ROA Day 4 Disney's Animal Kingdom/Disney's Hollywood Studios/Magic Kingdom

[BoddaH1994]

Day 4 was a packed one for Ryan's Orlando Adventure. We did three parks -- Disney's Animal Kingdom, Disney's Hollywood Studios and Magic Kingdom.

Disney's Animal Kingdom was absolutely beautiful! It's hard to believe that it was all man made!

We began the day by riding Expedition Everest -- Disney's recent $100 million addition to the park.

Expedition Everest is a great ride. Everything is themed, and you'd have no idea that you were on a ride if not for the ride vehicle itself. At one point, you are towed up a lift hill only be find that the track ahead is mangled. You are then released to roll backwards -- and you roll a different way than you came. There's actually a really intense part during this while you are making the turn in your inverted state. You have several encounters with the Yetti, one of which is a silhouette and another is with an animatronic. The ride experience over all isn't very intense, but it does offer a complete storyline that gives it a certain reride value.

Disney has their own dinosaur ride that rivals Universal's Jurrassic Park. It's actually a really neat ride experience that utilizes a hydraulic car in order to simulate different effects such as rugged terrain and explosion impacts.

The differing concept is the fact that with Jurrassic Park, you're essentially visiting the park of the same name while Disney's has you on traveling back in time attempting to recover a specimen. I think the thing I enjoyed the most about Disney's attraction is that you have a near miss with a meteor shower before traveling back to the future.

We then headed for the absolutely beautiful Tree of Life.

Within this man made freak of nature, there is a theatre that features Tough to Be a Bug, which is based on the hit Disney movie A Bug's Life.

What I found most interesting about this interactive experience is that Disney could have easily simply made a high quality 3D film, but they went above and beyond. They decided to "plus it" as Walt Disney used to famously say. The 3D experience was as good as any, but the interaction of the characters on screen with live audio animatronics really created a unique experience.

Following Tough to Be A Bug, we were seated in the theatre to see the very famous Lion King show. I must admit that I expected a typical set up -- amphitheater seating, stage, etc for this, but the entire setting was strange. It had four sets of bleachers which centered around a seemingly empty heart of the venue. I had joked with Todd before the show that the theatre looked nice and all, but "I kind of expected... you know... a stage."

Of course, not uncommon to Disney, you can always take you expectations and multiply them by 10 and still be fulfilled.

Huge floats were brought in -- all of which featured life-like wild animals. Everything from acrobatics to live signing and dancing made this one of the most enjoyable experiences at Animal Kingdom!

This show takes a quiet, warehouse-like theatre and makes it one of the most mystical experiences you may ever have in your park-going life. If you're every going down to Orlando, make sure you check this one out.

After Lion King, we rode the beautiful safari ride, which featured several species of live animals.

If any of you watched the History Channel's Modern Marvels - Walt Disney World, the imagineers boast the fact that you can't see any fences or barriers in the animal exhibits -- and they were right. Trust me, I looked!!

We then decided to head over to Disney's Hollywood Studios.

Disney's Hollywood Studios was intended to rival Universal Studios, carrying a similar backlot theme. Although Universal's backlot was a little more convincing (sans that eyesore of a coaster) Hollywood Studios was an absolutely beautiful park.

Upon entering, we decided we were hungry so we stopped by the 50s Prime Time Cafe'. This place was messed up.

You'd think it was themed to the cliche' of a 50s diner, but of course Disney decided to "plus it" once again and make feel as though you are eating in a 1950's home. I'm not kidding. In fact, you were instructed to sit in the living room and watch TV while they prepared your table. The food was good, but the thing that really set the standard was the level of commitment to character by the servers. More than once, we were (in almost a rude fashion) instructed to keep our elbows off the table. Our server also yelled at us for having our "walkie talkies" (cell phones) on the table. This place was a blast. You must eat there next time you go down to Disney's Hollywood Studios.

After eating our vintage meal at the 50s cafe, we headed over to the Aerosmith Rockin' Rollercoaster.

The ride is actually themed to the band Aerosmith, and you have been invited to join them in the studio. Before long, their manager comes in to tell them that they're late for a gig. They remedy the situation by sending you, in their high-speed limo, to their show with an all access backstage pass.

The ride itself is like a watered down Flight of Fear. I wasn't very happy with the coaster in itself, but the integration of Aerosmith songs added a special element of fun to the ride.

Next, we headed to the Hollywood Hotel for one of my "must ride before I die" experiences on Twilight Zone: Tower of Terror.

Ok -- I'm a little biased since I'm a big Twilight Zone fan (the old ones, not the stale retread) but this ride absolutely delivered! You are packed into a library and the TV flips on and Rod Sterling tells you the tale of the Hollywood Hotel and how it was struck by lightning. I guess they used old audio clips and modern technology to create the episode since Sterling died in 1975, but you'd really never know it.

The ride itself is actually quite thrilling and integrates several surprises and special effects. Let's not kid ourselves -- it's a drop ride. But from what I understand, they actually pull the car down faster than gravity in order to make sure you get negative Gs. Totally awesome. This constituted about 5 rides in the time I was there.

I think the most impressive thing was how they were totally committed to the theme. Everywhere you went -- the gift shop, the queue... anywhere, you were convinced that you were in an old run down hotel rather than on a ride.

^ Can anyone guess what that is? It's not the lobby of a hotel... it's where you can purchase your on ride photos!

We headed over to Magic Kingdom to meet up with some friends, but don't fret -- we returned to Hollywood Studios the next day to pick up some of the slack.

Magic Kingdom actually brought back some memories. This wasn't my first visit to that park. I actually went when I was about 2 or 3 years old, but only remember short flashes of it.

We rode Jungle Cruise, Splash Mountain and Pirates of the Caribbean first. I'm not going to harp on these rides too much since they're classics and I know many of you have experienced them. I will however say that the new animatronics with Capt. Jack Sparrow were so lifelike that I was convinced at certain points that they had an actor playing the roll.

At night fall we watch the parade entitled Spectrum. It's really cool... really neat... lots of lights... but it gets old. Not gonna lie -- I'd take the Nickelodeon Celebration Parade over it.

Next we headed toward one that I had been especially looking forward to -- Haunted Mansion.

This was a ride that I kind of remember a little bit from when I went to Disney World as a small child. One word: amazing... absolutely amazing. They used every trick in the book to create special effects, many of which were almost impossible to tell how they were done.

Next we headed toward Cinderella Castle to see Wishes, which is Magic Kingdom's big firework display.

I liked how they integrated several classic Disney songs from the movies into the show, but I thought it was a downplay from Fantasmic and Illuminations. Part of the show has an original piece entitled Wishes, which is sung by a child. Word seemed to be getting out that it was sung by a child who did it as a request to the Make A Wish Foundation and passed away not long afterward. This seemed to carry a very special meaning for the locals.

After Wishes concluded, we rode Peter Pan's Flight. Some said that the ride wasn't worth it because it was so short. I really think they're just a little on the spoiled side since the ride is every bit of 4 minutes long.

We ended the night - at the request of The Interpreter - with A Small World. This ride is very famous with a very catchy theme song. Don't start singing it -- it'll be struck in your head for a year.

Oh yeah, and there were some random shoes under Todd's car when we got back to the parking lot.

[The Interpreter]

Awww...you did get to ride...now I won't have to sing to you in the park ...well, I'll try not to, anyway!

Thanks for yet another great report. I must confess...Disney's MGM...er...the Studio park is one of my favorite experiences in all of parkdom. I could easily spend a week there without riding a single thing...but of course the Hotel would be calling!

[BoddaH1994]

Of course we rode it... much to Todd's objection...

[goofywdw]

Nice PTR! I still can't believe we both visited the area at the same time. I wore my KIC shirt the day we went to Universal which was the 7th. It was such a great time to go with the very low crowds.

[Beast79]

One thing about Disney they do not skip out on theming! After just thinking about its a small world the song is stuck in my head!!

[Delirium_Guy]

Of course we rode it... much to Todd's objection...

Yeah, yeah, but I'm a good friend and rode anyway....I had my yearly ride. Maybe I'll be fortunate enough to skip out on riding next year . Glad you like Hollywood Studios, Terpy. Beautiful park, but I don't go for the attractions....I've seen the shows all too many times at this point. We mostly stay on Sunset Blvd these days....Coaster, Tower and Fantasmic make a fabulous trio for an evening at the Park.

- Todd

[CincyMan98]

I'm crying right now, because I love Disney so much. Haven't been there since I was 7 (which isn't that much for me )

[standbyme]

Nice update.

...we headed over to the Aerosmith Rockin' Rollercoaster. The ride itself is like a watered down Flight of Fear.

I am glad to I see that I am not the only one who felt this way...I got off thinking "is that all it is"?

It's a small world after all...

[BoddaH1994]

Of course we rode it... much to Todd's objection...

Yeah, yeah, but I'm a good friend and rode anyway....I had my yearly ride. Maybe I'll be fortunate enough to skip out on riding next year . Glad you like Hollywood Studios, Terpy. Beautiful park, but I don't go for the attractions....I've seen the shows all too many times at this point. We mostly stay on Sunset Blvd these days....Coaster, Tower and Fantasmic make a fabulous trio for an evening at the Park.

- Todd

KIC Event in 2044 will be at Magic Kingdom and we're going to marathon Small World for 8 hours.

ha ha

[The Interpreter]

I'm writing this down.

And I fully intend to be there. If need be, someone needs to push my wheelchair and tell me what's going on!

[Delirium_Guy]

Nice update.

...we headed over to the Aerosmith Rockin' Rollercoaster. The ride itself is like a watered down Flight of Fear.

I am glad to I see that I am not the only one who felt this way...I got off thinking "is that all it is"?

It's a small world after all...

I may actually agree with the statement that Flight of Fear is better IF....Flight of Fear ran like it used to. As it stands now, Flight of Fear is fairly dull itself. I don't particularly like hanging off the block brakes after coming to a complete stop.....which results in the what is usually an amazing ending just being kinda blah. If Rock 'n' Coaster were a stand alone ride, no theming or anything, it'd be very dull indeed. I tremendously enjoy the soundtrack though and I like the general theme behind the ride including all the signage and such in the show building itself.

- Todd

[standbyme]

I tremendously enjoy the soundtrack though and I like the general theme behind the ride including all the signage and such in the show building itself.

I agree that the theming is great...just as you would expect from Disney...but it's like that old slogan about putting lipstick on a pig...

[The Interpreter]

...you get Miss Piggy?

[Delirium_Guy]

...you get Miss Piggy?

Oh my, lets not get started on Muppet Vision at Studios! Anyway, regardless of whether its putting lipstick on a pig....it sure makes one HELL of a difference in the experience that guests get and thats what ultimately counts. :-)

- Todd

[The Interpreter]

Some people understand you get nickels with service, showmanship and integrity. Others...

[Avatar]

Ryan - Fun read and I think this 4th report of you vacation now doubles your trip report count. I am glad to hear you got the Animal Kingdom concept and that you got to enjoy Lion King. The shoe thing is odd and so is the blue line in the picture.

Flight of Fear has always been a personnel favorite of mine up to and until slower dispatch times and stooping in the middle of the ride. I love heavy theme and Rock N Rollercoaster is awesome when it comes to a thrill ride combined with heavy theme.

[LongLiveTheSmurfRide]

Cool reports. I just got back from my Honeymoon yesterday and I believe we were at Disney around the same days as you. My report will most likely be epic with the amount of pictures we took. It was a great time. We took a cruise afterwards and it had no chance to live up to what we experienced at Disney.

[TylerRider]

Very good trip report.