That explains a lot.
Just kidding!
Sure you are!
You have to see it to really understand it. I grew up picturing WDW as the Disney Experience. It's so weird to walk down a city block and see Mission: Breakout towering up above.
Or driving on the freeway and seeing the Matterhorn, that's why Walt was so secretive when he was buying up all the land in Florida.
Wow, more power to you! I've probably forgotten half the movies by now.
I didn't remember how some of them ended the first time I watched them!
Which is why I needed to rewatch them!
I remember hitting a Dr. Strange book in a cage or something, but I don't know that it did anything for my score either.
Yes, that's one of the things and it makes a big circle. I also did something with Thor's Hammer last week.
For me, I think due to it a) being in the dark and b) not being so tall, RnRC doesn't hit me as hard. By the time you realize you're upside-down the loop is already over.
Yes, that is a small loop that goes by quickly. You have plenty of time to see and anticipate the one in Incredicoaster.
It's almost like they are really good at their jobs!
My apologies that I’m going so long between updates.
No worries, my last update before today was in August. Although I really didn't have much to update about until Friday.
There are those who remain upset at the idea of a Star Wars land inside Walt’s original park, and I understand those complaints.
I get it too, but Walt said that "Disneyland will never be completed." I think he would have like it.
As we walked, Jeff filled us in on many of the details in the theming, including these numbers which are a shout-out to the years of the release dates of the original trilogy of movies (1977, 1980 and 1983).
I like how he knows so much about history and trivia.
The main menu items here are “Ronto wraps”, which are basically sausages (meat or vegetarian) wrapped in pita bread with slaw and peppercorn sauce.
That actually looks pretty good. I may have to give one a try. I haven't had one since the previews.
Along the way, Jeff made sure that Drew found evidence that even Mickey was around a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away.
Cute! I'll have to look for that. I'm going back next Friday.
We headed into the pre-show, where we got a video version of Hondo Ohnaka. I guess the animatronic figure was down. Boo.
After reading your TR, I made sure to pay close attention to the animatronic on Friday. He is a pretty cool one.
I have always loved Star Wars, and have generally enjoyed the various movies.
I can say the same. I haven't followed all the spin off series, but I am looking forward to season 3 of the Mandalorian.
And if you don’t take this photo in the waiting area, what are you even doing there?
Well, you can only have so many copies of that photo.....
I can see why some people complain about not being able to see what’s going on due to needing to push buttons and look at the control panel. But I also feel like that issue was solved with multiple rides.
Yeah, pretty much and doing all the positions doesn't hurt either.
I’m not sure what I can write about Disney’s showstopper of a ride that hasn’t already been written, but I can tell you this: as your VIP Tour guide, the host is free to get on any rides with you that he/she wishes. Often, Jeff would send us on our way and meet us at the exit when we were finished. But with Rise of the Resistance, he made sure he rode with us.
Yes, this ride is a must do.
I had one group that wanted to go on Davy Crockett’s canoes. That was a weird one. I mean, there’s NEVER a wait for the canoes.
That's definitely a weird one.
We went for a classic ride of our own instead: the Haunted Mansion.
I wanted to do that on Friday, but it was still the overlay version and I'm pretty much over that. Did it back in October.
As Jeff led us through the queue, he stopped to show us one support pole in the temple that seemed curiously flexible. He gave it a shake, and suddenly there was a loud crashing noise like the ceiling was about to collapse.
I really wanted to see this, but the ride is down for rehab. I hope they don't take that out.
But Indy is a perfectly
cromulent ride.
And some of the animatronics didn’t quite seem to be working right.
I got a behind the scenes tour, and each little area has several different nuances so that the ride isn't the same every time. The computers in the ride vehicles can react differently to what's going on around. Like the scene with the snake, sometimes the car lurches toward the snake, sometimes it veers the other direction.
We got a ride in on Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, because we can’t ever skip that ride.
I did on Friday.
We were just too tired.
Yes, we were fortunate enough to be at Disneyland while the Star Wars overlay was intact on Space Mountain, so that was definitely a bonus.
That would have been cool. This ride was down on Friday as well. I hope they are up and running when I go back next week.
Short answer: Best. Space. Mountain. Ever.
Alison, Jenny and Jill had come back to the parks and we briefly met up with them outside Space Mountain. But they decided to go on to the Club and meet up with Bob, who had already reserved a table for us, rather than do some more rides. If you’re reading this as saying they needed to fortify themselves with alcohol before spending more time with us, well…you’re probably not wrong.
Well, not so much to fortify ourselves before spending more time with you, to make up for what we did when we visited Fran at home. (I won't reveal that until my next TR, but then again Mark, you know.)
On to Fantasyland, where we got on another new experience for us—Snow White’s Enchanted Wish. This one had been recently re-built with brand new animatronics and effects,
Or the ride where they had to redo it because there was a backlash about the scene at the end where the prince kissed her without her consent. PC at it's finest.
We moved across the walkway to Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride, which none of our kids had ever experienced before. Again, it’s an enjoyable dark ride. I always got a kick out of the fact that a Disney ride actually ends with you going to hell (spoiler alert). I’m just amazed that it exists at all.
This is the BEST ride in Fantasyland.
We got on Peter Pan’s Flight, figuring it was a good use of VIP privileges to skip the ride on that one. Away we went on our voyage, sailing through the skids, until we came to a dead stop right over the pirate ship with Smee blasting away at us with the cannon. The ride had broken down.
Too bad it broke down. Seems like it would spoil the magic.
I can definitely say that we rode it, and it is now on the list just behind the Winnie the Pooh ride at WDW for Best Disney Ride To Experience While Tripping on LSD.
Rather than stand amongst the other peons, Jeff led us to this spot along the side of the castle and we took our photos there.
Hmmm....that's interesting, my group took almost the same picture on Friday, but Jeff didn't point it out to us.
As we said our goodbyes, I rolled up the cash in my fist and then did the ol’ gangster handshake with him, slipping him the bills as we shook.
“I’ve always wanted to do that,” I said.
“And now you have,” he said with a smile.
Nice......
And I try and figure out what photos I’m actually allowed to post from Club 33.
Good Luck!
Is it bad that I had no problem understanding that?
Neither Fran or I had a problem either....and she's not even on the DIS!
) I know you did all 50 states but did you keep count of all the national parks you visited?
