....I just may have you beat - we have a HM door opener to our home theatre that gets activated with our Magic Bands! And, it plays the "Welcome foolish mortals..." opening schpiel. Our DS and DD-in-L got it for us for Christmas.
...thanks...
I'd join you, Brian. We don't see eye to eye on a lot of things but I would be with you chained to the Hollywood Tower HotelThat's a good point. It's like when they changed ToT at California Adventure. I was fine with it being different there, but when they come for the original ToT in Hollywood Studios, I'm chaining myself to door!
I'd join you, Brian. We don't see eye to eye on a lot of things but I would be with you chained to the Hollywood Tower Hotel
Most of the nearby hundreds of acres cannot be built on or would take much longer to get ready to build on. They won’t build on anything that’s dark green on the below maps
It hasn’t been Tom Sawer Island in Disneyland for almost two decades. It’s Pirates Lair on Tom Sawyer Island now. To be honest I couldn’t tell you if there’s still TS theming or not but it definitely screams Pirates. Just a heads up before you plan that trip.I actually cried a little bit this morning when I read the news. I was really hoping they'd leave TSI alone and possibly build behind HM.
I'm the same age as WDW. I have great memories of TSI from childhood. Whitewashing the fence, eating PBJ sandwiches at Aunt Polly's, exploring both caves - even the very scary pitch black one, traversing the barrel bridge, and shooting from the fort (pre-BTMRR).
Of course all that nostalgia is great, but the even greater part of TSI for me is that my own children adore it. We laugh every time we dock. "A bump, a tug, a swing, and a couple more bumps." We literally spend more than an hour there on each MK day. It's a must-do for us. It is such an amazing respite from the crowds of the park (which, I understand, is part of its downfall) and is a unique place to explore. We sit and play checkers. They love to play hide and seek tag at the fort. And did you know they have amazinging cold bathrooms at the fort?
After our most recent visit a few weeks ago, I realized that my younger son does not know the story of Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn. So we went to my mom's house where she has a complete set of Mark Twain's works with a publication date of 1917 (original copyright of 1875). It was a treasured possession of her grandfather. My son very excitedly got the copy of The Adventures of Tom Sawyer that belonged to his great, great grandfather and we brought it home for him to read. I have Disney to thank for that.
I was so looking forward to returning to TSI in the future (trips two years apart are pretty reasonable for us) so he could see TSI through fresh eyes after reading the novel.
I guess we'll be taking our first trip to Disneyland now.
With all of the land that they have in Florida, I really wish they wouldn't take away such a beautiful part of MK. My family will sorely miss it.
Oh, we agree on plenty, including the truth that DisneySea is the greatest theme park in the world!
Yeah, and it's cool that DLR has a different version than WDW - I am usually fine with that. I like that DL gets the Haunted Mansion Holiday overlay but I wouldn't want it at WDW. It's great to have a reason to go to both!
A big part of the reason we don't care to return to WDW is the type of planning necessary. For us one of the biggest draws of a WDW visit was dropping our bags and heading off in whatever direction and have fun. Once crowds far outstripped capacity and the place essentially began to feel like everything was an obstacle course necessary to continuously navigate behind technology and paywalls we stopped visiting.
I find that surprising, it’s like walking right into the movie. Probably the best themed land in DCA/DLR aside from Galaxy’s Edge. It’s hands down my favorite land.
That’s what I’ve always loved about Disneyland, you could just drop everything and go. I hate you have to make reservations now but it’s still a low maintenance vacation. We still “go with our heart” there most of the time.
For my wife and I it's probably because we haven't seen the movies are are not the target audience. As for my Granddaughter, like I posted above, probably because she is 5. But I have to admit I am kind of glad she so enjoyed one of Walt's classic attractions, the Enchanted Tiki room. I put Tom Sawyer island in the same boat. And also like I posted, they have the vacant land, keep Tom Swayer Island and the Liberty Belle and ADD carsland on vacation space.
We've enjoyed our two visits to DLR and intend to return there if we ever decide to do Disney again. I try to keep somewhat informed of the status of things there in case we reach the point we want to plan a trip. I'm hopeful they avoid many of the changes WDW has made that don't suit our preferences.
The starting permits are to begin work on the land behind where Villains will likely end up. They are prepping the land to be able to move everything in start the work. Not sure how long it will take to get that ready.Just got this from DFB (Disney Food Blog). Looks like I won’t be going to Tom Sawyer Island or riding The Ferry in March.
You have no idea how hard I’m kicking myself right now for dragging my feet with both of these things - I’ve been going since 1976 - why have I not done this?? Ugghhh…..so annoyed with me right now
Sorry for the bad picture - It’s a picture of my computer screen at work
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