reddening's thread of DISNEY PARKS gossip

Don't you tease me now, bg.

I have a big Hawaii trip planned in early spring, so finding the funds would be tricky, but by golly, I'd try. Anaheim, too.

Ned, get over here!

IM SO FUCKING STOKED TO GET BLOTZO'D AT THE STAR WARS BAR HELL YEAH!

are there any all you can eat restos in WDW ? I mean you might say "wtf all you can eat is generally terrible" but there are several at the Paris park & the one we've tried, the Agrabah Café, was good. btw buffets & Disney parks are two of my favorite things. no it was not all you can drink booze, maybe at the park in Japan they have that though. haven't been to that one yet.

went to the restaurant in The Land years ago, it was family style rather than buffet and maybe they'd eventually stop bringing you refills? this one

Yes!

The German pavillion restaurant has a great buffet.

Boma at the Animal Kingdom lodge has a good African-themed buffet.

I haven't been to Disney World since I was 17 or so and I haven't been to Disneyland ever but I want to finally go to Disneyland next time I visit my sister.

dang I would like to try those, if I ever am forced to go back to Florida. Animal Kingdom opened after I moved away so I've never been.

The Norway restaurant also has a cool pseudo buffet including a herring bar! Sadly it is insanely overpriced and difficult to get into because it's now a princess experience.

Boma is at the AK hotel, not the park, which means you don't have to pay park admission to go there.

I'm looking forward to a solo dinner at Flying Fish, and a family dinner at Jiko.

(we're staying at the Ft. Wilderness cabins, as per our Thanksgiving tradition).

Dang, I'm jealous. I've never stayed at a Disney resort at WDW.

I've stayed at the cheapskate WDW resorts but I've always wanted to Fort Wilderness it up, so I am jelly.

I haven't experienced them firsthand yet but the changes to Norway at Epcot are like the most tragic thing ever and they break my heart.

Fort Wilderness is the only resort I've visited without staying there. I looooove the interior of the lodge.

I want able to get on the revamped Frozen ride this time, but I'd like to at least try it once. The Maelstrom was dope.

*wasn't

Don't you tease me now, bg.

Magic Kingdom does have booze now. Initially just at the Be My Guest restaurant, and since earlier this year at all sit-down restaurants.

also gonna be staying at Animal Kingdom Lodge for the first time in exactly two weeks and pretty excited about it. had a short stay at Yacht Club earlier this year--my first time at a Disney hotel nicer than the low-rent All Star places--and although I probably wouldn't pay $500 a night for it it was pretty nice. Amazing pool there.

If I'm not awakened at Animal Kingdom Lodge by a giraffe chewing on my beard I'll be pissed.

Ned, get over here!

Noted, noted...

AK Lodge is top of my list for resorts I'd want to stay at if money were no object

I'm an old school Contemporary Resort guy

hard agree. i loved staying there

Haven’t been to WDW since I was 11 but we always stayed at the Contemporary and my aunt and uncle always lodged at the Polynesian. Both had amazing breakfasts, and we always had dinner in Frontierland and at the castle. /spoiled brat

Magic Kingdom does have booze now. Initially just at the Be My Guest restaurant, and since earlier this year at all sit-down restaurants.

Just back from 10 days at Disney (and 4 at Universal) and was pleasantly surprised by the fact it wasn't all Bud Light. Prices were steep but we were on the Dining Plan so all meals included an alcoholic drink anyway. (Think I ate more meat in the last two weeks than I have in the previous 12 months).

Were supposed to be staying at AK Lodge but got upgraded to Boardwalk after we complained that the pool was being refurbished during our stay. Boardwalk was great as there was lots going on around the lake and meant we could easily walk to Hollywood Studios and Epcot.

The Magic Bands were awesome (and very convenient) and as my wife is super organised we had fast passes booked weeks in advance for the popular rides (3+ hour wait for Avatar is insane) but even without fast passes longest we queued for any ride was 25 minutes as I guess this is a good time of year to go.

Yeah, I want to say this is the (relatively) slow season? When we went with the kids for the first time I think we intentionally picked the slowest week of the year, and while it wasn't quiet, it wasn't too bad.

I heard Animal Kingdom Lodge is actually one of the better hotels! At the least it might have had our favorite food, but our entire trip we ate like royalty. Disney dining plan is great, especially if you get a package that includes a few free points and you book ahead of time to get in the most popular places. They feed you so much, we generally packed very light snacks (fruit, bars, cereal at the hotel) to nibble on throughout the day, saving our appetites for our big daily Disney restaurant blowout. And Disney makes you walk like a million steps a day, unlike cruise ships, which have good food, too, but you have to make an effort to keep moving and burn that shit off.

Disney food (at the restaurants) is really pretty good across the board, something cast into stark relief if you ever go to Universal, where it is more or less universally terrible, novelties aside (like Simpsons and Harry Potter themed places).

We have a really good friend whose brother lives in Orlando doing computer stuff. But his fiancé, she helps make the Disney cast costumes, so they get free passes and literally go every weekend. They're getting married at Disney, too, which apparently you have to plan way in advance to snag a slot. He says he has to pinch himself every day. He lives in Florida, where the weather is warm, has a pool, has a good job and a low cost of living, and goes to Disney on the regular. He feels like he's on permanent vacation and getting paid for it.

Two weeks till our family trip.

There's heated debate in Disney circles about the effect of the dining plan on restaurant quality, which to die-hards has dropped since 2005.

We thought quality was pretty decent. Great meal at Sanaa at AK Lodge plus some of the all you can eat character meet breakfasts were excellent too, especially those at the Floridian and the one in the Castle at MK. (Having all the quality food at Epcot cost only one snack credit was a bonus too).

Couple were more average but tended to be ones where you were there for the experience rather than the food (Sci-Fi Dine In and 50's Prime Time for example). Worst one was probably the Norway princess thing at Epcot.

I do appreciate that Epcot brings in chefs and staff from the countries represented. I think they have a very generous work visa thing worked out, like good for 6 months or so after the Disney stint.

Sanaa is terrific. I can't wait to try Jiko.

My mom had just been to Africa and said the Disney African food was better and more "authentic" than the food cooked for them in Africa (which may have been dumbed down for tourists). Anyway, this is what I was thinking of:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walt_Disney_World_International_Program

We are getting new Star Wars, Marvel, and Frozen zones in the Studio here. I'm cautiously optimistic about this, since the Studio at present is boring, except for the lols of being in the Paris-themed Ratatouille zone while in the Paris area.

Was kind of weird having a Marvel zone at Universal but nothing at Disney. Assume that's a licensing thing that will end at some point? The Universal Marvel characters we met (some X-Men plus Spidey and Captain America) were more like people wearing a good fantasy dress costumes compared to the more professional efforts at Disney.

Universal's strengths iirc are less in character meets and more in the live-hosted rides/attractions. I have no idea which of them are still there but live-hosted Jaws and King Kong were pretty delightful to me even as a young teen.

I think Jaws is no more. And King Kong has gone high tech but, like too many rides at Universal, is still largely a 3D motion simulator.

oh wow this thread is just what i wanted! i did 2 days of disney (hollywood/magic day 1, animal/epcot day 2) and one at universal (both parks+ a horror night -- the real horror was the foot pain).

never would have done it otherwise but my friend was getting married in florida and this was his dream bachelor party (he does the parks multiple times a year, which i cannot wrap my head around) and i gotta say, i had way more fun than i expected! did have to line up for avatar tho... about 120m :( (this was by far the longest wait for anything tho -- i think the longest otherwise was maybe an hour here or there over the three days?)

gonna read thread and talk more!

Speaking of horror night, did you know that Halloween is apparently the one time of year that Disney allows guests to wear costumes? We were there once around the time of a Halloween parade/celebration, when they more or less kick people out and bring in the night guests, and it was a hoot to see, say, roving packs of Cinderellas or Batmans walking around.

Also during Halloween, the bad guys lead the parade, it's all decked out like the Haunted Mansion, and the cast members dress like gravediggers.

We were there in the day for Halloween. It was blazing hot and there were already lots of people walking around in full on costumes.

(he does the parks multiple times a year, which i cannot wrap my head around)

This is the part that boggles many first-timers. As Josh said, WDW's been more than parks for at least three decades, and in the last twenty years its culinary ambitions are finally commensurate with customer interest in better food + cocktails. I'm going in two weeks for Thanksgiving and staying at Ft. Wilderness, and except for an Epcot visit we won't step foot in a park: we'll be eating, shopping, hanging out, drinking.

I should, however, point out that this little five-day trip will cost me more than a week's trip to Europe, including air fare and hotel.

i think i did a bad job on the food front! aside from a good hot dog and a good paddlefish dinner, i did not love my food situation there. but also i had a bad case of "travel tummy," and also, american fast food kinda... tastes the same to me? all the time? i could not differentiate btwn the flavours of diff pavilions at epcot. this isn't a "pretentious out-of-country person" thing, like i eat like shit in canada, but it... tastes different? so much salt? idk

anyway because i have too much time and i wanna write it down, i am writing my REVIEW OF ALL THE RIDES I WENT ON which uhh i will post here because there's some mild shit-tlaking of ppl i know in real life (names changed to protect the innocent)

PREAMBLE

After a year of planning and a lot of people getting annoyed at each other, the six of us all get together in a 5-bedroom house outside of Orlando (guess who got the couch)! Our cast of characters (because I watched all the nic cage movies, they all get nicknames based on roles he's played):

- The guy whose bachelor party it was - we'll call him Memphis, like in Gone in 60 Seconds, because he had a damn mission to fly thru these parks and it was hard to keep up. DISNEY VET.
- One of the two best men, a jokester of the highest degree and one of my best friends - we'll call him Stanley, like in the Rock, because HE WAS MY ROCK.
- The other best man, who is scared of theme park rides so this should be fun - we'll call him Roy, like Matchstick Men, because he's kinda neurotic & i'm not a very nice person (nor is he but that's not a story for this board).
- Third member of groom's party. someone i knew thru friends before this but we had never really hung out, doesn't put up with shit and is generally good ppl. We'll call her Cameron, like Con Air, because not many of these names work for both genders.
- Other Attendee, not in the party (like me!), did not know this dude at all before this adventure. P quiet, takes photos, friendly dude. We'll call him Amos, like from Amos & Andrew, because, like the movie, getting to know him was a pleasant surprise!
- I want to have a nickname too so I'll be Peter because Vampire's Kiss was my fave Cage movie. Except I'm gonna say "I" most of the time so this part is pointless.

Memphis, Stanley and Roy had already spent a few days together when Cameron & Amos & I flew in at like midnight on a Friday, got to the house, and soon passed out. (the other 3 DROVE from Canada and apparently Roy was a pain most of the way. Also, lol, only Memphis knows how to drive a car). I barely had time to acclimatize because BRIGHT AND EARLY SATURDAY we are going to hollywood studios! gotta beat those lines! we got two park-hoppers so we're doing DOUBLE DUTY! i think we got big macs on the way to the house and i almost couldn't eat mine because the fucking bread in your american mcdonalds is like super dense and sweet and it confused the shit out of me. Also Memphis got us matching clothes, because something something bachelor party, so we are all wearing: (1) Zubaz (different colors) / (2) t-shirts with all of our faces sloppily tiled on them / (3) WWE championship belt fanny packs. This is fine!

DAY 1 AM: HOLLYWOOD

Rock 'n' Roller Coaster Starring Aerosmith - i think this is the first one we rode. there was no line, which was dope. it was pretty hilarious because i don't know much of anything about aerosmith aside from Armageddon Song and Liv Tyler's dad. I guess I went upside down a couple of times? But I couldn't tell because it was dark. This ride felt like the intro of a PlayStation 1 video game. This was the first of many rides Roy opted not to join us on.B+
The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror - then we hustled our asses over here and i think we still didn't have to wait in line. still no Roy. i don't think we knew yet that Roy was scared and thought he was just being a wet blanket (for context, he was a wet blanket pretty much 100% of the time incl. the year leading up to this). when i went to this park for the first and last time before, in 1995, i was too scared to try this, so i was like "OH I'M DOING IT THIS TIME." I got mad at young-me when I realized how not-scary it was. a lot of fun! i didn't know you'd be able to see the outside! and the hallway stuff at the beginning is v good. A+
Goofy - Between rides we saw a 5 minute line to meet Goofy. The man, the myth, the legend. The six of us took a photo with him. Goofy was the seventh-dumbest looking person in that photo (and you could tell he knew). B
Muppet*Vision 3D - Roy is annoyed he has to come. To this one!!! On the other hand Stanley is STOKED because he is a muppet Stan (haha i didn't even do that on purpose). This was goofy in the best way, and also, I realized that I can do a pretty good Fozzy impression, which served as a cheap laugh approximately 45 times over the next 4 days. B for the attraction, A+ for giving me a way to break tension all week by yelling "DAT'S FUNNAY!" in a muppet voice.
Star Tours – The Adventures Continue - Roy came on this one too, and as soon as it started, he closed his eyes and stared at his lap. I guess we know his limit now. I remember this from my childhood but didn't realize it WASN'T star wars back then? Anyway it's... cute, the line was more interesting than the ride. I guess if you give a dang about Star Wars it's... actually you know what, it probably isn't even necessary. C
Indiana Jones Epic Stunt Spectacular! - Memphis got picked to be in it! The actors kept getting stoked about our dumb clothes. I loved the size of this and the performances. They do this like 8 times a day? Insane. I don't care much for Indy but this was just a great lil play. Community theatre on a steroidal budget. I'll take it. A-
PARKING LOT - we forgot where we parked, Memphis's "remember we're parked in the Itchy lot" Simpsons joke was not as funny when we realized nobody checked what fucking lot we were in. F

By now it's maybe like 1pm? We're hungry but Memphis is NOT SLOWING DOWN, WE GOT WORK TO PUT IN.

DAY 1 PM: MAGIC KINGDOM

Space Mountain - We were rushing because we had a Fastpass to this one for like 1:30PM. I'm glad we got to skip the 75 minute line, but I kinda wish I had had time to hang out in that beautiful queue area. I didn't really get to soak it in. The ride itself is fine? IDK the retro aesthetic is my jam but you uhhh CAN'T SEE ANY OF IT on the ride. D+
Big Thunder Mountain Railroad - Truth be told, I don't really remember doing this ride. I'm like 90% sure we did, because it was "on my list" and I'd remember... not doing it, if that makes sense? But I just watched a video on YouTube and there's a bunch of stuff I 100% do not remember. The fatigue was kicking in. NOT RATED
Jungle Cruise - Our first proper wait in line. This is a cult classic for a reason: because if everyone liked it, it would just be a classic. Kudos to our dude whose delivery was pitch-perfect, but uhhh, not for me. C-
Casey's Corner - We finally convinced our dude to take a break. I got a disgusting plate of fries (with chili and cheese on top) and a disgusting hot dog (with loaded mashed potato on top) and they actually fucking ruled. Or maybe I was hungry. Idk my whole gullyworks was jacked up from traveling. A-
Haunted Mansion - This was way cooler than it had any right to be, it is incredibly charming and fun and cute and ROY DIDN'T COME AGAIN, ARE YOU KIDDING ME, THIS IS A BABY RIDE FOR BABIES ROY. FUCK. A+
Pirates of the Caribbean - getting real tired now, got very fucked up when I saw the new jack sparrow puppets because i thought it was just A DUDE IN THE RIDE, ACTING? someone had to tell me it wasn't a dude. vaguely remember tihs from childhood, was happy to see it's still so fun and dumb. B+
Walt Disney's Enchanted Tiki Room - If I had had a lick of sense in my brain I woulda caught a power-nap here, because it was chill and I was dead. C+
Happily Ever After Fireworks/Projection - No joke, I don't think I had ever ~really~ been impressed by fireworks in my life. This was fucking astounding. We stayed for the later projection thing too just to bask in the afterglow. I get why people make frequent pilgrimages here; this feels like goddamn magic. A++
Parking Lot - we will never, ever forget where we were parked that afternoon, because it was SCAR 420 which is incidentally my new name and everyone has to call me SCAR420 now. A+

https://i.imgur.com/abnYTvB.jpg

I'll let you guess which person is which Nicolas Cage character

Days 2 and 3 another time, that actually took way longer to write than i expected

oh and i forgot some dude walked by and was like SICK OUTFITS DUDES and i was like haha thanks and i turned my head as i walked by and realized his hat was a backwards maga cap, which is the first time i ever saw one in real life, and it made me want to tell him to take his compliment back

MuppetVisin 3D has not changed a second of its script in 25 years and I would not ask it too. As zany as the best Muppets episodes.

we had wide seats which made the 3d tough on me (my glasses are wild thick and i generally ahve a tough time w/ 3d movies) and i couldn't see the chef for his bit -- wish i coulda done it again with a middle seat.

Ha, the first time I took my kids to Disney the first thing we did at opening was rush to the Haunted Mansion, always my favorite. And to be fair, they were relatively young, but dopey or not it totally freaked them out and they distrusted all of my recommendations after that.

MuppetVision 3D I want to say was total Muppet anarchy.