My Favorite Things at Disney World: #4

At #4 we have an attraction that has a little of everything that I’ve mentioned. There is great theming, great atmosphere and most of all it is just a blast. This is a ride and a game all in one, plus it is full of innovation and interactivity. I am of course talking about Toy Story Midway Mania.

Back in the early days of Disneyland there was a base admission to the park, and then you were charged based on the sets of rides you were going to go on. Ride tickets went from A-Tickets, for some of the simpler, dare I say it, less popular rides, and ticket prices went progressively up until you got to the E-Ticket rides, which were of course the bigger attractions and more elaborate experiences.  Now I do have a point in mentioning this bit of trivia.

Toy Story Mania, along with Soarin’ in EPCOT, Space and Splash Mountain in Magic Kingdom and to a lesser extent, Expedition Everest in Animal Kingdom are the modern equivalent to “E-ticket” rides. They are the signature attractions at the park, and rightfully so.

If you plan on riding, (and I fully expect everyone reading this to go based solely on my recommendations) you have 4 options.

1)      Get there early and “briskly walk” towards the ride and get in line. (Shortest wait, but possibly scary if you have children.)

2)      Get a Fastpass. (Disney’s free service which allows you to “hold a place in line”) but expect all of them to be gone by noon.

3)      Wait. Once again, when I checked on New Year’s Eve the wait was two and a half hours, and one should at least expect 40 minutes to wait.

4)      Get lucky. Once we went, notice there was only a 25 minute wait so we went for it. But that was just pure luck

So most likely, you will have to wait. If you are like me though, you might just do all 4.

But waiting is not a bad thing.

Much like Muppetvision 3-D, the queue line, is actually a lot of the fun.

As soon as you walk into Pixar Place you are “shrunk to the size of the toy”  Across the street at the gift shop and pizza planet there are Green Army Men pulling a Speak and Spell up to the roof, in front of the building the pillars are Tinker Toys. Yo-Yo’s, Alphabet blocks and Scrabble tiles make up the sign, and of course Andy’s trademark paneling wall with cloud wall paper is there.

Inside you will find game boards along the walls, Viewmaster slides, and giant Golden Books…yes Golden Books!

Plus there are tones of references to Pixar Movies, and other fun hidden stuff just hanging around. (No, that was not a barrel full of monkeys pun.)

Towards the end of the first queue line is a giant (normal sized since you are now the size of a toy.) Mr. Potato Head. However, this is not your standard sit there and stare Potato Head, it’s a fully interactive, insulting Don Rickles voiced Mr. Potato Head with removable ear.

Eventually you get to the main waiting area “under Andy’s bed.”

Andy has just received a new Midway Game set and Woody and all the other toys want you to play with it.

What follows is just pure…fun.

I thought about writing some sort of great prose about the six mini games that you play, but I think fun just about sums it up.

However this is a top 4 attraction so I will write a bit more.

Once again, I love Dark Rides, anything with characters in a ride that takes you through scenes I am a freak for. This is the 21^st century of that. 3-D screens, which interact to you’re the firing. When you pull the trigger on your ride, pies will “fly out” and “hit” the screen, causing some sort of reaction. Those reactions cause other reactions (Hint: Aim for the Mouse running across the roof of the barn.)

Now, you are scored, and the only “prize” you win is the satisfaction of beating the other person in the car, or if you’re really good, getting your score on the leader board as you leave, but I’m a competitive male, and the fact that I can NEVER beat my wife at this game just keeps me coming back for more.

During this trip we are trying to take a more relaxed pace. We realize that we don’t HAVE to open and close a park. However, we have set aside at least one day, that we ARE going to open up Hollywood Studios, and we ARE going to rush to be the first there. Sure, we know the ride will be around for a long time, but that rush is half the fun.

My Favorite Things at Disney World #6

My love for Tower of Terror actually perplexes me.

First of all, medically, I probably shouldn’t go on a ride that drops you and shoots you up so suddenly. Second of all, I REALLY hate what horror movie junkies call “jump scares” The thing is I love the Twilight Zone Tower of Terror for the total opposite reasons.

Once again it’s that mood that it sets. Every part of the ride sets up just a creepy vibe. The outside queue line is in a hotel garden, which reminds me of the Ringling House, a few hours west in Sarasota, Florida. You have that feeling of a once beautiful, but now largely unkept Florida landscape.

Once you get inside the “hotel” you really do get the feeling of being in the dusty lobby of an old hotel. The lobby is kept a little colder, so instinctively you walk in, look around and a chill runs through your body.

You are then put into the library to wait for “your room”, the lights go out, the television flickers, and Rod Serling appears, telling you the story of five people who checked into the Hollywood Tower Hotel, and never checked out, lost…to the Twilight zone.

You are moved to the Boiler Room, the regular elevators are out so you have to take the freight elevators, the creepiness continues.

You finally get into the elevator with about 15 to 20 other people. The doors close, and you feel yourself moving up, the doors open and you see a hallway, those five people who were lost. All of a sudden the hallway disappears, leaving only the window from the background. (this is an effect that still gets me even though I realize what I’m looking at.)

The lights go out, and you find yourself moving forward, now this is my one gripe with the ride. (I thought about putting a pun here about the ride “falling off a cliff” but seemed too cheesy)

You are riding through “the Twilight Zone” the “Ghosts” of the lost people floating around me, unfortunately to me they looked like “Shrinky Dinks” or plastic Ornaments, and really it took me out of it for a moment.

You keep traveling forward into the darkness, its quiet when…. you drop

The drop is smooth, you know you’re falling but you don’t get that sick feeling to your stomach (at least I didn’t, my wife disagrees.)

What comes next…well that depends. You see the computer that runs the ride is completely randomized. You may shoot up 20 feet; you may shoot up 40 feet, after that you may drop, who knows. At one point you shoot up and are looking out at the entire Hollywood Studios, if you have a quick eye you might even see Tampa.

 (Don't bother looking for us, I just found this picture.)

By the time the ride stops your heart is racing, your blood is flowing. One might say that Twilight Zone Tower of Terror is actually good for your health.

I am still not going on Rock n’ Roller Coaster though.