Episode 33
Grading the Magic at Animal Kingdom and Hollywood Studios
This podcast episode concludes our assessment of rides and attractions at Walt Disney World, specifically focusing on the Magic Kingdom and Hollywood Studios. We delve into the nuances of each park, evaluating the merits and shortcomings of various attractions. A key highlight includes our detailed analysis of Animal Kingdom's most notable rides, such as Flight of Passage and Kilimanjaro Safaris, alongside a critical examination of less favorable experiences like the Navi River Journey. Furthermore, we transition into Hollywood Studios, where we discuss the intricacies of iconic rides such as Tower of Terror and the newly themed attractions, emphasizing their significance within the broader context of the park's offerings. Throughout our discourse, we provide insights and recommendations to enhance the listener's experience at these beloved parks.
Takeaways:
- In this episode, we meticulously evaluated the attractions at Walt Disney World, providing detailed insights into the rides.
- We discussed the seasonal allure of the Magic Kingdom during fall, emphasizing special events like Halloween parties.
- The episode highlighted the contrasts in ride experiences between Animal Kingdom and Hollywood Studios, drawing attention to unique attractions.
- We offered our grading system for various rides, reflecting on their thematic elements and overall enjoyment.
- The discussion included a critical analysis of rides such as Flight of Passage and Navi River Journey, comparing their merits and shortcomings.
- We concluded with a preview of our next episode, which will focus on tips for attending the Halloween party.
Companies mentioned in this episode:
- Walt Disney World
- Magic Kingdom
- Epcot
- Animal Kingdom
- Hollywood Studios
- Avatar
- Disney
- Six Flags
- Opryland
- Finding Nemo
- Festival of the Lion King
- Indiana Jones
- Star Wars
- Millennium Falcon
- Rise of the Resistance
- Fantasmic
- Beauty and the Beast
Transcript
Foreign Wishes podcast, your guide through Walt Disney World, all the magic travels.
Speaker A:Lauren Maller.
Speaker A:Joining me, Tony desiri.
Speaker A:And we are concluding our grades of the rides and attractions at the Walt Disney World.
Speaker A:So we did the Magic Kingdom, we did Epcot center, and today we're going to be combining two parks in one.
Speaker A:Magic Kingdom doesn't have a ton of rides, so we thought we'd pair them up with Hollywood Studios.
Speaker A:How are you, Lauren?
Speaker B:I'm good.
Speaker B:How are you?
Speaker A:Oh, good.
Speaker A:It's fall time.
Speaker A:Even though it's summer and the temperature hasn't broken yet, it's 95 degrees and you still sweat.
Speaker A:Every image out of the Magic Kingdom is the pumpkins, is the Halloween, it's the characters, it's the party.
Speaker A:It's all the spicy food you can get.
Speaker A:It's.
Speaker A:It's a great time of year.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:You know, I always feel so bad for the people that go to those first parties because it is so hot and they are committed to the costumes, and I love it, but I do not want to trade places.
Speaker A:No, I agree completely.
Speaker A:All right, so we've been doing some grades of the attractions, so I thought we'd start with Animal Kingdom first, because, as I mentioned, not a ton of rides there.
Speaker A:It's mostly seeing animals being part of the sort of animal culture, but nevertheless, they've got some good ones and some ones that not so great.
Speaker A:But let's start with.
Speaker A:Let's start with Flight of Passage, because I thought we'd start with the big one first.
Speaker A:This is a.
Speaker A:Wear your 3D glasses, ride a banshee, be part of the world of Avatar.
Speaker A:A great, great ride.
Speaker A:I mean, a great.
Speaker A:I gave this an A. I love.
Speaker A:I've always enjoyed riding this.
Speaker A:I. I think screens and 3D technology could be a little bit sharper, but this one still, I think it knocks it out of the park.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:You know, I have to take my own bias out of this grade because I've ridden it once.
Speaker B:I can't write it anymore.
Speaker B:It gets me the motion sickness.
Speaker B:The plus side of that is that you do have that.
Speaker B:The fan blowing in your face.
Speaker B:So you kind of feel that if you're getting motion sick, the fan's going to help with that.
Speaker B:But I'm going to give it an A minus only because I cannot write it.
Speaker B:But everyone I know that rides it loves it.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:This.
Speaker A:Before COVID my.
Speaker A:My parents were pass holders in Florida.
Speaker A:And before COVID my parents would go, like, my dad would check wait times and he would say, like, oh, it's a.
Speaker A:It's a kind of a soft day.
Speaker A:The ride time is still big, but it's a good.
Speaker A:Let's go down there.
Speaker A:Let's do a couple of that.
Speaker A:He loved that ride.
Speaker A:They'd go down there, have dinner and whatnot.
Speaker A:And after Covid, you needed reservations and whatnot, so he couldn't do it.
Speaker A:But it was his favorite attraction.
Speaker A:But that paired up with Navi River Journey, which doesn't get good reviews at all.
Speaker A:I, I kind of gave this a C. This is.
Speaker A:To me, I again, the AM animatronics are good, but I, I think this is mailing it in because so much emphasis was put on an A, E, E ticket attraction in that land.
Speaker A:This seems like, let's just get a boat ride, something cool.
Speaker A:Let's.
Speaker A:So we have multiple attractions in this land.
Speaker B:Yeah, I agree with you.
Speaker B:And you know, I was gonna go with a C on this one as well, only because if you have little kids that can't ride Flight of Passage, it is a good option when you're in Avatar to be able to go over there and ride that.
Speaker B:But like you said, it's.
Speaker B:It's one that, when I finish writing it, I'm like, oh, that was the ride.
Speaker B:And then it's like, okay, well, it's done now.
Speaker B:And I absolutely tell my clients all the.
Speaker B:If you can get a lightning lane for it or if you can ride it with less than a 15 minute wait time, do that.
Speaker B:Do not wait longer than that for this.
Speaker A:Yeah, absolutely.
Speaker A:Absolutely.
Speaker A:Now, this is my biggest complaint.
Speaker A:And again, this is probably just being a little bit more nitpicky is if.
Speaker A:If anybody really remembers from the moment they announced the Pandora that it was coming, it was going to, you know, it was going to go into that camp Mini Mickey land area of magic, you know, the animal kingdom to.
Speaker A:What we got again, an E ticket attraction, a rather ordinary, rather boring boat ride.
Speaker A:The amount of time it took to get this land together, it was very disappointing.
Speaker A:And I, and listen, I give Joe Rody and his team a bunch of credit.
Speaker A:The floating rocks is great.
Speaker A:I think the theming of it is fantastic.
Speaker A:It does look like you're on the planet.
Speaker A:But the reality is it, it didn't.
Speaker A:It didn't wow you enough with two major rides.
Speaker A:And it should have been there for the time that it took from point A to point B. I think they mailed one in and gave you an outstanding ride in the two attractions that are in that, in that section of the land.
Speaker B:Yeah, you know, I think there's so much more that they could do back there too.
Speaker B:Like, they could give us a restaurant or, you know, because there are no animals that are.
Speaker B:That are living over in that side of the park.
Speaker B:Why not give us like a, like, mini night parade over here?
Speaker B:I know we don't have Animal Kingdom open after dark a lot, but, like, can you imagine if they put some of the animatronics from Na' Vi river or just in general from Avatar into like a small night parade?
Speaker B:What that would give to that land?
Speaker B:I think that would be good.
Speaker A:And plus, new movies are coming out, so there might be a spark of interest in what exactly do they want to.
Speaker A:How do they want to improve this land over time?
Speaker A:Once the all.
Speaker A:I think three movies to this franchise are all said and done.
Speaker A:All right.
Speaker A:Kilimanjaro Safari, it's probably the staple ride of the park.
Speaker A:What do you give it?
Speaker B:Yeah, I'm gonna give this one an A every time.
Speaker B:I'm not gonna give it an A plus just because, I mean, it takes a big chunk of your time.
Speaker B:So you gotta know that going in.
Speaker B:I mean, you could be in for 30 minutes, depending on how long you wait in line and how long the actual safari takes.
Speaker B:They do.
Speaker B:These are real moving animals.
Speaker B:And so if there's a giraffe blocking the way, we can't just move that giraffe out of the way.
Speaker B:But.
Speaker B:But you see such a good variety of animals always, whether or not they're out, you're always going to see some and they're always doing something different.
Speaker B:I mean, I. I do it every time I'm at animal.
Speaker A:Every time.
Speaker A:Every time.
Speaker A:It's.
Speaker A:It's a must do.
Speaker A:Exactly.
Speaker A:For a park that has that much land, you might as well do the thing that it's.
Speaker A:That all the land is being used for.
Speaker B:And.
Speaker A:And it's called Animal Kingdom for a reason, because they have animals.
Speaker A:You might as well ride the ride that shows you the animals.
Speaker A:They did away with sort of that poaching storyline that they had for a.
Speaker A:But what's awesome about this attraction is they are driving real vehicles.
Speaker A:This isn't on a track like, I always thought it was like the Jurassic park movie.
Speaker A:They were on a ride instead of an actual moving jeep, which, you know, but this is an actual moving vehicle because they do have to.
Speaker A:If they have to get away, if they have to go faster, if they have to go slower, they're in control of the mechanism.
Speaker A:So it's bumpy, but it's part of the whole.
Speaker A:That was.
Speaker A:That's what makes the ride experience great.
Speaker A:You're on a real vehicle.
Speaker B:Right.
Speaker A:Riding real terrain, seeing real animals at Animal Kingdom.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker A:I give it an A.
Speaker A:It's.
Speaker A:I think it's fantastic.
Speaker A:Exhibition Everest.
Speaker A:Now, I threw this at you, but what.
Speaker A:I mean, we, I think we talked about this in our Thrill Rides episode.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker A:Do you do this anymore or do you.
Speaker B:I ride this one.
Speaker A:Okay.
Speaker A:You ride this one.
Speaker A:Okay.
Speaker A:I'm trying to remember which ones you do and which ones you don't.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:I'm going to give this one an A. I think it is a fantastic coaster.
Speaker B:There was a time, a period of time that I would not ride it for a little bit because the backwards part gets me.
Speaker B:Spoiler.
Speaker B:If you've never ridden it, it goes backwards.
Speaker B:But I have learned that I know when it's going to go backwards and so I actually like hold my breath through the whole G forces thing.
Speaker A:Right.
Speaker B:And the last half of the coaster that you're going forward after you see the Yeti, it's just, it's just a really, really well done coaster and it's long and so I think it hits all the spots.
Speaker A:That's funny that you mentioned that because that was one of my three criteria for why I like this roller coaster.
Speaker A:A lot of it's got some length to it, so it's not a quick 60 second roller coaster.
Speaker A:It's got fantastic theming.
Speaker A:I mean, this is a fantastically themed.
Speaker A:From the queue to the ride itself.
Speaker A:That moment we're on the top and you see the roller coaster tracks have broken and you're wondering why it's broken and you're part of that story.
Speaker A:The whole theming is great.
Speaker A:I know the Yeti doesn't work like they wanted it to work, but nevertheless, the theming is fantastic.
Speaker A:And like you said, if you give me a roller coaster, I don't need it to be like, you know, the, like a Six Flags monster coaster.
Speaker A:I don't need it to be a Goliath or something crazy like that.
Speaker A:But you got to give me some G forces.
Speaker A:You got to give me some thrill in the tummy.
Speaker A:And, and it, and it absolutely does that.
Speaker A:The moment it goes backwards, it is as thrilling of experience that you can have on a coaster.
Speaker A:That's why I gave it an A2.
Speaker A:So, so far so good.
Speaker A:We've, we've given this attraction, you know, this park three A's and so far.
Speaker A:But what about Kali River Rapids?
Speaker A:I don't do this ride anymore.
Speaker A:I'm done being soaked and walking around in soaked clothes.
Speaker A:So I don't do that anymore.
Speaker A:And so I don't.
Speaker A:I think the last time I did it was probably 10, 12 years ago.
Speaker B:Yeah, I don't think that I've done it since we had kids, honestly, because I don't like wet socks, and I'm always going to be in tennis shoes in the park.
Speaker B:And it's one of those things that the ride is not very long, and so it's not really worth my time to do it.
Speaker B:I feel like if you been to Opryland, if you've been to Six Flags, if you've been to any of the smaller theme parks, they have something very similar, sometimes even better in the smaller parts than they have there at Animal Kingdom.
Speaker B:And I think it's one you can skip.
Speaker A:I gave it a C. I.
Speaker A:Again, if you don't mind being wet and maybe changing your socks, maybe bring an extra pair or you don't care walking around and I don't.
Speaker A:I had a miserable experience.
Speaker A:It's one of those things where I had a miserable experience.
Speaker A:The last time I was on it, I mean, I was drenched.
Speaker A:I got in the right.
Speaker A:I was at the right part of the right time of this ride, and I got lazy.
Speaker A:Waterfalls and, you know, my family was kidding me.
Speaker A:I was drenched.
Speaker A:I had to buy a T shirt just because the other one was just so soaked.
Speaker A:I don't bring a poncho.
Speaker A:I don't bring rain gear.
Speaker A:I don't do any of that stuff.
Speaker A:And my shoes and socks were just practically destroyed.
Speaker A:And I said, all right, you know, maybe next time bring new socks.
Speaker A:The sneakers can dry out.
Speaker A:The socks stay wet the whole day.
Speaker A:Dinosaur.
Speaker A:Okay, I gave this a B minus.
Speaker A:I like the theming of it, and I like the story of it.
Speaker A:But here's the problem.
Speaker A:I can't enjoy it anymore because when I leave the.
Speaker A:When I'm in the middle of it, my neck is in 50 different places.
Speaker A:This thing is a neck killer.
Speaker A:If you have a little bit of a sensitivity to that, like I do, it's a very.
Speaker A:It's very hard to get through the jerking back and forth.
Speaker A:And over that there's our dyno is pretty cool.
Speaker A:It's a cool story, and it's got great effects.
Speaker A:It's a very tough ride, though.
Speaker A:It's a very tough ride.
Speaker A:Vehicle.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:You know, I hate this ride.
Speaker B:I hate it.
Speaker B:I don't like the strobe lights.
Speaker B:I don't like how loud it is.
Speaker B:It's just.
Speaker B:It's sensory overload.
Speaker B:For me.
Speaker B:And that along with the jerkiness of just, I can't do it.
Speaker B:And so for that reason, I'm gonna give it a C minus because I know there's a lot of fans out there that are gonna be sad when it is officially gone.
Speaker A:Right.
Speaker B:But yeah, I can do without it.
Speaker A:It's because they're gonna replace it with an Indiana Jones ride.
Speaker A:And for those who know the little bit of Disney, the Disneyland Indiana Jones ride is the exact same mechanism.
Speaker A:It's the exact same track.
Speaker A:They just transferred it with different imaging and a different story.
Speaker A:I'm.
Speaker A:I mean, I know Disney is not gonna rip this thing out and put in, you know, brand new tracks.
Speaker A:So I want to enjoy the Indiana Jones ride.
Speaker A:If it's a big.
Speaker A:It's.
Speaker A:If it's just this, if it's just an overlay, I'm getting too old for this.
Speaker A:My neck can only stand so much.
Speaker A:And I'll try it once, but it may prevent me, as a big Indiana Jones fan, from doing it multiple times.
Speaker A:I. I had a herniated disc, so I got a little piece of metal in my neck.
Speaker A:I get very sensitive with that.
Speaker A:So when I do ride the ride, I'm always just a touch nervous because it is a violent experience.
Speaker A:So again, we talked about Animal Kingdom not having a lot of rides.
Speaker A:I did throw in two shows here.
Speaker A:I think they're the pretty big shows of the park.
Speaker A:The Finding Nemo puppet show, which I adore.
Speaker A:I love.
Speaker A:I gave it an A. I think this is a great, great show.
Speaker A:I think you absolutely should do it.
Speaker A:What do you think about that?
Speaker B:I agree.
Speaker B:I give it an A. I think that it really, really improved it when they shortened it after Covid it came back, it used to be about 45 minutes and we would skip it as.
Speaker A:Who was a long show.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker B:And so now it's just a 25 minute show.
Speaker B:It's perfect because it's an air conditioning.
Speaker B:It's a great place for the kids to rest.
Speaker B:It's just really, really well done.
Speaker A:And if you, if your kids love the Finding Nemo story, this is as close as you're going to get to like a Broadway play of, of this.
Speaker A:And it's like you said, 25 minutes.
Speaker A:They hit the pretty.
Speaker A:They pretty much hit all the main things you want to see out of this movie.
Speaker A:And it's well done.
Speaker A:The puppeteering is well done.
Speaker A:Festival of the Lion King I'm going to be honest, if there's a great.
Speaker A:Higher than A, I would give it a grade Higher than a. I think this is the best thing they do in all of the four parks.
Speaker B:I agree.
Speaker A:Phenomenal.
Speaker B:It is so wonderful.
Speaker B:And you get lucky a lot of times.
Speaker B:If you go multiple times, you'll see some of the same performers, which is really cool.
Speaker B:And they are spectacular.
Speaker B:Their voices are incredible.
Speaker B:Quick, funny story, actually.
Speaker B:On our last trip in June, we were just in the line to go in and one of the cast members that was letting us into the theater pulled us aside.
Speaker B:It was my mom and myself and my two girls.
Speaker B:And she was like, y' all wait right over here.
Speaker B:Well, she gave us a front row seat.
Speaker B:Oh, wow.
Speaker B:We got to sit in the front row.
Speaker B:But after the Tumble Monkeys, there was a technical issue and they had to cut off the rest of the show abruptly and everybody had to leave.
Speaker B:And I was like, the one time I get chosen just randomly to sit in the front and I don't get to enjoy it.
Speaker A:Oh, too bad.
Speaker B:It was fun while it lasted.
Speaker A:It's still a phenomenal show I would throw in.
Speaker A:Tough to be a bug, but it's done.
Speaker A:Yeah, Zootopia is going to be replacing that pretty soon.
Speaker A:All right, so let's go on to Hollywood Studios.
Speaker A:You and I did a podcast when we were breaking down sort of tips and tricks about each park, and I made the comment that I still stand by.
Speaker A:I think pound for pound, this is the best park for attractions of all the parks.
Speaker A:Now, that's not the nostalgia, you know, because you, you just can't beat some of the nostalgia at Magic Kingdom.
Speaker A:But I think pound for pound, this has some of.
Speaker A:This is the best park for rides and attractions.
Speaker A:And I'm going to.
Speaker A:I'm going to get out of Star wars land for a second, but I'm going to go to Toy Story Land.
Speaker A:So let's start with Toy Story Mania, because we gave some pretty dark marks for Buzz Lightyear when we did our Magic Kingdom grades.
Speaker A:The reason why is because they did Toy Story Mania in the same kind of idea.
Speaker A:Let's, let's, you know, you're doing a virtual game.
Speaker A:And whereas Buzz Lightyear is very, very dated, and I hope the refurbishment kind of adds a little bit more modern technology to what you're doing.
Speaker A:This is fantastic.
Speaker A:This is a very, very fun, competitive, carnival like atmosphere with the Toy Story characters.
Speaker B:Yeah, this one is a must do for me.
Speaker B:Every single time, even multiple times.
Speaker B:I don't get tired of it.
Speaker B:I don't know that there ever was a time that I left Buzz Lightyear saying, oh, that was so Cool.
Speaker B:Let me go do it again.
Speaker B:But this one, it's so fun and it's fun for all ages.
Speaker B:I can remember holding my babies in my lap while I'm trying to shoot the gun on, on Toy Story Mania.
Speaker B:But it's fun and it's not a short ride.
Speaker B:I give it an A plus.
Speaker A:Yeah, I give it an A plus too.
Speaker A:This was one of the attractions when it first opened.
Speaker A:Friends of mine that would go down, they would come back and this, it was very similar when I was a kid and everybody would talk about Space Mountain.
Speaker A:Like we went to Disney World and Space Mountain was awesome.
Speaker A:It was the same feeling like these my friends were saying, oh, you gotta, you gotta go down there and try Toy Story menu.
Speaker A:It's fantastic.
Speaker A:And they were right.
Speaker A:Alien swirling saucers.
Speaker A:I, I don't do this ride.
Speaker A:I don't have any kids anymore.
Speaker A:Do you do any of your kids like this?
Speaker B:Yeah, surprisingly.
Speaker B:You know, I'm gonna give this ride a B plus.
Speaker A:Okay.
Speaker A:All right.
Speaker B:It's actually more fun than you think.
Speaker B:It is not something that I would wait for.
Speaker B:But if you're over in Toy Story Land, if you're looking for something to do, it's kind of one that is.
Speaker B:It's not as spinny as the teacups, but it is fun.
Speaker B:It's going to leave everybody laughing.
Speaker B:And it's just, I mean it's something to do.
Speaker B:It's not a must do something.
Speaker A:Is it, is it an upgrade from like your typical carnival?
Speaker A:We talk about this with.
Speaker A:Yeah, some of the rides are a little carnival with a little Disney.
Speaker A:Yeah, like a scrambler.
Speaker A:Is it, is it just a high end version of that with a little bit more theming?
Speaker B:Absolutely.
Speaker A:Because I, I didn't, I don't even think I remember doing this with my kids when they were young.
Speaker A:I don't remember doing this.
Speaker A:So I did an NAA grade on this because I'm assuming people like it.
Speaker A:I just don't experience it.
Speaker A:Slinky Dog Dash.
Speaker A:Only done it once.
Speaker A:Can't wait to do it again.
Speaker A:The last time we were down there, it was closed.
Speaker A:It stunk because we were really looking forward to it.
Speaker A:We went on.
Speaker A:We went years and years ago, the entire family.
Speaker A:Brother, sister, mom, dad, kids, grandkids, every.
Speaker A:We all went to Christmas Eve.
Speaker A:It was a big surprise.
Speaker A:My parents were taking everybody to, to Disney World.
Speaker A:This is the first thing we waited for when we got to Hollywood Studios.
Speaker A:We waited a very long time for this.
Speaker A:I thought the theming was outstanding.
Speaker A:Out of this world It's.
Speaker A:It's a.
Speaker A:It's a very fun family coaster, if you like the Toy Stories product.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:And, you know, I don't think I knew that you've only ridden it one time.
Speaker A:One time.
Speaker B:But this is by far, it's my favorite ride in all of Disney.
Speaker A:I want to ride it, like, 10.
Speaker A:It looks really.
Speaker A:I mean, it's very cute.
Speaker B:It's so much fun.
Speaker B:I'm going to give it an A plus.
Speaker A:Yeah, I gave it an A, too.
Speaker A:I.
Speaker A:It was a long wait.
Speaker A:It was one of those days where it was like Slinky Dog here.
Speaker A:You know, it's hot, we're outside.
Speaker A:But it was the main reason we went, and it was an exciting day.
Speaker A:Every.
Speaker A:Like, it was.
Speaker A:It was a.
Speaker A:It was a great time because a lot of us hadn't been together in a long time, so the.
Speaker A:The.
Speaker A:It.
Speaker A:It went pretty quickly because we're all catching up, talking in the lines, talking, so.
Speaker A:But when we got to the ride, it was.
Speaker A:It was great.
Speaker A:All right, let's go to Rock and Roll Roller Coaster, which is going to be the Muppets coaster.
Speaker A:I'm assuming it's going to be the same coaster, just different theming.
Speaker A:I can't imagine they would go in there, tear it up, to rebuild it.
Speaker A:But as it stands now, Aerosmith Rock and Roll Roller Coaster.
Speaker A:Not a coaster person, but what do you give it as a grade?
Speaker B:Yeah, I like this coaster.
Speaker B:I. I just started riding it a couple years ago.
Speaker B:I think I've said I'm gonna give this coaster an A. I do think I'm excited about the re theme, to be honest.
Speaker B:I think that there's.
Speaker B:I can kind of already imagine it in my head.
Speaker B:I don't know what kind of.
Speaker B:What the music is exactly that they're gonna choose, but I think it's great.
Speaker B:It's one that is not too long, that are not coaster enthusiasts sometimes like knowing that there's a finish line coming.
Speaker B:But it's fun, it's fast, and it's.
Speaker B:The theming right now is great.
Speaker A:Yeah, I like it, too.
Speaker A:I think it's a fun coaster.
Speaker A:It's a.
Speaker A:It's really great.
Speaker A:It's indoors, it's loud.
Speaker A:Anytime you give me a coaster with a rocket launch, I'm gonna love it.
Speaker A:I think the theming is fantastic.
Speaker A:I know.
Speaker A:Again, anytime Disney changes a ride, here come the people that say, I'm never gonna ride.
Speaker A:I wish it was, but I. I mentioned this a long time ago on this podcast, which was.
Speaker A:I have no idea what the licensing deal is that Disney's playing for to Aerosmith to have this roller coaster.
Speaker A:And it just seems like as a business sense, you let it ride for a while and if the contract's up or they're just looking to make, you know, save some money, throw in your own IP in there.
Speaker A:I mean, you own the Muppets put it in there.
Speaker A:So I'm looking forward to the retheming.
Speaker A:I'm a Muppets person.
Speaker A:My wife is not.
Speaker A:I love it.
Speaker A:So I'm glad.
Speaker A:Tower of Terror, I gave this an A plus.
Speaker A:I don't.
Speaker A:I can't do it.
Speaker A:I do it by myself now.
Speaker A:My wife will not do this ride at all.
Speaker A:But when I talked earlier about if you give me a ride, give me the theming, give me the length, give me the thrills, this checks off all three of the boxes.
Speaker A:It doesn't.
Speaker A:It's not a typical drop ride like you'd see at an amusement park where it just takes you up and then drops you down.
Speaker A:There's a story to this.
Speaker A:There's an excellent theming as you go through.
Speaker A:This is top notch theming of the old hotel.
Speaker A:So you're.
Speaker A:You're kind of weaving.
Speaker A:And again, the idea of dropping it is wild.
Speaker A:The first time you ride this, though, you think you would be walking into something with massive safety restraints, given what this job is dried is.
Speaker A:And you get in there and you're like, isn't there like a double shoulder harness I'm supposed to put on?
Speaker A:No, you just sit in the chair and go your own way.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:I'm gonna put my own bias in this.
Speaker A:Okay.
Speaker B:I do not like the ride, but I do think it is an excellent, excellent thrill ride.
Speaker B:So I'm.
Speaker B:That's gonna push it on back up to a B.
Speaker B:Only because I do not like to fall.
Speaker B:I do not like the feeling of free falling.
Speaker B:I can get past the scary stuff.
Speaker B:That, though, is what makes my kids not want to ride it.
Speaker B:I think can ride the free fall.
Speaker B:They don't like the cre.
Speaker B:It's pretty creepy.
Speaker B:And so, yeah, I don't like the unpredictability of how many times I'm going to fall and how far I'm going to fall.
Speaker B:And I know that that's what so many people love about it though.
Speaker B:And so that's why I'm going to give it a be.
Speaker A:It is a little morbid.
Speaker A:I mean, there's.
Speaker A:There's a.
Speaker A:There's ghosts of a family, like with kids that you kind of see in the ride.
Speaker A:Real quick question, though.
Speaker A:I've not been to Disneyland in a while, so I've not done the Guardians of the Galaxy.
Speaker A:I know there's been people saying that, hey, let's change this up.
Speaker A:Remember, California Adventure is not Hollywood Studios.
Speaker A:So to me, I know they were trying to do that with California Adventure.
Speaker A: ife and I went like the early: Speaker A:Do you do.
Speaker A:Would you want a more light hearted, funny experience or was.
Speaker A:Or is this creepy old Hollywood hotel perfect for the park?
Speaker B:No, I think it should stay what it is.
Speaker B:I don't think they should bring Mission Breakout to Hollywood Studios.
Speaker B:I think that those two things should be kept in their original form.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:Like I said, they've already got Guardians of Epcot.
Speaker A:That's.
Speaker A:That to me is good enough.
Speaker A:Keep this where it is.
Speaker A:It's a perfect, perfect.
Speaker A:What you want Hollywood?
Speaker A:You're trying to.
Speaker A:You're walking through old Hollywood and here's an old Hollywood hotel that's haunted and you know, from the Twilight Zone.
Speaker A:All right, I want to go do the Star wars stuff last, but I got to do Star Tours to wrap this up.
Speaker A:It's not in Star wars land, but it is been.
Speaker A:It's been around a long time.
Speaker A:Star Tours.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:So honestly, I think that this ride could be rethink.
Speaker B:Not necessarily re themed, but I think, I think it's kind of run its course, to be honest.
Speaker B:This used to be my very favorite when I was a kid.
Speaker B:I loved it.
Speaker B:That was before I had motion sickness issues.
Speaker B:So I have not tried to write it as an adult because it was.
Speaker B:There's no air moving in there.
Speaker B:It's a simulator.
Speaker B:It's your classic simulator.
Speaker B:So if you have any trouble with, with motion sickness, this one is going to be difficult because the technology is not super advanced.
Speaker B:I'm gonna give this one a D, actually.
Speaker A:Yeah, I gave it a C. I'm with you.
Speaker A:I think technology needs to make this a better attraction.
Speaker A:Keep.
Speaker A:I, I love the idea you're going on a trip.
Speaker A:It's Star Wars.
Speaker A:They're, you know, they've got different scenes, so you, you shouldn't get the same ride twice because there's different places to go.
Speaker A:That.
Speaker A:They've done a very good job of that.
Speaker A:But I'm with you.
Speaker A:I mean, I'm old enough to remember when this was a big deal.
Speaker A:This was a major ride.
Speaker A:The simulator was so cool.
Speaker A:We never had a ride like that.
Speaker A:It was kind of wild to shake, go up, go down the 3D glasses.
Speaker A:But I think as we've advanced with technology, this one's a little far behind.
Speaker A:A little bit far behind.
Speaker A:So I, I, I'm with you.
Speaker A:Millennium Falcon smugglers run.
Speaker A:Kind of the same idea, though, but what do you make of this one?
Speaker B:So I've never ridden this ride, actually.
Speaker A:Oh, excellent.
Speaker B:Yeah, I've never ridden it because I heard that it could possibly make me motion sick, and so I decided just to avoid it altogether.
Speaker B:It's one, though.
Speaker B:It's kind of like going back to what we were talking about with Avatar.
Speaker B:They hit one attraction completely out of the park with Rise of the Resistance, which we'll talk about, I'm sure, next.
Speaker B:And then they kind of have this other attraction that was just kind of like O almost.
Speaker B:It makes it feel like it was an afterthought, which I love being able to walk into Galaxy's Edge and see the Millennium Falcon.
Speaker B:And yeah, it's just, it's all so very well done.
Speaker B:But judging by other people's opinions of this ride and my own family's opinion of this ride, I don't think it's one that they have to do every time.
Speaker B:And so I have to give it an N A because I've not done it before.
Speaker B:But those, that's the feedback that I've gotten from it.
Speaker A:Well, I have, I've done it twice, and I gave it a C. And this is where a little of the Star wars nerdiness comes out.
Speaker A:And a person that doesn't like to be taken advantage of through nostalgia.
Speaker A:This is why I don't like movies that tap into nostalgia to get my money.
Speaker A:I'm not a big nostalgia person.
Speaker A:I, I like it for me, personally, on things that, that affect me personally, I don't like it forced, and I feel like this ride is forced.
Speaker A:If you had said a long time ago, if you had said they're going to create a Millennium Falcon ride, this is not what I thought that they would do with it.
Speaker A:And to say it's a ride where you're going to be inside the Million Falcon, you're going to get to sit at the checkerboard, you're going to be able to feel like you're actually on the ship piloted by Han Solo and Chewbacca, I would have said, oh, this is going to be the best ride ever created.
Speaker A:If you're going to do that again, it goes back to Navi River Journey like you were, like you mentioned.
Speaker A:It's just.
Speaker A:Well, they like the movie, they'll like this.
Speaker A:I love the movies.
Speaker A:I don't love this.
Speaker A:My kids got to pilot, so maybe I'd be different if I was pilot.
Speaker A:But, but I, but here's the deal.
Speaker A:I'm old enough.
Speaker A:If my wife and I are riding this and there's two other people and there's a kid, he's piling into the.
Speaker A:I'm not going to pilot this ever.
Speaker A:I'm gonna probably let younger people do it.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker A:But I feel like I'm with you.
Speaker A:You put all of your effort into making one of the greatest attractions, which we'll talk about in a second.
Speaker A:And then you kind of went, you like the Millennium Falcon right here.
Speaker A:It's fun.
Speaker A:It's not, it's not as good.
Speaker A:I've again, I've written it twice and I both.
Speaker A:I thought the second time I'd like it more and I didn't like it more.
Speaker B:Okay.
Speaker A:Eyes of the resistance.
Speaker A:I like every time I ride it.
Speaker B:Yes, go ahead.
Speaker A:I gave it an A plus.
Speaker A:I think this is the.
Speaker A:It's.
Speaker A:I should give it just an A because it has a tendency to break down way too much.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker A:I think I've been on this three times and I don't think I've ever been in the line where they haven't gone.
Speaker A:Yeah, it's broken down and they give you that speech where you gotta wait.
Speaker A:Away they go.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker A:I don't think I've ever experienced a clean walk, you know, where it's not stopped for technical difficulties.
Speaker A:It's a highly technical ride, so I understand it.
Speaker A:But it's brilliant.
Speaker A:I think it's brilliant.
Speaker B:Yeah, I agree.
Speaker B:I'm gonna give it an A plus.
Speaker B:I think it's wonderful.
Speaker B:Even if you have to skip some of the pre show.
Speaker B:Like if, if this is your only time riding it, then I absolutely wouldn't want part of the pre show to go down.
Speaker B:But I think that some of the components that do go down from time to time and if they can kind of speed up the ride by skipping you through some of those pre show components to keep more people moving through, then that's great.
Speaker B:But there are so many different like twists and turns to this ride that you don't really know are coming and yeah, it's just really, really well done and just some of the life size props that you see and it absolutely a must do whether you do it with an individual lightning lane or whether you try to rope drop It.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:And it's.
Speaker A:But I have noticed the two times that I did ride it on my last visit, I don't know, maybe I caught it early when it was when it first opened and the cast members were all in character.
Speaker A:And then the last two times, and again, it was the same weekend.
Speaker A:So I'm not really sure if that was just at the time I felt like, oh, oh, you're not.
Speaker A:You're not angry at rebel scum anymore.
Speaker A:You're just kind of.
Speaker A:You're being nice and telling me to go into this room.
Speaker A:They.
Speaker A:They were really like real imperial officers and they would yell at you to stand, get in this room.
Speaker A:I don't know if they got told to tone it down.
Speaker A:I don't know if people complained.
Speaker A:I don't know if kids got scared.
Speaker A:I don't know.
Speaker A:But I felt like the last two times, I remember remarking, oh, they're not in a.
Speaker A:Not in fun character anymore.
Speaker B:That's a good point.
Speaker B:I don't know if they're trying to move more people through, but, yeah, there used to be a lot more interrogation and they would call people out for different things.
Speaker B:And I haven't that happen as much.
Speaker A:And not to give away a spoiler, but the person who breaks you out, it's like, come on, come quick, come quick.
Speaker A:When the last.
Speaker A:Again, the two times I wrote it in the same weekend, it was exit out, single file.
Speaker A:You know, like, oh, aren't we not.
Speaker B:Part of the story?
Speaker A:We're not part of the story.
Speaker A:Now we actually are going to ride a ride when the purpose of it was, this is your escape vehicle.
Speaker A:I just got you out.
Speaker A:And now it's your escape vehicle to get off this star cruiser.
Speaker A:And I think it takes a little bit out when you just treat it like how many in your party two section, you know, aisle six, aisle seven, seven, aisle five.
Speaker A:You know, once you do that, it becomes a ride.
Speaker A:Not as much of a skate pod.
Speaker A:All right, so that is it.
Speaker A:You want to talk about any of the shows, Beauty and the Beast, Fantasmic, anything like that?
Speaker A:I. I kind of dig all of them.
Speaker B:You know, I do, too.
Speaker B:I think that they're all worth doing if you have time in your day.
Speaker B:There's some that are in air conditioning and some that are not.
Speaker B:So make sure that you know that when you're looking at the map, some of them are good respites from the heat and, yeah, just enjoy it.
Speaker B:I haven't stayed late to see Fantasmic in quite some time, quite a while.
Speaker B:Yeah, that one is kind of a commitment, because once you're in there, you're in there, and there's only one way in, one way out.
Speaker A:That's right.
Speaker A:That's right.
Speaker A:All right, so that's our grades for Animal Kingdom and Hollywood Studios.
Speaker A:Again.
Speaker A:Please subscribe and like to the podcast.
Speaker A:If you want to know our tips on your Disney World experience, you can also reach out lauren@allthemagictravel.com Hit me up, Tony.
Speaker A:Travelwithtonydmail.com Next week, we'll talk about the Halloween party, which is up and running, give you tips and tricks.
Speaker A:Not to make a pun, but tips and tricks for your experience.
Speaker A:If you indeed are going down to the Halloween party, that'll be the next time on the Wands and Wishes podcast.
