Tag Archives: WDW

Disney Attraction Review: Rock’n’ Roller Coaster

Posted on by

Today’s installment of “Saturday’s With Nick” offers a terrific review of one of my favorite rides.  I always loving hearing a different perspective on Disney attractions, don’t you?  Enjoy!

Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster at Disney’s Hollywood Studios

by: Nick

I never considered myself a big Aerosmith fan. Sure, I liked some of their early hits, like Sweet Emotion, Walk This Way, Dream On and Back in the Saddle, but never bought one of their albums, tapes, or CDs. And I really wasn’t a fan of their newer stuff.
But all that changed within the last few years.
I blame age.
My musical tastes have evolved, (though I’m still not a ballads guy).
With age has also come motion sickness.
What does any of this have to do with Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster Starring Aerosmith at Disney’s Hollywood Studios, you may ask?
Well, because of my lack of interest in Aerosmith, and because of motion sickness, I avoided riding this roller coaster for years.
What prompted me to get on?
Curiosity. I wanted to see if I could handle it. And you know what? I could!
But enough of all this! Let’s go on the ride!

After walking through the queue, guests enter the offices and recording studios of record label G-Force Records. The lobby is decorated with posters, rock memorabilia, and vintage recording equipment.

You then enter a room looking into the recording studio, where the five members of Aerosmith are shown working on a recording.
The group’s manager then comes in and tells the the band that they’re late for their own concert.

Lead singer Steven Tyler insists that all us fans get backstage passes to the show. The band then departs by limousine, and the manager calls for a “super stretch” to get us to the concert.

We then walk through an alley into a parking garage, owned by “Lock ‘n’ Roll Parking Systems” where we board a waiting 24 seat stretch limo for the trip across town to the event.

After loading passengers, the “limo” stops at the entrance to a tunnel.

Music is playing and an overhead sign displays a series of several different messages before a countdown. After the countdown, the car is then shot into the tunnel at 60 miles per hour.

The roller coaster goes through a series of inversions, passing signs that represent various Los Angeles Area Freeways like Interstate 5 and U.S. Route 101.
Different Aerosmith songs play, depending on which limo you get.

The ride ends when the limo arrives at the backstage of the concert venue.

I really enjoy this ride, it is very smooth, which is why I believe it doesn’t get me motion sick, and I can now enjoy Aerosmith songs in a way I couldn’t before, because they’re songs bring happy thoughts of a thrill ride I can actually go on!
I still haven’t bought any of their recordings, and for that I apologize to the members of the band who are doubtless fans of this blog!

Best Walt Disney World Foods of 2014

Posted on by

Pineapple Dole WhipI did extensive research to come up with this list of food!  See, no sacrifice is too great for you and I’m carrying around a few extra pounds to prove it.  I made the most of the two-weeks-worth of Disney food consumption opportunities I had in 2014 and now organizing my thoughts on my favorite flavors and experiences is more challenging than I thought it would be.  Since we rarely eat out for breakfast (we bring granola bars from home), listing foods by meal is out.  I’m going with four categories:  Quick Service, Table Service, Snacks, and Food & Wine Booth Foods.  This is going to be fun!  Surely I’m not alone in the fact that when I think about Walt Disney World, I think about food first!

Best Walt Disney World Foods of 2014

Quick ServiceRM-Be-Our-Guest-Stained-Glass

Overall Experience:  Be Our Guest (Magic Kingdom) – While I was not thrilled with the French Onion Soup or dessert, I was completely happy with the hearty and delicious braised pork (with mashed potatoes and green beans).  Beauty and the Beast is my favorite Disney movie and the details in Be Our Guest take you right into the movie in a way only Disney magic can create.  This restaurant offers quick service for lunch and table service for dinner.  After trying both, I highly recommend lunch over dinner.IMG_3779

Runner Up: Gaston’s Tavern (Magic Kingdom) – The roasted pork shank is incredibly delicious.  The décor is pure Gaston!

Table Service

Disney's Flying Fish Cafe InteriorOverall Experience:  Flying Fish Café – the food and service stand out above all the other places we enjoyed this year.  And that’s saying a lot!  We certainly enjoyed our dinners at Sanaa, Citricos, and California Grill, but there was something special about the Flying Fish.  We loved the location (on the Boardwalk), the atmosphere in the dining room, and the top shelf service.  The food was delicious.  From the artisanal cheese appetizer to the decadent chocolate dessert (with bacon on top!), everything was perfect.

Raglan Road RisottoRunner Up:  Raglan Road – a perennial favorite for the food, atmosphere, and entertainment.  This year’s visit was especially outstanding.  Not a place for a quiet meal, it’s a little rowdy and a lot of fun.

Snacks – I consumed a LOT of snacks!  Strictly for research purposes.  It had to be done and I was up to the challenge.  Here are the winners!IMG_3812RM-Epcot-Italy-Gelato-Affogato

Sweet Snack (It’s a TIE!):  Croissant Donut (a.k.a. Cronut) from Epcot’s Refreshment Port and Espresso Gelato “Affogato” from the Italy Pavilion.  I couldn’t choose a favorite between these two.  I loved them both the same.  One’s a warm, flaky, cinnamon-sugar-covered morsel from heaven.  The other’s cold and refreshing with a punch of espresso and cookies on top!  I’ll have to try them both again on my next visit to Epcot and see if that’ll break the tie.

IMG_3355Savory Snack – Jalapeno Cheese Pretzel:  We enjoyed this surprisingly delicious treat in Animal Kingdom.  The blend of flavors was just right to make it a perfect salty snack.

Food & Wine Booths – We tried as much as we could and loved nearly everything we ate.  There were many more winners than losers in our taste-testing and not a single dish went unfinished.  Picking ONE best dish is very difficult, but if I have to…

RM-Epcot-Food&Wine-Crispy-Pork-BellyBrazil’s Crispy Pork Belly – If you read about our experiences at the Food & Wine Festival, you’ll remember how much we loved this treat.  A nice bit of “bacon” served on a bed of black beans.  Simple yet scrumptious.

RM-Epcot-Food&Wine-Pepper-Bacon-HashRunner Up:  Pepper Bacon Hash – are you sensing a theme here?  Maybe I’m pork-deprived in my everyday life.  This dish from the Farm Fresh Booth tasted like something you could make at home.  It combined hearty potato and bacon hash with a rich and creamy hollandaise sauce, then topped it all with a few jalapeno slices.  It was rich, a little spicy, and a lot delicious!

Have you tried any of my favorites?  What foods did you like best in 2014?

Disney’s Studios – So Long Sorcerer’s Hat

Posted on by

DSCN3062Every park at Walt Disney World has a major icon.  Known affectionately as a “weenie” – a term coined by Walt Disney himself – the icon’s purpose is to draw guests forward.  Cinderella Castle in Magic Kingdom is breathtaking!  Situated as it is on the hub at the far end of Main Street U.S.A., when you enter the park, you’re drawn immediately by the castle’s splendor.  That’s exactly how a well-designed weenie is supposed to work.  Spaceship Earth in Epcot?  Yep, it’s the real deal.  The Tree of Life over at Animal Kingdom?  Without a doubt!  The Sorcerer’s Hat in Disney’s Hollywood Studios?  Well, no!  A pretty epic failure as a weenie on all fronts.  Plus, it didn’t even arrive until the park had been open more than ten years.  Poor Studios!  Weenie-less virtually since day one and nope, the Chinese Theater wasn’t a good weenie either.  More on that later.

Right now, as the Sorcerer’s Hat is about to be removed (good riddance, I say!), let’s talk about WHY the hat was a horrible failure as a Disney park icon.  As usual, here are FIVE good reasons to rejoice as we say, “So Long, Sorcerer’s Hat”! (Feel free to voice your comments and opposing opinions – you know I love a good debate!)

RM-Spaceship-EarthFive ways the Sorcerer’s Hat Failed as a park icon:

1. Thematically Askew – The park’s original design embraced the Golden Age of Hollywood.  The streets, buildings, props, and decorations all reflected that theme.  Along comes the hat.  Plopped down smack dab in front of the Chinese Theater, nothing about its form or fashion embraced the Studio’s personality.

2. Too Short – For a weenie, the hat is just the wrong shape and size.  At 122 feet tall, it’s dwarfed by the other parks’ icons.  Cinderella Castle: 189′ tall.  Spaceship Earth: 180′.  The Tree of Life: 145′.  Even compared to other Studio’s icons, the hat’s shrimpy.  The Tower of Terror is 199′ tall and the Earful Tower is 130′ high.  No other icon is pointy-topped, either – they’re all more attractively proportioned.

3. Not Generic Enough – The hat is too specific to ONE character and ONE movie.  For me, that makes it a very poor choice as a park icon.  Yes, the argument can be made that Cinderella’s RM-Cinderella-CastleCastle is named for a particular movie and character, but the graceful beauty of the structure itself is a basic representation of EVERY fairytale castle.  The hat?  Not so much.

4. Undignified – You can’t argue that it has a very cartoonish appearance.  The while-gloved, oddly attached hand makes it all the more ridiculous.  Neither graceful nor majestic, the hat’s clownishness may be cute, but does not have the right stuff to represent Disney’s Hollywood Studios properly now and certainly not into the park’s much anticipated future.  It hasn’t aged well, either.  Similar in style (and added during the same era) to the hand and wand that marred the perfection of Spaceship Earth, the hat has overstayed its welcome.

IMG_66115. Not Timeless – Isn’t that what a perfect park icon should be?  From inception, a park’s main icon should represent the park’s theme and purpose while remaining classically “Disney” for all time.  Will the Tree of Life grow old?  NO.  It was created to remain a timeless embodiment of Animal Kingdom’s very soul.  With 300+ highly detailed animal carvings and more than 100,000 man-made leaves – the tree will be amazing 100 years from now.

Back to the Chinese Theater.  The idea of creating an exact replica of the original Hollywood icon made the Chinese Theater was a poor choice as a weenie from the very beginning.  One IMG_6903problem is that it had already gone from Grauman’s Chinese Theater (opened in 1927) to Mann’s Chinese Theater (in 1973).  Now it’s TCL Chinese Theater (2013) – who knows how long it will last or by what name and ownership it may be known in the future.  A better choice would have been a generic timeless representation of Hollywood’s Golden Age.

I can think of several possible replacements for the Sorcerer’s Hat.  If the future of Disney’s Hollywood Studios indeed brings changes and additions that would prompt yet another new name for the park (rumored to become Disney’s Hollywood Adventure), I believe an icon representative of Hollywood would be in order.  How about something that reflects both stage and screen?  Literally – a stage topped by a giant, multi-sided screen would be an awesome icon.  Think about it – both the stage and the “frame” for the screen could be fancy and a charmingly old-fashioned tribute to Hollywood glamor, but the screens (3 or 4-sided for optimum viewing) would be the perfect opportunity for Disney World to show off its high-tech capabilities.  Like the jumbo-tron-type screens on the decks of Disney’s cruise ships, an enormous stage and screen display in the Studios would offer unlimited entertainment and promotional opportunities!

What would YOU replace the Sorcerer’s Hat with?  A giant movie camera/film reel statue?  Enormous popcorn box, perhaps?  Are you sad to see the hat go?  What are your thoughts on the matter?

Dishing on Disney’s Dinoland U.S.A.

Posted on by

RM-Dinoland-USA-Blue-DinoHere’s what happens – you arrive for the first time at Disney’s Animal Kingdom, you pass through the entrance and immediately become drawn in by the amazing details.  You see the incredible Tree of Life, you step into Africa and explore the savannah on safari.  You meander over to Asia and are completely swept away by the Forbidden Mountain’s breathtaking mystery.  Then you make your way to Dinoland U.S.A. and, after you recover from the shock, you do one of two things – you love it or you hate it.

Dishing on Disney’s Dinoland U.S.A.

It’s garish, tacky, cheap, and ridiculous, but completely in-your-face honest about its identity!  Dinoland U.S.A. is surprisingly different from anyplace else in the World and you may find yourself thinking, “What the heck just happened?”, but there is an undeniable draw.  Who doesn’t love dinosaurs?  The improbable blend of carnival and science, realistic IMG_6707and make-believe, scary and comical – it’s all there!  Like an off-key yet surprisingly catchy tune.  Do not resist its pull – there are many things to love about this particularly quirky side of Animal Kingdom.

There’s Chester and Hester’s Dino-Rama!  Cheap carnival rides, midway games, silly snacks – all with a pretty weird and wonderful backstory!  Personally, I’ve never played any of the midway games (they cost extra) but I absolutely LOVE Primeval Whirl.  Once I decided to give the ride a chance (thought it might RM-Primeval-Whirl-Signmake me sick with too much spinning, but I was wrong), I fell in love with it.  Mostly, I just want to hear Megan scream during every single spin – which she does in the most hilarious way!  Yes, the rides are very ordinary, basic, pre-fab-county-fair stuff, but still, there’s something lovable and familiar about them.  Step right up, folks!!!IMG_6720

While I’ve never been there, I hear the Boneyard is a great place for kids to burn off some pent up energy.  Never underestimate the importance of allowing the little ones to run free and let off some steam!  The Boneyard is a pretend dig-site with plenty of things to explore!  Interactive displays, bones to dig, rope ladders to climb, tunnels to explore.  RM-Dinoland-USAIMG_6712

Dinosaur is an interesting attraction (must be 40″ to ride) – even if you don’t love the ride itself, the Dino Institute is packed with fantastic displays – including a replica of Sue, the famous Tyrannosaurus Rex fossil discovered in 1990.  Dinosaur may be a tad intense for smaller children, but the story – the queue, the pre-ride show, the ride itself – is very creative and immersive.  IMG_6709

Oddly enough, Finding Nemo – The Musical (which has absolutely nothing to do with dinosaurs) is located in this area of the park.  Nemo fans (and guests who need a break from the Florida heat in a comfortable air-conditioned theater) will love this 40-minute show (or at least get in a great nap!).

For years I avoided this area of Animal Kingdom except for the occasional visit to ride Dinosaur.  I wasn’t willing to embrace the complete departure from the charmingly detailed Africa and Asia sections of the park.  In the past few visits, though, I’ve come to appreciate all that Dinoland U.S.A. is and isn’t and am finding my own ways to love this odd little corner of the World.

So, what about you?  What to you love about Dinoland?