WDW 8/15 - 8/20

[FRD714]

Just got back from my 5 day WDW trip. Stayed at the Pop Century Resort for the fourth time now. I love this resort for many reasons. One being the fact that it's inexpensive. I use to stay at the Grand Floridian, but I really don't like that atmosphere and it doesn't seem like a kid friendly hotel. I love the food court at Pop. Many items to choose from and it's very convenient. The bus transportation is great. You never have to wait long for a bus.

Day 1: Magic Kingdom
Day 2: Hollywood Studios
Day 3: Animal Kingdom & EPCOT
Day 4: Magic Kingdom & Hollywood Studios (EMH)
Day 5: EPCOT (Half Day Only)

The trip was going great up until saturday night when they predicted Fay would hit Florida. I was pretty concerned that the trip would be cut short way too early. No one knew exactly when it was going to hit, or what it would bring. There was little talk though about it around the resort and parks. When they finally said it was going to hit around Tuesday sometime, I knew the trip was over for sure. Since school was starting, and the storm was most likely going to hit, I thought for sure the parks were going to be DEAD. To my surprise, it was the most crowded day so far. I thought I was going to wake up to a huge storm Tuesday morning. Turns out Fay was going to just miss us, but the rain wasn't. I attempted to get a full day in at the parks, but the rain started to come down while I was at EPCOT (which was the busiest I had ever seen that park), so I headed to my hotel room for the rest of the day. I woke up wednesday (today) hoping for a nice day so I could hit a ride or two at the Studios one more time, but the rain was still falling. My bus came at 12:45PM and I headed for the airport. End of trip.

So the trip started off well, but in the end, it was just a mess. It was plagued by worries Fay would hit. She still made a nice dent in the trip even though she didn't hit directly. I'm hoping next year will be better.

Here's some reviews of new and old attractions.....

Monster's Inc. Laugh Floor - 2/5 Stars: My original plan was to skip this attraction because I had heard it wasn't that good, but since MK had EMH that night and we hit every ride in the park already, I decided to try it out. 10 minute wait only. I think this is definitely a kids only attraction. The content was just too corny. I like the fact that guests can interact with the show, but it's just not my thing.

Haunted Mansion - 5/5 Stars: Not much to say, but it really looks good since they rehabbed it.

Toy Story Midway Mania - 5/5 Stars: So my pre-review for this ride was that it wouldn't be any better than Buzz at MK. Just one of those rides you do once every trip. I waited 70 minutes and finally got to the loading platform. This ride is AMAZING. The games and scoring system is pure brilliant. Rode this 4 times the whole trip. Totally worth the wait, and Mr. Potato Head is so cool. I was impressed when he pulled his ear off and then put it back on. And I love how he interacts with the guests.

Rock 'n' Roller Coaster: First time I've been back since they changed up the que line. I thought they would totally ruin it, but it actually looks nice and works very well. Single rider line is a good way to get a quick ride. I managed 11 rides the entire trip which would bring my total to 52. A long time ago it was mentioned a CM would take part in the pre show and grab Joe Perry's "Black Les Paul" when asks for it. Well I finally saw it. I walked into the pre show and 5 CM's were in the recording area messing around. They basically screwed around until Joe Perry wanted his guitar. Then they fought over it and ran out. Really ruined the pre show if it was someone's first time.

Tower of Terror: Same old Tower I love. Short waits as usual. Monday, they had one shaft running only one drop sequence. Don't know why, but WDI was walking around so they may have been up to something. It had to be the BEST drop sequence I've ever had on that ride. Four full drops from top to bottom. Rode that side all day.

Spaceship Earth - 5/5 Stars: Haven't been on it since the rehab. The new scenes and ending is great. I actually rode it twice.


Click here for photos!

More photos to be added soon.

[zjohn1988]

No Typhoon Lagoon? How could you not want to come visit me..........

As for Tower of Terror, Alpha/Bravo/Echo has been "sick".

Did you ever attempt the single rider line for TSM? Shortest wait I had there on Monday was 20 minutes using singles. Oh and what was your best score?

[FRD714]

^I've actually never visited a water park at WDW. It just never interested me. If I ever take a long trip to WDW, I'll probably go to both of them.

I was also there on Monday pretty much all day until 12am. I tried single rider once. It was actually the only time it was open the entire trip. It was almost an hour and it started at the bottom of the stairs by the 3D glasses. My highest score was 140,000 out of the four times I played. Pretty low, but I experimented with different types of ways to play it. I think the best way is to just aim and go crazy. Your accuracy will be terrible, but your score will be higher.

[zjohn1988]

Best I have gotten in 197,000..I was shocked to see the single rider line closing every 30 minutes during EMH because the -line was longer [waiting] than stand-by..During the day I literally walked on using single rider while the stand by was at 85 minutes. Ive also noticed by taking a moment to look around the screens, there are many targets worth a good amount of points. Plus if you clear a section, u can unlock bigger award targets which can greatly help your score..

If you ever go back and have a free day, let me know and I may be able to get you some free tix to TL;if you don't like it, you can't complain that you wasted your money.

[FRD714]

^Sounds like a deal to me.

Yeah, I love how some of those big point targets off to the side will shoot air and water at you if you hit them.

And it's rumored they have closed single rider completely for TSM now.