The Land and The World

As a continuation talking about my trip to Florida, I will recount some of the four days I spent at Walt Disney World. Since most of you have been to Disneyland, I will draw parallels between the two.

By its size and infrastructure, Disney World makes Disneyland look like an amateur project. Disney World is four different parks: the Magic Kingdom, Epcot, Hollywood Studios, and the Animal Kingdom. Disneyland is only the Magic Kingdom and California Adventure. Disney World is a huge Disney owned complex. In addition to the parks, there are hotels, water parks, a Downtown Disney area, and large amounts of trees, lakes, and space between everything. One of Walt's disappointments about Disneyland was the cheap shops that sprung up around his park, so Disney World has a lot of empty space around it. Now I will compare a few points directly.

Indiana Jones- The World does not have a ride like the one at Disneyland. Instead Hollywood Studios has a good show where they demonstrate a lot of the stunts for Raiders of the Lost Ark.

Magic Kingdom- The Magic Kingdom is a copy of the one in Disneyland. It is more spaced out so they can put extra rides or sit down restaurants in between places. A few rides are missing and a few other ones are added. Instead of having a New Orleans Square they have a Liberty Square.

Animal Kingdom- This is a combination of a zoo and an amusement park. If you go there you must go on the Expedition Everest ride. Go on it right away or get a Fastpass. The idea is you are going up Mount Everest to look for the Yeti. The line is a climbing preparation area and museum of Yeti lore. The roller coaster starts with a long climb up the mountain and a great view of the surrounding area for miles around. Then instead of a scary drop the track in front of you ends. Just as you are wondering what the heck will happen next, you start rolling backwards and have no idea where you are going. This ride redeems Disney World for not having the Matterhorn.

Space Mountain- In Anaheim, this has riders sit in pairs, while in Florida people sit in seats one behind the other. I did not like the Florida one as much. There were almost no projections of stars or galaxies and no musical soundtrack to give a feeling during the ride. Some things might have been broken, as later in the day I took a PeopleMover like ride through the mountain and the lights were on and the ride was stopped.

Splash Mountain- There were seating changes with single line vs. pairs except they were reversed from Space Mountain. This time I have pictures to explain. First is the Disney World Splash Mountain. There are four pairs of seats with my cousins Zip and Fred in the front and Uncle Paul in the back. I wanted to do something that showed I was not afraid and holding my hands up was the best pose I could think of.

This is contrasted with the Disneyland version where there are six seats in a single row. Pictured front to back are Larry, Terrance, my Associate, me, and a random person we did not know. We are doing a left hand salute in honor of our friends who were not there.

If you want to know more than you ever wanted to know about the parks and their characteristics, the Unnamed Geniuses have many articles about the parks and their attractions. I spent a couple of hours reading about different things.

Star Tours- This was in Hollywood Studios. Like other attractions including the Haunted Mansion, it is a shot for shot reproduction of the one in Disneyland. The only differences were minor changes in the waiting area.

I have been on Star Tours many times, maybe even too many times if that is possible. However, this makes it fun because I can point out little things to the people I am with. For example, if you look up at the small screen with R2 on the right at the end you can see the Death Star explode behind the Starspeeder. Also, the droid who is piloting, Rex, has a red ribbon on him that says "Remove before flight." I am very pleased they have not changed Star Tours to represent the atrocious movies that were recently made. However, that may not last. They will be closing Star Tours this summer and redoing it.

Some Disney World only Things

I already mentioned the Expedition Everest (Animal Kingdom), but these other rides deserve special mention:

• Rock 'n' Roller Coaster Starring Aerosmith (Hollywood Studios)- This coaster runs inside and is in the dark. The idea is you are going to an Aerosmith concert through LA freeways. I would yell out things like "It's the 5," "The 101," or "It's Randy's Donuts" based on the signs in the ride but I don't think anyone got what I was referring to. In keeping with an authentic feel for Southern California freeways, the ride goes from 0 to 60 in 2.8 seconds and has two roll-overs and a corkscrew.


• Test Track by GM (Epcot)- The closest thing I can compare this to is the Rocket Rods. Riders are in an experimental car that is being tested on a proving ground. It goes over bumpy roads, sharp turns, rapid accelerations and breaking, and one point where it goes over 60 miles an hour.


• Mission: SPACE (Epcot)- This is the best motion simulator ride I have been on. It reminded me of the Shuttle Launch Experience I went on the day before. The simulator simulates a mission to Mars, produces 2.5Gs, and is interactive. Everyone is assigned a role such as commander or engineer and has the job of pushing buttons at certain times to do things such as separate the rocket's first stage or deploy the craft's wings. They had motion sickness bags in easy reach of all the riders.

Disneyland is good because almost everything worth doing can be done in one day. However, Disney World is a massive place that takes four days to go through and rightly deserves being the most visited resort in the world.