Hello everyone! We're back with another blog post! Recently, we visited Walt Disney World and Orlando for our winter vacation, and here's what happened!
Day #1- Plane rides and Hollywood Studios!
After a flight from DC to Orlando, we hopped on the Magical Express bus to the Polynesian Village Resort at Walt Disney World. We quickly settled into the room, I grabbed the cameras and we were off to Hollywood studios via the Disney Transport Bus.
Another look at the awesome lights!
Keeping with the Disney spirit, the Christmas tree was beautiful in the Polynesian lobby.
The pool was undergoing construction, but they gave us free Blizzard Beach tickets! Unfortunately, we didn'tt have time to visit the waterpark.
We arrived in Orlando in the late afternoon, so we had to move or ditch one of our FastPasses. We bumped back Star Tours, but it had a short wait, so we did it after Tower of Terror, the best drop tower of all time (and the only one I've ever enjoyed)!
After a quick bus ride, we were at the Studios Park, which barely ever hosted productions.
This view looks a lot different today! The Chinese theatre is poking through, and I wonder what it'l be like in a few weeks!
I actually will miss the hat! The Chinese theatre is still poking through!
The Tower of Terror could be my favorite Disney ride. It was my first time on it, and what I realized is that the seatbelt really makes it a different, better ride experience than the average drop tower! Must be the Disney Magic!
I'm not a drop tower person, and I LOVED Tower of Terror. I'm not a simulator person, and I LOVED Star Tours: The Adventure Continues as I rode it for the first time that day. I have only liked a few simulators ever-The Simpsons Ride at Universal, Minion Mayhem at Universal, and now Star Tours!
Since it was dark by the time we reached it, my camera couldn't take any good photos, so here's Star Tours! The simulators have thousands of different ride experiences built in so each ride is different as you cruise with the Star Wars characters. Overall it's a fantastic ride!
After Star Tours was Muppet Vision 3D! Muppet Vision 3D was created due to a lack of attractions at Hollywood Studios upon opening, and competition with Universal Studios Orlando which boasted 30 attractions upon opening. The ride is a 3D film (with some great 3D) that takes place in Muppet Labs and has a fun story tied into it.
While I may not have been able to get a good picture of the ride, the great family ride has a giant Kermit the Frog on top (as shown here from Streets of America)
Here's the Streets of America. Isn't it so amazing looking!
The Streets of America were decorated with some of the most impressive lights I've ever seen. The lights flash on and off in a musical "show" for Christmas. Be on the lookout for the hidden Mickeys. *Cough The Earth *Cough.
The only Rock N' Roller Coaster picture I got (from earlier in the day). I love this ride! This is one of the best Vekomas you can find on Earth! It's just a fun launch into some great inversions with awesome Aerosmith music playing!
After our afternoon in Hollywood studios, we went back to the Polynesian and ate a delicious dinner at the Kona Cafe. The food was delicious and several say it has the best sushi at Disney. I recommend seafood while eating at this restaurant. So this is the end of Day 1 for A Very Disney Christmas! Stay tuned for Parts 2 and 3 coming soon! Be sure to follow the blog here today and follow us on the other social media sites! Thank you for reading!
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Hello, Theme Parks and Travels readers! This is a very overdue Trip Report from Dollywood! We were at Dollywood in late November on Black Friday. It was very cold so we started off the day with limited rides operating. We came into the park and ran towards the #6 Wooden Coaster in the world (Golden Ticket Awards), Thunderhead. Thunderhead is just an awesome ride. It's smooth, fast, and has a very unique layout.
Thunderhead boasts a whopping 32 crossovers and 22 turns. Its twisty layout makes for a great and unique ride!
Thunderhead is one of my favorite wooden coasters. It has the elements of crossovers, speed, turns, airtime, and a smooth ride experience.
The turns on Thunderhead are well banked and provide for a great ride!
Thunderhead navigates its way through the woods on the hillside of Dollywood.
After riding the amazing Thunderhead GCI Woodie, we decided to check out if Mystery Mine was open. It was closed so we continued down the path to find FireChaser Express and Wild Eagle closed. After running past those new editions, we reached a classic Arrow looper, Tennessee Tornado. The Tennessee Tornado is probably the best arrow looper I've ever been on. It is another ride built into the hillside and has a great drop into some fun, but a tiny bit rough loops.
The drop of the Tennessee Tornado was pure airtime, I wasn't in my seat! The ride was relatively smooth with a few bangs of the head. Compared to other Arrows like Anaconda, it was golden!
After Tennessee Tornado, we were hungry. We ate at one of the few indoor restaurants that a year-round mountain park had to offer, Miss Lillian's Chicken House. The food was okay, but not (in my opinion) as good as average theme park food. It was fried chicken and a few other options in an "all you care to eat" buffet. You can't expect too much from that, except for the fact that Dollywood was voted "Best Food" of any amusement park by Amusement Today. We were completely disagreeing with Amusement Today, then we tried this yummy food...
The Cinnamon Bread from The Grist Mill made me realize why they won "Best Food." It was so amazing! The Cinnamon Bread was one of the best things I've ever had, and definitely the best food I've found in an amusement park.
After lunch, it was time for Blazing Fury. I wasn't sure what the ride was, but it pretty much was a slow moving ride about fire raging a village. Suddenly, the bridge catches on fire, and you go into the first drop. After two or three more drops you come into the station. It is a nice little ride to do quickly during your day and also a great ride for families. Next was FireChaser Express, which had developed a long line as more people crowded into the park on the frigid Smoky Mountain Day. Wild Eagle still wasn't open, but it would open as we rode FireChaser Express. Be sure to watch my POV of FireChaser Express. Footage provided by Dollywood.
FireChaser Express is a new addition to Dollywood in 2014 and is the first family coaster to have a forward and a reverse launch. It has multiple track switches with one of the most unique layouts at Dollywood.
FireChaser is the type of ride that everyone can enjoy. It's not too big, but it's not too small. It's a thrilling unique ride built (again) onto the hillside. It races through a curvy layout featuring a forwards launch, a lift hill, and a reverse launch.
The theming on FireChaser is very well done and beautiful. The queue line has several pieces of fire related knick knacks.
Finally, after lunch the ride opened up for us to ride! Of course, the queue had reached a length of at least 45 minutes, most likely an hour.
Everyone loved this ride. I only saw smiling faces coming off of the ride.
Next on the lineup was Wild Eagle. It's a fantastic B&M WingRider that in my opinion is better than GateKeeper, the other WingRider I've been on. Another Dollywood hillside coaster with smooth loops and airtime galore on the drops and hills! All of the elements of Wild Eagle felt perfected. B&M never lets me down! Be sure to watch the awesome Wild Eagle POV. Footage provided by Dollywood.
Wild Eagle has an awesome Eagle Statue Outside!
One of the few B&M Coasters without a pre-drop! The drop doesn't look like too much, but you get going fast!
Wild Eagle's amazing inversions look great above Mystery Mine.
Wild Eagle being built onto the hill adds a whole new element to the ride.
The speedy lift hill makes the drop even faster than normal.
Next up was Mystery Mine. Mystery Mine was a fun roller coaster. Another popular ride with us. Only a few warnings for Mystery Mine:
1) The signs in the queue for how long the wait are very wrong. 30 minutes means 1 hour.
2) If you are too tall or large, they kick you out very soon. We saw at least 5 people being turned down from riding.
Mystery Mine was pretty smooth, with a few bangs of the head as expected. I love the ending 95 degree drop into a heartline roll and an immleman loop.
I love the exterior facade of Mystery Mine. The theming on this ride was very good, especially for a non-Disney/Universal park. The inversions at the end were my favorite part!
The ride has two vertical lift hills and a 90 degree drop. It has this crazy 90 degree banked turn, which I for some reason loved, and much more!
Mystery Mine had the best theme song of any ride ever!
We had a great coaster-crazed day at Dollywood. We only rode roller coasters. We would have spent much longer at Dollywood if we didn't have to drive two hours to get there. Dollywood has a great lineup of roller coasters. I liked each and every ride and each one is very impressive. Another thing I took from my day at Dollywood was their obsession with fire. Blazing Fury is a ride about a burning village, FireChaser Express is about fire, and Mystery Mine has a fiery gas explosion. Thank you for reading our Trip Report from Dollywood! Special thanks to Dollywood for providing the amazing video footage! Be sure to check us out on other social media sites and keep reading this blog!
