Trip Report August 2011

Well I just got home from a day trip to Disney World and thought I would share some of the events from my trip.  I haven't been there in  a year so somethings I noticed changed, or didn't notice it change last time.  So here goes.

First I got a Florida residence discount package deal and wasn't that bad at 200$.  I got a room for the night, park ticket with park hopper, Disney dine and wine plan.  It was only for one day and the 2nd day I went to downtown Disney and then drove home....so a quick one day trip really.

The Hotel:  All Star Music.  I have read the complaints about the all star franchise so I was a little hesitant.  As a Disney quality nut I will agree the decor inside and out is quite vulgar to Disney standards but I was only there to sleep so Ill leave it at that.  I'm not sure who green lighted these awful looking hotels but they are quite the eye sore.  I hope they eventually plan to re theme these in the future.  But as a room to shut your eyes...Ill take it.  The cast members were a delight here!  There were several as we waited in line to check in to help us and the woman that checked us in was very friendly and talkative...was nice!  Impressed my friend on her first visit, but all I could think of is the decor is not Disney standard, more like the best of Six Flags...oh well.

First stop, The Magic Kingdom.  It started raining the moment we got there so took a quick left and went into Adventureland.  Decided to go on the Jungle cruise since the boats were covered it should be okay.  Nope...due to the lightning all outdoor rides were shut down.  Bummer. Since it was raining we headed to the nearest indoor attraction. 

-The Enchanted Tiki Room:  Glad to see it back to its former self.  The other show was quite the slap in the face to the original so this was a great change.  However, with the refurb change I would think they would have done a bit more to make sure the show was working properly.  The birds looked nice and bright, the spotlights were a bit dim on some of the 4 main characters though.  I wish they had done better with the speakers or soundtrack as it still seemed pretty quiet.  Most of the background birds were working quite nice, and looked like they had some fresh plumage....however the Flowers that sing did not work so well.  Their tougnes were warbling they way they should but as they sang the words there was barely any mouth movement, or they would just just open up wide and when they were done singing they would shut again....but at least it was back to normal!

-Pirates of the Caribbean:  Waited about 10 minutes for this one and the queue seemed more bright than normal.  Perhaps I am wrong but I thought all the lanterns flickered and it had a darker feeling to the queue.  I also cant remember if the guys playing chess were seen from both queues but I didn't see it from the left side.  The mist effect doesn't do as good with the new character (forgot his name and too lazy to google at the moment)...it screamed "I'M A PROJECTED IMAGE"  perhaps because it was a real person with a beard and not makeup tentacles as a beard like the last time.  Just seemed to feel flat, luckily my friend who never been to Disney before didn't notice.  Ride was working great and most of the animatronics looked nice.  Until we get to the burning scenes.  The smell wasn't there, thought that added so much to this section so that was a disappointment.  The first three singers on the left were not working properly.  Their heads moved, their arms moved...but their mouths didn't.  Looked really dumb especially since they have speakers right there to give the illusion that they are singing.  Not the best.  The jail dog scene also had no mouth movements whatsoever from any of them....sorta blew the illusion.  Lastly we got stuck for a minute at the end scene with Jack with the treasure.  Finally I got to see it better.  Usually you go by so quickly its almost as if the scene is an afterthought.  I really think they need to open it up more at an angle as you are approaching it to see it better and not fly by. 

*KABOOM* Major thunderstorm after that ride and got stuck at Tortuga tavern and had some nachos....just okay...but we had a table and waited the rain out a bit. Once it slowed down a bit moved on from building to building....the park also cleared out a bit...or gathered around fantasyland and made those rides wait times HEAVILY increase!

-The Haunted Mansion:  For starters this is my favorite ride in the entire park(s)...and was my first time with the new queue and mirror effects at the end.  First off the new queue.  Jury is still out on this one since it was raining but it wasn't quite as bad in person as in pictures, but still not the feel of the inside of the house and really out of place.  Especially the busts and the fisherman's grave.  Next.....BORING CAST MEMBERS!  ugh I thought this was where the better performers worked....not today.  Only the guy in the stretching room had any character or tried, and I have seen better.  At least he told my friend who looked spooked "Good bye, and good luck".  The rest just looked bored at their job....total downer, its such a better experience when the cast members get into it.  I wish the pictures in the load area were lit up better, they are totally washed out and the only people that would even notice them are mansion freaks like me!  Constance looked a bit more phoney this time....her face was way too bright.  They need to dim it slightly because like pirates...she screamed "PROJECTED IMAGE"...because of this as well her face was too flat looking...they need to look more at the leota effect and figure out a way to get it close to her....The singing busts looked great.  They were so clear and far more real looking then I remembered.  Don't remember seeing these were refurbished but if they were great job!  The mirror effect was very cool and cute.  We got the one where they switched our faces.  Our faces weren't that clear so if they could tweak that it would be awesome!  The ghosts themselves look great and I approve them!  The cast members at the end smiled and told us to have a nice day.....ok normally I appreciate that, but not getting off the Haunted Mansion....shrug...

*rain stopped* walked up to dumbo and was excited to try to peek at the fantasyland expansion but when I saw there was a line for dumbo that meant the outdoor rides were back up.  Since the rides in frontierland always have long lines we b-lined it back there before the bulk of the crowds realized it. 

-Splash Mountain (waited 10 minutes).  The first few boats went down the flume with no water jets and no water going down the main falls...not cute....By the time we got there they were back up.  Overall this was a bad show.  I saw some things I read were fixed but others were not and looked REALLY bad!  In the How Do You Do section the first bird figure fishing on the left was not moving and slumped over.  All it reminded me of is a cheesy murder mystery where someone would pat him on the back and he would fall over with a knife in his back....the bird looked dead, bad bad show and bad first impression of the characters in the ride.  Off to the right in the steamboat 2 other birds not working.  One was a bird doing jazz hands just standing there, and another was slumped over.  *GASP* Its like there was an animatronic murderer on the loose in splash mountain!  Most of the brear fox characters had no mouth movement as well....still.  One of the 3 possums were also not moving.  The water was working for the turtles (was looking out for that) so that effect was going good.  Also the hopping brer rabbit was also working.  This wound up being my friends favorite ride after all (glad I didn't point out all the disasters that I saw).  Just sad that this ride is in this state, STILL, when it always has such long lines and is a big crowd pleaser!

-Big Thunder Mountain Railroad.  By now Frontier land was filling up as expected, but still only waited 20 minutes for this one.  No falling rocks...sigh, isn't that part of the reason its called big thunder?  The geysers were working...wow haven't seen that effect in a few years!  The cast members running this ride were great!  They waved with big smiles and all seemed to be enjoying what they were doing on this one!  Nothing else really to report on this one...

*because of the rain we lost about an hour and a half in the park and had dinner reservations at Epcot so this was all we did in the magic kingdom....bummed out that I totally forgot to check out the fantasyland expansion before leaving....my bad*

Now Epcot (rode monorail peach and lime?)  Lime's airconditioning was working so well the hand rails were all wet.  Peach, not so much...but at least it wasn't hot in there...just not as cold as peach.  Monorail cast members were also very helpful and enjoying themselves!  Walking in the stupid monoliths still there...groan.  We had 7:50 dinner reservations and it was now a little after 5pm.  Decided to check out the walk on rides only before heading to world showcase.

-Spaceship Earth.  Short line but never stopped so we walked right on.  Everything looked great in here.  Didn't see one dead person in the place.  Guess just splash mountain had the serial killer.  Noticed some of the figures were A100...or at least the guy in Greece that used to have the Theatre Scene...the video going backward was quite funny and enjoyed that...either forgot about that or hadn't seen it yet.  Still miss Tomorrows child.  The music after the signing is very epic and fits so much better when looking at the stars than the current soundtrack.  Very Enjoyable.

-Journey into Imagination w/Figment.  Sigh sigh sigh sigh sigh.  Was hoping it would have been closed for Refurb but alas no, probably never will.  The original used to be my favorite (a tie for HM) and this horrible version is all I get for my nostalgia.  I really only go on this ride to see my old friend figment...even the bratty one.  The Figment animatronic with the phone had no mouth movement....guess that fix didn't last long.  Last year riding this ride he didn't even pop up at all....just a black room with a spotlight where you can see his ears sticking out....not sure which is worse.  The rest of this ride was working fine, but the skunk smell was diminished thank god.  Really want a 4th refurb of this closer to the original, just a bad ride but I have to give Figment my patronage so they don't decide to change it to a crappy thrill ride like test track or mission space.

*margarita time*

-Mexico.  Had the margaritas from outside.  Way too strong, but that didn't stop me from drinking it.  Got quite buzzed from it as well.  Didn't ride the grand fiesta tour, its line was actually full and its a cute little ride...but I wont wait in line for it more than 5 minutes. 

--Norway.  Oh maelstrom....such an underrated attraction.  This time however its going into major disrepair.  The 3 headed troll had no mouth movements so they felt like a broken down Showbiz pizza watching them....just had to shake my head.  The film at the end surprised me.  Granted I'm one of those that would rather skip it since I have seen it enough times when they made you wait to see it, see it, then open the doors.  It still isn't updated.  What surprised me is that the exit doors are open and there were at least 30 people sitting down to watch it.  Cool!  The cast members here were the best overall.  They all were smiling, those passing us by all said hello....overall the best cast members we encountered.

-Africa section...  The new beads are pretty cool (the ones made from the park maps)...check them out!

-Italy.  Time for Dinner.  Had 7:50 reservations ad Tutto Italia.  It was bittersweet because I loved Alfredo's so much and have awesome memories there eating with my family for dinner there at least twice a trip.  (My dad and the owner were on first name basis and he would even buy a ticket every time he was in Orlando just to eat there and not even do anything else).  The food was really really good and was surprised.  Had the wine and dine plan so we had a bottle of wine as well.  140$ bill and the plan paid for the entire thing...Id call that a win!  Everyone who worked there was also VERY friendly and helpful!

*a bit tipsy now, so took the rest of our wine in kids cups and headed out for some fireworks*

-Illuminations, reflections of earth.  The show is holding up pretty well.  The globe was working perfectly, however, in my opinion is the most boring part of the show.....impressive for first time viewers though. 

*SLEEP TIME*  Beds okay, no complaints.  No noisy neighbors....just had to walk far to find a smoking spot...grr

-Downtown Disney.  Before leaving we went downtown.  Nothing really to report at all other than the coffee at ghirardelli was very good.  The spitting stitch's pirate hat is a ripped mess and needs to be replaced.  Was really sore walking through pleasure island and looking longingly at the adventurers club..

*OVERALL IMPRESSION*

-Disney Dining Plan.  I really had no issues with it.  It was easy to figure out, and when weren't sure cast members helped us out.  With the bottle of wine and dinner in Epcot it was a great thing!

-Cast Members this time around were MUCH Friendlier than last year and held a great impression!

-If your a smoker get to know the designated Shame spot.  They are not in the best places, especially the Magic Kingdom (with the exception of the frontierland area...that was nice).  Most are not covered and when it rains its sucks!

-The state of repair is still a big downer, especially splash mountain.  This really needs to get fixed or a better plan in motion!

-Had a great time and was glad I spent my money. 

Fixing Epcot......Relight the Spark.

The first Pavilion that needs help is the Imagination building. 

This was one of Epcot's major attractions for quite some time.  It had everything; an original dark ride featuring wonderful music played throughout the ride like the long time classics of Haunted Mansion, and Pirates of the Caribbean.  It had a cutting edge 3D movie that wowed everyone (more than once).  It had a technologically advanced playroom that begged for your imagination to play and be used. 

Now...it has a D ticket dark ride (at best), a 3D movie that is long outdated with both concept and technology (and now has an even older one but playing on the recent King of Pop's death to bring in the numbers and give nostalgia to fans back when it was new and fresh.  It has a playroom that is quite boring and you can do on any computer or even cheap laptop.  The gift shop even sells things you can get at your local mall.  Overall if you don't have any nostalgic feelings about what this building once was...then it can easily be skipped and you wont miss anything...especially since this pavilion lacks one thing most of all, Imagination.


How would I fix this?  Glad you asked...

Lets start with the exterior.  Mostly just needs a good cleaning, otherwise the exterior is great.
The ugly signs Epcot started using as a standard (from Test Track to Ellen's Energy Adventure) has to be stopped......

Doesn't scream Imagination to me.  To be fair, the original sign wasn't much better.  It was a steel grid like structure with a transparent tarp that had the Kodak logo on it....it didn't have much imagination either.  It did, however, fit the grid of the building pyramids better.  If I could redesign this building with a new sign it would be something simple for the land based sign that was complimentary to the building.  For the water I would do something with more imagination.  If  you remember in the original attraction (or watch the video of it I will be posting at the end) they did a play on words doing exactly what they said.  There was giant letters in the literature section doing things like Shake, Earthquake etc....and they moved and did what each word said.  I think in the water having the word IMAGINATION jumping out of the pond in front of the upside down waterfall like some fish jumping out of the water.  Sometimes just one letter jumps out in an arch, other times more than one, and every few minutes or so they all jump out in unison.  They might even have fish "wings".  Maybe even out of the waterfall like salmon jumping up stream....  Something like that.  The building is very photogenic and it could possibly create an even cooler video/photo spot to try and catch the "letter fish" jumping at the same time to get the imagination word jumping out of the lake.

Next up, the Magic Eye theatre is desperate for a new film.  I thought about this and wasn't quite sure what to bring to it.  I am not a huge fan of Pixar because I think their films don't have a long shelf life but I think one of them might fit in quite well and be a good tie in to this pavilion.  A new show featuring the Pixar film " The Incredibles ".  With the characters and what they can do I think some great sight gags would work very well (especially with the bendy mom).  Adding the fourth dimension like the Muppet vision attraction at DHS  and adding the live animatronics would also work very well.  One of the characters that needs a spotlight in this film is ....

Edna E Mode.  This is a great character from the movie and was quite funny.  She was a fashion designer for superheroes and used science, technology, and art to create the costumes for her heroes.....all themes from the original attraction.  She would also make a great Pre Show film, as well as have a good hand in the movie.  Why make her a break out star of this attraction?  Because in the new imagination playground how great would it be for people and children to use their imagination to create their own superhero costume? 

I know what your thinking, this will turn the entire pavilion into a pixar The Incredibles attraction.  Nope this would be the only thing in the playground that would be a nod to the film.  The gift shop however would probably get a huge nod to the movie, but not all of it...there is another character or two that would get the larger chunk of that.....

Yup, Figment! 

That makes my segway into the heart of the pavilion.  Journey into Imagination.  The current version needs to be completely scrapped and sold on eBay.  Its a horrible ugly shadow of the once E-ticket attraction it once was.  The newest version of Journey into Imagination turned this lovable figure with childish delight into an obnoxious troublemaker and took away all of his likability.  I want to see this ride return with all of the original glory it once had.  I don't think a complete replica is the answer, but it needs many of the old elements combined with new.  First off Dreamfinder needs to come back and be put back into his rightful home.  He was the perfect compliment to figment and was our guide to help us use our imagination. 




The things in this classic dark ride that need to be restored is the pre-show merry go round section in the original building.  All the words and dialogue should remain intact from the original including Dreamfinders Dream Catching Machine needs to return with no changes.  It was timeless.  Now...maybe the machine itself could use some sort of updating and both Dreamfinder and Figment should be an A100 Animatronic figures in this scene....and Dreamfinder could use a little updating on his look but not much.  The rest of the ride needs some nods to the original but should all be brand new and in the spirit of the original.  The original also had a photo opportunity and I think this needs to take a step further.  I have been thinking awhile on what cool photo thing could be done to make this fun.....and give Disney something to profit (after all bottom line means a lot to any money making machine).....  I thought some sort of take on what Jib Jab is doing with their greeting cards would be awesome!  Just after the intro to figment scene (the carousel part) it could stop to scan your imagination to see how they could use everything they collected and show you a world of imagination (I know, ARGH, it seems like a nod to the current version) but at least that would be it.  Then at the end where figment used to stand singing the finale to the song One Little Spark by Richard Sherman instead of figment on the view screens....its You singing WITH figment.  Granted this needs more fine tuning but what is funny to me is they just started using something similar to this idea I had in the Haunted Mansion Hitchhiking ghosts scene as a part of its refurb (Disney beat me to it again :) )  Each segment in J4 (Journey into Imagination 4th Refurb)  could feature everyone in the car or just solo...whatever the imaganeers think is best...perhaps a combo...

If you have never seen a JibJab greeting card here is the link...they are quite amusing and fun JibJab.

They can then make some money on using your face singing with figment by selling a DVD of your FULL performance with figment with the full One little Spark song next to him on the ride or scenes within.  There could ALSO be something in the imageworks area that lets you make more than just you singing with figment but with classic scenes from other rides from Disney or even with classic movies.  Selling scene by scene...Great little marketing tool...For DVD or sending your your own Email copy instantly!

The other room that most fans of the original attraction that needs to come back is the "white room"  Where everything is made, or made to look like, paper.  With colors roaming around and figment with his paint brush and pot of gold....Just a new version!


That brings me to imageworks...Upstairs

AHH my memories of the Rainbow Tunnel!!!  Loved walking through this.  Was the first thing I would do after getting of the greatest dark ride at Epcot! (although Horizons at one point held that title for me).  Make some new fun things to do upstairs including some of the things I mentioned in the above. 

How about the Queue for the attraction?  One thing I hated about the original was the cattle drive style metal railings.  It made the wait kinda unbearable and very boring until you got near the omni-mover loading area.  The Murals need to come back...or at least new ones in the same spirit.  To me they were a nod to the artwork of Mary Blair, just not as colorful.  The style though seemed to come straight from her work at Disney Theme Parks.  The blue tones were perfect for the mood of the blue cars and the cool feeling of being at ease and comfortable as the Dreamfinder made us all feel....even calming Figment when he was scared of lightning....

 Seeing the building as is I am not sure how to make the queue more interesting without mucking it up with monitors.  Perhaps some nods to the original attraction when you see the Dream Catching Machine fly like the beginning of the original ride.  I don't think they have any room to make a more themed queue other than maybe add walls to it and go with the spirit of the interactive queue like other attractions that have things on the wall for you to touch and or watch instead of metal railings....Now the newer version does have a better themed queue, sadly, and I think the doors are very cute and do have some imagination to the them.  One area that needs to NOT be apart of the queue is the "nook" to the right of the building as you enter the doors.  I remember being young and the queue did enter this area to not clutter the entrance view...but using it as a stroller parking area is MUCH better.  If you don't think stroller parking is an issue at Disney then take a leisurely stroll over to The Living Seas Pavilion...err sorry, The Seas With Nemo and Friends.  That area is a complete stroller nightmare and really gives the entrance sign a trashy atmosphere!

Lastly...it wouldn't be Disney without Meet and Greets.  After all they almost made the Fantasyland Expansion exclusively a meet and greet area....glad they changed their mind.  Figment AND Dreamfinder need to return to their old character meet and greet style...

YES!

NO NO NO!!!

When EPCOT Center first opened Disney Characters were mostly forbidden there.  I think that's quite extreme that it is one of Walt's ideas(well a play on one of his ideas for E.P.C.O.T.) and it DID start with a mouse.  Now, however, the characters are taking too large of a foothold to regain the fact that Epcot isn't just for adults.  They are all over the place and their character dining areas are in places they should not be, period!  Back when EPCOT Center first opened and Mickey and the gang weren't allowed EPCOT Center had its very own characters....Figment and Dreamfinder and they were the unofficial characters of this park!  They need to be restored to that glory...maybe not ahead of the mouse, but at least number two in this original park that has gone to the bland side!

This is my Idea to get Epcot on the right track.  I have copy written nothing and would LOVE it if Disney would use it ...or even use the fact that a fan is wanting them to go back to their roots....Tony Baxter style!

So...that's the first area I would fix....what would you do?

As promised...video of the attraction....

That's part one....Love the "Pre-Show" even though its part of the ride!

Worthy of E-Ticket Disney Dark Ride?  I think so....Just needed to upgrade a few scenes and would have stayed an amazing attraction....



Then the attraction got a Refurb.  I have heard that it was in the contract with Kodak that it would be changed by 2000 if they were still the sponsor...I have also heard that Kodak wanted a cheaper operating version of the show....either way this was such a BAD refurb...see for yourself

Then with this being one of the most complained about attractions at any Disney Park they closed it down fairly quickly as attraction life spans go since the biggest complaint was Figment was missing....and they made this, the most current version of the ride...

The song "One Little Spark" by Mr Sherman came back...with different lyrics and I do like the verse with the eye chart to be honest....would fit with the original song....but the entire version seems like a big ol' reply from Disney saying "You want Figment back?  Then here he is in full force right in your face!"  In a very bad way!  They turned him into an irritant...not a fun loving character he once was....even the ending where they shove a boatload of Figments down your face like thats what the fans wanted....not even close.....Imagination in this incarnation became about the senses...not about imagination...Sad don't you think?

Fixing Epcot

First of all I don't think Epcot needs fixing, it just needs a Renascence.  It tried to go through one during the millennium celebration but all that really happened around that time was it went backward.  There are SO many great things about Epcot but it is not the park it was meant to be, or even was.  I am starting this series of blog posts to hopefully spark an Imaganeer, or a corporate suit, or a Disney marketing guru's fire to take a long look at Epcot and its unused potential.  I still love Epcot, I just want to see it back to its glory days.

These segments are just my musings and thoughts as to what would be great at Epcot and to make my decision to visit Epcot or the Magic Kingdom first....and to spend the entire day there!

So lets start the first post on what I would do if I could "fix Epcot"...

Enjoy, and please feel free to comment!

Hitchhiking Ghost's get a refurb!

Looks like another refurb has been released.  Some of the first things I saw when I was looking for this I was again disappointed and upset...

However, now that I have seen this I am very happy about what I am seeing.  Very cool effects and love LOVE LOVE the switching of the heads, the beard being placed on you etc.  It is using face recognition software for the effect and I think its absolutely wonderful!

Take a look!

The Little Mermaid: Ariel's Undersea Adventures.....Pre Review

Never been to DCA and probably never will, however, This attraction is coming to my Disney home park...WDW Magic Kingdom in the new Fantasyland Expansion.

Since I have never be on this ride yet all I have is the videos and pictures seen on the net.  Some of it looks Great...other parts not so much.  Disney has been needing some good dark rides of this fashion in a bad way.  Look at the most beloved attractions on every ones list, most of them are dark rides or have major dark ride elements about them.  Disney has jumped on the movie screen motion simulator wagon and stayed on it too long and they need to get back to their roots in my opinion.

Here is a video of the attraction.



Some of this ride looks Fantastic!  The feeling and mood of the "under the sea" section, and of course the Ursula section.  The Ursula animatronic alone looks like it makes this ride a must see! 

I do have some issues with this, I wouldn't be a Disney fanatic if I didn't....seems to be what holds Disney fans together is criticizing and yet loving at the same time!

First issue I have is this all seems very It's a small world to me.  Especially in the "under the sea" section.  The minimal movements of the characters, things just spinning like the starfish, and the atmosphere around it seems minimal.  The mood of the room is great, but just seems half done to me.  I cant see the Sebastian character that well but he looks like a very small AA animatronic and from what little I saw he looks great.  Much like the bird in the beginning looks nice!  But everything seems...half thought out during the entire ride.

The next issue I have I just cant seem to get out of my mind.  Ariel's hair.  It just looks odd.  I realize getting hair to look like its underwater when its not is a near impossible task...but this just looks like I'm watching an attraction brought to you by the Old Navy mannequins.  From the video, however, it does look like they gave the hair some independent motion that probably looks much nicer in person and not on video.  Watch the video again and you can see it.

Looks mannequin like to me.

Dairy Queen Undersea Soft Serve?

King Triton got real hair...

The last issue is with the finale.  It is horrible!  I can overlook the fact that they left out the fall of Ursula, well sort of since it was such a big part of the movie, but the Finale is so bad in this ride.  First off we see repeats of some of the animals from the Under the Sea section of the ride.  They didn't even get different colors, or even different movements.  Its like they needed more things in this section and at the very last minute plucked some out of the middle of the ride and threw them here to give it more life.  Each scene was like it was building to some fantastic beautiful finale and all we get is a short scene....falls flat.

That's it?  That's the end?

Again I have not seen it in person and could be being to harsh.   What do you think?  E ticket worthy?  Almost, but not quite.

Phantasyland?

Nope, something called Phantasialand....a park in Germany.  Googling and trolling YouTube my initial reaction was "THAT'S A CHEAP COPY OF A DISNEY THEME PARK!!!!"

Then I saw some very nice things!

Check out this blog post http://www.themeparkreview.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=54864

It has some great pictures of the park.

Its clear that the park has alot of work to do to actually get it to Disney standards...but it looks like they are trying.  Some of their newer attractions have some amazing themeing.  They also seem to be looking at all the details, and Disney is leaving some out as of late.  I hope the Fantasyland expansion doesn't cut any corners and cheapen the whole thing.  Phantasialand also has a LONG way to go with their animitronics as they are very choppy and some of them even look like they draped fabric over the metal and didn't bother to make it look more lifelike.  Some of their flat rides have some amazing themeing.  The top spin, and the fountains around the wave swinger were very nice and I would call those right in line if not better than some of the flat rides that Disney has come up with ( Aladdin's magic carpets, anything out of dinoland USA).

I'm sure this park is no real threat to Disney (or at least right now) but it probably has some sort of effect on Disneyland Paris, after all their prices are reported at at least half the price or less!

Here is the actual parks website  http://www.phantasialand.de/

Looks like they are on the way to having an amazing park!  I would go there for sure!  Probably over going to Disneyland Paris to see some new rides and attraction...although perhaps not since I would love to see Phantom Manor. 

Earlier I said I was pissy because it looked like they are copying Disney,  well they are its pretty clear, but I am happy to see they are focusing on the details like Disney used to....not the kind of things we see there now in certain areas of the park.  Now I say go Phantasialand!  Build an amazing park!

Haunted Mansion Refurb. Interactive Queue....

Before I discuss the latest refurb at the Haunted Mansion I would like to give a little back story of my love affair with this attraction.....

...the first time I rode this I was very young.  My sister was still in a stroller and I was probably 6 or so years old.  My parents, particularly my father, took me on this ride kicking and screaming.  With each creepy howl that echoed over the mansion I would tug my dads hand and plead to get out of there.  The stretching room seemed to calm me, slightly.  I was now curious because I was inside and there was no windows and no doors (as our ghost host told us).  The hangman scene played out and I didn't understand it at the time and the doors opened to find the flickering candles and the doom buggies.  My fear instantly came whooshing back...but there still was no way out and the fear in me turned into strength to find a way out.  I don't recall what part or what scene it was that gave me a 180 but by the time I left the ride I wanted to do it again...  .. and we did at least 2 more times.  From there on out Halloween became my favorite holiday and haunted houses became a must to visit every time.  I consider myself a Disney Purest, or as I like to call myself a Purest lite.  I can appreciate upgrades to classic attractions as long as they are done right, well thought out, and executed properly.  If, however, they are not I become all sorts of angry and am ready to write a letter...but never do.

So that brings me now to the new Interactive Queue at the Haunted Mansion in WDW.  At first I was very excited about it seeing how the last refurb was spectacular!  I haven't had the opportunity to witness this first hand but have read a lot about it and seen many pictures....

My verdict....a big miss.  Not a total miss, but a big one.  Here is why I think so from what I have seen.


First lets talk about the random headstones and such....

There is more than this one pictured above, other ones are on cement and not really a grave any more.  It just seems like the new grave stones and markers were in prime queue spots and Disney couldn't remove them but had to get around them and this is what they came up with.  It doesn't give me the "looking at a graveyard feel" that we should get.  Its like Disney moved the headstones but didn't move the bodies....Ill chalk this part of the refurb as a minor annoyance and not something that makes me hate it.

Next...

The poetry that writes itself with your help.....  This looks pretty cool and I kinda like it.  I keep hearing reports that it doesn't really work when you give it answers, however, but its a great effect.  What I don't like about it is the fact that now the outside is BLATANTLY haunted and not subtlety like the original exterior atmosphere.  (original being the howling, the grave stones, the hearse, and even the Leotta tombstone was still subtle to keep the atmosphere subtle and let the blatancy come out inside).  It just seems out of place for the feel of the attraction.)

 Next up is the organ.  The architecture seems good enough that it would fit in the house but why is there an organ outside in the graveyard?   I like the effect of touching it etc...but the brass pipes and the cartoony skeleton faces again ruin the feel of the house.  The Haunted Mansion has realism to it and the ghosts make it supernatural...This is an obvious play on the organ in the ballroom but the faces are floating out of it and not on it.  This would have been more effective if the pipes had that greening effect of old pipes and the faces were replaced with cutouts that FELT like they were faces and not really were...that is one of the cool things about the mansion that this one blatanty disregards...

The obvious nod to the graveyard scene.  I really have no strong feelings to the positive or the negative on this one.  I think it fits enough to not distract from what the Mansion is all about, but I don't think it adds enough to make it really discussion worthy.

Next up, the Captain

This one again is a love hate.  The stone of the crypt is nice, the fish on the side work very well.  Love the water leaking out....great touch!  I even like the cough of water and such.  I hate the top of it.  The hat, the hand, the leg......once again the realism of the mansion gets wiped away.  Everything about the outside is very real, foreboding, and has a sense that it really happened and ghosts started their haunt.  This seems like the grave came after the ghost.  I think all the touches at the top of this marker would have been more powerful and driven it home with a dead wreath with the captains picture...or better yet a picture of his hat washed ashore on the beach.....

and now....groan, the busts....

 To me these TOTALLY miss the mark.  They are far too cartoony for anything you find in the mansion.....even the hitchhiking ghosts aren't this much of a cartoon.  This set completely works against the mansion in my opinion.  Standing alone in another attraction they might work very well...but outside this attraction the only real nod to the mansion is the fact that they are busts...that's it...

They even feature children which I believe Walt even didn't want them present in the attraction and they aren't....and the 2 children are the most vile disregard to the theme of them all! (right underneath the snake guy)

Even the movie didn't go this campy or against the attraction ....

We find they are called the Dred Family.  And again get a cartoon description.  I haven't seen this in any of the videos I have run across so I am assuming this was part of the preview of the new queue.  Again not int he spirit of the mansion. If this is truly there then this entire thing was a waste of money as it just ruined the entire mood of the attraction. 

There is also a bookshelf that the books come in and about and are supposed to be pushed back in and another goes out.  Clearly a nod to the library but I dont quite understand how it fits in a graveyard or the mansion grounds....not worth talking about but shouldnt be there....

I give this refurb a fail based on the pictures.  When I go back Ill rewrite this to see how I feel about it in person...but it upsets me.  Not that they distracted from my favorite attraction in the world, but that I am loosing faith in the Imagineers.  I used to blame the corporate suits for muzzling their creative abilities.....but this wasn't that big of a refurb and things such as statues could have been crafted to fit the mood of the attraction ..but they don't.  Things that would have fit wouldn't have cost any more or less and this is what was produced.  I hate the fact that I am loosing faith in the greatest attraction makers the world has ever seen...

What do you think?

PS a video reference of the new queue...