Today's bracket from Ewok and BenT. Personally, I'm stuck between Jessica and Nikki, and I can't imagine solving either of them against Hiro...
Anyhow, let’s get past this Disney folderol. This time it’s mostly itinerary, for those who like to compare itinerarical notes.
We started off, as I’ve said, at Animal Kingdom. Our last trip was five years ago, and there have been a few changes in AK, including Expedition Everest, which lived up to the hype. If you've never been, for all intents and purposes AK is a zoo with Disneyfication. The original plan had included real animals broken into geographic areas, plus other areas for extinct animals and for imaginary animals. The real animals include a safari ride, much like the ride at many zoos, including the Bronx, where you go around on some sort of vehicle through the animal domains, except AK’s is at a much superior level than even a good zoo. Disney has done a good job laying this section out, and no matter what time of day you go through, there’s plenty to see, and the animals have plenty of room to roam unmolested on their simulated savannah, although if they added a tiger chasing down a gazelle for each safari bus it would be quite excellent plussing, as they say in Disney circles. In essence, this is the simulation version of the Jungle Ridge simulacrum, if you're looking for a pomo explanation. There used to be a deep narrative about poachers on this trip, but they’ve toned it down a bit, which is probably a good idea, as it really didn’t work all that well. There’s also a couple of real-animal walk-throughs, where you get surprisingly close to whole bunches of beasts, including tigers and gorillas and enormous bats (not unlike your average $ircuit event). Throughout all of this there is intense African or Asian theming, probably the best theming in the resort, going so far as to include animal prints on the walkways. The originally intended imaginary area is today represented solely by the Everest ride, plus, I guess, some shows like the Lion King and Nemo. We chose the Nemo show this time, and frankly the LK show last time was better, but Nemo wasn’t terrible, just not as good. The extinct area, since our last visit, has been punched-up enormously, including this Route 66-ish funky little simulacrum cheap-o park with a nifty little wild mouse spinner and fun theming throughout. There’s also plenty of run-around space here for little kids on a dinosaur-bone trek. In the olden days, Disney used to take a hit for putting people in an entirely passive, reactive position, which may be okay when you’re visiting a park for a day, but where you’re there for a week, a little action on your part, and especially on your kids’ parts, becomes more important, and they are now serving this need throughout the resort with areas like this one. The cornerstone of the extinct area is the Dinosaur ride, which is a repurposed version of Indiana Jones in Disneyland. It’s okay, but I prefer Indy, which is a top-tenner while Dino is just another attraction. We had nice weather throughout the trip, and it was warm enough this day for the Rapids ride, a perfectly enjoyable soaker if the spirit so moves you. As I said, we kept going back to Everest, because it was just that good that you wanted enough opportunities to take it all in. You would probably do likewise.
In keeping with the AK theme, we ate at the AK lodge that night. We were staying at the Caribbean Resort, one of the moderate hotels, which was fine, but one has to admit that the lodge was seriously more impressive. Of course, it’s also seriously more expensive, and how much time does one spending lounging about on a Disney trip? Anyhow, we ate at the Boma buffet, which includes a lot of African foods one has never had before. Good stuff, and I recommend it.
It was on to EPCOT next. Each day at the parks begins with a corny opening ceremony, usually Mickey Mouse or his heirs and assignees coming out to jolly the crowd. So it was here, as we waited to tear over to Test Track, a perennial favorite (and still, I think, officially the fastest ride in the park). Soarin’, which is iMax on steroids, was okay but short. Mission Space was okay but we spent a lot of time waiting for them to fix it (and I will admit that we took the non-spinning wuss option). Figment was much better originally, but what’s there now is still better than the interglacial when there was no Figment at all. The Three Caballero upgrade at Mexico was a nice tweak, leaving the ride more or less as it was with some improvement. The China movie has also been tweaked, with some old and some new footage, and remains the best on the grounds. It was Flowers and Gardens Weeks at the park, so there were a lot of nifty short-term displays and topiaries. Dinner over at Canada’s steakhouse, our first time there, was very nice. And so to bed. EPCOT is always a big hit with us, and we left the other half of it for another day.
Day 3 was MGM. As I said earlier, Tower is much improved, with theming through the drops. It’s now finally a top attraction throughout. And I’ve always loved Aerosmith, Star Tours, Muppets, etc. The only other new thing was, I guess, the motor stunt show, imported from Disney Paris. It was much better than I had expected. In the animation building (now vacated by animators, as we take off our hats and conduct a moment of silence) I got to draw Donald Duck; surprisingly enough, it looks like Donald Duck! All of this capped by Brown Derby dinner (still a standout) with their Fastasmic package worked in (special seating), so a nice capper there.
Day 4 was Universal, about which I’ve already spoken in terms of satisfaction. There were some new items. Shrek is quite good. Jimmy Neutron was impenetrable. The Mummy was something of a disappointment; I expected more, but after Everest, this poor also-ran didn’t have a chance. It’s okay, but don’t spend too much time waiting for it. The closure of Back to the Future was painful, as this was an old top-tenner of mine, now never to be ridden again. Other than that, it was same old same old. Plenty of time left over for a screening of Meet the Robinsons at their multiplex. We did have dinner at Emeril’s, which was quite good, albeit loud. I’d even call it a destination restaurant, feeling free to skip both of the parks when making the journey.
Day 5 (God, this trip was endless) was SeaWorld. Again, I’ve already vaguely commented that this has gone downhill big-time. Someone in charge thinks they ought to be competing with Cirque de Soleil rather than displaying sea life. Big mistake. On the positive side, that night we dined at Victoria and Albert at the Grand Floridian, which remains the best restaurant I’ve ever eaten in. And the most expensive. No trip to WDW is complete without it, however.
Quiet Day 6 was a morning at Blizzard Beach. There’s early opening for resort guests, so we did everything for a couple of hours before it got crowded, then we ate lunch for a couple of hours (or, more to the point, spent a couple of hours wondering how the on-site restaurant could be so poorly run compared to everything else in the resort), followed by miniature golf at SummerWinterland, then Irish dinner at Raglans, then over to the Adventurers’ Club. Kungaloosh! The AC is really the only reason to visit Pleasure Island nowadays, unless you really want to go (simulated) clubbing with the local Orlando hoi and polloi. I must say, you do feel you are elsewhere than WDW when you’re at PI late at night, given the rather blowsy clientele. Day 6 was also Downtown Disney shopping day, where, having worked our way up through the previous days’ browsings, we stocked up on all manner of items Disney which I will eventually display in tab rooms throughout the nation. I’m especially proud, as I’ve said, of my Darth Tater pin.
Day 7 was back to EPCOT, this time for the rejuvenated Seas, with the wonderful talking animation technology (Turtle Talk with Crush). It’s cute, and all you do is wonder how it’s done. Also the Seas entry ride, projecting Nemo characters into the tanks, works very nicely. We also did Energy, and all the countries we hadn’t already done; some of those movies do need an update. I mean, people just don't have those sideburns anymore (although the bellbottoms are coming back). We even did the American Adventure, which with grizzled forensicians is always a risk. Oompah dinner at Germany followed by Illuminations. What’s not to like?
Day 8, IOA: we were done by 1:00 pm and ended up seeing Spiderman 3. It's just not a comfortable park that you want to hang out in, and there's not all that much there that you can't get it all done pretty efficiently. Sushi dinner at Kimonos at Swan & Dolphin, followed by a walk on the Boardwalk helped make up for the earlier part of the day’s lack of fulfillment.
Finally, day 9, MK. As we waited for the gates to open, we fell in with some geezer traveling alone who was making his 56th visit. As you might expect, we got into the topic of shirts, and he spent most of the time explaining about the loss of pockets on the polos, and how to get around it. This is why, as a rule, it is fine to talk about Disney to an enthusiast, but you should steer clear of the obsessives at all costs. Anyhow, I’ve already discussed Disney on various ethereal levels over the last couple of days, so here I’ll just update on the What’s New front. Stitch is no better or worse than its predecessor, only different. Loved Philharmagic. Monster Laugh Floor was more of the interactive animation, and it was corny fun. What with the average-sized crowds and fast passes, we saw everything we wanted to see, managed a dinner at Citrico’s, then the light parade and final fireworks. Once again, through all of this, I swear by the Unofficial Guide touring plans, which really do work. Always have, and they did again, with quite different paths from those previously taken. During the whole week we stood on no lines for more than a few minutes. A Disney trip can be made or broken by long waits on hot days.
So anyhow, now we’re back. For the moment, this may be enough Disney for a while, but something tells me there are other issues that will occur to me. I was over at WTF yesterday and noticed that they haven’t had a new posting since the Truman Administration, so maybe they’re all down in Orlando too, waiting on line for Dumbo or something. While I was down there I will admit that I did keep expecting O’C to pop out from behind one door or another sooner or later. Honestly, it would have been perfect if he were Cinderella’s escort on the parade float. As Disney wishes go, that was my Number One. Alas, it was not to be. Sigh…
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