By all rights, the Magic Kingdom should be cheesy, unforgivably bland like a 1970's live-action Disney film (even the ones with Patrick McGoohan in them). It is not. Most of all the Disney parks, it feels like another world, even when you're tripping over people. There's just something in the air I guess.
Jungle Cruise - I'll go with the map description here: 'Silly safari boat tour'. It is. We rode it close to close one night. Our tour guide was very clearly enjoying herself and seemed to be working different styles of jokes to see what would work with us. As we passed the animatronic animals, they were almost always named Mike. We ducked the attacks of angry natives. About halfway through, in the dark, she began the 'ch-ch-ch-ah-ah-ah' sound that accompanies Jason in the Friday the 13th films, much to our joy. She had a kid from the front 'steer' the boat for awhile, making sure to note that, if we were to crash, it would be his fault. Silly little things that don't sound like much in print maybe, but were excellent in the moment. Loved it.
Pirates of the Caribbean - rode this five times. First ride of the first day and the last ride of the last day. You sit in a boat and see the pirate sites. Elements of the movies are mixed into the original ride. Davy Jones warns you not to enter (a projection onto a sheet of mist, a wonderful effect). Captain Barbossa (I've misspelled that I'm sure) attacks the mainland, searching for Captain Jack Sparrow. The pirates drowning the mayor are also looking for Jack and his first appearance is just around the corner. Wenches are auctioned ('we wants the redhead!') to drunken pirates. Women chase away pirates in the city as a man holds a treasure key, noting that Captain Jack will never find it (except he's in the barrel directly behind the man). A pirate wallows with pigs as the city burns. Jailed pirates still work to get the key from the dog holding it. In the final area, Captain Jack sits happily in a treasure room, singing and chatting with you. It's a fun ride with new details to be spotted each time (I noticed a lighthouse that George claimed to have never noticed before). A definite stop to make.
Big Thunder Mountain Railroad - rode twice. I talked about this a bit before. It's a fun coaster ride through a mountain and some bits of ghost town. Good time, nothing too scary or intense.
The Haunted Mansion - twice. The exterior is fun creepy. The first room is closed off and then stretches (lowers, its a very smooth elevator) to reveal more detail in the paintings on the wall! A blackout disguises the opening of the new door once you land. The ride is a people mover, constantly moving. The voice claims there's 999 spooks in the house with room for one more! (If I remember my reading correctly, there are 999 spooks to be counted in the house but I've no clue how'd you'd prove that by riding the ride, it goes by so fast.) Everything is creepy but not really like haunted house scary as that's not the point. The average individual will not freak out on the ride. I remember liking a room with MC Esher type staircases that had glow in the dark moving footprints on them. There's the ballroom you see from a distance where animatronics fade in and out like ghosts (I'm not all sure how that works, lighting changes I think, but it's probably low tech and looks wonderful). Of course there's the four singing busts and a mirror that reveals a ghost is hitchhiking in your car! Like I said, it's almost too much fun to be scary at all, even with the few 'pop-up' type cheap tricks. Recommended!
Mickey's PhilharMagic - 3D movie. We sat in the front row and I don't recommend that as I felt I missed out on some of the action. The story in short: Donald gets the sorcerer's hat from Fantasia and messes up, falling into other films and becoming part of the songs there until Mickey can save him. I'm not completely familiar with some of the newer films involved but I still found the effects and the movie to be highly entertaining. It's very worth going.
Mad Tea Party - Change places! A spinning ride where you have some control over how fast you spin. Moppy and I got that thing rocketing. If I stopped helping, the G force was strong enough that I had to struggle to reach the spinner in the centre of the cup. Like dummies we did this right after we ate but I don't think anybody lost anything. It looks like a nothing ride but you can turn it into something if you like!
Space Mountain - rode twice. Woooooo! As Ric Flair likes to say, it's the oldest ride in the park but still has the longest line. The queuing area is excellent space station type stuff. The planetarium type effects as you near the ride are excellent. Once in your car (two linked cars of three single seats each), you ride past workers in spacesuits, doing maintenance on the station. Very nice. Then you enter the blue launch tube. I found out rather quickly that there's some variety in the ride because we exited the tube about halfway down it, much to my surprise. There are some star effects and such but it's mostly a roller coaster in a very dark room, not pitch black but dark. The shadows of the track whizzing past me freaked me out a bit. In the back of my head, I knew I'm not that tall and would be safe but the rest of me was panicked. Not being able to see much of the track, it's hard to brace yourself for the next direction you're headed in. First time I rode it I wasn't sure I liked it as I was a bit freaked. The second time I was enjoying it more, trying to be very enthusiatic and then got caught by a couple unexpected turns and screamed like a little girl. The escalator on the way out has dioramas showing the 'mission objectives'. Not for the faint at heart! But awesome!.
Buzz Lightyear's Space Ranger Spin - shooter game where you aim at physical targets. Nicely done and fun.
Stitch's Great Escape! - a step above a mere show. You're staged through a few rooms explaining that we are trainee guards for the Galactic Federation. An animatronic criminal alien is 'teleported' into a tube before our very eyes. Then we go sit in the 'big' chamber and are 'secured' into our seats with a harness that sits over our shoulders (it houses speakers and effects gear for what's to come). Stitch is teleported into the tube in the centre of the room. He soon breaks the tube and spits at the audience. The lights go out and he begins 'hiding in the audience', eating food, burping in our faces, hopping on our shoulders, patting us on the head, etc. Eventually he reappears in the centre of the room and teleports away. It's fun but I can't see watching it more than once a trip.
And then there's the fireworks. We caught most of them the first night and watched the whole thing on the last night. I thought I'd seen fireworks displays before but nothing compared to this. They centre on the castle which is changing colours due to the lights on it. Jiminy Cricket is our narrator, telling a 'story' through fireworks and songs. Tinkerbell (a live person on a wire!) flies from the top of the castle into the distance (I lost track and didn't catch where she landed in Tomorrowland or Main Street USA). Everything is timed to perfection. The whole thing runs about 15 minutes. Awe inspiring.
That's about it. Apart from any stories that I get prompted to tell and a memory exercise I've been considering, that's the trip.
I really enjoyed it and look forward to doing it again someday soon. Maybe you can come along too!
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