The World Showcase is where we head for today’s restaurant review. The Nine Dragons can be found at the China Pavilion. Should you make advanced dining reservations for this place on your next trip? Let’s take a look. Read the rest of this entry »
As you approach the Animal Kingdom, the Forbidden Mountain looms in the distance, a perfect fit of color and texture. Its snow-capped peak seems to somehow belong among the lush green and flat Florida horizon. Even inside the park, the mountain belongs from every angle, but as you approach Asia, the park transforms into a marvel of earth tones and immerses you into the story. Read the rest of this entry »
Today we hop over to the Rainforest Cafe outside of Disney’s Animal Kingdom. As you can imagine, the Rainforest doesn’t go quite as over the top with the holidays as some of the other places around Walt Disney World. But look around and you’ll find some of Santa’s favorite little helpers. Here’s two of them…
So after months of voting, the Mouse Guest Weekly Disney World Attraction Tournament has reached the finals. It comes as no surprise that the two most popular attractions in the tourney are the Pirates of the Caribbean and the Haunted Mansion, however I can’t help but to give my two cents.
While I personally adore both of these attractions, and I certainly recognize that they hold iconic status among the Disney fanatics out there, these two are not the best rides ever produced at Walt Disney World. In fact, they are not even the best examples of their own individual concepts. Pirates of the Caribbean, and even the Haunted Mansion to a lesser extent, is a much better experience at Disneyland. It’s longer, more immersive and original. At Disney World, it is only a copy, and a cheap one at that.
During this week’s Mouse Guest Weekly podcast, Eric (co-host) calls these two attractions, “the pinnacle of Disney Imagineering”. I beg to differ. From what I can tell, these aren’t even representative of the pinnacle of the ideas they are based on. In fact, they are more representative of one of the most puzzling criticisms of WDI. If you are going to take a concept and copy it for another park, why water it down? Why make it a lesser version when you know the original is a masterpiece? Shouldn’t we try and improve a concept and not dilute it?
Well, the answers to these questions can be seen in the results of this tournament. People don’t care that Florida got cheap versions, but to call it a great example of what Imagineering has achieved is not at all accurate. It would be more accurate to call it an example of Imagineering being rather unimaginative. They could have “plussed” these great concepts, but instead they “minused” them.
So what would the two finalists be in Dave’s world? Certainly a top attraction would have to be originated or at least perfected for Walt Disney World, if not unique to it. It would have to be immersive, eye-popping, and loads of fun. So rather than name just two, here’s a list to choose from of attractions that fit into the above criteria…
The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror
Spaceship Earth
Expedition Everest
Kilimanjaro Safaris
Space Mountain
Splash Mountain
Mickey’s Philharmagic
The Monorail
Test Track
The Great Movie Ride
All of these attractions are either Disney World originals, or as in the case of Splash Mountains and the Monorail, improvements over the Disneyland version. To me, these are the true essence of the best Walt Disney World has to offer, and not lesser representations of the essence of what Disneyland has to offer. (If I were picking, it would be the Tower of Terror and Splash Mountain.)
Don’t mistake what I am saying here to mean I don’t like the Pirates or the Mansion. That’s not my point at all. In fact, I would say they should both be in the Elite Eight. I just would not make them a finalist since they certainly do not represent what makes Disney World so wonderful, or even what makes Imagineering great.
Today we finally make our way to the Magic Kingdom, home of some fantastic, old-fashioned holiday decorations. The place gets decked out extra early for the holidays, as Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party started the week before Thanksgiving. Here we have the overhead wreaths seen on Main Street USA…
The Orlando Sentinel is reporting this morning that Disney has filed paperwork requesting to begin work excavating a 330 acre area for future development. Earlier this year, rumors swirled that the new project was going to be a shopping area along the lines of Downtown Disney, but less upscale. The Sentinel’s story seems to confirm that to a certain degree… Read the rest of this entry »