SpecJoe Magic
06-20-2008, 05:51 PM
Introduction and day 1 (http://www.intercot.com/discussion/showthread.php?t=134895)
Day 2 (http://www.intercot.com/discussion/showthread.php?t=135553)
Please read my introduction (link is above) if you haven't already done so. It explains my writing method for all of my trip report days.
Day 3:
Midway Mania is Insania! -
Today was our first day at the park since it was renamed Disney’s Hollywood Studios. Surprisingly, I find that I’m not having much trouble adjusting to the new name. I still call it MGM occasionally, but that hasn’t happened as often as I thought it would. I actually prefer the new name because I think it’s more fitting based on what the park contains. That’s probably a big reason why the name change hasn’t been difficult for me.
The main objective for this day was to ride Toy Story Midway Mania, and the idea was to get there at opening in order to beat the rush to the attraction. Despite being at the Magic Kingdom until 1:00 A.M. on the previous day, I dragged my tired body out of bed and was joined by most of the others. We arrived at the park at opening as planned, but there was already a 45 minute standby wait by the time we got to the attraction. I thought I heard someone say that Hollywood Studios had Extra Magic Hours on that morning, which I was completely unaware about. I didn’t have a huge hand in planning this trip, but I’m going to be more careful about that type of thing in the future. Even so, a 45 minute wait really isn’t that bad considering that the attraction had only been opened to the general public for a very short period of time. Jared had told us that the Fastpass machines had not been operating when he rode it a few days prior, so I wasn’t counting on that option. However, we were pleasantly surprised to discover that the Fastpass machines had apparently begun operation between the time he had been there and the time we were there. So, we grabbed Fastpasses and then entered the standby queue. I’m glad that we decided to wait in the standby queue because it is an attraction all by itself. The queue is Andy’s room, and the amount of detail is staggering. Large scale representations of classic toys and games are everywhere. I imagine that this is what it would have felt like if I had been able to shrink to the size of a toy and walk around my bedroom when I was a young child. Tinker Toys, View Master reels, Barrel of Monkeys, Chutes and Ladders, Lincoln Logs, Candy Land and numerous other toys and games are included in the queue area. The giant crayons are worn down to different lengths to indicate which colors that Andy uses the most (see if you can spot his favorite color when you visit). The real star of the queue is a very sophisticated audio-animatronic of Mr. Potato Head. He sings, tells jokes, and interacts with guests. I had seen a video of him on the Internet, but that doesn’t do him justice. I was captivated by this amazing feat of technology. Just after receiving our 3-D glasses from the Lincoln Logs cabin, we passed under a sign that indicated we were entering a carnival play set featuring the Toy Story characters. After going up and down some steps, we were in the loading area. The details continued to astound me in the loading area. Everything about the queue from the entrance to the loading area is one of the best that Disney has ever created. The vehicles are designed to seat four guests with two facing one direction and the other two facing the opposite direction in a back-to-back style that is separated by a tall partition. The gun lowers based on how far the lap bar lowers, so that it is a comfortable distance from the rider. I appreciate the extra leg room that Disney has allotted in all of their new attractions. Even someone as tall as me feels perfectly comfortable on this ride, which is not the case for me at some attractions. The gun is operated by a pull string that doesn’t have to be pulled hard or far to work. The separate loading area for handicapped guests is a brilliant idea. It gives those guests all the time that they need to load into the vehicle, and it doesn’t stop the flow of the vehicles moving through the ride. I hope that Disney implements this design into future attractions whenever possible. I don’t want to reveal too much about the ride portion, but I do want to make a few general statements. The 3-D effects are very well done, and the best part is that it’s easy to get the hang of the games because of the accurate feel of depth and the ability to follow the path of the projectile from your gun to the target. It’s a fast-paced attraction, yet it’s still long enough to provide a satisfying experience. After we finished our initial ride through, we used our Fastpasses to ride it a second time. The Fastpass queue bypasses the vast majority of the standby queue, so you don’t get to see many of the queue details or Mr. Potato Head. I must admit that I was skeptical when I first heard about this attraction. It sounded so similar to Buzz Lightyear’s Space Ranger Spin (I’m not a fan of that ride), and it was going to replace an attraction that I enjoyed (Who Wants to be a Millionaire?). I’m happy to say that it is vastly different and far better than Buzz Lightyear. The concept turns out to be a very sound one, and the execution is flawless. In my opinion, this is one of the best attractions that has ever been added to WDW. I know that we are sometimes disappointed with updates or new attractions, but this attraction should restore your faith in Imagineering if you were doubting it, and it goes to show what they can do if given plenty of time and budget. I expect that Midway Mania will be popular among all age groups.
I didn’t see much in the way of Streetmosphere performers on that day, which was unusual because I usually see them often at the park. That’s always been one of my favorite things at the park because it’s something that is unique and nothing at the other parks is even remotely similar. Brooke (my wife) and I decided to share a soft pretzel. I hadn’t eaten one in several years, and I’m not sure if she had ever eaten one before. They are delicious, but the large amount of salt made me thirsty. I don’t think I would want to eat one on an extremely hot day. Fortunately, this day wasn’t extremely hot. I’m a big fan of the new queue design at Rock ’n’ Roller Coaster. The separation between standby and Fastpass has been increased, and the Fastpass queue has a new entrance into the building. My favorite part about it is what they did to the area immediately after the preshow. I have always hated the way that the two levels of the preshow merged into one queue just outside of the preshow exit doors because it created such an annoying bottleneck of people in a small hallway, and it was very easy to become separated from others in your group. I was happy to discover that the two preshow levels are now two separate queues all of the way to the loading zone. The flow of traffic has been improved, and it’s much easier to keep everyone in your group together. I noticed that Sunset Boulevard has become less crowded thanks to Midway Mania. There was already a decrease in crowd at certain times of the day ever since Lights, Motors, Action opened, but I think the crowd level on Sunset will be lower at all times now with the exception of when Beauty and the Beast lets out. Tower of Terror is still the favorite attraction at WDW for both Brooke and myself, so we typically ride it multiple times. We rode it twice on this trip. I get a kick out of watching people who are obviously first time riders on Tower of Terror. The apprehension on their faces is very noticeable, and they are often entertaining to watch. I especially like it when the bellhops are aware of this, and they make sure to play up their roles in front of those guests.
This day ended up being a fairly short one. After having spent 14 hours at the Magic Kingdom on the previous night and arriving at Hollywood Studios by 9:00 A.M. on this day, Brooke and I were very tired. We decided to head back to the room in the early evening in order to rest for another day when we would go to a park at opening. Blizzard Beach was awaiting us on the next day, and we felt that it was a good idea to get there early.
Day 2 (http://www.intercot.com/discussion/showthread.php?t=135553)
Please read my introduction (link is above) if you haven't already done so. It explains my writing method for all of my trip report days.
Day 3:
Midway Mania is Insania! -
Today was our first day at the park since it was renamed Disney’s Hollywood Studios. Surprisingly, I find that I’m not having much trouble adjusting to the new name. I still call it MGM occasionally, but that hasn’t happened as often as I thought it would. I actually prefer the new name because I think it’s more fitting based on what the park contains. That’s probably a big reason why the name change hasn’t been difficult for me.
The main objective for this day was to ride Toy Story Midway Mania, and the idea was to get there at opening in order to beat the rush to the attraction. Despite being at the Magic Kingdom until 1:00 A.M. on the previous day, I dragged my tired body out of bed and was joined by most of the others. We arrived at the park at opening as planned, but there was already a 45 minute standby wait by the time we got to the attraction. I thought I heard someone say that Hollywood Studios had Extra Magic Hours on that morning, which I was completely unaware about. I didn’t have a huge hand in planning this trip, but I’m going to be more careful about that type of thing in the future. Even so, a 45 minute wait really isn’t that bad considering that the attraction had only been opened to the general public for a very short period of time. Jared had told us that the Fastpass machines had not been operating when he rode it a few days prior, so I wasn’t counting on that option. However, we were pleasantly surprised to discover that the Fastpass machines had apparently begun operation between the time he had been there and the time we were there. So, we grabbed Fastpasses and then entered the standby queue. I’m glad that we decided to wait in the standby queue because it is an attraction all by itself. The queue is Andy’s room, and the amount of detail is staggering. Large scale representations of classic toys and games are everywhere. I imagine that this is what it would have felt like if I had been able to shrink to the size of a toy and walk around my bedroom when I was a young child. Tinker Toys, View Master reels, Barrel of Monkeys, Chutes and Ladders, Lincoln Logs, Candy Land and numerous other toys and games are included in the queue area. The giant crayons are worn down to different lengths to indicate which colors that Andy uses the most (see if you can spot his favorite color when you visit). The real star of the queue is a very sophisticated audio-animatronic of Mr. Potato Head. He sings, tells jokes, and interacts with guests. I had seen a video of him on the Internet, but that doesn’t do him justice. I was captivated by this amazing feat of technology. Just after receiving our 3-D glasses from the Lincoln Logs cabin, we passed under a sign that indicated we were entering a carnival play set featuring the Toy Story characters. After going up and down some steps, we were in the loading area. The details continued to astound me in the loading area. Everything about the queue from the entrance to the loading area is one of the best that Disney has ever created. The vehicles are designed to seat four guests with two facing one direction and the other two facing the opposite direction in a back-to-back style that is separated by a tall partition. The gun lowers based on how far the lap bar lowers, so that it is a comfortable distance from the rider. I appreciate the extra leg room that Disney has allotted in all of their new attractions. Even someone as tall as me feels perfectly comfortable on this ride, which is not the case for me at some attractions. The gun is operated by a pull string that doesn’t have to be pulled hard or far to work. The separate loading area for handicapped guests is a brilliant idea. It gives those guests all the time that they need to load into the vehicle, and it doesn’t stop the flow of the vehicles moving through the ride. I hope that Disney implements this design into future attractions whenever possible. I don’t want to reveal too much about the ride portion, but I do want to make a few general statements. The 3-D effects are very well done, and the best part is that it’s easy to get the hang of the games because of the accurate feel of depth and the ability to follow the path of the projectile from your gun to the target. It’s a fast-paced attraction, yet it’s still long enough to provide a satisfying experience. After we finished our initial ride through, we used our Fastpasses to ride it a second time. The Fastpass queue bypasses the vast majority of the standby queue, so you don’t get to see many of the queue details or Mr. Potato Head. I must admit that I was skeptical when I first heard about this attraction. It sounded so similar to Buzz Lightyear’s Space Ranger Spin (I’m not a fan of that ride), and it was going to replace an attraction that I enjoyed (Who Wants to be a Millionaire?). I’m happy to say that it is vastly different and far better than Buzz Lightyear. The concept turns out to be a very sound one, and the execution is flawless. In my opinion, this is one of the best attractions that has ever been added to WDW. I know that we are sometimes disappointed with updates or new attractions, but this attraction should restore your faith in Imagineering if you were doubting it, and it goes to show what they can do if given plenty of time and budget. I expect that Midway Mania will be popular among all age groups.
I didn’t see much in the way of Streetmosphere performers on that day, which was unusual because I usually see them often at the park. That’s always been one of my favorite things at the park because it’s something that is unique and nothing at the other parks is even remotely similar. Brooke (my wife) and I decided to share a soft pretzel. I hadn’t eaten one in several years, and I’m not sure if she had ever eaten one before. They are delicious, but the large amount of salt made me thirsty. I don’t think I would want to eat one on an extremely hot day. Fortunately, this day wasn’t extremely hot. I’m a big fan of the new queue design at Rock ’n’ Roller Coaster. The separation between standby and Fastpass has been increased, and the Fastpass queue has a new entrance into the building. My favorite part about it is what they did to the area immediately after the preshow. I have always hated the way that the two levels of the preshow merged into one queue just outside of the preshow exit doors because it created such an annoying bottleneck of people in a small hallway, and it was very easy to become separated from others in your group. I was happy to discover that the two preshow levels are now two separate queues all of the way to the loading zone. The flow of traffic has been improved, and it’s much easier to keep everyone in your group together. I noticed that Sunset Boulevard has become less crowded thanks to Midway Mania. There was already a decrease in crowd at certain times of the day ever since Lights, Motors, Action opened, but I think the crowd level on Sunset will be lower at all times now with the exception of when Beauty and the Beast lets out. Tower of Terror is still the favorite attraction at WDW for both Brooke and myself, so we typically ride it multiple times. We rode it twice on this trip. I get a kick out of watching people who are obviously first time riders on Tower of Terror. The apprehension on their faces is very noticeable, and they are often entertaining to watch. I especially like it when the bellhops are aware of this, and they make sure to play up their roles in front of those guests.
This day ended up being a fairly short one. After having spent 14 hours at the Magic Kingdom on the previous night and arriving at Hollywood Studios by 9:00 A.M. on this day, Brooke and I were very tired. We decided to head back to the room in the early evening in order to rest for another day when we would go to a park at opening. Blizzard Beach was awaiting us on the next day, and we felt that it was a good idea to get there early.