Re: First Time Evah in Florida - DAY 6 KENNEDY SPACE CENTER!
Sorry for not posting an update for a while. Been out most days.
Anyway...
Day 7: Magic Kingdom
Found a better picture of the slingshot ride.
We got to the entrance of Disney World and then drove all the way to the top. Magic Kingdom is the furthest park to get to and quite a drive from the area where everything else is.
On the way you pass one of the most awesome billboards ever. The car actually moves.
Once we'd handed over another $14 to park the car we got on the tram to the park.
And here's the gate ticket prices in case you're interested.
Once you get past here you have to decide how you're going to get to the park. You can either go by monorail or boat.
We chose the boat so walked over to the left to get on it.
As you're queuing they let people draw on the floor with chalk.
Within a couple of minutes a boat turned up and loaded up. You can fit loads of people on it but there's not that many places to sit down.
America is full of weird insects. This is another one of them.
We soon arrived at the park entrance. I liked all the things they had on the floor.
The entrance is less impressive than Paris but the train going across above you is cool.
As soon as we got into the park the parade came out. The song for this was amazing.
I found it Youtube for you all to enjoy.
Start the video at 1:45 (unless you want to hear the intro).
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q1JpmyIrwSM[/youtube]
We decided to walk past it and head to Big Thunder Mountain first to get fast passes for it.
Anyway we headed up the right hand side of main street and the realised we wanted to be on the left and couldn't cross because of the parade. So we decided to wait for it to pass and then cross. But as soon as the end went past us all the staff told the people crossing they couldn't and told them to go on circle thing in front of the Castle. Annoyingly though. Once we were on there the parade circled us completely meaning we were stuck there until it ended. We were stuck there for at least 5 minutes and as soon as they said people could join in and dance with them we just rushed across.
On the way to Big Thunder Mountain you pass the paddle steamer which looks amazing. Especially against the backdrop with the Haunted Mansion behind it.
Anyway we got to Big Thunder and found out it was shut. So we grabbed fast passes for it anyway as I remembered someone on here saying that you could still use the fast passes even after the end time it says on it.
Once we got that we decided to go on Splash Mountain as it was right next to us.
The queue for it was alright. Had a few things to look at.
Even though the queue said it was 25 minutes we got on in 15.
My thoughts...
Splash Mountain
Probably the second best log flume I've been on. It's a decent length and there's always something happening. The dark bit inside is awesome although it does go on for ages. The main drop is good fun and you don't get too wet either. Overall it's a good fun ride that is perfect for families.
Even though you do end up whistling that song at the end for the rest of the day because it's stuck in your head lol.
Next we headed down to Pirates of the Caribbean. The queue here said it was just 10 minutes. Which is was. Although it did break down for 15 minutes so we ended up waiting 25 minutes in the end.
This ride was broken when I went to Paris so I was looking forward to this. I love Pirates of the Caribbean and I really liked the look of this ride.
My thoughts...
Pirates of the Caribbean
The first thing most people were saying when they got of the boat at the end was "is that it?" The whole ride feels very open and empty and doesn't have any atmosphere at all. They've added Blackbeard now on some mist thing to look like a waterfall which looks rubbish. It looks very dated and the captain jack animatronics (although really good) don't fit in with the rest of the ride. The drop is tiny and even though the ride lasts a while because the boat goes really slow there aren't that many scenes. It just ends suddenly and when you get off you realise there wasn't much to the ride at all. Was a real shame as I was hoping it would be one of my favourite rides of the trip.
On the way out the area there was a pirate show going on and the person dressed up as Jack looked so like the one in the film everyone was having to look twice to make sure lol. He looked and sounded like Captain Jack in the film and was pretty convincing.
Next we headed up to the Haunted Mansion. I was really looking forward to this as I love dark rides and I enjoyed Phantom Manor in Paris.
The weird thing in this queue is that you can either go round the full queue round the graveyard and do all the interactive stuff. Or you can just turn right and skip it. I wanted to see the interactive stuff but everyone else said they didn't want to queue for that when you could just go straight past it.
You still had to queue for the other bit and the staff let half and half from each queue as you went in.
Personally I think it's a stupid idea. It's like they're enforcing queue jumping. If there's a queue then make everyone go round that. Im sure they wont mind with all the buttons and talking/moving things they can interact with.
Anyway we got in after about 10 minutes in the end.
The first room is still a nice effect although it's not as spooky or atmospheric when everyone's crammed in.
After this you have to queue in the station. I preferred the Phantom Manor station to this as in Phantom Manor you had the staircase and the window and here it was nothing more than what Duel has. Also the queue here is a bit messy and being cramped and having to push in between people distracted you from being able to immerse in the amazing themeing.
Anyway here's my thoughts...
The Haunted Mansion
The ride is still great and is an amazing dark ride. The first half is all creepy and spooky and the second half is more light hearted and fun (because two designers designed the ride and both had different ideas).
The effects are amazing. Some have been updated like the floating crystal ball and the hitch-hiking ghosts at the end (the new ones here are AMAZING) which do things like switch your heads around with the person sat next to you or stretch it into a funny shape.
So yeah it's an amazing ride. Even if we did break down on it for a couple of minutes (same happened in Phantom Manor as well lol).
After the Haunted Mansion we went on a ride you CANNOT go to Disney WITHOUT riding.
It's so racist. <3
It went on for much longer than the Paris one (from memory) and didn't seem 'as' annoying. Although my dad actually fell asleep on this ride. No word of a lie.
You still get the terrible stacking of boats at the end which is kinda annoying but the music seems to have calmed down bit in the last bit.
My thoughts...
It's a Small World
It's a ride you kinda have to do when you go to any Disney park. I dunno why as it's rubbish, annoying, long and boring. But it's hard not to ride without smiling or laughing. It's just so happy.
We were feeling hungry so decided to get some food. We went to a place behind the castle and got some hot dogs. They were still tiny but at least it filled a gap.
While we were waiting for my dad and Richard to finish their food and drink I went to take some nerdy construction pictures.
I also went to go get us all fast passes for the Winnie the Pooh ride as I was told that usually has long queues.
We couldn't find the machine near the entrance so had to ask. Turns out it's the other side of the area which is stupid as it's nowhere near the ride. While we were waiting for the tickets to come out we got an extra little surprise.
We saw a plane in the sky starting to write a message. I'd never seen this in real life before so we stood to see what it was going to say. As soon as we saw it was religious we headed straight to Philharmagic.
My thoughts...
Philharmagic
It was a good film. Loved the way the screen got wider without you noticing. The 3D was pretty good in places, but in others, it was pretty bad. I've never got a split image in a 3D film before but here most things that came out the screen just doubled and you had to focus really hard to try and merge them into one a bit.
But apart from that it was good fun and the ending with Donald in the wall was cool.
When we got out the plane was still going so we went straight to Winnie the Pooh.
Trippy.
My thoughts...
The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh Ride
Knew it wasn't going to be anything amazing but it was alright. I liked the illusion from the station with the cars going in and disappearing like they've gone into the book. Cool optical illusion.
The bit where the car bounces is fun and also the trippy bit where all the hidden wall panels move and open up. Overall it's alright. I wouldn't queue up for more than 15 minutes for it though.
Disney seemed to be obsessed with these fat things of all the characters across it's shops.
And they had some weird Tigger thing.
Next we did Snow White's Scary Adventures. I didn't get the chance to do it in Paris as I didn't realise it was there or what it was.
The queue for this in the end was about 20 minutes. I did a POV of the ride which you can see here.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gw0idpDj5yc[/youtube]
My thoughts...
Snow White's Scary Adventures
It was alright. Nothing amazing. Just an average dark ride through some scenes that aren't scary at all.
We were about halfway round the park by now. As you can see by this photo I took from the back of the castle (the central hub to the park).
First we headed to the Tomorrowland Speedway. Before you see the ride properly it looks an sounds like a massive go-kart track. In reality though it's just like the thing at Blackpool where you go along a rail.
I like how on the board while you queue they have the track layouts for all the other parks as well so you can compare them.
Saw some more construction here as well.
The queue was about 20 minutes in the end which wasn't too bad.
About halfway round as you were going up the hill to the bridge there was a pile up of cars on the edge track. It was all caused by the car at the front which seemed to have gotten stuck. The girl who was driving it was just sat there crying so I decided to take pictures.
At the end they had stacking of massive proportions. It was like being stuck in standstill traffic on the motorways at home. Just stop start all the time.
The last bit into the station is on a slight hill. And we found out how to make the cars reverse so I spent the whole time waiting to go into the station driving up the hill the reversing back and crashing into my brothers car behind me. Then I just kept doing this till we got to move into the station. Was pretty funny as it was quite a long wait.
My thoughts...
Tomorrowland Speedway
The ride was good fun and at least the layout had a bridge to keep it slightly more interesting. Just a shame they can't go a little faster as it doesn't feel like you're racing at all. Overall though it's pretty fun but not worth more than a 20 minute wait.
Next we headed right into the middle of the area to ride the People Mover.
There wasn't a queue for this but we had to wait 5 minutes as the escalator taking you up and down to the station broke. I got a picture of all the intercom phone numbers.
We were soon on though. The station was cool with the rotating platform.
The ride takes you through a few buildings. Some have models, some let you peep into the rides and shops below you and one takes you into Space Mountain.
This picture is when it lets you look down into the Buzz Lightyear ride.
My thoughts...
People Mover
Was a nice gentle ride. The audio commentary was quite interesting and looking down into a couple of the rides was cool. Shame in the Space Mountain building all the can really see is the lift hill (it goes in the middle between the two) as round the rest of the building all you can do is hear the coaster as it's so dark. But it's a nice relaxing break to the day and gives you a nice look at the area.
Before doing the next rides we decided to get fast passes for Buzz Lightyear and Space Mountain (which had a 100 minute queue). It's been years since I've used fast passes on multiple rides and from memory and what I was told here you could collect one for each ride and then you couldn't get another fast pass for the same ride until the one before has expired. So with that in mind we got fast passes for Buzz Lightyear but when we went to get them for Space Mountain it said we already had some and had to wait until that one had expired to get a new one. It was pretty annoying and had I known that I would have done it the other way round.
Next we went into Stitch's Great Escape as it had no queue.
Sorry this photo is so dark but here's the main room.
My thoughts...
Stitch's Great Escape
There were quite a few pre-show areas on this ride when it would have been fine with just one. It does build the ride up nicely though.
I always forget how big Stitch is. When he comes out that machine I was expecting something about knee height lol.
The effects are alright though and the bit where he jumps on the restraints was cool. Although my dad and cousin said it hurt their shoulders because the bars were tight already. Lucky I pushed mine up slightly at the start when they locked then lol.
Overall it's alright. It drags on for a bit and I would have preferred to see what Alien Encounter was like.
For those still not too sure what this ride is then if you've done the Sweeney Todd scene at the London Dungeons (with the chairs) then it's similar to that.
By the time we'd done that it was time to use our fast passes on Buzz Lightyear we went and got ones for Space Mountain first though before they ran out as the times for them were in the evening now.
The fast pass (I keep typing Fast Track and having to go back and change it lol) queue for Buzz Lightyear took about 10 ins to get on.
This is the exit station as it's easier to get a picture of.
And here's our crap quality ORP.
My thoughts...
Buzz Lightyear's Space Ranger Spin
I wasn't that impressed with the ride in Paris. Didn't like the constant stream of cars and the targets and guns were rubbish.
I like the way you have to joystick to spin your car though. That's a nice fun touch. Although it can be really annoying as the person in your car is using it as well just as you're aiming. It's alright. Just nothing amazing.
The whole time we were in the area I kept noticing this building. Mainly because every now and then the whole building would spin round (including the outer walls). We decided to go over and check it out. It didn't have a queue so went straight on. The member of staff loved my Beatles shirt lol.
To briefly describe the show I'll just quote Wikipedia.
The basic plot of the Carousel of Progress show has essentially remained unchanged since it debuted at the 1964 New York World's Fair. The show is divided into six scenes, with the audience seating sections located in a ring which mechanically revolves within the outer part of the circular theater building. The scenes are each staged in stationary wedge-shaped spaces at the core of the building. Thus, the audience actually revolves around the stage, stopping to view each scene of a simple narrative of progress.
Here's some pictures from inside.
My thoughts...
Carousel of Progress
It was actually a really interesting ride. It went on a bit long and the song in between songs was annoying. But watching the house and area progress was pretty cool. The animatronics of the humans and dog looked pretty realistic and the effects with the things moving in the set were pretty neat as well.
It may be boring for children. But it's actually pretty unique so you should check it out if you have the chance.
We decided to head back over to Big Thunder Mountain to see if it had reopened.
As we were leaving Tomorrowland I took this picture.
The foliage was still pretty impressive in places.
As we got back to the middle by the castle we caught the end of a show.
We heard the fireworks a couple of times while we were in Fantasyland behind the castle. We assumed it would be a show of some sorts so was good to actually see what it was lol.
Anyway on the way to Big Thunder Mountain we decided to do something else. I wont tell you so you can guess. I've give you a clue though. It's very boring.
My Thoughts...
Hall of Presidents
First things first. This is VERY boring. Unless you're into politics and have an interest in presidents and stuff. Bits of it were interesting and the fact it was voiced my Morgan Freeman helped keep my interest a bit. Andrew (my younger brother) fell asleep during this. The film is pretty long but the animatronics were quite impressive. Especially the new Obama one. The motions are really fluid. Especially with the hand gestures and stuff. Very neat. Of course. As soon as the curtain goes up and all the Presidents appear all the Americans started clapping, cheering and whooping really loudly. Like my dad said. Trust the Americans to cheer a load of dummies.
It was alright and slightly interesting. Just that I forget what I've been taught within seconds so it was a bit pointless for me. :lol:
After we'd woken Andrew up we finally got to Big Thunder Mountain and it seemed to be up and running now.
We went straight to the fast pass queue and used our tickets from earlier. The queue was only 10 minutes with our fast passes. And we boarded on the left hand station (facing the direction the train travels).
My thoughts...
Big Thunder Mountain
I can't remember the Paris one at all so can't compare them. Although the one in Paris 'looks' visually more impressive I think this one is more thrilling.
The coaster is a decent length and it's well themed as well. I liked the indoor lift hill as that looked nice and it picked up some nice bits of speed in places. Overall a fun and thrilling coaster that's perfect for the park. Not some **** mine train like the one at Chessington lol.
For some reason the bit under the bridge next to the entrance of Splash Mountain smelt like gas for most the day. I don't know why and I think the smell was still there as we went up the stairs above it to get on the Railroad.
The train took you right past all the Fantasyland Construction. But you can't see much more.
We got off at Main Street USA (above the park entrance) and went to find somewhere to eat. We found a place right down the end of the street.
This is what I ate.
The sandwiches were MASSIVE!
We left into some glass shop where someone was doing glass blowing.
We then decided to go to Guest services to ask about special seating for the fireworks because of Richards disability.
They showed us a marked area on the map where we could get seats if we got there early.
As we left the parade from the morning came out again so we decided to go in the building opposite to wait for it to pass.
I wasn't sure what it was but I remember seeing a video online and thought it was just getting to look round some rooms themed to the backstage of a magic show done by Mickey Mouse. It was that but on a tiny scale. I didn't realise that it was an actual photo shoot opportunity with Mickey and Minnie. Although because the building was empty there was only a 5 minute wait which is much shorter than the queues to get a photo with a character in the main areas of the park.
When we came out the parade was still going on at the end in front of the castle. But we knew this time to go up the right side of the road.
By now it was almost time to use our fast passes on Space Mountain. The queue had halved since we had last been there and was now only 50 minutes.
In the queue there were loads of silver balls under the walkway for some reason.
The queue is nice and futuristic.
It also has games to play as you queue which we didn't get to do because we were using fast passes.
Once you reach the station you choose what side you want to ride (as there's two coasters). We were lightly prompted to go into the Omega side by the member of staff.
The exit the the ride contains a massive long travelator that goes on forever.
My thoughts...
Space Mountain (Omega)
Amazing ride. The coaster is such good fun. The tunnels and lift hill at the start build up the ride nicely. Especially going up next to the car on the other track. The actual coaster has a really slow top speed but because it's in the dark it feels 3 times as fast and flies round the track. It just doesn't seem to slow down at all until you get to the end. It's just really good fun and I was laughing the whole way round. My dad was making noises of pain as we went round some of the corners though as it did hit some of the corners quite hard lol.
Comparing it to the Paris version though I think that one is still better. It has a better soundtrack, there's more going on and things to look at and the launch adds more to the ride than going up a lift hill to space. They're both fantastic coasters though and probably the best coaster in Disney.
After the coaster we decided to head to the area they showed us on the map to get seats for the fireworks. On the way I saw this
We found the seats they marked which were down by the water at the end of Main Street. We then waited for our aunt and co to turn up as they went out the park to eat.
As night came in the castle lit up and looked STUNNING!
Andrew, Sam, Laura and myself then went up to watch the parade and everyone else saved our seats.
Disney encourage taking drugs.
I also filmed the highlights of the parade in HD. Pretty pleased with how it came out so remember to watch my video.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fqk14grdUso[/youtube]
The parade was pretty good. Although the music was annoying and apparently it hasn't changed at all in about 20 years.
After that we went to go back to our seats for the fireworks. When we got back there was a member of staff stood there with a rope across the steps and only letting on people who's names were on the list who had paid for seats. We tried to explain that we were told to sit there as my brother is disabled and that we just went to go see the parade but she wasn't listening. She kept asking our names and checking her list no matter how many times we told her we weren't on it. We even told them we could call them and get them to come up and tell her that we weren't lying. This went on for about 10 minutes until we realised that the stairs at the back were open so we just walked round and went down there.
The view was alright. It was nice to sit down although there was a tree to the right blocking some of it but oh well. It was just nice to have a seat.
The projection show was good (although there's loads of better ones on youtube) and it was good to see it in real life. The photos they put in from the day were tiny and hard to see so seemed a bit pointless.
The fireworks show was after and was actually quite disappointing. It would have been better if they merged the fireworks and projections together.
After the fireworks we decided to let things die down for a bit as everyone was heading for the exit. After a while though we just decided to go for it and headed out the park to the monorail to get back to the car park.
On the way back we dropped into Walmart. I think all we got was some more Lucky Charms for breakfast.
That's all for today. Hope you enjoyed.
Next report will be on
Animal Kingdom.
