OhioStateBuckeye
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Sep 7, 2007
I love the just back threads and always think they are super helpful so I'm going to offer up my experiences.
Hotel:
All Star Music Jazz building 9: This was a short weekend trip so we wouldn't be spending much time in the room, so it made sense to go with All Stars and save some money. We prefer Music, it usually seems to be the quieter of the 3. Our building was pretty close to the lobby, which is great for being able to get to and from the bus stops. Our room faced the parking lot and it was really quiet. We did see some tour groups at the resort but we didn't have any bad experiences. The buses were ok, it really seems to be luck if you walk up as a bus pulls up or if you end up waiting 20 + minutes. I do wish Disney would put some sort of shade structure over the All Star bus queues. They could just do those mesh screens that lots of other amusement parks put over their queues.
Crowds:
We've never gone to Disney in the summer. Our last few trips were in the fall and these crowds were so much lower than the fall trips. We had no problem getting day of 4th FPs for Soarin, TSMM or most attractions in MK. I even got lucky and chanced up 2 Frozen FPs midday. It was so nice to be able to walk in between TOT and RRC. In the fall that area was just a huge mass of people and you could barely move.
Tour Groups:
They are definitely easy to spot. We didn't have any really bad experiences with them. But I can easily see how other people can.
Heat:
The heat wasn't so bad for us except for midday. I'd suggest trying to do air conditioned shows or taking a break during this time. Make sure to drink lots of water.
New experiences:
Frozen Ever After: It is a beautiful ride. The color scheme is great and I loved the sparkling Olaf animatronic. The queue has lots of interesting things to look at. I really wish the imagineers had tried to go with a more cohesive storyline for the ride. It would have been very easy for them to switch a couple things around and have the ride follow the movie storyline. Instead it just seems like a jumble of the songs from the movie.
Soarin: I was bitterly disappointed in this ride. I loved the old film. This new one is so fake I couldn't stand it. I just don't see why so many computer generated things needed to be put in. They couldn't find a real herd of elephants? They couldn't film real hot air balloons like last time? Why would they even include the Taj Mahal if they couldn't film it for real? That whale was so laughably fake I was appalled, the Pacific Life company can film real whales breaching for their TV commercials and Disney has to include a fake one? I am pretty sure every single boat in every water scene was fake, none of them even had wakes.
I was so looking forward to this ride and I kept myself spoiler free and I was just so, so let down. If other people enjoyed it, that is ok and I'm not trying to knock those others. For me, personally, all the fake digital insertions were just so obvious and annoying I couldn't enjoy any of it.
There are enough real and wondrous things in the world that this film did not need to have all the digital intrusions. It took me right out of the ride.
We rope dropped it and had a FP for later and ended up cancelling the FP. I'm honestly not sure if I ever want to ride it again and I rode the old ones many, many times.
AK Nighttime Events:
Nighttime Safari: I know lots of people think the sunset effect is dumb but I think it looked nice. I would not recommend this ride if it is your first or even second safari experience. Having been on the regular daytime safari lots of times I loved it. The darkness made it just a bit different and I enjoyed seeing some animals sleeping and some enjoying the night. I would be a little cautious taking younger children, it is very dark and the little girl ahead of us on the jeep was scared because it was dark and she didn't know what was coming.
Jungle Book show: We had FPs but were late so ended up watching a bit from the bridge. I don't think it is as bad as reviews were saying. I mean, it isn't anything show stopping but I think that was to be expected since it is filling a gap until Rivers of Light is ready. If you like live music and dancing and the Jungle Book you would most likely enjoy the show.
Tree of life projections: we didn't see any of the random ones but we stayed for the tree's 'kiss goodnight'. It occurred 15 minutes after park close and showed brief scenes of some of Disney's popular animated animal movies with real animals. The tree looks amazing.
Extras:
We did the SW dessert party and enjoyed it. I like the event more now that has actual food options. And by actual I mean things like Naan bread and hummus and fruit, not just desserts. The dessert party is now held inside Launch Bay. The tables are standing room only but there are a few benches in the area. The storm troopers walk through the area periodically and they were stopping to post for pictures, which they rarely do outside.
Anyone have any questions?
Hotel:
All Star Music Jazz building 9: This was a short weekend trip so we wouldn't be spending much time in the room, so it made sense to go with All Stars and save some money. We prefer Music, it usually seems to be the quieter of the 3. Our building was pretty close to the lobby, which is great for being able to get to and from the bus stops. Our room faced the parking lot and it was really quiet. We did see some tour groups at the resort but we didn't have any bad experiences. The buses were ok, it really seems to be luck if you walk up as a bus pulls up or if you end up waiting 20 + minutes. I do wish Disney would put some sort of shade structure over the All Star bus queues. They could just do those mesh screens that lots of other amusement parks put over their queues.
Crowds:
We've never gone to Disney in the summer. Our last few trips were in the fall and these crowds were so much lower than the fall trips. We had no problem getting day of 4th FPs for Soarin, TSMM or most attractions in MK. I even got lucky and chanced up 2 Frozen FPs midday. It was so nice to be able to walk in between TOT and RRC. In the fall that area was just a huge mass of people and you could barely move.
Tour Groups:
They are definitely easy to spot. We didn't have any really bad experiences with them. But I can easily see how other people can.
Heat:
The heat wasn't so bad for us except for midday. I'd suggest trying to do air conditioned shows or taking a break during this time. Make sure to drink lots of water.
New experiences:
Frozen Ever After: It is a beautiful ride. The color scheme is great and I loved the sparkling Olaf animatronic. The queue has lots of interesting things to look at. I really wish the imagineers had tried to go with a more cohesive storyline for the ride. It would have been very easy for them to switch a couple things around and have the ride follow the movie storyline. Instead it just seems like a jumble of the songs from the movie.
Soarin: I was bitterly disappointed in this ride. I loved the old film. This new one is so fake I couldn't stand it. I just don't see why so many computer generated things needed to be put in. They couldn't find a real herd of elephants? They couldn't film real hot air balloons like last time? Why would they even include the Taj Mahal if they couldn't film it for real? That whale was so laughably fake I was appalled, the Pacific Life company can film real whales breaching for their TV commercials and Disney has to include a fake one? I am pretty sure every single boat in every water scene was fake, none of them even had wakes.
I was so looking forward to this ride and I kept myself spoiler free and I was just so, so let down. If other people enjoyed it, that is ok and I'm not trying to knock those others. For me, personally, all the fake digital insertions were just so obvious and annoying I couldn't enjoy any of it.
There are enough real and wondrous things in the world that this film did not need to have all the digital intrusions. It took me right out of the ride.
We rope dropped it and had a FP for later and ended up cancelling the FP. I'm honestly not sure if I ever want to ride it again and I rode the old ones many, many times.
AK Nighttime Events:
Nighttime Safari: I know lots of people think the sunset effect is dumb but I think it looked nice. I would not recommend this ride if it is your first or even second safari experience. Having been on the regular daytime safari lots of times I loved it. The darkness made it just a bit different and I enjoyed seeing some animals sleeping and some enjoying the night. I would be a little cautious taking younger children, it is very dark and the little girl ahead of us on the jeep was scared because it was dark and she didn't know what was coming.
Jungle Book show: We had FPs but were late so ended up watching a bit from the bridge. I don't think it is as bad as reviews were saying. I mean, it isn't anything show stopping but I think that was to be expected since it is filling a gap until Rivers of Light is ready. If you like live music and dancing and the Jungle Book you would most likely enjoy the show.
Tree of life projections: we didn't see any of the random ones but we stayed for the tree's 'kiss goodnight'. It occurred 15 minutes after park close and showed brief scenes of some of Disney's popular animated animal movies with real animals. The tree looks amazing.
Extras:
We did the SW dessert party and enjoyed it. I like the event more now that has actual food options. And by actual I mean things like Naan bread and hummus and fruit, not just desserts. The dessert party is now held inside Launch Bay. The tables are standing room only but there are a few benches in the area. The storm troopers walk through the area periodically and they were stopping to post for pictures, which they rarely do outside.
Anyone have any questions?
But I do understand a lot of people love it, which is fine. Just not the ride for me anymore.
