Gabe

People thought Avatar at AK was irrelevant?? Nintendo hasn't done anything of note in 20 years! At least when Disney announced Avatar, it also released a ton of concept art. All this announcement says is that Nintendo will be involved in future projects. Harry Potter-overwhelmingly yes! This-not so much.

I'm extremely disappointed after perusing the list of beers available that none are from what is perhaps one of the 5 best breweries in the nation--3 Floyds out of Munster, IN. They have an amazing selection of incredible beers that have all scored in the top 10% of every major review. I would hope that they were at least contacted about this!

I second Terpy. I stayed at both the Blue Ash and Mason Red Roofs last summer and hated them both. While the Mason one is marginally better in that it has inside corridors, the property has not been kept up. It is dirty, allows pets, and attracts a not so nice crowd. The one in Blue Ash is downright awful. Outside corridors, shady area, poorly maintained, not a lot of stuff around it that's still operating when the park closes. My personal fav is the Hilton Garden Inn in Mason. Newish (sev years old), well-kept, nice pool for the kids, friendly staff, right in the middle of the action (and only a 5 minute walk to Graeters!). I concur with the other posters in that you should be wiling to spend about $75-85 for a place you'd feel safe in. There are lots of discount codes out there for Hilton (and other major chains) that a simple internet search can provide you that usually shave off about $15-25 off the room rate.

Last year, I was asked if I wanted a new pass (with slightly different graphics) when I renewed. At the time , my pass was 8 years old and had seen better days. There was no cost to replace it. Given the age of your pass and its condition, I would expect the park to issue you a free replacement, after which the $15 would be charged.

Since most CF parks, including KI, are mainly visited by day trippers, seasonal attendance has as much to do with the economy and oil/gas prices as it does with a shiny new 1 yr old coaster which screams at you on the lift hill. Several years ago, when gas prices were at or above $4 a gallon, people didn't come as much, or only came once a year and, if they did, spent very little or nothing inside the park. Those prices also coincided with the recession-people were being laid off, and disposable income was low. Flash forward to this year and, with the recession over, season pass sales up, upgraded food options and gas prices expected to remain stable in the $2.25-$2.50 range all summer and fall, Cedar Fair is right to expect big numbers. As for buying the old KI Inn, I'm certain the asking price for the land was well above what CF wanted to pay. They are in the amusement park business, not hotel business. The availability of sub $100 a night rooms within a 10-15 drive to the park likely figured into the discussion as well. It's much easier and cost effective to "partner" with several area hotels (offering park ticket packages along with a lower room rate) than it is to build a full-blown resort or even hotel.

Indeed, Cinderella Castle and Tower of Terror are both about 1 foot give or take a couple of millimeters (ground settling) below the threshold required by the State of Florida for a flashing light beacon. In ancient times (early 70s), during the early years of WDW, there was an airfield located relatively nearby to the MK. It was built for early guests to easily fly into/out of Disney. Of course, within a few years, the sheer number of guests made the tiny airport expendable. I have heard rumors that the land may be used during the upcoming reconfiguration of the Northern entrance to WDW.

Disney was an innovator, so I don't think he would necessarily dismiss the shift in animation. After all, even when he was alive, the purpose of the company was certainly to entertain, but, in the words of my favorite shark on Shark Tank Kevin O' Leary "To make money!" He may be dismayed at the vast amounts of divisions and properties the company holds, but I think he would be surprised and awed more than anything. Overall, I think he would be satisfied that his little mouse has spurned such a huge empire. As Ki Guy mentioned, the world changes. Either you adapt or get left behind. Disney to me didn't seem like the type to simply stand still. He was personally involved and providing feedback on a number of projects until 2 days before his death.

Orlando's consent to basically turn control over all of WDW's infrastructure to Reedy Creek (a Disney creation) was shortsighted at best, disastrous at worst. Disney does subcontract certain services back to Orange and Osceola counties, but Reedy Creek has final say over most matters. In the early 70s, after the MK first opened, Disney did offer to pay for a widening of I-4 to 8 lanes from its then 4. Orlando scoffed and said the interstate would never handle that much traffic thank you very much. Anyone who traversers I-4 today knows the wisdom of that decision. There's a reason a lot of people are forking over $5-6 in tolls to take the Greenway and Osceola Parkway from the airport to Disney (even though its only about a 15 mile journey) rather than make that same trip over the Beachline and I-4.

I think the decision to shift Epcot away from the educational park it was designed for came when the original sponsorship agreements for much of Future World's rides were ending. Companies chose to spend their marketing $ in other places. Those sponsorships helped (and still do) pay for the upkeep of the ride (or, in World Showcase's case) the entire pavilion. Norway was sponsored by the country (which had input on the building's design) at its outset, so it can hardly be called 'insulting'. As long as the big Future World rides have sponsors (Siemens, HP, Chevrolet, Nestle(tho perhaps its sponsorship of The Land is tied into its beverage deal as the provider of chocolate milk) I don't see them going anywhere.

I'm not worried about the expiration dates. Under most state laws, such purchases as DVC can be extended to 99 years. Disney recently extended OKW out another 15 years, so the leases are likely good until I'd say at the late 2000s, though as that date draws near Disney will likely just reorganize DVC such that the clock will restart. Disney itself has very little to sell right now, unless you want to buy into the Floridian or Poly bugalows (25-30k buy-ins), Hilton Head or Aulani. Everything else is sold out, but there are gobs of resales in all resorts. I know a portion of your maintenance fees can be deducted under property taxes on your 1040. If I buy, I'd prob buy into Old Key West, given that their 1 BR units actually have 3 beds (master bed, pull out couch, sleeper chair). There are a number of resales in that resort for less than half of what Disney has featuring enough points to provide my kids and I and whomever else with 1-2 trips a year. Still kicking around the idea for now.

The decision not to modify the wall was the reason IndyCar and NASCAR ceased racing there, given the speeds those cars achieve during the race. As for Petty and the Ferrari vendor, I suppose we'll have to wait for a civil suit to see if the wall would have made a difference if it were there. There have been lots of deaths at Disney; just none officially on property. Such proclamations are routinely done by the Orange and Osceola County coroner off property.

Well, given that their jackets are lit up, you do see a lot of red; however, there are also subtle hints of white and blue as well. The parade zooms by fairly fast during busy times, so you may have missed it.

One is an iconic earworm; the other is simply a superfluous and unneeded announcement

Only for a few weeks while an extended preview of "Miles From Tomorrowland" is shown. Celebration was intended to be in the spirit of Epcot, but its citizens rightly rebelled against the various limits Disney put on the community such that Disney ridded itself of it rather than deal with the discord. Walt's original vision for Epcot was never sustainable and he knew it. From the get-go, his investors wanted another Disneyland in Florida. During his lifetime, higher ups in the company didn't squawk about the "Florida Project", but after his death, those execs were free to do (with the blessing of Roy Disney, who was always the $ behind Walt's imagination) what was really needed--a resort featuring theme parks. I still enjoy Epcot, but I think it has veered far away from its original intent to be educational. People want D and E ticket rides all over the parks, so expect to see more rides like Soarin 2.0 (coming in 2016 or 17). I don't think Spaceship Earth is going anywhere, but Energy is just plain awful these days with an early- 90s Bill Nye, Ellen and Alex Trebek. Both Innoventions pavilions will soon be closed, leaving behind the last place in the park to showcase those technologies mentioned above.

I think the music detracts..wasn't it introduced for the ride's 25th anniversary? I also don't like the announcement to remain seated with your hands and legs inside the car at all times played over and over.

If lifetime means lifetime and those were truly offered, then probably so. Disney will still accept a ticket that was originally bought with the no expiration option from however many years back. That option is no longer available on all tickets purchased as of March.

Disney does tend to reuse things whenever possible from former attractions. If you ride Splash Mountain, the vast majority of the background animals were culled from the former Rivers of America attraction. If you ride Buzz, the tunnel in the middle of the ride featuring starlines is simply a redo of something similar that was there when Delta Dreamflight. Want not, waste not! Imagineers can make a treasure out of any trash!

Given what I'm sure are Disney's air-tight contracts w those driving experiences, I would expect to see them released as a party from any future civil suit if they were so named.

It is the future, for better or worse down there. You scan your Magicband to get into your resort, get into your room (you can bypass checkin; they text you your room no) meals, FP, gifts, everything. A lot of people grouse that once the 3 FP are gone, you can only utilize kiosks or those CM w Ipads to get more. Their network wouldn't be able to handle the crush of people if additional FP could be gotten on smartphones. Also, it would be nice to be able to spread out your 3 among more than one park. They just upgraded their wifi and I STILL sometimes found it easier to just use my regular LTE to access the app. Disney will continue to upgrade the experience, so I wouldn't be surprised to see the above 2 issues addressed within a year or 2.

That's not entirely true; the ghost at WDW was simply repurposed into another ghost, who i'm sure by now has been replaced several times.

It's important to note that while the track is property of Disney, the driving experiences are run by the vendors, Disney acts merely as the track provider, with the vendor paying all insurance and safety-related costs. One of the main reasons for the track's upcoming closing was Disney's unwillingness to install a SAFER barrier, which both NASCAR and Indycar both requested. Had it been in place, perhaps this tragedy could have been avoided. I don't believe Disney has plans to shut down the track any earlier than announced. Recall the closing date was pushed back to August 31 from June 1.

I'm sure people would shell out money to see broken animatronics and some back office storage space. . Hopefully this is the last year for it, although the ride system is such that I'm guessing the new dark ride would occupy the same space. No need to recreate the wheel, esp. if the budgets for these rides are in the $10M range.

I just returned a couple of days ago from another whirlwind trip to the Mouse, but this time with my two kids and girlfriend in tow, which made for a different park experience. Without further ado, here goes: Sunday, April 5 (Easter). We arrived at our resort (Disney's Art of Animation) for check in about 10:30 AM. luckily, our suite room was ready in the cars section, building 2. A note or 2 about this resort- it is BIG!! It is also an almost all suites resort ( the Little Mermaid building features just standard rooms). Our suite was themed right down to the shower curtain! Amazing to say the least. Each suite features 3 beds-a pullout couch and a table that turns into a trundle-style bed in the main room, and a queen bed in a separate room separated from the main room by a door. Each suite also features 2 full baths, which definitely came in handy. The main building is located right ion front of the Nemo suites, with Cars behind those, so it made for about a 5-6 minute walk to the cafeteria. The cafeteria/food court was very busy! There are lots of different stations for each meal and the signage is digital, with different menu items flashing, so you have to look carefully. I found the service to be slow, especially given that it was high season. We were on the dining plan (the regular, or middle plan- 1 snack 1 quick service and 1 table service pp per day) for most of our stay, but since breakfast was usually cheap, I saved the credits for lunch and dinner. After getting settled, we were off to: Day 1--Disney's Soon to be renamed Hollywood Studios. We arrived just after lunch and proceeded to find (of course) a fairly busy park. We had Fastpasses in our MagicBands for Toy Story, Tower of Terror and Star Tours (I had times at first for each, but when I added the dining plan, Disney messed up and erased ALL of my selections for EACH day!! However, after calling their IT dept, their agent was very friendly and, when she wasn't able to get my exact times back for some attractions, she simply performed an override of the system, which allowed "Length of Day" times for each attraction. So, we could do Toy Story anytime from park open to close, which was nice). On Star Tours, our audio cut out halfway through the ride, so upon exiting, we told a friendly CM, who put us on "the next flight" for another ride (we did wait about 5-6 minutes for it, but hey, we rode it 2x in a row on a day when the wait was always at least 60 minutes). Tower of Terror was great. My 7.5 year old fearless daughter rode it twice, but my son opted out, so my girlfriend used his FP to ride with my daughter while I watched him. From there, it was on to Disney Jr. Live on Stage, a 15 min show featuring puppets from the latest Disney Jr cartoons. My son LOVED it (he's 5), but my daughter is slowly growing out of those shows, so she was a bit bored. Nevertheless, she was excited to meet Sofia the First and Jake after the show along with my son. We then went to a oldie but goodie--Muppet Vision 3D (or as Kermit says it, Threeeeeeee deeeeee!). Both kids loved it. I've seen it a hundred times but it's still a good laugh. Here's hoping version 2.0 comes along soon. After that, we went to Rock N Roller Coaster, where my daughter wanted to ride along with me. We didn't have a FP and the wait was 60 minutes, but we opted for the SRL, which was about 10-15 min. I told my daughter we may be separated and almost were, but a very nice girl in front of us allowed us to move in front of her when the CM was sending 2 people through to the ride from the SRL. The ride was fun, though my daughter has no clue who Aerosmith are haha! We were then off to Mamma Melrose for our dinner ressie. I was really really upset because we had 5:25 reservations, yet when we got there, were told it could be up to a 30 minute wait. My kids were hot, tired, hungry and cranky and wanted to eat. After pleading with the hostess to seat us and telling her that a reservation for 5:25 means nothing if you don't get seated right away, a manager finally came over and did his best to seat us within about 10-15 minutes. I understand the restaurants get overbooked, but come on Disney-plan for busy times!! dinner was good once we were finally seated. After dinner, we went back to the hotel for the night. Day 2- April 6, 2015 The plan was to do a half day each at AK and Epcot but my kids really had no interest in AK (who does? Wake me when Avatar opens and I'll go back. EE and Dinosaur not enough for me to make the trek). Instead, we got to Epcot a bit after opening. We had Fastpasses for Soarin, Imagination and Turtle Talk. We were able to ride Soarin twice because we used a Disabled Access Services card Disney gives out to those requesting one. My son needed it since he has some autistic tendencies and cannot wait in long lines. The way the card works is thus- you show up to a ride and ask for a return time. The CM notes the current wait time, subtracts ten minutes and puts down that return time. Upon return, you all go through the FP line. We used this card often throughout Epcot and the MK and it really saved the trip for us. Our touring plan through Epcot took us to Soarin (2x) Imagaination (kids liked) Capt. Eo (DATED!!!! make it go away. Like yesterday), Test Track, Mission Space (Orange for gf and daughter; green for son and me), Turtle Talk (5 stars! This is a tremendous attraction!. Crush asked my daughter for a question but my son stole it from her lol!). After Crush, we made our way over to the World Showcase for a stroll around the countries before dinner at Teppan Edo (Japan). Dinner was good, we were seated promptly and everyone was h appy (well, except for the fact that they serve you some kind of beef rice which is brown in color-yuck. white rice is available upon request. After dinner we went to Spaceship Earth before heading back to the hotel, where the kids wanted to go swimming. They were too tired to make it to the Big Blue Pool (biggest in WDW), but the Cozy Cone pool at Cars was just fine. Day 3- April 7, 2015 We got to the Magic Kingdom about 10..biiiiiiiiig mistake! The crowds were already swelling, Main Street was jammed and there were literally wall to wall people everywhere. Miserable. We used our 3 FP for Splash, Thunder and Jungle (all of which kids loved, esp Splash) and decided we'd call it a day there. We went back, swam for a while, relaxed, then decided to go to DTD for dinner with NO RESERVATION!! DTD was very busy as well and parking is a nightmare (the bus from our resort only goes to Epcot after 2 and from there you have to transfer, so we opted to drive our rental). Somehow someway, we managed to get into T Rex at 5:30 after only waiting 20 minutes. Kids wanted Rainforest Café but (no joke) it was a 3 hour wait! Everyone was tired and cranky and the noise of the place didn't help so we kind of ate, dropped some cash at the World of Disney and took a ferryboat back over to our parking lot on the West Side (the construction is all around you as DTD turns into Disney Springs. The former Pleasure Island section is finished and work has just begun on the Marketplace side. The West Side won't really be touched much, so the whole project should be done by early 2016). We went back to the hotel and decided that for the next 2 days, we were going to do the morning EMH at 7 AM, in order to knock out a bunch of stuff. Day 4- April 8, 2015 We arrived to the MK at 7:30 and knocked out a bunch of Fantasyland-Tea Cups, Small World, Philharmagic ,Dumbo, and Barnstormer along with FP for Pooh and Belle. We then were able to go to lunch with a reservation at Tonys Town Square, which we finished right as the crowds were swelling. We took an afternoon break to swim, then went back about 4 to do Mansion (kids found it interesting), Buzz,and Tomorrowland Speedway before dinner at Be Our Guest, for which we had a 6:10 reservation, yet weren't seated till close to 6:30. Dinner was good, but cold, but the kids loved meeting The Beast. After dinner we went over to Space to get a return time, then over to the PeopleMover. Upon returning to Space, it was down and after waiting for a bit, decided to head back to the hotel ( an interesting note about the DAS card--there is no expiration. You can go on the ride anytime throughout your stay once you reach your return time). We hoped the ride would be back up the next day. Day 5--April 9, 2015 Arrived again about 7:30 and headed right over to Space. It was up and running, so we were able to ride it twice in a row with little to no wait. Everyone loved it except my son lol! From there we went over to meet Anna and Elsa with our FP, which the kids really enjoyed, then over to the Country Bear Jamboree to see where daddy worked on the College Program then on to Jack Sparrow and the Pirates. Pirates is due for a major rehab in about a month that will cause a 4 month closure. Everything was working fine on our ride though. Finally, we ended our trip with a spin around the park on the railroad before saying goodbye to Disney! We spent the rest of the week at my parents winter home in Palm Beach, about 2.5 hrs down the road. Overall, it was a great trip. I wanted the kids to see the parades, shows and fireworks, but with a 5 year old, it just wasn't feasible. Next time. We did stay our last night in a regular room next door at Pop Century in the 50s building 2 near the main building. Having not stayed in a Value resort in some years, I was really shocked at the size of the foodcourts. And of course the gift shops, which rivaled in size any Disney Store I've ever been in. I'm seriously considering buying a resale into the Disney Vacation Club, since the ones Disney is selling are only in the really high-end resorts right now. I'm deciding between Saratoga and Old Key West as my "home" resort, so if any of you KICers out there have firsthand knowledge about DVC, please post and let me know about it! Since I like to take 1-2 trips a year there, I figure it's a good investment. Hope you enjoyed reading! Looking forward to a number of trips to KI this summer both with and without the kids!

but you will be waiting if Fury 325 does stack

Unless the park has changed direction, Fireworks happen on all nights when the park is scheduled for a 10PM or later close.