Instead of trying to write a detailed report of all our activities, I wanted to share some highlights and lowlights which might be of benefit to future travellers.
Big Thumbs Up
Cirque du Soleil - La Nouba. That was probably the highlight of our trip. We saw it last Monday night and each act was seemingly better than the one before. It is a circus and at the same time it is not a circus. I was surprised to see that this show had nothing to do with water which is a fundamental part of the Cirque du Soleil show in Vegas.
Kilamanjero Safari at the Animal Kingdom This is a close second to Cirque du Soleil. It was wonderful seeing all of the animals in such a relatively natural setting. The attraction covers a huge area as well. I found out that it alone covers more ground than all of the Magic Kingdom put together.
All the 3D movies , especially It's Tough to Be a Bug at the Animal Kingdom. The effects beyond the 3D were better than the 3D itself.
Rock N'Roller Coaster at MGM . I think that this is the best coaster in Disney World. Big Thunder Mountain and even Space Mountain were a lot tamer than I remembered from year's back, especially BTMRR. We also rode Primeval Whirl at the Animal Kingdom. I found that ride to be very average, just this side of a normal carnival ride.
Test Track at EPCOT. Very good ride. I read a lot of the reports from people who were disappointed that the fast ride at the end was not longer but both my companion and I really liked the ride.
Fastpasses at all the parks. These worked great. Even though the crowds appeared quite large on Monday through Wednesday, we never had to wait more than firteen to twenty minutes at any ride since we always got our Fastpasses for the really busy ones and saw the other attractions while we were waiting.
Fantasmic at MGM. Very good show and it was particularly interesting the way that they projected lasers on the walls of water. We ate at Hollywood and Vine and thereby got reserved seating which worked out very well.
Tarzan Rocks at the Animal Kingdom . Fun show and very well done. We found it to be as professional and entertaining as many of these types of shows we have seen in Vegas.
Murderwatch Mystery Theater at the Grosvenor Hotel. The buffet was excellent and the story was fun. The actors really seemed very enthusiastic and they involved the audience quite a bit. I recommend this highly.
Big Thumbs Down unfortunately.
Universe of Energy. We both found the humor of Ellen DeGeneres to be quite lame and it did not add to the experience at all. I rode this many years ago and my memories of it are much more positive than what I found this time around.
Illuminations at EPCOT[/U]. I saw the old show that highlighted each of the individual countries and contained some very patriotic music. This one pretty much concentrated on the globe at the center of the lagoon and nothing that I remember highlighted any of the countries. I think that in my mind this suffered by comparison to the old show. However, my companion liked it a lot.
We liked most everything else we saw and did but the ones I have mentioned here were definitely our favorites. If I think of anything else, I will post again to this thread.
We stayed at the Amerihost just south of the World on Hwy 192. It was nothing extra special but the location was great and the price was right, since I had a special I took advantage of. I read some comments to make sure and get a room away from the Kareoke. We did that but the Kareoke ended at 11PM each night anyway so I can't imagine that it ever would have bothered us.
If you're going soon, have a really great time. We certainly did.
Big Thumbs Up
Cirque du Soleil - La Nouba. That was probably the highlight of our trip. We saw it last Monday night and each act was seemingly better than the one before. It is a circus and at the same time it is not a circus. I was surprised to see that this show had nothing to do with water which is a fundamental part of the Cirque du Soleil show in Vegas.
Kilamanjero Safari at the Animal Kingdom This is a close second to Cirque du Soleil. It was wonderful seeing all of the animals in such a relatively natural setting. The attraction covers a huge area as well. I found out that it alone covers more ground than all of the Magic Kingdom put together.
All the 3D movies , especially It's Tough to Be a Bug at the Animal Kingdom. The effects beyond the 3D were better than the 3D itself.
Rock N'Roller Coaster at MGM . I think that this is the best coaster in Disney World. Big Thunder Mountain and even Space Mountain were a lot tamer than I remembered from year's back, especially BTMRR. We also rode Primeval Whirl at the Animal Kingdom. I found that ride to be very average, just this side of a normal carnival ride.
Test Track at EPCOT. Very good ride. I read a lot of the reports from people who were disappointed that the fast ride at the end was not longer but both my companion and I really liked the ride.
Fastpasses at all the parks. These worked great. Even though the crowds appeared quite large on Monday through Wednesday, we never had to wait more than firteen to twenty minutes at any ride since we always got our Fastpasses for the really busy ones and saw the other attractions while we were waiting.
Fantasmic at MGM. Very good show and it was particularly interesting the way that they projected lasers on the walls of water. We ate at Hollywood and Vine and thereby got reserved seating which worked out very well.
Tarzan Rocks at the Animal Kingdom . Fun show and very well done. We found it to be as professional and entertaining as many of these types of shows we have seen in Vegas.
Murderwatch Mystery Theater at the Grosvenor Hotel. The buffet was excellent and the story was fun. The actors really seemed very enthusiastic and they involved the audience quite a bit. I recommend this highly.
Big Thumbs Down unfortunately.
Universe of Energy. We both found the humor of Ellen DeGeneres to be quite lame and it did not add to the experience at all. I rode this many years ago and my memories of it are much more positive than what I found this time around.
Illuminations at EPCOT[/U]. I saw the old show that highlighted each of the individual countries and contained some very patriotic music. This one pretty much concentrated on the globe at the center of the lagoon and nothing that I remember highlighted any of the countries. I think that in my mind this suffered by comparison to the old show. However, my companion liked it a lot.
We liked most everything else we saw and did but the ones I have mentioned here were definitely our favorites. If I think of anything else, I will post again to this thread.
We stayed at the Amerihost just south of the World on Hwy 192. It was nothing extra special but the location was great and the price was right, since I had a special I took advantage of. I read some comments to make sure and get a room away from the Kareoke. We did that but the Kareoke ended at 11PM each night anyway so I can't imagine that it ever would have bothered us.
If you're going soon, have a really great time. We certainly did.
