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jvmacross

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Took my family to WDW last week for 5 day park visit, just in time with Hurricane Ian hitting this week too! Lot to say on our experience but here are some highlights from the trip.

  • STAR WARS GALAXY'S EDGE was amazing! Seeing the life size Millennium Falcon in person was a huge thrill!
  • All three Star Wars rides were awesome, the updated Star Tours in 3D is my favorite of the three.
  • Rise of the Resistance ride was yuge!! Also, my almost 5 year old son thought he was in trouble when he saw the cast members dressed as First Order officers 😹
  • Lightning pass was worth it as my kids were getting burnt out by the long lines.
  • Missed out on the Avatar: Flight of Passage ride as my son was too short for it and we didn't want to wait separately. Next time!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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49 minutes ago, TangledThorns said:

Took my family to WDW last week for 5 day park visit, just in time with Hurricane Ian hitting this week too! Lot to say on our experience but here are some highlights from the trip.

  • STAR WARS GALAXY'S EDGE was amazing! Seeing the life size Millennium Falcon in person was a huge thrill!
  • All three Star Wars rides were awesome, the updated Star Tours in 3D is my favorite of the three.
  • Rise of the Resistance ride was yuge!! Also, my almost 5 year old son thought he was in trouble when he saw the cast members dressed as First Order officers 😹
  • Lightning pass was worth it as my kids were getting burnt out by the long lines.
  • Missed out on the Avatar: Flight of Passage ride as my son was too short for it and we didn't want to wait separately. Next time!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

There's always a reason to return...so what about the Guardians ride?  Tron and the Guardians ride are what I am hoping  to experience on our next visit...

BTW....the Avatar ride is IMO the best ride at WDW at the moment....next time you'll probably get to ride it with new stuff based on the Avatar sequel...so that's something to look forward to

Edited by jvmacross
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17 minutes ago, jvmacross said:

There's always a reason to return...so what about the Guardians ride?  Tron and the Guardians ride are what I am hoping  to experience on our next visit...

BTW....the Avatar ride is IMO the best ride at WDW at the moment....next time you'll probably get to ride it with new stuff based on the Avatar sequel...so that's something to look forward to

Didn't get to GoG, too busy that day at EPCOT and it was a hot day too 🥵 I think we missed out on a lot there ☹️

 

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1 hour ago, TangledThorns said:

Didn't get to GoG, too busy that day at EPCOT and it was a hot day too 🥵 I think we missed out on a lot there ☹️

 

Yeah...sounds like you have younger kids so totally understand....TBH, Epcot is mostly for the food...the rides there aren't the most memorable...probably why they forced GotG into it....

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7 minutes ago, jvmacross said:

Yeah...sounds like you have younger kids so totally understand....TBH, Epcot is mostly for the food...the rides there aren't the most memorable...probably why they forced GotG into it....

We do have young children, my daughter turned 8 while we were there and my son turns 5 before Christmas, so it was not a very relaxing trip lol. Having a stroller for my son helped a lot!!

But yeah, we thought the same about EPCOT's attractions too. The food was good but way over priced. We stayed on resort at Art of Animation and we were paying between $120 to $150 a day on food alone there and at the parks! 

Next time we'll do AirBnB to save money on stay and food.

 

 

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  • 2 weeks later...

I don't think that can be done anymore...too many new rides between both parks....and no real way to avoid the long lines for more than 2 of them if you're lucky...of course, what you want to get out of a visit to WDW varies for everyone, but right now the newest rides are mostly between Epcot and Hollywood Studios.....personally, Animal Kingdom is a half day park for us and then we head into either Epcot or Makic Kingdom to finish off the first day of arrival....we never return to AK for the remainder of our trip...lol

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You can get Fastpass (er, Genie+) for the new rides and the older ones at Epcot can have short wait times unless you try to get on the Frozen ride (I wish it were still Maelstrom).

When we go I manage to ride Runaway Railway, Slinky, Muppets, See the B&B show (wife insists), Star Tours, take a break at the hotel and then go to Epcot, Soarin, and the Golf Ball.  Last trip we got in Remy (as a Genie+) too.  If you don't mind spending more you can get Genie+ for Rise of the Resistance later in the day usually and that wraps things up.

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8 hours ago, TangledThorns said:

Already planning our next family trip and its to San Diego in late May of next year. We plan on visiting Disney World there. Hadn't visited there since 2005 so I expect much changes.

That's Disneyland....less to do (2 parks vs 4 at WDW, if not including the waterpark), so easier to see everything especially if going for more that a couple days

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  • 3 weeks later...

The Moana walk through "attraction" and the redone communicore (?) building are due to be completed late next year.  The Guardians coaster not till mid spring next year.  In the meantime their competitors will have an entirely new park nearly half complete.  Disney better start getting it's act back together soon.

The Mickey Views guy noted that Disney appears to be paying down the debt it acquired when on an acquisition spree (notably Fox) and that is where the money is going.  Which is why the parks are getting less attention and maintenance (things are showing wear there like I have not seen before) and why even their shows on D+ have some dodgy FX.  

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2 hours ago, Dynaman said:

The Moana walk through "attraction" and the redone communicore (?) building are due to be completed late next year.  The Guardians coaster not till mid spring next year.  In the meantime their competitors will have an entirely new park nearly half complete.  Disney better start getting it's act back together soon.

The Mickey Views guy noted that Disney appears to be paying down the debt it acquired when on an acquisition spree (notably Fox) and that is where the money is going.  Which is why the parks are getting less attention and maintenance (things are showing wear there like I have not seen before) and why even their shows on D+ have some dodgy FX.  

Not shocked by this. I remember visiting WDW and Univeral Studios back in 2010 and thought Disney was waaaay behind Universal. There is some rides that Disney should get rid of at WDW for newer attractions, namely Its a Small World. I went on it for nostalgia reasons but it was was the worst ride evar! 

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8 hours ago, Dynaman said:

The Moana walk through "attraction" and the redone communicore (?) building are due to be completed late next year.  The Guardians coaster not till mid spring next year.  In the meantime their competitors will have an entirely new park nearly half complete.  Disney better start getting it's act back together soon.

The Mickey Views guy noted that Disney appears to be paying down the debt it acquired when on an acquisition spree (notably Fox) and that is where the money is going.  Which is why the parks are getting less attention and maintenance (things are showing wear there like I have not seen before) and why even their shows on D+ have some dodgy FX.  

Are you referring to D or WDW?

Thought the GotG ride was up and running at WDW....

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5 hours ago, TangledThorns said:

Not shocked by this. I remember visiting WDW and Univeral Studios back in 2010 and thought Disney was waaaay behind Universal. There is some rides that Disney should get rid of at WDW for newer attractions, namely Its a Small World. I went on it for nostalgia reasons but it was was the worst ride evar! 

I think Small World will never get replaced...it may be possibly updated somehow...

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1 hour ago, jvmacross said:

Are you referring to D or WDW?

Thought the GotG ride was up and running at WDW....

Whoops - Meant Tron.  GoG ride is finally up and running a couple months back.  Also way behind when it could have been pushed up during the shutdowns.  Disney was putting their money elsewhere though.

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1 hour ago, Dynaman said:

Whoops - Meant Tron.  GoG ride is finally up and running a couple months back.  Also way behind when it could have been pushed up during the shutdowns.  Disney was putting their money elsewhere though.

Yeah...Tron is taking forever....at this point I don't think it'll be ready by the time we plan our next trip out there...but at least there will be other new stuff that wasn't ready from our last trip...

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  • 1 month later...
48 minutes ago, TangledThorns said:

I bet its gonna be an easy update for them. Just swap out the characters and music. Easy peazy.

I hope they actually fix the ride system...I've noticed at some or several points during the day that the ride gets shutdown every time I have visited WDW....still one of the must ride attractions for us....

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The lack of maintenance is one of the things I hope gets addressed by Iger even though the lack started under his watch - it just got really bad the last couple years.   Rides going down more often and the general lack of cleaning and "polish" has been notable lately.

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  • 3 weeks later...

When my son was into Thomas the Tank Engine...the RR ride was one of his favorites...I have always liked riding it at the end of a long day and seeing the park all lit up...the people mover has taken it's place while it's been out of commission...looking forward to riding the Disney RR again!

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It is a wee bit on the cold side (I heard 33 will be the low in Orlando one day) but I love going to the park in January.  Crowds are (sometimes) lower, some of the Christmas decorations are still up (looking kind of forlorn admittedly) and being able to walk around in the daytime without broiling is great.  

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  • 2 weeks later...
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  • 2 months later...

Looks like WDW's Tron - Lightcycle Run is gettings a "Soft" opening that started today....yay!

However, it is for limited hours, 9am-6pm and today's slots "sold out" within 3 seconds! :shok: Welcome to Disney's version of PO Madness! LOL

https://www.wdwmagic.com/attractions/tron/news/20mar2023-tron-lightcycle-run-to-continue-with-limited-hours-during-soft-open-at-magic-kingdom.htm

 

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  • 2 weeks later...

So just got back from WDW and my new favorite ride is the Guardians of the Galaxy - Cosmic Rewind...

The combination of rotating roller-coaster, story-telling during the ride, and music just takes it over the top....not sure how Disney will be able to top this ride....I was reading that there are 6 possible songs played during the ride....we heard 5 of them....all were perfectly matched to this ride

I was also able to ride TRON - Light Cycle Run....it was basically a PO Madeness-like experience trying to snag one of the "free" virtual queue groups that only operated from 9-6pm each day during the "soft opening" (which more or less meant that if you got on the last group for 6pm, you would likely be riding closer to 9-10pm, which actually makes the experiance much better as the whole place gets lit up at night)...of course, a "pay to play" option was also made available which cut your queue time from 1-2 hours to at most 15-30 minutes....

TRON is the fastest coaster in WDW, but not necessarily the most fun...the biggest problem with it is that although fast, it is also very short...the experience is over before you know it....riding it once was not enough to appreciate everying going on during the ride...with that said. I still think Avatar - Flight of Passage is a much better ride experience...the ride was basically the same as the last time I rode it, so as far as I could tell, there were no new Way of Water sequences added....but still a solid ride experience....considering that it is a 3D "virtual" ride...it is very impressive....I look forward to seeing if or when WDW may do another one based on another of their many franchises....

My new top 10(11) rides at WDW...

  1. GotG - Cosmic Rewind
  2. Avatar - Flight of Passage
  3. Tron - Lightcyle Run
  4. Slinky Dog Dash
  5. Star Wars - Rise of the Resistance
  6. Expedition Everest/Big Thunder Mountain (tied)
  7. Seven Dwarfs Mine Train 
  8. Twilight Zone's Tower of Terror
  9. Haunted Mansion
  10. Pirates of the Caribbean
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