Alright, here’s my report a bit earlier than I thought. It is not my best writing, so I just kind of went for a stream-of-consciousness approach to jot my thoughts down.
I mainly focus on rides and parks as a whole, so if anyone has questions about shopping/dining/my other opinions (I have many)/living vicariously through me feel free to ask!
Not sure how to start this. We stayed at Yacht and Beach to be close to EPCOT, which is of course the greatest park, but also for Stormalong Bay, the greatest pool.
The entire resort (WDW, not Y&B) was much busier than we anticipated, especially because the summer has been so slow thus far. Magic Kingdom became a nightmare to tour, outside of Not-So-Scary. It was too busy to do much there, the entire park is a sea of concrete (almost), and the food is so bad there wasn’t really much motivation to stay past lunch We ended up staying in EPCOT for the majority of the trip.EPCOT remains fantastic as ever, the single greatest Disney park I’ve been to (I know, I know, I’ve never been to Tokyo). There is water everywhere, grass to sit in. The park is so much more open and so much more relaxing than the other three parks. We spent a morning there, didn’t go on a single ride, and left, feeling satisfied by that alone! It is truly the best park there.
Hollywood Studios still has egregious capacity issues. I don’t know how they continue to operate like this. Plus, the park is just so ugly and incoherent.
I hadn’t been to Animal Kingdom in five years, and I’ve never really loved it. However, this trip I enjoyed it enough for it to propel itself from my fourth favorite WDW park to the third. There is something to be said for detailed and cohesive theming! If Tropical Americas is great and the RoA removal destroys Frontierland and Liberty Square it could easily reach second.
Which brings me to my PearlieThots on all of the new stuff I saw and went on!
Communicore Hall/Plaza:
At the risk of sounding like a fake EPCOT purist, I… did not hate this. In fact, I kind of… liked it? It just added even more greenery and places to sit, which is… great! Isn’t that what Universal is marketing in Celestial Park? Could it have used a fountain? Sure! Is it particularly inspiring? Not really, but I didn’t find the old plaza very inspiring either! I missed the symmetry, but this was perfectly acceptable. A waste of time and money to be sure, but not an utter destruction of the park. And every time I looked in Communicore Hall, I saw people sitting in the AC. Doesn’t that count for something?
CBMJ
Fantastic. Possibly better than the original, in my opinion. It was nice to have other people there know the words to the songs, and the energy in the audience was as high as I’ve ever seen it. The animatronics were world-class. So fluid, and wonderful to watch. And some of the voice actors were probably closer to the original than either previous overlay, which impressed me. The characters are all the same as ever, which is great to see from modern Disney.
TBA
Just very off the wall nutso, the way I like my WDW! Obviously, elephant in the room, this is not Splash Mountain. Splash was probably my favorite attraction of all time, but I completely understand and have accepted why it was removed. Bayou Adventure is, in my opinion, a solid 8/10. Splash was a 10/10, so I don’t think this ever really had a chance of beating or even matching that. It’s not that Bayou Adventure was a masterpiece of storytelling, but it was a fantastic time throughout. I’m so glad they fixed the jumping fountains, the animatronics were great (only one was broken!), and of course there was Mondo! My main complaint is that there was not enough Prince Naveen. He is one of the funniest Disney characters, and he only got to recite the Spanish safety spiel! Disney, come on! Just put his waving arm sticking out of some bushes near the beginning, and loop some dialogue where he says something like, “ay schedanza! I guess I am not cut out for the adventuring after all!”. That is all I ask for! One “ay schedanza!”
I have just highly praised three things, two of which were widely unpopular, and the third of which is definitely not thought of as better than the original by almost anyone else. I’ll leave my fan card on the counter. To counterbalance this, I’ll put some thoughts on some other classic attractions that are less minority and less rah-rah Iger.
Poor Spaceship Earth is disintegrating. I couldn’t hear the narration half of the time because of the creaking of the ride system. It was just so sad. And the descent doesn’t work. It just needs a heavy mechanical refurb, a light scene refresh (the content is still great!), and a new descent.
Living with the Land might be the most relaxing attraction of all time. It is beauty, it is grace, it is perfection.
Mission Space: Green is incredibly boring. I don’t know why I went on this. Or took the time to write about it!
Imagination needs some help, but I genuinely enjoy the current version because I grew up with it, and looking around this time I saw all of the black walls and cheap sets that would be easy to rip out, which made me hopeful. And I got to meet Figment!
Guardians is a fantastic coaster. The story sucks, and I still can’t tell what’s happening, but when you get September, it is a transcendent experience. Hopefully the next regime gives it an EPCOT worthy theme and story.
I tried Blue Milk. It wasn’t bad!
Muppet*Vision is the single funniest piece of Muppets content. I truly hope it sticks around for another decade. The new effects are great, and my theater was really into the show. Love to see it!
Tower of Terror might be the greatest dark ride of all time. The way it builds up legitimately terrifying suspense is just a masterclass in Imagineering.
Boo to You is my favorite parade. I said something to this effect earlier, but it is such a perfect encapsulation of Halloween.
Runaway Railway has grown on me. You see something new every time!
I got to visit the little area that used to be Computer Central! I like to think that Earlie the Pearlie still lives back there. Although that is creepy, so maybe not.
EDIT: this area is blocked off. I stood outside and admired a chunk of building. It was cooler than it sounds.
Umm… I’m running out of things to say. I’ll miss the RoA, although now my final memory of them will be getting stung by a bee while I tried to take a final wistful look at the shoreline.
Thanks for reading! If you vehemently disagree with any of my opinions on a moral, socioeconomic, or other basis, feel free to discuss!
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Just busy with a few long term projects that are still in development.
