The Parks continued:
The Studios: This is such a fun park. I may be prejudiced though because this is where my favorite ride is: The Rock 'n' Roller Coaster. I don't even like roller coasters but this ride is a great blend: I feel totally safe while loving the speed, loops, and thrills that this ride provides in abundance. We used a variety of strategies to ride this without waiting in long lines and were successful with an EE morning and fastpasses on other days. I enjoyed the ToT more this year than before because some of the old fears that I had were erased by what a CM told us. As we were waiting to be placed on the pre-loading dots, the CM mentioned that one of the elevators had shut down. I nervously asked what sort of malfunction would cause an elevator to be shut down. (I have ridden the ToT a whole bunch of times, but because the preshow and the atmosphere are so effective in increasing tension levels, I am always a wreck by the time we sit down in the elevator.) He said that if the elevator moves off the track even by a fraction of an inch, it automatically is shut down. This is the part that was good to know: According to him, when they were testing this ride before it opened, they dropped the car *without* the cables all the way down the shaft. They did this to test whatever they use for cushioning at the bottom and, he said that even without any of the cables, the contents of the elevator car were fine because of the effectiveness of material used to absorb the fall. Whew! Now I didn't have to worry about the cables breaking and could concentrate on what to do if the bar holding me in my seat should give way
.
Jo doesn't do either ToT or RnR, so on two different mornings, we sent her over to get Millionaire fast passes. I don't think that fast passes in the morning for this attraction are so important as far as getting good seats go. They print out with a window that is 10 to 20 minutes before the next show. What they do is get you into an airconditioned waiting area, however, at least early in the day, standby people seemed to be getting as good as or better seats (closer to the floor) than the fastpass people who had been waiting in the lobby. On our EE morning which was our third visit to Millionaire (just Max and I as Jo slept in), we opted to go standby. It was an overcast morning which made a huge difference because the standby line is in an area where there is no sun protection or chance for a cooling breeze. I would not want to be waiting there on a hot, sunny afternoon. We got great seats in the first row right behind the chairs with monitors down on the stage. We were excited because we could pick ourselves out on the big screen when they showed the different camera angles. Little did we know then that we would be seeing a lot more of Max when he made it into the hot seat! It was so exciting. He did a great job and seemed a lot calmer than I was. He made it to the 64,000 point level where he missed. It was cool to go backstage and get his prizes and to have his picture taken in the hot seat after everyone had left. He is still telling everyone he knows about this experience.
We did the Hunchback show which is still wonderful, Star Tours which is still fun, the Muppets, the Great Movie Ride. We fastpassed for the Little Mermaid since we had not done this in about 5 years. Sadly, our Ariel was not a very effective performer and except for the great puppetry in the "Under the Sea" number, we were not very impressed, however, we had no 5 year old girls in our group, either. We skipped a bunch of attractions at this park due to lack of interest or bad timing. No one but me wanted to see Fantasmic! again. Oh, well.
AK: Animal Kingdom is an enchanting place. There is more Disney Detail here than anywhere else in the World, I think, and I love all the details. Our first time in the AK this trip was Max's and my Sunrise Safari that we took on the morning of the 23nd. It was especially nice because we got to share it with Grumpyandbashful and her family (there were 22 of us in our group). We paid the introductory price of $19.95 each; I don't know if the cost has actually gone up yet, but I thought that $20 was a much more appropriate charge than the $40-50 cost that has been mentioned/projected. Our guide was a wonderful, enthusiastic young woman named Kerri who provided us with a behind the scenes look at the AK along with great commentary about the animals and some of the "tricks" that Disney uses to create the Safari illusions. After a tour that lasted about 30-45 minutes, we were taken to the School Room at Tusker House and had an amazing breakfast. There was so much food and it was all beautifully presented. We were given a fast pass to return to the safari which we did and actually saw more animals on this one than on the special one a little earlier. If you are lucky enough to get 3 knives rolled up in your napkin, your party receives VIP seating at the Festival of the Lion King show later in the day.
I love the Lion King show. I am amazed by the skill of the performers; I love how they are all stay in character and are smiling throughout their performances. I cry every time I see this show. We did Dino, It's Tough to be a Bug, Kali River Rapids, and watched the Tigers playing with big balls in the water along the Maharajah Jungle Trek (we're not in Kansas anymore! this place is transporting!). We enjoyed the Flights of Wonder show again and highly recommend it. Have a dollar bill ready when you go and you might be part of the show. We stopped by the Annual Passholders Lounge and picked up a cup of water. No one offered fastpasses and I forgot that they were given out there, so we missed out. At the Island Mercantile shop, you can pick up an Animal Kingdom lanyard and a pin with your renewed AP. We tried to take a little more time to view the animals, and did to some extent, but the heat and the crowds make doing this for any length of time pretty difficult. I missed that extra hour at the end of the day at this park more than at the MK. Closing AK at 6pm when it is light until almost 9pm and it is so crowded throughout most of the day is just wrong.
Part 4: "Final" thoughts
The Studios: This is such a fun park. I may be prejudiced though because this is where my favorite ride is: The Rock 'n' Roller Coaster. I don't even like roller coasters but this ride is a great blend: I feel totally safe while loving the speed, loops, and thrills that this ride provides in abundance. We used a variety of strategies to ride this without waiting in long lines and were successful with an EE morning and fastpasses on other days. I enjoyed the ToT more this year than before because some of the old fears that I had were erased by what a CM told us. As we were waiting to be placed on the pre-loading dots, the CM mentioned that one of the elevators had shut down. I nervously asked what sort of malfunction would cause an elevator to be shut down. (I have ridden the ToT a whole bunch of times, but because the preshow and the atmosphere are so effective in increasing tension levels, I am always a wreck by the time we sit down in the elevator.) He said that if the elevator moves off the track even by a fraction of an inch, it automatically is shut down. This is the part that was good to know: According to him, when they were testing this ride before it opened, they dropped the car *without* the cables all the way down the shaft. They did this to test whatever they use for cushioning at the bottom and, he said that even without any of the cables, the contents of the elevator car were fine because of the effectiveness of material used to absorb the fall. Whew! Now I didn't have to worry about the cables breaking and could concentrate on what to do if the bar holding me in my seat should give way
.Jo doesn't do either ToT or RnR, so on two different mornings, we sent her over to get Millionaire fast passes. I don't think that fast passes in the morning for this attraction are so important as far as getting good seats go. They print out with a window that is 10 to 20 minutes before the next show. What they do is get you into an airconditioned waiting area, however, at least early in the day, standby people seemed to be getting as good as or better seats (closer to the floor) than the fastpass people who had been waiting in the lobby. On our EE morning which was our third visit to Millionaire (just Max and I as Jo slept in), we opted to go standby. It was an overcast morning which made a huge difference because the standby line is in an area where there is no sun protection or chance for a cooling breeze. I would not want to be waiting there on a hot, sunny afternoon. We got great seats in the first row right behind the chairs with monitors down on the stage. We were excited because we could pick ourselves out on the big screen when they showed the different camera angles. Little did we know then that we would be seeing a lot more of Max when he made it into the hot seat! It was so exciting. He did a great job and seemed a lot calmer than I was. He made it to the 64,000 point level where he missed. It was cool to go backstage and get his prizes and to have his picture taken in the hot seat after everyone had left. He is still telling everyone he knows about this experience.
We did the Hunchback show which is still wonderful, Star Tours which is still fun, the Muppets, the Great Movie Ride. We fastpassed for the Little Mermaid since we had not done this in about 5 years. Sadly, our Ariel was not a very effective performer and except for the great puppetry in the "Under the Sea" number, we were not very impressed, however, we had no 5 year old girls in our group, either.
We skipped a bunch of attractions at this park due to lack of interest or bad timing. No one but me wanted to see Fantasmic! again. Oh, well.AK: Animal Kingdom is an enchanting place. There is more Disney Detail here than anywhere else in the World, I think, and I love all the details. Our first time in the AK this trip was Max's and my Sunrise Safari that we took on the morning of the 23nd. It was especially nice because we got to share it with Grumpyandbashful and her family (there were 22 of us in our group). We paid the introductory price of $19.95 each; I don't know if the cost has actually gone up yet, but I thought that $20 was a much more appropriate charge than the $40-50 cost that has been mentioned/projected. Our guide was a wonderful, enthusiastic young woman named Kerri who provided us with a behind the scenes look at the AK along with great commentary about the animals and some of the "tricks" that Disney uses to create the Safari illusions. After a tour that lasted about 30-45 minutes, we were taken to the School Room at Tusker House and had an amazing breakfast. There was so much food and it was all beautifully presented. We were given a fast pass to return to the safari which we did and actually saw more animals on this one than on the special one a little earlier. If you are lucky enough to get 3 knives rolled up in your napkin, your party receives VIP seating at the Festival of the Lion King show later in the day.
I love the Lion King show. I am amazed by the skill of the performers; I love how they are all stay in character and are smiling throughout their performances. I cry every time I see this show. We did Dino, It's Tough to be a Bug, Kali River Rapids, and watched the Tigers playing with big balls in the water along the Maharajah Jungle Trek (we're not in Kansas anymore! this place is transporting!). We enjoyed the Flights of Wonder show again and highly recommend it. Have a dollar bill ready when you go and you might be part of the show. We stopped by the Annual Passholders Lounge and picked up a cup of water. No one offered fastpasses and I forgot that they were given out there, so we missed out. At the Island Mercantile shop, you can pick up an Animal Kingdom lanyard and a pin with your renewed AP. We tried to take a little more time to view the animals, and did to some extent, but the heat and the crowds make doing this for any length of time pretty difficult. I missed that extra hour at the end of the day at this park more than at the MK. Closing AK at 6pm when it is light until almost 9pm and it is so crowded throughout most of the day is just wrong.
Part 4: "Final" thoughts
(It was really surprising to me how many times G&B's family and mine bumped into each other during our stay; I know people in the small town where I live that I haven't bumped into in years!!) Wish you and I had bumped into each other one last time at the AKL! My kids thought your parents were wonderful!
of my WDW "insider" knowledge. dinah
