Avatar

Walt Disney World has announced they are bringing the world of AVATAR to Animal Kingdom. Full story here. I have mixed feelings about this at this point with the little information that was provided. The fact that Bob Iger was the one to make the announcement it may end up being something to look forward too.

Please don't. Although it is only 1.9 miles it is across the highway from the parks and the interchanges in the area are very busy, so as family man myself I would advise other families to not do it for safety sake. I have stayed in that hotel several times through the years and I would not consider it in any way.

Kings Island has a wonderful kids area as well as Cedar Point, Dollywood and Universal Studios to just name a few. The thing is I have never thought a great Kids area had to do so much with rides as it does for the whole experience to include entertainment, staff interaction and friendliness.. I guess it is up to each family to decide what they like in a family area. Kings Island should be proud of their Kids area and should advertise how great it is. I just do not need a Golden Ticket Award to tell me it is as in my opinion it means little. So CodyDL are you saying Holiday World is a better park than Kings Island with 3 wooden coasters 3 water rides, 1 dark ride other flats and shows? Just sayin, I do not think anyone is questioning Kings Islands Kids area being a world class attraction area. but rather who is deciding it and how they are doing it.

As I have said in other threads I give little weight to the validity of the Golden Ticket Awards as if it is a true and fair assessment of the parks being judged. I do not mean to take away from any parks achievement they work hard to continue/try to win certain classifications, I as well as the guests in general appreciate their efforts. I would just like to see before hand what the classifications are in each award classification and how they are to be judged and by whom. Anything short of that at this point from Amusement Today will only fortify my belief that the Golden Ticket Award is not worth the paper it is printed on. I mean for Kings Island to give validity to the Golden Ticket Award then they would also need to accept that Holiday World ranks within the top 10 parks and they rank further down the list from them. I believe Kings Island kids area is one of the best if not the best and in my heart as much as I like Holiday World dry park (I really do) I can not accept them being ranked over Kings Island as well as others. Congratulations Kings Island I think.

I am not totally on board with the statement “they can't be doing too well if their hours have been severely cut back just to afford them that many more hours of maintenance each night, right?” at first glance maybe but not when looking at the whole situation. Disney World Resort has been increasing the hours of monorail operations from its inception due to Extra Magic Hours (3 hours) and many special evening events. When the monorails are going into or out of service for the day it takes them about 90 minutes to do so. Add that to a 1AM closing and sometimes later with the 3 hour prep time, that leaves very little time to do just the basic maintenance. With fewer monorails available for use it puts a strain on the whole system. I believe with the new monorail going into operation soon it will help the situation some and also believe maybe a couple more would be a better option than investing into a new advanced monorail system. The thing is the late night monorail ridership is low compared to peek times and with other alternatives maybe they are doing what is best by closing the monorail 1 hour after the park closes rather than 1 1/2 hours after closing. Disney World Monorail system is basically a basic monorail system compared to more advanced systems around the world; it runs with tires on a beam. I believe since the system is so basic (not trying to minimize the work it does take to maintain) it allows a crew to keep up and overhaul the trains/cars they have versus a more advance system. The fact they have just recently added a new section to include a small maintenance shed closer to the Transportation Ticket Center to be used on the EPCOT track that will allow them to get an earlier start on their nightly work. That says to me that they are happy with what they are currently using and looking for ways to work with what they have already with an ever-increasing demand hours. Would it be worth the extra money to swap out what they have for the few late night users? Only three resorts are on the Monorail line, while the other monorail line from Magic Kingdom is the express line going to the Transportation Ticket Center. I think it is much quicker to walk to and from the Contemporary Resort than using any other transportation. Both other resorts have dedicated water taxis just for their facilities and many Polynesian Resort guest use the Transportation Ticket Center Ferries as the quickest way back and forth to Magic Kingdom now. The only one that would cause a bit of problem is for the Grand Floridian Resort since it would be the forth stop on the monorail line the buses would be much quicker in the long run. I can understand the concern and Disney is revamping its schedule continuously due to customer feedback which probably will give them a great excuse to offer fewer late nights at Magic Kingdom we should be more careful in what we wish for). I would much rather Disney spend the money to extend the monorail system to other parks and Downtown Disney using a newer system than to replace one that is functioning but needs to reduce its hours for realistic maintenance needs.

Get it now? And yes that is real cake, it was delicious.

Agree, they still look good, clean and nice. From a guest standpoint very reliable, efficient, smooth and still produces the wow factor. Picture from the front of the monorail(Drivers Cabin) during one of or past trips.

If I remember right the two salvaged parts of the monorails trains that were combined to make one workable monorail has been in operation for a while now (I do not remember it's color). The new one I believe you reference to as peach is a a brand new one ordered from the manufacture. After the accident they were down two they combined the two to make one but they were still short one. Peach new from the factory will bring them back to the same number of available operational monorails as before the accident.

pcc you are not in the minority but rather amongst others who would be considered the silent majority. It is the minority that is very vocal on this subject. I myself did not go to haunt as much as i would have liked due to long lines and often suggested i would come more if they offered a Fright Lane type pass. I do like the limit of 1 use per maze. I wonder about the demographic of who will use it and wonder if it will bring in others who stayed away.

The rentals are high now because this far out they do not need to discount the rental. If you punch in a rental with enterprise (Orlando airport code is MCO) for tomorrow and go for a week I get an economy car with taxes and all for under $88 per week. If you get it for your first week and over labor day expect that same car to come out to be about $125. There is no need to give up on ANY park at this point if you have a desire to do it with your budget. BTW Discovery cove in August is about $60 more to do than any day in September. so plan to do that one in September. Over holiday weekends I tend to do waterparks and light attended parks then when Tuesday rolls around i hit the regular parks for a less crowded experience. With what you listed i will throw together a loose itinerary and a rough cost of what i would expect to pay. I can not say it enough if only you had at least one more person to join you on all or part of the trip it would make everything more affordable.

First; The Disney Dinning Plan is for resort guest and Disney Vacation Club members stays. It is offered property wide in and out of the parks to include Downtown Disney, resorts, water parks, sports complex and golf center. It offers quick service as in pizza and burgers and some plans offer both quick service and full service ((wait staff). Some restaurants on Disney property are owned by an outside company and may not honor the Disney Dinning Plan but most due. If you choose to go with the plan you will have a list to tell you which ones do. Basically about 90+ percent do. We enjoyed the plan with every visit to Disney and use it on days we go to other parks such as on a day we go to Sea World we would eat the breakfast using the quick service at our resort, then either snack all day or eat a light lunch at Sew World. After the park closes (most non Disney parks close early evening) we go back to Disney and eat at a full service restaurant that we have made a reservation for. That saves us money as we do not need to eat heavy at other parks. Have said this, with your schedule Disney my not be your best choice but should not be ruled out at this point either. We have done trips similar to what you are wanting and for us staying at Disney would be the only way to go, but we are not solo like you. Thoughts about You driving; Since you are trying to do it all in one trip a car (yours/rental) would come in handy during certain parts of it while other times it would just be sitting around and costing you money because you need to pay to park it. You could use Mears Transportation to get you a round trip ride to say Disney to Universal for about $25, keep in mind it would cost you 15 to park plus the rental for that day. I usually can find car rentals to run about 175 per week and you should not need a car that big. If you plan to tour aggressively as you say: Are you sure you want to be driving?. You will be wore out and worried about what is next on your schedule but wait you need to figure out where you are going and how to get there. Like in the morning when you are trying to remembers everything you need for that day you will also be taking on a driving mindset too. Versus letting someone else drive through traffic and front gate backups while you relax and look forward to or reflect on your day. With the trip you are set to take you need to take every opportunity to relax. Just something to think about since you have time too. Make no mistakes we have driven and used the local transportation both have their advantages and disadvantages. The Discovery Cove option is one I would highly suggest if you have even a remote interest in but DO NOT trade that for a Disney park but rather find another way to allocate money for it. After all seeing all the parks is your goal. I have done it and want to so badly to go back and hey I may just join you if you do go. I am having trouble making a suggestion on how many days to suggest for each park as you seem to say you want to do it all but in other post you do not want to explore. If you are going to just ride coasters and rides then you will miss the a big part of the Orlando area parks have to offer. It appears you have enough time to do it all but if you do want to do it all keep in mind you will not need a unlimited pass for any certain park. Keep in mind parks like Animal Kingdom closes like 5-6PM so you could do dinner at the lodge then go to bed early so you will be rested for a full long day at EPCOT or a drive to Busch Gardens Tampa. Another thing to keep in mind some Disney night shows (not to me missed) only show on select nights of the week if you go to that park on that day to ride all day expect long lines. We tend to do a water park that day and then a dinner at the park or another resort then just go into that park for the show. You will be rested and have a better time. trust me on this one. Keep soliciting others for information and figure out what is important to you like sprint through rides, go go go, or a mix of adventures for a whole experience like a marathon, neither is bad but it makes a difference when asking others for advice. I would be happy to assist you in planning knowing this may be your only trip to the Orlando parks and you have time to plan properly. I think you can do it all for about the $3,000 you say you may have but it sure would help you if you got someone to join you for all or part of the trip. At this point I would suggest figure out what is most important and how much you can come up with realistically and not just hopeful. Good luck let us know

Understand but maybe if you advertised your trip in the meet up section and listed details you may find a fellow KIC may want to join you during some parts. Just a suggestion depends on if you need a car for the convention or not you could stay at the same motel and visit the non Disney ones while you rent a car ( I have some suggestions for that as well but later though) you should have plenty of time to get them all in within 2 weeks but you will not enjoy them if you are too tired. tour like a marathon mix light days with other things like I suggested above. Best thing yopu can do is get your dates nailed down and figure out what you need to enjoy that part such as motel location and if you need a car or not.

So so so many things to consider such as is it possible you could get someone to travel with you or even meet up with you for part of the trip to help pay resort expenses. You still may want to consider flying down and let Disney pick you up and return you to the airport for free and then while visiting the Disney parks use Disney free transportation. When you are ready to go to other parks group them together and rent a car just for those days. Many rental car companies will pick you up at your resort. During your time of Visit Disney has for many years has offered free dinning and maybe they will offer that offer when you are down there. I usually insist 1 off day (Water Park, shopping or resort hopping ect) after 2 days of theme park visits. but many time s we will do a water park then go to a Disney park afterwards just for dinner and to take in their night show. When doing Orlando parks and you are tying to keep expenses down remember to group your visits to a chain of parks for you same visit for that year. Such as do not do one day at Sea World and then one day at Universal, because you would be paying for a one day pass for each park versus getting a discount in doing Universal and IOA during the same visit year. I hope that makes sense. I will stop here and get some feed back on what I have suggested so far, to get insight which direction to proceed.

Yea that was a fun day at the park They had several free shows and everyone of them filled to capacity!! Many KICentral members who attended an earlier event were invited back to participate in a special Racer ride

Yeah Holiday World is a theme park and Cheetah Hunt is a theme coaster and a family coaster at that, so I could see this working for them. The question is 9 million for their new water coaster for next year was the most they have ever spent on a attraction so will they be willing to pay the $$$ it will take to get a Cheetah Hunt style coaster installed into their park.

Actually I think the price is about right compared to others like Universal for $150. which includes admission though. Touring as a group with a guide is informative and a blast, very enjoyable. experience for the price. How much would one pay to go to out for a night of entertainment like a concert, long upscale dinner with friends or others things of such. There are many things one can do for that kind of money but if a haunted experience is the choice for that evening with a date or with friends then ponying up $75 for the tour is an excellent choice. I mean don't knock it until you have tried it.

Almost the same way I would have answered that question, but if I may add another possible solution if they do not allow it. Let one Dad go in and get a nice spot while you and daughter go into the holding just inside the gates and go change in to your swim attire, shop and so forth until you can go in and meet dad. Have said that they are redoing that area for next year so that may or may not work out that easy. Good luck.

As far as Soak City being included with Kings Island admission, Yes Kings Island representatives including Don Helbig have went out of their way and accentuated the fact to the press and to KICentral media director BoddaH1994 that Soak City is part of the admission price for Kings Island to include 2012. Further more every conversation I have had with park representatives they are proud of the fact that they offer both parks for one low price and and are not considering or want to consider it otherwise. So no one should be concerned about a separate gate charge for Soak City next year. I have even heard that if they would have considered anything like that then they would have did that for next year which they say "we are proud to offer one low price for admission to both parks";

It was not a joke but rather an attempt to politely remind you to not use all capitalization in your posts, per KICentral Terms of Service.

Please do not shout save that for your first night, thanks.

Funny due to the crowds and long waits for Haunt Mazes I stayed away many times when I was on the fence on going. With this new affordable option I can see myself attending more often. It will be interesting to see if more will come out with the Fright Lane option. I do feel the one use per Haunt Maze is a good idea to keep things flowing.

The Fast Lane is for rides only the Fright Lane is for Haunt Attractions. Quote form the website Notice it says one time each.

Due to complaint and the age of many members here the link was removed. Feel free to contact the poster to ask if he is willing to PM a link. I agree about having an adult entertainment show that includes comedy is great at special events like Haunt.

OK since the Haunt information will be coming out very soon lets try to keep this discussion on topic from this point forward Thanks.

I figure if I do not post at this point the trip will continue on. So just ignore this post and carry on. Hope you had a great holiday weekend.