Get ready Orlando, here we come! (1 Viewer)

[Aaron Silverman]

I'm sure you guys will skip the cookies and just dance all night at Downtown Disney! You'll be sleeping it off all day.

The Little Mermaid stage show in (I think) Disney Hollywood Studios is pretty cool. Is the new ride something different, or did they move it?

 

[Walter C]

+1. Merrilly, merrily on the road to nowhere in particular..

Our family would always scream out the road signs we would encounter on the way through the ride (to heighten the experience). Our favorite sign was "Ruts!" We still will yell out ruts to this day whenever we are driving on a poorly maintained road.

I still remember steering the wheel like crazy, thinking I was controlling the car. Thus, I could not cover my ears when it came to the train noise, followed by the hell scene.

 

[Mike Frezon]

So what does everyone think of the New Fantasyland?

My wife and I will be checking it out in November.

Yeah, and I thought the cottage, for the Enchanted Tales With Belle attraction, was nice looking as well. Though, I thought the attraction itself was a letdown! Even if the special effects are really good! But I did like The Little Mermaid Ride, and the Be Our Guest restaurant looked interesting enough. I did not get to eat there though.So far, the new Fantasyland is a mixed bag for me, as I am still not happy that the Snow White ride was shut down. Though it does not hurt nearly as much as the closure of Mr. Toad's Wild Ride.

Matt Hough's review of the Little Mermaid Blu reveals this nugget in the bonus features:

Part of Her World: Jodi Benson’s Voyage to New Fantasyland (4:45, HD): the film’s star describes the importance of bringing her children to experience the New Fantasyland at Walt Disney World.

I'm sure this won't be much...but it will be interesting to see even a little glimpse before we get down there.

 

[TonyD]

We went over to Disney this past Monday but a monsoon came through so we went home before doing anything.We did have a chance to compare Main Street to Universal and thought that Disney seems cluttered and tight compared to walking around and finding attractions in Universal.

 

[TonyD]

https://disneyworld.disney.go.com/events-tours/epcot/epcot-international-food-and-wine-festival/That is what we have been looking forward to for a long time.

 

[Ejanss]

Yeah, and I thought the cottage, for the Enchanted Tales With Belle attraction, was nice looking as well. Though, I thought the attraction itself was a letdown! Even if the special effects are really good!

That was mostly the hype--
Every time Disney builds something, the so-called "Armchair Imagineer" fan community thinks "It's an E-ride! It's the next Space Mountain Everest!"
No, it isn't...One of my best times with the niece/nephew was seeing Belle do her audience-participation show at the Rose Garden next to the castle (partly because I considered myself an authority on Magic Kingdom geography, and didn't even know that Garden had anyone in it at the time)--And when that was moved out to make room for Rapunzel and Merida to get their turn at marketing, I heard the description for Belle's new attraction and knew right away what it was.
I considered myself as having the advantage that way--It's good for what it is, but what you "expect" is your problem.

So far, the new Fantasyland is a mixed bag for me, as I am still not happy that the Snow White ride was shut down.

I remember the very first trip as a kid--back when it didn't have the "Scary" warning--seeing "Oh, a Snow White ride, how cute!" and getting a speedy ghost-train ride where the Witch leaped out at you. Even with the warning and now less-scary "plot" ride, always thought it seemed like a mean trick--Now, at least, we're getting the "plot" ride built without the nasty stuff.

As for the Princess Hall, they got that from the Disney Moms, and what they found out is that there's so much hype on the "Meet the princesses!" breakfasts and the real character meets were so hidden away (meet Cinderella at Mickey's County Fair??), some moms LITERALLY didn't know you could meet human characters outside of the Breakfasts--Which were already so cutthroat among the fans to grab reservations, much of the reservation system had to be changed after one deranged group of uber-fans was caught scalping reservations online.
Hopefully, they've learned the value of saying "Here! The free characters are over HERE!" in their marketing, and that should take some of the crowds out of the castle restaurants....Geez, I miss the old Epcot Norway restaurant.

 

[Walter C]

That was mostly the hype--
Every time Disney builds something, the so-called "Armchair Imagineer" fan community thinks "It's an E-ride! It's the next Space Mountain Everest!"
No, it isn't...One of my best times with the niece/nephew was seeing Belle do her audience-participation show at the Rose Garden next to the castle (partly because I considered myself an authority on Magic Kingdom geography, and didn't even know that Garden had anyone in it at the time)--And when that was moved out to make room for Rapunzel and Merida to get their turn at marketing, I heard the description for Belle's new attraction and knew right away what it was.
I considered myself as having the advantage that way--It's good for what it is, but what you "expect" is your problem.

To be honest, I was not sure what to expect. All I knew, that it could not be a stage show, otherwise, it would be a copycat of the one in Hollywood Studios.

I remember the very first trip as a kid--back when it didn't have the "Scary" warning--seeing "Oh, a Snow White ride, how cute!" and getting a speedy ghost-train ride where the Witch leaped out at you. Even with the warning and now less-scary "plot" ride, always thought it seemed like a mean trick--Now, at least, we're getting the "plot" ride built without the nasty stuff.

Oh I definitely remember the more scarier and darker version of the ride, where it just seemed like the evil Queen keep finding ways to pop up and kill you. Snow White was nowhere to be found, and the dwarfs only appear at the end. I thought it was a lot more scarier than Haunted Mansion. I could not stop thinking about it for a while. And I think I recall seeing the warning on the park map for Mr. Toad, but not for Snow White (or Haunted Mansion, for that matter). I have to see if I still have that old park map from the 80's, just to make sure.

 

[Aaron Silverman]

I am pretty sure that I went on that Snow White ride as a kid, but I don't remember it. I do remember Mr. Toad, though. What a loss.

Last time I went on the Haunted Mansion (this past spring), which was the first time in decades, I was really impressed at how cool it was. I feel like they must've updated it at some point.

 

[Mike Frezon]

Last time I went on the Haunted Mansion (this past spring), which was the first time in decades, I was really impressed at how cool it was. I feel like they must've updated it at some point.

Just within the past couple of years.

And, there IS a tombstone for Mr. Toad at the WDW version of the Haunted Mansion. It was erected after the ride was shuttered.

 

[TonyD]

We did some Disney today.Went to Magic Kingdom..Made it onto Space Mountain, my first time in that. Loved it.Did the stitch thing, pretty lame for everything that is in there as far as production.Went through haunted Mansion. We did that one 13 years ago on our honeymoon but don't remember what we thought, today, zzzzzzzzzzz.It didn't help that after we were herded out of the growing room along with at least six other "rooms" there was a clog getting onto the carts.So about seven rooms of people were jammed into the walkway to the carts and each time they jammed another room in they kept telling everyone to move up.There was no were to go.Two other rides today shutdown and jammed up.After we left HM we checked the app and saw it was closed.Walking past Splash Mountain we saw the cars all lined up under the slash drop, then the turned the water off completely.So that was shut down.Pirates of the Caribbean had five or six cars jammed up at the exit soall the boats were smacking into the one in front of it coming to the end of the ride.We did get pics with a few characters.Did Goofy and Donald in there building.Took pics of Minnie.Rode Dumbo , which actually was really lame because it was about 1 minute or less and the control knob was broken.We had one when I was a kid on the Wildwood boardwalk in south jersey that was great.Last week we went over to Hollywood Disney to see the light show for the second time. And had pictures taken with Lightning McQueen and 'Mater.Btw if you collect Cars and Star Wars, there is a set of about 6 Cars,cars that are Star wars characters, there is a Luke and a Darth Vader a Yoda and a few other.We will be headed back Friday night for the very expensive, in my opinion Christmas special. Although I hear it is fabulous I think $70 plus is way too much for one night and a few hours. Oh we'll.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MZOfYZNkV_A&sns=em

 

[TonyD]

And since Mike didn't get to meet "Talking Mickey" I made a short video that I posted.I think it was neat but maybe a tad creepy.He tries to joke around and literally tells jokes but the kids just really didn't understand even the simple jokes Mickey was telling.

 

[TonyD]

Pics

 

[Mike Frezon]

Very nice Tony! Peg and I both just watched the video together. It IS just a little creepy...but, OTOH, pretty well done, too.

Great pix, too.

This was our favorite character to meet this trip: Dug from Pixar's Up!

 

[Aaron Silverman]

Btw if you collect Cars and Star Wars, there is a set of about 6 Cars,cars that are Star wars characters, there is a Luke and a Darth Vader a Yoda and a few other.

Are those the die-casts that are slightly larger than Hot Wheels that they've been selling for years (although the Star Wars characters are new)? Or some crossover with Lightning McQueen "Cars?" Or something else?

 

[TonyD]

Aaron these are the regular Cars from the movie Cars that are just like Hot Wheels but are better quality and usually around $4 in Target.

I believe these are Disney exclusives

These particular Cars are based on SW characters and are the same size as the regualr Cars.

The only one I havent seen is the Vader car. 10 bucks each but I saw at least one kiosk selling them 3 for 18.

 

[TonyD]

 

[Aaron Silverman]

Very cool. (And bigger than Hot Wheels.) Good thing we didn't see those a couple of years ago or I'd have been forced to buy them all.

 

[TonyD]

So this summer it will have been 6 years since we moved to Florida.

We moved again 2 years ago to Cape Coral.
Up in Orlando we rented so when we decided to buy we chose down here because I have a friend from the old neighborhood in Philly who lives here so we bought a house and moved to the Cape.

It a huge difference for .living in Orlando.

I grew up in Philly and even in Orlando they are both big cities.
This is a bit of culture shock here as there isn’t much of anything.
Orlando is 3.5 hour drive so we having gone up there since moving.
Have to say I do miss being able to go into the parks anytime we wanted.

I had a job at Disney for about a year before we moved.
That was great because Disney was free for both of us.

SWF seems to be a bit of a retirement community.

While it’s nice here it’s kind of boring.
Worst part is not one really good movie theater.
We have an imax but nothing else winning 2 hours to even speak of.

Had a hurricane last year that we had to evacuate from. That wasn’t fun.
My dad bought a house here and now he lives here during the winter months so he’s a true snowbird.

Over all I’m still good with the move to Florida because I don’t want to deal with the cold anymore.
Maybe we could have stayed in the Orlando area.

 

[Johnny Angell]

So this summer it will have been 6 years since we moved to Florida.

We moved again 2 years ago to Cape Coral.
Up in Orlando we rented so when we decided to buy we chose down here because I have a friend from the old neighborhood in Philly who lives here so we bought a house and moved to the Cape.

It a huge difference for .living in Orlando.

I grew up in Philly and even in Orlando they are both big cities.
This is a bit of culture shock here as there isn’t much of anything.
Orlando is 3.5 hour drive so we having gone up there since moving.
Have to say I do miss being able to go into the parks anytime we wanted.

I had a job at Disney for about a year before we moved.
That was great because Disney was free for both of us.

SWF seems to be a bit of a retirement community.

While it’s nice here it’s kind of boring.
Worst part is not one really good movie theater.
We have an imax but nothing else winning 2 hours to even speak of.

Had a hurricane last year that we had to evacuate from. That wasn’t fun.
My dad bought a house here and now he lives here during the winter months so he’s a true snowbird.

Over all I’m still good with the move to Florida because I don’t want to deal with the cold anymore.
Maybe we could have stayed in the Orlando area.

Since you mostly list negatives about the move to the south, it seems like you should have stayed in Orlando. Having your dad there is good. Did he move there after you moved?

 

[TonyD]

Yeah we should have stayed in or close to Orlando.
I’m just so used to being near a big city.
The Parks which was a driving motive for us to go there other then my wife’s job, the movie theaters are terrific there.

My dad who will be 78 this year and his wife have a house Wildwood NJ and had a house in a difficult suburb of Philly.
It is the house his wife grew up in so it’s been a long time discussion in the family to get them out of there.

They bought the house here early last summer.

My father and I have always had a rocky relationship mostly due to he and I both being stubborn and him never really being around when I was a kid. Always working or down the corner at the bar.
Not an alcoholic but just out with the guys.

It’s been better the last couple of decades but it’s a slow process.
There was concern that he might be too close that it might wear on the nerves but it’s been just fine.

We just had solar installed and have done several upgrades to the house so we aren’t going anywhere for a long time that is unless we win the lottery, then we are gone instantly.

I wouldn’t tell anyone not to move to Florida.
In spite of all the “Florida Man” things that happen here it is beautiful.
The weather is great, not as humid as you may be lead to believe.