Tag Archives: attractions

A Disney World and Universal Studios Cold War?

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Walt Disney World is constantly a work in progress. There are new rides under construction, other rides being refurbished, and sadly others being closed. This has been going on forever. I am not sure if it is my imagination, but it seems to me this process has been escalating recently. The 50th anniversary began in October of 2021. Covid-19 derailed many of the ambitious plan, but it still brought about many changes. Some of the rides that have opened, or should have opened, are some of the most advanced and exciting rides ever to be built at Walt Disney World. These rides include Ratatouille, Mickey and Minnie’s Runaway Railroad, Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind and Tron Lightcycle/ Run. These are some major rides. This might be the biggest expansion ever undertaken at Walt Disney World.

Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind

It makes me wonder why Walt Disney World is seemingly improving so aggressively. At the same time, thanks to demand for Harry Potter World, Universal Studios Orlando has seen such a large increase in attendance, it has become more competitive with Walt Disney World. Universal Studios Orlando has recently made many additions including new resorts and their water park, Volcano Bay.

Now for the main event. Universal Studios is building an entirely new theme park. Details are scarce and rumors are plentiful. Some sure things are that the park will include Super Mario Land and more Harry Potter attractions. Epic Universe, as it is called, will also be massive. This will certainly force Walt Disney World to continue to expand and provide bigger and better entertainment. The market dynamics and the spirit of competition will invariably benefit guests to Walt Disney World for years to come.

Attraction Profile: Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind

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Something truly amazing is happening at EPCOT.   What Disney World is working to vastly improve the park. Without getting into too much detail here, there was a time not too long ago where I would travel to Walt Disney World and spend half a day at EPCOT. And that seemed like too much. Last year EPCOT welcomed Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure. And they followed with the opening of Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind.

Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind is an unbelievable attraction. It is described by Disney as a rotating roller coaster adventure. My spoiler free review confirms that. It is definitely a one of a kind coaster experience. It is something different than most other coasters. And the entire attraction is just that, an experience. It’s almost like Disney Imagineers dreamt of a ride that combined Rise of the Resistance with Space Mountain. Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind is more than just a ride. It is an entertaining adventure.

Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind is one of the most fun rides I’ve ever been on. Especially that first time, when everything is unexpected and guests don’t know what is happening. Disney did a wonderful job incorporating the Marvel Cinematic Universe. They created a blockbuster level movie in a theme park. I must admit that I do love the MCU and the Guardians of the Galaxy, so my experience was even that much better.

The attraction is obviously in high demand. As of right now, the only way to ride is with a virtual queue or Lightning Lane reservation. We purchased the Lightning Lane and it was well worth it. Much like Rise of the Resistance, there is more to the attraction than just the ride. The guests are pulled into the story and the experience.

A One Day Visit

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I recently did something I had never done before when visiting Walt Disney World. I went for just one day and didn’t stay on property. It was a very unusual experience to say the least. So how did it go?

I was in Orlando and decided to plan for a one day visit to Walt Disney World. Needless to say, it was difficult to pick which park to go to. So the first decision we made was to plan on park hopping. We definitely wanted to try and ride Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind. Also, the Food and Wine festival was going so we knew we wanted to end the day at EPCOT. For the morning we wanted to pick a park that had a few great rides that we would be able to do in a short time. We would begin the day at Animal Kingdom.

It was very unusual to go to Walt Disney World for just one day without planning for a long stay. We didn’t make any dining reservations and didn’t plan on using Disney Genie+. We did hope to get a Lightning Lane reservation for Guardians of the Galaxy and we were able to purchase those around 6:50 am.

We used a rideshare app to get to Animal Kingdom and it was smooth. We made it there by 8:30 am for a 9 am park opening. It wasn’t too busy yet and we got dropped off close to the entrance and didn’t have to wait in traffic.

Animal Kingdom

We started at Expedition Everest and barely waited. We rode that twice and hopped on Dinosaur, again with nearly no wait time. We then headed over to Avatar: Flight of Passage with a wait of 60 minutes. After that we made it just in time to catch Festival of the Lion King. We almost didn’t make it in, but did so after the initial seating and ended up with front row seats. We had a quick lunch at Pizzafari, watched It’s tough to be a Bug and made our way to the exit.

We got to the EPCOT bus stop just after 1:30, which was a little later than we wanted to be. As we approached, the bus was leaving. We then had to wait about 15 minutes for another bus. That seemed kind of long, as it was the beginning of the park hopping window and there were many people trying to move.

We entered EPCOT without much of a line at all. I expected there to be more of a rush at the 2pm opening of park hopping. There was a bit of a hitch, as none of our fingerprints worked on the first try.

We had our Lightning Lane reservation for 4pm to 5pm, so we didn’t want to do too much before that. We enjoyed some snacks and drinks at World Showcase. Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind is unbelievably awesome.

We then enjoyed some more dining and exploring of the Food and Wine Festival. We only made it on Soarin’ and Test Track to end the night. There was just too much to doin EPCOT for a half day. We got off Test Track just in time to watch Harmonius.

Leaving EPCOT using a rideshare was, unfortunately, not easy. Walt Disney World has seemingly not prepared enough for the rise in this technology. There were too few signs directing us where to go. We got lost at least once when we followed a sign to an area and then got there to find another sign pointing us back. There were temporary rideshare signs placed around as guides, but they were difficult to find. When we finally stumbled upon the right spot, there was no organization to the area. People were just standing around hoping to find their rides. It really was a mess. Disney World is going to have to devise a system for this emerging transportation method.

A Few Tips for a Short Trip

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Vacations to Walt Disney World have so many variations. There are so many things to do and decisions to be made. Some families prefer a relaxing vacation with maximum time hanging out by the pool, while others arrive early at the park and stay all day. Many vacationers stay a week or more and still leave wanting more. There are also families that might only stay for a few days because of a number of factors including budgeting and time constraints. A short trip can seem even more overwhelming because there is the added stress of feeling rushed to get everything done. Here are some ideas to relieve stress and enjoy your vacation.

Hollywood Studios

The most important thing to remember when visiting Walt Disney World is that it is supposed to be fun. It seems simple, and kind of stupid, but it is still something to remember. Even with all the planning and considerations ahead of time, there WILL be bumps in the road. This is especially true for short trips where you will inevitably be trying to squeeze everything in. There have been times when I wanted to make a showtime, and just didn’t make it for one reason or another.

Dining reservations might be hard to come by. The dining reservation system opens when your vacation is 60 days away from the first day. So during a long stay, you can book the last days before many other people. The inverse is also true, that during a short stay, many people have already made their reservations by the time you are able to make yours. That means you have to accept that you will likely not get your top choices. And don’t feel like you need to sit down and eat every meal. I usually only do one table service meal anyway. On a short trip, it would be wise to only sit at a restaurant you really want, and not settle for anything.

It might be worth it to purchase the park hopper option on a short trip. The park hopper allows guests to go to 2 parks in one day. This way, you will at least be able to visit all the parks. A great benefit of this is that each park has their own hours, and generally Epcot and Magic Kingdom are open the latest. Also Animal Kingdom usually opens the earliest and you can really hit most of the attractions in half of a day. This allows you to start at an early park and then go to another that’s open later and really maximize your time. And to save money if you plan to park hop on the back end of the trip, you cab add that option after you used your base ticket the first few days. Something to remember is that Hollywood Studios and EPCOT are very close to each other and you can even walk from one to the other in about 20 minutes.

Finally, prioritize the attractions you definitely want to do. With a little luck you should be able to do everything you want at EPCOT and Animal Kingdom. But, assume you won’t have time to do all of the major attractions in one day at Hollywood Studios and Magic Kingdom. And you won’t want to spend so much time in lines you can’t really enjoy the Disney experience. So make sure to hit attractions that don’t have long waits. And again, don’t rush around trying to do everything. Just enjoy what the vacation brings you.

Construction Update: Tron Lightcycle/ Run

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Disney D23 Expo concluded this past weekend. As usual, there was so much news coming out of this event it can get overwhelming.  Disney announced a ton of new movies and Disney+ shows. There were also many Disney Parks updates around the globe. By far the long awaited news that got my interest was the Tron Lightcycle/  Run update.

Tron Lightcycle/ Run Under Construction

Tron Lightcycle/ Run is an innovative roller coaster under construction at Magic Kingdom. And it has been under construction forever.  It was supposed to open for the 50th Anniversary of Walt Disney World in 2021. Unfortunately, the COVID19 pandemic derailed those plans. Construction started before the pandemic, so anyone that has visited Magic Kingdom over the last few years has seen the construction ongoing.  It has been progressing at a snail’s pace. Tron Lightcycle/ Run will bring a much needed world class thrill ride to Magic Kingdom to help push Walt Disney World into the future.

And while construction has been under way,  Walt Disney World Railroad has been closed, as it passes under or through the construction zone. So hopefully the Railroad will be opening again soon. Because I do miss that ride around Magic Kingdom.

This news is, however, met with some disappointment.  Tron Lightcycle/  Run has been seen to be in operation recently with theories of ride testing circulating the online community.  It seemed as though the ride was closely approaching an opening date. Selfishly, I was hoping it would be complete by my next trip to Walt Disney World this January.

Attraction Profile: Mickey’s Philharmagic

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Magic Kingdom in Walt Disney World is consistently one of the busiest amusement parks in the world. Undoubtedly one of the most congested areas of Magic Kingdom is Fantasyland. It is also the biggest section of Magic Kingdom and connects Tomorrowland to Liberty Square behind Cinderella’s Castle There also isn’t much shade and it gets very hot. There is everything here that Magic Kingdom has to offer. Great rides, popular characters, signature dining, quick service restaurants and wonderful attractions. It can be difficult to navigate and certainly gets overwhelming. There are so many decisions to be made. And they need to be made quick, as wait times fluctuate rapidly. One decision we never regret is to make sure we head into Mickey’s Philharmagic.

Mickey’s Philharmagic is a gorgeous production. Guests enter the theater for an orchestra performance. Through some hijinks, Donald Duck ends up on a musical adventure through some of the greatest Disney movie musical numbers. This show is an absolute must for any fan of Disney music. You will find yourself singing along and dancing in your seat. It is wildly entertaining.

Mickey’s Philharmagic also offers a great benefit that many of the attractions at Walt Disney World share. They provide a cool place to have a seat while enjoying the show. The queue is almost entirely inside and the wait is almost never more than 15 minutes. All together it can be a solid break of about 20 minutes to a half hour.

Attraction Profile: Splash Mountain

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Changing times have brought controversy to this beloved attraction. It is a delicate issue that had brought many passionate responses. Regardless of the changes Walt Disney World decides to make, Splash Mountain is and will remain a wonderful ride.

Splash Mountain is not your average log ride. It is incredibly enjoyable. The ride lasts forever and never disappoints. And it is entirely unpredictable as to which guests will get the most wet.

The drop at the end of the ride may look too intense for some people but it is really not that bad. Do not miss out on this ride because of the drop.

So if Walt Disney World does change Splash Mountain it will be sad to say goodbye. But it will be super exciting to see what ideas Disney Imagineers have to bring Splash Mountain forward.