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

Our experience with Poseidon's Fury was much the same. I thought it was just our bad luck. We went down there and saw no line and were thrilled. Only to wait at least 45 minutes (might have been more - we didn't have a watch). We won't do that one again, either!
 
I just wanna know where your hands are on that 2nd to last shot! :lmao::lmao::lmao:

Now, now - this is a family forum... ;)

Interesting backstory on the rollercoasters! I'd never heard that.

We were not impressed with Poseidon's either but at least it was a walk on when we did it so we didn't waste that much time.

Hopefully, the "characters" you met helped improve your mood after the frustration of the bad attraction :laughing:

I think what's up next was my favorite thing there popcorn::

Your favorite eh?
Then you may find my next segment fairly interesting/entertaining...

Wow sounds like the Lost Continent was a bust especially Poseidon’s Fury :( I'm glad your giving us such a detailed account of IOA cause it is further confirming why we have never done this park . So far from your descriptions it just seems to me there wouldn't be much for my family & I to do here :confused3 I suppose there is more to see though , so before I say totally no I'll wait to read about every Island .

It was DEFINITELY a bust.
And, yeah - since your family mimics mine in age, here's my plan.
In January, I expect to hit IOA for 1/2 day and do Spider-Man,
Hogwarts, Hogsmeade shopping, and Seuss Landing.
The Harry Potter stuff may be worth it but we'll see.
If not, it'll probably be our last time for a very long time.
Since you can't do Spidey, it may not be worth it for you guys now...
 
Our experience with Poseidon's Fury was much the same. I thought it was just our bad luck. We went down there and saw no line and were thrilled. Only to wait at least 45 minutes (might have been more - we didn't have a watch). We won't do that one again, either!

Exactly!
I was so mad.
And my friends didn't let me hear the end of it since I was talking it up...
 
Exactly!
I was so mad.
And my friends didn't let me hear the end of it since I was talking it up...

I know I'd've joined right in with them if you were talking it up non-stop and it sucked that bad. :thumbsup2

Kinda like every now and then you can't help but bring up Jabberwock to me, and that was about 25 years ago now that we sat through that atrocity of a movie. :happytv:
 

I know I'd've joined right in with them if you were talking it up non-stop and it sucked that bad. :thumbsup2

Kinda like every now and then you can't help but bring up Jabberwock to me, and that was about 25 years ago now that we sat through that atrocity of a movie. :happytv:

Good to know you have my back and wouldn't rub it in.
I'll have to remember to strand you somewhere in Disney in January...
 
Hey, sorry this next segment has taken so long.
But it's time to conclude our Island Adventure...
 
It was getting late as we crossed a bridge into a more lush jungle area.
And then, before us, appeared the great doors.
Welcome… to Jurassic Park.
IOUG2009416.jpg


And that’s the highlight.
From here, this “island” also goes down hill.
The attractions consists of a Discovery Center (think Rafiki’s Planet Watch for dinosaurs), and some playground areas.
There is also a Pteranodon Flyers attraction only for kids.
There used to also be a Triceratops exhibit with a huge audio animatronic of a sick dino that was lying down breathing.
They used to talk to it and play it up like it was real.
Neat idea, but the lines were insane and it wasn’t worth it in the end.
I think that’s gone now anyway.

The “highlight” here, however, is the Jurassic Park River Adventure.
Now, I did this one back in 2001 with my wife.
[AUTHOR'S NOTE: Since it's baseball season now, let's pretend we're up to the plate as we review this attraction.]

The audio animatronics were supposed to be awesome.
This was to be everything that Dinoland in Animal Kingdom was not.
WRONG! Swing and a miss! :sad2:

And the drop doesn’t look so bad when you watch it from the outside.
Maybe 30 feet or so? We can do that.
STRIKE TWO! :sad2:

I talked my wife into it since I had heard such great things about the dinos.
For a bit of a drop at the end, it would entirely be worth it!
I even saw a TV special about how awesome the dinos were.
STRIKE THREE! YOU'RE OUTTA HERE! :sad2:

But we didn't know any better. Yet.
So off we went. The ride started.
And the animatronics were horrible.
And then they got worse.
Even back then, they were broken with gears showing and nothing looked remotely lifelike or real.
And then you enter the facility in your raft and start climbing upwards.
And you keep going up.
I braced. My wife looked at me. Thirty feet, huh?
The T-Rex roars and then you drop.
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHH! :scared1:

Folks, it’s a 90-foot drop.
We were in the front row.
There are no words to describe how terrified we were.
My fingers left permanent indentations in the padded bars.
I can’t believe we didn’t go back and check out the on-ride photo because it would’ve been a classic.
I still do not understand why people why to propel themselves off a cliff 90 feet high. :confused3

Never again.
And it wasn’t even worth it!
The ride up to that point was horrible.
And the drop made it worse.

So, this time, I sent my colleagues on their merry way and watched from the viewing platform.
They liked it and that was nice but I wasn’t going back on that death trap.
We headed around to the next island and snagged some Pina Colada smoothies (also free) on the way.
The next stop was Toon Lagoon.
This is basically a mini water park.
There’s a water playground and two flume rides.
It was late and we didn’t want to get wet so we headed straight through.
To prove that we were there, we ran into Popeye and Olive Oil and grabbed some photos:
IOUG2009417.jpg


Pretty poor costumes if you ask me.
At this point, we found some carnival-style games (also free) so we gave them a shot.
There was the strength one where you take a sledgehammer and then hit the button to make the ball or whatever shoot up and hit the bell.
And there was some basketball tosses in different shapes and sizes.
I did pretty good at the basketball tosses outdoing my fellow geeks in feats of athleticism.
But they kicked my bit in the sledgehammer one...

By now, it was closing in on 11 but I had one more to-do item.
I wanted to hit Spider-Man one more time. :3dglasses :charac4:
It was on our way thanks to my route for the evening (planning is everything :thumbsup2).
We arrived and there were still no lines.
I did manage to take a shot in the queue this time of good ol’ J. Jonah Jameson himself:
IOUG2009428.jpg


And the ride was awesome once again!
And even better was that the X-Men were waiting for us when we got out.
I fit in perfectly!! :woohoo:
IOUG2009425.jpg


And then we saw Cap and Wolvie again and I just couldn’t resist.
Heroes Ready for Battle!
SNIKT! :goodvibes

IOUG2009430.jpg


Back at the entrance plaza, that big screen I mentioned earlier was playing 80’s videos and a DJ was leading a dance party.
We stopped for a bit and danced until they ushered us out.
On our way out, we strolled through the shops a bit but that was basically it.
Islands of Adventure in 4 hours.
To me, it was basically one ride and then wandering with some friends.
As you leave, you are reminded that “The Adventure Lives On.”
IOUG2009433a.jpg


And that is true – now that we’re done with the Islands, it’s time to get back the Mouse!
 
Wow sounds like IOA is not really worth the money ! You couldn't complain though really u were there for free and even bad touring is good when its free ! :laughing: Hopefully the Harry Potter section will give it some more excitement :thumbsup2

Can't wait to get back to the mouse !popcorn::popcorn::
 
That picture of Olive Oyl is great!! She's spot on! Popeye? meh.

Too bad you didn't like that ride. I really like the long drops- esp. ToT!!
 
That picture of Olive Oyl is great!! She's spot on! Popeye? meh.

Too bad you didn't like that ride. I really like the long drops- esp. ToT!!

I can't WAIT to get back on Tower of Terror. The last time I was at Disney (1995), after the first time on ToT (and it was a HUGE line), I immediately got back on line to go again. And I went on again sometime later that day, too, I think. GREAT ride!

That darn well better be on the schedule for January, Mike! Even if it's just me making a dash over to it and then back to meet back up with you guys. :cool1:
 
It IS THE best ride -EVUH!!!

I like it more than EE or Space- partly because I'm a TZ junkie. The theming is so creative and authentic in there!!

LOVE IT!! :thumbsup2
 
Wow sounds like IOA is not really worth the money ! You couldn't complain though really u were there for free and even bad touring is good when its free ! :laughing: Hopefully the Harry Potter section will give it some more excitement :thumbsup2

Can't wait to get back to the mouse !popcorn::popcorn::

Yeah, I wasn't so fond of it and probably wouldn't go back so soon if it wasn't for Harry Potter

That picture of Olive Oyl is great!! She's spot on! Popeye? meh.

Too bad you didn't like that ride. I really like the long drops- esp. ToT!!

IOA definitely does chars like Disney does...

I can't WAIT to get back on Tower of Terror. The last time I was at Disney (1995), after the first time on ToT (and it was a HUGE line), I immediately got back on line to go again. And I went on again sometime later that day, too, I think. GREAT ride!

That darn well better be on the schedule for January, Mike! Even if it's just me making a dash over to it and then back to meet back up with you guys. :cool1:

Yeah, yeah - you can steal away for your Tower of Insanity break.

It IS THE best ride -EVUH!!!

I like it more than EE or Space- partly because I'm a TZ junkie. The theming is so creative and authentic in there!!

LOVE IT!! :thumbsup2

No thanks - I'll pass.
Have fun - we'll be over at Star Tours and Muppetvision...
 
Day 6 meant the last day of the conference.
It was a ½ day and I had 4 sessions scheduled.
As I said, the conference took a pretty big hit with the economy and the last 3 sessions ended up being cancelled.
So all I had on tap was a 9:00 session that I wasn’t too excited about.
I headed down to the BVS lobby for my breakfast buffet all decked out in my Mickey polo (polo for the conference, Mickey for Disney!)
Since the last day is usually a dress down day, I figured this was appropriate.
8:00 rolled around and it was time to hit the buses.
I checked the schedule and noticed that the buses to Epcot were scheduled for 9 and then 10:30.
And then nothing.
Have I mentioned I hate the off property shuttle service?

With a 9:00 session, it would be tight to catch the 10:30 bus.
So I pondered what to do.
And then the bus pulled up and I got on.
And I had a huge grin on my face.
Yup – I hopped the shuttle to Magic Kingdom instead of the conference.
I figured skipping one session wasn’t going to kill me…

The 8:00 MK shuttle drops you off at the TTC so I grabbed the monorail to Epcot instead!
IOUG2009434.jpg


8:30AM and I was heading into EPCOT for the Flower and Garden Festival.
The park opened at 9:00 and everyone was running to rope drop.
Along the way, they missed some friends but I knew there was no hurry as the rope would still be up.
So, I stopped to smell the roses.
Or, in this case, meet the characters!
First, I said “Aloha” to Stitch.
IOUG2009435.jpg


Then it was time to greet Miss Daisy
IOUG2009436.jpg


Then I decided to join the masses heading towards the rope.
But I was still wandering nice and slowly.
I grabbed a nice shot of the Sorcerer’s Apprentice (I love this topiary scene):
IOUG2009437.jpg


And then finally arrived at Rope Drop and even got all the way to the rope.
All of these people ran all the way here expecting to charge the park early.
It pays to know how things work around here.
So we hung out until 8:55 when the CM’s arrived along with some special friends to open the park.
Good Morning Mickey!
IOUG2009439a.jpg


Of course, Mickey didn’t come alone.
Here’s Pluto being attacked by a large hand.
(Apparently a kid snuck in front of me and couldn’t resist waving to Mickey’s Best Friend)
IOUG2009440.jpg


Minnie was her darling self as usual
IOUG2009441.jpg


Goofy was in great spirits
IOUG2009443.jpg


And Donald even waved to the camera!
IOUG2009445.jpg


After some words and waving good-bye to the Family of the Day taking off in a Test Track car, we counted down till park opening.
Ropes dropped and the crowds headed out.
The CM’s were good and kept the crowds behind them.
I walked next to one and chatted along the way.
Any clue where we headed?
 
Great rope drop pictures! You look like you were really close to the Fab 5! Are you headed to Soarin?
 
Pretty sure you were headed to Soarin'. I remember the bit of drama when you all got on twice last time around.... ;)
 
Great rope drop pictures! You look like you were really close to the Fab 5! Are you headed to Soarin?

Yeah, I was actually at the rope - even after stopping to say hi to some friends.
As for ride selection...

Pretty sure you were headed to Soarin'. I remember the bit of drama when you all got on twice last time around.... ;)

You guys know me all too well.
Soarin' it is!
Stay tuned for another high-flying adventure!
 
Great Epcot rope drop update :thumbsup2 Nice pictures of the fab five !

Can't wait to see the next update , I'm guessing Soarin !
 
:rotfl2:Popeye looks like he's about 12 years old! :rotfl2:

I have to agree with Dawn - I think you are heading right to Soarin!
 













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