Hi all
I just got back from a short run to Orlando, and had a blast. Everest was amazing, and the parks weren't that busy (esp on Mon and Tues). Here's a park by park recap of some things I noticed...
Magic Kingdom
Adventureland at night
- After Wishes is over and everybdoy leaves, you can hear the Treehouse music from far far away. It's amazing.
Splash Mountain
- The splash that occurs when boats go down the big drop now soaks any boats that are near the 2nd lift. Not sure if this is a malfunction or by design.
- The hopping Brer Rabbit isn't hopping any more (he was working when I visited after New Years)
Thunder Mtn
- I don't know if this is new or not, but I could hear the queue music outside of the main queue building and exit area.
Haunted Mansion
- The Gracey portrait wasn't working one day, and it was working the next (and in the correct order)
- Of course, the mansion is in desparate need of a complete rehab / technology update. But that goes without saying.
Tomorrowland
- Seemed dirtier than normal to me
- It looks like more of the lights in the main entrance are working now. Some of the side towers were not lit up before.
Stitch's Great Escape
- As much as I hate the actual show, I need to see it once in a while. Must be because of the Skippy tribute, and the awesome Stitch AA
Space Mtn
- Like the Haunted Mansion, this is also ridiculously dated and needs an update. Ideally, they need to transform the old Skyway station into the new launch pad for a new, launched coaster. (We can all dream, can't we?)
Epcot
Spaceship Earth
- The entrance got repainted. It now sports several bands of blue tones instead of being one single color. The base of the neighboring shops also got repainted. Unfortunately, I don't have a picture of this.
- Still no other signs of the new sponsorship, although I'm sure changes are on the way very soon.
Innoventions
- The fountain show was running again. Apparantly it was warm enough for the shows to run.
- Mezzo Mix and the Ginger Ale from Mozambique were both out of commission at Club Cool.
Wonders of Life
- It's no longer illuminated at night. On my last trip, everything was still lit up at night even though it wasn't open. Now it sits, dark and quiet. It's very sad to see.
Test Track
- Saw a crane up by the front area. Not sure what it was being used for. Maybe some track was being replaced / modified?
HISTA
- Finally saw the Kodak preshow for the first time in a long time, and it was horrible. As long as I can remember, every preshow that's been in that room has been horrible. Why is that?
Soarin
- I saw the shortest waits ever on this trip. After arriving at the park around 130-200, I was able to get a FastPass for a 500 ride. Amazing. Every other time I've visited Soarin, all FastPasses were gone by 1100 in the morning.
Living with the Land
- There are new Peach Palms in the tropics greenhouse. I'm not sure what happened to the old ones (I imagine they died, or outgrew the dome?), but two new ones are now planted in the middle.
Living Seas
- Some of the old trivia video machines have been replaced with fancy new ones. However, I found some of the original ones upstairs, and they were still working!
Japan
- Kaki Goris have returned. I was unable to get one at the beginning of the month, but thoroughally enjoyed one on this trip.
Illuminations
- Inferno barge is still absent.
- After the show, I saw a ton of pontoon boats leaving the lagoon for the Epcot resort area. It seemed like there were too many for it to be Illuminations cruises. Was there a large group of special guests in town? Is this how special people that get to sit on the island (between UK and France) get to leave?
MGM
Great Movie Ride
- They were running this in one-train operation on Monday, which uses a different schedule than either the normal Gangster or Western versions. It basically follows the Gangster schedule until the Wizard of Oz scene. There, the vehicle moves to the front, where the Western train usually sits. Also, it doesn't sit there for a minute while we're supposed to sing the song, and leaves the scene immediately. (I really hate that section. Ha.)
Tower of Terror
- I got the same drop sequence both times I went on it. Not really news, but it wasn't really expected either.
- It was so empty, that I was able to choose any seat I wanted. Again, not really news, but really freaking cool.
Animal Kingdom
Expedition Everest
- The ride was INCREDIBLE (more on that below)
- The ride was still nowhere to be found on any guidemaps / entertainment guides / park tip boards.
- Most animals were active
Primeval Whirl
- For the second vacation in a row, it broke (last time we were at the highest section). How often does this thing break?
Dinosaur
- Many animatronics were broken. The pteranadon didn't work, and will probabyl never work. The compys didn't jump over the car. The charging carnotaurus didn't exactly charge either. Sigh.
Kali
- They really tone it down in the winter, although you could still get soaked on the big drop (as I did. Ha)
Character Cruises
- Now they have characters cruise in the lagoon at points during the day. At one point, I saw Minnie, Goofy, and Pluto in a boat. I'm sure this will happen much more once Everest opens and the entire lagoon becomes a high-traffic area.
Electrical Water Pageant
I saw this while I was doing nighttime photography at the resorts. When I saw it from the Floridian, the American flags were all backwards. They were correct when I saw them from the Contemp a couple nights before. Does this always happen? The American flag is the only thing in the show that looks incorrect when it's backwards.
Leave now if you don't want to read any Expedition Everest spoilers
Alright. Let's talk about the awesome Expediton Everest...
First of all, I watched all of the videos, and saw all of the pictures, and I was still amazed at what I saw. Like I mentioned in posts here, the videos can only show so much of the ride, and can only provide a small sample of the overall experience.
To sum it up, Everest is simply awesome. It's epic in size, and you can see it from many places. You can see it before you enter WDW property, and you can easily see it from the parking lot. Thankfully, you can't see it much inside the park except from Dinoland and the lagoon. (It would spoil the theming of the rest of the park)
When you walk up to it, you're undoubtedly awestruck by it's huge size. It's amazing just how big it really is. Chances are that you'll also be approaching when it's running with guests, so you'll hear people screaming as trains fly down the mountain (this is a great setup).
Let's start off with the entrance area. It's really quite outstanding. Like everything in Asia and Africa, the Everest area looks like it's been there forever. There are thousands of details, and it looks like everything has a purpose. The viewing area will definately be a popular spot for people that are interested in the ride, people that are waiting, or people that just finished their exciting ride. My only complaint is that there is really nowhere to put the extended line queue. If the line went all the way to Asia just for an AP preview at the end of January, imagine how it's going to be when it's open to the public during the busy season. You could feasably get a FP for Safari first thing in the morning, ride Everest in the standby line, then have your Safari FP be expired when you return.
Enough about the extended queue, let's talk about the real queue. Like Kali, it's outstanding. There are details everywhere, and there are a million yeti references to be found. You enter through a travel office of some sort. There's a desk and many travel posters / maps of Everest and the Himalayan Mtns. Next we go outside and travel under and around a temple. There are statues and shrines of the yeti everywhere, as well as bells that people will undoubtedly ring. If the bells are used sparingly, they really add to the ambience. Next, the queue circles a tea garden. This didn't really look or smell nice, but I'm sure it will add something later in the year. Then the queue goes into a gift shop that has things you can't buy (what irony!), and into the much talked about yeti museum. The museum has a lot of yeti artifacts and evidence from yeti attacks. It also has scat from two different animals (not sure why that's there. Heh). After travelling through one collection point (the Fastpass queue meets the standby line here), you are at the loading dock.
My only complaint with the main queue is that it's not nearly long enough. Given the Fastpass usage (which is probably nowhere near what the real proportion will be like), I only spent about 30 mins in the actual line (from the main entrance to the loading dock). I imagine it will be closer to 60-90 mins when FastPass is fully implemented.
Onto the vehicles. The trains are some of the coolest ride vehicles Disney has ever created. Overall, they just look pretty damn cool. The seats are also some of the most comfortable seats I've ever been in (at least, for a roller coaster). And, of course, the locomotive is freaking awesome. When the
train arrives in the station, a huge cloud of steam surrounds the loclmotive and the rear two cars. After the train is loaded, then the train lets out a hearty whistle, another steam cloud surrounds the back, and we're on our way.
I won't go into too much detail about the ride, because we already know how it goes. I will say that I really like the pacing of the ride. The lift hills move very fast, giving you time to soak up the surroundings, but not boring you either. The details at the three yeti encounters blew me away. The second encounter (in the ice cave) seemed much cooler in person than on any video I saw. The final encounter just blew me away. It's 100x better than anything I've seen or read. You can see him from far away for 5-10 seconds (which is a long time on a roller coaster), then dive at the last second as he tries to hit the train. It's actually a little scary if you're in the front of the train.
My only real complaint is that the first encounter (if you can call it that) seems a bit long. Somehow, they need something else to occur. I bet most people won't even see the yeti claws that surround the train. Instead of static things to look at, something ominous needs to occur (a loud rumble combined with rolling fog would be hot).
All in all, the ride is incredible. I'll ride it at least once on every visit to DAK, just like I do with Dinosaur and the safari. Sure, I wish it was a little longer, but there's really no more room to add track. Between the existing track, the cavern for the 2nd switchback, and the main yeti cavern, there really isn't much more room for additional track.
I just got back from a short run to Orlando, and had a blast. Everest was amazing, and the parks weren't that busy (esp on Mon and Tues). Here's a park by park recap of some things I noticed...
Magic Kingdom
Adventureland at night
- After Wishes is over and everybdoy leaves, you can hear the Treehouse music from far far away. It's amazing.
Splash Mountain
- The splash that occurs when boats go down the big drop now soaks any boats that are near the 2nd lift. Not sure if this is a malfunction or by design.
- The hopping Brer Rabbit isn't hopping any more (he was working when I visited after New Years)
Thunder Mtn
- I don't know if this is new or not, but I could hear the queue music outside of the main queue building and exit area.
Haunted Mansion
- The Gracey portrait wasn't working one day, and it was working the next (and in the correct order)
- Of course, the mansion is in desparate need of a complete rehab / technology update. But that goes without saying.
Tomorrowland
- Seemed dirtier than normal to me
- It looks like more of the lights in the main entrance are working now. Some of the side towers were not lit up before.
Stitch's Great Escape
- As much as I hate the actual show, I need to see it once in a while. Must be because of the Skippy tribute, and the awesome Stitch AA
Space Mtn
- Like the Haunted Mansion, this is also ridiculously dated and needs an update. Ideally, they need to transform the old Skyway station into the new launch pad for a new, launched coaster. (We can all dream, can't we?)
Epcot
Spaceship Earth
- The entrance got repainted. It now sports several bands of blue tones instead of being one single color. The base of the neighboring shops also got repainted. Unfortunately, I don't have a picture of this.
- Still no other signs of the new sponsorship, although I'm sure changes are on the way very soon.
Innoventions
- The fountain show was running again. Apparantly it was warm enough for the shows to run.
- Mezzo Mix and the Ginger Ale from Mozambique were both out of commission at Club Cool.
Wonders of Life
- It's no longer illuminated at night. On my last trip, everything was still lit up at night even though it wasn't open. Now it sits, dark and quiet. It's very sad to see.
Test Track
- Saw a crane up by the front area. Not sure what it was being used for. Maybe some track was being replaced / modified?
HISTA
- Finally saw the Kodak preshow for the first time in a long time, and it was horrible. As long as I can remember, every preshow that's been in that room has been horrible. Why is that?
Soarin
- I saw the shortest waits ever on this trip. After arriving at the park around 130-200, I was able to get a FastPass for a 500 ride. Amazing. Every other time I've visited Soarin, all FastPasses were gone by 1100 in the morning.
Living with the Land
- There are new Peach Palms in the tropics greenhouse. I'm not sure what happened to the old ones (I imagine they died, or outgrew the dome?), but two new ones are now planted in the middle.
Living Seas
- Some of the old trivia video machines have been replaced with fancy new ones. However, I found some of the original ones upstairs, and they were still working!
Japan
- Kaki Goris have returned. I was unable to get one at the beginning of the month, but thoroughally enjoyed one on this trip.
Illuminations
- Inferno barge is still absent.
- After the show, I saw a ton of pontoon boats leaving the lagoon for the Epcot resort area. It seemed like there were too many for it to be Illuminations cruises. Was there a large group of special guests in town? Is this how special people that get to sit on the island (between UK and France) get to leave?
MGM
Great Movie Ride
- They were running this in one-train operation on Monday, which uses a different schedule than either the normal Gangster or Western versions. It basically follows the Gangster schedule until the Wizard of Oz scene. There, the vehicle moves to the front, where the Western train usually sits. Also, it doesn't sit there for a minute while we're supposed to sing the song, and leaves the scene immediately. (I really hate that section. Ha.)
Tower of Terror
- I got the same drop sequence both times I went on it. Not really news, but it wasn't really expected either.
- It was so empty, that I was able to choose any seat I wanted. Again, not really news, but really freaking cool.
Animal Kingdom
Expedition Everest
- The ride was INCREDIBLE (more on that below)
- The ride was still nowhere to be found on any guidemaps / entertainment guides / park tip boards.
- Most animals were active
Primeval Whirl
- For the second vacation in a row, it broke (last time we were at the highest section). How often does this thing break?
Dinosaur
- Many animatronics were broken. The pteranadon didn't work, and will probabyl never work. The compys didn't jump over the car. The charging carnotaurus didn't exactly charge either. Sigh.
Kali
- They really tone it down in the winter, although you could still get soaked on the big drop (as I did. Ha)
Character Cruises
- Now they have characters cruise in the lagoon at points during the day. At one point, I saw Minnie, Goofy, and Pluto in a boat. I'm sure this will happen much more once Everest opens and the entire lagoon becomes a high-traffic area.
Electrical Water Pageant
I saw this while I was doing nighttime photography at the resorts. When I saw it from the Floridian, the American flags were all backwards. They were correct when I saw them from the Contemp a couple nights before. Does this always happen? The American flag is the only thing in the show that looks incorrect when it's backwards.
Leave now if you don't want to read any Expedition Everest spoilers
Alright. Let's talk about the awesome Expediton Everest...
First of all, I watched all of the videos, and saw all of the pictures, and I was still amazed at what I saw. Like I mentioned in posts here, the videos can only show so much of the ride, and can only provide a small sample of the overall experience.
To sum it up, Everest is simply awesome. It's epic in size, and you can see it from many places. You can see it before you enter WDW property, and you can easily see it from the parking lot. Thankfully, you can't see it much inside the park except from Dinoland and the lagoon. (It would spoil the theming of the rest of the park)
When you walk up to it, you're undoubtedly awestruck by it's huge size. It's amazing just how big it really is. Chances are that you'll also be approaching when it's running with guests, so you'll hear people screaming as trains fly down the mountain (this is a great setup).
Let's start off with the entrance area. It's really quite outstanding. Like everything in Asia and Africa, the Everest area looks like it's been there forever. There are thousands of details, and it looks like everything has a purpose. The viewing area will definately be a popular spot for people that are interested in the ride, people that are waiting, or people that just finished their exciting ride. My only complaint is that there is really nowhere to put the extended line queue. If the line went all the way to Asia just for an AP preview at the end of January, imagine how it's going to be when it's open to the public during the busy season. You could feasably get a FP for Safari first thing in the morning, ride Everest in the standby line, then have your Safari FP be expired when you return.
Enough about the extended queue, let's talk about the real queue. Like Kali, it's outstanding. There are details everywhere, and there are a million yeti references to be found. You enter through a travel office of some sort. There's a desk and many travel posters / maps of Everest and the Himalayan Mtns. Next we go outside and travel under and around a temple. There are statues and shrines of the yeti everywhere, as well as bells that people will undoubtedly ring. If the bells are used sparingly, they really add to the ambience. Next, the queue circles a tea garden. This didn't really look or smell nice, but I'm sure it will add something later in the year. Then the queue goes into a gift shop that has things you can't buy (what irony!), and into the much talked about yeti museum. The museum has a lot of yeti artifacts and evidence from yeti attacks. It also has scat from two different animals (not sure why that's there. Heh). After travelling through one collection point (the Fastpass queue meets the standby line here), you are at the loading dock.
My only complaint with the main queue is that it's not nearly long enough. Given the Fastpass usage (which is probably nowhere near what the real proportion will be like), I only spent about 30 mins in the actual line (from the main entrance to the loading dock). I imagine it will be closer to 60-90 mins when FastPass is fully implemented.
Onto the vehicles. The trains are some of the coolest ride vehicles Disney has ever created. Overall, they just look pretty damn cool. The seats are also some of the most comfortable seats I've ever been in (at least, for a roller coaster). And, of course, the locomotive is freaking awesome. When the
train arrives in the station, a huge cloud of steam surrounds the loclmotive and the rear two cars. After the train is loaded, then the train lets out a hearty whistle, another steam cloud surrounds the back, and we're on our way.
I won't go into too much detail about the ride, because we already know how it goes. I will say that I really like the pacing of the ride. The lift hills move very fast, giving you time to soak up the surroundings, but not boring you either. The details at the three yeti encounters blew me away. The second encounter (in the ice cave) seemed much cooler in person than on any video I saw. The final encounter just blew me away. It's 100x better than anything I've seen or read. You can see him from far away for 5-10 seconds (which is a long time on a roller coaster), then dive at the last second as he tries to hit the train. It's actually a little scary if you're in the front of the train.
My only real complaint is that the first encounter (if you can call it that) seems a bit long. Somehow, they need something else to occur. I bet most people won't even see the yeti claws that surround the train. Instead of static things to look at, something ominous needs to occur (a loud rumble combined with rolling fog would be hot).
All in all, the ride is incredible. I'll ride it at least once on every visit to DAK, just like I do with Dinosaur and the safari. Sure, I wish it was a little longer, but there's really no more room to add track. Between the existing track, the cavern for the 2nd switchback, and the main yeti cavern, there really isn't much more room for additional track.
