Not On My List

My next WDW trip is less than 90 days away. Most of the planning is done. On my last trip I nearly killed my wife my by going commando and on most nights we left the parks early to go to dinner. This time my plan is much different. I’ve learned from my mistakes. Instead of hitting the parks early we will be hitting them late and closing them out. This way we get to enjoy the last hour the parks are open when most of the people have left.

No matter what your plan is, it is very difficult to do everything. Some stuff normally ends up getting dropped. So what am I going to drop this time?

1 – Tomorrow Land Speedway – I didn’t do this last time and I’m not doing it this time either. I see no reason to do this ride.

2 – Magic Carpets of Aladdin – I’ve never done this ride and I don’t plan on ever doing it. It’s a cheap carnival ride.

3 – Dumbo – I’m not a kid so Dumbo isn’t really a draw.

4 – Astro Orbiter – The view is nice but the line is huge. Plus it’s hard to take pictures at night on this because it’s moving so much.

5 – Stich’s Great Escape – I almost cried when I went on this. Creating this out of EAC was one of the worst things Disney ever did.

6 – Toon Town – I’ve never done this and I never want to. Bring out the wrecking ball!

7 – Ellen’s Energy Adventure – This one is on the fence. No matter how much I love the dinosaurs I can’t stand the show. It’s so loud it hurts.

8 – Imagination with Figment – I don’t want to rape my childhood again. My heart still aches when I see what “Journey Into Imagination” turned into.

9 – Kali River Rapids – It’s too short and it’s too wet.

10 – It’s a Small World – I’m not a sadist so why would I subject myself to this?

11 – The Tea Cups – The only reason this is on the list is because my wife can’t spin and going on this alone is just sad.

12 – Back Lot Tour – There is just no reason to do this every time you go. Last time I got picked to do the boat scene and I saw the canyon.

13 – PW in Dino Land – It’s so bad I refuse to even name it. Last time my wife cracked her ribs on it because they tried to cram four of us on the ride.

14 – Chester and Hester’s – Does anyone do this abomination of an area? I don’t even want to see this area it’s so ugly.

There are some others too but I don’t need to name them. If you can’t see two adults with no kids doing it, we’re not doing it.

Fantasy Land Overhaul

When I was a kid I liked Fantasy Land. The dark rides were great for a kid who didn't like intense rides. As I got older I found myself going to Fantasy Land less and Less. The dark rides were still fun but the rest really started to fall flat. Dumbo was just a glorified carnival ride. The Teacups were about the same. 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea was shut down and replaced with a meet and greet. Then they ripped out Mr. Toad and replaced it with a barely passable Pooh ride. The only thing that still drew me was Peter Pan and sometimes Snow White.

Now Disney has announced a massive overhaul / expansion. I'll start by saying the whole princess thing has been over done but if it makes money Disney is going to do it. Sadly it looks like a big part expansion is going to be princess meet and greets. However, the planned Beast's Castle includes a restaurant. That sounds good. Only one problem. Rumor has it that it will be a quick service during lunch and a sit down during dinner. I really think it needs to be one or the other. If you do a hybrid it'll typically end up being a low volume (comparably) quick service or a low quality sit down. The two types of dining have completely different needs as far as logistics go.

I still won't be riding it but the update to Dumbo will be good. Dumbo is Disney classic even if it's cheap carnival ride. Expanding the ride is a good idea. The line might look small but that is one of the slowest loading rides in operation. The fact that they are placing it in a circus tent is great. It'll really help it's overall story.

The new Little Mermaid dark ride will get me to go over to Fantasy Land even if I just ride it once. I've never ridden the one out in California but I've heard good things about it. From the concept art it looks like it's going to be huge too. This has to be the best part about this expansion.

Another great thing about this expansion is the removal of Toon Town. I've never spent more than two minutes in Toon Town. It was an area so geared at one demographic that anyone without kids had no reason to venture there unless they were a character hunter. It looks like Pooh's Playful spot it going to eat bullet too. I'm not upset about that. It always seemed like an after thought to me.

It looks like the Goofy roller coaster is sticking around. Rumor has it that it is going to be converted into a Dumbo roller coaster. That's ok but I think it would be nicer if it went in another direction. Why not take the opportunity to add another movie that doesn't have a representative in the parks already? Why not 101 Dalmatians, Bambi, or Rambo ride (yes the last one is a joke).

I'm glad Disney is doing something with this area. Seems like a number of places in Disney World have fallen apart recently. This really seems like it'll polish up a crumbling area of the Magic Kingdom.

Rumors Are Fun!

1 - Blueprints were leaked onto the internet of a massive fantasy land overhaul. It would add a sit down restaurant, a 7 Dwarfs roller coaster, and about six other ride additions / enhancements beyond that. On of the enhancements would be a major upgrade to Dumbo. If it happens it will be on of the largest overhauls ever undertaken in Disney World.

ANALYSIS - Some of it might happen but I don't think it'll all happen. I think this is a case where the imagineers ask for everything they’ve ever wanted in hopes that at least a couple things get picked.

2 - WALL-E - Buy & Large overhaul of tomorrowland. The overhaul would include replacement attractions of Stitch, Buzz Light-year, and Monsters Laugh Floor.

ANALYSIS - Ok…who’s on the crack? No chance this happens. I could see a WALL-E themed ride but they would not remove a ride as popular as Buzz. You might see a slow incorporation of a WALL-E / Buy and Large theme. By that I mean Buy and Large signs and things like that.

3 - Monsters Inc. Roller Coaster in Disney Hollywood Studios. Roller coaster would be placed next to Toy Story Midway Mania.

ANALYSIS - This is very, very likely. I'd be surprised if it didn't happen. The rumors have been around for years. I’d expect an announcement soon.

4 - Overhaul of the imagination pavilion with a possible trackless ride system and a return of the dream finder. Also may include a replacement for Honey I Shrunk the Audience.

ANALYSIS - I feel this one has some merit to it. This has been such a sore spot since its original overhaul. Not only that, HISA is really showing it’s age.

5 - Test Track replacement.

ANALYSIS - I'd say no, way it's just too popular. However, GM is in the gutter, Test Track is insanely expensive to operate, and it's one of the least reliable rides in Disney World. My fear is we’ll see an outright shutdown.

6 - Return of the Adventures Club

ANALYSIS - I'd believe this if someone could tell me a reasonable place to locate it. Putting it in a park doesn’t seem right.

7 – Night Kingdom theme park

ANALYSIS – I’m fairly sure this was going to happen before the economy got flushed down the toilet. This might make a comeback when the economy better.

8 – Alien Encounter 2.0 aka Alien Encounter moved to DHS, Alien from the Alien movies added in, made more intense, first ever age limit on a ride due to content.

ANALYSIS – How can I even start to point out all the things wrong with this? I’d say there is a slim chance of AE even making it back into where it was never mind the rest of the malarkey mentioned here.

9 – Advanced guest tracking / ride video capture. In a sense you could buy a video of yourself at the end of the day and it would have all the rides you went on. It would also add interactive to a number of the rides.

ANALYSIS – Something like this will happen as so as Disney can turn a profit on it.

10 – Song of the South DVD / Blu-ray

ANALYSIS – This will happen if Disney can make it profitable. That means counting the flack that this move would generate.