Hyper Gumbo

Spent last week on a whirlwind tour of all the Disneyworld parks in Floirda, and the Universal Studio’s Orlando parks as well. Didn’t do any of the waterparks, it was only 80.

Day 1 started with the Magic Kingdom. Stop one was Space Mountain where the regular wait time was listed as only 10 minutes; if probably took most of that just walking through all the empty switchbacks. The ride itself was all the fun I remembered from Disneyland 20+ years ago. Definitely going to go back and volunteer for a lights-on ride =) On the way to Space Mountain, Mom pointed out the Stitch’s Great Escape ‘ride’, warning that you got spit on and how disgusting it was, so of course I had to check it out. You go into a ‘stage’ with a group of people, with animatronic robots cracking wise for a 5 minute ‘show’, then move on to the real show, where everyone gets seated around a central column. When it comes, the ‘spit’ is light but unexpected.

Next up was Big Thunder Mountain railroad, a more recent ‘classic’. A traditional steel tube rollercoaster, again with a really short regular wait time. We did that one twice in a row, the line was so short. Small World was a nice relaxation break, wait time 10 mins. Then on to Pirates and the Jungle Cruise, not in that order. This mid-week, off-season stuff rocks, both rides less than 10 min wait times. Still haven’t needed to use a FastPass yet.

Mom had something to do, phone calls to make or something, and she skipped out on Haunted Mansion, another classic just as I remembered it. We had a couple of times where they had to stop the ride (wheelchair people getting loaded, and then unloaded) that meant I got a good look at a couple of place you normally don’t have enough time to study.

All the important rides hit up once, it was on to Epcot for the second half of the day.

I was majorly psyched to find out that Captain EO was making an encore appearance. I have no idea how faithful the theater and pre-theaters were to the original, but the movie itself was untouched, as I understand it. It isn’t too long before you realize that the Borg were ripped off from this short film. It’s a strange moment when the Queen comes down from the ceiling in all her tube-y glory and you have that WTF moment of recognition.

We hit up Soarin’, which had the longest line of anything that day, somewhere around 25 mins as posted. That is one impressive ‘ride’, reminding me of Cirque du Soleil’s KA in terms of the engineering required to hold up so many people on a moving platform. The screen had some really noticeable dirt streaks on it that my mom says aren’t usually there. I had a nasty stopped up head, but she says there’s scents as well.

Test Track was our last in-park activity, and had the second longest line of the day at 20mins. It is an OK roller coaster. No loops or swirling really, just speed and bumpy bits.

Day 2 started in the Animal Kingdom, with 3 back to back rides of Everest. There was a moment of surreality on our last ride, when mom and I noticed a group of 20 Buddhist monks in orange robes, waiting for their turn on the ride. We did the Safari ride, saw lots of animals, including an ostrich that started to follow our truck.

We checked out the Lion King musical show, which was quite acrobatic.

Lunch was had at the Rainforest Cafe; the soup is tasty.

Afternoon two was Hollywood Studios. Starting with the Twilight Zone Tower of Terror, a fun ride if the line is short, a too-short ride if the line is long. We did the backlot tour, getting to take part in the filmed ‘scene’ as Wild and Wacky Deck Crew. We also checked out the stunt car show. It was impressive and ate up a fair bit of time.

After a quick ride on the Rock n’ Roller Coaster, did another couple rides of the Twilight Zone, then off to dinner on top of the Contemporary, with an excellent view of the fireworks. And a birthday cake.

(see next post for days 3 and 4….)