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Orlando PTR June 2013 - Update Days 4 & 5

Rachel

Coaster MILF
Back in June my boyfriend and I went to Orlando for the first time. We had booked the holiday in October 2012 so after what seemed like forever we were finally at Gatwick waiting to board our plane. The flight wasn’t too bad – we had extra leg room seats which made it slightly more comfortable and there was a good selection of films and TV programmes. The food was atrocious though. After a long 9 hours we were finally in the USA. Got through customs and baggage claim quickly and were greeted by the wonderful Florida humidity </3. It was about an hours drive to the hotel and we drove through a tropical storm which was scary as hell! The guide told us Florida had been having some quite bad weather in the last week or so which worried us slightly but it actually turned out to be the worst we experienced. Finally got to the hotel at about 6pm (11pm to our body clocks) tried to stay awake as long as possible and then finally crashed out around 8pm.

Day 1 – Hollywood Studios
So after an early start (we kept waking up at 4am for the first couple of days) and a trip to IHOP we were on the shuttle bus on our way to Disney. We thought the transport was fantastic in Florida, the shuttle buses took us to Epcot where it was then so easy to get from one park to another. There was also a bus that went right to the Magic Kingdom car park from outside our hotel which we used a couple of time. Got to HS sorted out our passes and headed into the park.

Toy Story Midway Mania
First port of call was Toy Story as I’d heard that queues build up pretty quickly. Didn’t really see much of the queue as we went straight through most of it, loved the giant Mr Potato Head though <3. Got onto the ride, was about a minute through and then it broke down. This was to be the start of quite a few breakdowns we experienced in Orlando. After about 5 minutes the ride got going again. I can’t remember my score but I did beat my boyfriend so that was good. The ride was good and I liked the different style of shooter (even though it killed my arm) and I can see why kids would love it but if I’d queued ages I wouldn’t have been happy. 7/10.
Next we headed up to Tower of Terror, grabbed some fastpasses (seriously how amazing is this system?!) and then went to our first coaster of the trip.

Rock N Rollercoaster
Love the whole look of this from the theming outside of the building to the queue line. I found the pre show a bit cheesy but I guess it goes with the style of the ride. As for the actual coaster I thought it was pretty decent, the launch is the best in Florida in my opinion and the speed is kept up pretty consistently throughout the whole ride. I wouldn’t say it was particularly smooth but I didn’t experience any head banging. I’d give it a 7/10.





Tower of Terror
Next we headed up to Tower of Terror to use our fastpasses. Didn’t really get to see much of the outside queue, went through and were on the ride quickly. Basically I loved it. It was one of the rides I was most looking forward and it did not disappoint. That feeling when it first drops and you come out of your seat is simply amazing. The fact that you are only held in by a lap belt makes this ride even scarier, I don’t think the phrase “white knuckle” has ever been more appropriate than the way my hands were holding onto the side bars. - 10/10


Love this view walking up this part of the park.



Indiana Jones Epic Stunt Spectacular
This was a bit meh. The stunts were incredible but I just felt that the overall feel and running of the show lacked consistency and was a bit jolted. I’ve never seen an Indiana Jones film either so the whole thing was a bit lost on me. 5/10





It was around lunchtime at this point so we stopped for a bit to get something to eat – nothing fancy, some chicken nuggets and chips from a fast food place. Our eating pattern was a bit all over the place on holiday – I found that although I’d looked up places beforehand where we could eat, often we would just go to what was nearest to us when we felt hungry. We’d also be starving for lunch at about 11am after getting up and eating breakfast so early.


Found Pizza Planet right after we'd eaten somewhere else. Gutted :(

After lunch we had a look in some of the shops (air con<3) and went in some of the arcades. There was stuff happening on the stage by the hat so we sat and watched that for a while whilst having a cold drink.



Beauty and the Beast – Live on Stage
Next we headed to the Beauty and the Beast show. I wont lie, I thought it was rubbish. I know they have to try and fit as much as possible into 20 minutes but I adore the film and they left so much out. Anyone who had never seen the film wouldn’t have a clue what was going on. Plus I hated the way they performed the main song. 3/10





Studio Backlot Tour
I thought this was pretty good, and although you don’t really get to see where actual movies are filmed there are some pretty good effects. The first part gives you something to watch whilst waiting for the main tram part and walking through and seeing all the props was pretty cool. The tram part just takes you round showing you old Walt Disney memorabilia but the part where you stop with the explosion and all the rushing water was awesome. 7/10












Titanic<3

After this we wandered around for a bit more. We went on TOT and RNRC again and then I think we had to start making our way back to catch our bus.

Thanks for reading, part 2 coming soon :)
 

Rachel

Coaster MILF
Re: Orlando PTR - June 2013

Thanks for the comments. Hope to have the next part up ASAP.

rtotheizzo17 said:
Did you make it on the Great Movie Ride! ? The whole reason the entire park was built...

No, it wasn't something that was on my must do list and i've not heard particuarly great things about it so we skipped it.
 

Mike

Giga Poster
Re: Orlando PTR - June 2013

Rachel said:
rtotheizzo17 said:
Did you make it on the Great Movie Ride! ? The whole reason the entire park was built...

No, it wasn't something that was on my must do list and i've not heard particuarly great things about it so we skipped it.

I never, ever, EVER understand people who go on an oft-once in a lifetime Orlando holiday and then miss things out because they haven't "heard particularly great things" about stuff.

The Great Movie Ride is actually very decent, and certainly a hell of a lot better than the Backlot Tour. How will you know something is good or bad unless you actually try it yourself? :?
 

Rachel

Coaster MILF
Re: Orlando PTR - June 2013

There is so much to do in Orlando that I don't think anyone is ever going to get EVERYTHING done in one trip. Bearing in mind it was hot, busy and we had to time our days according to bus schedules.

I would love to back to Orlando and hope to do so in the future. Next time we will take into consideration the things we didn't get done before.
 

Rachel

Coaster MILF
Re: Orlando PTR - June 2013

Day 2 – Animal Kingdom & Epcot

Our original plan was to do 1 Disney park per day – we were lucky enough on this day to get 2 parks done in 1. First stop of the day was Animal Kingdom, we got there nice and early for opening. I honestly couldn’t believe some of the things I saw that morning. They let everyone into the first part of the park and then rope of the rest at the Tree of Life. From here you can either head to the Asia area for Expedition Everest or Africa for the Safari. We choose to do the Safari first as we wanted to see the animals early. Anyway they drop the rope and then have several cast members walk everyone to the attractions to keep the crowd under control. I saw grown men actually running just so they could be at the front. Anyway onto the first attraction.

Kilamanjaro Safari
As I said we had wanted to do this early as I’d read that during the day it gets too hot for the animals and so they stay in the sheltered areas . I’d never been on any sort of safari and so I really enjoyed this. I love the fact that there is literally nothing between you and several killer animals. I think this type of attraction which breaks up the rides can really add to my opinion of a park. The guide was really good and informative and we saw plenty of animals and got some decent pictures. 8/10







So next we thought we’d head along to the parks signature attraction. On the way we went past the rapids and picked up a couple of fastpasses.





Expedition Everest
There was about a 35 minute queue for this which seemed to go quicker as there was so much to look at. I thought it was good, it looks more impressive than it actually rides though. I found the backwards and indoor sections to be intense and actually quite stomach churning. The backwards part is a nice little surprise for people who don’t already know about it and the drop out of the mountain provides a nice little bit of airtime. Overall a decent and well themed coaster 7/10.





Next we headed up to the rapids only to find out they had broken down. After checking that we would still be able to use the passes after the time had ran out we went and grabbed something to eat as it was coming up to lunchtime. Once we had finished the rapids were back up and running.

Kali River Rapids
These are just standard rapids if a little short. The drop at the end is a decent shock and we got fairly wet which was nice in the blazing heat. I think that the company can really make or break these sorts of rides and we got seated with a lovely American family who were really loud and friendly and that just made the ride more enjoyable. 6/10

After this the area of the park we were in started becoming really busy all of a sudden so we decided to make our way to a different section . We arrived at Dinoland USA which is just the oddest and most random area of a Disney Park.



DINOSAUR
So we started off with a ride I literally knew nothing about. It was nothing at all like what I’d expected. I thought it was a calm little indoor ride – it was dark, threw you about all over the place and was in fact quite scary. Had a decent storyline to go along with it as well, the audio and effects were brilliant. If I was a little kid I would have bricked it but I found it really enjoyable and it was an unexpected find. 8/10



Primeval Whirl
Me. Spinning rides. 33 degree heat. 85% humidity. Just no. Not much else to say about this really it, was a fairly standard spinning wild mouse and made me want to spew. 2/10


I'm a Disney Conservation Hero!

So by this time we had got everything done on our Must Do list and had agreed on the idea that we would try and get two Disney parks done in one day to give ourselves an extra rest day. We wandered in and out a couple of the shops and then went to catch the bus to Epcot. After the burdenous queue for the bag check we were finally in the park. As expected all of the queues were massively long and the fast passes had run out for Soarin and Test Track. We decided to start with a walk around the World Showcase hoping that some of the queues would die down later towards the evening.

I actually found walking around World Showcase to be quite relaxing. It was quite a refreshing break from running from ride to ride and I think it took us about 2 hours to get round the whole of it. The crowds also seemed to be lighter as well and I think that aesthetically the whole area and each country is really stunning.














We saw more characters in Epcot that we did in any other Disney park



Maelstrom
So the only ride we went on in the World Showcase was Maelstrom. It’s an indoor dark water ride in the Norway section. It was nothing special, we queued 35 minutes for it which probably made it seem even worse. Its worth a go if the queue is say less than 20 minutes. 3/10

After this we decided to get something for dinner. Trying to find somewhere to eat at Disney in the evening is a nightmare unless you want fast food. We were turned away from a couple of places as we didn’t have reservations but eventually found a small bar type place in Italy which was next to a restaurant and had exactly the same menu. It was good, standard Italian food really.

When we came out it had started to rain. We decided to head to Test Track, me not knowing that part of the ride is outdoors. Closed due to weather </3. One of the rides I’d quite been looking forward to was Soarin so we decided to go and get this out of the way while it was raining. It had a 160 minute queue but we figured we’d have to grin and bear it as it had been like this all day. Walking up to the building and a woman approaches us and asks if we are heading to Soarin? She then gives us two fastpasses for later in the evening as her and her family have decided to go home and they don’t need them anymore. AMAZING <33333333. I seriously had stop myself from kissing her. Anyway we had some time to wait so decided to go find something else we could do to get out of the rain.

Spaceship Earth
This is one of those slow moving ‘educational’ type rides which is a nice change to the pace. I can’t really remember that much about it, it takes you through different scenes throughout history showing the evolution of humans and communication (correct me if I’ve got that wrong). At the end you have to fill out this questionnaire about your future and they take your picture which is put on a big wall as you leave. I though it was interesting and liked the interactive area the ride spits you out into.


My boyfriend is the one at the bottom, i'm to his top left

TestTrack
It had stopped raining so we headed to TestTrack. The queue was advertising 80 minutes which was cutting it a bit close to our fastpass time, so we decided to try our luck in the single rider queue. 15 minutes and in the same car – result! As we hadn’t queued up properly it meant a lot of the first part of the ride was lost on us but it was still interesting and fun. The outside part is the best. This turned out to be my boyfriend’s favourite ride during the holiday. 9/10



After this it started to rain again and felt really humid so we headed to The Land (air con <3) and just looked around waiting for our time slot.

Soarin
A couple of people had told me that this was an attraction that was not to be missed. Don’t get me wrong it was good and like nothing I’d ever been on before but if we had queued 160 minutes for it then I would have been seriously pissed. The ride experience was good, I just kind of smiled all the way through and enjoyed it for what it was. It’s a really clever concept and something that’s not to be missed. 8/10



Mission Space
After hearing stories about how sick this ride can make you I was keen to go on the less intense version of the ride but my boyfriend persuaded me to go on the normal version. After going through the queueline and hearing a million times how “its not too late to turn back and ride the green version” (seriously how many times do they want to do this!?) we were finally ready to board. I like how they give everyone a small role and how it makes the experience more interactive. I was the Pilot but I didn’t actually remember to press any of the buttons I was supposed to. It was a good ride, I can see why some people wouldn’t like it, but it was nowhere near as intense as I thought it would be. 8/10



After this we had to go and catch our bus after a long day. We were hot, tired, our feet hurt and we still had the busiest park to do :)
 

Jason Voorhees

Hyper Poster
Re: Orlando PTR - June 2013

I <3 EPCOT and Animal Kingdom <3

Not going to lie, I thought Primeval Whirl was decent fun. Nothing to great, but it was a really simply fun coaster for what it was and re-ridable.

Mission Space wasn't that intense after the launch. I really liked it a lot.

I haven't ridden Text Track since 2.0 but It was really fun and I bet it is a lot better now. I always just thought the queue was to long for what it was.

Expedition Everest at 7/10 more like 9/10 it was amazeballs <3

Tower of Terror is the best ride at WDW I<3 LOVE it
 

marc

CF Legend
Orlando PTR - June 2013

Mission Space is no where near as intense as when it first opened :(. When I first went on it I felt sick and could hardly walk after.

Dinosaur scares the **** out of me every time.

I love the Great Movie ride, always do it once or twice on a visit. There are different scenes etc if your lucky.

Did you do the bug show at Animal Kingdom? It's one of the best 4d shows.

Great trip report so far :)
 

Edward M

Strata Poster
Re: Orlando PTR - June 2013

Hate Animal Kingdom, but love Epcot. Also, Soarin is my favorite Disney ride. I can see why some don't like it though.

Good Report, Nonetheless.
 

Rachel

Coaster MILF
Re: Orlando PTR - June 2013

marc said:
Did you do the bug show at Animal Kingdom? It's one of the best 4d shows.

Unfortunately not, we didn't do as many shows as I would have liked but when your with a non-enthusiast who wants some time to relax on their holiday you have to make some sacrifices :(
 

Casio

Mega Poster
Re: Orlando PTR - June 2013

Great report, I agree with the surprising finds in Animal Kingdom and Epcot; World Showcase, Dinosaur and Kilomanjaro Safaris are all great. However Mission Space, in my opinion, is a load of rubbish.
 

marc

CF Legend
Re: Orlando PTR - June 2013

Rachel said:
marc said:
Did you do the bug show at Animal Kingdom? It's one of the best 4d shows.

Unfortunately not, we didn't do as many shows as I would have liked but when your with a non-enthusiast who wants some time to relax on their holiday you have to make some sacrifices :(

Yep done that years ago in Orlando with a person who was not that bothered with rides. It did not work and I actually could not wait to get home. Standing in queues all alone was not fun as I had no idea about single rider queues, not that Disney have them.
 

Rachel

Coaster MILF
Re: Orlando PTR - June 2013

So I found some time to come back to this recently......

Day 3 – Magic Kingdom

Day 3 was another early start. We got to the resort in good time but the monorail to Magic Kingdom was out of order and everyone had to get the ferry. I thought this was better – watching the iconic castle getting bigger across the water was amazing and it was a stunning day. Because we were so early we had to wait around in the area between the ticket booths and the entrance – sweating! </3 Finally the opening parade started and it was good to see all of the characters and countdown to the parks opening.

A question – the family that officially opens the park, is that something that is pre-organised or is a family just chosen at random from the crowd?









So we finally got through and knew what attractions we wanted to hit first – headed to Space Mountain to grab some fastpasses and then back to the opposite side of the park to hit our first ride of the day.

Big Thunder Mountain Railroad
There was literally no wait for this so we headed straight through the queue line to the station. Smooth, enjoyable and a good fun ride that the whole family can enjoy. The theming is amazing, unfortunately I didn’t get too many pictures, if I remember correctly its awkward to try and get photos of the actual ride. Other than the fact that it is slightly longer that most mine train type rides I don’t think anything really sets the ride experience apart but it was good. 7/10

Splash Mountain
Next we headed to Splash Mountain as it didn’t have much of a queue and we were hot. It was so odd sitting on an actual seat on a log flume ride. This ride goes on forever and I love that you never knew what was going to be round the corner and the constant lift hills and little drops. I wasn’t really paying that much attention to the storyline but the level of theming and detail inside was incredible. The last drop was good and it got you wet enough so that you cooled down slightly but not soaked. I loved this ride, definitely the best log flume I’ve ever been on. 8/10

Space Mountain
So after this we had a walk back over to the other side of the park as it was time to use our fastpasses. I think we were on the Omega track but I cannot remember for definite. It is a thrilling ride, being in the dark with all the steep drops and tight turns. I also liked the seating layout as it was something different from what I’ve experienced before. But I just didn’t enjoy it. I found it too shaky and a bit rough. Perhaps I had a bad run but it just wasn’t as good as I thought it would be. 5/10

So now we had done our main 3 attractions we had plenty of time to just chill out and enjoy the park at a leisurely pace.




Obligatory photo in front of the castle <3.


Me and the other half.


















So wanted to eat in here but the queue was ridiculous by 11am!


We stopped for a bit and watched a parade.







So next we grabbed some fast passes for Jungle Cruise and went to get something to eat. I can't remember the name of the restuarant but it was rammed! After half an hour of queueing I finally came away with what I think was a Taco. It was actually really nice. We still had a while before our time on Jungle Cruise so we headed to POTC.

Pirates of the Caribbean
I’ve never been a fan of the films and I wasn’t a fan of the ride. Honestly I just don’t get the fuss about either. My general feeling when the ride came to an end was “Is that it?” 2/10



Jungle Cruise
The actual ride is a bit naff – going round on a boat seeing statues of animals is hardly the most interesting thing. The cast member is what makes this – it must be pretty boring telling the same jokes over and over again but when you only hear them once it was actually quite amusing. 6/10





After this I think we had started to have enough. It was becoming extremely crowded and we were way too hot and getting irritable. We did want to stay and watch the fireworks but it was only around 2pm and we just wanted to get back to the hotel and relax. Our plan became that we would come back to Magic Kingdom early evening on our last day, get a few more attractions done and watch the fireworks, finish the holiday off with a bang (excuse the pun).On our last evening there was quite a bad thunderstorm. When we had been waiting to watch Fantasmic there were several announcements that if the weather became severe then the show would be cancelled. I assumed this would be the case with the fireworks so we didn’t bother in the end. I don’t know if they actually went ahead that night or not but I was pretty gutted to have missed them.

So the main part of my Disney experience had come to an end (bar the water parks and Fantasmic – more about those later). So what was my overall feeling? It was good. I’m not going to say it was great because that would be a lie. Perhaps my expectations of walking up to the castle and feeling all magical inside was slightly naïve. Perhaps i’m not as big of a Disney nut as I thought I was. But I just found that I came off of so many rides thinking they were completely average. The theming and attention to detail was incredible, don’t get me wrong. I think when it comes to a “Theme” Park as such, nobody does it better than Disney. But for me I just found something missing and I enjoyed all of the other parks more.

Next up – Water Parks, Fantasmic and Fun Spot Orlando.
 

Rachel

Coaster MILF
Re: Orlando PTR - June 2013

Not sure if anyone is reading but i'll carry on as I was bored at work :lol: . This section doesn't have a lot of photos and i've done 2 days as both are quite short.

Day 4 – Fun Spot America

Whilst we were in the States my boyfriend decided that he wanted to experience driving in the US and so we decided to get a hire car for a few days. Our plan for day 4 was to drive around the city and see where we ended up. After getting lost looking for the Florida Mall we ended up at Fun Spot America, saw that there were a couple of creds and decided to stop off. Getting into the park we also realised that there were a few Go-Kart tracks which pleased the other half. We purchased 2 of the unlimited wristbands and decided to do the Go-Karts first. I’m not really a fan of them but they were pretty decent. The park was dead and I don’t really think it offered that much except for the 2 main coasters. Perhaps during the middle of the day wasn’t the best time to go, it may have been lacking some of the Fun Fair atmosphere that I imagine a place like this might have in the evening. I sat out whilst my boyfriend did a couple of the smaller spinning rides - I wasn’t too keen on doing them in the heat. Finally we headed over to the coasters.

Freedom Flyer
A good, solid family coaster. The lap bars give you some freedom and the ride is nice and smooth. It picks up the pace slightly towards the end and there are some good foot chopper moments with the fences surrounding the coaster. It is a short ride but the park was so empty we were able to stay on a couple of times in a row. 6/10





White Lightning
Admittedly I haven’t been on a lot of coasters but this ride is now solidly in my top 10, plus is my favourite woodie. Straight through the queue and onto the ride, going up the lift hill you get some great views of Orlando. You’re really pulled over the first drop, which is fantastic, and into a great speed which is maintained throughout the whole ride. The best thing about this ride –its completely re-rideable. Again because the place was so empty we were able to stay on the ride several times in a row and we wanted to. It was fun, smooth and fast but without being too forceful and we must of rode it at least 10 times. It may not be big but it’s a fantastic coaster. 9/10

Before we left we grabbed something to eat from the park restaurant – a pizza that was actually really nice. There wasn’t much left to do after this so we decided to make a move. Even though when we went the two coasters had just opened, there were still quite a few bits under construction. I imagine the place is a bit more complete now and would offer a great family day / evening out when the place is a bit more crowded and atmospheric. I still left pleased that I had found and rode a great hidden gem of a coaster.

Day 5 – Water Parks, Downtown Disney & Fantasmic

The next day we hit the water parks first thing. I’m not a fan of water parks and won’t go on body slides so I wont go into too much detail. We decided to do the two Disney ones as we could easily get them done quickly. We’re not the sunbathing types either so for us it is literally a case of going round, getting all the slides done and moving on. Blizzard Beach was probably my favourite of the two parks – I liked the mat slides and the racing double slides. The wave machine was also a lot of fun in the main pool. I can’t really remember that much from Typhoon Lagoon for some reason. It was quite a while ago now but it just doesn’t stand out in my head as much as Blizzard Beach. We only went on a few of the slides here though as the queues had really started to build up and we were getting hot, ratty and hungry. The parks are outstandingly themed as you’d expect from Disney but are definitely more family friendly. Aquatica and Wet N Wild looked to be slightly more thrilling and we kind of wished we’d tried these instead but oh well, maybe next time….:).



After the parks we headed to Downtown Disney. We were starving so our first port of call was Planet Hollywood. I love these types of restaurants in the US – so noisy and friendly and feels like there’s so much activity going on. I went for Fajitas and had a Banana Split after which was possibly the best dessert I’ve ever eaten in my life. Walking up the boardwalk was nice on such a sunny day but god it was so hot so we spent a while in World of Disney where I spent a ridiculous amount on presents. After we had looked around for a while it was time to head over to Hollywood Studios for our evening show.

We got there with plenty of time to spare but after seeing that people were already queuing for Fantasmic we decided to join them. After what seemed like forever we were finally let in and managed to get some really good seats, just off from the centre and quite near the front. The pre show was typical American Disney – loud, cheesy and over the top but it passed the time really well. What’s not to like about singing Disney classics with a couple of thousand other people?

Finally the show started. I had read great things about this show and so it had some pretty high expectations to live up to and it totally did. From start to finish the show is fantastic, entertaining all the way through. There was a good mixture of live action, pyrotechnics and projected animation onto the water screens. I didn’t really understand the point of the Pocahontas section – its not one of my favourite films or one of the best. Apart from this I enjoyed the show thoroughly and it was definitely the best show I saw in Orlando.











The next day was a relaxing one spent shopping and chilling by the pool in preparation for a day at what was to become my favourite park.
 

Mike

Giga Poster
It's great to hear someone being positive about WDW's Fantasmic! I swear most reports on here are people disappointed with it. :p
 
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