PrincessAurora
<font color=blue>Hmpphh! Who needs that boy in gre
- Joined
- Oct 26, 1999
- Messages
- 1,368
CAST:
"Pinky" AKA PrincessAurora - Computer geek, web designer, and Disney Princess Fiend. Always planning her next trip to The World.
Dot - Tech Contractor, 40's Swing Dancer & Hep Kitten, first timer at WDW - veteran Disneyland Nut. (Please note all detailed food reviews are featured as separate reports after Day 8)
OK, so today is the day for The Magic Kingdom. Dot has an AP for Disneyland. I don't get to LA enough to make an AP reasonable (maybe a trip or two a year tops). I have warned her that the Disneyland map you carry in your head will be just right enough to confuse you and just wrong enough to mess you up. There is no New Orleans Square, there is Liberty Square. The haunted mansion in MK is approx. where Big Thunder is in Disneyland and it looks WAY different. It's messing with my head already thinking about it.
So we get to the park a around opening and the security greets us. As a note here, after the events of 9-11, security has increased dramatically at the parks. There are tables where all your bags are searched before you can get to the turnstiles to use your tickets. The best way to deal with this is (1) have all the compartments of your bag unzipped and ready for inspection by the time you get to the front of the line. This will help speed things up. (2)Instruct your children to do likewise. Mickey wants all his friends to be safe and play nice together. (3) Don't gripe and complain. This is for YOUR safety. Complaining about it doesn't change the fact that you still have to do it. If it's that much of an inconvenience, you don't have to go to the park. Dot wanted to smack this one woman behind her that was the non-stop whine machine.
"HEY! We are ALL in the same boat. Do you think that I LIKE the fact that there are evil, sick people out there that get their jollies out of flying planeloads of innocent people into civilian buildings full of more innocent people?! The LAST thing we need is some yahoo doing something stupid in OUR favorite playground. If this means that I have to wait an extra 10, 15 or 20 minutes, then that is fine! Talk to your neighbor, learn something new. Whining doesn't help."
So on with the show. The first show we went on was Alien Encounter. This is my favorite attraction at MK. There are warning signs posted for this ride. In my opinion, they are not large enough. This is a VERY mentally scary and intense ride. Grown-ups will have fun and find themselves a bit scared or freaked but if you take your child on this ride, you WILL be paying for therapy for the next 10 years. I am NOT kidding! Little kids have NO business on this ride.
It is based (loosely) on the Alien of Ridley Scott fame. You enter a very entertaining queue where you get a lesson in teleportation from a robot and his unwilling volunteer "Skippy". Just seeing cute little Skippy get crispy in a teleporter "accident" and then have the slightly malevolent robot trap him in the transporter interface while in transit, perhaps permanently, can be a bit disturbing to small kids.
You next enter a circular room where you sit around a giant tube. There is a large shoulder harness that comes down over you. While it is used for an effect later on, its main purpose is to keep people in their seats so they are not running around in terror in the dark and break their necks.
The teleporter is accidentally rerouted and instead of the chairman of the teleportation company coming to talk to you, an Alien is transported in his place. The Alien busts out of the tube, total darkness descends and the fun begins. This is a total mind trip. Nothing in the room moves. You hear the Alien running on the catwalk, breathing hot breath on your neck, it kills a few people, you hear chewing sounds, you feel warm "blood" dripping on you from the guy he ate on the catwalk, etc. As you can tell, this is intense.
There was a kid sitting next to me that looked like Ralphie from "A Christmas Story". He was about 9 years old and was screaming and hysterical with terror. His Dad was trying to calm him down, telling him it's just a ride, that it's not real but the kid was terrorized. Dot remarked later that she was going to Hell because while she felt sorry for the kid, his genuine screams of abject terror really added to the experience of the ride for her. Please parents, don't be selfish and drag your small children on this ride just because you want to see it. Do the child swap, preview the ride first, judge your childs ability to handle this before you damage them. I give this ride an A- for adults, an A for teens, a D for average kids and an F for small children. I think this would have been better at MGM/Disney Studios and have Star Tours here (like they have in Disneyland).
Buzz Lightyear - Take the kids to this instead of Alien Encounter. It's a fun ride shooting a laser cannon at targets. My only complaint is that I can never see the red laser so it is really hard to aim. It is a lot of fun. What was more fun was being chased around Tomorrowland by a talking trashcan!
Next it was off to Fantasyland where I was on a fact-finding mission for an upcoming trip with my Sis, brother in law, niece and nephew. I broke down and rode Pooh. This was a nice ride (although I still miss Mr. Toad). There was a variation of movement to the ride. You would bounce when Tigger was there, you felt like you were floating on water when it was raining, etc. There are a few tiny scary elements in the storm but it is not anything Mom can't fix by being there. I give this a B+
Peter Pan was always one of my favorites from DL. They show more of the story here than the Disneyland version so I do like this one better. You can't beat seeing everything from in the air in a sailing pirate ship. This was one of my favorite rides when I first went to DL at 8 and still is. One of the mermaids looked like Ariel. Hamm. Small, picky geek note of an error on this ride. Peter Pan is set in Victorian London. When you are flying over London, look down. You will see streets filled with cars (headlights). There were no cars in Peter Pan's London. I give this ride an A-
Haunted Mansion is another favorite. While a tiny bit scary for small children, most kids love this especially with Mom or Dad there for comfort at scary places.
Adventureland has a new ride, Aladdin's Magic Carpets. Think of this as Dumbo with a spitting camel. This is a really fun ride and great for the whole family. You ride on carpets. There are two compartments. The front seats control the carpet going up and down and the back seats control the carpet tilting forward or back (don't worry, it doesn't tip that far). AND when you first take off you have to pass a camel that is spitting at you so get your carpet over his head!
The Jungle Cruise is a good stand-by. I think I like the DL one better as they only have one river. Here you go from the Amazon to the Congo to the Nile to the Mekong Delta (gee and I didn't even get jet lag). They don't shoot at the hippos and our guide was a Paula Poundstone look-alike but not as funny. Shudder The Guides make or break this ride.
I must say that as soon as the Dole Whip stand opened I was over there faster than a jackrabbit on a date. I got the pineapple/vanilla swirl and broke records eating it. MMmmm. Dole Whip $2.65 Yummy Feeling - Priceless
The Pirates of the Caribbean was a great ride. The drop in the dark was very cool. This is just good fun all the way around.
Next we took a trip over to Tom Sawyer's Island. This is a great place for kids to run off steam & sugar and it is WAY cooler than Disneyland's version. First I was hungry and went over to Aunt Polly's for a nibble. I wanted the kids meal of PB&J and had no problems getting it. $3.50 for smooth peanut butter (on both sides of the brad) and strawberry jam on wonder bread. It doesn't get better than this for comfort food. The price also includes a small drink and a small bag of cookies.
Tom Sawyer Island was great fun. There is a ton of stuff to do and you can get a workout climbing up and down hills and dales, there is a fort, a wobbly bridge, a windmill and two caves to explore. Injun' Joe's Cage is cool, dark with an uneven floor so don't run and watch your step. There are also little cubbyholes and tunnels at kid level. Warning: They smell like pee. Enough said.
The Mystery Mine is dark, warm, and also has an uneven floor in places. We did this one with Minnie & Mickey who were visiting on the island in their Christmas clothes.
Big Thunder and Splash Mountain are always fun. The flume on Splash still gets me and I got wet being in the front. Ladies, remember if you are going to go on ANY water rides in any park either (a) don't wear a white shirt and if you do, ALWAYS wear a bra!!!
After being a bit worn out from the roller coasters, I took the old standby - The train. This is a nice, relaxing ride. I noticed that they added PC Pocahontas music when you go by Tom Sawyer Island and Indian settlements. The burning cabin was not mentioned. At Disneyland for years the settlers cabin was attacked by Indians. Now it has been changed to being attacked by Pirates. O Kay . And this is suppose to be 1800's Mississippi and there are pirates Ok, I won't stretch my brain too far, I'll hurt myself. If they wanted to be PC, why not just take the cabin out as an outdated part of the attraction?
Then after much shopping we trekked back to the resort for a rest and then off to Flying Fish. We were held captive on WDW transportation for 1 hour and 20 minutes trying to get from WL to Boardwalk! ARRGGHHHH. The food was very nice but not the number on restaurant from last year. Now it is number 4 after Citricos, Artist Point and Jiko.
But now it's back to the Adventurer's Club on Pleasure Island. Two nights previous, Dot and myself (being total hams) starting saying "He's so dreamy" in unison to Hathaway Brown, the Club's leading man. Think the bimbos from Beauty and the Beast. We became his cheering section and Greek chorus for the rest of the night (until we drug our sorry butts to bed in the early morning hours). It was a great deal of fun. After running into NativeTxn the previous day with DIS con people we hoped they would show up. We got there about 9pm, went into the library for one of their main shows, took our places up at the front to do our shtick. There were a table of DIS con people that we started talking to. A different actor was playing Hathaway this day (he played Emil Bleehawl the last time we were there).
After heading back into the main parlor for more fun we did see that more DISers, NativeTxn included did come out for the show. It was a great deal of fun and we can't wait to go back.
NEXT: Day 7 GF Spa, Epcot, Rose & Crown, Yachtsman's, Illuminations
"Pinky" AKA PrincessAurora - Computer geek, web designer, and Disney Princess Fiend. Always planning her next trip to The World.
Dot - Tech Contractor, 40's Swing Dancer & Hep Kitten, first timer at WDW - veteran Disneyland Nut. (Please note all detailed food reviews are featured as separate reports after Day 8)
OK, so today is the day for The Magic Kingdom. Dot has an AP for Disneyland. I don't get to LA enough to make an AP reasonable (maybe a trip or two a year tops). I have warned her that the Disneyland map you carry in your head will be just right enough to confuse you and just wrong enough to mess you up. There is no New Orleans Square, there is Liberty Square. The haunted mansion in MK is approx. where Big Thunder is in Disneyland and it looks WAY different. It's messing with my head already thinking about it.
So we get to the park a around opening and the security greets us. As a note here, after the events of 9-11, security has increased dramatically at the parks. There are tables where all your bags are searched before you can get to the turnstiles to use your tickets. The best way to deal with this is (1) have all the compartments of your bag unzipped and ready for inspection by the time you get to the front of the line. This will help speed things up. (2)Instruct your children to do likewise. Mickey wants all his friends to be safe and play nice together. (3) Don't gripe and complain. This is for YOUR safety. Complaining about it doesn't change the fact that you still have to do it. If it's that much of an inconvenience, you don't have to go to the park. Dot wanted to smack this one woman behind her that was the non-stop whine machine.
"HEY! We are ALL in the same boat. Do you think that I LIKE the fact that there are evil, sick people out there that get their jollies out of flying planeloads of innocent people into civilian buildings full of more innocent people?! The LAST thing we need is some yahoo doing something stupid in OUR favorite playground. If this means that I have to wait an extra 10, 15 or 20 minutes, then that is fine! Talk to your neighbor, learn something new. Whining doesn't help."
So on with the show. The first show we went on was Alien Encounter. This is my favorite attraction at MK. There are warning signs posted for this ride. In my opinion, they are not large enough. This is a VERY mentally scary and intense ride. Grown-ups will have fun and find themselves a bit scared or freaked but if you take your child on this ride, you WILL be paying for therapy for the next 10 years. I am NOT kidding! Little kids have NO business on this ride.
It is based (loosely) on the Alien of Ridley Scott fame. You enter a very entertaining queue where you get a lesson in teleportation from a robot and his unwilling volunteer "Skippy". Just seeing cute little Skippy get crispy in a teleporter "accident" and then have the slightly malevolent robot trap him in the transporter interface while in transit, perhaps permanently, can be a bit disturbing to small kids.
You next enter a circular room where you sit around a giant tube. There is a large shoulder harness that comes down over you. While it is used for an effect later on, its main purpose is to keep people in their seats so they are not running around in terror in the dark and break their necks.
The teleporter is accidentally rerouted and instead of the chairman of the teleportation company coming to talk to you, an Alien is transported in his place. The Alien busts out of the tube, total darkness descends and the fun begins. This is a total mind trip. Nothing in the room moves. You hear the Alien running on the catwalk, breathing hot breath on your neck, it kills a few people, you hear chewing sounds, you feel warm "blood" dripping on you from the guy he ate on the catwalk, etc. As you can tell, this is intense.
There was a kid sitting next to me that looked like Ralphie from "A Christmas Story". He was about 9 years old and was screaming and hysterical with terror. His Dad was trying to calm him down, telling him it's just a ride, that it's not real but the kid was terrorized. Dot remarked later that she was going to Hell because while she felt sorry for the kid, his genuine screams of abject terror really added to the experience of the ride for her. Please parents, don't be selfish and drag your small children on this ride just because you want to see it. Do the child swap, preview the ride first, judge your childs ability to handle this before you damage them. I give this ride an A- for adults, an A for teens, a D for average kids and an F for small children. I think this would have been better at MGM/Disney Studios and have Star Tours here (like they have in Disneyland).
Buzz Lightyear - Take the kids to this instead of Alien Encounter. It's a fun ride shooting a laser cannon at targets. My only complaint is that I can never see the red laser so it is really hard to aim. It is a lot of fun. What was more fun was being chased around Tomorrowland by a talking trashcan!
Next it was off to Fantasyland where I was on a fact-finding mission for an upcoming trip with my Sis, brother in law, niece and nephew. I broke down and rode Pooh. This was a nice ride (although I still miss Mr. Toad). There was a variation of movement to the ride. You would bounce when Tigger was there, you felt like you were floating on water when it was raining, etc. There are a few tiny scary elements in the storm but it is not anything Mom can't fix by being there. I give this a B+
Peter Pan was always one of my favorites from DL. They show more of the story here than the Disneyland version so I do like this one better. You can't beat seeing everything from in the air in a sailing pirate ship. This was one of my favorite rides when I first went to DL at 8 and still is. One of the mermaids looked like Ariel. Hamm. Small, picky geek note of an error on this ride. Peter Pan is set in Victorian London. When you are flying over London, look down. You will see streets filled with cars (headlights). There were no cars in Peter Pan's London. I give this ride an A-
Haunted Mansion is another favorite. While a tiny bit scary for small children, most kids love this especially with Mom or Dad there for comfort at scary places.
Adventureland has a new ride, Aladdin's Magic Carpets. Think of this as Dumbo with a spitting camel. This is a really fun ride and great for the whole family. You ride on carpets. There are two compartments. The front seats control the carpet going up and down and the back seats control the carpet tilting forward or back (don't worry, it doesn't tip that far). AND when you first take off you have to pass a camel that is spitting at you so get your carpet over his head!
The Jungle Cruise is a good stand-by. I think I like the DL one better as they only have one river. Here you go from the Amazon to the Congo to the Nile to the Mekong Delta (gee and I didn't even get jet lag). They don't shoot at the hippos and our guide was a Paula Poundstone look-alike but not as funny. Shudder The Guides make or break this ride.
I must say that as soon as the Dole Whip stand opened I was over there faster than a jackrabbit on a date. I got the pineapple/vanilla swirl and broke records eating it. MMmmm. Dole Whip $2.65 Yummy Feeling - Priceless
The Pirates of the Caribbean was a great ride. The drop in the dark was very cool. This is just good fun all the way around.
Next we took a trip over to Tom Sawyer's Island. This is a great place for kids to run off steam & sugar and it is WAY cooler than Disneyland's version. First I was hungry and went over to Aunt Polly's for a nibble. I wanted the kids meal of PB&J and had no problems getting it. $3.50 for smooth peanut butter (on both sides of the brad) and strawberry jam on wonder bread. It doesn't get better than this for comfort food. The price also includes a small drink and a small bag of cookies.
Tom Sawyer Island was great fun. There is a ton of stuff to do and you can get a workout climbing up and down hills and dales, there is a fort, a wobbly bridge, a windmill and two caves to explore. Injun' Joe's Cage is cool, dark with an uneven floor so don't run and watch your step. There are also little cubbyholes and tunnels at kid level. Warning: They smell like pee. Enough said.
The Mystery Mine is dark, warm, and also has an uneven floor in places. We did this one with Minnie & Mickey who were visiting on the island in their Christmas clothes.
Big Thunder and Splash Mountain are always fun. The flume on Splash still gets me and I got wet being in the front. Ladies, remember if you are going to go on ANY water rides in any park either (a) don't wear a white shirt and if you do, ALWAYS wear a bra!!!
After being a bit worn out from the roller coasters, I took the old standby - The train. This is a nice, relaxing ride. I noticed that they added PC Pocahontas music when you go by Tom Sawyer Island and Indian settlements. The burning cabin was not mentioned. At Disneyland for years the settlers cabin was attacked by Indians. Now it has been changed to being attacked by Pirates. O Kay . And this is suppose to be 1800's Mississippi and there are pirates Ok, I won't stretch my brain too far, I'll hurt myself. If they wanted to be PC, why not just take the cabin out as an outdated part of the attraction?
Then after much shopping we trekked back to the resort for a rest and then off to Flying Fish. We were held captive on WDW transportation for 1 hour and 20 minutes trying to get from WL to Boardwalk! ARRGGHHHH. The food was very nice but not the number on restaurant from last year. Now it is number 4 after Citricos, Artist Point and Jiko.
But now it's back to the Adventurer's Club on Pleasure Island. Two nights previous, Dot and myself (being total hams) starting saying "He's so dreamy" in unison to Hathaway Brown, the Club's leading man. Think the bimbos from Beauty and the Beast. We became his cheering section and Greek chorus for the rest of the night (until we drug our sorry butts to bed in the early morning hours). It was a great deal of fun. After running into NativeTxn the previous day with DIS con people we hoped they would show up. We got there about 9pm, went into the library for one of their main shows, took our places up at the front to do our shtick. There were a table of DIS con people that we started talking to. A different actor was playing Hathaway this day (he played Emil Bleehawl the last time we were there).
After heading back into the main parlor for more fun we did see that more DISers, NativeTxn included did come out for the show. It was a great deal of fun and we can't wait to go back.
NEXT: Day 7 GF Spa, Epcot, Rose & Crown, Yachtsman's, Illuminations
This woman did not win the mother of the year award!
