My Disney World Thoughts, Experiances, Advice and Secrets

[ZooNamedGames]

As a kid, I was fortunate enough to have two very successful parents who had jobs which paid well. The upside of this and living in Florida was that I got to visit Disney World often. Like me, my parents grew up visiting the parks as well so with their knowledge and experiences in hand, I had learned fantastic shortcuts to various destinations and saw things change as time went on. Strangely I only visited the other major theme parks (Sea World, Universal and KSCVC (Kennedy Space Center Visitor Center)) once as a kid. However as of recently my visits to Disney have gotten fewer but I have started to try and make more frequent trips to the KSCVC.

This thread is simply a compilation of all my thoughts, experiences, as well as my advice to those visiting and such. I'll also answer questions as best as I can (noting I have never worked for Disney albeit I have one relative who does but never have I spoken to them about the subject) so bare that in mind. The last thing I'll provide is some secrets about the park and what rumors and stories I have heard.

That said; I'll just dive into the subject.

 

History:

Spoiler

 

Walt Disney World

^{(I'm writing this little history segment by memory so it's why I'm avoiding dates and other precise information since this is the history I've learned growing up. So fact checking is advised for those intending to use this information).}

Home to a verity of characters worlds and themes. The park was bought by Walt Disney in the 40s by using smaller corporations to buy the land. He planned to open a new theme park after the success of his California based theme park (DisneyLand). His main reasons to was the separate guests from the city whereas DisneyLand was surrounded by urban sprawl. One of the first works built was Cinderella's castle as the center piece of the Magic Kingdom. From there he rereleased various rides and attractions from the original park, such as the Haunted Mansion, Carousal of Progress and Pirates of the Caribbean (one of his later concepts which he did not sadly life to see completed). 

One of the two large scope projects Walt had envisioned was creating an advanced community for modelling independent operations and development and a redesigned government concept. This was known as the Experimental Prototype Community of Tomorrow (anyone familiar with the era will know everything was of tomorrow or names of the like), or EPCOT. Now visitors today will known EPCOT was one of the 4 parks that make up Disney World despite it originally not having anything to do with theme parks. This change was made after Walt's death as the company didn't want to risk attempting such a large scale endeavor. As such, they converted the idea into the theme park we know today.

Later on, the two new parks came about. One being the Animal Kingdom, a park based around Animal exhibits and Disney's more animal-esque films (Bug's Life, Lion King, and so forth). The other being MGM Studios (now known as Hollywood Studios). Hollywood Studios being a home to the more film based properties and worlds Disney wanted to expand upon. In the 90s, this is where the Star Wars ride was based along with a Muppets 3D attraction and "The Great Movie Ride" showing off replicated sets from films ranging from Wizard of Oz, Alien, Indiana Jones (despite having an attraction of it's own), and Fantasia.

Walt's other great project was to create more advanced moving puppets that he later named Audio-Animatronics... and I'll tell you first hand these things are freaky and even with a lifetime of getting used to them and learning about them in my free time, they are still no less freaky. Audio-Animatronics (also known as animatronics) is a form of machinery that is built to replicate a person or character and moves using pistons, actuators, strings or other such devices to create movement. These movements either occur repeatedly or could be preprogrammed as was best seen on Walt's groundbreaking attraction, Carousal of Progress. There riders could watch as multiple animatronics would move and talk as things happened around them. This was later improved on as seen in the Hall of Presidents where Abraham Lincoln can be seen standing up from his chair at one point.

These machines continue to be used throughout various amusement parks across the world in various forms and continue to be updated and improved upon as to improve the lifeliness and realism of the machines.

 

Thoughts and Opinions On Current Events:

Spoiler

 

Attractions come and go often, however the reason they do and what to expect is based on current activities throughout the various other branches of Disney (film making and TV shows and such). Sometimes attractions and rides are unsuccessful and need to be replaced, or it's unreliable and too complex requiring more downtime (repairs, and maintenance) than it does remain open, maybe it's old or maybe there's a new ride concept that needs a home, so an existing one is given the boot. Despite having hundreds of miles of land in the Disney World property, Disney still attempts to reuse it's existing areas as much as possible rather than expanding.

For those who don't know, Disney has just acquired LucasArts and all that entails (mostly Star Wars and Indiana Jones). Disney is also updating, remaking and replacing various rides throughout it's theme parks. Granted which rides will be replaced (and with what) is purely speculation based on rumors and personal experiences. One news report that upset me to hear was that the Maelstorm ride at Epcot had been replaced by a Frozen style ride which despite being obviously a likely candidate for being made into a ride, was a poor substitute. Maelstorm mentioned the colorful background and history of Norway. The ride also featured animatronics and a post ride film where riders could learn and view more.

Another likely candidate for replacement is the Muppet Vision3D ride in Hollywood Studios as it's popularity has declined as the attractions style has been replicated and the hype from the shows has also. The likelyhood increases as one notices that with the acquisition of LucasArts Disney is likely to expand it's Star Wars themed area and the Muppet studio area is close by. Candidate number 3 is Michael Jackson's Captain Eo. Like Muppet Vision3D, the hype has dwindled and the rides return was mostly in response to the death of Michael Jackson and with the decrease of interest it is on the possible cut list. Possible number 4 has been rumored (less support despite a lot of internet discussion elsewhere) that it could be Walt's Carousal of Progress because the scenes (especially the future section) has become significantly outdated as has the animatronics and the machinery of the attraction. However it has a chance as the ride has become a staple of the park's history, and more importantly, Walt's Legacy. There is a possibility of there being changes in the future though (again, unsupported inference).

 

Experiences:

Spoiler

As I've said, I grew up alongside the parks my entire life (and despite being only ~two decades old, there are still large parts of it I can easily forget or look over. However thankfully I have two mindful parents who can remind of those times I cannot remember.

One of the earliest memories I personally have is when I was visiting Epcot with only my mother. I must have been 3 or barely 4 at the time, so my memory is a bit faulty and weak here. But what I do remember is getting lost and separated from my mother. We were in Epcot's Mexico area at the time. I thought (being a kid) that she must have gotten on the ride (Gran Fiesta) without me. From there my memory says that I got onto and then back out of the ride before finally my memory gives out. However thankfully I can retell the story from my mother's perspective now. According to her, I was told to stand by a toy stand as she looked at some merchandise. But being a child with ADHD, I got easily distracted and wondered off. From there, it took her about two minutes to notice I was lost. Thankfully it seems I may have attempted to get on the ride but rather approached a Cast Member (Disney Employee) and informed them I had lost my mother. At which point they followed very strict protocol. Meanwhile with my mother had contacted another Cast Member, so they got another employee who asked her what I looked like and it wasn't long before they brought me near here. However the Cast Member had my hand and had me personally identify her as my mother.

Another common experience as a kid was simply screaming my head off during rides with animatronics. For some reason, they scare the crap out of me (and are still unnaturally disturbing). So my parents commonly had to drag me out of various rides at random times because I saw something that would upset me and force us to leave... in retrospect I do kind of guilty.

Then there was a time when me and my mother went on the Bug's Life attraction (located in the Animal Kingdom centerpiece, the Tree). We had never really been interested in it until I was about 8 years old. At which point we finally decided to ride it but the various effects and most importantly the falling of bugs effect just freaked both myself and my mother out to the point we had to ditch. That is a time I do not blame myself for unlike the previous.

I don't know if they still do this, but the parks used to let kids ride with the drivers of the monorails and I was lucky enough to be one to do so on multiple occasions! Also for those who don't know, the monorail is a "subway" style transport system built above the parks and various areas to transport visitors to different destinations.

I was also a band kid. At least for all three years of middle school (also known as Junior High or Secondary school elsewhere). The upside of it is that at the end of the year was a performance at Disney. Because of it we could go get int through secret entry ways and also provided it's own series of stories. The biggest being the first time I performed there in 6th grade. All was going well as we began our first song (and the only one where I was playing snare drum) when the Florida wind snagged my music sheet and tossed it someplace I never found. So for the rest of the song I was left without any means of knowing what to do. As such I could only stare forward and hold my firmest poker face. Thankfully all ended well.

Another story is my personal experience with the Animal Kingdom ride, Expedition: Everest, or the lack therefore. It should be noted that despite frequently visiting Disney World the least visited park was the Animal Kingdom as it was the personal disdain from my father who found it the most boring and with the least content. That said, whenever we would visit the ride, it would always be closed for various reasons. The common reason being some technical issue. Granted it should also be noted that the ride does include a massive animatronic which could easily encountered issues.

While I'm discussing the Animal Kingdom, it should be noted that those who suffer from multiple back injuries should avoid the twisty dinosaur ride. As it destroyed my father's back. Caused no injury itself but agitated his existing one. That said, those who visit theme parks should treat the warnings and advise seriously. They are important and ignoring them can cause injury or worse and I would hope that your intention isn't to get hurt on your family vacation.

The last two stories I have are both romantic ones. The first being that in the alley to the left of the Hall of Presidents (near the musical stage) is where my father proposed to my mother. Spoiler, she said yes. The second story being my own in that on the Spaceship Earth ride. This was also during my 6th grade year and after my dramatic musical incident. Just after the massive decline to the exit of the ride, I had my first kiss with a girl from my grade. That is all I'm going to say about that.

FAQs:

Spoiler

 

Q: Do they really have cameras everywhere?

A: Just about. This is more for property and ride care than security. The cameras being mostly located at major traffic points, entry/exit-ways, behind the rides and on the rides themselves.

Q: Why does rides stop so often?

A: A common cause is that someone with a handicap (wheelchair or crutches) is boarding the ride and to prevent a backup, they simply pause the entire ride (granted only on select rides). Another reason could be that there is a technical malfunction or failure of some sort... granted it's very possible you'd know it if that was the case. The most likely and the second most common reason is because someone isn't following the ride instructions or has triggered an alert on the ride. Ride's commonly stop when riders are detected out of their seat or standing in an area their not intended to be. So following instructions is key for yourself and others.

Q: What is a common reason for animatronics to break down?

A: A common reason for them breaking down is the wear and tear on various joints and points on them from every day use. Another (for the more complex animatronics) reason is that their hydraulic fluid may become empty or their pistons to become stuck (in a few Youtube videos you can see a Munchkin from the Great Movie Ride and a pirate from the Pirates of the Caribbean "twitching" or rapidly moving back and forth. This is likely because their pistons are not moving smoothly but are rather getting stuck on each ends of the piston before finally shooting to the opposite end causing this erratic "twitching".

Q: What was my worst experience at Disney?

A: Probably the day I got stuck on Test Track in the "freezer" room for about 30 minutes. Despite it only being a brisk 40f, I was borderline experiencing hypothermia by the time I got out.

Q: Are the shows worth it?

A: Yes. They are worth seeing. However personally myself, I've seen them several dozen times as a kid and now it's more of a matter of getting from A to B the fastest and during the parades and floats I take advantage of the reduced ride wait times.

Q: FastPasses; what are they and are they worth it?

A: FastPasses are a way of getting onto a ride faster than just showing up. Visitors can claim a time early in the day while their being distributed and through that get on the ride with little wait time. They can be worth it. Some rides will have only a 5 minute wait time, however others (such as Soarin') can have several hour wait times which makes it far more useful. I'll discuss Soarin down below in better detail.

 

Trivia and Points of Interest:

Spoiler

 

It should be noted that the Epcot ball is itself it's own ride. Some overlook it thinking it's not, but it is the ride Spaceship Earth and is amazing. It should be a place to visit every time.

Epcot is home to Mission to Mars. A spacey ride which can allow riders to experience launch forces inside a giant centrifuge simulator. The actual ride is filled with a spacecraft interior in very much the style of a Space Shuttle/Apollo vehicle. Again, a must for visitors to Epcot.

While at Epcot, it should be noted that in every nation of the park, those who work there (whether running merchandise stores, selling ethnic foods or running the rides) are always from the nation they work in. So those who work in Mexico, are generally Mexican. When in Japan, the employees are generally Japanese. When in the UK, the employees are generally English and so on.

At about 10:30 every night, there is a fireworks show at Epcot and the Magic Kingdom (possible Animal Kingdom too, but I am uncertain). At Epcot, it is Illuminations of Earth. So if you visit, you should definitely stay for it as it's amazing. It takes place in the central lake of the park so it's easy to find and see. Not too long ago I could hear the fireworks show from home... which is a long way despite being in the same state.

Often a lot of the animatronics that used to be part of a shutdown attraction, get moved to a new location. When Carousal of Progress was shutdown and replaced by America Sings, that replacement was later shut down and the animatronics from that got moved to the Pirates of the Caribbean ride or, (as I've heard) had several of the animatronics "deskinned" (ick, creepy) and their heads removed and replaced to create the G2 droids seen as you walked through the attraction.

 

Advice:

Spoiler

 

Do what the Cast Members say. Really.

This sounds obvious but a lot of people don't follow their instructions or ignore them and this can become a problem for you or others. A lot of the time when a ride is stopped the reason is because the ride has detected that someone has performed an unsafe action (possibly standing, or moving). As such the ride aborts and waits alerting the ride operator of "trouble". This requires a Cast Member to check various areas (generally entrances and exits) before continuing the ride.

Summer vs Winter Planning

If you visit the parks during the summer then you need to plan for rapid weather changes, long duration storms and mid day (2-3pm) storms. These occur reliably starting in June. May is the driest month of the year for us, so if your planning a summer trip, then is the best time. If your visiting during the winter, the best time is October or early November. Any later and you start to get what we call "snow birds" or northern Americans who frequent down here during the winter to escape their own winter. Because of them, the parks get very crowded very quickly so planning is key to avoid this.

Routes and Transport Matters

Always have a plan for how your going to get places and when you reach them, what transport you'll need. Some parking lots can be a mile or more deep from the far side. However depending on location, there may be trams that occasionally pass by to carrying visitors. Also, you don't need to park in the park you want to go to in order to get there. They may be better parking options. Keep that in mind.

Be ready to stand and walk a lot.

One advise my family always gives to new visitors to the parks is that you will be walking and standing a lot. You will walk several miles just to get to your destinations so be prepared and wear your most comfortable shoes. When your not walking, you'll be standing in line somewhere.

The Longest Lines

The longest lines I've seen are either for kiddy rides such as Peter Pan's Adventure, Winnie the Poe, or something like it or in Epcot's case, Soarin. Unlike other rides in my opinion, Soarin is significantly overhyped. It's a decent ride but at it's longest wait times, I've seen it over 3 hours. The ride is simply a moving crane based movie where smells are occasionally released. It's a nice experience but for 180+ minute wait times, the ride can easily be overhyped... especially since it's nearly a decade old at least.

 

Secrets (Don't read if you don't like spoilers):

Spoiler

 

Every ride has a "secret Mickey" or some sort of Mickey shaped object or props hidden somewhere. On Spaceship Earth (if I recall correctly) there is a series of cups shaped to Mickey's head. Search for yourself and find them!

Many unused or inaccessible areas of the parks are actually office spaces in disguise! Such as the upper levels of Mexico or Test Track.

The Animals of the Animal Kingdom are actually well trained to know when to leave their containment and when to return at the end of the days. They know to when they hear a set sound based on their area.

The Expedition: Everest Yeti has been immobile for the majority of it's lifetime after it was discovered that there was a flaw in the mountain and more importantly in the Yeti's structural design. If he was left to run on full motion as he was intended, he would've have broken the structural trusses and likely have fallen and damaged the ride putting it permanently out of commission.

The head atop a set of treasure at the Pirates of the Caribbean ride is apparently (according to partially confirmable rumor) a real human skull!

Captain Jack was added after the success of the Pirates of the Caribbean films. Strangely, Eddie Murphy has yet to be added to the Haunted Mansion ride.

Epcot uses monorails to move passengers rapidly from different locations and areas. However in the monorails service, two have crashed killing passengers and pilots. These being the red and silver cars. After these incidents, the cars were retired and have been permanently removed from service in memory of the incidents.

 

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I decided to write this to share my experiences, thoughts and advise with others but feel free to let me know of your own as well. One user who likely can cast his own thoughts and advise would be @Just Jim as I know he's another Floridian.

I'll update this as I go on with more stories and FAQs, as time goes on.

Edited June 19, 2017 by ZooNamedGames

[Kerbart]

The rides are great, but the biggest factor in the success of the Disney parks are the people that work there. The commitment they have (or that Disney expects of them) is amazing, and the whole operation is a prime example of how one can use psychology to improve customer experience. From little things like placing garbage cans at the right spots, to things like training the staff ("cast") on how to answer "stupid questions" ("when is the 3 o'clock parade?") in such a way that the guests don't feel stupid.

[ZooNamedGames]

23 minutes ago, Kerbart said:

The rides are great, but the biggest factor in the success of the Disney parks are the people that work there. The commitment they have (or that Disney expects of them) is amazing, and the whole operation is a prime example of how one can use psychology to improve customer experience. From little things like placing garbage cans at the right spots, to things like training the staff ("cast") on how to answer "stupid questions" ("when is the 3 o'clock parade?") in such a way that the guests don't feel stupid.

Exactly. They are indeed exactly like cast members from a movie as they are trained and taught to rehearse lines and actions just like any Hollywood actor. 

The real credit for the creations is the Imagineers though.

[Kerbart]

50 minutes ago, ZooNamedGames said:

The real credit for the creations is the Imagineers though.

Not always. Design is sometimes overestimated. Execution can be incredibly hard.

A CEO of a successful bank once said: “Even if our grand strategy ends up in the hands of competitors, I wouldn't worry too much about. They're only plans. What really matters is execution and we do it better than them.”

Sure, the Imagineers have a brilliant vision. But vision without execution is just that—vision. The ones that do the work deserve just as much credit.

[NSEP]

I have never been to DisneyWorld before, only DisneyLand in Paris, and from my experience, there are quite a few rude French people there who do not respect the fact that Disneyland Paris actually means Disneyland Europe, because it is nowhere else in Europe, so they just refuse to speak English and talk to 70% of the people visiting there.

[ZooNamedGames]

4 hours ago, Kerbart said:

Not always. Design is sometimes overestimated. Execution can be incredibly hard.

A CEO of a successful bank once said: “Even if our grand strategy ends up in the hands of competitors, I wouldn't worry too much about. They're only plans. What really matters is execution and we do it better than them.”

Sure, the Imagineers have a brilliant vision. But vision without execution is just that—vision. The ones that do the work deserve just as much credit.

Fair point  .

3 hours ago, NSEP said:

I have never been to DisneyWorld before, only DisneyLand in Paris, and from my experience, there are quite a few rude French people there who do not respect the fact that Disneyland Paris actually means Disneyland Europe, because it is nowhere else in Europe, so they just refuse to speak English and talk to 70% of the people visiting there.

Well can't speak for the European or Japanese versions as I've never been.

[TheSaint]

I grew up in Los Angeles, so I had Disneyland. But we were not so well off growing up, so we only got to go every couple of years or so, so it was a real treat for us. Funny, I always remember the mundane things, like the Hundred-Acre Parking Lot, and sitting in the endless traffic jam that always happened when you waited to closing time to leave. My mom and dad would always make sure that my brother and I were in our pajamas before we got settled in the back seat so we could sleep on the ride home and go straight to bed when we got there, but we would never get to sleep until we were out of the parking lot because Dad would spend the entire time loudly growling about this idiot doing that or that moron doing this.

When I was in high school I remember going with our church youth group, and me and my two friends Tony and Victor just had the time of our lives. On Pirates we wanted to see if we could really tip the nose of the boat into the air on the drop (which was an urban legend we had heard about). So we managed to get into the very back seats of an empty boat, and then just as it crested the top of the drop we jumped up out of our seats and sat on the very fantail of the boat. <WHUMP!> The ride operator caught it and put the brakes on the boat. Over the PA system, in his best monotone drone, he said, "Please remain seated with your hands, arms, legs, and feet inside the vehicle at all times." We were laughing, and Tony yelled, "PARTY POOPER!" Over the PA system in the same monotone, "I heard that." We bought bags of the sour balls and were throwing them at each other on Haunted Mansion and the Skyway. Right before closing time we were trying to see how many times we could ride Space Mountain. There was no line to speak of, but they still had the chains up outside, so we were running out of the exit and jumping all the chains to get back to the entrance. At one point I misjudged my jump and my foot caught on the chain. <WHAM!> Face-plant. But, ding-dang-it, I was going to ride Space Mountain. I got up and kept going. We got on like six or seven times before they closed it. Next day my knee was all swelled up, so mom took me to the doctor. I had a hairline fracture of my kneecap. (But this was all 35 years ago, when the security was much more lax than it is now. These days we would have totally been kicked out.)

Grad Night was funny. My girlfriend went with her ex. He had bought them tickets back in January, before they had broke up and she had started dating me. But he still wanted to go with her, and she was too polite to turn him down. I wasn't happy about it, but she was all, "We're not getting back together, we're just going to Grad Night." One of her friends had no date because her boyfriend had shipped out for the Marines, so I wound up going with her. It was all cool, until it wasn't. And then ex and girlfriend got into an argument, and then ex and I got into and argument, and then girlfriend and I got into an argument, and then we all just split up for the night. She and I wound up breaking up over it. It was too bad, because she was hot. 

Edit: Now I've been craving sour balls all morning.

Edited June 19, 2017 by TheSaint

[Ten Key]

14 hours ago, ZooNamedGames said:

Strangely I only visited the other major theme parks (Sea World, Universal and KSCVC (Kennedy Space Center Visitor Center)) once as a kid.

You missed one.  

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Busch_Gardens_Tampa

[ZooNamedGames]

1 hour ago, Ten Key said:

You missed one.  

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Busch_Gardens_Tampa

And the same story went for that one too sadly.

[ZooNamedGames]

I've done some digging in the last few days and I've learned quite abit on Disney's future as far as what they're planning for Epcot and other locations in Florida. It's actually kind of depressing.

Disney is slowly going to be converting the future area area of Epcot into more movie rides. This would be ok but I feel the purpose of Epcot was to show the future of tomorrow and what can or could be and now with these last grasps of that notion leaving... I just feel that the future is less now.

Walt and Roy Disney both had a facination of "tomorrow" and the possibility of what could be but now that era and style has faded and honestly... I miss it.

It's finally 'a great wonderful tomorrow' today and... well to be honest it isn't that great or wonderful. World is filled with strife and people who are more focused on their IPhones or Facebook statuses than what they can do for everyone tomorrow.

Today is too full of everyone's concerns about how their viewed than helping progress us... and that was the world Walt and Roy wanted us to be living in... not what we're living in now.

Back on the subject of Epcot, I just simply feel that Epcot is losing it's identity and is just chasing the "popular" fad and as someone else said "the issue with being popular and being a fad is that fad is just one letter away from fade; and that's exactly what happens when you cater to the mainstream rather than give people something to think on". Back in the 70s, Epcot was tomorrow and the world of "what could be". Now Epcot is just becoming Magic Kingdom Extended.

And I haven't even gotten into the depressing fate of various Disney attractions that were simply abandoned.

The future is foggy from where I'm standing... and it isn't wonderful.

We need you back Walt... so damn badly.

[qzgy]

I've only been to Disneyworld once, when I was 5 or something (I live in NJ, so far drive.....). Seems like its a fun place to go.

Pity to hear that franchises are taking over Epcot, which sounds like a wonderful place.

8 hours ago, ZooNamedGames said:

It's finally 'a great wonderful tomorrow' today and... well to be honest it isn't that great or wonderful.

...

The future is foggy from where I'm standing... and it isn't wonderful.

We need you back Walt... so damn badly.

Agreed.