DaddyBrady
Mouseketeer
- Joined
- May 18, 2006
- Messages
- 122
For our latest trip to Walt Disney World at the end of May, we took my parents to celebrate their 50th wedding anniversary. We had a great time with them, but it did mean we did fewer of our favorite attractions than typical and we moved at much slower pace. We stayed a few extra days, and mostly just to see if it could be done, reserved our final full day—Sunday, May 31—for a challenge: go to each of the four parks and in each park, do four attractions, including the 3D show in each.
Success! But let me add, this is not for the faint of heart.
Epcot
We planned to take advantage of both Morning and Evening Extra Magic Hours, so we arrived at Epcot about 7:30 am in advance of the early opening on Sunday. They began letting guests through the turnstiles about a quarter to eight, and we were waiting right at the rope at 8:00 am. We followed the cast members down the main walkway through Future World West to the Land pavilion and were on the first group to ride Soarin’. We crossed Future World to ride Test Track. Despite the light crowd on an early Sunday morning, we waited about 15 minutes before riding. We then high-tailed it back over to Future World West and the Imagination pavilion for Honey I Shrunk the Audience.
Need I say that this is a film in dire need of a refresh? I have seen this now in Paris and Anaheim in addition to Epcot. What was lively and entertaining eight years ago is dated and stale today. I’m sure that the toddler who picks up the theater is now in high school, and when was the last time you saw Rick Moranis? It’s not terrible, but of the four 3D movies at the World, it ranks at the bottom. Like much of Future World, it shows signs of neglect. Anyway.
We concluded our Epcot morning with Spaceship Earth. I’ll say I really do like the Judi Dench version—and it’s not just the English accent because we listened to Dame Judi in Spanish. The refresh is just great, and the interactive elements of the downward path are fun. That said, it’s too bad we lost all of the “future” in that downward path. Still, it’s nice to arrive somewhere at the end of the attraction, even if it’s a big set of advertisements for Siemens. ¡Saludos desde el futuro! (That’s me on the left and my partner Mario on he right.)
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We left Epcot about 10:00 AM, right on schedule. One park and four attractions down, and it was off to…
Animal Kingdom
We are big Animal Kingdom fans. People who say it’s just a half day park mystify me, but then I’m the guy who reads every plaque at the museum. We observed that the park was surprisingly busy as we parked in Unicorn. We had to begin our strategic thinking as we entered. We grabbed FASTPASSes for Everest, which gave us about two hours. It was hot, and we were prepared: we slipped into our swimsuits and tee-shirts and headed for Kali River Rapids. There was a 40 minute wait! Now, this was our first trip to Florida outside of the Christmas season, when Kali is a perpetual walk on. The compensation for this was the ability to really enjoy the intricate queue to the attraction which just layers on the details of the mythical kingdom of Anandapur and the Chakranandi River. The authentic (or authentic looking) artifacts recalled my trip to Vietnam and Cambodia.
We emerged, as always, drenched but invigorated. I love that attraction! Changing back into our dry clothes, it was lunch time: the pork sandwich at Flame Tree Barbecue. Take a close look at the seating areas for this restaurant. In each pavilion we see the working out of the food chain; in one, bats devour insects. In another, owls consumes rats. The food is among the very best of counter-service restaurants (man consuming pig), the setting underneath the Tree of Life can’t be beat, and the Imagineering is at a peak.
We were now steps away from our second 3D movie, It’s Tough to Be A Bug. I love this one, although it’s only #3 in my list because I enjoy the others even more. You know the commercial for wireless where the mother misses the telephone call telling her that Barney won’t be showing up for her child’s birthday party, but a man-eating T-Rex will? The crying hysterical children? That’s Bug. Never fails that the first effect produces stark terror in more than a few toddlers, with stunned parents wondering what they’ve gotten in to. (Here I am with my Bug Eyes.)
At this point, we planned to ride Primeval Whirl. Yes, I know it’s not exactly a cutting edge attraction, but we like it. Evidently we are not alone: a 40 minute wait. That was going to threaten our schedule. Fortunately, there were FASTPASSes available for another attraction, so we grabbed those and headed over to ride Expedition Everest. We are divided on this one: I think it’s great thrills and note that the ride is actually longer than Rock ’n’ Roller Coaster at the Studios, but Mario isn’t impressed. I think he wants it to actually go off the tracks – then we’d be talking thrills.
We backed track to Dinoland USA and rode Dinosaur using our FASTPASS. I like the ride better as Indiana Jones at Disneyland (same exact track and ride system, just different effects). It was closing in on 2:00 pm, and we were right on schedule!
Disney’s Hollywood Studios
We thought the Studios would be the most challenging part of our plan. First, we would be there mid-afternoon, and this would be the busiest part of the day. Second, we expected that FASTPASSes for some key attractions would either be all gone or with return times much later in the day. Finally, there aren’t that many attractions at the Studios compared to shows, which are more time consuming and less flexible. Fortunately, none of our concerns were realized, and we made fantastic time at the Studios.
True, however, to our earlier experience, all of the FASTPASSes to Toy Story Midway Mania were gone and the standby wait time was over 70 minutes. We’d already ridden this really entertaining attraction several times, including one very long wait, so we decided to give this one a pass. We picked up FASTPASSes for Tower and stood in a 40-minute queue for Rock ’n’ Roller Coaster. The theming of the queue at Coaster? None. (Hot beating sun on stucco does not count as theming.) Now let me reflect back on Kali River Rapids: more than the eye could take in and the mind absorb. That said, there’s nothing on property quite like that first rocket-engine start of Coaster. It may be less than two minutes, but I always want to go right back on.
But I don’t, because I enjoy Tower of Terror even more. By now we it was nearly 4 o’clock, and it was hot. Two attractions left. One was obvious according to our plan, and we headed over for MuppetVision. This attraction is nearing ten years, if not already there, but never ceases to entertain. I still laugh at Sam Eagle’s “It’s a two-hour extravaganza about all nations, but mostly the United States.” Miss Piggy water-skiing never gets old. And I love when a real child in the audience points to Bean Bunny when Sweetums comes out looking for him.
We ended our Studio’s attractions with American Idol Experience. Now let me say this: those who have predicted a short existence for this attraction (and you know who you are) are mistaken. I was skeptical myself, never having watched the show. But talk about infinite repeatability! Every experience is literally different because the performers are always new. We had already seen this earlier in our trip, and in the second visit, two of the judges were the same, although the host and the Paula Abdul character were different. The singers the first time out were entertaining—including a 14-year old boy who gave his heart to “I Want You Back”. In our second outing, however, there was a guy who gave everything he had to the anthem from Hercules[FONT=Calibri, sans-serif]“Go The Distance,” and he had people cheering and standing up hollering in the first 15 seconds. He was amazing. And that’s why this experience can play—if we hadn’t needed to head out, we’d have been back for the finale show at 7 to see him again.[/FONT]
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Magic Kingdom
It was about 7:00 pm when we entered the Magic Kingdom. Space Mountain is down for refurbishment, so we headed for Frontierland, one of my favorite places in all of Walt Disney World. We got a FASTPASS for Splash and then headed over to the endless twisting lines of Big Thunder Mountain Railroad. Here is a queue even more meager than Coaster. (No, wait, I’d have to be fair and say equally meager.) Once or twice you pass a window that provides a vista of Frontierland, but mostly it’s just hot. But it’s still a great ride once you get there, and I usually don’t remember that several people died on the Disneyland version until near the end.
Then it was off to Splash Mountain. In a cruel joke, we got wet sitting in the back of the boat from the splash of another log that came down just as we were next to it. Riding through the world of Brer Fox and Brer Bear and Brer Rabbit always makes me regret that Disney can’t overcome its fears of the politically correct to release Song of the South.
It was now almost 9:00 pm, so we headed to the central hub for Wishes. Others rave, but I’ll take IllumiNations any time. This did, however, mark that we were in the home stretch. Mario was getting cranky as we headed back to Jungle Cruise. If you haven’t done so, try to go on the Cruise at night some time—it’s really a neat experience to see the “animals” with focused lighting against the black of the night backdrop. We had a great skipper who knew the patter and delivered it with a sardonic flatness.
We then headed to PhilharMagic, our 16th attraction of the day and the final 3D movie. And what a way to end the day, with Donald at his jealous best, the sweeping scope of the scenes from so many modern classics such as Aladdin and Beauty and the Beast, and effects that enchant (rather than terrorize) the kids. Overall this is my favorite of the 3D movies, and one of my favorite attractions of all. We stepped out at precisely 10:00 pm – official park closing for the day. So although there were still three Extra Magic Hours available, we had completed our task in a mere 14.
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So it can be done: four parks, one day – and with early summer crowds at that!
Now, I wonder if we could do five attractions in each park!
Success! But let me add, this is not for the faint of heart.
Epcot
We planned to take advantage of both Morning and Evening Extra Magic Hours, so we arrived at Epcot about 7:30 am in advance of the early opening on Sunday. They began letting guests through the turnstiles about a quarter to eight, and we were waiting right at the rope at 8:00 am. We followed the cast members down the main walkway through Future World West to the Land pavilion and were on the first group to ride Soarin’. We crossed Future World to ride Test Track. Despite the light crowd on an early Sunday morning, we waited about 15 minutes before riding. We then high-tailed it back over to Future World West and the Imagination pavilion for Honey I Shrunk the Audience.
Need I say that this is a film in dire need of a refresh? I have seen this now in Paris and Anaheim in addition to Epcot. What was lively and entertaining eight years ago is dated and stale today. I’m sure that the toddler who picks up the theater is now in high school, and when was the last time you saw Rick Moranis? It’s not terrible, but of the four 3D movies at the World, it ranks at the bottom. Like much of Future World, it shows signs of neglect. Anyway.
We concluded our Epcot morning with Spaceship Earth. I’ll say I really do like the Judi Dench version—and it’s not just the English accent because we listened to Dame Judi in Spanish. The refresh is just great, and the interactive elements of the downward path are fun. That said, it’s too bad we lost all of the “future” in that downward path. Still, it’s nice to arrive somewhere at the end of the attraction, even if it’s a big set of advertisements for Siemens. ¡Saludos desde el futuro! (That’s me on the left and my partner Mario on he right.)
[FONT=Calibri, sans-serif]
We left Epcot about 10:00 AM, right on schedule. One park and four attractions down, and it was off to…
Animal Kingdom
We are big Animal Kingdom fans. People who say it’s just a half day park mystify me, but then I’m the guy who reads every plaque at the museum. We observed that the park was surprisingly busy as we parked in Unicorn. We had to begin our strategic thinking as we entered. We grabbed FASTPASSes for Everest, which gave us about two hours. It was hot, and we were prepared: we slipped into our swimsuits and tee-shirts and headed for Kali River Rapids. There was a 40 minute wait! Now, this was our first trip to Florida outside of the Christmas season, when Kali is a perpetual walk on. The compensation for this was the ability to really enjoy the intricate queue to the attraction which just layers on the details of the mythical kingdom of Anandapur and the Chakranandi River. The authentic (or authentic looking) artifacts recalled my trip to Vietnam and Cambodia.
We emerged, as always, drenched but invigorated. I love that attraction! Changing back into our dry clothes, it was lunch time: the pork sandwich at Flame Tree Barbecue. Take a close look at the seating areas for this restaurant. In each pavilion we see the working out of the food chain; in one, bats devour insects. In another, owls consumes rats. The food is among the very best of counter-service restaurants (man consuming pig), the setting underneath the Tree of Life can’t be beat, and the Imagineering is at a peak.
We were now steps away from our second 3D movie, It’s Tough to Be A Bug. I love this one, although it’s only #3 in my list because I enjoy the others even more. You know the commercial for wireless where the mother misses the telephone call telling her that Barney won’t be showing up for her child’s birthday party, but a man-eating T-Rex will? The crying hysterical children? That’s Bug. Never fails that the first effect produces stark terror in more than a few toddlers, with stunned parents wondering what they’ve gotten in to. (Here I am with my Bug Eyes.)
At this point, we planned to ride Primeval Whirl. Yes, I know it’s not exactly a cutting edge attraction, but we like it. Evidently we are not alone: a 40 minute wait. That was going to threaten our schedule. Fortunately, there were FASTPASSes available for another attraction, so we grabbed those and headed over to ride Expedition Everest. We are divided on this one: I think it’s great thrills and note that the ride is actually longer than Rock ’n’ Roller Coaster at the Studios, but Mario isn’t impressed. I think he wants it to actually go off the tracks – then we’d be talking thrills.
We backed track to Dinoland USA and rode Dinosaur using our FASTPASS. I like the ride better as Indiana Jones at Disneyland (same exact track and ride system, just different effects). It was closing in on 2:00 pm, and we were right on schedule!
Disney’s Hollywood Studios
We thought the Studios would be the most challenging part of our plan. First, we would be there mid-afternoon, and this would be the busiest part of the day. Second, we expected that FASTPASSes for some key attractions would either be all gone or with return times much later in the day. Finally, there aren’t that many attractions at the Studios compared to shows, which are more time consuming and less flexible. Fortunately, none of our concerns were realized, and we made fantastic time at the Studios.
True, however, to our earlier experience, all of the FASTPASSes to Toy Story Midway Mania were gone and the standby wait time was over 70 minutes. We’d already ridden this really entertaining attraction several times, including one very long wait, so we decided to give this one a pass. We picked up FASTPASSes for Tower and stood in a 40-minute queue for Rock ’n’ Roller Coaster. The theming of the queue at Coaster? None. (Hot beating sun on stucco does not count as theming.) Now let me reflect back on Kali River Rapids: more than the eye could take in and the mind absorb. That said, there’s nothing on property quite like that first rocket-engine start of Coaster. It may be less than two minutes, but I always want to go right back on.
But I don’t, because I enjoy Tower of Terror even more. By now we it was nearly 4 o’clock, and it was hot. Two attractions left. One was obvious according to our plan, and we headed over for MuppetVision. This attraction is nearing ten years, if not already there, but never ceases to entertain. I still laugh at Sam Eagle’s “It’s a two-hour extravaganza about all nations, but mostly the United States.” Miss Piggy water-skiing never gets old. And I love when a real child in the audience points to Bean Bunny when Sweetums comes out looking for him.
We ended our Studio’s attractions with American Idol Experience. Now let me say this: those who have predicted a short existence for this attraction (and you know who you are) are mistaken. I was skeptical myself, never having watched the show. But talk about infinite repeatability! Every experience is literally different because the performers are always new. We had already seen this earlier in our trip, and in the second visit, two of the judges were the same, although the host and the Paula Abdul character were different. The singers the first time out were entertaining—including a 14-year old boy who gave his heart to “I Want You Back”. In our second outing, however, there was a guy who gave everything he had to the anthem from Hercules[FONT=Calibri, sans-serif]“Go The Distance,” and he had people cheering and standing up hollering in the first 15 seconds. He was amazing. And that’s why this experience can play—if we hadn’t needed to head out, we’d have been back for the finale show at 7 to see him again.[/FONT]
[FONT=Calibri, sans-serif]
Magic Kingdom
It was about 7:00 pm when we entered the Magic Kingdom. Space Mountain is down for refurbishment, so we headed for Frontierland, one of my favorite places in all of Walt Disney World. We got a FASTPASS for Splash and then headed over to the endless twisting lines of Big Thunder Mountain Railroad. Here is a queue even more meager than Coaster. (No, wait, I’d have to be fair and say equally meager.) Once or twice you pass a window that provides a vista of Frontierland, but mostly it’s just hot. But it’s still a great ride once you get there, and I usually don’t remember that several people died on the Disneyland version until near the end.
Then it was off to Splash Mountain. In a cruel joke, we got wet sitting in the back of the boat from the splash of another log that came down just as we were next to it. Riding through the world of Brer Fox and Brer Bear and Brer Rabbit always makes me regret that Disney can’t overcome its fears of the politically correct to release Song of the South.
It was now almost 9:00 pm, so we headed to the central hub for Wishes. Others rave, but I’ll take IllumiNations any time. This did, however, mark that we were in the home stretch. Mario was getting cranky as we headed back to Jungle Cruise. If you haven’t done so, try to go on the Cruise at night some time—it’s really a neat experience to see the “animals” with focused lighting against the black of the night backdrop. We had a great skipper who knew the patter and delivered it with a sardonic flatness.
We then headed to PhilharMagic, our 16th attraction of the day and the final 3D movie. And what a way to end the day, with Donald at his jealous best, the sweeping scope of the scenes from so many modern classics such as Aladdin and Beauty and the Beast, and effects that enchant (rather than terrorize) the kids. Overall this is my favorite of the 3D movies, and one of my favorite attractions of all. We stepped out at precisely 10:00 pm – official park closing for the day. So although there were still three Extra Magic Hours available, we had completed our task in a mere 14.
[FONT=Calibri, sans-serif]
So it can be done: four parks, one day – and with early summer crowds at that!
Now, I wonder if we could do five attractions in each park!
