Delirium_Guy Posted September 18, 2007 Share Posted September 18, 2007 Seems as if a new tradition has began for me....making the trek to Orlando the first week of September. Crowds were ultra light last year, allowing us to ride until our hearts were content. So it was a no brainer that we'd repeat the same trip this year! Anyone who knows me, knows of my love for Disney. Everytime I step foot on property, I'm absolutely amazed at the experiences I have. There is always something new or something that I didn't notice the last time. This year we opted for a 10-day Park Hopper. Ultimately, we ended up upgrading our tickets to Annual Passes since we are planning to go again for New Years. Now we have free parking, some decent discounts at some of the gift shops, discounts at most of the restaurants at Downtown Disney among other things. They also reimbursed us for our Parking at Animal Kingdom the day we upgraded. This visit somethings were going to be missing. Mainly Haunted Mansion and Spaceship Earth. As we'd later learn, Rock'n Roller Coaster would also go down for a rehab during our visit! Just some highlights: Animal Kingdom - Simply amazed at the beauty of this park and amazed that they built it from scratch. Taking a spin on Kilimanjaro Safari truly feels as if you are traversing an African savannah. Animal Kingdom is truly starting to blossom into a hell of a Park. The addition of Expedition Everest has tremendously increased traffic in the Park and really made AK a destination on the Disney property. Everest itself really grew on me this visit. I liked it last year, but was a tad underwhelmed after reading some spoilers of the ride once it opened. This year, the hype wasn't present and I really was able to take in everything on the ride. The queue itself is so impressive with all the artifacts that they collected while researching the ride. Still present are the steaming trains as they enter and exit the loading station. Ride itself is still butter smooth and just plain fun. The Yeti animatronic is incredibly effective, despite its short appearance during the ride. The ride was just the ticket for AK and has really rounded the Park out a lot. Also new to us this year was Finding Nemo: The Musical. I'm normally a big Disney show guy.....but this one didn't cut it for me. Impressive were the stage sets and the actual puppets. Disappointing were the actors playing the parts of the characters themselves. Something just didnt' click in the show for me and I left feeling very disappointed. Still reigning as one of my favorite shows is Festival of the Lion King. Simply done, but perhaps the best show on property. Of course all the other goodies are still present with Dinosaur, Primeval Whirl, Kali River Rapids….. MGM Studios – We didn’t spend as much time as usual here this visit. We did manage to catch Fantasmic! 4 times. This show never gets old for me. Love the clips of Disney’s animtated flicks portrayed on the water curtain. The ending with the Steamboat Willie ship and all the Disney characters performing on it is super. Mix it all in with a phenomenal soundtrack, nice pyrotechnics and the mouse himself….you’ve got a winner J Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster went down for refurbishment around the 4th day of our trip, so we made sure to get several rides in place before that happened. Ride was running well. Still butter smooth. Speakers blaring loudly as always. They’ve kinda botched the queue up a bit. There is a single ride line and fast pass line that empty inside the building in what used to be stand-by queue. The stand by queue is now cut off by the obnoxious marble door that you enter through. Its kind of a mess, actually. Once you get into the pre-show room, single rides take the top row and then they fill the lower row with everyone else. Inside the load station, changes have also been made to accommodate the new single ride lane. Still a great ride though, love the music. Tower was rockin’ as always. We had some great rides and some great programs on it. Everytime I thought it was over, we’d get bolted back up to the top of the tower and drop again. I still stand by my comment that Tower of Terror is one of the greatest attractions ever built by Disney. The creativeness that went into the design was well beyond its time when it opened….and the result is one hell of a drop ride! Toy Story Mania is well under construction, with Mickey Avenue being blocked off from traffic now. After talking to my buddy that works down there, it sounds like its going to be a fun little ride. Can’t wait to hit it up next summer. This time at the Studios, we noticed A LOT more street performers. They were very entertaining and very much into their role. Epcot – Soarin’ still rocks. Enough said. Got a cool tour of Test Track and Mission Space with my friend who works there. Test Track is quite the complex ride, 192 blocks in total. The control room was pretty sweet. There is such a long list of things that can make this ride go down….all the way down to having a car detected with low air pressure in the tires. It will shut everything down, they go add air and the ride returns to operation. It can remain shut down for 11 minutes before they have to do an evac and reset the system. Underneath the ride was very cool. Beneath the road surface is actually a coaster like track. The cars are equipped much the same way as a coaster would be…..with the road, guide and upstop wheels. Mission Space was fun as always. Still a super intense attraction. It, too, has many checks and balances that can throw the system off. Interesting fact, once the ride starts the lights in the room actually turn ON while its in motion. There is a photo imaging system in place that takes a picture after the ride stops and before the ride begins. If there is anything that is slightly off place, the ride will not start. Illuminations was brilliant and I found a much great love for this show this time. Rumors are circulating that its days are numbered and a new, revised show is coming. The inferno barge is crazy. Spaceship Earth was down for its refurbishment, boo! Magic Kingdom – Still my personal favorite of the Disney Parks. We missed Haunted Mansion by 2 days, BOO! I’m hearing great things about the refurbishment, so can’t wait to go check it out. The Mountains were bringing it as always. Big Thunder was a blast, 3 of us crammed in the car….definitely made for a different kind of ride LOL! Space Mountain still gets me everytime. Hard to believe it reaches a terrifying speed of 27MPH…..yet it feels so much faster. Splash Mountain is still the best flume. Period. With an 11 minute ride time, Splash is an experience of its own. Love the story, love the detail and love theming. Philharmagic still gives me chills and is hands down the best of the 4D attractions in Orlando…..or anywhere for that matter. Of course, Magic Kingdom is home to my favorite nighttime show…..Wishes. Can’t get enough of it. The last 20 seconds are absolutely breathtaking. This year we had great views every night…..sitting right smack in front of Cinderella Castle. Not gonna lie, I still tear up at the end. Universal – Islands of Adventure is in desperate need of some TLC. Lots of attractions and buildings in need of a good paint job. Lines were non-existent. Hulk was fun, but getting rougher. Dueling Dragons are still butter smooth, but suffer from PATHETIC operations. Ripsaw Falls is now equipped with lapbars in the boats….makes for a tight and rather uncomfortable ride. No signs of work on the Wizarding Worlds of Harry Potter. I think this is JUST the thing that IOA needs though to breath some life back into it. Studios was fun, actually becoming my favorite part of the Universal complex. Mummy was bringing it as always. Men in Black is still the best shoot ‘em ride out there…..though Toy Story Mania may give it a run for its money. Things were well underway to prepare the park for Halloween Horror Nights. We’re hoping to possibly hop back down for a weekend next month, as I’ve never been! Busch Gardens – I’m pretty much done with this place. Everytime we go, we have a lousy time. The difference is night and day between this place and Williamsburg……although Interpreter and I would disagree on which is the superior park. Operations were HORRIBLE. Employees were incredibly rude this visit. All this mixed with the screw up of their EZPay system with my friends season pass, led us to leaving about an hour after arriving. The new floorless Sheikra trains are pointless. It really adds nothing to the ride experience and seems like such a waste of money. I’ll be much happier next time just staying in Orlando and sticking with Sea World. Sea World was a great time as usual. Kraken is still the best coaster in Orlando. The new water park, Aquatic, is shaping up nicely as well. We spent 10 days in Orlando. Had a blast. Can’t get enough Disney. Happy to be an Annual Pass Holder now, whoo hoo! - Todd Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Interpreter Posted September 19, 2007 Share Posted September 19, 2007 Sounds like you guys had a wonderful trip. Sorry BGA disappointed you.... --The Interpreter, holder of a BGA Platinum Pass... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Delirium_Guy Posted September 19, 2007 Author Share Posted September 19, 2007 Sounds like you guys had a wonderful trip. Sorry BGA disappointed you.... --The Interpreter, holder of a BGA Platinum Pass... I'm quite happy with my Sea World Platinum Pass.....of course we both know they are one and the same :-) BGA is such a *nice* park. Kumba is the one and only thing that keeps me coming back....it never disappoints. Oh lord, have you ridden Gwazi lately? Running like a champ that thing is * end sarcasm *. - Todd Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Interpreter Posted September 19, 2007 Share Posted September 19, 2007 However badly it may be running, I can ASSURE you it is running better than Thunder Road or Hurler at ... Carowinds. Sigh. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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