Sunday, December 4, 2011

WE KIDNAP AND RAVAGE AND DON'T GIVE A HOOT:  A few observations from a quick trip to the Happiest Place on Earth for P's 4th birthday:

  • I would gladly stay at the Polynesian again. So nice to be on the monorail track, and to have a view of the fireworks at night from the hotel. Also, great swimming pool for the kids, and Disney's Magical Express succeeded with our luggage in both directions without fail.
  • Holy crap is Star Tours an awesome simulator ride.  We ended up on Hoth. (Also, P was selected as the rebel spy, which in addition to having her joke chosen by Marty Wazowski at the Monsters, Inc. Laugh Floor made the trip full of win.)
  • Cannot recommend more highly the importance of hitting a park as soon as it opens. Friday morning at the Kingdom, we were able to blitz, in about two and a half hours, Goofy picture/Dumbo/carousel/Small World/trio of princesses/Pirates/picture with Pirate Goofy/Jack Sparrow show/pictures with Jasmine-Aladdin/carpet ride, without once requiring a Fastpass.  Seriously, showing up at Dumbo and seeing no line whatsoever was an amazing surprise.
  • It's weird that construction of the expanded Fantasyland is visible to the public.
  • Are there EPCOT fans out there?  Can someone explain it to me beyond "Walt wanted a permanent World's Fair"?  It's so large, and if it weren't part of WDW I don't know that it could survive on its own.
  • Animal Kingdom, on the other hand, I enjoyed -- and this was my first time there. The theming is really well done; Kali River Rapids is a great ride, and the Lion King show is a solid half-hour for the kids. (For an adult that's seen too much Cirque du Soleil, everything else pales a little, but you know I'm a sucker for the movie and will admit to being impressed that they squeezed "Be Prepared" into the kiddie show, even if it was ixnay on the azi-Nay.) Also, 4-D Stinkbug!

22 comments:

  1. 1.  Animal Kingdom's major problem is that there's not much there.  Yes, what's there is pretty solid, but there's not nearly enough to do/see to make a full day of it, especially if you (like I) am not a coaster person, which drops out Everest and Primeval Whirl.  (Soarin' is as far as I'll go, and when I went a few years back, Kali was out of commission.)  AvatarLand will add a much needed E-Ticket, but I'm not sure how well it fits with the rest of the park.  Right now, it's a zoo with a few rides, rather than a theme park.

    2.  Epcot's problem is that it's two parks smushed together--Future World (at least in its original incarnation) had a coherent theme, as did World Showcase, but they don't go together.  World Showcase desperately needs an E-Ticket attraction as well (Matterhorn Bobsleds would be a natural), since as it is, it's a great place for dining and place to spend a while watching pretty looking movies in air conditioning, but nothing really exciting (best attraction is Maelstrom, which is a cut-rate Pirates).

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  2. Also: Lucy was really impressed by the Hall of Presidents, but wanted to know why Disney didn't have robots for any of the lady presidents.  <span> </span>

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  3. To make my point on E-Tickets:

    Magic Kingdom:  At least 6 (Splash, Space, Big Thunder Mountains, Pirates, Haunted Mansion, Buzz Lightyear), with two more coming in the Fantasyland expansion.
    Epcot:  3 (Soarin', Test Track, and Mission: Space).
    Studios:  4 (Toy Story Mania, Rock N Roller Coaster, Star Tours, Tower of Terror).  There's an argument Idol would also be an E-Ticket, and Fantasmic! is an E-Ticket show.
    Animal Kingdom:  3 (Safaris, Everest, Dinosaur).  Dinosaur is arguable.

    Given that AvatarLand is already in progress for AK, I'd guess the next big announcement will be at Epcot, and is either a new World Showcase pavilion with ride, or a dramatic reworking of Universe of Energy (maybe with the Journey to the Center of the Earth ride from Tokyo as a basis)

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  4. Did L and/or P do the KimPossible (Team Possible) missions in Epcot?  My little one (Lucy's age) LOVED them when we were there in April. 

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  5. christy in nyc11:50 PM

    I love the Polynesian. It's where I stayed during my childhood visits. I know to a more objective eye it probably wouldn't seem like much compared with the newer hotels in the same price tier, but between the monorail and that whole jungle motif, coming as I was from Northern Maine at age 7, it really delivered on that whole MAGIC thing that WDW likes to promise. Which of course leads to that same feeling returning whenever I step into that humid lobby. Man, they really hooked me.

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  6. She did, but was quickly bored.  I think she was generally tired (we had to schlep all the way to Italy to get the transponder), and just wasn't engaged by the scavenging.

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  7. Jenn C12:06 AM

    The Poly is also the only resort that sells Dole Whip!

    I think Epcot is due for a major overhaul. When we were there in May, I was saddened by all the empty, activity-free pavilions.

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  8. Becca2:27 AM

    Back in the day, a lot of locals had annual passes for Epcot, as Drinking Around the World was a popular pasttime. But it used to be pretty cheap to get passes as a local, which I doubt is still the case.

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  9. Anonymous6:47 AM

    @Becca -- Damn! I thought "drinking around the world" was my invention. At any rate, starting on the Canadian side, I've never made it past Mexico.

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  10. I also stayed at the Polynesian (only once) as a child, and I really like it.  Between the monorail, the pool, the location (good for the fireworks, I suspect?), and the food options, it's a winner.  (Of course, one day when I'm super-rich, I'd like to stay at the Grand Floridian.  But it will have to wait until then!)

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  11. The odd thing with Epcot is that it's not like any of those pavilions (with the exception of Wonders of Life) had an attraction and shut it down.  World Showcase was always envisioned as "ride-lite."  Given that they've now crossed the barrier and started putting characters in, the logical choice would be a Ratatouille ride in France (though I'm not sure how you turn that film into a thrill ride), or a Brave ride in the UK.

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  12. Cathy9:04 AM

    My 11-year-old daughter loved Epcot when we went last fall--it was her favourite park of the whole place! She mostly loved FutureWorld, but we did about 4 KimPossible missions and she loved the Japan gift shop with Sonic and Pokemon merchandise. It's where she met Stitch (without a wait in line). Test Track, the Ellen dinosaur ride, Soarin', Mission to Mars, the Disney Art store, she put herself into a video game...

    She's got unique interests, and Epcot hit them all.

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  13. Watts9:24 AM

    <span>Matt, it's a fast ride through the kitchen with "knives" and other kitchen implements "flying" past you,then you're  into a "hot"/dark oven, back out, and in my world, it ends as a water attraction, with you being dumped into a stewpot with "vegetables" bobbing in the water.</span>

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  14. sea0tter129:29 AM

    Speaking as a Floridian who grew up 40 minutes from Orlando, Epcot was the one we went to every year as a school field trip because you could tick off the "educational" box on it, which you couldn't get away with for the Magic Kingdom. School field trips probably keep that one going. But I also really enjoyed going back several times as an adult, and I honestly can't remember the last time we went to the Magic Kingdom. I imagine that will change when we have kids, though.

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  15. StvMg9:53 AM

    When I lived in Florida (about two hours away from Orlando), I had an annual pass to Disney, and EPCOT was great for long walks when I made day trips to the parks en route to an Orlando Magic game that night. I'd also argue Soarin' is one of my five favorite attractions in all the Disney parks. The Christmas show at EPCOT each holiday season is worth seeing. It's worth doing the laser show at EPCOT instead of the fireworks at the Magic Kingdom at least one night in a visit. At least the first time around, all the countries in the world showcase are worth visiting. And, of course, the restaurants at EPCOT are much, much better than just about anything in the other three parks (though the hotels do have some great dining options as well).

    That said, I do wonder how much business EPCOT would get if it weren't for the presence of all those great restaurants in the world showcase. I have to think the park's at its busiest around dinnertime.

    I do like EPCOT more now as an adult than I did before. As a teen, I always got the sense I'd spend all my time at EPCOT wondering why I wasn't at the Magic Kingdom instead.

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  16. I imagine if my family celebrated Christmas we might have appreciated EPCOT more.  Geena Davis was the Christmas Pageant narrator while we were there; NPH is coming for a few days this week.

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  17. Ratatouille does have a few chase scenes in it.<span> </span>

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  18. Eric J.11:06 AM

    I would imagine what hurts EPCOT is the same thing that's largely killed off World Fairs. It's much easier to visit those countries now, so a canned representation holds much less interest.

    Of course EPCOT as it exists was always compromised. It was supposed to be a super-high tech version of Celebration, Florida, with people actually living there.

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  19. Jenn. C12:24 PM

    I remember going to Epcot in 1992 and spending a ton of time inside the Future World pavillions. There was stuff to DO, whether it was taking goofy picture stickers of yourself or drawing with musical instruments.  On our last trip, it was just so empty and activity-free. We tried to get the 4-year old to spend some time inside the Figment pavillion (it was too hot to be outside) but she got bored very quickly. There weren't a lot of kiosks or activities, and they were just really empty. 

    Maybe we just outpaced the technology?  I dunno. The whole thing made me sad. I know it is too hard for it to remain "futuristic" forever, but at least it could stay current/cool. The Please Touch Museum in Philly is more fun than Epcot. 

    We lost our minds last year and went to both WDW (in May) and Disneyland (in September), and I would actually pick Disneyland over WDW, which surprised me b/c I loved WDW so much in my teens that at one point I wanted to get married there.

    DL is much more charming and "authentic" than MK and I think Disney is doing a good job with the California Adventure rehaul.  

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  20. gretchen3:03 PM

    We went to Disneyland in May and had a great time -- it feels much bigger than the Magic Kingdom, which I like, and I thought California Adventure was lots of fun. 

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  21. my son has declared that people wearing cartoon costumes creeps him out. Legoland again, then.

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  22. StvMg7:06 PM

    When I was there for the Christmas show a couple of years ago, we got Angela Bassett and her husband (the preacher from The Preacher's Wife) narrating.

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