Florida October 2010 Trip Report

[Retro_Link]

WTF. They were redoing Disaster (used to be Earthquake!) last time I was there - assumed it would be actually be different. Sounds exactly the same. Maybe they made it look less dated.

 

I participated once. Is that the one with loads of water and stuff? I remember having to pull a lever. Or something. It was good.

 

OMG you didn't do T2?!1!/

Yeah when you participate there are like 6 of you, some on green screen/amongst green balls, yeah others have things dropped on them etc... and it all goes into a little movie whilst you're on the ride...

 

which yeah you are in a broken down subway train and the ground moves around, a truck falls in from the street above and water gushes down the stairs.

 

There's a VERY similar ride at another park isn't there? or maybe it's been replaced?... is it an MGM... where you are actually in a moving train that takes you to different areas and there's a tanker that explodes and water etc...

[Paj!]

Hmm, sounds they updated the participation bit. No green screen when I was there - the participation was more similar to, as you said, MGM, the boat bit. Lots of water (i think??), and then a bit where someone becomes a "stunt man" or something.

 

The ride sounds exactly the same though.

 

And yeah the MGM backlot is fun too (IMO).

[ReZourceman]

- Unlucky you didn't get to go on RockIt?... is that it, or do you go back?

 

Unfortunately not. Hasn't/hadn't been working for a while apparently.

 

OMG you didn't do T2?!1!/

 

Yeah. No time!

[Paj!]

Oh. How long were you there for? 2 weeks?

 

Last few times I've been, I've been for 3 weeks, so I'm just used to having like...extra time on my hands. I guess.

[ReZourceman]

Yeah just two weeks. I don't own a castle.

[Paj!]

Fair enough. :p

[ReZourceman]

HILARIOUS VIDEO

 

[Retro_Link]

*pauses on 37 secs*

 

Water 'Moonwalk thing' LOL!

 

You better have gone to Pirate Cove!

[jayseven]

Enjoying reading about your holiday and how it makes me RAGE WITH JEALOUS WRATH OF GLUTTONOUS, LUSTROUS PRIDE or whatever. But where are the Daily ReZ's!

[ReZourceman]

But where are the Daily ReZ's!

 

- I'm still tired/jet lagged.

- I still have about 8 albums to upload

- Hours of video to edit and upload

- 10 trip reports left to write (previous have taken 1-3 hours to write each)

- Still not caught up on TV

- Only just started Hogwarts today.

- Need to write CV

- Need to look for job.

 

 

ReZ Daily is looking unlikely to start again soon.

[jayseven]

I like your order of play.

 

*procrastinates some more*

[ReZourceman]

New Video Alert!

 

[Platty]

Really enjoying reading the reports. Making me feel very jealous and my recent trip to Alton Towers seem very insignificant.

 

One question. How does your missus put up with you? :p

[ReZourceman]

One question. How does your missus put up with you? :p

 

Drugs. Lots of drugs.

 

Making me feel very jealous and my recent trip to Alton Towers seem very insignificant.

I wouldn't feel too bad, Alton Towers is better than the majority of the theme parks I went to! Alton Towers is amazing.

 

Gonna do two trip reports tomorrow...hopefully. Animal Kingdom one shouldn't be too long. Nor should Epcot. But Magic Kingdom at night in between.

[Dannyboy-the-Dane]

Claire sounds like she's ready to kill you at any moment.

[ReZourceman]

New trip report! Disney's Animal Kingdom!

 

GIANT TRIP REPORT IN SPOILER BOX

 

Friday 8th October, we awoke and our plans to go to Animal Kingdom on Wednesday had found themselves on Friday! But you cannot go to a theme park on an empty stomach, so the first stop was breakfast. I had wanted Burger King for a few days to try something I saw advertised. The chica's didn't want to - they said they wouldn't like it.

 

I effectively said to them they were being absolutely crazy and mental and so we went to Burger King! Honestly, I didn't really think there would be a breakfast sandwich that would top the mighty McGriddle but todays may have...possibly....been tastier. It is very close. In fact...yes...todays WAS better. I had....the amazing....the tantalising....Croissan'wich! Ahhhh! So freaking awesome.

 

 

 

Well actually it was a "Double", as it had sausage and bacon. Seriously too much win was happening in my mouth. After the deliciousness of breakfast we set out!

 

We parked up and could see the top of Everest! But instead of that, how about a picture of a Disney Tram?

 

 

 

We went through the mandatory ritual of wooden-stick-in-a-bag which we were now accustomed to and grabbed a map. The park seemed a difficult park to "do" because its like a donut shape and then interconnecting paths...everywhere...type....thing....kind....of?

 

I started to worry a little bit. The parked seemed very busy. As the paths aren't anywhere near as wide as in Magic Kingdom it was a lot more crowded...also, looking at the map I saw a distinct lack of attractions in comparison to the Magic Kingdom. Hmmmm. Apprehension set in.

 

I think I shaved the night before. Or that morning. One of the two. Evidenced in my baby faced donning of the leopard print Mickey ears. At this point I was yet to find my Mickey ears of choice - safari hat!

 

 

However, moments after this photo was taken I discovered them! YES! Something to wear at the Disney parks! WOOT! But....ahhhh man! Not one size fits all! Reasonably small. Unfortunately it did not fit on my big fat head. I was sad. We saw the impressive Tree of Life!

 

 

Oh! It should be noted at this point that I was rather looking forward to this park. Anyway. We walked a bit further and (still) hadn't really come across any big attractions yet somehow found ourselves at the back (corner circle bit area) of the park already. We saw Kilimanjaro Safari's, and noticed a queue time of what I think was like 45 minutes. Bummer. But alas we were in the world of Disney, so we grabbed a fast pass! YES! We then headed out for the next areas.

 

The park is pretty beautiful.

 

 

 

The next attraction we found was a walk through bit with some animals. Called "Pangani Forest Exploration Trail" We entered. Yeesh. What an absolute bore-fest. If my children were anything like me, and I bought my children to this attraction they would have been bored out of their skulls.

 

Honestly....like...genuinely the zoo at Chessington is a million times better. Virtually no interesting animals of the note. The best bit was the fish tank which was good because it showed underwater and the danger of overcrowding prisons. Tanks. I mean tanks.

 

 

 

The blazing hot sun (it was really hot) made a few good photos "great". Well I think so anyway.

 

 

We walked a lot further and we reached Asia (a land there, not the actual continent. That'd be ridiculous) although it did feel like we had walked ages! Anyway, we decided to brave the Kali River Rapids, which I had heard you didn't get toooo wet on. Hmmm. Thanks for that tip! (I obviously got soaked. And I obviously got the wettest on the boat, as seems to happen constantly) anyway the River Rapids were quite good....I feel they could have had a lot more theming though. I was kind of hoping for at least a similar-ish level of theming to Splash Mountain, but really it wasn't anywhere near. There was a barren type bit of land with fire, very high up which worked very well and I enjoyed, along with a really big drop which was very much enjoyed! (As I had never really been on an actual "drop" on a River Rapids before)

 

But yes. Another good element was at the top of the chain pull. There is a giant (and I do mean giant) geyser in the water (as in spurt of water, not "alrite me ole pal' pound of apples for ya darlin'?) and the boat headed straight for it. We were like "Heh. That'll stop before we reach it *smile*" a few seconds pass "Should errr....yeah....should stop anytime now really." ......"Yep....not stopped yet and we're about to...yeah. Yeah it hasn't stopped and I'm now wet to my bone." but it was hilarious/good/shocking. BUT GAAAHHH! Ride needed more theming and it would have been amazing.

 

Its a very secluded ride (as is the whole park) so I couldn't get a huge amount of piccies.

 

 

 

Anyway, we came off the ride and I believe we grabbed a fast pass for Expedition Everest who's queue was 40 minutes at this point I think.

 

By this point we had been at the park for probably 2 hours I reckon. It was a big old place with lots to look at. It was time to go back to the safari and enter the wilderness! We got there, and with fast pass the queue was just under 10 minutes I guess.

 

I was wearing a Green Lantern t-shirt on this day. We walked towards the safari and a man walked passed, I didn't actually hear what he said but he said something to me (I recall just thinking he was mental) so smiled and nodded, Claire then informed me of what he said - he stuck out his fist and said "Just lemme charge my ring" on my t-shirt logo. WIN! I would have given a greater reaction to him if I had heard. Damn.

 

BUT!

 

Not even 30 seconds later (in the queue for Safari) a very attractive (indeed) Disney employee said something like "oooh Green Lanter, Cooool!" and I was like "Yeeeeaaaahhhhhh". I have a girlfriend, obviously...who was directly behind me. We both have this thing. If I see an attractive women and I'm with her, I cannot help it but have a gigantic grin on my face. My body literally cannot stop it. She is the same with hunky guys (so its fine, our relationship is solid for any worriers/stealers) and anyway so I glanced at her, and she was smirking because she knows that a super hot chick just totally GL'd me. We chuckled and I reassured her that she was the only one for me.....as a relationship between me and the other chick would never work (unless she was willing to move countries) :p

 

Anyway, enough of this nonsense. We entered the vehicles of the safari ride! Very promising as I got front row seat at the end. Camera at the ready I re-discovered the panoramic mode of my camera. Yeeesssss. I liked our driver/tour guide. She had a nice voice and told very interesting facts about the animals. Unlike Billhilly Lane or whatever the crappy animal trail was from earlier in the day, these animals were brilliant and the ride as a whole was AWESOME and very long. About 15 minutes or so I would guess (although we were lied to and told it was 2 weeks long!)

 

Now I got loooadddss of photos here, so I'm just going to post a few choice ones and provide the link for the album on Facebook. I'm an open guy (I think.....) so (I think....) I'm not private or anything. If I am just hit me a friend request. http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=551086&id=509970580

 

 

 

 

 

 

Yeah so that was excellent. We then...ermm..oh yeah my sister purchased a "brownie" it arrived and I personally (although it wasn't mine and I didn't have any/didn't plan to have any) was absolutely disgusted to see the arrival of a mere chocolate cake. A cake maketh not a brownie! I can't even describe the levels of disappointment that I would have been feeling had I been promised a brownie and then was given a cake for free, let alone having paid for the privilege.

 

We then went to the roots of the Tree of Life, for hidden beneath the animal carved trunk was a 4D cinema - Its Hard to be a Bug (I think it was called)

 

 

 

Queue time was about 5 minutes just over. Another case of just waiting for the previous show to finish or whatever. Anyway the effects themselves were brilliant! Don't want to ruin some of them, so I won't really explain any of it, but yeah all good fun. The film itself was a little bland/generic. There is no real story. But yeah its good.

 

Next we walked over to Dinoland USA. Nearby is the next attraction that we did;

 

 

Didn't have much room on my seat which was a little annoying, as the theatre was soooo packed, but meh. The musical was pretty brilliant, I very much enjoyed it. All good suits and puppets and such, mixed with or rather held by actors, in a similar kind of vain to Avenue Q if you are familiar. Excellent though, very much enjoyable, with good audience interacting bits and a pretty magical and colourful experience.

 

We looked around Dinoland and considered doing some of the attractions, but the queues were all too big for what they were. Like a spinning dumbo ride thing with about 30 minute queue and a generic crazy mouse coaster (with a few dabs of scenery) for 40 minutes etc. So we put our fast pass' for Expedition Everest to use! The star of the show! Probably the number 1 ride at the whole of Disney that I was looking forward to....I mean...like....the...ride I was looking forward to the most. I anticipated. A lot. Blog.

 

 

 

 

The queue was cool. Anyway, the coaster itself was awweeessssooooommmmeeeee. Really packed a punch unlike the "reasonably similar in terms of its on a mountain and is a train also" Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, but honestly I feel dirty just mentioning them in the same sentence because in terms (sorry about multi-use-of "in terms of") of everything it outshines it.

 

So yeah you go round a bit, then the big climb to the mountain, awesome, backwards bit...oh god the first backwards drop is freaking SICK, very very very cool loved that bit, then just the inside bit is just very fun indeed. Its just an extremely accomplished coaster, obviously the best ride at Disney so far.

 

We then went over to Dinosaur and I was reasonably "devastated" (or not yet I guess...) but sad to see a queue of 45 minutes. We felt very tired at this point you see, the park is large and we walked back and forth a bit, due to fast pass, anyway I knew it was basically must do and I was really looking forward to it, however my sister was feeling the heat very much and said she couldn't cope with standing in a queue for 45 so said she'd wait for us at the exit. So Claire and I marched forward towards the queue but BAM literally as we got there it changed to 1 hour. I was like. Hmmmmyynnhyyaaagggghhhh. Because it was essentially our last ride of the day as we had done most of it/queues were too big/we were hot and tired, I discussed with Claire and we decided that really 45 was pushing it but that we weren't really prepared to do an hour.

 

So we just pooped around (not literally....although I've just remembered I did go to the toilet at this point. It was just a wee wee though ) and popped in a few of the shops and such. We then watched the parade (which I just remembered we had planned and formed part of the decision to not do Dinosaur at a one hour queue as we would have missed) and that was pretty good/great if you love Disney/"...." if you're pretty indifferent like me.

 

 

 

 

So yes. Overall Animal Kingdom is a fairly beautiful park with a lot of things to photograph, and look at and generally feel in awe of. However it is spread out so much and there is soooo little to do (in general) and more specifically so little to do in each area. One area is a safari and a walk, another a theatre and several fairly low capacity rides, another is two large capacity rides but reasonably far apart, and the others just spread out. So bleh. Also I wasn't blown away by much of it. Obviously Expedition Everest is amazing and world class, and the Safari was very good. Apart from that it was just a bit "meh" I'm afraid to say.

 

Ranking the rides

Expedition Everest - Sick coaster.

Kilimanjaro Safari - Very cool, awesome, animal, interesting.

Kali River Rapids - Pretty sweet river rapids.

Its Tough to be a Bug - Very good effects, shame about the movie itself.

.

.

.

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Pangani Forest Exploration Trail - Terrible.

 

And having just checked this back it only seems to be four rides, a show, a parade and a walk. Hmmm. Quite bad really for over 6 hours. Still I certainly didn't have a bad time. It was enjoyable

 

Overall score - 7/10

 

Chessington is a lot better in all honesty. :p But I'm absolutely glad I went, and it was of course worth doing for the few amazing and unique rides they had.

 

 

I'm itching to hear what you other Florida folks think of this park.

[Ramar]

I like the Animal Kingdom, its got a decent blend of rides (mostly quite tame, but disney isn't really a thrill place), attractions, shows and animals. A good mix of everything for all the family. That line sounds like some cliché advert, but its true.

[Paj!]

I love Animal Kingdom, because the whole thing feels like/is one big theme. However last time I remember the rest of my family actually left the park because they were bored/tired after doing the safari (only) in the morning, leaving just me and my uncle. Really annoyed me. I hate when people refuse to experience things. Slash we'd been 5 times before.

[ReZourceman]

Slash we'd been 5 times before.

 

Yeah. I wouldn't go a second time. Unless it was like 5 years down the road/loads of new rides.

 

Oh. Disney annoy me. I don't remember if I wrote this up in a trip report....I think I touched upon it briefly but I have learnt more.

 

Magic Kingdom (probably the worlds busiest and regarded as best theme park) are building that Little Mermaid ride, and it is going to be the same as the Nemo ride at Epcot (which is pretty much VERY shit) not only that but I would have considered it dated when it was built, let alone dated in 2013.

 

In comparison Disney Studios Paris are building a Ratatouille dark ride featuring a trackless (but track-style-movement) ride experience, giant 3D film dome and more. It is one of the most expensive rides to ever be built.

 

I don't understand. Magic Kingdom need to build some things with cutting edge technology.

[Ellmeister]

How did you lose at Crazy golf to two girls?!?!

[ReZourceman]

How did you lose at Crazy golf to two girls?!?!

 

They cheated/my skill was too awesome. No its just luck. With their cock handed-ness they just...you know. Piss around and get lucky. Mine were all calculated. Its just sillyness. It was a lot closer than my sister said. She over counted me and Claire and undercounted her.

[Ellmeister]

 

They cheated/my skill was too awesome. No its just luck. With their cock handed-ness they just...you know. Piss around and get lucky. Mine were all calculated. Its just sillyness. It was a lot closer than my sister said. She over counted me and Claire and undercounted her.

 

If you still came third then the scores are pretty irrelevant! didn't you get a hole in one?? How could you lose after that!

[ReZourceman]

If you still came third then the scores are pretty irrelevant! didn't you get a hole in one?? How could you lose after that!

 

I blame the pitch and also wind direction. Seriously, it was luck. My sister got lick three hole in ones just from stupid woman-cock-handedness.

[Eenuh]

What is the Nemo dark ride in Epcot like then? Is it one of those slow rides or something where you just watch stuff?

 

'Cause they also have a Nemo ride in Paris, and even though I only got to go on it once, I thought it was pretty great! It's like an indoor coaster (kid-friendly so no loops or anything) in the dark and your cart spins and there's lots of sharp turns and all that. Jim and I were expecting a boring ride but it was actually fun. =D

[ReZourceman]

What is the Nemo dark ride in Epcot like then? Is it one of those slow rides or something where you just watch stuff?

 

'Cause they also have a Nemo ride in Paris, and even though I only got to go on it once, I thought it was pretty great! It's like an indoor coaster (kid-friendly so no loops or anything) in the dark and your cart spins and there's lots of sharp turns and all that. Jim and I were expecting a boring ride but it was actually fun. =D

 

Yeah, the one at Paris is a Maurer Söhne, I'm a big fan of their spinning coasters, been on a few and they're extremely fun. And I've seen the cars at Paris they look AMAZING.

 

The one at Epcot (I'll go into full detail in the next trip report which will be a combined one of Magic Kingdom fireworks and Epcot) but its just a "sit in a shell and watch the fish tanks" type thing.