Voicetek

The 'Stitch's Great Escape' attraction at The Walt Disney World's Magic Kingdom will move to a seasonal operation schedule starting next month. Read more about it here: http://www.wdwmagic.com/attractions/stitchs-great-escape/news/21sep2016-stitchs-great-escape-moves-to-seasonal-operation.htm Could this mean that the end for this attraction is on the horizon? What are your thoughts?

Wow, 15-20 hours to solve the puzzle? I'm assuming this isn't all done in one visit. Does this require multiple visits to complete?

^The same reason I've seen people walking around KI with a tray stacked full of pizza plates. I think people just buy pizza cause it's $1.

Labor Day weekend looks to be a "triple threat" weekend. Not only is it a holiday weekend and Dollar Days, but it will also be a "Bring a Friend" weekend as well. According to an e-mail I received from KI, you can bring up to four friends that weekend for $19.99 a piece. Looks like everyone will be bringing their hungry friends to load up on pizza and ice cream. Heck, if everyone is in line for food, perhaps the rides for the lines won't be too bad lol. Still not going to check it out though. I'll just read the trip reports from that weekend here

My wife and I will be visiting Epcot in mid-November. I'm planning on checking out all of my favorite attraction there just in case any of them end up getting closed. I hate to see rides like this get shut down and replaced. It absolutely killed me to see Maelstrom get gutted and replaced by a fad that hasn't really proven its longevity yet. That's another thing, they're ripping out classic rides and replacing them with themes that are popular currently. Just because Guardians of the Galaxy or Frozen seem popular now, that doesn't mean that people will care about them later. I wish they'd come up with something new and original that isn't linked to a current IP. I think the Star Wars and Toy Story Lands in Hollywood Studios is a great idea. These two properties have been popular for decades with no sign of slowing down. That park needed a refresh and I think this was a smart move. What Disney is doing with Pandora in Animal Kingdom and from what we've seen in Epcot so far, I think, are horrible ideas. I guess we'll just have to wait and see what actually happens with this.

After attending the event a few different times, my wife and I have decided that it's really not worth all the hassle and will be skipping this year. Last year's dollar days was really and eye opener for me. I really started questioning just what the heck we were doing when we walked into LaRosa's to get some pizza and watched the employees just tossing slices of pizza into a big pile and then watching guests rummaging through a big heaping pile of pizza slices like a bunch of pigs. Turned my stomach a little. Gluttony is also on full display. Watching people carrying around 20 slices of pizza stacked on a tray just because they're $1 a slice is ridiculous. It really hit me at the end of the day when I was waiting in line for 45 minutes just to get an ice cream cone that's 1/4 the size of a regular one. There were people everywhere, pushing and shoving to get through, it was hot and I was dripping sweat. I began to wonder just how much this ice cream was worth to me. It definitely wasn't worth all that. Driving all the way out to KI (a half hour drive for us), fighting heat, fighting crowds and long waits just isn't worth saving a few bucks. If I want pizza Labor Day weekend, I'll drive 10 minutes down the roads to our local LaRosa's, sit down in a nice cool restaurant, and enjoy my pizza there. No crowds, no heat, no lines, no digging through piles of slices. It started out kind of fun the first year. I think the novelty of $1 items was the biggest draw. Now that the novelty has worn off, you start to see it for what it really is. I'll be looking forward to skipping this year!

The article just mentioned that Boo Blasters uses the same track as it's "Smurftastic Predecessor." That's why I was questioning which predecessor the Smurftastic term was referring too. It couldn't have been the Smurfs since it was a boat ride and utilized the entire building. I just found it strange that the article could be referring to Scooby Doo or Phantom Theater as "Smurftastic".

There was one quote in the article I was a little unsure about: "The former Smurf ride is still a "dark ride," aka an enclosed attraction. In fact, "Boo Blasters on Boo Hill," an interactive attraction that opened in 2010, still uses the same track as its smurftastic predecessor." What ride was Boo Blasters' "Smurftastic Predecessor?" Are they talking about Scooby Doo or Phantom Theater? Surely they aren't talking about the Smurf ride, are they? How could Scooby Doo or Phantom Theater be "Smurftasic?" This line confused me a little bit. Other than that, a very interesting article!

I, too, found it interesting that they did their announcement on the side of the Crypt building. I'd love to see that turned into something really cool! I'm really hoping for a new dark ride of some kind. Either a retheme of Boo Blasters, or a new one somewhere else in the park.

Yeah I don't know. I assumed that 7:00 meant the 7 minute mark of the video, but that can't be right since the video isn't long enough. I checked the whole video for any footage of The Vortex in the background and didn't see any. I was curious to see what the comment was about, but couldn't figure it out. Oh well.

Just curious, where was The Vortex footage at? You mention that it's around 7:00, but the video is just a little under 3 minutes long. Maybe I'm missing something. I'd like to see what you're talking about, but I'm just a little confused. Could you explain?

From an e-mail I received earlier today:

Yes and no. Over the years, there were certain things that added to that sense of magic for me, but I feel like a lot of the things that made the park "magical" are slowing being removed. I remember walking into the park and getting a glimpse of International Street for the first time, seeing the fountains rising up, and hearing majestic instrumental music coming through the speakers. Wow, the excitement you felt as your senses took everything in. It was a magical feeling. I also remember walking through each of the lands and being immersed in the theming of the land. As a kid, I used to love Hanna-Barbera Land and hearing themed songs over the speakers like, "Scooby dooby doo, where are you..." or "...Yogi has it better than a millionaire, that's because he's smarter than the average bear!" Hearing these songs paired with enjoying the rides and seeing the actual characters walking around, it was like you were in some kind of fantasy land and it was awesome. This, of course, didn't stop with Hanna-Barbera Land, nope, you could enjoy the theming of each separate land as you roamed around the park. In Rivertown, you could take a ride on a couple different log flumes, listen to some country music, or hop on a train and ride through the wilderness and observe frontier villages, animals, and even Indians! It was like being transported to another time. If you continued your walk across the park, you could step back in time and enjoy classic rides in Coney Mall. Make your way around even further and you could take in the sites and sounds of Germany in Oktoberfest. There was so much more, but I feel like I've painted a clear picture. So is there still magic for me? Well, yes and no. I still enjoy my visits. I love the coasters and there is still enough in the scenery that I still enjoy walking around and taking it all in. There is also that nostalgia factor for me and that magic of all the memories that I've made over the years. My wife and I have been together for 10 years, and now when we go, we'll reminisce about some of the first times we were there at the park when we were dating. And when we have kids, it will add another element to that. I think, for me, there will always be some magic to be found at KI, but it's a tad frustrating remembering how it used to be and knowing that it could be much more magical should a few changes be made. I just hope that the uniqueness that IS left will be left alone and not removed. We can only hope!

I've visited Disney World the first week of December before and it was fantastic! The weather was nice, the decorations were up, and the crowds were extremely low. I remember the year we went down there at that time, we visited Hollywood Studios and in the evening, there was no line for Tower of Terror, so my sister and I marathoned it. We would exit, then run around to the entrance again. We did this for quite a while. What an amazing ride this is and it's sad that it's getting a crappy re-theme. Let's pray the one in Florida is safe so that at least one ToT will remain intact.

I love Christmas lights displays, but I'm not big on the drive through ones. Once you drive through you're done. I much prefer lights displays that let you walk around at your leisure. You can walk around and take as much time as you want. My friends and I went to a drive through lights display several years ago at Pyramid Hill in Hamilton. We paid around the same price ($5-6 a person) and drove through the display. 10-15 minutes later we were done and no option for re-entry of course. It just doesn't feel like you're getting your money's worth.

I was just talking about this with my wife when we were at the park Saturday night. It just seems like in recent years, the quality of the people attending has gone way down. But who can really blame them from coming out when you can have a whole summer of food and fun for what it would cost you to do something else just a couple of times. Back in the 80s and early 90s when you also had Americana and Fantasy Farm up and running, we used to joke around about the crowds. At Americana we'd say the people attending there are the Kings Island reject and at Fantasy Farm, we'd say they were the Americana rejects. Now we weren't doing this to be mean, but it was obvious as you went to the various parks the the quality of the people changed in relation to the price of admission to the park. I can hardly blame Disney for the rising cost of their theme park tickets anymore. If this is a way to keep crowds down and keep the quality of people visiting up, then so be it. The cheaper it gets to visit someplace, the lower class of people you'll get visiting.

Isn't that ear thing tinnitus? If it is, I would think doctors would know some of the causes. Any type of ear ringing, whether it be permanent or temporary is marked as "tinnitus" when diagnosed by a doctor. And yes, some of the specialists I went to claimed to know the "causes." However, the causes they were claiming, didn't happen to me. The first specialist told me that I must have been around loud explosions or shooting off a gun with no ear protection the day it started. I told him that wasn't the case. He told me I just must have not remembered. Idiot. Another thing. Usually tinnitus is a result of hearing loss or hearing damage which is permanent. My hearing tests (I had like 3 or 4 of them done) came back normal. One hearing doctor even thought my level of hearing was pretty good for a then 33 year old. Another thing, like I mentioned in my post, my symptoms come and go. Some times I'm fine, other days it's really bad, and then there are those in-between days. It's really weird. I've been to 4 ear specialists and one neurologist and all they have are either invalid claims or theories. No one has been able to offer any kind of true diagnosis or explain what's really going on. For now I just take it day by day and hope for the best.

^I'd much rather hear laughing and giggling. Seeing/hearing people having fun is fine with me. I like to see that! However, when a group of teenagers randomly start yelling nonsense for no good reason, that's when it gets irritating. By all means, laugh, giggle, have fun....but for goodness sakes, quit the screaming! :-)

That's weird. It was filled and splashing when I was there Saturday night.

I think for me it's even more noticeable because two years ago I spontaneously developed an ear condition. And when I say spontaneous, I'm not exaggerating. One day I was fine, the other I wasn't. One Sunday afternoon my ears, out of the blue, just started to ring. Nothing to cause it. My wife and I were just laying around watching some TV. Since then, my ears have become painful and sensitive. Doctors don't know what's wrong and my hearing tests are normal so it's really odd. My symptoms come and go and some days it's worse than others. I don't go to public places anymore without earplugs and you better believe I was wearing them Saturday at the park. My wife, who has no ear issues, was telling me that she wished she had some earplugs as well. It should never be so bad that people wished they had earplugs to put in their ears.

My wife and I decided to ride out to the park Saturday night since this was the second week the park was going to be open until Midnight. We figured it would be nice to go out for a few hours and catch some night rides and enjoy the park a bit. We arrived at the park around 8:30 pm and after driving around and around for a while, finally found a place to park. One thing I've noticed previous years was that it seems like there are a lot of groups/companies visiting on Saturdays in July when the park is open until midnight. One year was the worst with like 7 or 8 companies visiting on the same day! Needless to say the park was extremely crowded. So after we parked the car, I checked out the KI sign and, sure enough, saw that they were welcoming multiple groups/companies. This day, however, it wasn't too bad with only 3-4 companies visiting. As we entered the park, we did notice that it was very crowded, which can be expected on a Saturday. We decided just to take it easy and walk at a leisurely pace and just get on whatever we could get on in the amount of time we had. First up was Diamondback. We got in line and waited almost an hour and a half. It was daylight when we got in line, but it was now completely dark and we even got to watch the fireworks show from the line. It sucked to wait that long, but on the positive side of things, we got to enjoy a night ride on Diamondback! After leaving Diamondback, we headed towards The Beast. We weren't sure we wanted to wait in a long line again, but thought we would just check it out and see how bad it was. It was bad. We decided to skip it and move onto something else. We walked over to Coney Mall and caught a ride on The Racer. The line wasn't too bad, almost a walk-on. A nice ride on this classic coaster! Next up, one of our favorites - Adventure Express. Again, this one was a walk-on and we had our choice of seats. We picked the very back row and off we went! Unfortunately, the effects in the second tunnel weren't working. The spears weren't moving at all. I had read in another post on here that they saw the spears moving this season. Maybe they were off that night? Who knows for sure. Also, the last lift tunnel had the nice lighting effects running, but no sound. They just can't seem to get this thing working all at once! Please KI, give AE some TLC! After Adventure Express it was a little after 11 and we decided to walk back to International Street and check out some shops. This is something we don't do too often, so it's nice on occasion to spend some time looking around at things. Once we were finished, the time was around 11:45 so we decided to head on out. Let's talk about some good things about our trip: Well, the weather was awesome. It was between 70 and 75 degrees while we were there. Definitely the perfect weather to be at the park! We also had some great night rides which are also a plus when visiting the park. Now the bad things: Well, I don't know if it's just me and that fact that I'm getting older or what, but has anyone else noticed that the atmosphere at KI has become loud and rowdy lately? I don't know if it's just this season, but I noticed it more when we were there Saturday night. First, I don't know what the deal is, but we kept getting our ears blown away from groups of spontaneous screamers. First when we were walking up to the entrance from the parking lot, these two girls were sitting on a curb and as we walk by they just started screaming nonsense sounds at the top of their lungs. Scared the crap out of my wife and me. Then just periodically throughout the park, random people and groups would just start shouting and screaming to the top of their lungs, mainly just nonsense sounds and noise. I can understand screaming on a ride (sorta), but just to be walking through the park, or sitting somewhere and just spontaneously burst out in a high pitch scream is just crazy to me. Next, it just seemed like the music around the park was on full blast. It was constant bass thumping in your head the whole night. We seemed to really notice this because we were standing literally two feet from each other and could hardly carry a conversation without screaming. When you're standing next to someone and have to scream at them in order for them to hear, the music is too loud. Is this a park or a nightclub? I couldn't really figure it out Saturday. One thing I don't care about as I'm taking a leisurely walk through Rivertown or Coney Mall is that Taylor Swift is "never ever ever getting back together" with her boyfriend. On top of the music, spontaneous screamers, and the additional noise of the fun TVs, it was just audible chaos Saturday night. At one point, I was just looking for a place to go to avoid some noise and find some quiet. I think that's one of the reasons why we ducked into some shops at the end of the night. It's sad when, what used to be, such as nice park now just seems like a rowdy club. All kind of loud pop music, plus just a bunch or rowdy people screaming and acting a fool, I was just so disappointed by how overwhelming everything was. It was almost to the point that you couldn't enjoy yourself. Anyway, of course we'll be back though cause it's my home park and we have passes. I'm hoping this was just a bad night and that future visits won't be as bad as this one. I'm hoping this was all just a fluke and things will return to the way they usually are. Has anyone else noticed these problems though? Leave me some comments and let me know what you think!

I've had this problem for months. Sometimes I'll come back and still be logged in, others, I've been logged out. It's kind of random, but I just log back in and everything's good. I'll try this and see if it works.

This link is to a place called Joyland Amusement Park. The Screechin' Eagle was at the Americana Amusement Park in Monroe, Ohio. I'm thinking you might have posted the wrong video link. Here is the link where Adam the Woo visits the Fantasy Farm/Americana area: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T8jIocAGX_o

My profile photo, which is rectangular, is 191px × 263px and the site auto scaled it to 150px × 207px. Not sure if that helps or not. If you're trying to upload some kind of digital pic, that picture is most likely in the thousands of pixels depending on the quality. You will definitely want to crop it and resize it in some way. As stated in other posts above, just do a search on Google and you should be able to find something to help you accomplish this.

My friends and I went to the park on a weekday the summer Flight of Fear opened. We waited in line for FoF for almost 4 hours. It's probably the longest line I've waited in at the park that wasn't for a ride on opening day.