I was on the left side (from the seated perspective) and I had no idea the ride sprayed you at one point. I took it full in the face. LOL! It was beastly hot yesterday so it was actually refreshing. That's a very cute, fun ride. From Frozen I stopped in Mexico and ordered a blood orange margarita. I was considering getting a frozen strawberry one initially, but changed my mind after seeing the menu. It was deliciously salty (salt on the rim) and sweet at the same time. I sipped that and headed over to the Guardians ride, found a shady spot to sit and enjoyed the rest of my drink before getting in the LL. I have ridden Guardians four times now. That ride has so much going on it's hard to take it all in on a single ride. This time around I was able to focus on all of the action and story. If you're not a Guardians fan and haven't seen the films (all of the MCU films), you won't get that the "giant man" is actually a Celestial being from The Eternals. From a story perspective, I find it funny that the GOTG crew along with IDK how many ships from the Nova Corps (think GOTG, V1) are able to "restrain" the Celestial. Anyway, I digress. I have loved every visit to this attraction but think I loved it the most this time around. Maybe it was the slight buzz I had? LOL!
Managing the rides that way worked out perfectly and I was able to hop over to MK at 2PM. I drove there (thanks for the free parking, Bob I!) and was able to use LL to ride a few things. I wasn't on a mission and am still familiarizing myself with the WDW parks (I am intimately familiar with the Anaheim parks after living most of my adult live in Cali.). Because of my deep familiarity with Disneyland/DCA, I can't help but make comparisons between like attractions, and similar ones. Here are some examples:
Haunted Mansion - The exteriors of these attractions are very different. Some of the ride elements differ too. For example (and someone please correct me if I'm mistaken here), but at WDW, there is an area with staircases riders pass beneath that have ghostly/glowing footprints you can see from underneath. This doesn't exist in Anaheim. Conversely, and rather disappointingly, WDW/HM does not do a Nightmare Before Christmas overlay during the holidays. Frankly (and I know many will disagree), I prefer the overlay to the original. They could leave it up all year. LOL!
Space Mountain - I didn't ride it this visit, but have ridden both numerous times now. I think the Anaheim version is far superior. I like the car arrangement better (rows of two versus single file. Actually, the WDW cars have more in common with the Matterhorn Bobsled cars than with SM in Anaheim), and there is NO music. In Anaheim, there are speakers behind each row playing what I like to call "exciting space music." Interestingly, ride photos are captured at the beginning of the WDW/SM ride and at the end of the ride at Disneyland. I prefer the DL version.
Big Thunder Mountain RR - Again, I have a strong preference for the DL version. A few years back, the track was replaced in Anaheim making the ride much smoother (not something I necessarily agree with since it's sorta sposed to be a runaway mine train, right?), but they also added some really cool FX inside the mountain of the last incline of the ride. As you enter the tunnel, you see fuses light up and quickly follow you, running parallel to the car as it ascends the hill. When the fuses "burn" to their endpoint at the top and ahead of you, there's an "explosion." It's pretty dang cool. None of that exists at WDW. For me, the herky-jerkyness of the WDW version combined with the FX of Anaheim would make this ride "perfect." LOL!
Pirates of the Caribbean - I don't have too much to say about this one. I have my opinions on the PC "updates" they have made (don't like'em), and the "movie imitates ride/ride imitates movie" aspects (love'em). The main differences I can see is in the ride queue (longer and has actual theming compared to virtually zero theming at DL which I'm sure is due to the difference in availability of space). The layout is a bit difference, but the ride elements are virtually identical. At the end of the WDW version, the Jack Sparrow animatronic sits in what looks like a big library with a bunch of treasure. At DL, he's in a space that's about the size of a largish closet. This ride is another example of the LL cash grab. Not really needed, IMHO.
The Seas with Nemo & Friends (WDW/EPCOT) vs Finding Nemo Submarine Voyage (DL) - Okay, these are completely different rides, BUT, I'm pretty sure DL stole from WDW when they "reimagined" the submarine ride. I rode the Nemo & Friends ride for the first time yesterday and couldn't help but notice the similarities. And after consulting the Google Oracle, I see The Seas was opened in January of 2007 and the DL Sub ride re-opened as Nemo in June of the same year. So I'm fairly confident they used Nemo & Friends as inspiration when they rethemed the submarine ride. Sadly, I never got to experience the Captain Nemo version of the sub ride at WDW before it closed. Someone on this site was kind enough to post a VERY cool video presentation that described the design and construction of the original ride that also included a full-length video of the ride experience itself, in a split screen view so you can see what's happening on both sides of the sub.
Well, I sorta ratholed myself a bit in describing my solo Disney day. Sorry about that. But I gotta say I enjoyed my first ever solo experience. It was a little bittersweet. On the one hand, it was pretty cool being able to just do things on my own, but a big part of why I do Disney at all is to experience it with loved ones. When I entered MK yesterday I welled up thinking about my daughter with whom I have skipped down Main St. MANY times (picture the "skip" seen in Wizard of Oz when Dorothy & friends are singing "we're off to see the wizard..."). =] Thanks for reading.
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