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WDW Trip Report – 08/27/2010

By WDW Fan Boys on August 28, 2010 in Trip Reports 0

Early as the morning broke, we arose to the gentle rush of the soft Florida breeze and the harsher rush of Brett brushing off Illuminations grime in the shower. We began the day at about 10 in the Magic Kingdom, the handsome parent to the red-headed step-child known as the Animal Kingdom. After connecting with Tim and Marie, who obtained something I refer to as “Ha ha, look at us pass you in line whenever we want” Fastpasses, we quickly moved into Tomorrowland. Donning our WDW Fan Boys T-shirts, we gained the interest and attention of several Cast Members early in the day. For those of you who saw us in our shirts and didn’t stop to say hello, prepare to be offended in a future show. Early in the day, we connected with Mr. and Mrs. Zack, who were very congenial and don’t deserve any sort of oppression at all. They also took a mildly controversial anti-polio stance. We moved on to the Space Mountain and waited in a relatively short standby line. I’m personally enjoying the games you can play in some (two) of the Disney attractions. They space out the line movement perfectly and pass the time very efficiently. During our wait in the line, we briefly got to see the lights come on as the ride was down. After the lights came back, I believe the ride was fueled by the cheers of the heartened proletariat.

After Space Mountain, we headed to the TTAP and recorded a live bit on the ride that you’re to hear soon. After TTAP, we had a Great Big Beautiful Tomorrow, wishing for laser discs and car phones. We then decided to take a break from Tomorrowland and headed to Pecos Bills for wraps, raps (PUMP UP THE VOLUME, DANCE DANCE!) and burgers. We then headed to the best attraction on property, I beat the crap out of a hitchhiking ghost (he didn’t pay the shipping cost for his WDW Fan Boys t-shirt) and photobombed Lou Mongello. Yes, you read that correctly. Tim spotted Lou recording a video bit in Liberty Square and Brett and I combined our marketing minds and stood behind the camera pointing at our t-shirts. Hey, bad publicity is still publicity, right? After the incident, Brett was kind enough to direct traffic around Lou so he could finish recording his bit uninterrupted.

We had a chance to hand our standard business card to Lou Mongello and weren’t surprised at all when he exchanged a holographic business card.

Lou, if you happen to read this, we really did enjoy meeting you and look forward to speaking with you soon!

We then headed to Jungle Cruise and enjoyed the charismatic monologue of our skipper, David and ignored the interruptive dialogue of our Fanboy, Brett. After the Cruise, we footed our way through Adventureland for some Dole Whips (you’re welcome, Scott) and Pirates of the Caribbean. After footing our way back to Tomorrowland, we headed to Monsters Inc Laugh Floor, where Tim was sorely disappointed that his joke was not repeated and we were all sorely disappointed that Brett continued to tell his jokes in mixed company. As you can see, our touring plan bears no resemblance to anything like an intelligible way to tour a park, which is why we headed from Tomorrowland back into Fantasyland to see Mickey’s PhilharMagic, Winnie the Pooh and Peter Pan. We then continued back into Liberty Square to see the updated (yes, I know it was awhile ago) Hall of Presidents and I was quite impressed with the Obama animatronic. After a final ride through the Haunted Mansion in the evening, the rain began. And it rained, and it rained and it rained.. So much that we unfortunately missed Main Street Electrical Parade for the evening. Though we saw Wishes through a thick veil of smoke that eventually masked Cinderella’s Castle from sight, the rain forced us out of the park for a wet, though entirely satisfying, evening.

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FanBoy Loyalty Program For every $1000+ in combined purchases you spend per calendar year through our Amazon link, we will give you a t-shirt of your choice. Our new shop is up and running, and we have t-shirts available with our current and classic, regular and uncensored logos. All you need to do is send us a list of the items that you purchased, we’ll verify it against our records and then we’ll send you the t-shirt of your choice.

Project Fan Boy Contest Win a chance to appear on our show in a short segment where you can talk about a topic of your choosing with us. Winners will also receive WDW Fan Boys swag, and Brett will record a custom outgoing voice mail message for you. To enter the contest send us an e-mail, video, or audio file explaining why you should be on the show. The funnier the better. All entries should be submitted to questions@wdwfanboys.com.

WDW Trip Report – 02/07/2010

By WDW Fan Boys on February 8, 2010 in Trip Reports 0

February 7

We deliberately got a late start this morning because we knew we were in for a late night. We woke up a little after 10:00 to find several animals outside our windows, as you can see below with some pictures and video:

While we were getting ready in the morning, Marie put on Full House, specifically the episode titled “Just Say No Way“ where DJ’s boyfriend Kevin is caught with alcohol at a school dance. Why is this important you might ask? Well Scott Curtis, the actor who played Kevin also starred in Cranium Command as Buzzy… I miss Wonders of Life.

After watching animals for a bit, we took advantage of the “free ride along” at the Richard Petty Driving Experience. It was a 3 lap ride along, and both Marie and I really enjoyed it. I was a bit worried about getting into the car, but other than my gigantic melon getting caught on something, I was fine. You can see our ride along video below. I apologize for some parts being blurry, I’m not sure what happened with my camera for those clips.

We didn’t know how long the Richard Petty Experience would take, but we were there for under an hour, so we decided to head over to Epcot for a few hours before our 5:45 dinner reservation at Jiko. Our first stop was The Land Pavilion to get Soarin’ Fastpasses and ride Living with the Land. We were in one of the new boats, some points of note:

The wheelchair area is in the back, and we were in the front of the boat, which was previously occupied by the narrator.
Not all of the boats are handicapped accessible, so it appears they will go with a combination of the old and new boats.
Sitting in the front we noticed how clear the water was, and how dirty the pipes and boat channel are.
The narration changed in the greenhouses, but one thing remained the same – talking about the tomato tree – except the tomato tree wasn’t there.
The garage door that leads to the greenhouses was making quite a bit of noise when it rose up, there was a cast member standing very close to it on the right side, seemingly observing the cause of the noise. Functionally it seemed to be in full working order, but the noise was probably a concern.

Does anyone else find it strange that The Land Pavilion houses a boat ride and a flight simulator?

We followed up Living with the Land with a stop at Club Cool where none of the dispensers had the Isreal or Mozambique drinks. Afterwards we went to Mexico for Floutas at the leftover stand from The Food and Wine Festival. We brought these over to Norway where we started our Kim Possible mission. This was our first time doing the Kim Possible World Showcase Adventure. It’s a time consuming experience, but if it gets children in and around World Showcase than it’s a success. I don’t want to brag, but we found the Jade Monkey.

We had the fortunate experience of a ride stoppage on Maelstrom. At the bottom of the drop into the oil field are boat just stopped, and we sat there for 9 minutes. The ride started up again though and the conveyer belt system at the bottom of the drop was able to push us on our way. While waiting in line I overheard a great question, “Do you think this ride would have been more popular today if the Vikings were in the Super Bowl?” After our high seas adventure, we walked on to The Gran Fiesta Tour. The last screen before the finale (the room with 3 screens on the left side, and balloons in front of them) was not on. The audio was there, but no video.

Continuing along the front part of World Showcase, we went over to see O Canada for our amoosement (we can thank the Canadian host for that bad pun).

Following O Canada, we made our way over to Test Track and rode in the single rider line. There was a trail of vomit extending from the end of the ABS zone through the environmental chambers. Before getting on the ride we saw a cast member leaving with a bunch of sawdust, so presumably it was fresh and just hadn’t been covered up yet. On a more positive note the on ride photo display was working. We also noticed some temporary planters that were placed along the left side of the path between Test Track and Mouse Gear, this was blocking another path – perhaps they’re doing some replanting from the frost. The timeline from the 25th Anniversary Gallery is still up, but the doors that led to the Gallery were locked. No idea if the Gallery is still back there.

Our day at Epcot was complete with a trip on Soarin’ before we headed back to our hotel.

As mentioned earlier, we had a 5:45 reservation at Jiko. I enjoyed my Filet Mignon over Mac and Cheese, and I actually liked the Filet Mignon at Jiko better than Le Cellier. After dinner we went back to our room to watch the Saints fail to convert on 4th and Goal towards the end of the second half. It was weird not watching the Super Bowl, but we wanted to take advantage of the light crowds during Magic Kingdom’s Evening Extra Magic hours.

We arrived at the Magic Kingdom just at the end of Wishes (8:15-8:20) and stopped at City Hall to get 2010 Disney Dollars for my father, however we were told they didn’t have any available. Not sure if they have been discontinued or they just haven’t printed this years. By 8:25 we had made our way through the departing crowd from Wishes and the crowd that had started lining up for Spectromagic. Over at the Jungle Cruise we had a very good Skipper from Argentina named Elisa. I was most impressed by her ability to pick up on English sarcasm, which is one of the hardest things to develop when not speaking in your native tongue. Our tour around the park consisted of 10 different attractions, part of Spectromagic and an additional trip on Buzz Lightyear’s Space Ranger Spin) in less than 3 1/2 hours. The order went Jungle Cruise, Pirates of the Caribbean, Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, First few minutes of Spectromagic, Hall of Presidents, Haunted Mansion, it’s a small world, Mickey’s PhilharMagic, Buzz Lightyear’s Space Ranger Spin, Monster’s Inc Laugh Floor, Space Mountain and Buzz Lightyear’s Space Ranger Spin again. Some observations from the evening:

Hall of Presidents: The closing song “Glory Glory Hallelujah” was added at the end of January.
Hall of Presidents: I can only assume that the inventors of the sex/human robot had Martin Van Buren’s animatronic in mind
Hall of Presidents: It’s time we bring back presidential beards. in the 1800s there were some great beards that in this generation are rivaled only by Zach Galifianakis and the caddy from Happy Gillmore.
Haunted Mansion: There has been an effect in the seance room for quite some time. It’s a black screen with a green graphic moving around it, almost like a screen saver. Does anyone know what this is supposed to be?
It’s a Small World: Did I miss a minor refurbishment on this? I noticed a few things like different graphics for the suns that appeared in multiple scenes as well as a giant basket of fruit.
Mickey’s PhilharMagic: Why does Donald need pixie dust to fly? He’s a duck.
Space Mountain: There is only one sign that indicates how many seconds to launch, and it’s at 20 seconds. The sign is also in the new graphics scheme, the old one seems to still be there but they don’t light them up for the other time intervals.
Space Mountain: The audio in the Alpha re-entry tunnel seems to be timed a bit better than the audio in the Omega re-entry tunnel. I think Omega is a bit late.
Space Mountain: The green screen effects are pretty bland. The backgrounds that they use have little movement, they could probably do more with this.

Buzz Lightyear Scores

Trip 1: Tim 834,500, Marie 537,800
Trip 2: Tim 479,900, Marie 999,999

Wait times throughout the day:
12:41 Spaceship Earth: Standby 10 minutes
12:48 Soarin’ : Standby 55 minutes, Fastpass 4:18-5:18
12:48 Living with the Land: Standby 20 minutes
2:20 Maelstrom: Standby 20 minutes, Fastpass 3:00-4:00, Actual Standby 12 minutes
2:46 Maelstrom: Standby 10 minutes, Fastpass 3:25-4:25
2:50 Gran Fiesta Tour: Standby No Wait
3:49 Test Track: Standby 5 minutes, Fastpass 5:10-6:10, Single Ride 5 minutes
4:18 Soarin’: Standby 55 minutes, Fastpass 7:09-8:09
4:52 Spaceship Earth: Standby 5 minutes
8:25 Jungle Cruise: Standby 5 minutes, Fastpass 9:00-10:00
8:42 Pirates of the Caribbean: Standby 5 minutes
8:55 Big Thunder Mountain Railroad: Standby 30 minutes, No Fastpass, Actual Standby 9 minutes
9:55 Haunted Mansion: Standby 5 minutes
10:10 It’s a Small World: Standby 5 minutes
10:25 Peter Pan’s Flight: Standby 20 minutes, Fastpass 11:05-12:05
10:28 Mickey’s PhilharMagic: Standby 10 minutes
10:51 The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh: Standby 10 minutes, Fastpass 11:30-12:30
10:52 Tomorrowland Speedway: Standby 20 minutes
10:57 Buzz Lightyear’s Space Ranger Spin: Standby 10 minutes, Fastpass 11:35-12:35, Actual Standby 1 minute
11:24 Space Mountain: Standby 20 minutes, Fastpass 12:00-12:30, Actual Standby 13 minutes
11:45 Buzz Lightyear’s Space Ranger Spin: Standby 10 minutes, Fastpass 12:25-1:00, Actual Standby 1 minute

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WDW Trip Report – 11/27/2009

By WDW Fan Boys on November 28, 2009 in Trip Reports 0

Our day began at the Magic Kingdom at 10:45, but we didn’t get in line for our first attraction until around 11:45. We were working with a group of 10 people today, each of us with our own difficulties that would slow us down to a pace of about one attraction every hour. Thankfully, we were able to utilize Disney’s guest assistance pass for my autistic brother, but the pass is only good for 6 people. For those of you that are unfamiliar, the pass allows guests with disabilities a shorter wait in line, typically by using the Fastpass queue. Unfortunately, our group was larger than 6 people, so I have been in charge of parading around the park to collect Fastpasses for use later in the day.

We did a bit of manipulating the system by utilizing both Fastpass and the Guest Assistance pass when we could. When we entered the park, it was myself, my parents, my brother, sister, brother-in-law and nephew. Everyone but myself went into the barbershop so that my nephew could get a hair cut. During this time, my aunt, uncle and cousin joined them. While this was going on, I had made the first of many trips for Fastpass collection, going to Adventureland (Jungle Cruise) and Frontierland (Splash Mountain and Big Thunder Mountain Railroad). I then met back up with them in Adventureland (and while waiting I bought some Cinnamon Glazed Almonds). At around 11:45 and we all jumped in line for Pirates of the Caribbean and waited 25 minutes. My sister noticed that the audio seemed to be improved. I know that audio improvements were cut from the refurb from a few years ago, but perhaps they have been gradually making those changes.

After Pirates of the Caribbean, we all went on the Jungle Cruise where we had a very good Skipperette. If she was utilizing the new Jungle Cruise script it seemed to be quite a bit of the old script with a few new bits/jokes incorporated. The capgun had a sound effect of a gunshot, which I suppose is better than nothing.

We continued around towards Frontierland as everyone but my pregnant sister and 3 1/2 month old nephew went on Splash Mountain and Big Thunder Mountain Railroad. The 8 of us filled a log on Splash Mountain so my father and aunt each bought 5×7 photos. While we were completing 2/3rds of the Magic Kingdom mountain range, my sister was watching my nephew enjoy the Laughing Place jungle gym area. Between the two rides I took a few pictures of him as seen below:

We all went over to Pecos Bill for lunch at around 2:00 PM. They were trying to employ their new “efficiency” plan, where the only allowed guests to sit at a table if they had food. In theory it’s a good idea but trying to shoehorn it into an existing location without a “holding area” of sorts for people waiting for the rest of their party to get food makes it more of a hassle than anything.

After lunch the group split up as my nephew, sister, and brother-in-law watched the 3:00 parade, my father and I went to City Hall to get replacement gift cards for our Disney Visa cards (he forgot his at home, and mine was never sent to me). Everyone else went over to the Haunted Mansion. As I exited Pecos Bill I couldn’t help but notice a woman walking while breast feeding, and she was making little to no effort to cover herself. I recognize that the crowds were pretty heavy, but I thought this was very inappropriate.

We all met back in Fantasyland as my brother, sister, mother, brother-in-law, nephew, and cousin all went on Peter Pan’s Flight the rest of us waited outside. Afterwards, my brother, father, brother-in-law, nephew, aunt and cousin went on “it’s a small world” while my mother, sister, uncle and I saw Mickey’s PhilharMagic.

Mickey’s PhilharMagic prodded the following question, “Why does Donald Duck need pixie dust in the Peter Pan scene? He’s a duck, he should be able to fly.”

The Dream-Along With Mickey castle stage show, and the Move It! Shake It! Celebrate It Street Party slowed our departure before we headed over to Hollywood Studios. I did notice that the torches at the Polynesian resort entry way were lit, I was under the impression that they had stopped doing that.
Here a few photos of the castle I took on the way out:

My parents getting their photo taken by the Photopass person for their 40th Anniversary

We arrived at the Studios a little before 7:00 PM. My uncle was feeling a bit under the weather so he went back to his hotel straight from the Magic Kingdom. My sister, mother and nephew went to look for the Toy Story characters, and they also saw Voyage of the Little Mermaid. Meanwhile, the rest of us went on Tower of Terror and Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster. It was my cousin’s first time experiencing Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster, and she really seemed to enjoy it.

Dinner at the ABC Commissary was relaxing, and my parents and my sister stayed inside while the rest of us went over to Toy Story Mania. I sat with my nephew, and spent the practice game, part of the first game, and in between the other games trying to teach him how to use the spring action shooters. Of course, he figured it out as soon as the ride was over. After the final shooting screen he started pulling the string on the shooter. On the plus side, I had a commanding 167,600 to 0 point victory.

Following Toy Story Mania, we spent a good 20 minutes walking around the Osborne Dancing Lights. We saw them dance twice before heading home for the night. While walking out we could see Illuminations, and we caught the very end of the Peace on Earth Holiday tag right before boarding the tram. For those of you interested in wait time information, I kept track of quite a bit as I went on my Fastpass runs for the rest of my family. The were as follows:

11:14 AM: Jungle Cruise – 30 minute wait, Fastpass Distribution 11:50AM-12:50PM
11:16 AM: Pirates of the Caribbean – 5 minute wait
11:19 AM: Big Thunder Mountain Railroad – 60 minute wait, Fastpass Distribution 12:25PM-1:25PM
11:23 AM: Splash Mountain – 10 minute wait, Fastpass Distribution 12:00PM-1:00PM
12:15 PM: Splash Mountain – 25 minute wait, Fastpass Distribution 12:55PM-1:55PM
12:55 PM: Buzz Lightyear’s Space Ranger Spin – 65 minute wait, Fastpass Distribution 2:20PM-3:20PM
12:55 PM: Space Mountain was down
12:55 PM: Stitch’s Great Escape – 10 minute wait, Fastpass Unavailable
1:02 PM: Peter Pan’s Flight – 55 minute wait, Fastpass Distribution 6:00PM – 7:00PM
2:00 PM: Big Thunder Mountain Railroad – 60 minute wait, Fastpass Distribution 5:40PM-6:40PM
3:22 PM: Space Mountain – 95 minute wait, Fastpass Unavailable
3:30 PM: Peter Pan’s Flight – 65 minute wait, Fastpass Distribution 9:15PM-10:15PM
3:30 PM: it’s a small world – 30 minute wait
4:48 PM: Peter Pan’s Flight – 65 minute wait, Fastpass Distribution 9:15PM-10:15PM
7:10 PM: Tower of Terror – 60 minute wait, Fastpass Unavailable
8:47 PM: Toy Story Mania – 90 minute wait, Fastpass Unavailable

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