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Mort

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Everything posted by Mort

  1. Quick question. How is the day time access to Movie World affected during fright nights? Is anything typically closed or areas unavailable? Cheers.
  2. Totally understand that but you also dont want to have an awful time. Doesn;t matter if its the msallest part of your trip or the biggest you dont want to be stuck in MK peak crowds when you dont need to.
  3. Trust me i spent 12 months planning my WDW vacation and one of the well known facts is that MK in the afternoon is a write off during busy periods. You use that period for meet and greets, parades and shows and low wait rides like carosel of progress and the railroad. You will arrive at MK and have 45min to 90 min waits for all the E tickets and you will have a miserable time. you will be lucky to get in Thunder, space and HM and MK is not just about the coasters it would be a tragedy to go to MK without hitting Peter Pan and Pirates and in my opinion even small world.
  4. Still think you are doing it the wrong way with epcot first. If you want to do MK at night i would go MK in the mroning then shoot over to epcot and then go back to MK. You will minimise your wait times this way.
  5. ​I would defintely avoid MK in the afternoon. When i was just there (in an off peak period mind you) wait times were 45 to 90 mins in the afternoon so we spent that time doing Meet and Greets and fastpasses because the stand bys were a little long. If you go in the morning you shouldn;t wait any longer than about 20-25 mins. and things like splash will be walk ons. EPCOT doesn't have that many attractions that get long waits. Other than the test track, soarin, mission space and space ship earth, the others arent must dos and have small waits. I would say living with the land is really cool but not a must do. And Journey through the imagination is only worth doing if you have excess time......its like an acid trip....but with out all the good parts. The last thing you want to do is do all the rides and then leave because World Showcase really needs some time to get the most out of it. Its such an amzing experience and you can get some really one of a kind disney merchandise from the pavilions. and specially seeing as Epcot is your main focus you will want to end up there and have that as your last experience. In terms of Wishes vs Illuminations. I personally prefer wishes just because im a disney movie fan and love the music, however i feel if you see Mickeys Philharmagic and illuminations you ge tthe best of both worlds as illuminations has much better fireworks and pyro.. However celebrate the magic is amazing. Seeing as you have such limited time i would seriously consider putting together a custom touring plan from touringplans.com. It will let you figure out what is doable and the expected wait times and the best orer to do everything. I used them on my trip and they were pretty damn accurate.
  6. If you dont like disneyland your an idiot. but in all seriousness. i only went to disneyland because i went to the states for Universal orlando and was in LA heading to Vegas and we decided to go there on the way through for two days. wasnt really a huge disney fan. Loved toy story and thats about it. cut a long story short im now a disneyholic. Disneyland is not just an experience its a total escape. AS soon as you set foot in there all your worries evaporate. Universal ended up being a huge let down after going to disneyland. And to webslave, saying you were bored of pirates of the carribean shows you totally miss the point. The story telling an innovation in that ride is incredible. how can you not be blown away when you enter the scene with the ship, it looks huge! This is what theme park rides should be, not just who can build the fastest, tallest roller coaster with the most inversions. This is true entertainment. And dont get me started on the Haunted Mansion, and if you say that ride sucks, ill personally print you your own death certificate. (hurry back!)
  7. This is a hard question. If i was only going to disney for 1 day i would actually ride minimal rides. Disney for me is all about the atmosphere and soaking everything up. Here is what i would do. Start your day at Magic Kingdom. Depending on your preference go straight to space mountain or seven dwarfs then i would go to peter pan for a classic dark ride experience. then i would go to haunted mansion then to pirates of the carribean (this actually might be down for refurb in september if memory serves me right) then to splash and finish with big thunder Then i would spend some time walking around the park just having a look before jumping on the monorail to epcot. I would not book any fastpasses for Magic Kingdom and would book them all for Epcot I would book fastpasses for saorin (you can only get a fastpasss for soarin or test track not both, i say soarin because it is a more family friendly ride therefore lines are usually longer than test track) spaceship earth and mission space. I would then spend the rest or your time in epcot going around world showcase and watch the illuminations fireworks. For lunch or dinner options at epcot i can recommend via napoli or teppan edo but i would book these NOW as reservations at Epcot book out months in advance. now if you are crafty, you can watch illuminations from near the international gateway and as soon as it finishes walk to hollywood studios from the international gateway and catch fantasmic and if it happens to be a hollwood studios Extra MAgic hours night you could potentially ride star tours, tower of terror and rockin roller coaster. best of luck, you'll need your skates on!
  8. Now I'm gonna say upfront this is not a rumour or anything but just something I have noticed happening. I get the feeling Disney has been putting its feelers into the Australian market a little to see how much interest there is in the products. For example, there was a Mickey and Minnie Meet and Greet at the Melbourne Show this year and alot of Disney merchandise. Disney has also sponsored the sand castles down in Frankston and they are all Disney, Star Wars and Marvel. They also were doing something at David Jones in Melbourne over Christmas as I saw alot of people with Mickey Ear Headbands on. It just seems strange to me that all of a sudden disney would do a Mickey and Minnie meet and greet at the Melbourne Show when they have never done it before. Thoughts?
  9. How windy does it need to be for rides to be closed at movie world and usually which rides does it affect?
  10. So how many rides can you usually get in on a Busy weekend? If I'm there at 930 and get straight to superman I should be able to hit out supes, arkham, WW AND Scooby by lunch still yeah?
  11. So I'm gonna be at movie world next Saturday (15th) and it's the G20 weekend. How busy do you think Movie World will be? Will there be extra people from Brisbane there trying to avoid the city?
  12. Disney for sure. I found that there were only a few good elements to Universal. Actually my favourite thing that i experienced there was Krusty Burger, no joke, followed by the duelling dragons. We didnt even spend a whole day at either of the two parks because we felt there wasnt that much to see. WE did all of teh Hogsmeade in the early access hour in the morning plus we had express lane so we went to the front of every single ride. There is a lack of shows and a serious lacking of night time entertainment. Personally i think rides with just projectrion screens and some movement are boring and thats the majority of Universals rides if you exclude the dueling dragons, hulk coaster and the mummy (plus that awfully uncomfortable music rollercoaster). I liked spiderman but then felt that transformers was pretty much exactly the same thing. WWOHP is incredible detailed however the hogwarts ride i felt was nothing like the experience you get when you ride somthing like Pirates of the carribean and there is just so much size and scale to it. Universal is going to be packed for quite a while with Diagon alley having just opened, if youre expecting see diagon alley, ride gringotts and ride the hogwarys express that will probably be a whole day. I totally disagree with those that say Universal has more variety. I'd say Disney has way more. Especially seeing as you have the water parks and Downtown Disney which i feel is much better than city walk. There are so many great rides at disney and its not all bout thirlls its about immersiveness and story something that is sorely lacking from Australian parks. There are also great shows like the beauty and the beast musical, fantasmic, castle projection, fireworks, stunt show, safaris. There is also a much bigger variety of restaurants at disney which the older people in your group will apreciate. Things like be your guest restaurant. For me its an easy decision.
  13. I spend alot of time on micechat. There are some great US podcasts on itunes. The best IMO is The Seasonpass Podcast and then Inside the Magic
  14. Wild West falls does have a story. You're traveling through a mine and you run into Bandits and they tell you to get out and make you go down the first drop backwards You then go into another mine and there is an explosion so you escape down the large drop. Wild West Falls has characters and dialogue therefore story.
  15. Just because a Park has different themed rides doesn't make it a Theme Park. You'll find that 6 flags parks like Magic Mountain are classified a Amusement Parks not Theme Parks yet they have rides themed to all different kinds of themes like DC characters and other rides like Colosus.
  16. I think that Dreamworld has declined to the point that it is no longer a Theme Park and now an Amusement Park. I just dont think it has enough coheseively themed attractions, areas and rides to be classified as such any more.
  17. Yeah I don't think storm is as good as it gets. I think superman escape is far better.
  18. Ok I didn't read that board out the front (didn't see it). Would be good of they put it somewhere I. The line where people are waiting and can read it
  19. Who said anything about theming? I was talking about narrative. Not that hard to put an audio grab that explains what's happening.
  20. In my opinion the best part of a ride is the narrative. If you think about the best attractions around the world (I agree with Disney Legend Marty Szklar that there is a different between a ride an attraction) they have definitive narratives. Take the Haunted Mansion for example which even has fan fiction
  21. It's not a faster way to get accross the park, it's not really that high that it gives you a good view and there's not a lot to look at from it and I'm sure it's a maintenance pain in the but (I've only seen it running once)
  22. Frat off I wanna talk about the two hours I spent at Sea World. So the Mrs and I arrived at around 12:00 and went and got some lunch. I got the chicken burger from the front of the park and the Mrs got a salad roll. The burger wasn't too bad. The chips however were average. We then went I to the Penguin encounter. Yup. There are penguins in there. The enclosure was very dirty. Then went for a walk down to the food court area. I saw where Storm Coaster is so I decided to go on it and give it a go. This is when I realised how difficult it is to navigate around the back half of the park. Took me a while to figure out how to find the start of storm coaster. Walking down and to the skylift (note on this, if disneyland gets rid of a ride you should probably do the same within 5 years. Just saying) then doubling back and the shipping container where the line starts is not very obvious. So on to Storm Coaster, the theming was pretty good. However I don't know what the premise of the ride was. Was I there to save other people as the Coast guard or was I trying to escape the Storm. No idea. Also have no idea what the building I was in was supposed to be. The ride experience was good, just fast enough and a nice false drop before you skip over and go to the real splash. Drop. Got very wet. So in closing a nice ride but not better than Bermuda. They were loading on average 7 people every 60 seconds so only a 400 person per hour capacity. Ride wait time was about 20 mins Then road jet rescue which I think is the best ride in the park looked at some animals and left. It was an hour and a half wait for the dolphins and au couldn't be bothered. Now on to Movie World. So prior to me visiting Disneyland this was my favourite park in the world so I was interested to see how I now see it. Arrived at 0930 and went straight to wait for Superman and got on the first car. Not all the effects were working in the dark ride section. The lockers weren't moving for example. Also that blue and red gobo light that swings accross with the superman flying sound before the launch is stupid. You can barely see it and it's way too small. Speed felt really good and the ride was smooth. As always mist wasn't working. Then went to AA and walked on to the front car. Now it amazes me how slow of a load this ride is. And it seems like it doesn't need to be. They only had two staff on but even still could be done much more efficiently. Love riding this in the front and it is so much better with the new harnesses. Ride is still rough but at least my wars aren't all cut up. Didn't find the harness got too tight on the inversions. Ride audio. Wasn't running. Then went and rode JL. Walk on again. This is an ok little blaster ride. The animatronics are ok. Disneyland 1960's quality but still pretty good for Australians. The 3D on the final scene was inverted. Looked ridiculous. Don't know how you can make this mistake. I kicked the Mrs butt Next was GL only a 15 min wait. Ride experiences good but again no audio. No audio was running the queue either. By now it was 1055 so we went to go down to Scooby Doo but was we were walking passed HSD2 the show was just starting so we walked and sat down just as the first bike was coming out. No stupid waiting for us! The show was good but no where near as good as the original. Watching bikes do tricks is ok but I much preferred the close driving of the old show and the gags such as the car splitting in half. The bit where he Comes out on fire is dumb. There is no reason he should be on fire at all. I feel like the old show was longer as well. We were out at 1115. Now we went on Scooby. The queue are looked in good condition! The fountains were all lit up and running however the lightning wasn't flashing in the hallway. The lighting on the ride seemed different to the last time I rode. Was a lot darker with lights coming on last minute for the "scary parts". Looked really good! However my memory might just be off. The coaster section was as it always was. Only one laser running and not a lot of fog. Again only a 15 minute wait. Then had lunch. I had the new double cheese burger and the Mrs had the Pulled Pork Burger both from the Gotham City replacement at Wild West Roadhouse (since when is the normal menu at that place Seasonal?). The burger was nice Macas quality but if I want a really good burger I'll go to Hard Rock Cafe. Chips were really nice. Saw a couple of street shows, the gatsby/Bonnie and Clyde dance thing was dumb. The Batman bank robbery was ok however I feel sorry for the kids who were waiting in line to have their photo with batman when he runs off to do the scene then doesn't come back for photos. I would cry. Streets of Gotham wasn't using the tumbler which was very very lame. Batman is nothin without the bat mobile (I miss the old batman show from when I was a kid and he used to glide in from the roof of the buildings on Main Street...or did I imagine this?) So after watching these shows I went back on AA again. Ridiculous wait for being only 2 car loads from going on. Then went on Wild West only a 5 min wait. Ride was good. Some effects weren't working in Dodge. The top mirror projection has not been working for like...10 years. Drop was good and didn't get too wet so that was a big plus. We were then gonna go get a churro but wait time for Scooby was only 10 mins so we rode again. Then grabbed a churro and went to Superman for another ride. Was in line for 5 minutes before it broke down. There was still another hour before the parade and I could t be bother waiting so we went home. Some comments on the shops. If they are not using the Harry Potter shop as Harry Potter any more they need to repurpose it. No one want to buy the crap they are selling. I like the village bean addition to the old shrek store. All in all, there seems to be a lot of wasted space in the park. The show stage, the Chinese theatre, LTRR. It's also a little sad that they rely on the park being baying for you to get a full days entertainment. In closing really enjoyed the day however don't have that urge to go to Movie World any more that used to have. It has been replaced by Disney obsession. Sorry Village Roadshow Ps I have done this review on my phone. So there will be mistakes!
  23. WE will be coming from Fiji so its actually only a 10 Hour flight. We will be flying out of Fiji at night arriving in Vegas around 1400 which will mean as long as we sleep on the flight (and we will) jet lag wont be an issue. I find the Jet lag worse on the way back. Have to do Vegas first because that was the deal with the Mrs. Yes the Mrs. came with me last time. She really enjoyed it but not as much as me. I'm gonna try make her fall in love this time, thats why were gonna go to alot of restauraunts as she loves to eat out. Yeah plan to smash all the rides out in the first 3 days then spend the last two just apreciating the park. In terms of Radiator springs racers, I do intend on using the single rider line for the night ride, will use our Early morning acces that comes with the tickets to get into California Adventure early one morning to ride Radiator springs first thing then line up for a Fast pass once the park opens. I feel a little awkward going to city hall and going "It's our honeymoon!!!!" lol I spend a bit of time over on the MiceChat forums so i have alot of knowledge if anyone wants to pick my brain.
  24. Hey all, I thought it would be good to start a thread where we can all discuss any Disneyland California trips we are planning or thinking about planning. Also this can be a place to ask any questions you might have about traveling to Disneyland. I'll get us started! I got back from a two day trip last September and I fell in love! So I'm gonna go back next April as part of my honeymoon. First half of the honeymoon will be in Vegas and the second will be at Disneyland. So I'm planing to arrive at Disney the last Tuesday of April this is a quietish week in between Spring Break and Grad Nights. Will be staying for 5 nights. Will arrive in the O.C at around 0930 in the morning then catch a cab to the hotel. Then plan to head down to downtown disney for some shopping and lunch (most likely at rainforrest cafe) then we'll head off to disneyland for the evening. Now I'm not sure at this stage if disney will be open to midnight, I'm waiting for the same time this year to come up on the official park calendar so I can get a better idea but previous years it hasn't been. Will the spend the next day at Disneyland. Will first head to disneyland hotel to have a character breakfast at goofys kitchen. Will want to have some of the famous Plaza Inn fried chicken for lunch. Will probably head over to California adventure this night to catch some night time rides like Tower of terror and Radiator Springs racers as will do disneyland night rides in the first night. Really looking forward to the refurbished big thunder mountain rail road. Second full day will be at California Adventure. Will probably go to wine country trattoria for lunch and do a Carthay Circle World Of Colour reservation for dinner. Third full day will be back over at disney with dinner at the Blue Bayou and will watch the fireworks and fantasmic. Will most likely do fantasmic reservation to get a seat and good view. Final day will be a bit of everything, will wanna grab some if the awesome fries at cafe New Orleans and a Monte Cristo, might have dinner at Naples in Downtown Disney, they have good pizzas. Then I'll fly home and get uber depressed about having no more Disney!
  25. Nah don't have any checked baggage. So will be at the rental car booth straight away. I'd say we'd easily be out of the airport in 30 mins max Also it's only 30 mins to the park from the airport according to google maps
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