No Work and All Play – Disney on the Company’s Dime! (8/1 There and Back Again)

[thecapells]

Don't you have a fastpass for Soarin or am I mistaken?

Wrong park.

 

[boxmaster]

And of course, the animator tells you to sign your work

Great drawing! I can't imagine doing that in any way other than by tracing.

 

[kimmylaj]

i had no idea you had another report going. and a solo one at that so cool. love your sorcerer mickey, definitely doing that in august and mike and sully, they werent out last time and my kids adore them so good to know , now to find them

 

[All7OfUs]

I suppose if you didn't want a TS meal, you could always grab a sanny from Starring Rolls and just eat while in line?? or save it til they let you in. I dunno how it's gonna play out in Sept for us.

 

[MeMom]

We haven't done the Muppets in our last few trips. Time for us to go again on the next one.

Good work on your drawing!

 

[thecapells]

Great drawing! I can't imagine doing that in any way other than by tracing.

You'd be surprised how good you can do with the detailed instruction.
The way they teach you, it's all simple geometric shapes.
We'll see how you do when we take you in January!

i had no idea you had another report going. and a solo one at that so cool. love your sorcerer mickey, definitely doing that in august and mike and sully, they werent out last time and my kids adore them so good to know , now to find them

Welcome back!
I thought I mentioned it in the last report but regardless, I'm glad you found me!
As for the chars, if you know where to look, it's not too hard.
And you can always ask cast members.
I imagine if you're not looking though, you'll never just "stumble" across those guys.

I suppose if you didn't want a TS meal, you could always grab a sanny from Starring Rolls and just eat while in line?? or save it til they let you in. I dunno how it's gonna play out in Sept for us.

There's lots of counter service locales in DHS but I've never been much of a fan of any of them.
More specifically, it's the only time we ever got sick after eating (we'll never go back to ABC Commissary).
In fact, DHS is my least favorite park to eat in.
With the kids we do Play N Dine & Sci-Fi and we just did Mama Melrose and loved it.
However, that's about all we like there...

We haven't done the Muppets in our last few trips. Time for us to go again on the next one.

Good work on your drawing!

Definitely have to hit Muppets if it's been that long.
That's a "must-do" for us every trip!!

 

[thecapells]

For those that don't recall - I still had my Toy Story Midway Mania FP burning a hole in my back pocket.
So I headed back to Pixar Place.
It was kind of entertaining since most of the crowd was heading the opposite direction towards the exit or to get in line for the late Fantasmic! showing.
I cashed in my fastpass and started my adventure.
Shrinking to the size of a toy, I wandered into Andy’s toybox and had to navigate my way through a maze of classic toys and games.
Too bad I didn’t have my viewfinder with me as I passed the Peter Pan reel.

But at least I could read some of these books.
Hey look – it’s “Tin Toy”
One of the first shorts created by Pixar for the big screen.

Unfortunately, I missed the ultimate audio animatronic yet again.
The problem with always fastpassing this ride is that I’ve still never seen Mr. Potato Head.
Then again, I’ve also never waited more than 5 minutes to ride this ride.
I think that’s a fair trade-off.

So I grabbed my glasses and was off!

This ride was a blast as usual.
And my carpal tunnel was killing me when it ended as usual.
On my way out, I even saw this little remote control guy wandering up and down Pixar Place…

But I gotta say, I don’t LOVE this the way everyone else does.
It’s an awesome ride vehicle and the 3-D effects are a huge step up from Buzz Lightyear.
But, in the end, it’s still just a glorified video game.
And what’s more, it’s a first-person shooter.
I can play those at home (and they’ve even released Toy Story Mania on Wii now).
I can’t see Pirates singing to me at home.
I can’t destroy the Death Star after following some X-Wings down the trench at home.
I can’t soar over California at home.
Disney to me is about the magic and uniqueness you cannot do anywhere else.
And I love the rides with storylines.
Granted, my couch doesn’t spin while I play video games at home and they’re not in 3-D, but you get the idea.
I like the ride, it’s just not my favorite nor is it worth waiting in obscene lines to enjoy.
And while the theming is fun, the storyline for the ride is weak.
In fact there is none other than “you shrink down to the size of a toy and enter Andy’s Toy Box.”
So why are you shooting things in Andy’s Toy Box?
I don’t get it.
So I’ll get off my soapbox now because the park still isn’t closed and I have one more attraction left.
Any guesses?

 

[dtr_angel]

I agree with you on Toy Story Mania... We do love it and do it once every trip... with a fast pass. I've NEVER understood why its always a minimum wait of 60 minutes, but usually longer. I've been on the ride at least 3 times and have never seen Mr. Potato Head because of fast pass, and didn't realize we were being shrunk down to the size of a toy... must pay more attention!

 

[All7OfUs]

Ommmmm... the bathroom???

 

[dawnbu40]

I think that TSM is so popular simply because it's fun! The queue theming is fun and it's fun to compete with your family or for your personal best. I know my family laughs more here and talks about this ride afterward more then any other ride.

I have to add we have the Wii game and sadly there is no comparison! It was totally not worth the money

 

[PrincessCaitlin]

I love Toy Story Mania!

I do have the Wii version at home and it just isn't the same the graphics aren't close to the actual ride and ride queue itself is enough to make we want to ride the real thing!

It may not have much of a story line but I like the whole idea of shrinking down to the size of a toy and playing special carnival games created by the toys

 

[WrightFamily06]

Awe I had forgot about the FP ! I do have to say we really love this ride , although I don't use the 3-D glasses due to the spinning around & motion sickness . I still have a blast challenging every-one's scores I do however have to agree with everyone else that the Wii game is just not the same , we have it and enjoying playing it but nothing like the ride !

I'm guessing Voyage Of The Little Mermaid ????

 

[pipersmom]

Cool update, I liked the pictures! One of the things I'm a bit bummed about is that we won't see too many of the queues. Now I'm not complaining about front of the line access, lol...but the theming is always so neat! No idea where you're going next though....

 

[thecapells]

I agree with you on Toy Story Mania... We do love it and do it once every trip... with a fast pass. I've NEVER understood why its always a minimum wait of 60 minutes, but usually longer. I've been on the ride at least 3 times and have never seen Mr. Potato Head because of fast pass, and didn't realize we were being shrunk down to the size of a toy... must pay more attention!

As I said, it's fun but I don't get the wait.
And the storyline doesn't make much sense to me.
Maybe it's just me.

Ommmmm... the bathroom???

Nope - I'm a camel.

I think that TSM is so popular simply because it's fun! The queue theming is fun and it's fun to compete with your family or for your personal best. I know my family laughs more here and talks about this ride afterward more then any other ride.

I have to add we have the Wii game and sadly there is no comparison! It was totally not worth the money

I realize that the ride is most likely orders of magnitude better than the Wii game (I don't have the Wii game).
However, the ride is still basically an extravagant video game.
So is Buzz Lightyear Space Ranger Spin for that matter.
I don't know - I guess I favor the more "classic" dark rides or even the newer interactive ones like Monster's Inc Laugh Floor.

I love Toy Story Mania!

I do have the Wii version at home and it just isn't the same the graphics aren't close to the actual ride and ride queue itself is enough to make we want to ride the real thing!

It may not have much of a story line but I like the whole idea of shrinking down to the size of a toy and playing special carnival games created by the toys

Don't get me wrong - Toy Story Mania is fun, it's just wait-for-an-hour-fun.
I guess it's just me...

Awe I had forgot about the FP ! I do have to say we really love this ride , although I don't use the 3-D glasses due to the spinning around & motion sickness . I still have a blast challenging every-one's scores I do however have to agree with everyone else that the Wii game is just not the same , we have it and enjoying playing it but nothing like the ride !

I'm guessing Voyage Of The Little Mermaid ????

DING! DING! Give that DIS'er a prize!

Cool update, I liked the pictures! One of the things I'm a bit bummed about is that we won't see too many of the queues. Now I'm not complaining about front of the line access, lol...but the theming is always so neat! No idea where you're going next though....

yeah, I guess the lack of queue is the price you pay for no wait.
I'd say it's a fair price...

 

[katman2540]

Just back from my trip to the World and all caught up with your trip report again. I really amazed my wife by pulling out a lot of the tricks you mentioned for seeing and doing stuff. Thanks again. Oh and I started a report as well. Now if I can just figure out how to properly link it in my signature. Always something new to learn on the boards.

 

[All7OfUs]

Nope - I'm a camel.

You mean like this one I saw the other day??

Yep, we really have those all over the place around here!

 

[thecapells]

Time to update the signature again!
Today is little X's THIRD Birthday!

 

[dawnbu40]

February must be a fun and busy month at your house!

Happy Birthday X!

 

[boxmaster]

Time to update the signature again!
Today is little X's THIRD Birthday!

Now if only X would speed up time so that it were January already, so that all of us could go to Disney, already!

 

[thecapells]

Just back from my trip to the World and all caught up with your trip report again. I really amazed my wife by pulling out a lot of the tricks you mentioned for seeing and doing stuff. Thanks again. Oh and I started a report as well. Now if I can just figure out how to properly link it in my signature. Always something new to learn on the boards.

Awesome!
I'm glad I could help!

You mean like this one I saw the other day??

Yep, we really have those all over the place around here!

Okay, so was that pic taken in your front yard or your backyard?