Trip Reports

Summary:

April 19th-27th Plane, and two rental car's.

Magic Tree Resort [timeshare, and a highly recommended one at that}

2 bedroom [one kind, two twins]

The Crew

Me, 22 years old.

My Mother, ummI'dbetternotsay..

Cousin Sam 29 year old Pooh Fan!

Hi ALL.. LONG and with BAD SPELLING! [much of it corrected by the editor]. But, a trip report NONE THE LESS!.

*SPOILERS AHEAD!* Ready?.. Here we go.

First at MGM

The Tower of Terror FEAR EVERY DROP!.. OH NO I AM SOOOO SCARED!. It was quite funny because just about every 2 minutes on the radio station, {and TV} they kept running the promo for the Tower of Terror. I did find out that the drop profile is the same each time. Also of note, it appears that the you do not quite go has high each time. That is, for each major drop, the elevator starts a bit lower than before. {Just like a rubber ball bouncing, it never reaches the same height it was dropped from}

The new effects are there, not much to brag about. The main thing is that added drop adds quite a lot of air time and makes the tower KICK UNIVERSAL'S DOOM DROPS BUTT!. Oh, love the fog addition to the "Mini" tower as you drive into Disney. About time!

New Doug show, closed when we went. Heard that is pretty good, but mostly for kids.

Rock'n Roller, is now testing. Cars have been testing on the track for quite some time. You will be amazed at how smooth of a ride this is. No bumps, jarring, or anything like that. Just a VERY smooth ride. If all the coasters Disney builds are like or better than this, we have a lot to look forward to!.

Now over to Epcot.

Test Track!!.. YEA 2 FREAKING YEARS LATER!.. WOW!. Well, lets see. Ride it once, and USE THE SINGLES LINE!. THIS LINE IS THE BEST THING!.. LET ME REPEAT THAT THE BEST THING!. You can't beat a 15 min wait!.. I hope they do this to EVERY major ride!. So, how is it!.. Besides scary {Just watch the track shake as the cars go by} it's pretty cool. Not as good as I hoped.. but good. It was NOT worth a 2 year delay however. Ride it once, and don't ride it again if you have to wait for more than 30 minutes. The queue line is just great. PLENTY of DETAIL!. Also, they seem to have turned down the loud volume in the line. Don't forget to get your photo taken, and look for the hidden Mickey!. The only problem with the ride {beside the fact that it still gets shut down quite often} is that it's not long enough. After you fly around the outside of the building I wish there was more. . Not just a slow stop and get off. Oh well. I would expect to see the speed increase to 100mph soon. {much like the added drop idea for the Tower of Terror} Oh, the seatbelts is still strange. You get in, sit down and the car takes off before you can even buckle up. They stop a moment later to let you finish.. But still it will [really] scare [deleted] ya the first time!. I was sure the computer had crashed and that we were going to drive around without a seat belt!.. If you want to have fun. When you sit down in the car and it starts up. As everyone is talking about "Wait my seatbelt is not on" Yell VERY LOUD!. WHAT, THIS DID NOT HAPPEN LAST TIME!... AGHHH!

Also, they are getting ready for the Y2k!. VERY STRANGE. They have torn up the whole front garden area at Epcot, {Where the fountain is, as you walk in} and are putting in what looks like BIG stone pillars. They start small, and get bigger as you head towards Spaceship earth. Not sure what they are thinking.. Only time will tell. Ride the monorail over to Epcot to get a good look at all this.

No word on Journey Into Imagination.. or Horizons. However, it does not look like they have really done much work on either of them from the outside.

Animal Kingdom

This time, we weren't over to the Radio Disney Cruise.. Let me just stop at this point and say THIS RIDE SUCKS MORE THAN ANYTHING ELSE IN THE WORLD!. I would have rather been stuck in a phone booth with Paul T before I ride this again!. A sign say's {Fun for the little kids} unfortunately the 30 or so little kids on our boat did not think so. By the end of the 20 min boat ride, every one of them was throwing a fit!. Someone is going to loose there job over this ride. IT IS THAT BAD!, put it this way. Take the jungle cruse at the Magic Kingdome, take out all the stuff you see, and extend it to 20 minutes. Then add a REALLY LOUD soundtrack of "big hits from the 80's" sit in the boat, see NOTHING besides trees and some fire shooting out of a rock, and then do the MACARENA!. It just sucks, don't wait 5 minutes to see it, don't wait 60 minutes to see it. JUST SKIP IT and YOU WILL BE GLAD YOU DID!.

Also, went out to CTX.. I can't see that they added anything new to this ride. Still plenty of dark areas. No big asteroid effect at the end. But, I did notice the Laser portal effect. I did not see that before. It would be MUCH MORE effective if they added some fog to this effect however. They new Asia area pretty much sucks!. The worst part is that it does not connect with the rest of the park. It's a DEAD END!. I hated walking all the way to the end, and they having to turn back!. River Rapids is cool {in more ways then one, depending on how much water you get hit with} not worth any more than a 35 min wait however.

Interesting note, drive down US 192, past Disney.. Past the Wonder's of China.. On the right hand side, you can see all the new Animal Kingdome construction going on.!

Magic Kingdom

Nothing new really. Winnie the Pooh, not open yet.. But it looks like it will be VERY soon.

ISLANDS OF ADVENTURE!

*SPOILER'S AHEAD*

So, you want to see the "MOST TECHNOLOGY ADVANCE THEME PARK!" well get ready. Cause they sure are not!.

It's a "Technical Rehearsal" that stands for "this may technical suck at any point in your day" So lets get some reviews. You'll notice something strange too!. The whole entry area reminds me of the "African Village" area in Animal Kingdome. Oh and don't forget the new CITY WALK!. Just like the West Side at Disney!. In fact, they even have a copycat "Rainforest Cafe" store!..

Dr Doom's FearFall!. You know those drop rides SIX FLAGS has... well that's about what this is. Nothing great, NOT EVEN close to the Tower of Terror. Don't wait more than 45 minutes for it.

Hulk Coaster!.. Well, it's quite a ride. YOU SHOULD wait 60 minutes to ride this one!. FAST! and WILD!

Spider MAN!. Okay, so here is the concept we spend all the money on a cue line, and a ride.. but none on a cool storyline. Or there is a story line, but you'll figure out what it is by the first 2 minutes in the queue line. And you'll also know the ending of the ride before you even get into the "Scoop" car that you ride in. The queue line is well done, but someone did not put enough thought into it. Many of the props are in your reach, and many have been torn off and ruined!. The queue line will have to be re-done before the park opens. If they did not give so much away in the pre-show the suspense would be MUCH better!.

As for the ride itself, yes the 3D effects are blurry!. I hope they improve the focus on them, if they can do that.. Then it will really be something. Also, it's kind of easy to tell what is a 3D movie and what is not. The color does not match up right. Unfortunately the timing is not quite right. At many points your car stops and the 3D movie has not started yet. Or the 3D movie starts before you get there. Just a timing problem that I hope they can clear up. The best part of this ride is when you are "Lifted" up into the air by the "levitation beam" I really freaking thought we were way up in the air!. Sadly this part of the ride makes the rest of it seem like "it's a small world" if the whole ride was as good as this scene was.. Man, that would be cool!. Luckily they did not put in to many "cheap 3D tricks" like water and compressed air. I would wait 90 minutes to see this for the first time. Then no more that 45 for the next time. It's a killer, Disney should take a long hard look at it, and they copy what Universal did and just do it better. Then we would REALLY have something!.

Next up, Dudley Do Rights Rip Saw Falls.. Not open, nor was the other raft ride.... But they do look cool.

The Lost Content!. Jurassic Park!.. UGH!.. BIG LET DOWN!.

From the size of the building you would think that this is just a GREAT RIDE!.. Well no it's not. First you get in the raft. Okay.. You go up a small hill. Into a pond area. You see about 4 different dinos.. Nothing to brag about. Your boat gets "Knocked off course" {funny I have heard that before somewhere} and into the "RESEARCH AREA!" at this point you go inside. Now!. You might think you would float through the big research area, and see all kinds of scary dino's.. Popping out, hissing.. etc. act... Not really, you float 10 feet and see two small one's that spit water!.. Then it's up the big hill!. Up up up up up up.. Lots of loud sound effects like "We have to get them out of there" or "They will be killed by the T-REX" You get to the top, and see a big T-REX.. Who really does not do much, except growl at you. Then DOWN you go. Now at this point it goes from bad to worse!. I don't care what they say about "The fastest drop in the world" or "The steepest" drop. The whole thing is in the dark!.. So you really can't see how far you fall or how fast you go!. The result, it seems just like the drop on Splash Mountain. In fact ride Splash Mountain, with your eyes closed.. That's about what you get at IOA. Now, you float 20 feet and get off the boat!.. That's it.. At least at Splash Mountain you see some more stuff at the end.. But not here.. no it's another "Drop and then thank you for coming" {Funny, I seem to have been on a ride like that before too} Also, there is no "up and down" drop like Splash has. I was REALLY expecting more from this.. Just from the size of the building alone.. Oh well.

Triceratops encounter.. Skip it.. You see one big dino who moves 2 feet left and right and pees.. Big deal. Your kids might like it however.

The Lost Continent

Dueling Dragons. Man, just like hulk. RIDE IT!. But, make sure you ride both Fire and Ice!. As for the rest of this area, nothing was open. But from the outside it looks cool {of course, so did the flume ride}

Suess Landing

Cat in the hat!. A great ride for kids {And adults}. Also, GREAT themeing in the cue line!. It'll remind you quite a lot of "Mr. Toad, or Snow Whites Ride" The cars spin around QUITE FAST!. So if you get motion sick, I would skip this one.

One Fish Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish!.. DAMN that's fun to say. Just like, the Dumbo ride at Disney. BUT!. With a added twist!. If you don't follow the song, you'll get wet!. It's great fun to watch people on it, moving there fish up and down, getting soaked with NO CLUE as how to avoid getting wet!. In fact, if you just go up and down like that, you'll get even wetter!. Lot's of fun and a great twist on a old classic!.

So that winds up the park.. Short yes!. But they are billing this as a "2 Day escape" That is, ONE DAY for Universal Studio's and ONE DAY for Islands of Adventure. And if the crowds are not that big, one day is all you'll need!. They left room to expand, and that's good. Over all on a scale of 1 to 10, I'd give it a 8. It is MUCH more for the older kids that than young ones. Sure, there are rides for young kids, but I would not recommend it for any kid under 7 years old. In fact, most rides there have age restrictions. A lot of the rides seem to be just like "Jaws" or "Twister" cool effect, simple story and SHORT!. In and OUT!. One thing did stand out!.. No matter what you have heard about Cast Members at Universal.. FORGET IT!. The people working in this park.. REALLY LIKED their job!. They knew where things in the park area. They are happy to be there, and happy to answer your questions. Quite a change from the old Universal. {Note, I did not go to Universal Studios, IE Jaws, T2, etc. etc... So I don't know if the CM attitudes are the same there}

There you go. Any Questions E-mail me and I'll try my best to answer them!. Jay

Jason Roland

thelazer@localnet.com

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