My Disneyworld vacation - the parks

Part 2 of 3.

This article describes the things my wife and I did at the parks in Disney World.

This was not our first trip. It was my sixth (since the early 80's) and my wife's third trip. As such, there was no compelling desire to rush through and see everything as quickly as possible. We were both familiar with the main attractions and as such were able to focus on recent additions and our favorites.

With that in mind, here are the highlights of what we saw at each of the four parks.

Magic Kingdom

We spent two days in the Magic Kingdom Park. We went on several rides and saw many attractions here:

• Monsters, Inc. Laugh Floor. This one was a lot of fun. It's a short comedy club performance featuring the characters from Monsters, Inc. and Monsters University. The interesting part is the level of interactivity. While on line to get in, you are given a special text message password that you can use to submit jokes to the act. Some of the selections are used in the act. Additionally, the animated characters interact with the audience just like comics do in a real comedy club. The geek in me loved this. Even if there is a human being directing the interactivity, the fact that the animation is able to seamlessly keep up and be completely believable is very impressive. I'd really like to see a "behind the scenes" look at this attraction.
• It's A Small World. This is a moral obligation. My wife loves it and it's a really cute and relaxing way to get out of the heat in the afternoon.
• Pirates Of The Caribbean. Another moral obligation. The inclusion of Jack Sparrow was fun. It looks like we managed to get there before they removed the wench auction, because it was still there. But the Disney web site says the ride will be closed from late February to mid-March 2018 and I suspect that's when the wench auction gets removed. Too bad, but I'm glad we got one last look at that scene before it goes away.
• Enchanted Tiki Room. I've seen this one enough that I caught myself singing along several times! Although I personally preferred the "Under New Management" version of the show, the classic one is also a lot of fun.
• Jungle Cruise. In the past, I've found this ride to be a bit on the boring side, but this time around, our "skipper" entertained us by making bad puns about absolutely everything our boat went past. I don't know if this is a revision to the script or if the skippers are allowed to ad-lib the performance, but either way, it made the ride a lot more fun, especially after the very long line to get in.
• Peter Pan's Flight. It appears that they revamped the line to get in (at least I don't remember it being this way on prior trips). We didn't have a FastPass and it was crowded, but they led the line through a very long pre-show section where you got to walk through the Darling's home, where Tinkerbell works some playful magic and the crowd gets to interact with shadows on the walls. In addition to being entertaining, it gets you out of the sun for most of your time on line. It's almost worth deliberately avoiding FastPass in order to see this pre-show content.
• Haunted Mansion. What can I say. This is, and always has been, a favorite. Every time I ride, I see something new. And I love the creepy gift shop by the exit.
• Mickey's PhilharMagic is a 3D movie involving Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck, and the cast of Fantasia. I think our glasses were damaged because the 3D wasn't as good as it was when we saw this show three years ago, but it was a fun show.
• Finally, at the end of the evening was the Once Upon A Time light show. Projections (using Cinderella Castle as the "screen"), fireworks and a musical presentation made for a fun and magical way to round off the evening. It was crowded, but there was plenty of room to stand and see the show. I was also glad to see that this was a new show and not a repeat of the light show we saw three years ago, Wishes was a good show, but not so good that I needed to see it again.

And, of course, in addition to the attractions, we enjoyed some yummy snacks.

• For us, it is a moral obligation get a Dole Whip desert at Aloha Isle (near the entrance of the Enchanted Tiki Room). I got a pineapple upside-down cake (Dole Whip over pineapple cake) and my wife got a pineapple float (floating in pineapple juice). Until recently, Dole Whip was only available in select locations at Disney parks. Today, I can get it at home, but there's still something special about having it at the park. And (unlike on our previous trip) we didn't need to pay cash - the Dole Whip snacks can now be purchased using a dining plan snack credit.
• On our second day in the Magic Kingdom, we got some great ice cream deserts at Storybook Treats. I got a "cookie sundae", thinking it was going to be an ice cream sandwich and ended up getting a large sundae consisting of soft serve, chocolate syrup, whipped cream and a giant chocolate chip cookie. Yummers!

There's a funny story about that ice cream sundae. We were a bit hot and wanted a snack. I walked over to an ice cream cart, to buy something frozen on a stick. But there was a large crowd there and it was very hard to figure out where the line was, and people were cutting in front. I decided I didn't want to bother (I get like that when I get hot and aggravated) so we decided to take a walk in search of a snack and found the Storybook Treats shop, which was much much better than an ice cream bar on a stick!

Epcot

In terms of the number of days visiting, we went to Epcot more than the others. Mostly because of the massive quantity of great restaurants, but I'll review those in another article.

We attended during Epcot's International Festival Of The Arts featuring quite a lot of unique content.

The rides and attractions we saw were:

• Frozen Ever After is a rework of the boat ride at the Norway pavilion. It appears that the actual boat track didn't change (I remembered the various turns), but everything else has been completely rearranged to be based on Frozen. It was a very long line to get in (fortunately, mostly indoors through an extremely well-made replica of Arendelle), but was worth the wait. You should definitely use a FastPass for this attraction.
• Also at the Norway pavilion is the Stave Church Gallery, which is currently displaying cultural artifacts and other objects used as reference material for designing the look and feel of Frozen.
• Gran Fiesta Tour Starring The Three Caballeros. This is a rework of the boat ride inside the pyramid at the Mexican pavilion. I'm torn about this one. The original boat ride was educational, all about the history of Mexico - lots of substance but not very entertaining. This ride swings the pendulum all the way in the other direction. This one involves José Carioca and Panchito (from The Three Caballeros) chasing Donald Duck all over Mexico. Very entertaining, but totally devoid of content.
• On the way into the the Mexican pyramid is the Mexican Folk Art Gallery. On exhibit was artwork celebrating the Mexican Day of the Dead, including some references to Coco. After passing through the display, there's a shopping area featuring a lot of Mexican artwork, food and clothes.
• Journey Into Imagination With Figment. This is the third iteration of Disney's Journey Into Imagination ride. I had the privilege of being able to see all three and I still think the original was the best, although the current version is also fun. While on line, you walk past a lot of "imagination" props, many of which are pieces of old audio-visual equipment. I was amused by how much of it recognized and how much I probably could operate (if it was functional, of course).
• Journey Into Imagination exits into ImageWorks, a hands-on play area where you can experiment with abstract artistic technology. Unfortunately, this is a small shadow of what it once was. The current version seems designed to get you in and out quickly and on to the gift shop.
• After exiting Imageworks, we walked over the the Disney & Pixar Short Film Festival. This is a 3D movie theater where the content changes from time to time. The presentation we saw this time was (as the title implies) a collection of three Disney/Pixar short films. We have seen these films before, but they are "plussed" in this theater, with vibrating floors and seats that can spray water on you at appropriate points in the film. This was a new film for us - on our previous visit, the film was a plussed trailer for Inside Out.
• The Seas with Nemo & Friends is a rather pointless ride that features some of the characters from Finding Nemo. The main purpose for this ride, however, is that it is the way in to SeaBase, where you can walk around a huge aquarium and see all kinds of marine life up close.
• Soarin' is a must-see attraction. The ride simulates flying around the world, seeing some incredible sights from the unique perspective of a hang glider. This is the second version of the attraction, and I think the program this time is even more breathtaking than the first one. The lines are very long, however, so you will want to get a FastPass reservation for this one.
• Spaceship Earth is a ride inside the giant golf ball at the park entrance. It teaches the history of communication, from the Big Bang up to the present day. It's a bit dated (doesn't say a thing about the Internet and mobile telephony), but it is still a good presentation. There can be a long line for this ride, so you may want to use a FastPass or try to get on line later in the afternoon when it's not quite as crowded.
• O Canada! is a Circle-Vision 360° film showcasing Canadian heritage, narrated by Martin Short. Definitely worth seeing once.
• Reflections Of China is another Circle-Vision 360° film, this one showcasing Chinese culture and history.
• Also in the Chinese pavilion, we saw the Jeweled Dragon Acrobats perform. If you've never seen a Chinese acrobat troupe perform (or even if you have), you will definitely want to see this.
• At the Japanese pavilion, we saw Matsuriza, a Taiko drum performance. This is really awesome and worth taking the time to see.
• IlluniNations: Reflections Of Earth is a personal favorite. This light show on the World Showcase Lagoon, featuring lasers, fire, fireworks and video is an incredible sight to behold. And all of it precisely synchronized to an original classical music score. This show premiered for the 2000 Millennium celebration and remains just as magnificent as it was then. The soundtrack (from the Millennium Celebration album) is one of my all-time favorites and never fails to bring back memories not only of the show but of my entire trip.
• And one personal visit. Back in 2000, when I visited with a friend, we had our photos taken for the Leave A Legacy plaques. We looked up the location and found our photos.

We also saw a lot of interesting works of art being demonstrated, with one of the most interesting being Artistic Marbling - a technique for making custom silk scarves. Guests can (for a fee, of course) design and make their own silk scarves. We had never seen this technique before and were completely blown away by the result.

Overall, we loved our time at Epcot. There was only one problem. The restaurants stay open later than the rest of the park. One two occasions, we finished dinner after the monorail stopped running and had to take bus transportation back to our hotel. This, by itself, shouldn't be a big deal, but the people directing guests to the buses did not properly explain the procedure. The first time, we (and a few other families) ended up on a bus that took us to the central Ticket and Transportation Center, but there was no bus from there to our hotel, because it was after all the parks had closed. We were able to talk to someone who arranged to redirect a bus to our hotel, but that should not have been necessary. The second time, we made a point of asking the bus driver where he was going, and that was a good thing because it was the second bus at that stop that took us where we needed to go.

Just in case anyone from Disney is reading this, you need to have the bus drivers put their destinations on the light-up signage after hours. When we were there, all the buses pulling in just said "Epcot" on them, which doesn't do anyone any good. Especially when buses to multiple destinations are all stopping at the same place. And the attendees need to make it clear to guests that they must ask the drivers where they are going. Or even better - can you make the monorails run an hour longer so people dining in the park's restaurants can use it to get home?

Animal Kingdom

Here's all we saw at the Animal Kingdom park:

• Dinosaur is a run ride on a time machine to the moment just before the meteor collision wiped out the dinosaurs. A long line to get in, but worth the wait.
• It's Tough To Be A Bug is a 3-D movie where you get to see the world from the perspective of a bug. Hosted by characters from A Bug's Life.
• Kilimanjaro Safaris is the signature attraction of the Animal Kingdom. A long ride on a tram through the African habitats. You get to see a lot of exotic animals closer than you are likely to get anywhere else. A must-see attraction.
• And then, of course, there's the long walking tours through Africa and Asia, where you get to see a lot of beautiful animals. My favorite, of course, were the tigers. I'm just a sucker for all cats, big and small.
• Although we did visit the Pandora section of the park, its two main attractions, Avatar Flight Of Passage and Na'vi River Journey both had tremendous wait times (usually 2-3 hours). We were unwilling to wait on line that long and all FastPass reservations were sold out before we arrived. So we didn't go on these rides. Next time we will get our FastPass reservations months in advance, just to be sure.
• Unfortunately, we were unable to see the park's Rivers Of Light show because we had dinner reservations elsewhere every night. Next time, we'll do this differently.

Quick summary of the Animal Kingdom: You need to get FastPass reservations for the Pandora rides before you leave home. And there's a lot of walking, but it's well worth it.

You should arrange to have dinner here at least one night in order to see Rivers of Light, a night-time trip through Kilimanjaro Safaris and other aspects of the park at night. We didn't have a chance this trip, but we won't make that mistake next time.

Hollywood Studios

We only spent one day at Hollywood Studios, but it was a good day. Here's what we saw:

• For The First Time In Forever: A Frozen Sing-Along Celebration. This was our moral obligation event. The characters from Frozen appear on stage and lead the audience in a sing-along of most of the movie's musical numbers.
• Indiana Jones™ Epic Stunt Spectacular! is a behind-the-scenes look at movie magic. Watch as the performers re-enact some of the best scenes from Raiders Of The Lost Ark and explain how it is done. They even select volunteers from the audience to be extras on the set.
• Muppet*Vision 3D is a silly 3D movie where you are an audience member in the Muppet Theater.
• Star Tours - The Adventures Continue is a virtual roller coaster ride through the Star Wars universe. This is the second version of the story, where you get to travel through scenes from the most recent movies, not just the classic films. And if you ride it multiple times, you will not see the same scenes twice - there are four different destinations and many of the encounters are randomized.

Sadly, a lot of my favorite attractions have closed over the years, including

• The Studio Backlot Tour
• Lights, Motors, Action! Extreme Stunt Show
• The Great Movie Ride. I always considered that ride the centerpiece of Hollywood Studios.

Hollywood Studios has pretty much uprooted itself from the original concept of being able to educate guests about the history of film making and how movies are made today. It's still a lot of fun, but no longer educational in any way.

And that's what we saw on our visits to the parks. Coming soon, more restaurant reviews than you can shake a stick at.