Had a Great time,The Festival of arts was fun and worth going during the event.It was cold and crowded so Disney is in full swing even in cold wet weather.The gift shops loved selling the jackets for all of us knobs that left their jackets in the car at O'hare airport lol.The rids empty out during the show with a 10 min wait if a ride is more important to you over the shows.The Fireworks and show at Magic Kingdom was the best out of the bunch and if you pick one that's the one worth the crowds.Hope all of you make it there soon and have a great time with your peps :}

If there was a contest that the winner could bring back one ride to Disney (from any park), I would pick Horizons. I remember the first time I went on it as a kid and could not get enough of that ride. I miss the old Imagination, I miss World of Motion, I miss Food Rocks (or even older, the Kitchen Cabaret), I miss the groovy music from the Universe of Energy (also the spinning squares on the wait room movie)..... but Horizons I miss the most

Groovy music before you disembarked:

I know right? I was 8 the first time I went to EPCOT and it was amazing. So glad I was that age and got to experience it that way.

I never went on horizons as it was gone by the time I first went to epcot. Have you ever seen that video of those guys who would go on the ride over and over when it wasn't busy and jump off onto the sets? Amazing that they didn't ever get caught.

EPCOT is my favorite park. My wife booked the Living With The Lands tour for me a few years back for my birthday - I believe it was called Behind The Seeds. It was cheap and one of my favorite things I've ever done in Disney. But I geek out hard for science shit, so it was right up my alley (and that's my favorite ride on property). I've done the full-day Key To The Kingdom tour, and it's cool...But a lot of stuff you can find and read online or through YouTube documentary things.

That said...

Captain EO was one of the most bizarre things we've ever experienced. We got to "ride" it the year before it closed. I'm into Jackson's music, but that was wild.

Any of y'all DVC members? We're owners at BCV. Bought in resale for like $90/pt and before they added all the restrictions.

None of it is the OT, and I agree - the Falcon without Solo is pathetic. It is the way the Execs have decided that it
is going to go.

Epcot's old attractions are legendary. I never got to ride any of them, except the Ellen ride.

Great price. We’re direct owners at Animal Kingdom Villas. Going in two weeks!

The right answer is the original Journey Into Imagination. I've seen videos of the dumbed down version.

No offense to Eric Idle, but the new version is nowhere as good than it was in it's original incarnation and voiced by Chuck McCann and Billy Barty.

At about 1:06 is a model of the Mighty Microscope from Adventures Thru Inner Space at Disneyland (which Star Tours replaced).
I know it's old news and a photo appeared in Starlog magazine shortly after the ride opened, but a lot of people now a days have never seen it.
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We love AKL, we just wish it were closer to the parks. But we've done an extended weekend at AKL when we just wanted to relax...It was great waking up and having coffee while watching the animals wander around.

And yeah, we got our contract before things went crazy. Now, you can't find a decent resale contract for less than $140/pt.

The prices are crazy but we’ve passed so many times and regretted it, with all the inflation coming we figured let’s just do it.

AKV is far but we always drive there and take our car to the parks. Pretty quick that way except for MK. Plus we always go in winter and AKV is so cozy.

I saw Horizons mentioned so gotta chime in. There were two awesome guys, Hoot and Chief, who documented the ride before it was closed and then blogged about it. They literally would hop on and off and go back stage and have snacks and shit! It’s an amazing story and there is even a little documentary about them.

https://dangerousminds.net/comments/the_true_story_of_the_unauthorized_daredevil_documentation_of_the_horizons_

I don’t think Horizons would work with todays audiences because it was just so god damn optimistic and hopeful and full of positive aspirations for the future in an almost naive and innocent sort of way. A naive optimism that was burned into my mind as an 8 year old and has never left.

I would love to be proved wrong but the world is a much more complex and jaded place than it was 40 years ago.

Also if you're into digging further into the early days of EPCOT here is a fantastic site that includes a full architectural simulation you can download of the original Future World.

https://www.futureport82.com/

The original was great. Walking into the building with the tube glass elevator in the middle of the line queue, the Dreamfinder beginning that moved around with you, then launching into an adventure with Figment. When I first went to EPCOT in spring 1983, I was amazed. The new ride sucks big time. My kids like it, but they don't know any better.

Me too. Horizons was the ride that made EPCOT what it was for me.

The world could use that kind of optimism right now. Sigh.

Mission Space and Test Track are garbage compared to their predecessors. After going throughout the 80's and early 90's, I didn't make it back until 2008. What a letdown Epcot was at that point.

We were just talking about this at home. Not sure where things went wrong but I'd give up computers and internet and all of it to go back to that time.

I thought of Disney when I read this in the book "Jurassic Park".

"Even when Hammond talks about the kind of people that he would like to open Jurassic Park to, he begins by saying that nothing can stop him from opening the park up to all children, which he then clarifies by adding, 'at least to the rich ones'."

Disney was a success. Did the 4 parks and kids were very good.

We were supposed to fly out yesterday morning, but storm cancelled our flight. Wound up renting a car and drove home to PA. Actually wasn't too bad. Total miles was about 1,024

Iger made a huge mistake by making Galaxy's Edge exclusively based on the sequel trilogy. I under stand creating a new location to set it in...but how on earth can there be a Millennium Falcon ride and no Han Solo. That's just crazy.

Me personally, I think they should've followed course in the same way Star Tours is...different scenarios. Maybe you get a young Han with the Kessel Run. Maybe they take Harrison Ford and de-age him, now you're battling the Death Star (Star Wars or Jedi),or escape from Hoth. Maybe have an older Han and you're on a mission for something.

Rise of Resistance should stay the way it is. Just a fantastic ride.

Ellen wasn't the original version of Universe of Energy. The original was a real bore, but granted I was only a young kid back then.

Wonders of Life was great, World of Motion was great, Horizons was great.

YES!!!!! I don't know why they don't bring back the original, or at least something representative of the original.

With Honey I Shrunk the Audience closed, the current Journey into Imagination doesn't make any sense.

The original test track is 100 times better than the current version. None of it makes sense. The break test was standard vs ABS The scanning rooms were the old paint shop, hot and cold weather rooms. The door opening at the end was the crash test. I honestly have no idea why the ride has such long lines anymore. Is it just the 64 mph at the end?

Hey, we just drove all the way to Disney from NY averaging 74 mph including stops. What's the first ride to go on? How about a car, but slower and less comfortable.

California adventure has a version of test track themed to the Cars movie, and there's a guy who's been on it 13,000 times. People cheer him on and he considers it a great accomplishment. What the hell has happened to society? Why do we applaud this clearly obsessive compulsive behavior? It can't possibly be fun anymore. It's just a compulsion to get to the next big number.

That's an average of 3.5 times a day. How on earth is that even possible. Do they let him cut the line (disabled maybe?) The ride has a 90 minute wait, lol. This seems like the worst existence I've ever heard of.

Edit. Looks like he does the single rider lane, which is a shorter line. Either way, I can't seem this being fun.

I saw some posts where he recently went to Disney world and he was just going on Test Track over and over trying to rack up his numbers on that ride, and then another ride. It's clearly not about the experience and all about unlocking since imaginary achievement. It makes me sad but it also sort of frustrates me thinking that there are people like this clogging up the rides when other people who just want to enjoy the experience have to wait a long time. He talks about being friends with the employees running the rides. My guess is that "single rider" often means they let him cut.

So I went on that ride with my 10 yr.old Grand daughter at WDW because I had went on that same ride at Disney Land in 1958 . The car drove so bad she couldn't even drive it . It was so bad it was all I could do to get it back to the start . What a let down .

I doubt they let him cut. If he’s a local he probably goes late to the parks. On the slower times of the year it’s pretty easy to ride 3 or 4 times late at night before closing. I’ve had it happen where if it is slow, they ask if I want to stay on and ride again.

Another guy did something similar a few years ago at Universal, riding Hollywood Rip Ride Rocket 10,000 times.
https://blog.discoveruniversal.com/guests/hollywood-rip-ride-rockit-10000/

For my April trip, I have Animal Kingdom Lodge with Savanna view booked and a normal Coronado Springs room booked.

If girlfriend goes, we are staying at AK. If not, then Coronado.

So...you were just there and you're going back in April???

Can I be your girlfriend?

Spring time surprise races.

5k - 10pm at Animal Kingdom
10K and 10 miles too. I don’t know where they will be.

Not to be mean….but she is a lot younger than you…..still older than me…..but a lot younger than you.

Already booked for November for the Wine & Dine races. Also have January 2023 booked for the Dopey Races.

It’s not just Disney doing this. The big squeeze. Hundreds of companies. Hasbro is doing it with my magic the gathering product.

Hoping Fantastic will be opened back up for April.

Single Rider is the only way the 4 of us do it now since our kids are older (teens). There a couple weeks ago and Racers was 70min wait and we waited only a couple minutes for single rider. Use it for Matterhorn too. Was about 15 min vs over an hour in standby. We often end up with a couple of us together in the same car and bobsled anyway.

That is we do for any ride that has a single rider line. Saves lots of time.

Need suggestions. We’re at Disney, we check in tomorrow at animal kingdom lodge. I have 730AM reservations at Steakhouse 71 and then over to MK. Does anyone know if I can go over to AKL in the morning, park there, and take the bus to magic kingdom?

I can’t get anyone on the phone at Disney, been on hold over 40 minutes. We used to park at contemporary for the full day in this case but I’ve heard they will tow you now if you do that.

If you are staying there that night yes you can park in the morning and then take the bus over. They won’t let you park at a resort unless you either have dining reservations or room reservations. Have fun, AKL is one of our favorite resorts, but that bus ride to Magic Kingdom is Looong

Yeah I’m pretty sure the bus starts running at 630, so we could leave the car at AKL and take the bus and I think we’d make it. I forget exactly how long that bus ride is. I hate parking at TTC and was trying to avoid that misery since I have four young children. We drive to all the other parks.

I think that bus ride is usually about 25 minutes so as long as the first bus leaves at 6:30 you should be fine. I thought they usually started 2 hours prior to park opening but I don’t remember if that was official park opening or the 30 minute early entry

My wife and daughter, who are super into Disney pin collecting, showed me these yesterday, and now I think I'm super into Disney pin collecting.

Screenshot_20220217-184139~2 (resized).png

Screenshot_20220217-184159 (resized).png

So, Disney is leaking the pins to soon before jjp reveal....

Same here, with others collecting them. I can't even imagine how many they have. But they gave me this one and I didn't complain.

pin Jessica Rabbit drawn that way (resized).jpg

NO MASKS!!! Last two days of our trip and I’m so glad they are gone.

Overall, not the best trip. Disney has a LOT of work to do. Cast has been super rude, lots of broken rides, food is bad, huge crowds and wait times, poor value for cost of trip.

Still no trams! My very pregnant wife had to walk from AKL dinosaur parking lot to the gate today. Really? Get rid of premium parking or an ice cream cart and put those cast members on the trams.

The guests seemed nasty too. What happened to society that everyone got so mean?

Also men, call me old fashioned but if you are sitting on the bus, stand up and offer your seat to a pregnant woman, child, or elderly person who needs it!

Have you been in a coma the last two years?

I guess that’s what it is? We weren’t effected by the last two years events here, but I would have thought people would be more happy than ever to be out on a vacation.

I laughed at this:

Bad employees.
Bad rides.
Bad food.
Bad people.
Bad value.
= Massively popular as shown by the crowds (who were bad).

Disney is going to have a huge year no matter how bad the experience is.

I see that every trip. 95% of the time someone gets up (sometimes me) to let them sit, however there's always a bunch of teenagers or snobby douche canoes on their phone trying to sound important that just don't care

My whole life I did this, I always offered my seat to anyone who could use it more than me, no way am I sitting when when someone else has to stand. I’ll never forget the day a little while back, I walked into a crowded event in a small auditorium with a limited number of chairs, so lots were standing. When I came in the door, a young dude popped out of his chair and motioned for me to sit. At first, I couldn’t even process this. I was like WTF why is this dude doing this? Is it some kind of joke. Then it dawned upon me, I have become the elderly person, and he is doing what I always did. This flash of realization was tough to take, but I thanked him and sat down. Mainly because it felt like I should honor his thoughtfulness. Also, it felt pretty good to sit, because I’m old now.

And how sad is that?