reddening's thread of DISNEY PARKS gossip

aka stuff i'd talk about with my sister only she's asleep or in class or w/e

thread created because disney just updated their "disney look" to allow workers to have beards. BEARDS!!!

first comment on that article sarcastically posits "what's next, facial tattoos?" never change disney traditionalists!

other articles are claiming that soul patches are still forbidden, good call imo

speaking of the disney look, this showed up on tumblr the other day:

http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lvdseaLMzT1qjopp9o1_500.jpg

i don't think it's weird or unrealistic of me to demand that every person who works in tomorrowland should be forced to do their job with a big plexiglass bubble on their head at all times

I'm a liberal and I don't think Disney employees should have long hair or beards. Kids don't go to a Disney park to see their local 7-11 clerk running everything.

My local 7-11 clerk is clean shaven and tattoo less, try again, fascist.

i don't think it's weird or unrealistic of me to demand that every person who works in tomorrowland should be forced to do their job with a big plexiglass bubble on their head at all times

I would like to demand that of everyone tbqh.

Nicole otm.

my dad worked summers at Disneyland for a few years when I was younger, and I remember actually reading a copy of their employee guidebook, which was fucking hilarious. Included specific admonishments for: visible pantylines and bra-lines, hair length (both how far over the ears it could come, and how far above the collarline it had to be), facial hair of any kind, make-up, improperly groomed fingernails...

I approve of this thread. Now that we're all year-round-passed up at home we can investigate things at Disneyland as desired.

btw I am going to Disneyland for the first time in... uh let's see, 17 years in February! my daughter is going to LOSE HER MIND

re that photo above: do we have a vintage disney photo thread? i would love one.

shakey, how old is your daughter? i'm really excited to bring my daughter to disneyworld in the future, but she's still too young for her first visit to mickey-mecca to leave an impression on her.

I'm going to Walt Disney World in ten days for a weekend. For us the parks matter less than staying at a Disney hotel and eating and drinking and loungin'.

she turned 4 in December, I'll let you know how it goes

I have tons of photos of Disneyland from the 50s and 60s, lemme dig up some links

here's some from the 70s

http://farm7.staticflickr.com/6218/6264208394_1da3dffb65_z.jpg

http://farm7.staticflickr.com/6218/6264208394_1da3dffb65_z.jpg

er
http://farm7.staticflickr.com/6228/6264208722_98a1c353b6.jpg

The Mad Tea Party is the most violent ride ever conceived by man.

my father was a musician at disneyland on-and-off from the early eighties to ~2004, so my sisters and i spent a lot of time there + had a bunch of people in our peer group who worked there. i've probably told this story on ilx before, but i took a college creative writing course with one of the guys who played Goofy; he was very tall and strange and every story he submitted had something to do with infant and/or child murder.

moral of the story: stay away from Goofy

garsh

i haven't seen that guy in 10 years but there's an ~85% chance he currently posts to reddit

rip skyway ride

in ref to those pics obv

unfortunately can't get to my 50s-60s photos, waiting for flickr to unlock/renew my account arrgh

http://26.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_ltt5kzPqxh1qbh9d4o1_500.jpg

also RIP: creepy waving dolls inside Sleeping Beauty's Castle

i miss you, disneyland :(

― chaki, Tuesday, February 12, 2008

ohhh just realized you can see Monstro the whale in the background of Shakey's first pic! <3

also i covet the shirt the girl in the lower left corner is wearing

so.... gossip?

here is some gossip for you: last week, Disneyland quietly hooked up the Roger Rabbit's Cartoon Spin Fastpass system to the park-wide network of Fastpasses! for the last decade you could go get a Fastpass for the ride and it wouldn't count against your limited Fastpass total, because it wasn't hooked up to the main network. now you have to either waste a good Fastpass on Roger Rabbit or wait in line, which is of course fascist bullshit.

this is an outrage

oh man, i abused the fuck out of the fastpass last time i went cause i was there with my whole family and a bunch of peeps didn't want to ride the fastpass rides so i just grabbed fastpasses with all their tickets and had like five fastpasses at one time

how do the fastpasses work?

instead of waiting in line you go to a machine for the line and swipe your ticket and get a fastpass. the fastpass has a time on it and if you come back at that time you basically get automatic admission to the ride. but you can only have like 1 (or 2?) at a time

iirc

yeah, i think it goes: you get a fastpass with a return time on it, and then you can't get another one until it's that return time. however, if the return time is way later in the day, you can get another one two hours after you picked up the first one.

I am going to WDW in April. I am very excited. What are your pro tips, ILX friends?

use your fastpass.

find hidden mickeys.

get autograph book + have characters sign it

get the secret character phone number and call in to stalk, uh, hunt down, uh, find your fave characters.

playing drinking around the world where you drink at every country in epcot world pavilion. ride the troll ride.

ride the troll ride. 4chanstorm

You can get a second Fastpass if you approach the fifteen-minute window of the first -- at least in WDW.

whoa, neat!

1 day in Magic Kingdom
1 day in Animal Kingdom & Epcot (together)
1 day at Sea World

Sound good? I would skip Sea World but girlfriend is a big coaster fiend, and I don't think I can get away w/o going to another park outside Disney. I don't like coasters terribly much, so I figure Sea World might be kind of fun when she's whipping around upside down.

if you have a smartphone, i believe there's an app that shows you the wait times for all the rides. there's one for disneyland at least, i'm sure wdw has one too.

Confession: ten trips to WDW since '98, still haven't visited Animal Kingdom.

I would go for Universal Studios for your coaster needs.

Is Disneyland a completely different beast than WDW? We are tentatively considering a West Coast trip and loved WDW so much that Disneyland is under consideration.

Animal Kingdom is great. Not sure about feasibility of doing AK + Epcot on the same day, though. Epcot is my fave park. Also you're going to miss MGM? Tower of Terror is classic. Other good stuff (like 3D Muppet Movie! Star Wars ride!) worth doing there too.

Is Disneyland a completely different beast than WDW?

yes. it's much smaller for one thing.

I would go to MGM instead of Sea World and ride Tower of Terror and Aerosmith roller coaster which are both thrillier rides than most of WDW attractions.

also it's way older, there's stuff there from the 50s

xp

There's no comparison: WDW is immersive. You can hang out in a Disney hotel playing golf, swimming, eating, and hanging with bros and not step foot in a park.

even the drive into the Magic Kingdom represents a triumph of Walt Disney learning from the mistakes of Disneyland. You drive further and further north until you're forced to park at the Transportation and Ticket Center, and even then you still can't see the park until you're on the monorail or ferry boat.

mistakes!

Also you're going to miss MGM? Tower of Terror is classic.

Isn't MGM now called Disney Hollywood Studios? Is that the same thing? We've done Muppets and Star Wars in California, so really we'd only be going for Tower of Terror.

I like the idea of Epcot, but a lot of what I've read says it's very out of date, and I don't want to invest myself in too much hoakum.

I remember it so fondly from the '87, I'm worried it won't hold up

Disney regretted the development around the Disneyland park.

Epoct is by far the best park! It's the one with all the restaurants, and you can Drink Around the World.

I've never been to WDW but yeah it seems much closer to, like, an actual functioning city or resort town than Disneyland, which is very much an amusement park.

I am also very fond of Disneyland's original inspiration (which is even smaller in scale), Children's Fairyland in Oakland.

xp

some parts of epcot are out of date (like the technology pavilion, the growing grain pavilion, and the communications throughout history pavilion) but they're out of date in an incredibly sincere optimistic way about the future of humanity and the promise of technology. it's a very renewing experience!

Hollywood Studios is the one to miss if you can't do them all, but I had the most fun on the Toy Story Midway Mania ride there, and my coaster-loving other half loved the Rock'n'Rollercoaster.

End your Animal Kingdom/Epcot day at Epcot for the IllumiNations show, do Animal Kingdom in the morning.

Epcot is really the only thing I am curious about at WDW

Yeah. Future World doesn't feel dowdy.

Epcot is the one park in which I feel no pressure to ride anything. You can walk with a beer and soak it in.

Okay, we'll do Epcot. Only thing: neither of us drink. Will it still be fun? We can afford three days at theme parks. We both want to do Animal Kingdom (suckers for giraffes), and obv. Magic Kingdom. Epcot would be our third day, just want to make sure it's a good call, and that we're not gonna regret skipping Sea World and/or Universal Studios.

Cheers all, I realised it was smaller and older, is it just that it's not so Disneyfied? We stayed offsite in Orlando, but visited a park about 10 out of our 14 days. This would just be because we're there and wouldn't be the major point of our trip.

if anything it's MORE Disneyfied

basically every ride/feature is tied to a specific Disney film or property

Ah, cool. I think I meant how WDW is so immersive with hotels and transport and whathaveyou, I sort of feel Disneyland seems more pop in then pop out again as opposed to being swallowed up in the whole culture of it. I may have this all wrong in my head.

yeah, i think the fact that it's older + smaller actually makes it ideal for a "just popping by" trip. also the new cars land is going to open this summer, presumably with new rides that haven't made it to wdw yet? i heard one of the new rides is going to be like the old flying saucer ride and i am psyyyyyyyched

I dunno when yr in Disneyland you are IN Disneyland, the outside world sort of ceases to exist, there are no signs of it. in my humble opinion anyway.

rumor: Ratatouille ride at Parc Disneyland Paris coming soon

I highly recommend Disney lovers make a trip to Disneyland Paris. you're gonna think: I came all the way out here & you're expecting me to do something American? but the park's a masterpiece of design, even among the other Disney parks: compact & intricate, & yet you don't see e.g. Space Mountain when you're walking through other parts of the park (unless you climb something to see it). It doesn't feel as huge as the FLA parks, but it is; it's just more tightly woven.

plus it's fun to compare tourists from e.g. Spain & Italy to those from e.g. Missouri & Ohio.

next month i'm going to disneyland for the first time. i've never done any disney thing, never wanted to, but i'm being taken there by a person who is a big fan from childhood. i'm excited to do the lame stuff, like see the singing parrots and the hall of presidents or whatever it is.

in the tiki tiki tiki tiki tiki room

LOVE THAT SHIT

it would be fun to go to disneyland and just do a CREEPY ROBOTS tour, like seek out and experience the creepiest robots disney has to offer. 'it's a small world' and all the fantasyland rides based on disney movies would be high up there.

so nice to see you guys aren't cynical about Disney. I still don't give a good goddamn about Mickey and the crew but the "vacation kingdom" is a marvel of engineering and monomaniacal devotion to theme and pleasure.

here in Florida I gotta deal with Facebook updates from friends and relatives in Disney at least twice a week.

re that photo above: do we have a vintage disney photo thread? i would love one.

― Mordy, Tuesday, January 24, 2012 10:46 AM (3 hours ago)

big fan of this tumblr: http://vintagedisneyparks.tumblr.com/

one of the best weekends of my life involved riding around MGM studios on bikes at 2am while the park was closed and then looting Epcot souvenir stands the following nite

ahhhh old school disneyland characters were TERRIFYING!

http://30.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_kxt46l3dxZ1qb3a81o1_500.jpg

Promised my kids we would go when the younger one was 5 and the older one was 8, which is ... wow, next year. Sort of dreading it.

Btw, I know someone who grew up in Celebration!

i want to go right now tbh

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7169/6737015339_d0ab639f63_z.jpg

wonder if Disneyland is still the Orange County goth hangout... back in the late 90s they used to all get passes and hang out in large groups around Tomorrowland, of all places. at one point there was even a Fox News Special Report on the 'goth gangs' down at Disneyland featuring a lot of my friends.

come to think of it, Disney might have created an anti-goth dresscode eventually to deal with it

1956
http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5145/5634788951_9b789979d4_z.jpg

http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5222/5635369228_7caa13df52_z.jpg

http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5064/5635369334_cffc22b3b1_z.jpg

http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5221/5634789201_780967bf96_z.jpg

1958
http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5320/5840041932_2808d99b2c_z.jpg

http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3467/5840042022_a23d3a4f08_z.jpg

http://farm3.staticflickr.com/2576/5839493733_c1e4bf4b12_z.jpg

http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3557/5839493835_cd7f7de5ce_z.jpg

http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5309/5839493935_20e3bc75e2_z.jpg

http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5277/5840042440_1e63cb8d32_z.jpg

http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5233/5839494125_14c748290c_z.jpg

http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3569/5840042614_12a32119ce_z.jpg

http://farm3.staticflickr.com/2754/5839494291_e9b97ccc53_z.jpg

The semi-legendary "Home of Tomorrow" (sponsored by GE iirc?)
http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5225/5840042754_e95619b851_z.jpg

http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5221/5839494559_dc947378e6_z.jpg

<3 these

the Mark Twain (is this still there...?)
http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5196/5840043022_69175fdf75_z.jpg

http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3156/5839494745_4c97766c84_z.jpg

http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3298/5840043316_c069d3b23a_z.jpg

that's it for now...

very curious about what was sold in the "Intimate Apparel" store on Main Street in 1956

Disneyland is absolutely still a goth hangout. In fact, I believe they've pulled in more stuff around Nightmare Before Christmas just to appeal to that particular demo.

I'm going in March for two days. Will be my first time checking out California Adventure? Any advice?

We are hoping to stay at the Grand Californian, which should be super awesome.

My son's going to lose his mind at getting to ride the Indiana Jones ride for the first time.

In related news, we vistited the Walt Disney Family Museum in San Francisco back in November and the best part was the amazing room devoted to Disneyland.

Grand Californian is pretty beautiful (for Disney) and actually reflects the Yosemite aesthestic super well.

My wife works for Disney (corporate, not the park), but we go to the park and Fastpass it often. We also always go for the employee Xmas party, which is supposedly when the park is closed to everyone but employees and their families, but it is so crowded, it could be any other night at the park.

My wife gets to see a lot of cool behind the scenes stuff though. She held the original Fuzzball puppet from Captain Eo and had a tour of Walt's park apartment - above the fire station on Main Street and still kept as if he was about to walk through the door-original kitchenware, linens and all that.

these are so good

those pics are great! it's really interesting to see the difference between the original fantasyland theming and the kind of style they have now -- it all looks so open and bright, almost like a carnival. you mentioned earlier shakey that disneyland seems to shut out the outside world, and i think the current fantasyland is a perfect example of that, with all the trees and tall facades making the whole thing feel like an insular little town:

http://i39.tinypic.com/30ae2vs.jpg

also MORE DISNEY GOSSIP regarding this alice in wonderland pic:

http://farm3.staticflickr.com/2754/5839494291_e9b97ccc53_z.jpg

after 40+ years of having the little cars trundle along the outside roof of the ride like this, OSHA finally made them put fences around the whole thing this year. now it looks like this:

http://i44.tinypic.com/fyevyh.jpg

I should have some more from the 70s up at some point, just need to set up my new scanner

these are all courtesy of my grandfather's slide collection btw

http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_l2qfiwqyQB1qb3a81o1_500.jpg

Goth Disney is still a big deal: http://www.batsday.net/ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bats_Day_in_the_Fun_Park

Bats Day in the Park

drudgesiren.gif guess who brought his manic grin and messianic offspring to the park today?

http://p.twimg.com/AkDVMAeCMAA99WC.jpg

comforts me somehow to know that Goth Disney is still happening

http://30.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lx38t90Wmq1r9ssaho1_500.jpg

walt disney invites u to take the creepy robot tour

also AS SEEN ON PITCHFORK disney creates, hastily pulls joy division-inspired t-shirt from parks:

http://cdn.pitchfork.com/news/45229/3e26f295.jpeg

someone will have bootleg ones on eBay within a month.

this morning i heard a radio interview w/ the author of this book, 'the dark side of disney,' which is basically a WDW travel guide that tells you where you can have sex in the park, how to sneak in drugs, etc.:

http://www.amazon.com/Dark-Side-Disney-ebook/dp/B005FXZOMG

kind of weirded me out to see this thread on new answers and that it had nothing to do w/ the book

http://28.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lxlaxb6pgR1r1pz1eo1_500.jpg

I did mushrooms when I went to disneyland during spring break in like 1999-2000.. just so happened it was also raver day so the park was full of drugged out club kids wearing the most ridiculous outfits you've ever seen. was one of the best days of my life.

Four days till my trip!

One of my continued attractions to Disney is partly nostalgic: staying at its resorts as a child introduced me to the concept of Staying at a Hotel, as in enjoying the amenities (pool, room service, restaurants, tennis) and reveling in the privilege of staying someplace exclusive. Walt Disney World was a smaller place in the late eighties -- only five or six resorts, two parks.

my friend just got back from WDW and apparently there is some kind of nerdy in-park game you can play called sorcerers of the magic kingdom? you're given cards and you seek out these interactive hot spots all over the park and do damage to villains or something? normally i front that WDW sucks becuz of hometown pride, but i am SO JEALOUS of this.

We did something like this at Epcot based on the Kim Possible TV series. They gave us this little cell phone thingy that would give us clues at different points which we'd search for around some of the world pavilions. When we found the right locations, the phone would trigger some cool thing to happen at the proper location. So various little decorations around the Japan or Netherlands pavilions would suddenly light up or do some kind of neat action.

It was really fun and inventive to see how they integrated it all into the different countries.

There's a video on here that shows how it worked:
http://disneyworld.disney.go.com/parks/epcot/attractions/kim-possible

^^ oh man, and i've seen plenty of kim possible with my little cousins! that doubles my jealousy tbh

just wanted to say this is exactly the kind of corny shit i would love to participate in:

http://s3.amazonaws.com/data.tumblr.com/tumblr_lyg2zqI42J1qz9d5uo1_1280.jpg?AWSAccessKeyId=AKIAJ6IHWSU3BX3X7X3Q&Expires=1328492059&Signature=doIEmxRsEt0%2B7csIv1cCIsGtdEY%3D

I'm here! Wilderness Lodge!

lol would go to dapper day

essential viewing for this thread:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TtpodPJ5Xv4
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SO6usyCc1zA

(two other parts on youtube)

I was going to be at park today during Super Bowl but mrs. eating a sausage as I type this is sick =(

oh shit i bet superbowl sunday is a gr8 day to go

I know1 =/

damn you, cold that seems to be going around, damn you to hell

Wilderness Lodge looks pretty damn cool Al.

i want to go back to disneyland, went last june for the first time since I was five with my own 5 year old and it was a blast. thnx again adamrl & wife for tix.

Will have more to post tomorrow, but I've had several outstanding meals and lots of great times.

WDW FASTPASS Return Time Enforcement Begins March 7, 2012

it was kind of an open secret that you could show up way later than the return time on your fastpass and they'd still let you in, but now they're cracking down on it. cruel but fair i guess? j/k this is the apocalypse

No Fastpasses needed this trip, with the exception of Mission Space.

Not a big deal to me since I assumed it was enforced anyway.

whats the point of having rules if you don't enforce them? magic kingdom indeed.

Speaking of the MK, its dry policy really busted my nuts this weekend. Luckily we refreshed ourselves with cocktails at the Contemporary.

have never set foot in one of these things

who cares?

not me, Disney or you

ILX is being really helpful w/ the FB defriending lately

Went for my birthday last year - so good, it just never gets old.

damn, morbs.

No wonder he's so cranky

goths love disney

I might be going to Bats day in November...

also I went to WDW this past May and Epcot was WONDERFULLY 80's! I loved it!

not Cranky

http://disney-clipart.com/snow-white/jpg/Dwarfs/Grumpy.jpg

Morbs, sometimes it's okay to just, y'know, not say anything. It would certainly save you a bit of time and energy in composing your obligatory 'Butthurt. Bye.' posts, yeah?

all I said was I aint been to one, I thought it wd help jaymc w/ my bio.

you should go morbs, they're awesome.

homoII's "wonderfully 80s" post killed the last chance of that.

i know these dudes who go for Gay Days every year like its burning man-- so many facebook photos to document it

Gay Days make me ill.

I get the feeling that Slobbo Thomas would have no trouble wit polygamy

tbh i don't really understand, personally, like, for me, what the appeal of disneyland/world is!
other than roller coasters? which i like

part of this, i do know, is that i really really really do not like mascots/people dressed up in animal/fictional-creature suits

the mascots thing is kind of not a huge part of it imho. For me, the big appeal of Disneyland is the design - the architecture and the rides. They aren't really rollercoasters per se (well, some are) they're more like really elaborate art installations.

the rides are a much more vivid combination of animatronics, painted backdrops, music, controlled environments, landscaping/architecture than just a simple rollercoaster

ah okay!
i went to disneyland when i was 8 and liked it - and remember a lot of it - but i did find it overwhelming, mostly because of the crowds.
is there at least some sort of oasis of calm/escape in disneyland/world? or is it all 110% FUN all the time?

i am guessing it's changed a bit since 1983...

If you avoid the parks, you can take a break from the saccharine.

I need to find the pics I have from when my family went to Disneyland in . . . 1973, I think. I would have been 4 years old, so that sounds right. Every single picture of us kids with one of the nonhuman characters - Winnie the Pooh, Grumpy, etc. - I am sticking my hand in the mouth of the costume head. Every one.

as soon as I get my scanner working I will have some more pics from 1974 to post

shakey mo otm-- fuck a rollercoaster, give me an ~environment~

as soon as I get my scanner working I will have some more pics from 1974 to post

looking forward to this, your pics and the pics from that vintage disney tumblr have been great

alfred, does WDW have the new 3D star tours? i hated the prequels but i begrudgingly admire how well they fit into the ride experience

I didn't visit Hollywood Studios.

I'm waiting for Westworld.

http://www.widerscreenings.com/westworld2.jpg

aw, it's the 11th anniversary of disney's california adventure! happy anniversary to "the little park that could [after eight years of negative press and the eventual resignation of everyone involved in its creation]"!

so what are the tricks for visiting the parks w/ babby?

1974 comin up

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7051/6865797351_62b08e373f_z.jpg

I think this is the old Jungle Cruise...?
http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7037/6865796853_afc04fa915_z.jpg

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7064/6865796375_b26a982654_z.jpg

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7069/6865796089_7d2d23824e_z.jpg

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7185/6865795825_cfc7c06f01_z.jpg

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7036/6865795645_c53ff9dee0_z.jpg

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7197/6865795421_0e4b3ceb54_z.jpg

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7070/6865795195_0de45909d9_z.jpg

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7179/6865795049_88f81a4e97_z.jpg

Shakes, is that you?!

I'm not in these photos (those are my cousins)

it would've made perfect sense to imagine you as a blonde tow-haired boy.

awesome photos, shakey

^^^

i go to disneyland a week from tomorrow, photos&thread making me even more excited

We booked our rooms at the Grand Californian this afternoon! Going in March!

We'll be staying offsite (but in Downtown Disney) during April. 3-4 days in the park. 1x Magic, 1x Epcot, 1x Animal.

one of the Downtown Disney hotels? There was a time when those hotels were the cream of the cream when WDW lacked its own resorts. The location remains fabulous.

has anyone ever visited Celebration? I stayed w/ someone who had a house there for a weekend once.

autopia cars were so much cooler-looking back in the day! also lol @ the kids feeling up the fox character, shades of the mickey punch story on the excelsior thread.

love that colorful patchwork sail from the jungle cruise too. these are great!

clearly i am looking at these in reverse order because wtf PINOCCHIO BONER?? amazing!

forgot to post this yesterday:

Dateline Disneyland @DatelineDisney
New Charging Lockers available at Disneyland let you safely charge your Apple, Android, USB and AC-powered devices for $2 per hour.

p. good idea actually!

thats a great idea.

I think that's it for my photo archive - there might be a few more from '78 or so, will have to check.

is autopia still there...?

last weekend:

http://i50.photobucket.com/albums/f308/sotoalf/photo-2.jpg

I'm fool at the right in the hat.

any highlights from your trip?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nYfUrvL8Pkg

"we're just trying to help out."

hi from disneyland

will post pix from weekend trip in a bit. 14 rides in about 8 hrs.

It's a Small World - photos don't quite convey the scale, obviously:
http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7209/6919562441_5c68edf819.jpg
http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7188/6919562357_0c97ea76c3.jpg
http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7183/6919561687_4a39e16f21.jpg

Storybook Land:
http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7182/6919560687_9a7edc5c2d.jpg
http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7201/6773443302_340b91ce51.jpg

Sleeping Beauty's Castle - 3-D diamoras have replaced the old stationary puppet scenes, these were AMAZING:
http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7067/6773441724_3351ee1ee7.jpg
http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7180/6919558581_d59f9ddbe0.jpg

my daughter had a lot to tell Cinderella:
http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7186/6773440848_56a9b1bd7e.jpg

Mr. Toad
http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7195/6773447122_c53d792ab6.jpg

ROCKETS!
http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7194/6773446022_2272774aa8.jpg

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7064/6773446632_406eff4196.jpg

wonderful! we skipped small world because a) that song and b) tired, but now i really wish we'd done it. it looks amazing!

my favorite part was the peter pan ride. oh, and i loved the tiki room. no one told me the flowers sing too!

Peter Pan ride is great but I think it is also actually the shortest ride in the park...? Like, under 2 minutes.

Tiki Room is so great, dunno why we didn't get any pictures (flash photography might've been prohibited, I don't remember)

one thing that really struck me about these rides this time around is how uniformly amazing the sound design is - all these different audio tracks fading in and out as you move through the ride, every few feet something different and distinct gets your attention, but it's never overwhelming or deafening (well unless there's explosions lol)

just found this blog that is all about the 1980's futuristic Epcot ride HORIZONS

http://mesaverdetimes.blogspot.com/

before it was closed in the 90s, these dudes jumped out of their cars multiple times and walked around inside the ride and and explored it thoroughly while shooting lots of photos and videos:

http://i.imgur.com/lBJoP.jpg

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Ap6Is8PKSY

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=35lJIFoPz_s

that shit would just weird me out.

like I couldn't be the guy who dusts off abraham lincoln's cheekbones, knowing some prankster would flick the switch and make his eyeballs wink at me.

I think it's the America exhibit at Epcot where an anthromatic Teddy Roosevelt on a horse appears for a robotic look at the beginnings of the 20th Century. All I can think about is the hole those robots went down into and how they just sit there motionless until the next time they rise up into the sunrise.

^^ yep. Teddy and Audobon have a heated exchange.

Meanwhile this blog analyses the twilight in which American cuisine lived for most of the seventies and eighties.

then they both chill like Han Solo for another 45 minutes.

xp

speaking of creepy animatronic lincoln, here's a video of him breaking down mid-speech:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YF0j69pAM7g

http://cdn.pimpmyspace.org/media/pms/c/89/3u/em/terminator.gif

it was my sister's turn to alert me to important disney news:

http://i40.tinypic.com/1tto4g.jpg

ngl my immediate reaction was "hmmm, if i were to give birth inside disneyland, i wonder where i'd do it"

http://26.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m1ofz07Qkv1r5z5hmo1_r1_250.gif
http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m1ofz07Qkv1r5z5hmo2_r1_250.gif
http://28.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m1ofz07Qkv1r5z5hmo3_250.gif

feel like there's something sinister going on here, we are not being told the "whole story."

feel like the disney characters are waving larry forward to "bring out the kid in him" via his intestines

boy in the striped shirt gets a kickback, really gets off on the gentle trust in the eyes of his victims

is pluto playful waving his ear, or is he surreptitiously making the "hanged man" gesture as a way of mocking larry's fatal ignorance?

who knew tweedle-dee and tweedle-dum were the muscle.

Was it Disney that used to have the ad of the parents becoming children so by the end of the ad, the mom was a little girl standing next to her son?

wasn't weird at all

13 days to go!

why the hell would you go to Disneyland so very pregnant

babies born in the park get a lifetime pass iirc

no, that's only if your roommate kills himself on the Matterhorn.

babies conceived in the park are banned for life iirc

but the placenta stays

placentas are interred underneath the park entrance's statue of Mickey and Walt iirc

thanking u thread, i have stopped wondering where in the park i would have a baby and have moved on to "where in the park would i hide the placenta."

in the pineapple whip

put it in the display window of the turkey leg cart and see how long it takes anyone to notice

http://thepoelog.files.wordpress.com/2011/11/turkey-leg.jpg

Two things I can't forgive: Cheney authorizing torture and Disney tourists in August tearing into turkey legs.

a lot of people think the "haunted mansion" is childish and not very scary...but what if i told you that one of those old-fashioned trunks in the attic was literally packed with human placentas

what if I told you it was packed with 200-year-old turkey legs

Haunted Mansion rules, fuiud

the placenta and turkey legs are just the icing on the cake, to mix my metaphors a bit...

i love the haunted mansion too! but you gotta admit that if piles of human and/or turkey flesh were just kind of heaped everywhere throughout it would really take it to the next level

http://i43.tinypic.com/e87ewi.jpg

california adventure is getting a swinging new band of roaming entertainers called "five and dime." they play...instruments?

at last!

i'm going to give the artist the benefit of the doubt and assume that's meant to be a whimsical dr. seuss-style horn instrument, and not the tentacle porn it so strongly resembles

Buke And Gase takin off

http://i40.tinypic.com/nfjjtk.jpg

kid in blue-green-and-white shirt otm.

Three days until I'm in Disney World! I am a little excited, obv., and I think I'm going to eat at Boma! Flavors of Africa and the gardeny food place in Epcot for my meals.

Be sure to sample those South African wines.

oh my god i had to triple check to make sure kid in blue-green-and-white shirt wasn't my brother-- where is that pic from?

i saw it on the vintage disney tumblr, but it looks like it was originally posted on this blog. taken in 1988?

thanks! pretty sure its not him-- i dont think we made it to disney until '91 anyway-- pretty uncanny though!

http://miceage.micechat.com/allutz/al011712g.jpg

disney changes "water-spouting fish" ride element because the piece of plastic going in and out of the fish's mouth looks too phallic. what is it with "the little mermaid" and phalluses, damn.

we need remy updates!

just got back this morning - i'll aim to update later. had a great time, really loved epcot and animal kingdom. watched disney vets do gut surgery on a goat at the, err 'conservation station' and ate the best buffet food of my life at animal kingdom lodge. wish i'd stayed at the lodge, actually...

http://www.buildabettermousetrip.com/images/wdw/DeluxeAnimalKingdomLodge/images/AnimalKingdomLodge_008_Lobby_JPG.jpg

the fantasyland expansion looks very lovely, but it meant that the MK was greatly reduced. the new art of animation resort looks really amazing, also.

what do you mean reduced -- it's smaller?

yeah. a lot of real estate has been taken over in the building of 'storybook circus.' it's hard to know what to expect – a very odd forced-perspective beauty and the beast castle is rising out of rocks installed behind constuction panels.

when I went in February it looked like a physical expansion of Fantasyland not a foreshortening -- ugh.

In a dozen trips since 2001 I STIlL haven't been to Animal Kingdom or the Lodge, despite hearing wonders about Jiko and its South African wine selection.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BVp-ycAefgQ

Is there a book for strange disney facts & history?

http://static.microcosmpublishing.com/catimages/image_1631_lg.jpg

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/41dJ2tVrGrL._BO2,204,203,200_PIsitb-sticker-arrow-click,TopRight,35,-76_AA300_SH20_OU01_.jpg
browsing through amazon, maybe this is the one for me. this one's about epcot. i'm about to go to disney world so I don't want to read something too dark

Bah, I'm leaving for Disney World tonight and none of the bookstores have this book (Walt and the Promise of Progress City)

Here's a good one:

http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1029724.Mouse_Tales

From 1994. Goes into plenty of great detail.

Carl Hiassen's book has good anecdotes beneath the snark.

apologies in advance to whiney for this picture of community creator dan harmon wearing a turkey leg t-shirt at disneyland:

http://i47.tinypic.com/2mnf4ms.jpg

oh yeah and "cars land" opens today at DCA, everyone says it's amazing, w/e

have to admit that I was kind of bummed to miss it when I visited DCA back in March

yeah i'm seething with jealousy as i read twitter ppl's reactions to it. i don't care about the cars franchise at all but the rides + theming sound pretty top-notch.

well on his way into brian wilson territory I see

Every time I see this thread I think it says "The Reddening of Disney Parks"

comment section puritans aghast that beer and wine will be sold in wdw's magic kingdom (in one restaurant, only with dinner) starting this november.

also as an anaheim girl i haven't been paying attention to wdw news closely enough, this fantasyland re-do is way bigger than i realized. a second whole castle, well AREN'T we fancy

mitt romney is currently inside disneyland, nobody go to disneyland

http://i45.tinypic.com/2z86c15.jpg

i thought disney only associated itself with winners, bad PR move for them frankly

also i'm getting a little creeped out that mitt romney keeps popping up in environs that i frequent, next he'll be posting to twitter about how there's not enough emily/nolan time in this season's revenge

A http://www.fastcodesign.com/1671616/a-1-billion-project-to-remake-the-disney-world-experience-using-rfid#1 Billion Project To Remake The Disney World Experience, Using RFID

Animatronics will see a similar personalization, so the otherwise obtuse talking robots can specifically acknowledge the people standing in front of them.…

No, why that's not creepy at all!

My sister-in-law is taking her family there very soon and they will be doing the MagicBands. I'm curious to see how that goes for them.

http://aou.com.ua/images/arts/star-orto/2/640px-sid_toy_story.jpg

"That's right! I'm talking to you… Moodles!"

Yikes!

There's a fair chance that Disney can pull this off in a non-creepy way. The Kim Possible adventure that they had at Epcot is a good example of a more interactive experience that worked really well.

i might go to disneyland sometime in the next couple of months, for a day. should i?? i grew up with disney stuff and have tons of nostalgic attachment to 50s-60s disneyana. plus i like fun.

Ned goes often!

Definitely go s1ocki

My daughter did the interactive Phineas and Ferb quest and loved it. Basically a scavenger hunt with fake cell phones.

Anybody seen the new Fantasyland in WDW yet?

My sis, who visited with her family in November, said the line for the first restaurant serving alcohol in the MK was out the door.

still waiting to plan a trip with whiney

Basically a scavenger hunt with fake cell phones.

Sounds like this is the replacement for the Kim Possible one, which worked the same way.

My sis, who visited with her family in November, said the line for the first restaurant serving alcohol in the MK was out the door.

Considering dining plan and reservations months in advance seem to rule the restaurants, I'm surprised there was a line, unless they were all impulsive last-minute hopefuls. Wonder what they charge for a beer at Disney?

any tips for tix, trix, etc??

If you visit during a slow time of year (i.e. away from holidays) you should have no trouble making same-day reservations at hotel restaurants (which are better than park restaurants anyway).

s1ocki, figure out your budget. I can't stress that enough.

You absolutely need to book meals in advance if you want a sit down meal at a park.

My favorite ride at Disneyland is the Indiana Jones one, make sure to get a fast pass for it. Fast passes are very good to get in general.

ooh, good tip.

besides park admission, what are costs i should expect?

how do fast passes work - do i buy one with my pass, or are they available to all visitors?

Anyone with a park ticket qualifies. You stick your Key to the World (lol) into the FP machine and it dispenses a slip informing you when your turn is up.

We went (as a family, for the first time) at the tail end of September into October, which I guess is the statistically slowest time of the year for WDW. Best move we made, since lack of lines made things so much more enjoyable.

You can get apps that actually do a great job planning visits. It's say, say, enter the park, head straight to X ride, but on the way grab a fast pass for Y ride. Fast Pass is free, but you can only have one at a time. You get them at the entrance to the ride, and it gives you a time to return.

Also: best tip is to avoid eating at the park, where even the most rudimentary meal can set you back $$$. There are some great restaurants scattered around, though, so maybe set aside some money for a splurge or two. Animal Kingdom Lodge has some great, surprisingly authentic eats.

Also, getting to the parks early makes a big dif. Bunch of lazy butts don't waddle in until after lunch, when things get much more crowded. And btw, you will be amazed/bummed at how many people - couples, even - you'll see in motorized scooters.

Certain popular rides provide fast passes which allow you to quickly move to the front of the line during a specified one hour window. At the ride you will see a fast pass display that shows which hour window is currently available. There is a fast pass machine with a slot where you insert your park ticket to get your fast pass. Once you get a fast pass with your ticket, you will not be allowed to get another one until a specified time, so you need to plan carefully.

The hour interval for fast passes moves forward in 5 minute increments with only a certain amount of fast passes available for each interval on any given ride. For example, there will be a certain amount of passes available for 10 - 11 am, once those are gone there will be passes available for 10:05 - 11:05.

otm on all points. Also: if it's your first visit, arrive early, like Josh said, and plan to take a midday break if you're staying on property. It really makes a difference. Use the pool, nap, have a drink, etc.

A good place to get quickish snacks, treats, and light meals at Disneyland without reservations is the new Jolly Holiday Bakery, which is located at the end of Main Street

TOWER OF TERROR IS ESSENTIAL

http://losangeles.grubstreet.com/20120508_club33_190x190.jpg

I went on Tower of Terror for the first time last April at California Adventure, and yes, it was pretty amazing. The whole attention to design on it was fantastic.

Also good to note: California Adventure has a bunch of Pixar Cars rides and attractions that recently opened.

so is Dan's favorite, the BLUE THERMONUCLEAR TINI

http://www.magicalrecipes.net/mrpages/images/fifties-prime-time-cafe/blue-glowtini.jpg.

Oh god I had the worst time on Tower of Terror. It was my own fault. TOTALLY my own fault. I hate that falling sensation more than anything. But I looked at the tower and I was like, eh it's not THAT tall and maybe this will be a good way to overcome my fear since I love the Twilight Zone and was really into the theme of the ride. WRONG. Oh god it was horrible, the way they made you fall over and over and over again...I screamed the whole time, like crying. Then I sat on a park bench afterwards catatonic like "bubububububbubu" Goldie Hawn in Overboard for like an hour. Again, totally my own fault. I should have stayed away.

but everyone else I know loves it so yes, highly recommended lol

haha that is the best recommendation ever

Expedition Everest rules.

great overboard reference haha

I just watched it the other weekend so it was fresh in my mind :)

man, VG, i feel you. I love every part of roller coasters except the first "fall." all the loops and curves are easy to me, but the fall always freaks me out!

i also love every part of tower of terror except the fall!

Thyey shoot you down faster than gravity! Why!

Animatronics will see a similar personalization, so the otherwise obtuse talking robots can specifically acknowledge the people standing in front of them.…

tbf they were doing this on the ET ride at Universal Studios 20 years ago, you'd "sign in" with your name or a comedy fake name before you got on and ET would solemnly intone "Phone home, (your name)" as you flew past him.

"Phone home, balls"

Yeah, but that's a bit different from walking past one of those jamboree bears and he hollers, "Sup, Plains! How are things back in Little Rock?"

I kinda lose my grip on reality in that place as it is...

xxpost Whiney: yeah I love rollercoasters too! the first drop always feels like imminent death and the worst mistake of my life and then: fun!

Tower of Tower fake drop is brilliant. Yeah im not a fan of falling either tho.

lol Tower of Tower

it's true that about the only way Tower of Terror could be better is if they took the entire Tower up another, larger Tower and dropped it while you drop inside the smaller tower

Inception?

xposts actually the data-mining potential for everyone carrying around trackers is enormous, they could tell if you're taking an unusually long time in the bathroom and have the toilet paper holder ask "Your name, you've been in here for awhile, are you feeling all right?"

I've mentioned this before, but:

Before the fun starts and the car drops, like every other fricking ride in the Kingdom, there's an announcement made that there's been a problem detected in the ride and that it might go haywire (or take you into the Twilight Zone.)

There's comes a point where the doors open (like an elevator) and there's a dark room with ghosts and shit and Rod Serling comes out to say something to the riders. Except, as my sister says when she first rode it, the interior fluorescent lights were turned on in that level, so you saw this utility room with wooden beams and sawdust with this pane of glass in front of the car that the ghostly apparitions were being projected on.

So my sister really believed there was a problem with the ride and then WHOOOOSH.

When I went on Expedition Everest, there was no wait, which was kind of too bad, because the winding line in is full of all sorts of fake artifacts and news clippings and every once in a while mention of a yeti. It's quite subtle, though the attention to detail was admirable. See also: the fun wait for the Haunted Mansion and Space Mountain. Not that I would prefer a wait, but I kind of missed out on lingering.

I really liked Animal Kingdom. A couple of cool rides, but mostly awesome details, like the fake '50s amusement park set up on a fake parking lot. We skipped Hollywood Studios, so no Tower of Terror for us. It was the one ride our kids were too little to go on even if they wanted to, anyway.

when I go to WDW these days we spent no more than three or four hours at a park before returning to the hotel for pool/drinks. Nothing quite like doing the monorail drink-a-thon stoned.

This sounds like a good idea. We usually try to wring out every last possible minute in the parks which means that after a day or two, trudging around the park devolves into a march of death. Building breaks into the day could be a big help.

Moodles, few things depress me more than zombie parents pushing strollers full of screaming children at 6 p.m.

We were there over Halloween, which apparently is the only time of the year they allow guests to wear costumes (for obvious reasons). We had to leave at 7pm, because we didn't pay for the special ticket, but all the decorations and lighting were Halloween themed, all the villains came out in the parades, and the usual Disney cast was all dressed as gravediggers. There was spooky music and stuff, and as well left we faced an incoming tide of Batmans, Incredibles, pirates and god knows how many civilian versions of Disney characters. Which we could tell from the real Disney cast by their, um, girth.

we wouldn't hang out until all hours if we weren't genuinely excited about doing as much as we can (child included), our problem is more that our enthusiasm and ambition to ride every ride is greater than our physical capacity to do so.

We did the Halloween night several years ago and it was really fun. The Halloween fireworks were really cool.

Our first night at WDW we wandered over to the park pretty late in the evening, I would say around 7 or 8pm. And it was kind of awesome because there wasn't really a ton of people around. We rode Space Mountain two or three times in a row because there was no line at all.

But that was in June about 10 years ago. (Trust me, we didn't pick June, it was picked for us...god I have never sweated so much in my life as I did that week)

Nothing quite like doing the monorail drink-a-thon stoned.

Some friends of mine have a really cool story about taking acid and going on It's a Small World. It sounds like simultaneously the best and worst idea ever.

I think every senior class has a grad night story

yes, this fucking shit fuck that no.

http://i284.photobucket.com/albums/ll18/brookedannar/DisneyWorld2008334.jpg

a lot scarier when you're seven and no one's popping flash cubes at the ride.

DUFF BEER FOR ME
DUFF BEER FOR YOU
I'LL HAVE A DUFF
YOU HAVE ONE TOO

http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lgp1fgBww61qfb41mo1_400.jpg

this sounds awesome:

http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/envelope/moviesnow/la-et-mn-sundance-2013-escape-from-tomorrow-disneyland-randy-moore-release-20130118,0,4296.story

The result of Moore’s quixotic dream is “Escape from Tomorrow,” a Surrealist, genre-defying black-and-white film that was shown for the first time at the Sundance Film Festival on Friday night and that was primarily shot across the vast expanses of Disney theme parks in Orlando and Anaheim. There is Buzz Lightyear Space Ranger Spin and Space Mountain, Tiki Room and teacups, princesses and a Main Street parade. At one point, Epcot Center blows up.

It is one of the strangest and most provocative movies this reporter has seen in eight years attending the Sundance Film Festival. And it may well never be viewed by a commercial audience.

Sitting at a Park City café shortly after the screening ended, Moore, 36, is trying to take deep breaths. The director has been living the last three years in a state of heightened tension, fearful that Disney would find out about his stealth project and try to quash it.

read about that today: agreed that it's awesome.

inside Walt Disney's private Disneyland apartment

Put a silly hat on them and every family looks the same.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v453/electricmayhemm/201301%20-%20Disneyland/2013_01_26/Disneyland_GHR_382_zps432ea073.jpg

omg i treasure everything about hillary's outfit right there

so jealous of these people who got stuck on the monorail for 45 minutes and had to be towed back to the station. i assume the WDW monorail is in good condition since it's actually part of the transportation system, but the DL version is bumpy as fuck and every time me + my sisters ride it, we assume the track will finally crumble and pitch the whole thing into the submarine lagoon.

then again, back when the rocket rods were a thing, we were also convinced our rocket rod would skid off its track and pitch us into the submarine lagoon. we were just really scared of being flung into a body of water filled with plaster monsters.

Sadly I've read more and more stories in recent months about monorail problems on both parks. The problem is the monorails don't themselves generate revenue, so Disney hasn't given them much thought. On the other hand, most guests at the Polynesian, Contemporary, and Grand Floridian, and Disneyland's Disneyland Hotel, regard monorail access as an essential commodity.

http://www.drinkingatdisney.com/

apparently OSHA got sassy with disneyland/dca yesterday and shut down four of their biggest rides for safety violations (matterhorn, splash mountain, space mountain, soarin' over california). they managed to make a fix on splash mountain and get it reopened, but the other three are still closed today. considering big thunder mountain is closed for a refurb, that means at some point yesterday the entire mountain range was down.

Hm. I saw an OSHA notice on one of the Disney boards today.

so a guy accidentally left a loaded gun on a ride at WDW, and a disneyland cast member was arrested for putting dry ice "bombs" in toontown trash cans. can't wait to see what clever violence disneyland paris comes up with!

you can bring loaded guns into WDW

really?

you're not supposed to but no metal detectors.

When they search your bags at the entrance, they're only looking for bootleg Disney swag.

get bent's post of disney gossip: my group is performing at california adventure on august 16th. if you have a season pass, play hooky from your livelihood and come see us knock out a half-hour set of nonthreatening choral arrangements of spirituals and trad folk.

:D yay!

yeah, we're not doing any of the solemn jesus-y stuff or the highfalutin/weird benjamin britten type stuff in our repertoire, just palatable, family-friendly material.

two sets: 11:50 a.m and 12:50 p.m., at the hollywood backlot stage.

Coming to theaters and VOD in October:

http://variety.com/2013/film/news/secretly-shot-disney-set-horror-film-escape-from-tomorrow-gets-release-1200581696/

yes!

OMFG

http://25.media.tumblr.com/51e83081582e54547fe5182e41e14564/tumblr_msxwmsq5mL1svvl99o9_500.jpg

awesome

oh fuck no

Shakey OTM

Very jealous of Ned's constant visits to Disneyland and California Adventure

I'm going to WDW in a couple months.

I think we'll be going there for spring break in March

Moodles: I'll be there again a week from tomorrow so uh, be jealous again? Yesterday was my roommate's daughter's birthday, thus the visit. Great time but man I'm exhausted today.

Darn you! I'm excited about going to WDW as we haven't been to a Disney park since spring break 2012. I think I'm going through withdrawal.

Have a good time for sure!

Oh we will, so long as we avoid the Disney death march where we try to wring out every last minute of open time in the day. We tried that in the last trip to DL and CA and it ended up in nasty foot injuries for me and my wife. We are advanced enough in age where we need to plan out some rest time between park visits.

mmmmmm

http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_l4dhpo0YFI1qz99y7o1_500.jpg

jealous of all y'all, i haven't been back to disneyland in two years. my sisters keep posting clips of new ride stuff they've updated and i get all worked up over it! like the cool new ceiling animation in the haunted mansion holiday's elevator

Yeah that's definitely fun.

ned have you seen escape from tomorrow?

Planning my first big Disney World trip in about a decade. Very psyched.

Meet you here:

http://land.allears.net/blogs/jackspence/The%20Wave%2003.jpg

is that THE WAVE?

I'm bookin some extra days just to chill out and swim in the pool and maybe catch a show at House of Blues or play mini golf and shit

trip and flight booked

8 days, 7 nights bring it on

http://i.imgur.com/zi7hd.gif

we went with my inlaws & 5 year old niece about 10 years ago

had niece for a day & planned to take her to Epcot. At breakfast we told we'd go see London Paris, all kinds of fun places...she started crying & *freaking out*! we couldnt figure out what was wrong.

Turns out she thought we were taking her to irl Paris and she didnt want to go that far away without her mom & dad. <3

aw

i remember being like 4 or 5 or something and being too shook to go on Pirates of the Caribbean or 20,000 Leagues because i didn't want to drown or something

My memories of visiting WDW exactly seven years ago (as a bratty 16 year old):

MGM Studios being the best thing ever (apart from the weird Drew Carey ride/experience). Massive shouts to the Aerosmith Rock'n'Rollercoaster ("GET READY TO MERGE LIKE YOU'VE NEVER MERGED BEFORE"). The Indiana Jones stunt show being better than pretty much any film (even if the mime who warms the crowed up did racist mimes at one point). Watching some form of Thanksgiving/Christmassy firework show.

Getting weirdly teary at the Magic Kingdom show when everyone has a go at Donald Duck for some reason but we all learn that DREAMS COME TRUE! Obviously seeing the castle for the first time is a real woahhhh moment. Going on the old time steamboat thing and, again, finding it weirdly emotional. Queuing for hours for the Big Thunder Mountain Railroad ride behind a girl who looked just like Maeby Funke in a Dr Pepper T-shirt and not being able to stop myself from looking at her throughout.

Typhon Lagoon being as much fun as anyone can have involving water.

The repeated shouts of OPA OPA OYSTER!!! at Seaworld/getting to ride the Kraken about 6 times in a row at the start of the day because there was zero queue. My mum CRYING at the Shamu show/us beinbg sat next to a very patriotic American who alternated between heartfult salutes and whoops and spitting on the floor.

Animal Kingdom being really shit because we went on the log flume kind of thing and I was the only person in our boat to get absolutely drenched and it really did ruin my day. Didn't even enjoy going on the safari thing and seeing the gorillas.

REFUSING TO SWIM WITH DOLPHINS AT DISCOVERY COVE. I lost my glasses that day too.

Other memories of my only American trip to date:

Spending Thanksgiving itself at this park with a big old house in it nearish to Kissimee that also had a river full of manatees and gar and being wowed by seeing manatees just hanging out. We had a lasagane for dinner purchased from a Walmart.

Going on a boat trip on the everglades and my mum flirting with the captain. We didn't see any alligators sadly.

Blasting Power 95.3 (ORLANDO'S NEW NUMBER ONE FOR HIP HAAAWP) and hearing My Love by JT/I wanna Love You by Akon/Showstopper by Dainty Kane on repeat all day every day and loving them. Also endless adverts for Fazolis.

Driving back from Kennedy Space Center and seeing dolphins jumping about in the water. Also liked Lee, the guy who drove the shuttle bus around the center, top #bants ("please take all of your valuables when you leave. That includes your children, folks." "shake an alligators hand with me. five dollars.")

Eating absolutely joyless dinners in Sizzler and Golden Corral.

I have no memories really of Epcot.

whiney, I'm going next year on my nieces' first trip and probably staying in the Fort Wilderness cabins.

Eating absolutely joyless dinners in Sizzler and Golden Corral.

well, yeah

We quite liked Red Lobster, but apart from one nice meal in Old Time Kissimmee (which I couldn't fully enjoy due to the headaches I was having as a result of being glasses-less (we went to a Floridian opticians at a retail park and I was misdiagnosed with glaucoma and charged an exorbitant amount of money for a prescription which didn't match my actual eyes)), I think we uniformly ate dreadful food for a fortnight.

Today I learned that there is a racist mime who warms up crowds getting ready to see Indiana Jones.

You know, the French really act like that so it's not actually racist.

I'm going back to Orlando in March for my son's spring break. I'm hoping this visit will include one day at Universal Islands of Adventure. We've only been there once about 8+ years ago and it was pretty cool, plus now they've added the Harry Potter area.

I'm a three-decade WDW stan and I will say the Harry Potter ride is maybe the greatest theme park ride of all time.

Awesome! My current favorite ride is the Indiana Jones ride at Disneyland. If it can top that, I'll be impressed.

Having been on both, I will say it 100% does

On my next trip I'm going to sit in the Wilderness Lodge lobby for hours.

think i'm going to take my 4 1/2 year old daughter to disneyland next spring. kind of excited - haven't been in probably 15 years. will be fun to see it through her eyes...

have any of you experienced the new Fantasyland stuff at WDW? anything exciting to expect there?

a weird number of my friends have gone this year and i am dying to go

I'm a three-decade WDW stan and I will say the Harry Potter ride is maybe the greatest theme park ride of all time.

― imago-er not a show-er (Whiney G. Weingarten), Monday, November 25, 2013 11:59 AM (1 hour ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

i hear this is true

i was excited to hear that universal studios cali is getting a harry potter add-on, since geography-wise i'm much more likely to make it there than florida. but of course just like disneyland vs. WDW, the cali version is probably going to be postage-stamp sized.

i am dying to go to the Harry Potter whoosits thing. A guy I work with went and it looks SO fun

https://24.media.tumblr.com/e3eb7df8811923f2e6cac8dd4cfe0f53/tumblr_mx1el6ED3Q1s2wio8o3_1280.jpg
https://31.media.tumblr.com/db6e8620e0998a43f845274f5e33c9ce/tumblr_mx1el6ED3Q1s2wio8o8_1280.jpg

So wait, you get to celebrate graduation at Disneyland and see performances by Sparks and Cheap Trick?!? WHHAAAATTTT!?!?!?!?

yesssssss assuming all the snow in oregon doesn't stop us, me & my sisters are going down to disneyland for three days next week. first time since 2011 so we'll finally get to see this "land of cars."

reddening's DISNEY PARKS gossip: I am at Disneyland and a man just tripped over me because he was distracted by his Google Glass.

lol

ILM friend got me two free adult passes so we're planning to head down to Disneyland for spraaaaaaaang braaaaaaaaaake

will have a 1yo in tow this time so that'll be... interesting

In customizing my MagicBand, I'm so tempted to put my name as "Beefheart" but I think the audience for that joke is reeeeeally limited

http://www.ocweekly.com/2014-02-27/news/disneyland-california-adventure-social-clubs/full/

Ned's a member iirc

lede graf didn't need either of those two swear words

"M**** M***se

Making the trip down the week after Easter. The GF is suuuuuuuper excited because she hasn't been since she was a kid (this'll be my fourth time as an adult). Can't wait to drink a bunch of plum wine and ride Soarin' again.

now accepting names for the ilxor disney social club

can i be presidetn

imagine all the good stephin merritt jokes when we all ride splash mountain together

so when's that new seven dwarf coaster opening up at WDW anyway

agreed with whiney: establishing your disney article's streetcred by saying shitfaced in the first four lines is the kind of thing a good editor would nip

ah we'd def have to be named after this

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2580/4023367678_a449d2a2b2.jpg

even though our aerosmith hates disney world

I'm going in December. Can't wait.

Don't mess with Mr Toad's Riders *folds arms*. Come at me

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-KIKRAXC8EiA/T43gyJoMRfI/AAAAAAAAHLw/ykD-O6AsqQ4/s1600/Mr.Toad.jpg

idk is "Club 77" too insider?

Mr. Toad's Wild Ride is the best thing at Disneyland and one reason I now prefer the original over Disney World despite growing up in Florida.

Pubs, pizzas and hell. You can't go wrong.

at Disney World there were two tracks on Mr. Toad's Wild Ride and no matter which one you took you died and went to hell

I love Mr Toad. It's so fun. Also: Mr Veg & I went together not long after we first met. I had only been once before as a teenager but my friends were all too cool to go on many of the rides so this time I was on a mission to go on every single ride. Including Storybook Land :D

Mr Veg hunched in a tiny gondola surrounded by toddlers and their parents as we toured the dioramas & sailed through the mouth of jonah the whale is one of my favorite memories.

he was NOT happy lol

1 1/2 weeks out from spring break in Orlando! Will be my first time checking out the re-vamped Fantasyland and the Harry Potter stuff at Islands of Adventure.

"...better suited for a Germs show ..."

When was this article written?

i might be going in about a month!

to disneyland.

what should i know?

how do i prepare?

how do i convince my gf that this is indeed a good idea?

i'm excited!

I went with this and read it while standing in lines, and found it very enjoyable

http://www.amazon.com/The-Imagineering-Field-Guide-Disneyland/dp/1423109759/ref=pd_sim_b_7?ie=UTF8&refRID=18N5ZTSJBRJDTJQFBXBM

When you need a break, it's nice to just take the railroad around the whole park.

that looks cool

just back from 8 days and 7 nights at Walt Disney World

bought this shirt

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-lCjrngLXO4A/Uh1W5ImsccI/AAAAAAAABFo/fBlVIKhCtXY/s1600/tumblr_mmjyhnTXVj1qea0tko1_500.jpg

hipster mice

tumblr mice

also shout out to Victoria & Alberts who hooked me up with 100% Japanese waygu beef, which apparently has only been available in America for 10 weeks

are you the only ilxor who can afford V&As or

btw I'm going on a family trip in December and I have insisted on Citricos.

Man, there's a bunch of Hipster Mickey stuff commissioned from that artist, Jerrod Maruyama:

http://jerrodmaruyama.tumblr.com/tagged/hipstermickey

hipster mickeys!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rJMrRfP8A7E

people failing at Disneyland.

Now that's a super cut.

the WDW seven dwarves mine train caught fire today, i believe in fulfillment of the curse placed upon the site for tearing down the snow white dark ride:

http://i62.tinypic.com/rjjjn6.jpg

I am at WDW right now, AMA. It is currently 45 degrees. About to hit Magic Kingdom.

Good luck!

I'll be there in 28 days.

sounds like the fire was caused by stray fireworks

starting to plan a trip to Disneyland for March

Still chilly but kids are game. Wore ponchos on splash mountain. Excited to gorge at crystal palace lunch in a bit.

Waiting for aptly named Dumbo ride.

Like the new fantasyland stuff! Great design. Also, found $100!

a thrill for adults!

staying at a Disney resort, Josh?

Pop Century.

Any thoughts on best place to stay in Anaheim? Last time we were at the grand Californian. I liked the convenience of being able to walk to the parks, but our room was small and underwhelming given the price. It was a pretty big comedown after spending the previous night in an enormous and beautiful suite at the Venetian in Vegas that was half the price.

With Disney you're paying for convenience. You'll find cheaper and sometimes better accommodations outside WDW and Disneyland but you aren't getting hidden Mickeys.

There's a Holiday Inn on the same block as Disneyland. I stayed there for work years back. I believe they run shuttles over.

I'll be there on Christmas Eve and Christmas god help me, any advice?

A flask.

Staying in the park gets you access to the free dining promo, if you planned ahead, like us.

We are literally stuck in the Carousel of Progress.

ride started and stopped three times until they just let us all off. Haunted Mansion stopped three times while we were on, too.

We went to Disneyland Paris on Christmas Day one year, and it was packed! and super cold too. And there was a train strike. in other words a typical December day in Paris. (We had season passes so it wasn't a drag at all)

And now we are, again literally, stuck on Space Mountain!

someone is skywriting something about jesus.

And now the Snow White ride is temporarily kaput. What is going on today?

We are literally stuck in the Carousel of Progress.

fortunately i could listen to "there's a great big beautiful tomorrow" on loop forever, it is the most ominous song in the world

I think I'd lose my mind if I were stuck in carousel

Of progress!

kind of a strange oxymoron innit

Like the new fantasyland stuff! Great design. Also, found $100!

― Josh in Chicago, Sunday, November 2, 2014 10:51 AM (5 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

that should cover about 2% of your visit!

Honestly, we had them put it in an envelope to leave at guest services. If it is not claimed at the end of the day, I think we get to keep it.otherwise, I have a feeling Disney will be making another hundred dollars profit from us.

My nieces will wear princess dresses during my December visit. Leave the $100 for me, Josh.

I should try that next time.

"Anyone leave a $100 bill up here? Where did I lose it? Well, if I remembered that, I probably wouldn't have lost it in the first place!"

It was a 50, two 20s and some ones, FYI.

The rides kept turfing out when we were at WDW this spring, too. I think everything at Animal Kingdom was on the fritz. And my girlfriend was freaked out enough about her first ride ever on Space Mountain without having to ponder what was causing the queue to stall for twenty minutes.

Hollywood Studios today, where I will be reminded that Disney owns everything but the Smurfs.

Fast pass was essential yesterday, as was the system that allows one parent to wait with a reticence kid, then ride immediately when the other parent returns.also, starting early is key.

Why does stupid Aerosmith get a ride?

Saw a kid freak the hell out at tower of terror, so badly he wouldn't take the exit elevator out!

I've heard rumors for years that they're going to replace Aerosmith with a more contemporary band. I look forward to the 2025 opening of Green Day's Rock N' Roller Coaster.

I am enjoying the play-by-play here, I'm so jealous! We used to get a condo at Lake Buena Vista regularly as a kid. I loved that place!

xp a ride wherein you walk a lonely road. and with each step, it only becomes clearer that you are, in fact, alone. then animatronic billie joe armstrong says your name at the end: "keep walking that lonely road, Darrel. it's the only one you've ever known, Darrel."

Maybe during "Knowledge," they'll bring up members of the crowd and let them operate the roller coaster.

I remember seeing the press conference for the Rock 'n' Roller Coaster (because of course there was a press conference for the Rock 'n' Roller Coaster), and someone asked Steven Tyler if this constituted a sellout move on Aerosmith's part. Tyler naturally got pretty defensive and said something like, "This ain't no corporate slick-dealin' Hollywood showbiz thing. [dramatic pause] This is the Aerosmith Rock 'n' Roller Coaster."

Got it. One of those underground counterculture amusement park rides.

TBF, it's the best thing they've had their name attached to in 30+ years.

It's presented by Hanes.

If someone offers your band it's own rollercoaster I say you take it critics be damned.

Beautiful day. About to get phineas and ferb autographs.

Yeah, Florida has had heart-stopping weather the last 48 hours.

Christmas decorations going up.

Star tours now.

The new Star Tours is awesome. I think it might've honestly been my girlfriend's favorite ride from any of the parks. And I think I read that there's something insane like 50 different movies for the ride now? We rode it 3 or 4 times and it was different every time.

Uncle Tim at 50s Prime Time Cafe kind of freaking out the kids.

their routine is noxious. I like the Tune-In Lounge though.

i'm totally living vicariously through these posts!

also the new star tours is very cool, but I s2g i've ridden it 10 times over 2 visits and got the jar-jar sequence 8 times.

My deepest condolences.

Getting so full we're starting to skip meals.

One daughter's birthday here, cast is super about it.

Yo, if you get hungry again, the Sci-Fi Dine-In Theater is the jam

Also, the engineer working with Aerosmith in the opening hologram skit is the State's Dan Marino

Really?didn't look like him. Biggest concession I have seen to frozen, by the way, has been a giant gift shop and a little play a lot filled with fake snow.

I bet Christmas will be all frozen, all the time.

Is the Haunted Mansion decked out holiday style?

Yeah, I was honestly baffled by the complete dearth of Frozen merchandise at WDW this spring. It felt like the memo about the film's massive success hadn't trickled down to the parks division yet.

They are redoing maelstrom at Epcot into a frozen ride.

I heard about that. Pretty disappointing, honestly. I love the Maelstrom, as lame as it is.

i'm pretty sure the frozen meet and greet at disneyland has the longest line out of either park.

a bit off topic but there were a ton of elsas trick-or-treating on halloween. I complimented one little girl on her elsa costume and she gave me the dirtiest look and said "I'm CINDERELLA!" it's a tough year for other blonde princesses in blue dresses.

yo, when i went on my disney trip earlier this year, the line to meet the frozen princesses at EPCOT was, i was told, six hours long

thanks for the confidence, guys

Frozen meet and greets I think the most popular fast pass.

Hollywood Studios is kind of aimless and reduntant, but it's a nice day anyway.

some person or animal took a crap in the street, and then someone or something smeared at for about 10 feet. They had to block the area.