So, I was in the Magic Kingdom this last week. Besides basically not riding any major attractions (Though I did get on Seven Dwarfs' Mine Train since it only had a 20min wait around 12:50am), I did notice some new details that haven't been brought up on here.
First, the main middle railing is back in the Magic Kingdom Monorail station down ramp. It's brand new, with that new brass top to minimize the paint wearing off. Nice touch there.
On Main Street, I attempted to see the completed bypass area, but alas, it's not nearly done. The area that is complete looks decent, but there are some absolutely horrendous sight lines that have been created, even when the bypass isn't open. I really hope they correct that. It looks incredibly awful seeing what looks like scaffolding (or maybe just metal walkways, at least that's what they look like on Google Maps?) on top of the Main Street buildings. I'll hold off judging until they are done completely, but I have low expectations.
In the hub area, I see that they have almost completed the west side pathways. That is going to be wonderful when they are done. In no way, shape, or form will it look like the Gardens of Versailles, but it is still going to be a much welcome improvement. The new lighting looks nice, though moving everything from green to brown will take some getting used to. I'll miss the green look on all the railings, but I understand why it's being done. The biggest change for me is the walkway... no more red! Kodak photo studies be damned! (Though, those were based on Kodachrome Gold back in the 70s, so they probably don't apply to today's digital cameras anyway)
I was not impressed with the apparent lack of progress in converting the Adventureland Veranda back into a restaurant. So far, the entire area in front of the restaurant just acts as an extended queue for those buying Dole Whips. What a complete waste. This area of the park needs major re-working, especially since it's right at the entrance to Adventureland. What on earth are they thinking?
Further in, I peered into the new Sunglass Hut. It actually looks like they are keeping the same floor in the store that was there before, just new racks for sunglasses and new lighting. Nothing really amazing going on there. So don't get your hopes up when that store opens for anything breathtaking.
The Jingle Cruise was something I actually rode, though the jokes were pretty bad, I think I enjoyed the experience, it just needed more... perhaps they should put Santa hats on all the animals or something? I don't know. I do wish they would go back to Chief Namé again. Trader Sam lives in California, and they certainly don't look like one another.
Pirates was a complete disaster. Someone approve a massive budget to fix this ride. I could make a thread with all the things broken in that ride.
The mountains had too far long of waits, so I skipped them, as did I the Haunted Mansion. Though, I'm quite curious why they haven't re-worked the queue at the Mansion yet. The entrance to the attraction is in a different place now, so why are they still using the old keel boat dock and Fastpass area as a queue? And why is the old gift shop a closet?
In Fantasyland, I noticed that they have converted the old Seven Dwarf's Gem Store into a seating area for the food next door. Nice change there. They need more covered seating in the park.
The turkey sandwich at Cosmic Ray's tastes like ham. Worst Turkey Sandwich I've ever had in my life.
I spent some time in the Tomorrowland Arcade. Wow, that's a space that needs some TLC. The carpet is shot, the games are old, there was a weird smell in there, and I constantly heard people complaining that they god rid of the cell phone charging lockers that used to be there. (In fact, I was in there for 20 min charging my phone on the wall with my own wall-charger, but I agree, I miss the lockers. I know they were just a 3rd party test, but they worked brilliantly.)
Love the fact that all the lighting on Rocket Tower Plaza was working. Not loving that the planets weren't spinning. Anyone know if they will ever spin again after the fire they had?
The color changing lights on the PeopleMover still don't work. I asked someone about it and was given a BS excuse that Reedy Creek insisted that they didn't provide enough lighting so they had to keep them on white all the time. (No way that can be true at all, the old lights were much dimmer than what they have now, and they were colored as well in the main plaza area.) This is just lazy maintenance work and engineers who don't know how to fix the lights. Who knows, knowing Disney, the company that made the original programming for the lights probably went out of business now. Also, when the ride goes into Space Mountain, you see those signs that have large chips in them that say Starport 75. That really bothers me.
Inside the mountain dome, it's obvious that 70% of the stars were out inside. I think that's because they are finally digitizing the inside of the dome. Imagine what it would look like if you did projection mapping inside Space Mountain. I'm excited to see what comes of this.
Finally, I went to Starbucks. Holy hell, talk about abysmal service. It took me about 20 minutes to get a latte. 20 minutes isn't acceptable, ever. This was 20 minutes after I paid, by the way. Starbucks Corporate needs to come in and re-train every single person, including the management, in that Disney-run incompetent store. This is the second time this has happened, the first being at the Epcot location, where for some insane reason they had half the entire store closed. Disney should not be running these stores without proper training and guidelines. I also had the managers argue with me about the size of water they were allowed to serve.
Now, outside the MK...
Because I love to see the resorts, I also took a trip on the resort monorail to see the new Polynesian. The lobby has some flaws right now... For example, they did beautiful rock work around the new front desk, but somehow managed to forget to do the rock work in the entire doorway. HOW DO YOU MAKE SUCH A GAPING MISTAKE?! Sorry for the caps, but that single detail was the most insane thing in the entire lobby. I actually don't mind the wider space in the lobby, I just wish they would have made the new fountain about 20% larger, and two sided. There is room for it and the new fountain is just too small for such a large space, and the fountain is only on one side. Maybe it will look better after they put the little Tiki man on top. (They are still doing that, right?)
They also have these two little tiny paintings on a wall that is gargantuan. (The wall opposite the gift shop) Come on guys, spring for a bigger painting on this wall. It's begging for something beautiful and made specifically for the resort. I also noticed that the temporary construction walls they put up everywhere must have had metal bottoms, as the expensive stone floor was scratched and damaged around where the construction walls were almost continually all the way around the lobby.
I also stopped at, and was impressed at the Grand Floridian, because except for a broken monorail gate, the lobby looked almost flawless. (There were some major rips in the carpet that needed attention) Still gotta love that band that plays in the lobby.
Well, that's my update. Thoughts?
