Florida 2012

[Mark9]

Leaving one of the biggest theme park capitals of the world is a very hard thing to do. Both Chris and I left Florida last year with a large amount of sadness, the thought of how long will it be until you go back. Well, Chris felt we needed another go and so forth a trip for 2012 was planned. With all the experience you gain, your trip is bound to be better planned. And there we were, off on the 30th September.

30th September 2012 - Flight Day.

Despite the disasters of the Uk train system, we arrived at Gatwick with time to spare. We went to see our carriage, a nice refurbished 747 with touch screen entertainment system, yay.

Long flights do bore me slightly, luckily Virgins system had a large range of films and comedy. So I watched a bit of Brave, some Modern Family, and a few other bits of stuff.

So upon arrival we checked in and then whats this, torrential rain?! Back in 2011 we saw rain for an hour on one day. This year saw several thunderstorms, long periods of torrential rain for all the first week. We ran to our room pretty much. It was essentially the same as our room at Port Orleans, except it had a pair of wooden doors in place of curtains, that Chris adored playing with every day.

We made our way to the Pepper Market where you essentially choose whatever food you wish from an area and eat it. Very 21st Century. I had a chilli burger which was good enough and Chris had a burrito. Very nice.

We saw some decoration and then went back to the room for sleep and some time adjustment.

One thing to say about Coronado Springs as a result is that it has a large place with nearly 2000 rooms on site. The place has four bus-stops and several restaurants and a far superior, regular bus service then Port Orleans. We rarely had a more then ten minute wait to get to the parks.

[Mark9]

1st October 2012 - Return to the Magic Kingdom

Having changed how I view theme parks in 2011, returning was a different kettle of fish. Over time your own memory builds reputations that rides sometimes just cannot match up to. So how would it face.

The opening ceremony is in itself a thing of beauty. It is pure fun regardless of whether you're young child or old woman. The steam train coming around that corner is just theatre.

So into the park we went and just like before, we headed straight to a ride that I think is pure theme park perfection.

Big Thunder Mountain Railroad

When Theme Parks add a ride aimed at everyone they quite often shy away from doing the ride justice. Rides like Dragons Fury and Thirteen are great rides but something always seems a little off. Whether the ride be unthemed or whether the whole ride lies on an unconvincing gimmick, something just seems wrong. Big Thunder Mountain is not this ride. In my view this is the perfect family attraction. I know that in theme park circles, the Paris version is seen as the pinnacle. I am yet to ride the French version. I'm here to discuss this throughput focused, themed giant. The ride has recently seen a lengthy refurbishment in which many of the effects have been fixed and the ride repainted all over and the queue line re-roofed, re-organized and sorted it with new wooden fencing. It looks absolutely fantastic, testament to Disney's continuing effort with their theme parks. The ride itself has so many positives that I'll probably forget some but hey ho.

+ The ride has so many staff working absolutely flat out to get you on that ride as quickly as possible. There's little to no faff, with you batched and seated nearly as soon as you enter the station

+ The ride is a throughput giant, five trains and two stations running continuously. Even with fast pass and a full queueline, you can bet your life that your maximum wait will be around 30 minutes. That is staggering for a park regularly achieving over 70,000 people gate figures a day.

+ Thunder Mountain is now 29 years old. And it looks fresh out of the box. Part of that is the refurbishment but its also the love and attention that Disney have given the attraction. They have looked after the ride properly.

+ The ride itself is pretty damn fun. It has its dull spots such as the section after the third lift hill but I can hardly downgrade a ride much based on its finale in the same way that thrill coasters live or die on layout alone. It's a fun packed layout with things to spot around every corner.

Big Thunder Mountain Graded A

Our plan was to have a go on Splash Mountain but in a rather shocking turn of events it was closed. Considering we scarcely saw a closed ride in 2011, this was rather strange to see. With a heavy heart we left Splash and went towards Fantasyland. We grabbed a fastpass for Peter Pans Flight (knowing how busy it gets) and went for a ride on The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh.

The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh

I find this such a charming ride in its own right from its interactive queue line to the way the ride does the three adventures from the film such justice. Sure it is slightly showing its age and some of the audio was slightly off key, but it still does the job in such a lovely way that I do find myself favouring a ride on this then other rides at Magic Kingdom.

We next had a go on Philarmagic, one of Chris's favourite attractions. Not much can be said particularly about this because it has changed very little since last year. It has a humour all of its own and is completely under-rated as an attraction.

Onto Peter Pans Flight which was an attraction that I didn't really like. And I still don't think that much of it. The problem really is down to the ride racing through the story like a monkey on speed. The worst part though has to be the queue for it. If we hadn't got any fast-passes then we wouldn't have bothered because the length of the ride doesn't compare to the length of the queue. It saw queues regularly over 30 minutes.

(My favourite fast-pass)

It's a Small World

Over my years of theme park love, I've never really seen much love for this ride. It's often spoken badly off because of its irritating theme tune or the way the ride is sickenly optimistic. To tell you my view is to say that I think it's the kind of ride that the UK so desperately needs. Sure, it's a roomy attraction and one that has a very specific target audience. But it's a people eater, it's a long ride giving you a good queue to ride ratio and its just so happy. It has a message that one day all nations will get along.. it definitely deserves its place in Fantasy Land for this reason alone.

Back into the realm of madness, we went to ride Dumbo, a ride we never made it to in 2011. Now moved into a new position and paired with a clone of itself the ride certainly impresses more then it ever used to. Sure, it is just a simple round ride with elephants but it looks lovely with each elephant sporting a different colour around its neck. The childrens area in the tent is also an inspired idea, we saw a lot of kids crying when their time to leave and go on the ride occured. Strange children...

Over the holiday, new parts of the Circus opened. Before our Holiday, Casey Junior had just opened, on day one, the big top opened, on the Sunday the meet and greet opened and on the final day, The Little Mermaid had its first rehersal day.

And for the final part of this bit of the trip report, dinner. Now on our last holiday we learnt that having a sit down meal in the evening is an awful idea. So we decided to have dinner at lunch time and for our first destination we chose every girls favourite, Cinderellas Royal Table.

To be frank, this was not Chris's favourite restaurant because of the meet and greets. With the others, you can escape the fact there are people in the outfits because they don't talk to you and you can pretend they really are Mickey or Dug. But not with the Human characters. Here we had several princesses coming round to each table. Each was introduced to the room via pre-recorded announcements. We had Snow White, Belle, Aurora and Ariel.

Chris's face before the character walked around.

I adore how each character stays completely in character. For instance, Ariel asked us how long it took for us to swim from London to Orlando and Aurora asked us if our Queen at the Jubilee was an evil queen. Belle dropped a hint that her new restaurant may open before we leave...

[Benin]

That last picture just goes to prove that Disney face characters always look really really bad... Especially it seems the American ones...

The Circus looks great though... I'm still holding back till Fantasyland is actually finished though...

[Mark9]

Return to the Magic Kingdom - 1st October 2012

With dinner finished, it was over to The Barnstormer - Featuring the Great Goofini. Unfortunately I had some camera issues so didn't get any photos of the rollercoaster. It was closed during my visit last year so it was another coaster credit. Yay. Anyway, despite the shortness of the ride I was astounded by how the rides trains never stacked outside the station. On and off so quickly really is testament to the rides hard working staff. The ride itself is your atypical Vekoma kiddy coaster. Quite smooth but nowhere near the quality of Pegasus.

Once finished it was off to Tomorrowland like there's no tomorrow. Through the holiday we learnt the key to the area was to get fastpass for either Space Mountain or Buzz Lightyears Spaceranger spin and use the time in-between to try the other attractions in the area. Rather madly, Stitch's Great Escape was not open. This scared us, two attractions closed at the same time?! With that, we grabbed out fastpasses for Space Mountain and used the time to queue for Buzz. I lost my mind a little bit here. The queue-board did say 15 minutes and even though I knew it was longer, the queue just felt exhausting because of the amount of fastpassers streaming into the ride building. I feel this is one Disney attraction where the distribution is to high even though it is technically an omnimover. It doesn't help that I don't really like the ride anyway and don't see the point of two rides in Orlando now themed around the Toy Story franchise which do pretty much the same thing. If anything, Buzz is worse because the ride feels so cumbersome and lacks any kind of pace as you slowly move through the baren landscape of cardboard scenery.

We then had a ride on the People-Mover, essentially a transport system around Tomorrowland. The ride is an oddity but I really like it because of its length and the fact it travels in and around all the attractions and shops of the area. I especially appreciate the ride going through the middle of Space Mountains two lift hills. The thing also loads more like an omnimover so rarely has a long queue.

It was now time for our Space Mountain fast pass. The queueboard said 60 minutes for the stand by. Now I normally hate the idea of skipping queues but the thing with Disney is that the system is available for everyone to use. Where you win on something like Space Mountain you lose on Splash Mountain or Space Ranger Spin. It is a much fairer system then other parks. So onto the ride. Seated like the Black Hole used to seat, you are in a much more vulnerable position with your legs ahead of you instead of sitting like on a B&M or Intamin ride. You get dispatched into a long straight tunnel representing the launch into space. It should be boring but it isn't because blue lights go towards you in the tunnel making it seem faster then it actually is. You turn an abrupt corner into your sides lift-hill. From there on in your sense of direction is all over the place as the train travels in complete darkness with only the odd bit of small lighting on the rides roof giving you any insight into the direction you may head into next. The ride uses sound too to give you the feeling that you are that close to hitting the walls or flying off of the rides circuit. It is such a simple attraction and yet is genius because the only sense you can rely on during the 90 seconds is sound.

The ride features some amazingly steep drops that got me every single time, even though I knew they were coming, I could never remember when they were going to happen. All I could feel was my bag starting to fly towards the sky. What amazes me is that this is no spring chicken, opening in 1975, it has seen near continuous operation (ignoring the odd refurbishment) and rides beautifully. It shows the young whipper-snappers how its done and outdoes much taller rides to boot. Out of interest, at the entrance of most rides was a staff member surveying people on what they thought. One woman gave Space Mountain 10 out of 10 and described it as the most out of control ride she'd ever been on. I don't know what other rides she'd been on but its irrelevant. For a ride of this type to give that impression is nothing short of impressive.

Space Mountain - Graded A*

It was approaching 3 o clock now and time for the Celebrate a Dream come true Parade. What astounds me is that people actually wait around the parade route for over an hour for prime viewing locations. We strolled up at about 2:55 and got a great spot instantly. The parade itself is very optimistic with Mickey and the gang making magic memories to some cheesy music. Lots of fun.

We headed back into Tomorrowland where Stitch had now opened. And just in time too. The parade tends to displace people around the park and with the parade going right past Tomorrowlands entrance, everyone leaves the parade and heads straight in. Stitch went from a 0 minute queue to 30 minutes in about 120 seconds. The same happened to Monsters Inc Laugh Floor and I can bet Buzz was a nasty old queue as well. For Stitch, it is the definition of a marmite attraction. It can be enjoyable but some will find it lengthy and tiresome for what it actually does. The Stitch animatronic is very impressive and managed to move convincingly. It just doesn't appear for long enough as the ride is often plunged into darkness for the effects to work.

Rather interestingly we were given one of these cards quite frequently during the holiday.

Essentially, cast members scan them at the entrance, give them to guests who then have to give them to a cast member when they board the ride which then changes the length of stand by queue board. It is a system with flaws because it doesn't equate for times when the parade ends and people stream into a queue but fortunately the cast members were giving them out quite freely to keep the queue board as accurate as possible. I like the idea behind it, it doesn't just let staff take wild guesses at queue lengths.

[Deleted Users]

Blergh, I wish my family got into the Disney spirit and wanted to do all the shows, parades, meet n greets, etc. They don't like the 'big' rides either.

[pluk]

Thought Disney always used the two turnstyle method of one in one out to calculate number and time waiting? Anyway, love the report in a depressing wish I was there kind of way.

[Fred]

Evil child in one of those photos.

Scary times, 11 months til 2nd ever visit. Eek!

[Mark9]

Return to the Magic Kingdom, 1st October 2012 - Part 3

It was now onto my least adventured area, Adventureland. In comparison to the other areas, Adventure holds the least amount of attractions that capture my attention. Part of the problem is that none are particularly note-worthy or special. The Magic Carpets of Agrabah for instance is just Dumbo with flying carpets, Pirates of the Caribbean is an okay ride but slightly short and besides, I rode Europa Parks and Drayton Manor equivalents before Disney's which slightly skews my opinion.

Jungle Cruise

The Difficulties of this kind of attraction are quite apparent from the moment you board the boat. The whole experience moulds around just how cheeky and funny the operator of the boat is. Have one that can't make a pun or a funny comment and the whole rides becomes dull and lifeless. On the other side, have someone who is too happy and you just wish for them to shut up. For our ride this time, we had someone who lies between the two pillars. He could make a joke and make it work but he knew when to be quiet such as when the boat travels into a dangerous cave.

If you are unaware of the history of Jungle Cruise, I'd recommend looking into the original attraction at Disneyland, as despite my misgivings, it's a ride that should never be removed from Disneys roster.

Jungle Cruise - Graded C+

We then had a go on Pirates of the Caribbean before going off to get a pineapple float. Unfortunately my camera didn't get a nice photo of this marvellous snack. Lets just say it is absolutely gorgeous. Chris devoured his in minutes.

Our next destination was the Tiki Room. On our last visit it was closed due to a fire and Disney had taken the decision to revert the Enchanted Tiki room to its original incarnation, albeit slightly shorter. Now, it's not the biggest crowd pleasing attraction, however it is a nice diversion from the hustle and bustle of the park. It's essentially a show where birds sing and as the show continues all parts of the room join in with the main group. It's a rather quaint show but as I say its not everyone. If I prefer your thrills slightly bigger I'd suggest other areas.

My camera has a dark moment now so I am unable to show any pictures of our adventures. We witnessed the Presidents of America show in Liberty Square. It's basically a big patriotic show, letting us all know that Americans and their liberty rule the roost. As they burn a British flag. It's enough to make this London resident blush. Our next stop was one of my favourite attractions

The Haunted Mansion

SHED!

What I love about it is how cheeky the ride is. Sure it's supposed to be a haunted house but the ghost host never takes his role seriously with many hilarious puns throughout. Some of the effects on show are obviously awesome, such as the dancers in the dining room scene or the graveyard scene which is fantastically atmospheric and full of fun. The Hitch-hiking scene which ends the ride always raises a smile for me. I love a ride that doesn't take itself seriously. I also am rather in love with the cast members uniform for the attraction. Sexay.

Whats this?! Splash Mountain is now open but with a 60 minute queue. Ouch. So we grabbed a fastpass (which was for half an hour later. ) and get a few goes on Big Thunder Mountain which despite displaying a 30 minute queue, was more like ten minutes. Did I mention it's an enormous people shovel, BTM.

With night-time descending all around us, it was time for the night-time festivities to begin. We tried to grab the best position possible to watch Wishes, the night-time show about dreaming upon a star. It is a lovely show but it does tend to repeat the same fireworks over and over again. A highlight is Tinkerbell flying from the top of the castle and over the plaza.

We grabbed a few more rides on Big Thunder Mountain and Splash Mountain before settling down for the Electrical Light Parade

I know some Disney fans tend to hate on everything Disney does in Orlando, but I am so glad I got the chance to watch this awesome parade at all as I think it's absolutely beautifully designed with amazing parade vehicles. The characters like all the parades, really get into their roles and it is a wonderful way of finishing a night at the Magic Kingdom.

And with that the first day of Florida was done and dusted. With queue times ranging from 10-60 minutes, we managed to grab a go on 22 rides over 14 hours of theme park fun. The park was open from 9am in the morning till 1am the following morning. It makes you think the amount of strain each Disney attraction is put on each day as it's not like it's a rare occurrence. To only have two rides closed for a period of time is nothing when you compare to how long they have to run all all year. Disney engineers deserves mountains of praise.

[Tom]

Loving the trip reports so far!

I have to agree that Buzz should not have fastpasses. The buzz ride in California recently had them taken off and put on Star Tours 2/The Adventure Continues/3D and even when rides like Space Mountain and Star Tours are over an hours wait, Buzz never seems to even peak above 15 minutes just because it is a constant shuffle to the onload platform.

[Mark9]

Epcot - 2nd October 2012

Epcot is a park I'm very fond of, in fact I think it my favourite park at Disney World. The reasons for this will become clear through my report. Suffice to say the day previously Epcot had celebrated its 30th anniversary and we received a free 30th anniversary pin badge from Mouse Gear. The cast member informed us they were going for 80 dollars on e-bay. One may hold onto this for a while.

So Epcot. With Testrack closed, there is about two other attractions of major interest to really talk about:-

Soarin'

Fresh from California is Soarin', a if you like, flight simulator with a difference. On my trip last year this is the attraction that really got American's going. And I can happily report this is still the case with the queue time for this jumping to 60 minutes almost immediately after the park opens. Soft music plays in the queueline to keep you entertained, it doesn't really work because you stay stationary for quite a while. This is a lengthy attraction so even with two rooms of simulators, time can drag. Luckily we went straight to Soarin' when the park opened, grabbed a fast pass and joined the queue so got two goes on it quite quickly. As for the attraction itself, it really is the most peaceful (E-ticket) attraction going. It takes the most beautiful sights of California and shows just how varied the state is. From the smell of oranges over a grove to the snow capped mountains to the North. The only thing that takes you slightly out of the moment is the jumping from scene to scene. Nonetheless, the final scene flying over Disneyland, and being hit by fireworks gets every American sobbing and the ride finished with a loud round of applause. It's a real must see at Epcot.

Soarin' Graded B+

Whilst we waited for our fast pass for Soarin', we took a ride on Living with the Land. It's a really nice boat ride teaching its riders how we need to look after the world we live in and use our crops and animals properly. Whilst it may seem like a blatant attempt at education it's something that differentiates Epcot from the other theme parks.

After our second Soarin' ride it was cake time. I went for a toffee crumble cupcake which was nice and squidgy. We made our way to The Seas with Nemo and Friend. which previously I had seen as a pointless endeavour with Nemo. Now I truly believe that every theme park should get an omnimover. They are the future people. We saw the manatees before watching Crush talk which is an interactive show featuring the turtle from Finding Nemo. It's meant more for the kids as they sit in front of the screen and all the questions are directed at them. it's nonetheless a nice diversion.

It was time to travel further into Epcot with a ride on something that all Disney fans despise.. Imagination

Now, imagine Tomb Blaster but with no scary elements at all. This is what the ride is kind of like. you journey through a factory exploring the five senses but at each turn Figment of your imagination (a little purple dragon) interrupts and says that imagination is the key to all your senses. The sound of a train conjures up lots of images in your imagination. It's cute and one of the only attractions at Epcot that doesn't take itself too seriously. Chris hates it, but I'm rather fond of Figment. It gets away with a cardinal amount of sins for this reason alone.

Our next choice of ride was Mission Space. Last year we rather stupidly had a cinamon pretzel before the ride and spent most of the experience feeling rather sick. This time we were prepared. No need for sick bags this time. Mission Space is intense and rather claustrophobic. We went for the more intense orange side and it is extreme, probably the most extreme ride at Disney World. The attraction itself is fun and scary but very hard to re-ride because you do walk off just thankful that you didn't throw up all over the place.

[Mark9]

Epcot - 2nd October 2012.

So it was off to World Showcase, the part of Epcot that differentiates it from other theme parks. You might know the drill, 12 countries all around World Showcase Lagoon. We had reservations at Le Cellier Steakhouse in the Canadian pavillion. It was our longest wait for dinner on the holiday but it was well worth the wait. The steak was absolutely gorgeous and perfectly done. Was very impressed. For pudding I had a mousse that was literally the shape of a moose's face.

The restaurant was just excellent. Our waitress was telling us the history and choices behind the starters and food and what each part means culturally to Canada. She may have been talking rubbish but it seemed real enough to me.

So round the showcase we went. Next land was England which ironically was the only time we saw bright sunshine on our trip round the lands.

Looks like that place from Doctor Who

Following a recommendation by a Disneys Magical Express worker, we watched a film called Impressions de France. Showed off the beauty of France spectacularly. Still can't believe I climed the Eifel tower back in May.

My favourite pavillion by far is the Japanese one, each building is big and grand and luscious to look at.

Italy is okay although not much going on (aside the weeping angel statue) and I do like Germany just because of its beer, chocolate and pretzel combination. I also met Pasquel from Tangled

It was time for Norway and Mexico, the two areas with rides in the Pavillion. Maelstrom is just as strange as before with a very skewed take on Norweigan life. From giant polar bears, trolls and an oil refinery, Norway from an American perspective is very much a land of variation. Mexico isn't quite in the same league however I do like a bit of The Gran Fiesta Tour. Essentially a poor version of It's a Small World it still has a throughput that would make most theme parks cry.

Via a closed Testrack, we went to ride on Ellens Energy Adventure. Up there with Charlie & the Chocolate Factory and X:/ No Way Out as one of the most bizarre rides of all time. To be ridden to be believed.

With night descending as well as heavy rain it was time for one last ride on Living with the Land and the first viewing of the trip of Illuminations Reflections of Earth.

It's a simply sublime fireworks display. Poignant but full of big moments, makes you think but doesn't make you dwell. Gathering all around the fire for 10 minutes, all the visitors of Epcot gathered for a fantastic firework display. Worth seeing.

Thanks for reading.

[pluk]

My overwhelming thought after Ellen's Energy Adventure was to find Ellen DeGeneres and hurt her. God awful thing that.

[Benin]

Ellen

Bill Nye

Energy Adventure

[Mark9]

Hollywood Studios - 3rd October 2012

Dropping in?

Advertising a 13 minute waiting time, it was time to ride something that really made an impression on the 2011 trip;

The Hollywood Hotel: Tower of Terror

There are very few rides that have the reputation of the Tower of Terror and it's three brothers. The ride represents the step between ride and theatre in a way quite unlike any other ride. And it starts way before you even get a proper look at the ride. It is one of the only rides you can see outside of any of the Disney parks for example (You can see it clearly from Everest and near the top of Summet Plummet) and rather oddly you can see the back of the building from roads around the resort. It's only when you get in the park and start walking towards Sunset Boulevard that the tower reveals itself truly to you.

This might be my imagination playing tricks on me, but like the Magic Kingdom castle, the Tower draws you, it is in the centre of any photo and is a work of art. I love it and could photo it endlessly. As you get closer little effects work their magic such as the doors opening as one of the lifts stop momentarily for a view over the park before closing again, concealing the screams.

As par of the course, the queueline is gorgeous with one route taking you down past the front of the tower whilst the other takes you along the hotels balcony. Once inside the building the full effect of the rides theming takes over such as the 1940's music played in the background which becomes almost ghostly or the dim lighting used in the hotel lobby. There is very few rides that much up to the tower in building at atmosphere and a mood.

The lobby itself is gorgeous with cobwebs covering the corners along with discarded luggage or old clothes strewn along the floor. You're batched into a small library where a video plays introducing you to someone impersonating Rod Sterling and the story of the Hollywood Hotel. I adore this video because its short and snappy, it captures the mood of The Twilight Zone tv show perfectly. Interestingly, on our last ride of the trip the whole room said "The Twilight Zone" in total unison. Music to my eyes when it comes to my favourite attraction ever built. So out you go into the bowels of the hotel, boilers still lit to run the service elevators that will transport you to the twilight zone.

Another key aspect is the way the cast members act. Now if this was Dumbo and the staff gave you attitude you'd think it's insulting and not Disney at all. Here the staff act in any manner appropriate. If they are openly rude and ordering you about, they usually close the lift doors with an eerie smile as they know your fate is sealed. If they are over the top kind then you become suspicious to their intent. One even made the obvious puns such as "thank you for dropping in" and laughed hysterically to herself. It's all part of the show and pushes further the element of fascination I have with this ride.

So the doors close and the lift goes up a floor. Every-time the lift stops it rings its bell, it makes me weak at the knees how much love has gone into this attraction. The first floor shows the people transported to the twilight zone and how the beckon you forward to join them. The room fades to night with stars and at the end of the corridor, a window breaks. The lift door closes and you rise quickly to the second floor. The lift then leaves the lift-shaft and emerges through a passageway, giving the idea of travelling into the twilight zone. You reach the end where lightening strikes, Sterlings voice appears saying you have entered the Twilight Zone. And this is the fun part. The ride takes on any direction it wants. Because you enter the drop tower part of the ride about what feels like half way up the building, the lift can either rise to the top or drop suddenly. It's all part of the surprise and a small important detail which makes this ride far better then your average drop tower. Sometimes the lift will even fake an ending by going to the bottom, only to throw you all the way back to the top again. Sometimes it will pull your leg by dropping slightly and then jumping upwards. The un-predicability has become a key role in the rides re-rideability.

And I love it for it.

1994 really is the gold medal in terms of rides and attractions it seems. We got the world renowned Nemesis and the world received one of the greatest attractions of all time.

The Hollywood Hotel: Tower of Terror - Graded A*

[Mark9]

Hollywood Studios - 3rd October 2012

Having ridden the best ride ever, it's very hard for anything else to really reach this level. Now what I didn't say in the last instalment was that at Hollywood Studios, there is one ride that is more popular then any other ride at the park. So popular that it's fast-pass regularly runs out by about 12pm. This brings about a dilemma. Do you rush to Toy Story Mania, grab a fastpass and then jump in the queue or do you bide your time. The risk of running over is that the fastpass time might be something like 3:30-4:30 meaning you are locked out of any other fastpass queue until that time. When arriving at the park that day we noticed that Toy Story Mania was temporarily closed. Shock Horror another ride at Disney temporarily closed. So our decision was made to not bother with going down there as we didn't want to risk not having fastpass for the rest of the day.

We instead had our ride on Tower of Terror, grabbed a fastpass for that (which was about half an hour afterwards) and jumped into the Rock 'n' rollercoaster queue. Vekoma have worked miracles under the Disney umbrella with Everest and Thunder Mountain but inspiration must have taken a holiday when they built rock n roller. It is not my favourite ride at Hollywood Studios it has to be said due to its uninspiring theme of driving in a limo through traffic or the fact that I only ever seem to hear "Don't want to Miss a thing" when I'm queuing. It just feels distinctly lacking, especially when on the ride you just seem to go through endless neon cardboard signs. The ride isn't rough which is a positive and I'm rather fond of the Limo design. It just feels so un-Disney in its execution. I understand that I am in the minority though as Rock N Rollercoaster is loved by many.

It was snack time where I grabbed a cherry turnover and Chris had another awesome muffin.

So next was the Indiana Stunt show. I wasn't impressed really. It starts well but I do feel like they go to far into explaining things to the point where you feel like the trick wasn't that impressive in the first place. Surely not what they were going for. Our show also ended early, we'll never know what went wrong.

Star Tours

Everyone secretly loves the Star Wars franchise. Some people have pretend hate but the majority cannot deny that they know a line from the film or that someone is someones father. Our last visit to DIsney saw Star Tours closed for its refurbishment but rather crushingly, it had a soft opening two days after we left. Not to be disappointed this time, we went straight into the queue (after hastily grabbing a fastpass) I love the queueline. Cheeky little jokes in every corner whether it be "the staff are always happy" or the robot hastily ignoring dangerous luggage for the flight. Exactly the kind of tounge in cheek you expect from a top Disney attraction.

The attraction itself is literally 6 banks of cinemas all lined up in a long line so this attraction becomes not just a people eater but a people gorger. The storyline is you are about to take a flight in a Star Tours vehicle. Nice and simple. When the park advertises 50 different stories, what they really mean is that you may see the same scene 3 or 4 times in a row with different scenes before or after. You start with an accidental take off by C3PO who is all of a flutter. The speeder gets stopped by either a droid or Darth Vader. R2- D2 fights the force and flungs the shuttle out of the force-field. He hyper jumps you to various planets. It could be pod-racer, ice planet of Hoth, Tatooine.

What makes this attraction instantly rerideable is that you want to see every single scene. There are approximately 12 in total, but its the way the simulator acts to the screen in complete unison that makes this attraction. We both really enjoyed it and had several goes over the course of the holiday.

Star Tours Graded B+

[Mark9]

Hollywood Studios - 3rd October 2012

It was time for dinner, a return to Mumma Mosas where last year I failed to eat much. I did much better this year and the meal was finished off with a range of Italian desserts.

We ventured over to the Pixar Play parade. A bit like the Magic Kingdom parade, except with the Pixar characters.

We had a go on the Great Movie Ride, a moving vehicle through some of Hollywoods most memorable movies like Wizard of Oz and Alien. Good ride but not very rerideable. It's the Jungle Cruise of Hollywood Studios. We then ventured over to the Backstage Tour. With the rumours that this attraction will soon be replaced by East coaster Cars Land, it was definitly worth a last time journey. It's okay if unmemorable.

Ok, I lie, it's pretty memorable.

We then headed over to check on Toy Story Mania. The queue board was advertising a lengthy 70 minute wait. We decided to bite the bullet and have a go anyway as we had some time to kill. We were handed another queue line checker lanyard as were four or five people behind us. Talk about regular updates.

We queued about 20 minutes in total. Take that fastpassers! Its an okay ride but really struggles with its popularity at park opening. No wonder rumours of Car Land are flying around as Hollywood Studios desperately needs some new family rides to compliment Toy Story Midway Mania.

We went to see Mickey..

before grabbing a ride on Tower of Terror..

and then running up to the greatest show at Disney World...

I simply adore Fantasmic for its theatrical, its effects, its story telling and the way Disney just know how to grab at your emotions and pull them through to make you cry with joy at the end of the performance. We were slightly worried about it actually being on this night, it was raining very heavily before the performance and we were all sitting for about 45 minutes, drenched. We weren't to be disappointed as at 8pm that announcement "welcome to Fantasmic" played and it was time for the most joyous 30 minutes of Disney epicness. It may be better at Tokyo and California but for me, this is a genuine roller coaster of a show.

So in respect to Hollywood Studios, it is my least favourite Disney World Resort park. Which is weird really when it contains my favourite ride of all time, my favourite show of all time and one of my top favourite 3D experiences. It just shows you how high the quality jumps in Florida.

[Mark9]

October 4th 2012 - Return to Animal Kingdom

I've long considered this my favourite Disney World park. Now many will disagree but for me it reminds me of how Chessington used to be in the 90's. Properly themed, where behind every corner was a new attraction just waiting to be discovered.

The headline attraction is quite obviously Expedition Everest

I can only attain the same opinion that I held after the trip last year. Expedition Everest is for me the perfect rollercoaster. A good reason for this is simple. After the majority of B&M's in Florida you just roll back to the station in silence. From Kumba to Hulk, Manta to Montu, there was this sort of "well that was what I expected" feeling. Whereas at the end of Everest there can only ever be that sensation of being overwhelmed, excited chatter amongst the riders. We saw the Yeti! The yeti tried to grab us and throw us off the track! There is not a single element of this attraction that has not been designed meticulously for your enjoyment. A few things I noticed this time is how clean everything is in the museum and gift shop. Cast members must give it a good once over every now and then. Whenever the train stops in the mountain, sound of the yeti is used to try and shade the sounds of the moving track. The track is beautifully designed to give you just enough thrill as you travel through the mountain. The steam effect in the station of the train, the toot toot the train gives off as it travels skywards, the way you can see Everest from every bridge in Animal Kingdom.

There is not a single part of this rollercoaster which doesn't give me that immediate sense of satisfaction. Another fact I learnt on this trip is that in six years, Everest has never had a prolonged time of closure. It's incredible to think that the yeti has been throwing people out of his mountain for over six years. The wear and tear on this ride must be massive and yet it looks brand new and beautiful. Absolutely astounding.

Expedition Everest - Graded A*

From class to brass in just a few strides, we went to have a go on Primeval Whirl which wasn't open on our last trip. Dear god. This is a disgrace. What were Disney thinking. Essentially a longer version of Brighton Piers version, Primeval Whirl B had nothing that really redeemed its 10 minute queue time. It was rough, forceless, barely spun and tacky. I see what there were going for with this area but it really doesn't work.

Final ride for this part of the trip report is the under-rated Dinosaur. I still think this ride is one of the better dark rides out there because it is so under-stated. The outside part of the ride is so unassuming with its classic museum look so that when you head into the time travel section its like a switch has been turned and everything doesn't feel safe anymore. If this ride was more advertised it might become overhyped so in some ways the look of mediocrity improves the ride experience immensely.

[Mark9]

4th October 2012 - Return to Animal Kingdom

As has become Animal Kingdom tradition, we ate at our favourite cafe near Kilimanjaro Safari. This time I went for the Halloweencupcake and Chris went for the Tamparin one. Gorgeous cakes, well recommended. Don't stick with croissants or turnovers, its all about the novelty cakes.

I can't remember any kind of order now so I'll just speak about the highlights. So The festival of the Lion King. I understand that this is hated in Disney forum circles (well everything at WDW is but thats another story). I think its a really nice impressive show. It's got humour, the better Lion King songs and full of acrobatics. Really worth a watch.

It's Tough to be a Bug is a well hidden 4D show. It's actually underneath the tree of life and is a lot of fun. Th loading area has cute little movie posters such as Beauty and the Bees, to give off the impression of bugs mimmicking humans. It is a fast moving show and when the bug spray appears and the spiders descend from the ceiling, people with arachnophobia may be scared.

Having been in the Jammin' Jungle Parade last year, this year felt a bit anti-climatic. They've added more to the parade such as lizards and giraffes.

And finally the Kilimanjaro Safari. This is a great attraction as it gets you right up and close with the animals who on this visit were very visible. We went in the morning and last ride in the evening and each animal was on full view. My favourites have to be the giraffes which we learnt sleep for only 30 minutes every day. I've just slept for 12 hours.. I wish I was a giraffe.

(Herp derp Alligators)

With our day ended, I decided to take some shots of the beauty of this park. It's so luscious and gorgeous and beautiful. It really doesn't get enough credit for taking you to another world.

It was time for food at Jiko, a restaurant at Animal kingdom Lodge. This is a posh(er) restaurant on site and we were required to wear shirts with no logos or writing. Hence why we both wore stripy shirts, wahey. We had posh pitta breads and naan bread with sauces. I then went for the Swordfish, which if you know me well, I hate fish. But I wanted something different and it was gorgeously done. yummy.

Thanks for reading.

[Mark9]

October 5th 2012 - The Islands of Jurassic Park

My previous visit to Universals parks was not an unbridled success. Whereas Disney charmed me at every corner, Islands of Adventure was over-rated and Universal Studios was lots of rides in boxes. Could my opinion change this time?

Well it started off much better, getting to the park on time via Mears coaches and a camera that actually worked properly. We started our day off with a ride on Hulk and having had foreknowledge of the locker system was ready to implant our fingers on a screen and remember several numbers throughout the course of the day.

The Incredible Hulk

As far as E-Ticket attractions, Hulk is one of the worst and yet it looks the most impressive. Many parks have tried to go for this formula such as Rainbow Magicland with Shock but there is something about a B&M train roaring its way over the entrance plaza into two massive inversions. The ride has the typical B&M positives. The trains are comfy, it looks modern, it is high-throughput, its a striking colour. The launch is one of my favourites, it's up there with Blue Fire as not too fast but lovely and fun and enjoyable. The high inline doesn't have the punchiness of some of the smaller B&m rides but it is more fun and enjoyable. Which I found strange. The rest of the ride doesn't match up to this beginning through. The cobra roll on this is kind of rough and it lacks any kind of force. The vertical loop is average at best and the rest of the ride may as well not be there. Boring turns, inversions thrown in for the sake of it. Sheepie described it as a ride imitating the Hulk. An initial crazy force and then petering out as it reverts back to Bruce Banner. Nah. I just think they tried to play with the speed but not actually doing anything relevant. Maybe a low lying zero g roll or another ground hugging helix may have changed the ride in a more positive way.

The Incredible Hulk, Graded C+

For some reason we have always gone around the park anti-clockwise. Possible because the next B&M's and the big major dark ride, Poseidons Fury is around that way. Yet again we seemed to avoid Dr Seuss land. I've no idea what it is but we just don't get a chance to go in there for a look. Maybe in 2015

So whats next?

Oh yes, of course, United Kingdom! Since our last trip it has become quite clear that Universal are banking everything on the Harry Potter franchise. It's been quoted that Universal will be investing 1.5 billion dollars into the two Orlando parks. A new train simulator will connect Islands of Adventure with Universal Studios. You'll see later on just how much work is going on at the Studios.

Hogsmeade is a gorgeous area, accurately depicting the little wizarding town. I just won't queue an hour to go into a shop thats all. Particularly as the Harry Potter franchise is just a mild curiosity for me and with two B&M's with five minute queues, it feels like a waste of precious Florida time.

(You have no idea how hard it is to get a photo of the train without someone posing in front of it)

Look MA! No shed!

Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey

In all honesty, there is no ride right now that is bigger or more well known then this dark ride. Some parks may be scoring minor victories like Skyrush at Hershey or Wild Eagle at Dollywood. But none of these rides will ever match up to The Forbidden Journeys reputation. With this reputation comes a whole load of expectation and luckily the vast majority of riders adore it. Many describe it as their favourite ride of all time, some people will just rush around to wait in another 40 minute queue for another go. I on the other hand am slightly dubious. I really want to come off of it, punching the air and declaring it the best attraction I have and will ever witness. But I just can't. And this time it has nothing to do with the shed.

I think my major problem with it is one that lies in the problem behind any ride trying to tell a long story in a 3 minute ride. It seems odd to compare this rides problem with Peter Pans flight but thats where the problem is. I do not deny that the technology behind Forbidden Journey is impressive, I don't know how it works and I don't want to know how it works. But the attraction really suffers in story telling and if you haven't read the books recently or at all many parts will be lost on riders. The ride jumps from one major Harry Potter scene to another with no link really.

But you know, one of the good things that has come out of the ride is that Universal know they have struck gold. The success of this attraction has given Universal courage and strength and enthusiasts will be the ultimate winners. With the gloves now off, Disney, Sea World and Busch Gardens will have to pull out all the stops to contend with the Universal parks because right now that franchise is an unstoppable force. I can't wait to see what the other parks do to fight back.

(SHED!!)

Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey Graded A-

And finally, a ride that does work in its own context. Last year, Jurassic Park was closed. I was angry and furious as that was one ride that I couldn't wait to get on. Thank the lords it was open this time. Essentially Tidal Wave with a longer circuit and featuring one of my favourite films, this ride is a heck of a lot of fun. The story is basically the best parts of the first Jurassic Park film. Velociraptors escape, T-rex tries to eat you, Dilophasaurs spits at you. But I really enjoyed it wahey!

[Benin]

Didn't do Dr Seuss Land?

FFS Mark.. You're rubbish...

[Mark9]

Didn't do Dr Seuss Land?

FFS Mark.. You're rubbish...

I'm like a tory MP, not caring about the poor

[Benin]

Poor?

Cat in the Hat... Poor?

You know nothing...

[Mark9]

Universal - 5th October 2012

Round the park we headed into Toon Lagoon. After the complete misery of Ripsaw Falls last year we opted out. I know for many this is a favourite Log Flume but for us it spelt cardboard sets, a story we didn't understand and such a soaking that even the Florida sun couldn't dry us off.

Bilge Rat Barges was closed until 12 so we didn't get a go on this either. Shame really, we had fond memories of this one despite the obligatory pay for a locker system. Into the main part of the land we ventured where photos next to the signs was taken.

Good Question.

Next was Superhero Island, otherwise known as Disney tries to take down Universal from the inside. If you think about it, this area is essentially lots of warehouses and buildings with cardboard superheroes stuck to the outside of them.

Our main objective here was Spiderman, with new Hdness.

We queued roughly 30 minutes for it, not a bad queuing length for such a groundbreaking attraction. I do love the barmy storyline on this ride, taking the Statue of Liberty and holding the whole city ransom based on a statue. It's quite something. The effects on this are simply mind-blowing. I still can't work out how it does the levitation trick. We came out with smiling faces. Well done Universal!

We decided to give Islands of Adventure a rest and headed over to Universal Studios. We grabbed our coffee from the tax evading Starbucks and headed into B&Q.

It was clear from the off-set that Universal Studios was far busier then its sister park due to that nights Halloween event. Whereas before we walked onto everything, we had a minimum of ten minute wait for each attraction. We headed in the opposite direction too and arrived first at ET with a 20 minute queue. I like this ride because of its cutseyness. What I didn't enjoy was getting stuck on the ride for a good ten minutes next to a scene with such irritating music. We also missed the part where ET read out our names.

Next was The Simpsons ride which remains my favourite ride at the park. Put on an episode with Itchy and Scratchy Land I will be amused for your whole queue length. Thank you Mr Universal.

Next on the way round was Men in Black: Alien Attack. Great attraction, giving off the coolness of the Men in Black films with the fun element of a shooting ride. I don't understand the scoring system but thats fine, we enjoyed it. The only thing we didn't enjoy was the faff with the free lockers. The system works fine with an empty park but trying to get a locker had a longer queue then the actual ride.

So. CONSTRUCTION UPDATE.

Despite being unannounced, it's quite clear that with the amount of construction happening in the park that two new attractions are being built. The first where Jaws once lived and the other up a dead end street near the Mummy.

I see you new unannounced ride.

Deliberate Sign is Deliberate.

The wall designed to be like London aside the Thames.

Not a ride.

The final exciting part of this instalment is DISASTER. Aptly named as this attraction takes so long to get going, you may think you are actually in the final scenes of The Day after Tomorrow. Despite the lengthy intro sections, I did enjoy the finale. My only issue really is that this attraction comes dangerously close to being similar to Twister in the same park. Some guests may feel ripped off by the samey elements.

I leave you with a hungry Pigeon.

[Mark9]

Universal - 5th October 2012

With Hollywood Rip Ride Rockit still closed due to technical difficulties and a huge storm fast approaching, it seemed unlikely we were going to get a go on Maurer's disco ride. Unfortunate as we'd seen it running earlier in the day. With heavy hearts we went and had a ride on The Mummy. Now I got lambasted by Benin for not enjoying this last year so with a more open mind we braved the thirty minute queue. Being frank, I'm still not impressed with it. Whereas before we were on the back row and could see all the special effects, this time we were front and half the things we couldn't see. And when the rollercoaster section of the ride got going, ouch. I'm quite resilient to the roughness of a ride (take that Goudurix!) but this gave me bruises on my arms. I'm not sure how a ride can hurt me when it just goes round lots of helixes and hills but it did.

So yeah, a bit dissappointed again.

Dead as a dodo.

So now with full on thunder and lightening and torrential rain, we ran into the Despicable Me queueline, the new attraction for the year. I'm probably one of the few people who have not seen this film but I liked the premise of becoming a minion. The sad thing is without being aware of the female characters and all the jabbering, the pre-shows were lengthy and lost on me.

The show itself was essentially The Simpsons Ride but instead of rising into a room, you remain at ground level and the seats move you from side to side and front to back.

Like a Universal buzzword, I was really disappointed. I know little about the film but I felt that the premise could have been taken far more then just trying to give the evil bloke a birthday present. How about an omnimover for example, of us trying to invade or destroy. We have been turned into minions after-all. I do feel like with all this technology and HD screens in use at Universal, nothing is physical and it means every ride starts to feel samey and sterile. Harry Potter, Despicable Me, Simpsons, Spiderman and soon Transformers are all variations on exactly the same concepts in my opinion.

With all that said, I love the Minion dance off after the attraction.

With the rain coming down hard we decided to take shelter in the only place Britains should. Starbucks. There was a reason for this, we had yet to ride Hungarian Hungtail and with all outdoor rides closed whilst the storm passed, we were running out of time to get things down. The Starbucks afforded great views of the Dragons so when the time was right we could pounce.

After what was about half an hour with the rest of the Britons who had visited that day, I caught a glimpse of Chinese Fireball testing and we were off to take on the Dragon Challenge.

Now back in May 2011 I said this:-

"I think one of the main issues is that because of the dueling elements there's a lot of dry bits during the ride where it's just waiting to lead up to the leg chopper moments. They are memorable moments but they only last for about 2 seconds each so I'm not quite sure if it's worth the duelling ness of the ride".

How was I to know that three months later, the Dragons would no longer duel and would be separate entities entirely.

Well the good news is. Chinese Fireball has come up far more in my estimations since my last ride and fortunately has not lost much in the conversion from dueling to singularly running. It is sharp and snappy with a variety of inversions that differ from your standard inverter. The air time hill is pretty nonsensical but the turn around leading into the vertical loop is a brilliant moment. The ending also has quite a punch throwing you two corkscrews that are very intense.

The sad thing is whilst Fireball isn't a casualty, Hungarian is now just a shell of a ride now only providing a nice contrast to the stark red of Fireball. And it all goes wrong here:-

What was the major highlight of Hungtail, narrowly missing the feet of the Fireball riders is now just a generic B&M inverter zero g roll. It doesn't have the kick, intensity or flick of any of the others so what was a cracking party piece is now just a generic inversion.

There are some positives with the change. Now whenever a train is ready it is allowed to just go instead of waiting for the other to finish its loading procedures. A change in throughput is not enough to cover up the sadness that what was two of the most technically brilliant roller coasters ever constructed are no longer allowed to do their party trick because of the stupid actions of the minority. Whilst I was never sure if the duelling aspect was worth all the bits of straight track and uneventful moments, the payoff was these excellent moments where you swerve towards a fellow rider only to be pushed away at the last moment. Now you're just two roller coasters just going over a not very scenically beautiful ride area. I feel sorry for those that will never get to experience what these rides are supposed to do.

Dragon Challenge - Graded B for Chinese Fireball and C for Hungarian Hungtail

And with that, our day was over. I really don't feel the connection to the Universal parks that others so clearly feel. I did come away with the impression that this is just a better Thorpe Park. Now whether that is a criticism is up to you.

[Benin]

If Mark thinks Universal is a better Thorpe, I dread to think how you'd feel about Cedar Point

I obviously still disagree about the whole Mummy thing... Such a fab ride <3

And also I lambast you for not seeing Despicable Me yet STILL... God sake Mark..