6 posts tagged “disney”
The family and I are spending our final week at WDW for 2007. While bouncing around Animal Kingdom today two weird things happened at the park; we heard the PA system and Everest was closed for most of the day. It got even weirder when I heard the PA system call for the same people a number of times. While playing with the kids, I overheard some other park guests talking to a park employee regarding the closing of Everest earlier that day. It seems that this family was the next group in line to board the ride when "a man was hurt/ill" and necessitated the closing of the ride.
When we got home we found the linked news story on the net.
I spent last week with the family for our fifth visit to WDW this year. We spent this trip with an additional family of friends. We had a great time but I found that it was much more tiring. I think the daily park visits and catching up with our friends in the evening kept us constantly busy.
We spent Halloween at SeaWorld with our boys dressed as Peter Pan and Captain Hook. SeaWorld did a great job with 'Trick or Treat' stations located along the walkway near the kids play area. Apparently the previous year SeaWorld ran out of candy during the event so this year they bought double the amount and thus our kids had more than their fair share of the booty.
I finally managed to get a ride on the Rockin Roller Coaster at Hollywood Disney Disney/MGM Studios. While it was certainly a very cool ride, I was very surprised how short it was. I'm glad I had a fast pass because I personally would not bother waiting more than 20 minutes for this ride. I like the classic tacky rides like Jungle Cruise and Haunted Mansion over the roller coasters. When I exited Rockin Roller Coaster there was a large crowd huddled around some blank screens that display the photos taken during the ride. There was a technician busy trying to reboot the system and I got a good laugh when the Windows XP startup screen flashed onto the many displays.
A day later we were doing our normal morning tour of Fantasyland in the Magic Kingdom and I was greeted yet again by a Windows XP glitch. On the Winnie the Pooh ride, the projected video of a waterfall included an overlayed error window. On the bright side, I'm glad Disney hasn't upgraded to Vista yet.
Have you figured out what your (or your kids') Halloween costume will be this year? What's it going to be?
Our two boys, as previously blogged as part of my rant against Downtown Disney, will be dressed up as Captain Hook and Peter Pan.
My wife and I have still not decided on our costumes but we're trying to keep to the same 'Peter Pan' theme as the boys (Mr. Smee, Tinkerbell, Tiger Lily, the Crocodile, etc.).
We won Dream Fastpasses while at WDW!
If you are unaware what I'm talking about read this >> Disney has been celebrating it's Year of a Million Dreams (and has recently announced it will continue the 'event' through 2008. The best part is the Disney Dreams Giveaway promotion, where over a million extra-special dreams are randomly awarded. These giveaways include a night in the all new Cinderella Castle Suite, a DREAM FASTPASS badge to enjoy some of the most popular Disney attractions with little or no wait, selected to be a parade grand marshal, or even a World Tour trip to Disney Parks around the globe.
When we visit the Magic Kingdom we first visit Fantasyland so that we can do all the rides that our boys enjoy while the lines are short and the boys are well rested. This time we hit Small World first; it's definitely not my favourite ride but watching my boys faces is worth it. As we departed the ride we were presented with our Dream Fastpasses. Yet again the end of Small World was the best part.
Our plans for a relaxed day at the Magic Kingdom were tossed aside and we aggressively hit the park to make the most of our Dream Fastpasses. I was concerned that the boys would meltdown about halfway through the day but they pulled through like troopers. We pretty much did all the major rides twice (except the Lilo and Stitch one as I refuse to try that one) and even without Fastpasses the lines were pretty short for most of the day.
Marketplace @ Downtown Disney; the natural shopping extension of Walt Disney World with all the excitement and grandeur of the parks... not so much.
On our trip to WDW last week, we decided to head over to Downtown Disney during our mid-week down day. In particular we were headed to the supposedly big World of Disney store in order to pick up some Disney-themed Halloween costumes for the boys. We had already seen the costumes we were interested in, Peter Pan and Captain Hook, within the parks but we were told that the World of Disney store had more/better stock.
First a quick disclaimer: Anywhere at WDW finding Disney costumes for girls is ridiculously easy and there are lots of options. Finding Disney costumes for boys, on the other hand, is very frustrating. Unless you want a Captain Jack outfit, there is little selection and few sizes available.
The World of Disney store in the Marketplace of Downtown Disney is not big. I doubt if its any larger than the combined stores on Main Street of the Magic Kingdom. The selection is no different than what is available within the parks and in some cases they have less stock (or maybe they were just unwilling to look in the back). My sons did like the gigantic screen that was showing various Disney movie scenes and the large scaled model of Cinderella's Castle.
We continued to look around the Marketplace and I was continuously unimpressed with the stores. I certainly got a kick out of the Lego store but it was just a store with some simple play areas for the kids. There was no "magic".
I know that most of the pizazz of Downtown Disney is for the food and nightlife. I certainly hope its more impressive that the Marketplace.
P.S. Later the same day my wife stopped into the Disney Store while shopping at the Florida Mall. The quality and price of the Disney goods sold there far exceeded that sold within WDW. She immediately returned the costumes we had purchased at the World of Disney store in order to purchase cheaper and better quality costumes from the Disney Store. The cashier at the store told my wife that many of the Disney cast members shop at the Florida Mall's Disney Store when they want to purchase Disney stuff because the goods sold there are better than in the parks.
Got back yesterday from a week's visit to Walt Disney World with the family. As can be expected, we had a great time.
For part of the week we were joined by some friends of ours now living in Florida. The two pairs of kids had a fantastic time playing together and thus provided us parents with a drop or two of sanity.
This was the first time that we rode Splash Mountain. I thought that this ride was simply another one of those "ride a silly log around a water track until the final drop" rides. Boy was I wrong. This ride was very cool with the added Brer Rabbit story being told.
I'm already looking forward to our return trip in the fall.
