After our ride on TTA, we realized we still had time before our Fast Pass for Space Mountain was ready. So, we decided for another spin on Buzz Lightyear. The ride never has much of a wait because of the great capacity, and by the time we'd finish, it would be time for our Space Mountain ride. So, we went over to Buzz Lightyear, which posted a 20 minute wait, which is usually the norm for this ride. We ended up waiting about 15 minutes, shorter than the posted time. The posted time is usually more than you'll actually wait. I discovered this at many attractions during our visit, but I'd rather it have a longer posted wait and the line being shorter than the time being short and the wait being long. Anyway, we took another spin on Buzz Lightyear. I'm not going to go in-depth about this one, as I already have. In the end, my score as about the same as the time I rode before, 35,000 points. Still not very good, but I'll get better as the trip goes on, as we'll see in later updates. Anyway, Buzz was again a very fun ride, and by the time we were out, it was time to head over to Space Mountain for our first ride of the trip. I was excited because SM is one of my favorite MK attractions of all time. We passed the plaza and headed over to the opposite end of Tomorrowland, where our attraction is found. We checked in at the Fast Pass entry to the Mountain and showed the Cast Member our three tickets. After that, we made our way into the dark depths of the Space Mountain queue line.
The queue starts off with a few sets of steps downward into the mountain. The bright lights on the walls shine in this part of the queue, but as we go on, we'll be plunged into darkness. After the steps, the queue is basically just a lot of walking straight. Since we're in the Fast Pass line, we have no one in front of us, yet. It's sometimes funny to look at the people in the stand-by lane...their reactions to you passing them aren't very sincere. Anyway, as we walk straight, the darker it gets. At one point, I really could not even see where I was going, and I hoped that there wouldn't be and turns in the queue. If there was, I was sure to run into one of the pole liners. The only light we had is from the small white stars in the windows at both sides of the queue...but that light is minimal at best. After quite a bit of walking, we get some light, and the queue starts to zig-zag. This area features some space constellations in the windows...which can be entertaining if you're in the stand-by line. After some more zig-zagging through the queue line, we finally came to a halt, as there were people waiting before us. I could just see the station queue area, so I knew we were close. We were only there for a mere amount of minutes before the Cast Member let all Fast Passers into the station. The CM took them, we arrived at decision time...would we go to the right side, or the left side? As the great Birnbaum's Guide to WDW always says..."stick to the left!". That's what we did. We could see an evident line forming for the right line, and no one in the left lane. We ended up walking right through the station queue line...until we finally stopped at numbers on the floor. We got assigned to numbers 4, 5, and 6. I would've liked to be in the 1st car of our train, but first seat in our car would be sufficient. After two trains full of guests loaded and departed, it was finally time for blast-off.
We quickly boarded our train and got ready for the great ride ahead. As soon as I got in, I noticed the small amount of space in the first seat. I had to squeeze my legs in there somehow, which was uncomfortable, but oh well. I just wanted to ride. I stored some of my things in the little net basket they have in the cars, and realized we were on the moved. My restraint wasn't even checked, and we were moving. I had no idea what was going on until we stopped just before the turn into the mountain. A Cast Member quickly checked our restraints, and before we knew it, it was time to roll. The brakes released, and we went around the turn and into the darkness. After a quick mini-dip, we were given light by a sign that said "60 seconds till blast-off". Next, we found ourselves surrounded in bright blue lights, going faster, faster, faster through the tunnel. The space music sped up as we moved our way through, until bam! We made an immediate, sharp left turn, and proceeded out of the tunnel. It was now time to go up the lift hill. The lift is full of theming, from a rocket to astronauts to brightly colored panels telling us how many seconds till blast-off. The anticipation builds as we slowly climb towards the top, with each light-up signs giving us a lower time till blast-off. Finally, we reach the top, where it says 3 seconds till blast-off. Shortly after, we hear the sounds of our rocket taking off, and we find ourselves out in the middle of space.
We start off with a quick left hand turn, no speed here yet. After that, the ride is pure chaos. We zoom off into numerous twists, turns, hills, and curves that make up Space Mountain's track. The ride is full of fast helices and quick drops that make you think you're going faster than you really are. After some helices and swooping turns, we come to my personal favorite part of the ride. This contains of the drop, hill, and turn near the lift hill. The drop gives you a great amount of speed, thus resulting in some sweet floater air over the hill. Then you get thrown at a quick, intense curve before heading back out into the mountain. Next, we have numerous more sharp turns and curves, as well as some quick bunny hops thrown in, which will indeed give you some quite unsuspected floater air. Towards the end is where the ride, to me, got more intense than I'd ever remembered it. After riding it 2 times during my WDW trip this year, I can honestly say I have no idea how this ride goes a pathetic 28 MPH. It is the mere complete darkness that makes you feel like your faster? I don't know, but this thing feels like it could be going double the posted speed. The out-of-this-world ride (ehh...pun intended) really is just out of control. With what feels to be nothing around you, the ride zooms through numerous ride elements that give it an out of control feeling. The jerky twists and turns along with the element of complete darkness really makes you feel like your speeding through space on an out of control mission. I love the ride for what it is, one insane coaster ride in darkness.
The ride finishes you off with a few last helices and and little bunny hills, before you head into the flaming red tunnel, with the sounds of rockets all around you. This is when you know that your ride is now over. The ride feels like such a blur once you reach that tunnel and then head into the brake run. Once you finally slow down, you just have to think about what really just happened. That's why I love SM, I love the insane, out of control feeling it gives. Along with what I have mentioned, SM is my favorite attraction in Tomorrowland, and maybe even the entire Magic Kingdom. The rush it creates is awesome, and once you reach that brake run, you're just begging for more. Anyway, the we gain a bit of speed and more sliding into the exit area, where our rocket comes to a complete stop for the last time. I took my things out of the net basket, lifted up my restraint, and got up out of the train, which ended up being a little hard as I really was scrunched up in there. We all walked to the long, long PeopleMover, which would transport us to back to our own world. The PeopleMover on the way back to Tomorrowland is extremely long, so there's a bit of theming to entertain us while we slowly make our way back. As we finally reach the end of the conveyor belt, we look to the right, and there we are, on the TV screens on the wall! Hidden cameras show us riding up the PeopleMover, eagerly awaiting our return to Tomorrowland after our long journey into space.
KKR05's Expert Advice-I've pretty much said all that has to be said about the ride, other than this is the perfect ride for the "tweener" group. It's the ride to get them hooked on rollercoasters, and is perfect for their age-group. The ride is enjoyable to everyone older as well, but a tweener's experience on SM may be the deciding factor in whether they'll become a coaster freak or not!
Once we arrived back in Tomorrowland, we met up with the others, who were at the "Cinderellabration" show in front of the castle. Wow, we got quite a bit done while they were at the show. Their reaction to the show was "just all right". Anyway, it was time to make a decision. It was getting late, and everyone was pretty hungry. We could stay at the park and eat there...but everywhere to eat would probably be packed. Everyone was tired as well, and hey, it was our first day at the parks. We decided to head out, but not before hitting an attraction that was a favorite among everyone in our family. After that, it was time to get something to eat at the Crossroads, we we'd discover that cockroach eating isn't only at Six Flags. Finally, after fleeing, we'd make our way back to the hotel, hit the sack, and dream about a "great big beautiful tomorrow...."
Friday, December 22, 2006
Saturday, December 16, 2006
Chapter 11:Paging Mr. Morrow, Mr. Tom Morrow...
After a great spin on Buzz Lightyear, we checked the time and realized we had a while to go before it was for Fast Pass on Space Mountain. Since we had the time to kill, we decided to check out the Tomorrowland Transit Authority, the highway in the sky of Tomorrowland. What I love about the ride is that it offers an awesome view of the area, and it literally never has a wait. Also, this is a great ride when your trying to burn some time in a relaxing fashion, as the ride is about 10 minutes long. Anyway, we made our way to the heart of Tomorrowland, where the escalators that send you to the TTA station are located. Also in thew central hub is the Astro Orbiter, which I have actually never been on. We rode the always fun escalators up to the station, which contains a very small amount of queue. The ride never has any wait because of the mass amount of cars that support it. You'll have your peak times when the ride can be busy, but that doesn't mean there's going to be a wait. The continuous motion of the cars keeps you always moving to board your car. We did this, going through the small queue and finally boarding our dark blue car. When in the station, you think the cars are all stuck together, but once you heard out on your journey, the "trains" separate. Anyway, we sat down, and got comfortable for the relaxing and fun journey ahead on the TTA.
As we pulled out of the station, we stayed at the same sluggish pace as the carts move in the station. However, once we reach the first turn, we sped up at a pace that is faster than you'd ever expect for a ride like this. It moves much faster than you think it would, so the breeze in your face can be a great relaxing experience. I put my legs up on the other bench a began to relax. The ride starts off by circling the highest point in Tomorrowland besides Space Mountain, the Astro Orbiter. This gives you an except view of the surrounding areas, as well as great photo opportunities. After circling around the plaza, we entered the area above the building home to Stitch's Great Escape. This is an attraction I didn't experience during this trip, but after hearing some reviews of it, I'm quite happy I didn't waste my time. If anyone's been on this, feel free to comment about it, I'd like to hear your opinions. Anyway, after the ride glides above the show building, and finally, inside it. Once inside we're surrounded by darkness, until a model of the city of tomorrow is seen through a window. This thing is truly awesome. It's a real life model of what the cities in the future may look like. Definitely keep an eye out for this, luckily the train slows down a bit when inside the building. The detail of the model is excellent, and it's very interesting to see what they thought the city of the future would look like (whenever this was constructed). Anyway, after the model, we continue on through the dark until we pass through Mickey's Star Traders, one of the biggest shops in Tomorrowland. After that we're back outside in the fresh air, hot sun and cool breeze. Now we're back up to pace as well, and we're getting a great view of the Tomorrowland Indy Speedway, another Tomorrowland attraction I've never been on, as I mentioned before. This is another great opportunity for some photos of Tomorrowland, so get those cameras ready. Coming up next is a highlight of the trip, entering inside Space Mountain.
As we begin to enter the mountain, we again slow down and prepare for an awesome experience, to see inside Space Mountain. First, we're surrounded by darkness, and not able to see anything. So, we see the queue of Space Mountain, where riders were waiting to experience one of Tomorrowland's biggest attractions. After a look at the queue, we get a peek at the mountain itself. We see the "rockets" zipping riders out and about the tight turns and curves of Space Mountain one of my favorite Disney attractions of all time. Seeing this just got me more pumped to ride quite possible my favorite attraction in the Magic Kingdom. This was just a taste of what to come. We exited to the sounds of screaming riders, having a great time riding through the mountain, As we exited, we were blasted again with sunlight and began to speed up. The next part of the ride sends us back the way we came, but we then make a turn and head out past the bathroom buildings near Space Mountain. Once again, get those cameras ready, this is the best time to snap some pics of the Mountain, and the rest of Tomorrowland. The next attraction we come upon is the Carousel of Progress. As we approach the show building, we hearing the classic recording that's been playing for years..."Paging Mr. Morrow, Mr. Tom Morrow". I still don't know who they mean by Tom Morrow, but the way they spit up the name of "tomorrow" is great. Anyway, we pass above the Carousel of Progress building, but we don't enter this one. After riding through this, we come to final stretch of our ride, including entering inside the Buzz Lightyear building.
Once again, we enter the darkness, and our train slows down quite a bit. Shortly after entering, we get an excellent view of Buzz Lightyear's second room. A recording encourages as to become Junior Space Rangers in Buzz Lightyear's Space Ranger Spin. Due to the TTA, I saw realized the UFO in the way back of the show building. I don't think I hit the targets spinning around on the UFO any of the 4 times I rode, however. That spot is extremely hard to hit, especially with them constantly moving. Anyway, after a view of Buzz, we came back out to on top of where the Timekeeper used to be. The Timekeeper is going to be replaced by a new attraction in early 2007, the Monsters Inc. Comedy Club. The attraction will be using similar technology as to Turtle Talk with Crush. The attraction to me to going to come down to how well the show is executed, especially the jokes. Test runs have been performed, and the what I've been getting from them is that the show needs work. We'll see how well it goes when it opens next year. Oh, and while I'm on this topic, there didn't seem to be any visibly progress going on, just "Imagineers at Work" signs. Anyway, back to the TTA where we're completing our great relaxing ride. After one more trip around the central hub, we finding ourselves coming to a slowing pace as we re-enter the station. Finally, after our 10-minute ride, the doors fly open and we exited to a moving platform.
KKR05's Expert Advice-Not much to say about this one besides is an awesome way to "kill" time. However, you're now "killing" time, you're enjoying a great, enjoyable experience. This is also great when you're waiting for a Fast Pass to be ready. Also, everyone in the whole family can enjoy this one, from young to old. I highly suggest this one, so definitely check it out on your next trip to WDW.
After riding down the exit escalator, we still had some time to kill before our Space Mountain ride. So...what to? Use your imagination.
As we pulled out of the station, we stayed at the same sluggish pace as the carts move in the station. However, once we reach the first turn, we sped up at a pace that is faster than you'd ever expect for a ride like this. It moves much faster than you think it would, so the breeze in your face can be a great relaxing experience. I put my legs up on the other bench a began to relax. The ride starts off by circling the highest point in Tomorrowland besides Space Mountain, the Astro Orbiter. This gives you an except view of the surrounding areas, as well as great photo opportunities. After circling around the plaza, we entered the area above the building home to Stitch's Great Escape. This is an attraction I didn't experience during this trip, but after hearing some reviews of it, I'm quite happy I didn't waste my time. If anyone's been on this, feel free to comment about it, I'd like to hear your opinions. Anyway, after the ride glides above the show building, and finally, inside it. Once inside we're surrounded by darkness, until a model of the city of tomorrow is seen through a window. This thing is truly awesome. It's a real life model of what the cities in the future may look like. Definitely keep an eye out for this, luckily the train slows down a bit when inside the building. The detail of the model is excellent, and it's very interesting to see what they thought the city of the future would look like (whenever this was constructed). Anyway, after the model, we continue on through the dark until we pass through Mickey's Star Traders, one of the biggest shops in Tomorrowland. After that we're back outside in the fresh air, hot sun and cool breeze. Now we're back up to pace as well, and we're getting a great view of the Tomorrowland Indy Speedway, another Tomorrowland attraction I've never been on, as I mentioned before. This is another great opportunity for some photos of Tomorrowland, so get those cameras ready. Coming up next is a highlight of the trip, entering inside Space Mountain.
As we begin to enter the mountain, we again slow down and prepare for an awesome experience, to see inside Space Mountain. First, we're surrounded by darkness, and not able to see anything. So, we see the queue of Space Mountain, where riders were waiting to experience one of Tomorrowland's biggest attractions. After a look at the queue, we get a peek at the mountain itself. We see the "rockets" zipping riders out and about the tight turns and curves of Space Mountain one of my favorite Disney attractions of all time. Seeing this just got me more pumped to ride quite possible my favorite attraction in the Magic Kingdom. This was just a taste of what to come. We exited to the sounds of screaming riders, having a great time riding through the mountain, As we exited, we were blasted again with sunlight and began to speed up. The next part of the ride sends us back the way we came, but we then make a turn and head out past the bathroom buildings near Space Mountain. Once again, get those cameras ready, this is the best time to snap some pics of the Mountain, and the rest of Tomorrowland. The next attraction we come upon is the Carousel of Progress. As we approach the show building, we hearing the classic recording that's been playing for years..."Paging Mr. Morrow, Mr. Tom Morrow". I still don't know who they mean by Tom Morrow, but the way they spit up the name of "tomorrow" is great. Anyway, we pass above the Carousel of Progress building, but we don't enter this one. After riding through this, we come to final stretch of our ride, including entering inside the Buzz Lightyear building.
Once again, we enter the darkness, and our train slows down quite a bit. Shortly after entering, we get an excellent view of Buzz Lightyear's second room. A recording encourages as to become Junior Space Rangers in Buzz Lightyear's Space Ranger Spin. Due to the TTA, I saw realized the UFO in the way back of the show building. I don't think I hit the targets spinning around on the UFO any of the 4 times I rode, however. That spot is extremely hard to hit, especially with them constantly moving. Anyway, after a view of Buzz, we came back out to on top of where the Timekeeper used to be. The Timekeeper is going to be replaced by a new attraction in early 2007, the Monsters Inc. Comedy Club. The attraction will be using similar technology as to Turtle Talk with Crush. The attraction to me to going to come down to how well the show is executed, especially the jokes. Test runs have been performed, and the what I've been getting from them is that the show needs work. We'll see how well it goes when it opens next year. Oh, and while I'm on this topic, there didn't seem to be any visibly progress going on, just "Imagineers at Work" signs. Anyway, back to the TTA where we're completing our great relaxing ride. After one more trip around the central hub, we finding ourselves coming to a slowing pace as we re-enter the station. Finally, after our 10-minute ride, the doors fly open and we exited to a moving platform.
KKR05's Expert Advice-Not much to say about this one besides is an awesome way to "kill" time. However, you're now "killing" time, you're enjoying a great, enjoyable experience. This is also great when you're waiting for a Fast Pass to be ready. Also, everyone in the whole family can enjoy this one, from young to old. I highly suggest this one, so definitely check it out on your next trip to WDW.
After riding down the exit escalator, we still had some time to kill before our Space Mountain ride. So...what to? Use your imagination.
Monday, December 04, 2006
Chapter 10:To Infinity...and Beyond!
After our viewing of Mickey's PhilharMagic, it was time for the others to go to their viewing of Cinderellabration, the new stage show brought from Tokyo Disneyland to the Magic Kingdom as part of the Happiest Celebration of Earth. Well, seeing that show wasn't part of my agenda, so we split up, and had some time on our own. Hmm...what was there to do? Well, there wasn't much left in Fantasyland, so I think it was time to move on to my favorite area of the Magic Kingdom, Tomorrowland! We pushed our way through Fantasyland and towards the furutistic town of tomorrow. On the way there, we passed the new Pooh's Playful Spot, a new area across from the Pooh dark ride (which I didn't ride this trip) where the little ones can play. The area replaces the old sub lagoon, which was unused for who knows how long. I think this area could have been used for something much more than a kiddie playground. Anyway, we continued through Fantasyland and towards Tomorrowland. Once we passed the Teacups we were greeted into the town of tomorrow with some great futuristic music and theming. The first ride we encounter is the Tomorrowland Indy Speedway, which is usually a skip for me. Why? You can get this kind of expierence at other regional amusement parks across the country, although they are becoming a bit extinct. The ride always pulls long lines and is quite popular, but there's no Fast Pass option for this one. Those reasons make up why I've never gone on this attraction. Anyway, one ride I've really wanted to get on since we arrived in Florida is Space Mountain. The ride is simply a classic, and one of my favorite, if not my favorite attraction in the Magic Kingdom.
We walked through Tomorrowland Plaza and over to the attraction's entrance. As we approached it, the while was forming outside of the mountain, so we knew there was going to be a wait. When we approached the sign, we saw that the stand-by line was an hour wait. It was time to whip out our Park Hoppers and get some Fast Passes, our first of the trip. Fast Pass, to me, is a huge advancement in the amusement industry made in the past few years. The system allows you to insert your park ticket to a machine, which will give you a ticket to come back at the time posted. When you come back at the posted time, you can get on with little or no waiting! Now, many parks have tried their own systems like Fast Pass, but Disney's system to reigns surpreme. Also, the fact that it's free with your admission is a definite plus. Anyway, it was more than an hour before our time to ride Space started, so we ventured across Tomorrowland Plaza to other of my favorite attractions, Buzz Lightyear's Space Ranger Spin. The ride is a shoot-em-up dark ride where the guests become Junior Space Rangers to defeat the evil Emperor Zurg! Zurg's latest evil plot...taking the energy (aka batteries) from all the toys! It's now up to you to defeat Zurg and regain power for the toys! As we approached the attraction, we saw the stand-by line was 20 minutes for the ride. Sweet, now long at all! To my surprise, the wait ended up being shorter than that.
Our journey begins in Star Command Headquarters, which is where the queue takes base. The line was right to the doors out front, and from what I remembered from my last trip to WDW, the queue inside isn't that long. So I figured we would looking at a 15 minute wait tops here, and I turned out to be almost exactly right. The queue moves extremely fast for this attraction, due to very fast loading times and a surplus of ride carts (The boarding system is just like the Haunted Mansion's, with carts in continuous motion which you access on a moving platform). While waiting, we enjoy the sights and sounds of Star Command HQ, where the queue weaves in and out. On the walls, we can find a numerous amount of posters which show the plans of the mission we are about to go on. Also, the queue has its on Audio-Animatronic Buzz Lightyear himself, which is very impressive to have in-line for an attraction. While in line, he explains our mission and has some help from one of those toy viewers (I forget what they are called!). The red flashing alarms in the queue area tell us that Buzz is ready to speak, and it's time to listen up. Our journey will consist of many things, but first we have to zap the "Z" targets to regain the power that Zurg stole from the toys, which are now fueling his monsters! Once that's done, it'll be time to take on Zurg himself and stop him from reaking havoc in the toy world!
There's plenty to keep you entertained in the queue considering how short you're in it. This is easily one of the fastest moving lines in the park, so you can hit it at just about any time during the day, even peak times. Anyway, I highly suggest checking out the Buzz AA before riding as well, it's awesome. Anyway, it's time to set off on our journey to save the toys of the universe! We climb into our XP-37 Space Cruiser, which we already know how to control thanks to the sketch on the Etch-a-Sketch in the queue line! Once we leave the station, the platform with our Ion Cannos and our 360 Degree Spin Stick comes down, and our personal points calculator sets to zero. It's time to travel into Sector 9 to save the toys and defeat the Evil Emperor Zurg!
As we enter the attraction our score counters light up, and we get power from the Astro Blaster, which we pass in the ride's first scene. After getting our power, we are ready to go save the toy world! As soon as I get a sight of the first room, I start shooting my gun randomly. Hey, I sometimes manage to score a few easy points this way (and one time an extreme surplus...but that's for later...) Once we're completely in the first room, I put one hand on the gun for aim and one hand on the trigger to shoot (this is the best technique I found to use the gun), and starting blasting away at the Z targets. Zurg's monsters are roaming about, stealing batteries from from innocent toys here in the first scene, which are floating about. Since I'm a little rusty with the ride (I haven't played in a couple of years), I had to get used to it. My score in the first room didn't calculate to much, but the more you ride this thing the better you get. I always aim for the big monsters/robots, which to me seem to calculate the biggest amount of points. I always shoot for that big red robot in the first scene, especially the targets on his hands. Although you move at such a slow pace, it seems like you fly through each of the rooms. Take advantage of the rotate stick, it can put you in position to get just about any target you want to. Anyway, as I said, the first room wasn't a one for me this time around. But round 2 is coming up next.
We passed through a tunnel and found ourselves in the next room, where I soon started zapping away. This room has a lot of different, wierd looking monsters, some that have Z's plastered all over their bodies. It's time to take them down. The big points in this room are on the moving monsters, the hidden targets, and the spinning UFO way in the back. Be on the lookout for the UFO, I didn't realize it was there until I rode the TTA later on that day. If your having trouble getting points, there are some targets on the wall which is almost right up against you. They won't give you much, but they're almost definite hits. This room is a ton of targets in it, so make sure you take advantage of it. For beginners, as I said, shoot for the easy targets on the wall. However, for the pros, you don't really need to use you rotate stick in this scene, just shoot away at where all the action is. I improved my score quite a bit in this area, but the next area is where I really started to warm up. After the 2nd room, we move into the 3rd room, which is basically a long tunnel. We enter it with some easy targets on the walls (the ceiling is low, and the walls aren't high). We move on and see a bunch of batteries stacked about. Definitely try to hit those, and if you do, you'll get big points and they even actually fall down! After this, we get our first look at the Evil Emperor Zurg!
In our first encounter, Zurg's just chilling in his machanical machine. He's loaded with Z targets, so shoot him up for some big points! It seems he's getting a little pissed at you, and decides to take matters into his on hands. After this, we head out of the tunnel, and before entering the darkness scene, there's a spinning wheel in the wall. Only a portion of it is revealed at a time, so to shoot the Z's which are on it, you need to time it just right. After that, we turn and enter the room of darkness. We become surrounded in it, the only light in this room is the bright pink light at the end of the tunnel. I still don't the purpose of this room personally, but shoot you're gun around in random spots. I receieved a couple of points by doing this, so give it a shot! I still think there's a hidden target in here that's worth a million points...Anyway, once we finally reach the light, we head into the next room, where we begin the final battle against the energy-hungry Zurg!
The next room to me is awesome. It's basically a large television screen built into the ceiling. On it, we see that we're in space, and that Zurg is reeking about in his mechanical machine. This is it, it's time to defeat Zurg! Zap him down as he moves about in space in his machine, and continues to get hit by various flying space objects. The more times you hit him, the more points you'll get. Since he's basically always moving, it can be a little hard to really zap him down. However, he really only moves from left to right over the entryway into the next room, so keep you're gun focused in those areas. And once you're through, you'll move on to the final room of battle. Here, he find Zurg in his now broken mechanical machine, thanks to us defeating him in the last scene! However, those Z's are still all over him, to zap him some more! These targets are worth a LOT, so be careful with your shots! I always aimed for the one at the top of his machine, and it gave me a nice amount of points. This scene will be over in no time, so when you're about to reach the exit, rotate your car so you face backwards. This way you can continue to shoot inside the exitway until you finally are out of his reach. By the way, when Zurg's machine flashes, a picture is being taken. It can get you pretty distracted it, but it will most likely result in a hilarious picture!
After the last fight with Zurg, we meet up with Buzz (an AA just like the one in the queue), who congradulates us on capturing the evil emperor Zurg, who is hanging from the "Claw", as seen in the movie. Now that Zurg's been taken care of, our job as junior space rangers is over for now. However, how did your score turn out? On my first time of the trip, my score was around 35,000. Not very good, but I was still getting used to it. By the end of the trip, I'd have this thing mastered. As you exit your cart at the exit, there's a list of rankings on the wall. I don't really remember the titles, but the one for my score wasn't very good...I guess better luck next time. We hopped out of our carts, went down the treadmill, through the photo area, and back out on to the midway.
Ryan/KKR05's Expert Advice-Overall, this ride to me is just a blast. I love everything about it, and it could easily be the most fun attraction in the Magic Kingdom. It's just like being in a video game and shooting up all the monsters. The attraction is perfect for all ages as well, everyone from young to old will enjoy it. It's also got that competitive edge to it...you HAVE to beat the other people in your party haha. Even if you're not too good at shooting the targets, and ride aspect to it is excellent. I highly suggest this attraction to EVERYONE. This is a must-hit at the Magic Kingdom, and it can become the highlight of your trip. Put it on your hit list!
After my first spin on Buzz for the trip, it seems I needed some more practice with a final score around 35,000. I would get the practice, but not until later on in the day. Right now it was time for another Tomorrowland classic. Paging Mr. Tom, Mr. Tom Morrow....
We walked through Tomorrowland Plaza and over to the attraction's entrance. As we approached it, the while was forming outside of the mountain, so we knew there was going to be a wait. When we approached the sign, we saw that the stand-by line was an hour wait. It was time to whip out our Park Hoppers and get some Fast Passes, our first of the trip. Fast Pass, to me, is a huge advancement in the amusement industry made in the past few years. The system allows you to insert your park ticket to a machine, which will give you a ticket to come back at the time posted. When you come back at the posted time, you can get on with little or no waiting! Now, many parks have tried their own systems like Fast Pass, but Disney's system to reigns surpreme. Also, the fact that it's free with your admission is a definite plus. Anyway, it was more than an hour before our time to ride Space started, so we ventured across Tomorrowland Plaza to other of my favorite attractions, Buzz Lightyear's Space Ranger Spin. The ride is a shoot-em-up dark ride where the guests become Junior Space Rangers to defeat the evil Emperor Zurg! Zurg's latest evil plot...taking the energy (aka batteries) from all the toys! It's now up to you to defeat Zurg and regain power for the toys! As we approached the attraction, we saw the stand-by line was 20 minutes for the ride. Sweet, now long at all! To my surprise, the wait ended up being shorter than that.
Our journey begins in Star Command Headquarters, which is where the queue takes base. The line was right to the doors out front, and from what I remembered from my last trip to WDW, the queue inside isn't that long. So I figured we would looking at a 15 minute wait tops here, and I turned out to be almost exactly right. The queue moves extremely fast for this attraction, due to very fast loading times and a surplus of ride carts (The boarding system is just like the Haunted Mansion's, with carts in continuous motion which you access on a moving platform). While waiting, we enjoy the sights and sounds of Star Command HQ, where the queue weaves in and out. On the walls, we can find a numerous amount of posters which show the plans of the mission we are about to go on. Also, the queue has its on Audio-Animatronic Buzz Lightyear himself, which is very impressive to have in-line for an attraction. While in line, he explains our mission and has some help from one of those toy viewers (I forget what they are called!). The red flashing alarms in the queue area tell us that Buzz is ready to speak, and it's time to listen up. Our journey will consist of many things, but first we have to zap the "Z" targets to regain the power that Zurg stole from the toys, which are now fueling his monsters! Once that's done, it'll be time to take on Zurg himself and stop him from reaking havoc in the toy world!
There's plenty to keep you entertained in the queue considering how short you're in it. This is easily one of the fastest moving lines in the park, so you can hit it at just about any time during the day, even peak times. Anyway, I highly suggest checking out the Buzz AA before riding as well, it's awesome. Anyway, it's time to set off on our journey to save the toys of the universe! We climb into our XP-37 Space Cruiser, which we already know how to control thanks to the sketch on the Etch-a-Sketch in the queue line! Once we leave the station, the platform with our Ion Cannos and our 360 Degree Spin Stick comes down, and our personal points calculator sets to zero. It's time to travel into Sector 9 to save the toys and defeat the Evil Emperor Zurg!
As we enter the attraction our score counters light up, and we get power from the Astro Blaster, which we pass in the ride's first scene. After getting our power, we are ready to go save the toy world! As soon as I get a sight of the first room, I start shooting my gun randomly. Hey, I sometimes manage to score a few easy points this way (and one time an extreme surplus...but that's for later...) Once we're completely in the first room, I put one hand on the gun for aim and one hand on the trigger to shoot (this is the best technique I found to use the gun), and starting blasting away at the Z targets. Zurg's monsters are roaming about, stealing batteries from from innocent toys here in the first scene, which are floating about. Since I'm a little rusty with the ride (I haven't played in a couple of years), I had to get used to it. My score in the first room didn't calculate to much, but the more you ride this thing the better you get. I always aim for the big monsters/robots, which to me seem to calculate the biggest amount of points. I always shoot for that big red robot in the first scene, especially the targets on his hands. Although you move at such a slow pace, it seems like you fly through each of the rooms. Take advantage of the rotate stick, it can put you in position to get just about any target you want to. Anyway, as I said, the first room wasn't a one for me this time around. But round 2 is coming up next.
We passed through a tunnel and found ourselves in the next room, where I soon started zapping away. This room has a lot of different, wierd looking monsters, some that have Z's plastered all over their bodies. It's time to take them down. The big points in this room are on the moving monsters, the hidden targets, and the spinning UFO way in the back. Be on the lookout for the UFO, I didn't realize it was there until I rode the TTA later on that day. If your having trouble getting points, there are some targets on the wall which is almost right up against you. They won't give you much, but they're almost definite hits. This room is a ton of targets in it, so make sure you take advantage of it. For beginners, as I said, shoot for the easy targets on the wall. However, for the pros, you don't really need to use you rotate stick in this scene, just shoot away at where all the action is. I improved my score quite a bit in this area, but the next area is where I really started to warm up. After the 2nd room, we move into the 3rd room, which is basically a long tunnel. We enter it with some easy targets on the walls (the ceiling is low, and the walls aren't high). We move on and see a bunch of batteries stacked about. Definitely try to hit those, and if you do, you'll get big points and they even actually fall down! After this, we get our first look at the Evil Emperor Zurg!
In our first encounter, Zurg's just chilling in his machanical machine. He's loaded with Z targets, so shoot him up for some big points! It seems he's getting a little pissed at you, and decides to take matters into his on hands. After this, we head out of the tunnel, and before entering the darkness scene, there's a spinning wheel in the wall. Only a portion of it is revealed at a time, so to shoot the Z's which are on it, you need to time it just right. After that, we turn and enter the room of darkness. We become surrounded in it, the only light in this room is the bright pink light at the end of the tunnel. I still don't the purpose of this room personally, but shoot you're gun around in random spots. I receieved a couple of points by doing this, so give it a shot! I still think there's a hidden target in here that's worth a million points...Anyway, once we finally reach the light, we head into the next room, where we begin the final battle against the energy-hungry Zurg!
The next room to me is awesome. It's basically a large television screen built into the ceiling. On it, we see that we're in space, and that Zurg is reeking about in his mechanical machine. This is it, it's time to defeat Zurg! Zap him down as he moves about in space in his machine, and continues to get hit by various flying space objects. The more times you hit him, the more points you'll get. Since he's basically always moving, it can be a little hard to really zap him down. However, he really only moves from left to right over the entryway into the next room, so keep you're gun focused in those areas. And once you're through, you'll move on to the final room of battle. Here, he find Zurg in his now broken mechanical machine, thanks to us defeating him in the last scene! However, those Z's are still all over him, to zap him some more! These targets are worth a LOT, so be careful with your shots! I always aimed for the one at the top of his machine, and it gave me a nice amount of points. This scene will be over in no time, so when you're about to reach the exit, rotate your car so you face backwards. This way you can continue to shoot inside the exitway until you finally are out of his reach. By the way, when Zurg's machine flashes, a picture is being taken. It can get you pretty distracted it, but it will most likely result in a hilarious picture!
After the last fight with Zurg, we meet up with Buzz (an AA just like the one in the queue), who congradulates us on capturing the evil emperor Zurg, who is hanging from the "Claw", as seen in the movie. Now that Zurg's been taken care of, our job as junior space rangers is over for now. However, how did your score turn out? On my first time of the trip, my score was around 35,000. Not very good, but I was still getting used to it. By the end of the trip, I'd have this thing mastered. As you exit your cart at the exit, there's a list of rankings on the wall. I don't really remember the titles, but the one for my score wasn't very good...I guess better luck next time. We hopped out of our carts, went down the treadmill, through the photo area, and back out on to the midway.
Ryan/KKR05's Expert Advice-Overall, this ride to me is just a blast. I love everything about it, and it could easily be the most fun attraction in the Magic Kingdom. It's just like being in a video game and shooting up all the monsters. The attraction is perfect for all ages as well, everyone from young to old will enjoy it. It's also got that competitive edge to it...you HAVE to beat the other people in your party haha. Even if you're not too good at shooting the targets, and ride aspect to it is excellent. I highly suggest this attraction to EVERYONE. This is a must-hit at the Magic Kingdom, and it can become the highlight of your trip. Put it on your hit list!
After my first spin on Buzz for the trip, it seems I needed some more practice with a final score around 35,000. I would get the practice, but not until later on in the day. Right now it was time for another Tomorrowland classic. Paging Mr. Tom, Mr. Tom Morrow....
Tuesday, November 21, 2006
Chapter 9:The Philharmagical Nemesis
After "it's a small world", we strolled through Fantasyland to our next attraction, just beyond Peter Pan's Flight. This attraction is also my personal favorite in Fantasyland, and gives an enjoyable experience every time. It's Mickey's PhilharMagic, of course! The attraction, which replaced The Festival of the Lion King in 2003, may very well be the best 3-D show I've ever seen. It's a must hit in Fantasyland, so definitely check it out on your next trip. We came to the entrance and the cast member was waving people in for the next show, which was starting promptly. We all ran through the queue, grabbed a pair of 3-D glasses, and got into the theater before the automatic doors closed. The theater of the show is VERY large, and can accommodate a large amount of people at one time. It's themed to an orchestra hall, as we are going to see Mickey's orchestra perform before Donald comes in and screws everything up...
We were lucky to find seats quickly, the show was just about to begin. The doors closed, the lights dimmed, and we heard Goofy doing his opening spiel. The show starts off with the curtain in front of the screen, and a conversation between Goofy and Mickey. Mickey says don't open the curtain yet, but c'mon, it's Goofy. He does it, the curtain opens, and the orchestra is ready to perform. However, Mickey isn't there to lead them in their musical madness. Mickey's Sorcerer Hat sits upon his podium, just waiting to be put on the head of one so willing to conduct this orchestra through a musical masterpiece. Just aside the podium is Donald, sleeping, but is awoken by the fanatic Mickey who runs on to the stage. He tells everyone that it's showtime...but he's not ready. So Donald, now awoken, eyes the Sorcerer Hat sitting undisturbed on the podium. He lets out a laugh, and places the hat on his head. The orchestra then comes alive, and Donald tries to get control. Well, that doesn't go so well. His conducting skills, aren't the greatest, as a mass racket is produced by one swing of the baton. However, one of the flute doesn't want to stop playing the cheerful Mickey Mouse theme, and Donald tries to throw it right at us! Here's our first glimpse at the 3-D we are about to experience. This doesn't make the flute to happy, so it comes back and hits him square in the head :lol: This creates a mass panic among the instruments, and they come together to plummet Donald into a smoke filled world of musical terror! Donald flies around, trying to escape the instruments grasp. Wind is blowing in our faces and instruments are flying all around us, but it finally comes to an end in the pitch-dark. Here is our first musical encounter, Lumiere from Beauty and the Beast, ready to invite us to "be his guest". He lights up the room through his candlelight and Donald prepares for a great big feast with food flying around everywhere. Ah, the aromas of the the food are real, we can smell and almost taste the food right in front of us! As food flies around the table, Donald discovers the hat, which is what he really desires. The hat moves along with the food, and while Donald tries to find it, Lumiere finishes his song with the explosion of wine bottles...and the corks are headed right at us! You can feel the corks whizzing by our faces, and let me just say that this is one awesome effect. Lumiere ends his song on a high note, and Donald blown away from his hat once again.
Next, we are found in a dark room full of dirty plates ready for washing. And in between the stacks of plates is Donald's coveted Sorcerer Hat! He awakens, but then the brooms come marching in. That's right, the brooms carrying water from Fantasia, along with the classic song. They're here to clean all those dirty plates left behind from dinner, and in doing so, we all get a little wet! Water sprinklings shoot at us while the brooms clean the plates. Donald spots a small little broom who holds his hat, and violently takes it away from him. Not a good idea. Here comes big old mamma broom, who splashes Donald into a world under the sea, and gives us one last spray of water. Here Donald meet Ariel, aka the Little Mermaid. While she sings about "being where the people are", Donald becomes all rapped up in her loveliness. He forgets all about the hat and follows Ariel all about under the sea. So when Ariel finishes up her song, Donald tries to kiss her, and in return, receives the shock of an electric eel making his way through the sea :lol: Ariel and and a shocked Donald climb towards the surface, and out of nowhere, we meet our next musical artist, Simba from the Lion King! He just can't WAIT to be king, and isn't afraid to tell us. He even shows us his roar, as his mouth comes directly at us! Ok, we're safe, but he goes on to sing about being king. We follow Simba and the insightful bird Zazu all around the jungle, until we finally encounter Donald again, who is still just ready to get his hands on that hat. Now Donald's found himself riding on the backs of animals, and his hat seems to have done the same thing. All of the animals are now following Simba on his musical journey through the Savannah, as Donald is. As Simba starts to rap up his song, animal heads, shaped in a circle around a central point, pop out of the screen. They showcase all the animals in the kingdom, giraffes, zebras, you name it, then comes a pop up of Donald and his hat. I really love what they did with this effect, the pop ups just seem to get bigger and bigger with the more animals that are added. After this is done, Simba sings his last "I can't wait to be king" high top of a fountain. Donald and his hat are then blown out of the Savannah, and we soon encounter a whole new world.
First, we receive a first from Tinkerbell and Peter Pan, who are sitting high atop of Big Ben. Donald and the hat come flying out of no where, and each lands on a different hand of the huge clock. Peter Pan jumps off the hat's end of the clock, which sends Donald flying into the air! He can fly, he can fly! Peter Pan and Donald soar through the skies, and even the hat received some pixie-dust of its own. They all float into the clouds, Peter, Donald, and the hat. Next, we get a visit from Aladdin and Jasmine, who are enjoying a magic carpet ride. The wind of the sky blows strongly, as it does into us. The wind just flies into our faces. Aladdin and Jasmine greet us on their magic carpet, and want to discover a whole new world. Donald, who suddenly appears, has a different objective, getting the hat from Aladdin and Jasmine's carpet! Donald struggles to gain control of his carpet, but continued to chase them through the streets of Agrabah. Up, down, left, right, Donald chases them. All around the city they all go, and Donald goes through something more, someone's laundry! He shakes off the extra clothes and continues to follow both of the fellow Agrabah-ites who so unknowingly enjoy a pleasant night. As they finish their singing, Donald finally catches up to them, and tries to grab the hat off the back of the other carpet. He tries, and tries, but he can't get it. It's until Jasmine recognizes him that Donald struggles for the hat. She then takes it and places it on his head, ending his long musical journey at last...or is it?
As the hat sits on Donald's head, he can finally take a break...or not. Iago comes and knocks the hat off his head and toward the ground below, and Donald goes right on after it. This plummets him back into the same whirlwind he encountered below his musical journeys, with all the instruments and the wind effects. Around and around he goes into he's finally sucked in, and finally re-arrives at the concert hall, where Mickey's hat finally returns to its rightful owner. Mickey grabs the hat, puts it on, and conducts a short musical piece with all the instruments, and Donald floating in air. He abruptly stops it, and all of the instruments, and Donald, fall the ground. Donald grabs Mickey's baton, hands it to him, and Donald is then sucked into one of the tubas! Mickey then plays one last piece, his musical theme song. With the pressure building, once Mickey pulls down his baton, Donald shoots into the air and right at you! He doesn't stop there, however, we sails all the way back into the back of the theater. This is where he is suspended in mid-air with his legs sticking out of the hole in the wall (that he made)! And after a few moments, we hear him say "uh oh" and we see and hear him fall with a big crash at the end. Mickey then thanks the crowd, and the philharmagically show finishes.
KKR05's Expert Advice-This attraction is great. It's perfect for the whole family, and is definitely one of the better 3-D shows you'll see. Along with the great 3-D effects, they have the extra surprises, like the water, wind, and smell effects. The show was done perfectly. I can't think of any better way they could've done it. As I said, it's my favorite in Fantasyland, and it is a must-hit in Fantasyland. It'll be a hit with the little ones, the older folk will enjoy it as well.
After the show is all said and done, Goofy comes over the intercom and tells us to have a philharmagically day. Sure will, Goofy. We got up, moved down the aisle, and made our way up the exit. We dropped our glasses in a bin and arrived back out in the Fantasyland midway. Well, what was next? It was time to split up. The others wanted to go see Cinderellabration, so it was time to do want we wanted to do. And, in one word, I'll tell you all...Tomorrowland.
We were lucky to find seats quickly, the show was just about to begin. The doors closed, the lights dimmed, and we heard Goofy doing his opening spiel. The show starts off with the curtain in front of the screen, and a conversation between Goofy and Mickey. Mickey says don't open the curtain yet, but c'mon, it's Goofy. He does it, the curtain opens, and the orchestra is ready to perform. However, Mickey isn't there to lead them in their musical madness. Mickey's Sorcerer Hat sits upon his podium, just waiting to be put on the head of one so willing to conduct this orchestra through a musical masterpiece. Just aside the podium is Donald, sleeping, but is awoken by the fanatic Mickey who runs on to the stage. He tells everyone that it's showtime...but he's not ready. So Donald, now awoken, eyes the Sorcerer Hat sitting undisturbed on the podium. He lets out a laugh, and places the hat on his head. The orchestra then comes alive, and Donald tries to get control. Well, that doesn't go so well. His conducting skills, aren't the greatest, as a mass racket is produced by one swing of the baton. However, one of the flute doesn't want to stop playing the cheerful Mickey Mouse theme, and Donald tries to throw it right at us! Here's our first glimpse at the 3-D we are about to experience. This doesn't make the flute to happy, so it comes back and hits him square in the head :lol: This creates a mass panic among the instruments, and they come together to plummet Donald into a smoke filled world of musical terror! Donald flies around, trying to escape the instruments grasp. Wind is blowing in our faces and instruments are flying all around us, but it finally comes to an end in the pitch-dark. Here is our first musical encounter, Lumiere from Beauty and the Beast, ready to invite us to "be his guest". He lights up the room through his candlelight and Donald prepares for a great big feast with food flying around everywhere. Ah, the aromas of the the food are real, we can smell and almost taste the food right in front of us! As food flies around the table, Donald discovers the hat, which is what he really desires. The hat moves along with the food, and while Donald tries to find it, Lumiere finishes his song with the explosion of wine bottles...and the corks are headed right at us! You can feel the corks whizzing by our faces, and let me just say that this is one awesome effect. Lumiere ends his song on a high note, and Donald blown away from his hat once again.
Next, we are found in a dark room full of dirty plates ready for washing. And in between the stacks of plates is Donald's coveted Sorcerer Hat! He awakens, but then the brooms come marching in. That's right, the brooms carrying water from Fantasia, along with the classic song. They're here to clean all those dirty plates left behind from dinner, and in doing so, we all get a little wet! Water sprinklings shoot at us while the brooms clean the plates. Donald spots a small little broom who holds his hat, and violently takes it away from him. Not a good idea. Here comes big old mamma broom, who splashes Donald into a world under the sea, and gives us one last spray of water. Here Donald meet Ariel, aka the Little Mermaid. While she sings about "being where the people are", Donald becomes all rapped up in her loveliness. He forgets all about the hat and follows Ariel all about under the sea. So when Ariel finishes up her song, Donald tries to kiss her, and in return, receives the shock of an electric eel making his way through the sea :lol: Ariel and and a shocked Donald climb towards the surface, and out of nowhere, we meet our next musical artist, Simba from the Lion King! He just can't WAIT to be king, and isn't afraid to tell us. He even shows us his roar, as his mouth comes directly at us! Ok, we're safe, but he goes on to sing about being king. We follow Simba and the insightful bird Zazu all around the jungle, until we finally encounter Donald again, who is still just ready to get his hands on that hat. Now Donald's found himself riding on the backs of animals, and his hat seems to have done the same thing. All of the animals are now following Simba on his musical journey through the Savannah, as Donald is. As Simba starts to rap up his song, animal heads, shaped in a circle around a central point, pop out of the screen. They showcase all the animals in the kingdom, giraffes, zebras, you name it, then comes a pop up of Donald and his hat. I really love what they did with this effect, the pop ups just seem to get bigger and bigger with the more animals that are added. After this is done, Simba sings his last "I can't wait to be king" high top of a fountain. Donald and his hat are then blown out of the Savannah, and we soon encounter a whole new world.
First, we receive a first from Tinkerbell and Peter Pan, who are sitting high atop of Big Ben. Donald and the hat come flying out of no where, and each lands on a different hand of the huge clock. Peter Pan jumps off the hat's end of the clock, which sends Donald flying into the air! He can fly, he can fly! Peter Pan and Donald soar through the skies, and even the hat received some pixie-dust of its own. They all float into the clouds, Peter, Donald, and the hat. Next, we get a visit from Aladdin and Jasmine, who are enjoying a magic carpet ride. The wind of the sky blows strongly, as it does into us. The wind just flies into our faces. Aladdin and Jasmine greet us on their magic carpet, and want to discover a whole new world. Donald, who suddenly appears, has a different objective, getting the hat from Aladdin and Jasmine's carpet! Donald struggles to gain control of his carpet, but continued to chase them through the streets of Agrabah. Up, down, left, right, Donald chases them. All around the city they all go, and Donald goes through something more, someone's laundry! He shakes off the extra clothes and continues to follow both of the fellow Agrabah-ites who so unknowingly enjoy a pleasant night. As they finish their singing, Donald finally catches up to them, and tries to grab the hat off the back of the other carpet. He tries, and tries, but he can't get it. It's until Jasmine recognizes him that Donald struggles for the hat. She then takes it and places it on his head, ending his long musical journey at last...or is it?
As the hat sits on Donald's head, he can finally take a break...or not. Iago comes and knocks the hat off his head and toward the ground below, and Donald goes right on after it. This plummets him back into the same whirlwind he encountered below his musical journeys, with all the instruments and the wind effects. Around and around he goes into he's finally sucked in, and finally re-arrives at the concert hall, where Mickey's hat finally returns to its rightful owner. Mickey grabs the hat, puts it on, and conducts a short musical piece with all the instruments, and Donald floating in air. He abruptly stops it, and all of the instruments, and Donald, fall the ground. Donald grabs Mickey's baton, hands it to him, and Donald is then sucked into one of the tubas! Mickey then plays one last piece, his musical theme song. With the pressure building, once Mickey pulls down his baton, Donald shoots into the air and right at you! He doesn't stop there, however, we sails all the way back into the back of the theater. This is where he is suspended in mid-air with his legs sticking out of the hole in the wall (that he made)! And after a few moments, we hear him say "uh oh" and we see and hear him fall with a big crash at the end. Mickey then thanks the crowd, and the philharmagically show finishes.
KKR05's Expert Advice-This attraction is great. It's perfect for the whole family, and is definitely one of the better 3-D shows you'll see. Along with the great 3-D effects, they have the extra surprises, like the water, wind, and smell effects. The show was done perfectly. I can't think of any better way they could've done it. As I said, it's my favorite in Fantasyland, and it is a must-hit in Fantasyland. It'll be a hit with the little ones, the older folk will enjoy it as well.
After the show is all said and done, Goofy comes over the intercom and tells us to have a philharmagically day. Sure will, Goofy. We got up, moved down the aisle, and made our way up the exit. We dropped our glasses in a bin and arrived back out in the Fantasyland midway. Well, what was next? It was time to split up. The others wanted to go see Cinderellabration, so it was time to do want we wanted to do. And, in one word, I'll tell you all...Tomorrowland.
Monday, November 06, 2006
Chapter 8:Not for the Faint of Heart
After a not-so-scary ride through the Haunted Mansion, we walked through the portal and into the Fantasyland section of the park. When people think of Fantasyland, they think that this section is only for the kiddies...not true. This section can also be a delight to anyone who tries to enjoy it. Sure, it's geared towards the younger ones, but that doesn't mean people of all ages can't enjoy it. Anyway, Fantasyland is the "Heart" of the Magic Kingdom. This section has a numerous amount of attractions, and I believe the most in the entire Magic Kingdom. Anyway, Fantasyland is the home to our next attraction in our round-trip around the Magic Kingdom, "it's a small world". I know that when some people think of this ride, they say "Skip it, can't stand hearing that song over and over again!" Well, yes, is some cases that's true. The song can get obnoxious, but the ride is a classic from the 64 World's Fair, and has been entertaining ever since. Plus, the point the ride brings across is evident by just going on the ride. For those that think it's just an annoying kiddie ride, they are missing the point the ride brings across. The world is indeed small, and must try to live friendly with one another. For these many reasons, I respect the ride for what it's worth.
OK, so we're heading into Fantasyland and we pass Peter Pan. I'll say something about this now, considering we didn't get on it this trip. The ride is insane. The queue line for this ride is most likely the longest in the park. That is for many reasons, most notably the bad capacity. Along with that, the kiddies love this ride, and it's the perfect ride for them to enjoy with their parents. So, here's a tip about Peter Pan's Flight. If you plan on riding, get a Fast Pass, or get there EARLY. I'd actually go with the ladder, considering what happened to us later on in the trip. That's for later though. Anyway, Peter Pan was a must-skip with the line expanding out of the fairly large queue. The ride across from it was, you guessed it, "it's a small world". The ride was our next hit, and with a very large capacity, we would be on in no time. The line was down the ramp just a little bit, and it was only about 10 minutes until we were in our boat. While in line, I looked around the station, and it looked different to me. Then, out of nowhere, a bell rang and a large grandfather clock on the wall told us it was now 5:30 PM. From what I remember, after that, some dolls came out of the door in the clock and dance around. Then, it hit me. They recently re-did "it's a small world", last year I believe. I could tell the queue area had been re-done...it LOOKED new with a different color scheme and different props, such as the new clock, which was a pretty cool addition. So after a quick wait, we climb in our boat, and it's time for departure. As we pull out of the station, the main operator in the tower above waved to our boat, and everyone waved back :lol: Around the bend, and we approached the portal to "it's a small world".
Just before we recap this classic attraction, I'd like to mention something. One would be rich if they went swimming in "it's a small world's" lagoon...the amount of loose change in the area is ridiculous. I guess people have a lot of loose change to get rid or something, but to me it's pointless. Ok, end rant. Here we go into it's a small world. During the ride, you sail through the following areas of the world-Europe, Asia, Africa, South America, and the South Pacific Islands. Each room of the ride has an amount of the total 289 dolls in the attraction who sing the easily recognized theme song. In the first scene, there are some magic carpets flying from the ceiling. Evidently I was scared of these when I was younger, which was brought up as we went through the attraction. Hey, I was like four, little kids are scared of everything. My favorite scene on the ride is the Africa scene. I love the animal animatronics. The giraffes almost reach the ceiling and the hippos are a surprise as they hide in the water. The area has a great jungle feel to it, and is very colorful.
After we've visited all of the countries, we move on to the finale! This scene is awesome. People (dolls) are brought together from across the world to have a great time together. This scene features dolls from every country we've already visited. The entire area is very white and bright, and features many different props than those we've already seen. There's a ferry boat, a merry-go-round, and even a roller coaster lit up brightly in the background! All of the dolls, again are singing together the ride's theme song. It's a great way to end the ride, and is one of the best done areas on the entire attraction. Anyway, once we pass through this area, we enter one more small area where we get a final good-bye...in many different languages. See how many you can recognize in this scene, it's interesting to see how many you'll know. You'll have time to look at all of the signs and see how many you know because the ride is usually backed up into this area. There are just too many boats on this ride to keep it constantly moving. Unfortunately the waiting time until you finally return to the station can be more than 5 minutes...so try to relax and enjoy the theming. After about 10 minutes, we finally exited, and made our way back into Fantasyland. As for a closing statement on the ride, like I said earlier, it's a classic. The ride can be very enjoyable if you try to enjoy it. Many of the scenes are very well done, and can be very interesting to observe. Along with that, the message of the ride is supreme, and it's more than you would ever think.
KKR05's Expert Advice!-Nothing much to say that I haven't said already. The ride is good for all ages, except be careful with the little ones. I told you the story about me and the magic carpets, so be aware if you're a parent. Other than that, hopefully the song won't stay in your head for that long after the ride!
We returned to the Fantasyland midways, which I must say were very crowded on a summer afternoon. The walkway between Peter Pan and it's a small world is very small, so the area can be very congested. So continued on through Fantasyland and decided what attraction was next on our hit list. It was almost time for some of the others to go see Cinderellabration...some we decided to hit one more ride before they had to go off and see that. And that attraction is many definite favorite in Fantasyland.
OK, so we're heading into Fantasyland and we pass Peter Pan. I'll say something about this now, considering we didn't get on it this trip. The ride is insane. The queue line for this ride is most likely the longest in the park. That is for many reasons, most notably the bad capacity. Along with that, the kiddies love this ride, and it's the perfect ride for them to enjoy with their parents. So, here's a tip about Peter Pan's Flight. If you plan on riding, get a Fast Pass, or get there EARLY. I'd actually go with the ladder, considering what happened to us later on in the trip. That's for later though. Anyway, Peter Pan was a must-skip with the line expanding out of the fairly large queue. The ride across from it was, you guessed it, "it's a small world". The ride was our next hit, and with a very large capacity, we would be on in no time. The line was down the ramp just a little bit, and it was only about 10 minutes until we were in our boat. While in line, I looked around the station, and it looked different to me. Then, out of nowhere, a bell rang and a large grandfather clock on the wall told us it was now 5:30 PM. From what I remember, after that, some dolls came out of the door in the clock and dance around. Then, it hit me. They recently re-did "it's a small world", last year I believe. I could tell the queue area had been re-done...it LOOKED new with a different color scheme and different props, such as the new clock, which was a pretty cool addition. So after a quick wait, we climb in our boat, and it's time for departure. As we pull out of the station, the main operator in the tower above waved to our boat, and everyone waved back :lol: Around the bend, and we approached the portal to "it's a small world".
Just before we recap this classic attraction, I'd like to mention something. One would be rich if they went swimming in "it's a small world's" lagoon...the amount of loose change in the area is ridiculous. I guess people have a lot of loose change to get rid or something, but to me it's pointless. Ok, end rant. Here we go into it's a small world. During the ride, you sail through the following areas of the world-Europe, Asia, Africa, South America, and the South Pacific Islands. Each room of the ride has an amount of the total 289 dolls in the attraction who sing the easily recognized theme song. In the first scene, there are some magic carpets flying from the ceiling. Evidently I was scared of these when I was younger, which was brought up as we went through the attraction. Hey, I was like four, little kids are scared of everything. My favorite scene on the ride is the Africa scene. I love the animal animatronics. The giraffes almost reach the ceiling and the hippos are a surprise as they hide in the water. The area has a great jungle feel to it, and is very colorful.
After we've visited all of the countries, we move on to the finale! This scene is awesome. People (dolls) are brought together from across the world to have a great time together. This scene features dolls from every country we've already visited. The entire area is very white and bright, and features many different props than those we've already seen. There's a ferry boat, a merry-go-round, and even a roller coaster lit up brightly in the background! All of the dolls, again are singing together the ride's theme song. It's a great way to end the ride, and is one of the best done areas on the entire attraction. Anyway, once we pass through this area, we enter one more small area where we get a final good-bye...in many different languages. See how many you can recognize in this scene, it's interesting to see how many you'll know. You'll have time to look at all of the signs and see how many you know because the ride is usually backed up into this area. There are just too many boats on this ride to keep it constantly moving. Unfortunately the waiting time until you finally return to the station can be more than 5 minutes...so try to relax and enjoy the theming. After about 10 minutes, we finally exited, and made our way back into Fantasyland. As for a closing statement on the ride, like I said earlier, it's a classic. The ride can be very enjoyable if you try to enjoy it. Many of the scenes are very well done, and can be very interesting to observe. Along with that, the message of the ride is supreme, and it's more than you would ever think.
KKR05's Expert Advice!-Nothing much to say that I haven't said already. The ride is good for all ages, except be careful with the little ones. I told you the story about me and the magic carpets, so be aware if you're a parent. Other than that, hopefully the song won't stay in your head for that long after the ride!
We returned to the Fantasyland midways, which I must say were very crowded on a summer afternoon. The walkway between Peter Pan and it's a small world is very small, so the area can be very congested. So continued on through Fantasyland and decided what attraction was next on our hit list. It was almost time for some of the others to go see Cinderellabration...some we decided to hit one more ride before they had to go off and see that. And that attraction is many definite favorite in Fantasyland.
Wednesday, November 01, 2006
Chapter 7:Ticket to Terror...NOT!
After a great ride on BTMR, we gave up on Splash Mountain which was still packed and made our way over to the 3rd area of the park. We continued our counter-clockwise expedition around the Magic Kingdom, and soon found ourselves in the small area between two of the Magic Kingdom's biggest "lands". We encountered the entrance to Liberty Square, the section that is sometimes forgotten among the general public. Although the section is quite small, it holds within one of the most popular Magic Kingdom attractions, the Haunted Mansion. Why a ghoulish mansion is in a liberty themed section is beyond me, but I guess there is always something new to learn about WDW. Anyway, Liberty Square to me is a very nice small section. It isn't very congested, which you think it would because of its size. Also, the theming in the area is very, very nice. It's just like a small colonial town, where patriotism is at its best. The theme is carried throughout the square with numerous American Flags, Historical Figures, and many other items in patriotic flare. The section is home to some attractions besides the Haunted Mansion, and these do fit in with the theme set. The Liberty Square Riverboat takes you on a voyage in the Rivers of America (lake surrounding Tom Sawyer Island). Unfortunately it was down for rehab when I was there, but the ride itself is very relaxing, it did it three years ago on our last visit. Definitely check it out if you have the time, it can provide some nice photo opportunities as well. Along with the Riverboat, Liberty Square is home to the Hall of Presidents. Although I haven't experienced this attraction, I know is it a show where you can find all of our Presidents brought to life through the art of Audio-Animatronics. I haven't heard much about the show, but it seems interesting. However, its time to move on for what we were there for, the main attraction, the Haunted Mansion.
When we checked the wait times board earlier, the wait for the Mansion was 20 minutes. Sure enough, when we arrived at the attraction, the wait was still 20 minutes, but that was a bit of an exaggeration. The Mansion in all its creepiness was before us, and we agreed to enter by boarding the queue line. As we joined the queue, I noticed the Fast Pass machines off to the right. Why does this ride of Fast Pass?? It seriously doesn't need it at all, the capacity here is unmatched. They weren't even being used when we were there. Maybe they'll relocate them to the Laugh Floor once that opens, or will that need it at all? Who knows. Anyway, the queue was extremely short. We stopped a little bit after entered the covered green shade. The Haunted Mansion queue is home to a graveyard, which holds the tombstones of many dead people. Unfortunately the grass was a bit long to read some of them, but they always provide a good laugh. Most of them have little funny riddles or poems, and they can keep you quite entertained while waiting to get inside the mansion. I know the long grass is supposed to make it feel deserted, but make it short enough so we can read the tombstones! Anyway, the waiting here was minimal. We waited less than 10 minutes to get inside and to our "chamber". As we entered the building, this guy with lazy eyes stared at you...pretty freaky, but it's perfect for the attraction. We all made our way into the octagon shaped chamber with portraits high on the ceilings. The room was dark and scary looking...perfect for this attraction. Once the max number of people got in the room, the doors closed shut behind us. No turning back now. Soon our Ghost Host came over the intercom and introduced himself...how nice. The room then started to drop...or was the ceiling rising. It seemed pretty obvious that it was the latter. Up they went, once revealing happy pictures of people when we walked in, going on to reveal horrific scenes. Soon, we were bound to end up like them as we made our way into a "doom buggy". The pre-show to the Haunted Mansion is pretty cool, and it definitely surprises all the first timers. Right when the ceilings finally stop rising, the horrific pictures were revealed entirely, but I'm not going to ruin the surprise. Right then and there our Ghost Host spurns us and lets out one great big laugh. We were soon to become his victims on our ride through the Haunted Mansion. Doors on the opposite side of the chamber in which we came in flew open, and everyone scattered into the haunted house.
The mansion was dark and dreary. Dim light bulbs barely lit the dark hallways, and everything is full of cobwebs. All of us formed a line and waited to board our doom buggy, and then our fate would be sealed. The interior of the mansion hallway is extremely detailed and well-done. Just being in there, waiting to ride is freaky. There were quite a few people in our corridor, so it took a while for us to get on, not to mention a short "breakdown". The doom buggies basically stopped going for a while, which caused a delay for us. However, after that, it was all smooth sailing. My brother and I soon boarded a doom buggy, which I'll talk about for a minute. These things are insane. There are NO GAPS between the buggies on this ride. They are in continuous circuit all the time, so if you need to stop one, you stop them all. I find it amazing how these carts can be in continuous motion for such a long time. Anyway, we boarded our buggy, and we were off into the Haunted Mansion, where chills and thrills awaited us.
Inside the Mansion await many thrills and chills. Here's some of the highlights.
The Ballroom Scene-A true classic. You glide in your doom buggies on the balcony of the ballroom, and see many ghosts and ghouls dancing about below you. Through the magic of projected images, the ghosts dance all across the ballroom in circles. Truly a delight to see and always a favorite.
The Graveyard-One of my favorites. It's a big part of the ride, and features the classic song..."Grim Grinning Ghosts come out to socialize". This section is definitely the spookiest, and features many "alive" props, such as moving tombstones and singing statues. There is something to scare you around every turn, so be on the look out. This scene, to me, is the most enjoyable of the entire ride.
Madam Loeta Scene-Crazy woman in a magic ball. She tries to scare and taunt you with her head secluded in a crystal ball. When I was little I always wondered how they got her head in the crystal ball, but now, it just seems obvious. This scene is another classic, and very enjoyable.
All right, so we are going through the mansion and we are coming up to the grand finale, where we will be cursed by the mansion forever. Before us is one big and long mirror, and our doom buggy turns to face it. We look, and a cursed ghoul as suddenly appeared in our cart! A laugh always comes out of we when the ghoul appears. Anyway, after we turn away from the mirrors, the ride is just about over. Our ghost host then dismisses us in a likely fashion, telling us that we've been cursed forever. Then he lets out one big laugh...Bwhahaha. With that, we are left to leave the mansion, for we will be cursed forever after leaving the mansion.
KKR05's Expert Advice-The Mansion is a classic. You think it's going to be one big and scary mansion...but it's just overall a fun ride, and there's nothing scary about it. Even those who are easily spooked can take a trip through the Haunted Mansion. The ride is extremely built up to be scary, but it's all just make believe. When Walt first thought of the idea of the Haunted Mansion, I don't think he meant for it to be scary. I think he meant for it to offer a fun, non-scary ride which was some elements that can put a chill up your spine. Regardless, the Mansion is a great ride, and can be enjoyed all people, expect I suggest no babies on this one, of course. Like I said before, the ride is even laughable at times, like in the final scene. It always squeezes a laugh out of me how your "ghost host" takes things so seriously. Anyway, the Mansion is good old classic fun, and must hit in the Magic Kingdom.
We exited the Mansion and found ourselves back out in Liberty Square. Just beyond us was Fantasyland, the heart of the Magic Kingdom. Fantasyland is where our next attraction has its home. And this attraction my friends is not for the easily annoyed.
When we checked the wait times board earlier, the wait for the Mansion was 20 minutes. Sure enough, when we arrived at the attraction, the wait was still 20 minutes, but that was a bit of an exaggeration. The Mansion in all its creepiness was before us, and we agreed to enter by boarding the queue line. As we joined the queue, I noticed the Fast Pass machines off to the right. Why does this ride of Fast Pass?? It seriously doesn't need it at all, the capacity here is unmatched. They weren't even being used when we were there. Maybe they'll relocate them to the Laugh Floor once that opens, or will that need it at all? Who knows. Anyway, the queue was extremely short. We stopped a little bit after entered the covered green shade. The Haunted Mansion queue is home to a graveyard, which holds the tombstones of many dead people. Unfortunately the grass was a bit long to read some of them, but they always provide a good laugh. Most of them have little funny riddles or poems, and they can keep you quite entertained while waiting to get inside the mansion. I know the long grass is supposed to make it feel deserted, but make it short enough so we can read the tombstones! Anyway, the waiting here was minimal. We waited less than 10 minutes to get inside and to our "chamber". As we entered the building, this guy with lazy eyes stared at you...pretty freaky, but it's perfect for the attraction. We all made our way into the octagon shaped chamber with portraits high on the ceilings. The room was dark and scary looking...perfect for this attraction. Once the max number of people got in the room, the doors closed shut behind us. No turning back now. Soon our Ghost Host came over the intercom and introduced himself...how nice. The room then started to drop...or was the ceiling rising. It seemed pretty obvious that it was the latter. Up they went, once revealing happy pictures of people when we walked in, going on to reveal horrific scenes. Soon, we were bound to end up like them as we made our way into a "doom buggy". The pre-show to the Haunted Mansion is pretty cool, and it definitely surprises all the first timers. Right when the ceilings finally stop rising, the horrific pictures were revealed entirely, but I'm not going to ruin the surprise. Right then and there our Ghost Host spurns us and lets out one great big laugh. We were soon to become his victims on our ride through the Haunted Mansion. Doors on the opposite side of the chamber in which we came in flew open, and everyone scattered into the haunted house.
The mansion was dark and dreary. Dim light bulbs barely lit the dark hallways, and everything is full of cobwebs. All of us formed a line and waited to board our doom buggy, and then our fate would be sealed. The interior of the mansion hallway is extremely detailed and well-done. Just being in there, waiting to ride is freaky. There were quite a few people in our corridor, so it took a while for us to get on, not to mention a short "breakdown". The doom buggies basically stopped going for a while, which caused a delay for us. However, after that, it was all smooth sailing. My brother and I soon boarded a doom buggy, which I'll talk about for a minute. These things are insane. There are NO GAPS between the buggies on this ride. They are in continuous circuit all the time, so if you need to stop one, you stop them all. I find it amazing how these carts can be in continuous motion for such a long time. Anyway, we boarded our buggy, and we were off into the Haunted Mansion, where chills and thrills awaited us.
Inside the Mansion await many thrills and chills. Here's some of the highlights.
The Ballroom Scene-A true classic. You glide in your doom buggies on the balcony of the ballroom, and see many ghosts and ghouls dancing about below you. Through the magic of projected images, the ghosts dance all across the ballroom in circles. Truly a delight to see and always a favorite.
The Graveyard-One of my favorites. It's a big part of the ride, and features the classic song..."Grim Grinning Ghosts come out to socialize". This section is definitely the spookiest, and features many "alive" props, such as moving tombstones and singing statues. There is something to scare you around every turn, so be on the look out. This scene, to me, is the most enjoyable of the entire ride.
Madam Loeta Scene-Crazy woman in a magic ball. She tries to scare and taunt you with her head secluded in a crystal ball. When I was little I always wondered how they got her head in the crystal ball, but now, it just seems obvious. This scene is another classic, and very enjoyable.
All right, so we are going through the mansion and we are coming up to the grand finale, where we will be cursed by the mansion forever. Before us is one big and long mirror, and our doom buggy turns to face it. We look, and a cursed ghoul as suddenly appeared in our cart! A laugh always comes out of we when the ghoul appears. Anyway, after we turn away from the mirrors, the ride is just about over. Our ghost host then dismisses us in a likely fashion, telling us that we've been cursed forever. Then he lets out one big laugh...Bwhahaha. With that, we are left to leave the mansion, for we will be cursed forever after leaving the mansion.
KKR05's Expert Advice-The Mansion is a classic. You think it's going to be one big and scary mansion...but it's just overall a fun ride, and there's nothing scary about it. Even those who are easily spooked can take a trip through the Haunted Mansion. The ride is extremely built up to be scary, but it's all just make believe. When Walt first thought of the idea of the Haunted Mansion, I don't think he meant for it to be scary. I think he meant for it to offer a fun, non-scary ride which was some elements that can put a chill up your spine. Regardless, the Mansion is a great ride, and can be enjoyed all people, expect I suggest no babies on this one, of course. Like I said before, the ride is even laughable at times, like in the final scene. It always squeezes a laugh out of me how your "ghost host" takes things so seriously. Anyway, the Mansion is good old classic fun, and must hit in the Magic Kingdom.
We exited the Mansion and found ourselves back out in Liberty Square. Just beyond us was Fantasyland, the heart of the Magic Kingdom. Fantasyland is where our next attraction has its home. And this attraction my friends is not for the easily annoyed.
Sunday, September 24, 2006
Chapter 6:The Wildest Ride in the Wilderness!
After a great ride on the all new POTC, we made our way out of Adventureland and over to Frontierland. As soon as we crossed the border, we saw that Frontierland was a lot busier than Adventureland was, but we would find out later why. The first thing we saw as we after Frontierland was one of the best log flumes in the world, Splash Mountain. This was planned to be next on our hit list. The massive drop in the Briar Patch, as seen from the Frontierland midway, really gets you excited to ride this thing. So, we made our way over to Splash's entrance to see how long the wait was. Once we got in clear view of the Stand-By wait time, I just started to walk away. The wait was long than an hour, and I didn't plan on waiting. However, what other ride is very close to Splash? That's right, Big Thunder Mountain Railroad! When I was at the park in 2003, the ride was closed down because of A. Down for rehab or B. Down because the one at Disneyland recently had an accident. Anyway, this was ride 2 of 2 I wanted to hit in Frontierland, so it was up next, wait time pending. We approached the area of the ride's entrance, and noticed the wait time of only 20 minutes. Perfect. Considering this was a relatively short waiting time, and I really wanted to ride this, we decided to make this the 2nd ride of the trip!
We boarded the queue, which is highly themed, just like everything else at Disney. I love the first part of the queue line on this line, it really makes you feel like you're in the wild west. One of my favorite features is the water trough system was have overhead. The outdoors part of the queue, as I said has an awesome wild west theme to it. After taking in the awesome theming, we entered the queue building, where we stopped shortly after getting inside. It really was a scorcher out, so I was happy to be inside. Anyway, while waiting, I pulled out a park map and looked at how much it had changed since I last was there. One thing I'll note is that map the maps a lot smaller than the last time, but they seem to be fine this way. We waited in that one spot for about 5 minutes in the shade, and then we were moving. We continuously walked through the queue, only making short stops along the way. Since I hadn't been in the queue since 2000, I didn't know where it would be going, but I knew it ended in an underground station. After walking through the first room of switchbacks, we moved into the next. This is where we really started to fly. Everyone just kept going and going and going...and it didn't stop at all. We were in and out of the 2nd switchback room in no time, and now we were on our way down into the underground caverns station. We finally stopped on the downwards ramp leading to the loading area. We paused here for a few minutes, waiting in the almost complete darkness. Soon we were moving though, and were inches away from loading. Once I had a view of the loading area, I saw that rows 1, 2, and 3 were roped off. What? This simply made no sense to me, until it was our turn to board. A few people went in front of us, but then the operator asked us how many, and we told him. he then directed us to rows 3 and 4. Then, I understood. They don't want a bunch of people waiting for the row car, of course, making this an excellent system. I was very happy with my row 3 ride, considering many people wouldn't be as lucky as I. Anyway, since we were the first to be the only people in rows 3 and 4, we would be on the next train! With mere seconds of waiting, our train pulled up, and the air gates opened. It was time for the first coaster of the trip.
We all boarded our runaway train and pulled down our restraint, making sure it wasn't too tight. After that, we were ready to roll. As I waited for everyone's restraint to be checked, I looked around. The station itself is almost pitch black, aside from a few shining lights overhead. Along with the darkness of the mine shaft, the extremely realistic steam engine at the front of the train adds more to the great theming of the ride. While I was looking around, taking in all of the amazing theming, I realized it was now go time. Our steam engine's whistle blowed, and we soon crawled out of the station. The ride starts off by plummeting you through a dark cavern, full of sights and sounds. As soon as we got off the transfer track, we made a quick left and plunged into the dark cavern, full of sound effects and some little bunny hops. You hear screaming bats, and rushing water...soon we will see where that is coming from. Anyway, this part of the ride is nothing special, but this is only the beginning. After this relatively short segment, we begin to climb the first of many lift hills. This one has a surprise at the top, however...a huge waterfall separated into two by a rock in the ceiling! When I first saw this, I thought it was an awesome theming piece, and not meant for you to get wet. Once we got to the top of the lift hill, I noticed it was for both. This thing can give you quite a soaking if you sit right up against the edge of the car. Anyway, after going under the waterfall, it was time for the ride to begin. We soon found ourselves at the top of the mountain, and were given a view of the lake in which surrounds Tom Sawyer's Island. Before long, however, we were on our way into the ride's first of many turns. The ride starts off by throwing you through some wild turns, each of which were relaxing, not thrilling, mainly because we hadn't gained much speed yet. After some nice curves, it was time for the first helix, in which we gain some nice speed. Once again, this helix is more relaxing breeze-giving than thrilling. Racing through the rocky mountain terrain, we glide up a small ascent and enter one crazy put of this ride. The track in this segment is crazy, and just throws you around all over as we cross a small stream. The ride then throws us into another turn, and then we encounter the ride's main lift hill. This is where you can receive some excellent views of the mountain range, and all the theming it has to offer. Unfortunately, the views are short lived, as it's not long before you're charging into the 2nd part of the ride. We hit a sharp left-hand turn, and went back down to canyon below. Coming up is my personal favorite part of the ride. We climbed a small ascent, which leads us to, as I said, my favorite part, which starts off with a strong double helix. Around and around we went, diving in and out of the rock work, gaining more and more speed as we went. Once this thing lets you go, you've gained a very nice amount of speed, and the next element gives my favorite part of the ride a two-part punch. Right after the helix, you get thrown into a bunny hill, which looks innocent, but it's going to give you some of the only air time found on this ride. Once you crest the top, you get some sweet, sweet floater air, before heading back down under the rock work. You just have to love the sensation floater air creates. Anyway, after another little turn, we encountered the last lift hill of the ride, which is held in the dark and in another "mine shaft". As we made our last upwards climb, boulders at the sides of the shaft come out of the rock, which look like they are going to fall right down you! it was time to make a quick exit before those boulders came right down on us. Finally, we saw the light at the end of the tunnel. The brighter it got the closer we were to getting out of that mine shaft. Finally the light surrounded us, and we were back out on the mountain range. After a small hill to get us moving, we went into another sharp curve. Coming up next is the nice, swooping curve over the picturesque lake. Ah, what a nice breeze this turn creates, as well as an excellent view of the water. After that nice, sharp turn, we went up into a completely pointless part of this ride, a small block brake that holds us for a few seconds. Once it finally lets us go, it's time for the ride's finale. We went into another sharp turn in the rock work, which fed us into a tunnel created by dinosaur bones! The track in this section is a little bumpy, giving you the sensation of just narrowly avoiding the bones of a dinosaur's rib cage. After one more final turn, we hit the final brake run over a small spring, which had geysers shooting off everywhere!
KKR05's Expert Advice-Overall, the combination of a wild coaster ride along with some awesome theming (especially the rock work/canyon, it is extremely realistic) makes this a must hit. If you're looking for a thrilling coaster ride, then you'll be disappointed, but this ride without a doubt offers one fun-filled experience, and is a great starting coaster for the younger ones. Also, along with the theming and some thrilling parts (double helix), this ride will also be a favorite of the older ones. It's definitely a must ride in Frontierland, right up there with Splash Mountain. On a last note, with fast loading times and moving lines, this attraction could be hit about anytime throughout the day. Our wait time ended up being only around 15-20 minutes, for what seemed to be a very long line.
After enjoying the sights and sounds of the little themed stream that we were stuck on, the brakes released us and we flew back into the almost pitch black station. Once we did, we threw up our lap bars and headed for the exit. Everyone seemed to enjoy the ride, and it was a lot more of a ride than I thought it was (in other words, the ride is longer than you think) We quickly exited and found our way out back to a very crowded Frontierland. Since Splash was still an extremely long wait, we decided to move on in our loop around the park. As we walked toward the next section, Liberty Square, we discovered that the crowdedness of the section was mainly due to a huge meet and greet session going on near the Country Bears. Since the pathway was completely blocked, we followed the dock which goes along the banks of Frontierland's lake, and headed our next attraction, which was just dead ahead...
We boarded the queue, which is highly themed, just like everything else at Disney. I love the first part of the queue line on this line, it really makes you feel like you're in the wild west. One of my favorite features is the water trough system was have overhead. The outdoors part of the queue, as I said has an awesome wild west theme to it. After taking in the awesome theming, we entered the queue building, where we stopped shortly after getting inside. It really was a scorcher out, so I was happy to be inside. Anyway, while waiting, I pulled out a park map and looked at how much it had changed since I last was there. One thing I'll note is that map the maps a lot smaller than the last time, but they seem to be fine this way. We waited in that one spot for about 5 minutes in the shade, and then we were moving. We continuously walked through the queue, only making short stops along the way. Since I hadn't been in the queue since 2000, I didn't know where it would be going, but I knew it ended in an underground station. After walking through the first room of switchbacks, we moved into the next. This is where we really started to fly. Everyone just kept going and going and going...and it didn't stop at all. We were in and out of the 2nd switchback room in no time, and now we were on our way down into the underground caverns station. We finally stopped on the downwards ramp leading to the loading area. We paused here for a few minutes, waiting in the almost complete darkness. Soon we were moving though, and were inches away from loading. Once I had a view of the loading area, I saw that rows 1, 2, and 3 were roped off. What? This simply made no sense to me, until it was our turn to board. A few people went in front of us, but then the operator asked us how many, and we told him. he then directed us to rows 3 and 4. Then, I understood. They don't want a bunch of people waiting for the row car, of course, making this an excellent system. I was very happy with my row 3 ride, considering many people wouldn't be as lucky as I. Anyway, since we were the first to be the only people in rows 3 and 4, we would be on the next train! With mere seconds of waiting, our train pulled up, and the air gates opened. It was time for the first coaster of the trip.
We all boarded our runaway train and pulled down our restraint, making sure it wasn't too tight. After that, we were ready to roll. As I waited for everyone's restraint to be checked, I looked around. The station itself is almost pitch black, aside from a few shining lights overhead. Along with the darkness of the mine shaft, the extremely realistic steam engine at the front of the train adds more to the great theming of the ride. While I was looking around, taking in all of the amazing theming, I realized it was now go time. Our steam engine's whistle blowed, and we soon crawled out of the station. The ride starts off by plummeting you through a dark cavern, full of sights and sounds. As soon as we got off the transfer track, we made a quick left and plunged into the dark cavern, full of sound effects and some little bunny hops. You hear screaming bats, and rushing water...soon we will see where that is coming from. Anyway, this part of the ride is nothing special, but this is only the beginning. After this relatively short segment, we begin to climb the first of many lift hills. This one has a surprise at the top, however...a huge waterfall separated into two by a rock in the ceiling! When I first saw this, I thought it was an awesome theming piece, and not meant for you to get wet. Once we got to the top of the lift hill, I noticed it was for both. This thing can give you quite a soaking if you sit right up against the edge of the car. Anyway, after going under the waterfall, it was time for the ride to begin. We soon found ourselves at the top of the mountain, and were given a view of the lake in which surrounds Tom Sawyer's Island. Before long, however, we were on our way into the ride's first of many turns. The ride starts off by throwing you through some wild turns, each of which were relaxing, not thrilling, mainly because we hadn't gained much speed yet. After some nice curves, it was time for the first helix, in which we gain some nice speed. Once again, this helix is more relaxing breeze-giving than thrilling. Racing through the rocky mountain terrain, we glide up a small ascent and enter one crazy put of this ride. The track in this segment is crazy, and just throws you around all over as we cross a small stream. The ride then throws us into another turn, and then we encounter the ride's main lift hill. This is where you can receive some excellent views of the mountain range, and all the theming it has to offer. Unfortunately, the views are short lived, as it's not long before you're charging into the 2nd part of the ride. We hit a sharp left-hand turn, and went back down to canyon below. Coming up is my personal favorite part of the ride. We climbed a small ascent, which leads us to, as I said, my favorite part, which starts off with a strong double helix. Around and around we went, diving in and out of the rock work, gaining more and more speed as we went. Once this thing lets you go, you've gained a very nice amount of speed, and the next element gives my favorite part of the ride a two-part punch. Right after the helix, you get thrown into a bunny hill, which looks innocent, but it's going to give you some of the only air time found on this ride. Once you crest the top, you get some sweet, sweet floater air, before heading back down under the rock work. You just have to love the sensation floater air creates. Anyway, after another little turn, we encountered the last lift hill of the ride, which is held in the dark and in another "mine shaft". As we made our last upwards climb, boulders at the sides of the shaft come out of the rock, which look like they are going to fall right down you! it was time to make a quick exit before those boulders came right down on us. Finally, we saw the light at the end of the tunnel. The brighter it got the closer we were to getting out of that mine shaft. Finally the light surrounded us, and we were back out on the mountain range. After a small hill to get us moving, we went into another sharp curve. Coming up next is the nice, swooping curve over the picturesque lake. Ah, what a nice breeze this turn creates, as well as an excellent view of the water. After that nice, sharp turn, we went up into a completely pointless part of this ride, a small block brake that holds us for a few seconds. Once it finally lets us go, it's time for the ride's finale. We went into another sharp turn in the rock work, which fed us into a tunnel created by dinosaur bones! The track in this section is a little bumpy, giving you the sensation of just narrowly avoiding the bones of a dinosaur's rib cage. After one more final turn, we hit the final brake run over a small spring, which had geysers shooting off everywhere!
KKR05's Expert Advice-Overall, the combination of a wild coaster ride along with some awesome theming (especially the rock work/canyon, it is extremely realistic) makes this a must hit. If you're looking for a thrilling coaster ride, then you'll be disappointed, but this ride without a doubt offers one fun-filled experience, and is a great starting coaster for the younger ones. Also, along with the theming and some thrilling parts (double helix), this ride will also be a favorite of the older ones. It's definitely a must ride in Frontierland, right up there with Splash Mountain. On a last note, with fast loading times and moving lines, this attraction could be hit about anytime throughout the day. Our wait time ended up being only around 15-20 minutes, for what seemed to be a very long line.
After enjoying the sights and sounds of the little themed stream that we were stuck on, the brakes released us and we flew back into the almost pitch black station. Once we did, we threw up our lap bars and headed for the exit. Everyone seemed to enjoy the ride, and it was a lot more of a ride than I thought it was (in other words, the ride is longer than you think) We quickly exited and found our way out back to a very crowded Frontierland. Since Splash was still an extremely long wait, we decided to move on in our loop around the park. As we walked toward the next section, Liberty Square, we discovered that the crowdedness of the section was mainly due to a huge meet and greet session going on near the Country Bears. Since the pathway was completely blocked, we followed the dock which goes along the banks of Frontierland's lake, and headed our next attraction, which was just dead ahead...
Friday, September 08, 2006
Chapter 5:Dead Men Tell New Tales!
After making about a 10 minute journey total from our resort, we arrived at the MK gate! What a beautiful sight it was, to finally arrive at a WDW theme park. We pulled up to the a gate ready to pay the 9 dollar parking fee (What a scam...). Anyway, we paid the money, and received a parking ticket in exchange. After that, we were heading into the MK parking lot, held in the TTC, or Transportation and Ticket Center. We followed all of the guides to our final destination, a spot in the Donald parking aisle. We all jumped out of the car, and went over to the tram stop. I wasn't familiar with the parking configurations in the MK parking lot, so I couldn't tell if the park was crowded or not. Anyway, we walked over to the tram stop, which was luckily waiting for passengers when we arrived. We hopped on, and enjoyed a quick, but enjoyable ride to the TTC. Hey, it was our first ride of the trip. When the tram makes a tight turn into the drop-off area, the instructor told everyone to put they're hands up as if they were on Space Mountain :P. What did I do? Hang on for dear life. If I put my hands up, I'd be kissing my WDW vacation goodbye, because I would be falling out of that tram so fast I wouldn't know what hit me. Anyway, we quickly arrived at the drop off area, and climbed the ramp to the Monorail station. Luckily we grabbed a Monorail that was Express to the MK, so we didn't have to stop at the Contemporary on the way there. Ah, the WDW Monorail. I love this thing. I just love the views and the enjoyable ride that it gives. It really makes you feel like you are at Disney. Anyway, the Monorail ride was quite short, because it was an Express. One thing that is noteworthy...you receive and EXCELLENT view of the Space Mountain structure from the Monorail, perfect for taking pics. I don't have one myself..but I do have a few others. Anyway, we finally arrived at the MK, where they had some kind of odd Chip and Dale recording go over the intercom. Everyone rushed off the Monorail and to our first stop in the MK, the all important security booths. Luckily, however, security was very quick and efficient. They checked both of our bags, and we made our final stop before entering the park...the turnstiles! The MK is trying out a new system from the rest of the Disney theme parks (at least in Florida). You must place your ticket through the slot, press down your index finger, and wait for your card to shoot out. One thing about this confuses me though...my brother and I had the same ticket (Mickey on it). So how would we know who's ticket was his or mine? I guess we would just have to wait and see. Anyway, the system is quite quick, but it really makes you think... Anyway, I didn't think anything of the sort when I entered the MK. I was just ready to ride. I waited long enough. We passed under the Main Street Train Station (where I picked up some maps for my collection) and onto Main Street, U.S.A. You won't fine a more accurate replica of an old style main street anywhere else in the area. Main Street is simply charming, from its small shops to its old fashioned food stalls to its classic trolley trains. It is unbelievable how picturesque this small strip of land can be. Unfortunately, we didn't have much time to take it all in. Main Street was completely packed. I think it was either almost time for a parade or a parade just let out. Anyway, we made our way through the huge masses of people to the heart of the Magic Kingdom, a.k.a "The Hub", right in front of the "dressed-up" Cinderella Castle. This is where one of the most important pieces of information for guests just entering can be found, the Billboard of all wait times in the park. As soon as we arrived at the board, I checked it out, and to be honest, I was quite surprised. The wait times were not bad at ALL. The longest waits were Splash and Space Mountain, along with Peter Pan, which are expected before entering the park. Anyway, with 20 minute waits for the all-new Pirates, Big Thunder Mountain, and the Haunted Mansion, we opted to hit the right side of the park first. Since Pirates would be the first attraction we would hit that everyone wanted to do, we decided to hit that first!
I had read about the new "additions" to the ride before the trip, and from my understanding, it seemed to be a very successful rehab in incorporating the characters from the movies. So, I was pretty excited to see what they really did during the near 6-month rehab. After walking through the sidewalks of Adventureland, we came to the ride, which has all-new decorations out from, most notably the mast of a pirate's ship with a big black and red sign saying the ride's title, "Pirates of the Caribbean". We walked over towards the entrance, expecting around a 20 minute wait, as the billboard in the front of the park had promoted. This particular ride has two different queue lines, but they all lead to the same place, just opposite sides of the station. It's been known that the left queue is ALWAYS shorter than the right. However, as we were walking towards the entrance to both queues, we saw a large amount of people walking into the left queue, so we ducked right and decided to try that queue. Unfortunately, this ended up being a poor choice on our part. Once we walked through the people-counter for the ride, we walked through the dim-lited and dark queue line until we came to a halt in one of the queue's numerous hallways. The queue for the ride is pretty nicely themed, with some random barrels and crates (full of rum, of course :P), torches illuminated with the light of fire, and overall just a prison-y feel to it, which is really cool. Even though we were in almost complete darkness, I took out one of my park maps and started observing it. Even though the MK is a pretty easy park to navigate, I hadn't been in the park in 3 years. So, I observed, and we-familiarized myself with the park itself. Our wait time, the depths of the POTC queue was about 15 minutes, in other words, we were on the "dock" in 15 minutes. Throughout waiting in the queue, I was extremely excited. It was our first official ride of the trip, and the additions to the ride really excited me. Once we arrived at the dock, we saw two operators who were definitely enjoying their job. Decked in pirates costumes and fake swords, and pointed the swords at park guests saying "what you looking at?" lol. I was waiting for one of them to do that for me...considering I had an answer for them. "You", I would simply say lol. Anyway, another operator asks us how many, and we told them. We were assigned the last two rows, which I was particularly happy about, but what can you do? We all sat down, and got ready for the ride in front of us. As I waited for the conveyor belt to send us gilding into the water, I looked around the station and realized how awesome it was. I had never realized how detailed it was. Anyway, the moving of the conveyor belt caught me off guard, and we were on our way. Yo Ho, Yo Ho, a Pirate's Life for me...
We were finally on our voyage through the seas of the Caribbean. The ride starts off very dark, and we rounded the turn, ready to take in the brand new effects added to the ride, the Davy Jones waterfall effect. We could hear his voice as we rounded the turn in near darkness. Finally, we encountered the waterfall. This thing seriously looks extremely real. The first time we rode it, meaning this ride, I thought we were going to get drenched by this huge waterfall. Well, this thing tricks you. There is no projection on the "screen" until you get close enough. Finally, the sea-monster named Davy Jones, appears on the waterfall. And what does he do? He laughs. After a big old laugh from Mr. Jones, he begins to speak, and repeats the classic line, "Dead Men Tell No Tales." I've learned that he says different things each time, which is pretty cool. Anyway, once he's done chit-chatting, there's only one way to go, through the water fall. As we went through, we were greeting with a mist-like effect, which was very awesome. It was really an awesome addition to the ride, and an amazing ride to start the ride off. Anyway, after the amazing effect, we were on our way through some sort of dark caverns with rock-formations. After a short trip through a cavern, we moved on that seems to be Isla de Muerta. The beaches are covered with plentiful ruins of old ships, and even some bare skeletons that have washed up on shore. On the other side, we see a jolly old skeleton steering a broken wooden ship. The wind sounds are now kicking in, adding more to the effect of everything being deserted, expect for the remains of some jolly old fellows. After we move on from the beaches of Isla de Muerta, we are surrounded and complete darkness. We continue to move closer and closer to a Skull and Crossbones dead ahead above us, and then, we drop. Whee! We sailed down what seems to be a 20 foot drop or less. Hey, it isn't much, but that isn't what this ride's about!After our nice, leisurely drop, it's time to meet up with our good friend Captain Barbossa. He seems to be having quite a battle on his hands. He's on his ship, decked out at sea, with multiple cannons firing from his ship to the fort next to us. The fort, which is being attacked, is firing back at Captain Barbossa, who is making orders from his ship. And we are all in the middle of it. Water is splashing everywhere from the cannonballs falling in the water, and explosions are heard when the ship or fort is hit. The Barbossa animatronic is very realistic, but looks a little differently than he appears in the movie (In a different outfit, mainly). This is the big battle scene of the ride, and it is pretty intense. What I love about this scene is how you're in the middle of it all. If you're lucky enough, you may receive a nice spray of water when the cannonballs hit. Even though Barbossa continues fighting and giving order, we move on, on the hunt to find Captain Jack Sparrow. He should be around here, somewhere...
After the fort scene, we move on into a small pirates town, where the big news is Captain Jack Sparrow, who was seen running through the small pirate town. However, where is Captain Jack. As we move on, we see him hiding in a wardrobe of women's dresses. Nice hiding spot, Jack. This is our first glimpse at how amazing these AA's really are. It really seems like Mr. Depp is standing there, acting in a theme park attraction. His look matches perfectly as in the movies, from his clothing to general appearance. The first time I saw it, I couldn't believe how realistic it was. It really is a sight to see, and an excellent addition to the classic ride to give it a little more flavor and appeal. Anyway, moving on, we notice numerous pirates doing what they do best, drinking rum, of course! Yep, this scene consist of pirates ravaging the town with rum bottles in hand. After taking in these classics AA's, which I believe all stayed the same, we pass under a bridge and into the next scene, where CaptainJack but be sighted again. However, we first see some more classics parts to this ride, including some drunk pirates chasing some girls lol. After enjoying some more classic AA's, we come upon an old drunk man, sitting down on a crate. He's explaining the story of Jack Sparrow. Now irony kicks in. As we pass by, Jack pops his head out of the barrel behind the old drunk guy and stares at him...and then at us. It was a little creepy, but awesome. Once again, these AA's are something you're not going to find anywhere else, except Disneyland of course. After our second to last encounter with Jack, our voyage continues into the next scene. The next scene is what I like to call "What Happens When Pirates Get Too Drunk". As soon as we enter, we see the town in flames and in ruins. However, this is just the Pirates lifestyle, as they greet us with the singing of the classic song, "Yo Ho, Yo Ho, a Pirate's Life for me!" Sure, the town's up in flames and is burning as they sing, but does it seem like they care? I don't think so. We encounter some more classic AA figures in this scene, including a band singing the classic tune, and some pirates so drunk they can't even move, unless it is to put the rum bottles up to their mouths lol. Anyway, shouldn't we be running into Captain Jack sometime soon? Jack is nowhere to be found in this scene, but the ride moves on. Coming up next is quite possibly the most remembered scene in the whole ride, the jail cell with criminals begging the dog for the keys to open the cell. That dog is never going to move, and I think that those pirates know it, but they continue to try to try to end their misery in the prison. We now round a corner, and guess who we see. That's right, it's Captain Jack Sparrow, found in the treasure room. He's relaxing and enjoying himself with gold all around him. The treasure is his, as no one else is in sight. With the enjoyment of gold all around him, he sings with true pirate spirit. "Yo Ho, Yo Ho, a Pirate's Life for Me". We then leave the joyous Captain Jack to enjoy his treasure, and we disembark at the exit platform. We all jump out, and head for the exit. On a final note, did a People Mover always used to be there to transport you from the exit platform to the upstairs gift shop? I personally never remembered that...Anyway, let's move onto the first KKR05's Expert Advice!
KKR05's Expert Advice-Pirates of the Caribbean-Is "Pirates" you're type of ride? Here's how to find out. Did you like the Pirates movies? If so, you will love the new additions to the classic ride. From the Davy Jones water effect to the amazing Captain Jack AA's, it's quite a sight to see. As for fans of the classic attraction, don't worry, most of the attraction has not been changed at ALL. All of older AA's are still in place I believe, along with all the old effects. Overall, Pirates is an attraction that anyone will now enjoy, especially with the new additions to the ride.
After an excellent ride on the new POTC, we made our way into the gift shop after riding the People Mover. The gift shop is now FULL of movie merchandise, along with some classic Pirate Props. It seemed to be doing very well, as it was full of people. I really think this rehab was a success and in the long run it will attract more and more people to enjoy the experience. After finding our way through the gift shop, our next stop was...the bathrooms! Yay! After a relaxing stop (lol), we were back on the "midway", and made our way west into Frontierland, home of 2 of the park's major attractions, Splash Mountain and Big Thunder Mountain Railroad. One of these attractions was next up on our hit list...but you'll have to wait until next time to see which one!
I had read about the new "additions" to the ride before the trip, and from my understanding, it seemed to be a very successful rehab in incorporating the characters from the movies. So, I was pretty excited to see what they really did during the near 6-month rehab. After walking through the sidewalks of Adventureland, we came to the ride, which has all-new decorations out from, most notably the mast of a pirate's ship with a big black and red sign saying the ride's title, "Pirates of the Caribbean". We walked over towards the entrance, expecting around a 20 minute wait, as the billboard in the front of the park had promoted. This particular ride has two different queue lines, but they all lead to the same place, just opposite sides of the station. It's been known that the left queue is ALWAYS shorter than the right. However, as we were walking towards the entrance to both queues, we saw a large amount of people walking into the left queue, so we ducked right and decided to try that queue. Unfortunately, this ended up being a poor choice on our part. Once we walked through the people-counter for the ride, we walked through the dim-lited and dark queue line until we came to a halt in one of the queue's numerous hallways. The queue for the ride is pretty nicely themed, with some random barrels and crates (full of rum, of course :P), torches illuminated with the light of fire, and overall just a prison-y feel to it, which is really cool. Even though we were in almost complete darkness, I took out one of my park maps and started observing it. Even though the MK is a pretty easy park to navigate, I hadn't been in the park in 3 years. So, I observed, and we-familiarized myself with the park itself. Our wait time, the depths of the POTC queue was about 15 minutes, in other words, we were on the "dock" in 15 minutes. Throughout waiting in the queue, I was extremely excited. It was our first official ride of the trip, and the additions to the ride really excited me. Once we arrived at the dock, we saw two operators who were definitely enjoying their job. Decked in pirates costumes and fake swords, and pointed the swords at park guests saying "what you looking at?" lol. I was waiting for one of them to do that for me...considering I had an answer for them. "You", I would simply say lol. Anyway, another operator asks us how many, and we told them. We were assigned the last two rows, which I was particularly happy about, but what can you do? We all sat down, and got ready for the ride in front of us. As I waited for the conveyor belt to send us gilding into the water, I looked around the station and realized how awesome it was. I had never realized how detailed it was. Anyway, the moving of the conveyor belt caught me off guard, and we were on our way. Yo Ho, Yo Ho, a Pirate's Life for me...
We were finally on our voyage through the seas of the Caribbean. The ride starts off very dark, and we rounded the turn, ready to take in the brand new effects added to the ride, the Davy Jones waterfall effect. We could hear his voice as we rounded the turn in near darkness. Finally, we encountered the waterfall. This thing seriously looks extremely real. The first time we rode it, meaning this ride, I thought we were going to get drenched by this huge waterfall. Well, this thing tricks you. There is no projection on the "screen" until you get close enough. Finally, the sea-monster named Davy Jones, appears on the waterfall. And what does he do? He laughs. After a big old laugh from Mr. Jones, he begins to speak, and repeats the classic line, "Dead Men Tell No Tales." I've learned that he says different things each time, which is pretty cool. Anyway, once he's done chit-chatting, there's only one way to go, through the water fall. As we went through, we were greeting with a mist-like effect, which was very awesome. It was really an awesome addition to the ride, and an amazing ride to start the ride off. Anyway, after the amazing effect, we were on our way through some sort of dark caverns with rock-formations. After a short trip through a cavern, we moved on that seems to be Isla de Muerta. The beaches are covered with plentiful ruins of old ships, and even some bare skeletons that have washed up on shore. On the other side, we see a jolly old skeleton steering a broken wooden ship. The wind sounds are now kicking in, adding more to the effect of everything being deserted, expect for the remains of some jolly old fellows. After we move on from the beaches of Isla de Muerta, we are surrounded and complete darkness. We continue to move closer and closer to a Skull and Crossbones dead ahead above us, and then, we drop. Whee! We sailed down what seems to be a 20 foot drop or less. Hey, it isn't much, but that isn't what this ride's about!After our nice, leisurely drop, it's time to meet up with our good friend Captain Barbossa. He seems to be having quite a battle on his hands. He's on his ship, decked out at sea, with multiple cannons firing from his ship to the fort next to us. The fort, which is being attacked, is firing back at Captain Barbossa, who is making orders from his ship. And we are all in the middle of it. Water is splashing everywhere from the cannonballs falling in the water, and explosions are heard when the ship or fort is hit. The Barbossa animatronic is very realistic, but looks a little differently than he appears in the movie (In a different outfit, mainly). This is the big battle scene of the ride, and it is pretty intense. What I love about this scene is how you're in the middle of it all. If you're lucky enough, you may receive a nice spray of water when the cannonballs hit. Even though Barbossa continues fighting and giving order, we move on, on the hunt to find Captain Jack Sparrow. He should be around here, somewhere...
After the fort scene, we move on into a small pirates town, where the big news is Captain Jack Sparrow, who was seen running through the small pirate town. However, where is Captain Jack. As we move on, we see him hiding in a wardrobe of women's dresses. Nice hiding spot, Jack. This is our first glimpse at how amazing these AA's really are. It really seems like Mr. Depp is standing there, acting in a theme park attraction. His look matches perfectly as in the movies, from his clothing to general appearance. The first time I saw it, I couldn't believe how realistic it was. It really is a sight to see, and an excellent addition to the classic ride to give it a little more flavor and appeal. Anyway, moving on, we notice numerous pirates doing what they do best, drinking rum, of course! Yep, this scene consist of pirates ravaging the town with rum bottles in hand. After taking in these classics AA's, which I believe all stayed the same, we pass under a bridge and into the next scene, where CaptainJack but be sighted again. However, we first see some more classics parts to this ride, including some drunk pirates chasing some girls lol. After enjoying some more classic AA's, we come upon an old drunk man, sitting down on a crate. He's explaining the story of Jack Sparrow. Now irony kicks in. As we pass by, Jack pops his head out of the barrel behind the old drunk guy and stares at him...and then at us. It was a little creepy, but awesome. Once again, these AA's are something you're not going to find anywhere else, except Disneyland of course. After our second to last encounter with Jack, our voyage continues into the next scene. The next scene is what I like to call "What Happens When Pirates Get Too Drunk". As soon as we enter, we see the town in flames and in ruins. However, this is just the Pirates lifestyle, as they greet us with the singing of the classic song, "Yo Ho, Yo Ho, a Pirate's Life for me!" Sure, the town's up in flames and is burning as they sing, but does it seem like they care? I don't think so. We encounter some more classic AA figures in this scene, including a band singing the classic tune, and some pirates so drunk they can't even move, unless it is to put the rum bottles up to their mouths lol. Anyway, shouldn't we be running into Captain Jack sometime soon? Jack is nowhere to be found in this scene, but the ride moves on. Coming up next is quite possibly the most remembered scene in the whole ride, the jail cell with criminals begging the dog for the keys to open the cell. That dog is never going to move, and I think that those pirates know it, but they continue to try to try to end their misery in the prison. We now round a corner, and guess who we see. That's right, it's Captain Jack Sparrow, found in the treasure room. He's relaxing and enjoying himself with gold all around him. The treasure is his, as no one else is in sight. With the enjoyment of gold all around him, he sings with true pirate spirit. "Yo Ho, Yo Ho, a Pirate's Life for Me". We then leave the joyous Captain Jack to enjoy his treasure, and we disembark at the exit platform. We all jump out, and head for the exit. On a final note, did a People Mover always used to be there to transport you from the exit platform to the upstairs gift shop? I personally never remembered that...Anyway, let's move onto the first KKR05's Expert Advice!
KKR05's Expert Advice-Pirates of the Caribbean-Is "Pirates" you're type of ride? Here's how to find out. Did you like the Pirates movies? If so, you will love the new additions to the classic ride. From the Davy Jones water effect to the amazing Captain Jack AA's, it's quite a sight to see. As for fans of the classic attraction, don't worry, most of the attraction has not been changed at ALL. All of older AA's are still in place I believe, along with all the old effects. Overall, Pirates is an attraction that anyone will now enjoy, especially with the new additions to the ride.
After an excellent ride on the new POTC, we made our way into the gift shop after riding the People Mover. The gift shop is now FULL of movie merchandise, along with some classic Pirate Props. It seemed to be doing very well, as it was full of people. I really think this rehab was a success and in the long run it will attract more and more people to enjoy the experience. After finding our way through the gift shop, our next stop was...the bathrooms! Yay! After a relaxing stop (lol), we were back on the "midway", and made our way west into Frontierland, home of 2 of the park's major attractions, Splash Mountain and Big Thunder Mountain Railroad. One of these attractions was next up on our hit list...but you'll have to wait until next time to see which one!
Tuesday, September 05, 2006
Chapter 4:Sliding, Chilling, Swimming, and Relaxing
In the morning of the second day, we all slept in after a late night the night before. I woke around 9:30 to our first full day in the Sunshine State. I was excited, mainly that today would be our first day at a park, which means it's time to ride. However, our first trip to a park would not happen until later on in the afternoon. After everyone got up and was ready to go, we started off our morning by heading out to get breakfast and drive around our resort's property to see what was actually there, what we couldn't do the night before. As we wandered the property, all I thought was "holy crap this place is huge". The resort consists of many different developments that each have their fair share of rooms. After looking around at how huge the resort itself was, we made our way over to the Clubhouse, where we had our first breakfast of the trip. I had some scrambled eggs and bacon, which were delicious, along with freshly-squeezed orange juice :P. After a very nice breakfast, I looked around the Pro Shop at all the golf related items they had. They had quite a variety of items, from hats to shirts to clubs to balls. I really wanted to play some golf on this trip, but I didn't know if it was going to happen. Anyway, after the Pro Shop, we hopped back in the car and continued to explore the property. There was some MAJOR construction going on at our resort, as many of the different "developments" the resort had weren't even finished. After doing some more exploring, we went back to the room to grab our suits, as we would be starting our day over at the resort's water park. After everyone was ready, we all hopped back in the car and made our way over. It was around 10:oo AM now, and since the water park had just opened, we didn't think many people would be there, and luckily we were right. When we got there, we basically had the park to ourselves, which was amazing. We grabbed some towels at the entrance and continued to walk into the park. Once we were in, we found a few lounge chairs so we could put down all of our things. Before I jumped it, I just looked around the park. I seriously thought I was on a tropical island. The setting was extremely natural, with plenty of shrubs, trees, and scenery to make you think you really were on an island. And, while I was just gazing around, I heard a very familiar sound come over the park's speaker system. Just what was it though? None other than the Red Hot Chili Pepper's Dani California of course :P. I was now ready to jump in. We all first headed over to the lazy river for a few nice laps around. I jumped into the almost person-less lazy river to cool off on a hot Florida day. The lazy river was very nice, complete with four waterfalls, a tunnel, and of course, lush scenery. After two laps of relaxation, we all decided to head over to the main event of the park, their slide. We got out of the lazy river and climbed up the large number of stairwells to the top of rock "mountain". Since, as I said before, the park was deserted, there was no one on or waiting to go on the slide. Just how I like it. I jumped into the starting platform (it was a body slide, built into this rock "mountain") and pushed off the side of the slide. The slide sends you twisting and turning down inside this rock formation. Around and around I went until I hit that last crazy curve and flew into the water. The slide was pretty fun, and you actually gain quite a bit of speed, especially towards the end and at the final curve. Anyway, we all did the slide a few times (STILL no one on the slide), until we finally decided we had enough and decided to walk around the park and enjoy the paradise it seemed to be like. As we walked around, we heard another song that I like, Gnarls Barkley's Crazy :P I needed to figure what radio station this was. Anyway, we ended up back at the slide, and we all wanted to go to check out the kiddie playground. The quickest route seemed to be down the slide, so that's what we did! Once we were all at the bottom, we were basically at the entrance to the kiddie playground. I don't care what you say, these things can be so much freaking fun! This one was bigger than I expected it to be, so I climbed up and checked it out. While I was up there, I decided to go down the biggest slide they had. Sure it was slow, but it was still pretty fun! I used the water guns on the structure to squirt people as they went down :P After playing around for a while on the kiddie structure, we decided to head back to the main pool to relax for a bit. I chilled in an inner tube as I went around the pool. After chilling in the pool, going on the slide a few for times, and taking another lap on the lazy river, it was about time to call it day, at the water park that is. As we all dried off, another song that I like came over the radio, Over My Head by The Fray :lol: I definitely NEEDED to know this station. Anyway, after we all dried off, we threw our towels in the bin, and headed out of the water park around 1:oo PM. It was 3 hours full of sliding, chilling, swimming, and relaxing. What an amazing day to start off the day.
After the water park, we hopped back in the car and cruised back to our room. We all got changed, as we were ready for our trip to the Magic Kingdom coming up next! However, we would grab a bite to eat at the McDonald's in Champions Gate Village, which I mentioned earlier. I got what I always get at McDonald's, Chicken Selects. At McDonald's, they had Strawberry Fanta, which I had never seen before, so I decided to try it. It was actually much better than I expected it to be. I don't know if it's new or they don't have it New Jersey or something (wouldn't be a surprise), but would like to get my hands on some more of it. :P Anyway, after a quick lunch, it was time to set out for the Magic Kingdom! Yay! I was definitely ready for our first theme park of the trip (finally!) It was about time. We made the 5 minute drive to the Walt Disney World gate. (it was very convinient that our resort was so close to WDW) Once inside, you could feel the magic in the gate. Billboards and road signs pumped me up for the Magic Kingdom, just ahead! It was finally time!
After the water park, we hopped back in the car and cruised back to our room. We all got changed, as we were ready for our trip to the Magic Kingdom coming up next! However, we would grab a bite to eat at the McDonald's in Champions Gate Village, which I mentioned earlier. I got what I always get at McDonald's, Chicken Selects. At McDonald's, they had Strawberry Fanta, which I had never seen before, so I decided to try it. It was actually much better than I expected it to be. I don't know if it's new or they don't have it New Jersey or something (wouldn't be a surprise), but would like to get my hands on some more of it. :P Anyway, after a quick lunch, it was time to set out for the Magic Kingdom! Yay! I was definitely ready for our first theme park of the trip (finally!) It was about time. We made the 5 minute drive to the Walt Disney World gate. (it was very convinient that our resort was so close to WDW) Once inside, you could feel the magic in the gate. Billboards and road signs pumped me up for the Magic Kingdom, just ahead! It was finally time!
Friday, August 25, 2006
Chapter 3:Blast Off, at last!
So, after we were all done looking around the airport, we decided just to wait and sit in our gate's waiting area. We only had about 15 minutes before they would begin boarding, so I looked through my Golf Digest while waiting. They had some good tips on how to improve your swing, which I read through while waiting. Within 10 minutes, they began boarding First Class. After First Class was done, they would start to board the people towards the back of the plane. We were in the middle of the plane, so after 5 minutes we decided to head over to the gate because almost everyone on our flight was over there. We waited on line to get our tickets checked, which took about 5 minutes. Finally, we were ready to board the plane. We went aboard and quickly found our seats. Our plane was bigger than the plane's I'm usually in. It sat 2 then 3 then 2. We took the middle seats and one of the end seats. I sat on the far left in the middle row. The first thing I noticed on the plane was the TV's in the seats in front of us. Yes! I was hoping that we would be able to watch some sort of movie or something while in the air. Luckily, that would come true, but more about that later. The next thing I noticed was that people were bringing drinks on to the plane. What? Wasn't there a big liquids search going on and it was issued that drinks were not allowed to come on planes? I guess some people can never follow the rules :rolleyes: Anyway, it would be a while till blast-off (and I mean a whileee) so I opened my orange Under Armour bag and found my Golf Digest magazine that I stuffed in there before we boarded. I looked through that for a bit, especially at the parts about improved your game. While I was looking through it, the pilot came over the Intercom and had some bad news for everyone. He said that a storm was in the area and that this would delay their departure. Just great. There were clear skies outside our window, so I don't know where that was coming from. Anyway, we all just sat there, waiting to finally see some action going on. Unfortunately, that didn't happen. During the near 2 hours that our flight was delayed (yes, that's right, 2 hours!), I found a Sky Mall magazine in the pocket in the seat in front of me, and looked through that. This magazine is actually pretty amazing. It has a ton of cool stuff to look at, like the things you won't see everyday (interesting little gadgets). After I was done with that, it was time to bring out my iPod. I listened to a variety of songs, mostly from RHCP's Stadium Arcadium. Believe it or not, but after a while of listening to my iPod, the pilot came over the intercom and said that we would be in the air soon! Yay! It really didn't feel like 2 hours, but it indeed was. After that, I turned off my iPod for a while and decided to check out what they had on the airport's radio. There really wasn't much of my liking, but I really never listen to the radio anyway. Pretty soon they turned the TV's on in the plane and showed a video as to how they worked. They had an entertainment guide in the pouch in the seat in front of us, so I looked through that to see what kind of entertainment they would be showing us. They ended up having a variety of options, but I decided to watch Mission Impossible 3. I saw it in theaters and thought it was actually a very good movie, so I decided to watch it considering there wasn't much else anyway to watch. After I put the entertainment guide away, we were almost ready to launch our flight. Once we finally reached the runway, we all sat in our seats, just waiting to get in the air. Finally, we started to move, then going faster, and faster, and faster! Whee! After gaining a ton of speed, we started to drift off the runway. The lift-off on an airplane was more forceful than I remembered it. I popped a piece of gum in my mouth and prepared myself for the ascent. We soon got higher, higher, and higher! Soon enough, we were high in the clouds, soaring over NJ and ready to arrive in Orlando, FL.
Once we were high in the sky, our TV sets turned on, and we were free to change the station to whatever we had liked. I found MI3 on a channel, and then proceeded to relax in my seat for the ride to Florida. During the main part of the flight, all I really did was watch the movie. It kept me entertained for the entire flight, which ended up being about an hour and 45 minutes (there was a clock on the TV). Unfortunately, we weren't able to finish the movie as we began our descent in Orlando, FL. The descent was pretty rough, so I relaxed and continued to watch the movie until all the screens went blank. After that, the end was over for us. Ugh, I would have liked to watch the end. Oh well, we were about to land in Florida, and have an amazing vacation. Once we finally arrived at our gate, we waited to get off the plane and go into the airport. Once inside Orlando International Airport, our first stop was the bathrooms :P Then we took the trams over to the main part of the airport so we could pick up our bags. That ended up taking an extremely long time, and it seemed like the same few bags would go around and around... Anyway, it took about a half hour for us to get our bags, and once we finally found them, we went over to Avis for the car we'd be spending the next week in. Once all things were handled at the front desk, we made our way to the parking lot. Once we entered, I said to myself, "this is the nicest parking lot I've ever been in". Seriously, it was. There were a ton of waterfalls and fountains all over the place. Seemed like a good place for some gators...anyway, we found the Avis place which gave us our key to the car. Once we finally found it, the first thing that crossed our minds was...why do we have an Arkansas license plate!?!? That was pretty odd...anyway we piled in the Sonata (our rent-a-car) and hit the road for our hotel...The Reunion Resort. On the way there, we encountered quite a few things. 1. Being the major construction going on in the area. 2. Being the large amount of tolls on the road. 3. Was the insane amount of trees, most notably palm trees. Since it was pitch dark out, these were the only things we could take note of...other than the lit-up billboards, some of which were for Disney (We passed a Soarin' one right near the airport, as well as BGA) Anyway, the drive to the hotel wasn't bad at all. It was 25-30 minutes tops. We came down the main exit off I-4 (The main road near WDW) and encountered the area we would be staying in for the next week. The nice little area was home to two hotels, ours and Champions Gate, which had a nice assortment of restaurants and stores on site and accessible to anyone. It was already 10:00, and we were all pretty hungry, but we decided to go and finally check-in first. Once we finally reached the gate to our hotel, we found our area (the resort is HUGE) and pulled into the small gate house they have. This is where we would check in, and where they also had free, fresh lemonade :P Once we were all ready to go and were checked-in successfully, the lady said she would show was where our room was (yes this hotel is freaking hugeeeeeee) The drive to our room wasn't that long, luckily though. On the way there, we noticed a very rare amount of cars parked at their respective "houses" (Our district is a large assortment of "houses" hold 8-10 rooms). We figured they were all at Disney, but we were dead wrong :rolleyes: Finally, we pulled up to our house, with no other parked cars near it. Once we all finally reached our destination, the lady firmly said that there was NO ONE ELSE IN OUR BUILDING, but we had neighbors in the other houses. :lol: This was unbelievable. She said that it was a golfing resort, so most people didn't come this time of year. Anyway, after this strange occurrence, we walked into our room. Holy crap this thing was huge. Our room had 3 bedrooms, 3 bathrooms, a kitchen, a living room, and a huge amount of closets. Holy crap...seriously. There were two floors all to ourselves. This was indeed amazing. After exploring every nook and cranny the room had to offer, we were all hungry :lol:. However, it was after 10:30 already, so we had to hurry. We all piled back in the car and headed over to Chili's for a bite to eat. I had my usual...Chicken Ranch sandwich, and it was excellent. We asked our waitress about what park to do tomorrow (I still don't know why), and she said Universal. Of course, we wouldn't be doing Universal on this trip, so she said Magic Kingdom, and noted that EPCOT was "boring". :rolleyes: Anyway, after a quick dinner at Chili's, it was almost 11:30 already. Wow. We stopped at 7-11 for drinks for the room and finally arrived back at the hotel. It was indeed a very, very tiring day, and we all fell right asleep.
Once we were high in the sky, our TV sets turned on, and we were free to change the station to whatever we had liked. I found MI3 on a channel, and then proceeded to relax in my seat for the ride to Florida. During the main part of the flight, all I really did was watch the movie. It kept me entertained for the entire flight, which ended up being about an hour and 45 minutes (there was a clock on the TV). Unfortunately, we weren't able to finish the movie as we began our descent in Orlando, FL. The descent was pretty rough, so I relaxed and continued to watch the movie until all the screens went blank. After that, the end was over for us. Ugh, I would have liked to watch the end. Oh well, we were about to land in Florida, and have an amazing vacation. Once we finally arrived at our gate, we waited to get off the plane and go into the airport. Once inside Orlando International Airport, our first stop was the bathrooms :P Then we took the trams over to the main part of the airport so we could pick up our bags. That ended up taking an extremely long time, and it seemed like the same few bags would go around and around... Anyway, it took about a half hour for us to get our bags, and once we finally found them, we went over to Avis for the car we'd be spending the next week in. Once all things were handled at the front desk, we made our way to the parking lot. Once we entered, I said to myself, "this is the nicest parking lot I've ever been in". Seriously, it was. There were a ton of waterfalls and fountains all over the place. Seemed like a good place for some gators...anyway, we found the Avis place which gave us our key to the car. Once we finally found it, the first thing that crossed our minds was...why do we have an Arkansas license plate!?!? That was pretty odd...anyway we piled in the Sonata (our rent-a-car) and hit the road for our hotel...The Reunion Resort. On the way there, we encountered quite a few things. 1. Being the major construction going on in the area. 2. Being the large amount of tolls on the road. 3. Was the insane amount of trees, most notably palm trees. Since it was pitch dark out, these were the only things we could take note of...other than the lit-up billboards, some of which were for Disney (We passed a Soarin' one right near the airport, as well as BGA) Anyway, the drive to the hotel wasn't bad at all. It was 25-30 minutes tops. We came down the main exit off I-4 (The main road near WDW) and encountered the area we would be staying in for the next week. The nice little area was home to two hotels, ours and Champions Gate, which had a nice assortment of restaurants and stores on site and accessible to anyone. It was already 10:00, and we were all pretty hungry, but we decided to go and finally check-in first. Once we finally reached the gate to our hotel, we found our area (the resort is HUGE) and pulled into the small gate house they have. This is where we would check in, and where they also had free, fresh lemonade :P Once we were all ready to go and were checked-in successfully, the lady said she would show was where our room was (yes this hotel is freaking hugeeeeeee) The drive to our room wasn't that long, luckily though. On the way there, we noticed a very rare amount of cars parked at their respective "houses" (Our district is a large assortment of "houses" hold 8-10 rooms). We figured they were all at Disney, but we were dead wrong :rolleyes: Finally, we pulled up to our house, with no other parked cars near it. Once we all finally reached our destination, the lady firmly said that there was NO ONE ELSE IN OUR BUILDING, but we had neighbors in the other houses. :lol: This was unbelievable. She said that it was a golfing resort, so most people didn't come this time of year. Anyway, after this strange occurrence, we walked into our room. Holy crap this thing was huge. Our room had 3 bedrooms, 3 bathrooms, a kitchen, a living room, and a huge amount of closets. Holy crap...seriously. There were two floors all to ourselves. This was indeed amazing. After exploring every nook and cranny the room had to offer, we were all hungry :lol:. However, it was after 10:30 already, so we had to hurry. We all piled back in the car and headed over to Chili's for a bite to eat. I had my usual...Chicken Ranch sandwich, and it was excellent. We asked our waitress about what park to do tomorrow (I still don't know why), and she said Universal. Of course, we wouldn't be doing Universal on this trip, so she said Magic Kingdom, and noted that EPCOT was "boring". :rolleyes: Anyway, after a quick dinner at Chili's, it was almost 11:30 already. Wow. We stopped at 7-11 for drinks for the room and finally arrived back at the hotel. It was indeed a very, very tiring day, and we all fell right asleep.
Tuesday, August 22, 2006
Disney Trip Report
So, we were on our way to the most popular airport in our area, Newark International Airport. We quickly pulled away from our house and said "bye-bye for a week!" Man, I couldn't be happier than to get out of that house. I love being out of the house. Staying inside for hours and hours at a time will kill me. Anyway, we hoped on Route 1, and then exited so we could join the good old Jersey Turnpike, then take that to the airport. On the way to the airport, I really didn't do much of anything, besides look out the window. I had my last few looks of New Jersey before coming to the airport. I wouldn't miss NJ in the Sunshine State of Florida. I really couldn't wait to finally be there and most of all, be on vacation. Luckily there was no traffic on the Turnpike, which made our 30 minute car ride to the airport smooth-sailing. We were lucky, too. I wanted to make sure we had plenty of time for security purposes considering the circumstances. Our quick trip to Newark was shorter than I expected it to be, most likely due to no traffic. We arrived at the airport in about 20-25 minutes, not bad at all. We stopped in front of the Continental gate, which is the flight carrier we would be flying with today. Outside of the gate, the streets were packed with people trying to get out of their cabs and cars and trying to get safely inside. The place was a nightmare, so we stopped and quick grabbed our bags from the trunk. After that, we made our way over to the sidewalk and found a line outside for the "baggage check". I don't really know what to call it, but it's where they take your big bags, label them, and put them on to a large conveyor belt that takes them away. Anyway, we waited about 10 minutes in line for us to get rid of our big bags, which is nice. I really didn't feel like dragging big bags all over the airport. Once that was all said and done, the guy told us our gate was changed to 90. With that, we entered the airport, and continued to make our way towards the security terminal, which was bound to be a nightmare.
On the way there, we looked at the big TV screens to see if our flight was delayed or on-time. Luckily, it was still on-time, but that was bound to change. We noticed, however, the old gate number was still listed on the TV screens, and then an attendant reassured us that the number on the screen is the correct one. What?? Where is this guy shipping our bags then?? At that point we were all just very confused, so we went with the attendant and the TV screens and decided to make our way to the left side of the airport. However, first we would encounter security, and we were all ready for it. We made our way up the escalators and to the security station. Once we reach the top, we see…about 25 people in line. What? Weren't there supposed to be huge security back-ups today because of the bomb threat? This was the shocker of the day. The line took a matter of 5 minutes or less…especially when an officer opened a new device right where we were in line. Sweet! We proceeded towards the security terminal, and unlocked our pockets and put our carry-on bags in baskets so we could push down the security conveyor belt. After our belongings were on our way, it was our turn to go through the metal detectors. We all removed our shoes and quickly walked through with no problems. We quickly gathered up our belongings, put our shoes on, and made our way towards our gate. Since we had some (some? No, a LOT) of time to kill, we decided to find our gate, and then wander through the airport. I had been in this airport since 2000, so I really didn't remember much about it. Anyway, as we walked down the hallways, the airport started to look more like a mall of sorts. There were many little shops and restaurants…which I was surprised to see. Once we came to the end of the main connector hallway, we entered the complete left end of the airport. Now, this part definitely looked like a mall. Shops were lines up left and right…and in the middle were something you never see at any mall… People Movers! Yay! I love riding these things. There were quite a few of them, and we rode them all the way down to our gate…which was all the way at the end. We also discovered something pretty cool on the People Movers. Try walking on them to the end, and you'll notice that you have some sick speed coming off them. Anyway, once we reached our terminal, we really realized how much time we had. There were people waiting to get on the flight BEFORE us. So, yep, we had some time to kill. We explored the mall…eh…airport for a bit and I bought some gum in a magazine store. Orbit Cinnamon baby! This stuff is amazing. It's always good to have gum on a plane…it makes it much more comfortable for me. Anyway, we sat down for a while, and noticed all the restaurants and shops around us. This thing was amazing. At that point, I finally realized how HUGE airports really are. We took a quick rest, and decided to get a quick snack before boarding the plane. There was a cheesesteak place nearby called Steak Escape, so my brother and I decided to split one before boarding our plane. The cheesesteak ended up being much better than I thought it would. It was a good little snack before we were finally airborne. We relaxed at a table for a while after having our snack. A few minutes passed and we decided to check the TV screens once again to see what gate we really were supposed to be in. And sure enough...the guy single guy was correct. It was gate 90. Ugh...now we had to trek all the way to the opposite end of the airport to find our gate. Luckily, airports have the little amazing things called People Movers. As we made our way to the direct opposite side of the airport, we got to ride them once again. After about a 10 minute walk, we finally found our gate. We had about 45 minutes to kill before our flight began boarding, so we walked around the shops near our gate, going in a select few of them. This quickly burned some time, and before we knew it, it was 15 minutes till boarding time. I stopped in a magazine store and picked up the latest Golf Digest. After that, we took a seat in the waiting area, and waited for our plane to board. It would only be a matter of time now. I flipped through my Golf Digest, but the only thing that was going through my mind was "I'm going to Disney World!"
On the way there, we looked at the big TV screens to see if our flight was delayed or on-time. Luckily, it was still on-time, but that was bound to change. We noticed, however, the old gate number was still listed on the TV screens, and then an attendant reassured us that the number on the screen is the correct one. What?? Where is this guy shipping our bags then?? At that point we were all just very confused, so we went with the attendant and the TV screens and decided to make our way to the left side of the airport. However, first we would encounter security, and we were all ready for it. We made our way up the escalators and to the security station. Once we reach the top, we see…about 25 people in line. What? Weren't there supposed to be huge security back-ups today because of the bomb threat? This was the shocker of the day. The line took a matter of 5 minutes or less…especially when an officer opened a new device right where we were in line. Sweet! We proceeded towards the security terminal, and unlocked our pockets and put our carry-on bags in baskets so we could push down the security conveyor belt. After our belongings were on our way, it was our turn to go through the metal detectors. We all removed our shoes and quickly walked through with no problems. We quickly gathered up our belongings, put our shoes on, and made our way towards our gate. Since we had some (some? No, a LOT) of time to kill, we decided to find our gate, and then wander through the airport. I had been in this airport since 2000, so I really didn't remember much about it. Anyway, as we walked down the hallways, the airport started to look more like a mall of sorts. There were many little shops and restaurants…which I was surprised to see. Once we came to the end of the main connector hallway, we entered the complete left end of the airport. Now, this part definitely looked like a mall. Shops were lines up left and right…and in the middle were something you never see at any mall… People Movers! Yay! I love riding these things. There were quite a few of them, and we rode them all the way down to our gate…which was all the way at the end. We also discovered something pretty cool on the People Movers. Try walking on them to the end, and you'll notice that you have some sick speed coming off them. Anyway, once we reached our terminal, we really realized how much time we had. There were people waiting to get on the flight BEFORE us. So, yep, we had some time to kill. We explored the mall…eh…airport for a bit and I bought some gum in a magazine store. Orbit Cinnamon baby! This stuff is amazing. It's always good to have gum on a plane…it makes it much more comfortable for me. Anyway, we sat down for a while, and noticed all the restaurants and shops around us. This thing was amazing. At that point, I finally realized how HUGE airports really are. We took a quick rest, and decided to get a quick snack before boarding the plane. There was a cheesesteak place nearby called Steak Escape, so my brother and I decided to split one before boarding our plane. The cheesesteak ended up being much better than I thought it would. It was a good little snack before we were finally airborne. We relaxed at a table for a while after having our snack. A few minutes passed and we decided to check the TV screens once again to see what gate we really were supposed to be in. And sure enough...the guy single guy was correct. It was gate 90. Ugh...now we had to trek all the way to the opposite end of the airport to find our gate. Luckily, airports have the little amazing things called People Movers. As we made our way to the direct opposite side of the airport, we got to ride them once again. After about a 10 minute walk, we finally found our gate. We had about 45 minutes to kill before our flight began boarding, so we walked around the shops near our gate, going in a select few of them. This quickly burned some time, and before we knew it, it was 15 minutes till boarding time. I stopped in a magazine store and picked up the latest Golf Digest. After that, we took a seat in the waiting area, and waited for our plane to board. It would only be a matter of time now. I flipped through my Golf Digest, but the only thing that was going through my mind was "I'm going to Disney World!"
Thursday, July 27, 2006
After the Cars and the Kissing Tower, it was time to ride the park's B&M inverted coaster, Great Bear. I forgot to mention before that the ride had broken down earlier in the day, and I watched it do some test runs while on the Kissing Tower. By the time we were off both the Kissing Tower and Cars, the ride was open and ready to go. So, we made our way over to Great Bear's entrance to find an empty switchback, as viewable from the path in-between Wok and Roll and GB's entrance. Anyway, before we rode GB, we stopped at a near-by Coca-Cola cart for a few bottles of Dasani. Ah, water. It felt so refreshing when it was just blistering hot outside. I quickly took a few sips and then made my way over to the Great Bear entrance. Before I start with Bear though, I have to tell you about a very strange occurrence. While sitting on a park bench taking a few sips of water, I viewed Great Bear's entrance. I was just sitting there, relaxing, waiting for everyone to finish so we could ride. And then, out of no where, I'd say a mob of about 100 people come along and go straight the GB's entrance. I just watched with a puzzled look on my face. How were this many people coming at this certain point in time!? People just kept swarming in for a good couple of minutes. After watching this extremely odd occurrence, which really reminded me of running of the bulls, I quickly made my way over to the entrance before another mob came and the line got even longer! Fortunately, before the mob arrived, there wasn't really anyone on line waiting for the ride. However, after the mob showed up, the line stopped at the vending machines by the small "shower" in the queue line. As I stopped in the line by the vending machines, I was still in awe at this extremely strange occurrence. Oh well, good thing the operators on this ride were absolutely excellent. I said the line was out to the "shower" correct? Well, because of the awesome operators, I was IN the station in only 10 minutes. I was amazed at how well the operations were on this ride, especially with only 2 trains. Our wait really went by in no time. We just kept moving and moving and moving...we would really only stop for a few moments at a time. Finally, we arrived in the very nice looking station. The interior of the station itself is very nice, and I love the blue windows at the top. Anyway, we decided to look for the shortest row to ride, and it ended up being row number 2, surprisingly. Well, row numbers 2 and 3 had about the same wait, so we opted for row 2. The wait itself was only about a 2 train wait. Since again, the operators were doing an AWESOME job, I knew we would be on in no time.
From when we boarded the separate queue for our row to the time we boarded our train, it was a whopping 5 minutes. The operators were cranking out trains in no time, luckily for us. So, we were on the ride in no time. Our air-gate finally opened, and I made my way all the way down to right-hand seat. I always try to get the end seat on all B&M's. I love how you have much more space and a much better view than sitting in the middle. Anyway, I pulled down my restraint and made sure it was nice and comfortable, then secured the seat belt. I was ready to go as the operators quickly made their way around and checked all the restraints. Wow, they were fast. They were in and out of there before you knew it. After they quickly checked the train, it was now time to ride the Bear. we proceeded towards the lift as we made our way our of the station. We soon got hit with sunlight, which is almost completed blocked in Bear's station. We continued to pull up the lift, and as we got higher, we received more of an amazing view of the area. You notice the surrounding Coal Cracker flume, the classic Sooperdooperlooper coaster, and basically all of the Comet Hollow section of the park. However, this excellent view is soon over, as before you know it, you're at the top of the lift and getting ready for the ride to really begin. The first element on the ride is a very nice starting helix. I love the placement of this element. It really gives the ride a nice, strong start and can really grab you by surprise. Down and around we went, through the ride's first element. I found some decent forces towards the mid-point of the helix, which felt great as we continued our way towards the first major drop. We now went into a curved straightaway, moving along towards the first drop. Closer and closer we traveled, until we finally got pulled to the right and down the first very nice first drop. I felt a nice breeze as we made our way down towards the small little river in the park's Comet Hollow section of the park. Even though most of the ride itself is in the Comet Hollow part of the park, the entrance is in Minetown. It would be a better fit in Comet Hollow, but since most of the ride goes through that section, it doesn't much matter. Anyway, we traveled down to the ground below in a very nice, relaxing drop. GB's drop is very nice and enjoyable, and you gain some nice speed that carries you through the rest of the course. After a nice first drop, we sped into the first inversion the ride had to offer us, a nice vertical loop. Even though the element is forceless, you have to love the feeling the vertical loop gives you. No inverted coaster would be complete without a sweet vertical loop. We quickly went up, around, and back down again. As I said before, the element is very nice and relaxing, but shows no force. We continued to travel adjacent to Comet Hollow's stream until we came to the next inversion on our journey, a pretty strong Immelman. Since the ride had been pretty forceless so far, this element was a nice surprise. We came right up into the sky just like a regular vertical loop, but then flipped over and came falling back to earth. As we reached the element's apex, the forces were moderately strong, which was a nice surprise. What I love about the Immelman is how it really whips you back to earth. You go straight up, thinking your going to come right back down again like a regular loop, but no! The Immelman flips you over and sends you flying in a whole new direction. After a very nice Immelman inversion, you encounter one of my favorite inversions of all time and one of my favorite parts of this ride, the Zero-G roll. Before I continue, let just say that I love the feeling this inversion creates. I simply love the execution of this inversion, and it's definitely one of my personal favorites. After the Immelman, that ride throws us down and back up again into the 3rd inversion, the Zero-G roll, right over the Comet Hollow midway. We soon encountered the inversion, which really whips you 360 degrees around just like that. Before you know it you're in and out of the element. Since you have some very nice speed before entering the element, you quickly complete it in no time. Once again, the feeling the element creates is just awesome. I can't even begin to describe this feeling. All I'll say is that is unique and awesome. Anyway, after the Zero-G, we continued on our journey on Great Bear. We soon encountered a sharp left-hand turn, and we swooped over the river below. Now we would continue our journey on the other side of the river, with the water RIGHT below us. After the nice, sharp turn, we went into a straightaway along the river before going on to the ride's final inversion, a flat spin/corkscrew. After the straightaway, and upon entering the corkscrew, the ride quickly throws you to the left in a sharp turn. Then, out of no where, you speed into the final inversion. I love how they throw you to one side and then the other, which creates a really cool effect IMO. This corkscrew is like any other corkscrew. It quickly whips you around the bend, and sends you flying into the ride's last element, a slow S-Bend. The ride finishes off slow unfortunately, as you complete an S-Bend up above in the skies of Minetown. By the end of the S-bend you crawl into the station, and encounter the ride's on-ride photo. I still don't understand why Hershey decided to place the on-ride photo right here, but the only thing coming into my mind is to see the people's expressions as they slam into the brakes. And yes, after the S-Bend, the ride is complete. We slammed into the brakes and make our way around a sharp right-hand turn and back towards the station. As we waited in the brake run waiting to get off, I thought about the ride I had just ridden. Overall, Great Bear, to me, is a solid invert, and perfect for this park. The ride isn't about being tall and high or giving extreme G-forces. It's about giving an enjoyable and fun ride in a great location, and it does that well. I really like the ride and love the experience it gives. With that said, I'll give this ride a rating of 8.5/10. (Yes, I will be doing ratings for now on!)
We finally returned to the station after our long journey above Hersheypark. The train soon came to a halt and the floor came up. Our harnesses unlocked and we got out of the train. We continued down the exit ramp right by the Coal Cracker, the park's great log flume, which we unfortunately didn't ride during this trip. Anyway, we proceeded to the photo booth, and I just went straight through. I had no intention of buying a photo, plus I didn't have my glasses on me. Anyway, we went back up towards the Boardwalk Fries stall and met back up with the others. They had bought some Boardwalk Fries, which are so freaking good! All of us had some as a snack as it was around noon now. I also went to near-by Nathan's to pick up an RXCC souvenir cup which was only 6 bucks, with 99 cent refills of course! (What a bargain!) You have to love those on a hot day like that one! Anyway, after we finished up a quick snack (we would be going to the BBQ place by Trailblazer for sandwiches later...they are so good!), we headed back out to the midway. What would be our next destination? It would be the only part of the park with two woodies and current construction going on...Midway America!
From when we boarded the separate queue for our row to the time we boarded our train, it was a whopping 5 minutes. The operators were cranking out trains in no time, luckily for us. So, we were on the ride in no time. Our air-gate finally opened, and I made my way all the way down to right-hand seat. I always try to get the end seat on all B&M's. I love how you have much more space and a much better view than sitting in the middle. Anyway, I pulled down my restraint and made sure it was nice and comfortable, then secured the seat belt. I was ready to go as the operators quickly made their way around and checked all the restraints. Wow, they were fast. They were in and out of there before you knew it. After they quickly checked the train, it was now time to ride the Bear. we proceeded towards the lift as we made our way our of the station. We soon got hit with sunlight, which is almost completed blocked in Bear's station. We continued to pull up the lift, and as we got higher, we received more of an amazing view of the area. You notice the surrounding Coal Cracker flume, the classic Sooperdooperlooper coaster, and basically all of the Comet Hollow section of the park. However, this excellent view is soon over, as before you know it, you're at the top of the lift and getting ready for the ride to really begin. The first element on the ride is a very nice starting helix. I love the placement of this element. It really gives the ride a nice, strong start and can really grab you by surprise. Down and around we went, through the ride's first element. I found some decent forces towards the mid-point of the helix, which felt great as we continued our way towards the first major drop. We now went into a curved straightaway, moving along towards the first drop. Closer and closer we traveled, until we finally got pulled to the right and down the first very nice first drop. I felt a nice breeze as we made our way down towards the small little river in the park's Comet Hollow section of the park. Even though most of the ride itself is in the Comet Hollow part of the park, the entrance is in Minetown. It would be a better fit in Comet Hollow, but since most of the ride goes through that section, it doesn't much matter. Anyway, we traveled down to the ground below in a very nice, relaxing drop. GB's drop is very nice and enjoyable, and you gain some nice speed that carries you through the rest of the course. After a nice first drop, we sped into the first inversion the ride had to offer us, a nice vertical loop. Even though the element is forceless, you have to love the feeling the vertical loop gives you. No inverted coaster would be complete without a sweet vertical loop. We quickly went up, around, and back down again. As I said before, the element is very nice and relaxing, but shows no force. We continued to travel adjacent to Comet Hollow's stream until we came to the next inversion on our journey, a pretty strong Immelman. Since the ride had been pretty forceless so far, this element was a nice surprise. We came right up into the sky just like a regular vertical loop, but then flipped over and came falling back to earth. As we reached the element's apex, the forces were moderately strong, which was a nice surprise. What I love about the Immelman is how it really whips you back to earth. You go straight up, thinking your going to come right back down again like a regular loop, but no! The Immelman flips you over and sends you flying in a whole new direction. After a very nice Immelman inversion, you encounter one of my favorite inversions of all time and one of my favorite parts of this ride, the Zero-G roll. Before I continue, let just say that I love the feeling this inversion creates. I simply love the execution of this inversion, and it's definitely one of my personal favorites. After the Immelman, that ride throws us down and back up again into the 3rd inversion, the Zero-G roll, right over the Comet Hollow midway. We soon encountered the inversion, which really whips you 360 degrees around just like that. Before you know it you're in and out of the element. Since you have some very nice speed before entering the element, you quickly complete it in no time. Once again, the feeling the element creates is just awesome. I can't even begin to describe this feeling. All I'll say is that is unique and awesome. Anyway, after the Zero-G, we continued on our journey on Great Bear. We soon encountered a sharp left-hand turn, and we swooped over the river below. Now we would continue our journey on the other side of the river, with the water RIGHT below us. After the nice, sharp turn, we went into a straightaway along the river before going on to the ride's final inversion, a flat spin/corkscrew. After the straightaway, and upon entering the corkscrew, the ride quickly throws you to the left in a sharp turn. Then, out of no where, you speed into the final inversion. I love how they throw you to one side and then the other, which creates a really cool effect IMO. This corkscrew is like any other corkscrew. It quickly whips you around the bend, and sends you flying into the ride's last element, a slow S-Bend. The ride finishes off slow unfortunately, as you complete an S-Bend up above in the skies of Minetown. By the end of the S-bend you crawl into the station, and encounter the ride's on-ride photo. I still don't understand why Hershey decided to place the on-ride photo right here, but the only thing coming into my mind is to see the people's expressions as they slam into the brakes. And yes, after the S-Bend, the ride is complete. We slammed into the brakes and make our way around a sharp right-hand turn and back towards the station. As we waited in the brake run waiting to get off, I thought about the ride I had just ridden. Overall, Great Bear, to me, is a solid invert, and perfect for this park. The ride isn't about being tall and high or giving extreme G-forces. It's about giving an enjoyable and fun ride in a great location, and it does that well. I really like the ride and love the experience it gives. With that said, I'll give this ride a rating of 8.5/10. (Yes, I will be doing ratings for now on!)
We finally returned to the station after our long journey above Hersheypark. The train soon came to a halt and the floor came up. Our harnesses unlocked and we got out of the train. We continued down the exit ramp right by the Coal Cracker, the park's great log flume, which we unfortunately didn't ride during this trip. Anyway, we proceeded to the photo booth, and I just went straight through. I had no intention of buying a photo, plus I didn't have my glasses on me. Anyway, we went back up towards the Boardwalk Fries stall and met back up with the others. They had bought some Boardwalk Fries, which are so freaking good! All of us had some as a snack as it was around noon now. I also went to near-by Nathan's to pick up an RXCC souvenir cup which was only 6 bucks, with 99 cent refills of course! (What a bargain!) You have to love those on a hot day like that one! Anyway, after we finished up a quick snack (we would be going to the BBQ place by Trailblazer for sandwiches later...they are so good!), we headed back out to the midway. What would be our next destination? It would be the only part of the park with two woodies and current construction going on...Midway America!
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