Favorite Rides - Dumbo

Get ready...this week we talk about one of the most popular rides in WDW.  It might not be a favorite for grownups, but it is DEFINITELY on the MUST DO list for your kids.  The one the only.....DUMBO!!!

Some Info:

• Park: Magic Kingdom
• Land/Area: Fantasyland
• Height Requirements: Nope!
• Best Suited For: Preschoolers and young children, but it is fun for ALL!
• Warnings: For me - heights!!  I know silly, but it freaks me out when we are all the way up!
• Fastpass:  As of now no, but when the ride is moved to the new section with the additional ride it will have a virtual queue area.

What I like About It:
What's not to like????  Dumbo is one of the most popular rides in Magic Kingdom.  The worst part about it is the LONG line that usually comes with it.  It is definitely a ride to hit as soon as you walk in.  Whether you have a preschooler or not, this is a ride to get on just because it is a classic!  :-)

Random Facts: 
The original Dumbo the Flying elephant opened in Disneyland 3 months after the park opened.  All the other Disney parks have a Dumbo ride and they all opened on opening day in their respective parks.  The ride is being moved to a circus themed area that used to be Toon Town sometime in the next year.  This is all part of the new Fantasyland expansion. 

Favorite Rides - Soarin'

This next ride has to be one of the best rides (in my opinion) in all of the Walt Disney World Resort!!  Get ready to "soar" over California.....

Some Info:

• Park:  Epcot
• Land/Area:  The Land
• Height Requirements:  Yes - must be 40 inches
• Best Suited For:  Great ride for the whole family!
• Warnings:  This is a flight simulated ride.  If you get motion sickness this could bother you.  Those with vertigo or a extreme free of heights may not want to ride. 
• Fastpass:  Yes.  Also you can utilize the rider switch program with this ride.

What I like about it:
What's not to like!!!  The first time you ride this will be the best because the initial thrill you feel "soaring" over the San Franciso Bay will never quite be the same!  I love all the little extras - the feeling of the wind blowing through you hair, the swinging sensation one can only assume you would feel if you were hang gliding, the scents of the evergreens and oranges!  All of it is just amazing!  I don't want to give too much away, but be ready to SOAR over California and see all there is to see.  It is truly an amazing experience!


Random Facts:

• Original ride opened in 2001 in Disney's California Adventure.  It opened in Epcot in May of 2005. 
• Lasts for almost 5 minutes.
• Best seat - middle section (B) top row (1).  No feet hanging down and you are in the center or the theater!
• Screen measures 80 feet!  
• Ride was originally designed using an erector set!  :-)

Next ride.....Dumbo!

Favorite Rides - Kilimanjaro Safari

I cannot say enough about how much I enjoy this next ride!!!  Our featured ride this week - Kilimanjaro Safari!

Some info:

• Park: Animal Kingdom
• Land/Area: Africa
• Height Requirement: No
• Best suited for: Fun for the whole family
• Warning: Very bumpy at times - people with back issues, or pregnant women be warned.
• Fastpass: Yes

What I like about it:
This is by far one of the best rides in Disney!  First of all, it is never the same ride.  The animals are in different spots with each ride.  Try to ride first thing in the morning as this is when the animals are the most active.  We have ridden this ride and had to sit and wait for a giraffe to move from the "road" - kids found this very exciting!  We have seen baby elephants and baby giraffes and even learned a few things.  The hippos are pretty cool as well!!  It is a longer ride - about 15 minutes.  As for wait times, they tend to pick up as the day goes on, so if there is a wait of say over 30 minutes I would get a Fastpass and come back later.  Don't look for the stroller parking!  They even do that for you!  You start out in the line with your stroller and will get to a spot where they take them for you!  Nice and easy!!  All in all we always enjoy this attraction and sometimes try to get on it twice in a day!

Random Facts:

• Kilimanjaro Safari is the largest attraction in ANY Disney Theme Park!  
• It provides animals with a 100 acre savanna to roam, while guests ride through in safari vehicles with a guide.  The tour guide of your safari will point out animals and ask you to help locate them as well.  Some are more entertaining and knowledgeable than others. 
• The ride typically runs until sundown, so if there are evening extra magic hours and it is dark the safari will not run.  Normally there is a sign at the entrance to the park or the ride that will tell you what time the last safari will run.
• It was recently announced (July 2010) that "guided treks" through the savanna would be made available to guests.  This would focus on areas of the savanna that are not part of the ride.

Next ride.....Soarin'

Favorite Rides

This weeks Featured Ride....well I am going to leave the Magic Kingdom and head over to Hollywood Studios.  For those familiar with the parks you may be able to guess what ride I am going to write about this week, for those not too familiar well here it is.....

Toy Story (Midway) Mania

Definitely one of the most popular rides in all of the Disney parks!  Our family one and all loves this 3D fun!  Officially called Toy Story Midway Mania, most will simply call it Toy Story Mania.  This is a ride for the whole family - no height requirement!  Get ready to compete with your family and friends and other rides from the day to get the high score.  Men LOVE this ride - especially those that like video games.  Lines are ALWAYS long and since it is so popular Disney's Fastpass is available but usually runs out very early in the day!

What I love about this ride...For one I love that it is a ride for the whole family.  Another big plus, is that Disney took into account that the ride is super popular and made most of the queue is indoors and Mr. Potato Head is there to provide entertainment!  While a Fastpass is obviously ideal, like I said they are gone very quickly, we have waited in the line - 90 minutes one time!  It is worth it though.  If you can't get a fastpass and you are not going back into Hollywood Studios PLEASE make sure you get on this!  Wait in the line.  We also LOVE the whole ride itself - warning, it whips you around a bit, so hold on.  Hop on in your ride vehicle, put on your glasses and grab the rope and get serious about it all.  My husband and I definitely fight for top score!  Winner gets big time bragging rights and will guarantee that the others you are with will want to ride again!

What is the ride all about...Toy Story Mania was the big addition to Disney's Hollywood Studios back in 2008.  (In fact it officially opened on my 5th wedding anniversary!)  It is located in Pixar Place, themed after the Pixar Studios Campus in California.  Across from the ride is a character meet and greet with your favorite Toy Story Characters - Woody and Buzz!  You will ride in a vehicle that holds four, one of the reasons I think the lines are so long is the time it takes to load and unload the vehicles.  You will then be taken through a array of classic carnival games - all down virtually of course.  Think pie throwing, dart tossing, egg toss, baseball breaking of plates, ring toss and shooting gallery!  This ride is just so much fun!  

Get ready to ride, play and have fun!  There isn't another ride like it!  All in all, one of our favorites, definitely one of my husband's favorite rides - so much so that we got to the DHS at opening for the rope drop so he could ride one more time before his afternoon flight home!  It is fun for kid AND adults!

Favorite Rides

So last week I started posting about rides...in particular my favorite rides and as I mentioned there I really don't have a non-favorite (is that a word) ride!  So I may even have to do this more often than once a week as it will go on FOREVER!  :-)

My featured ride this week is........not going to be for everyone.....but we LOVE it anyway.....and our whole family can finally go on it!

Splash Mountain

This is usually the one of our firsts when visiting the Magic Kingdom.  The kids love it and so do I.  Funny story - when I was a kid I was TERRIFIED of anything that was considered a thrill ride.  This included Splash Mountain, but I went on it anyway.  It is so much more than just a log flume ride.  I was scared, yes, but I got off and wanted to go on again just to enjoy all the fun that it has to offer.  And nothing is like that first time you ride it!

What I love about this ride...We love the theme and the soundtrack of this great ride.  A downside - it has a height requirement.  You must be 40 inches to ride this ride and they strictly measure.  Don't try and trick them with high hair or big shoes, etc they know the tricks! (Why do I mention this?  Because people do it...I know I know!)  BUT the plus you can utilize the Rider Switch so no worries if you have a little one!  Be warned that there is a BIG drop and several smaller drops throughout the ride, so if you have a child that will be truly terrified of this take that into account.  This is one of the things I love about it.  So much fun!  What I hated as a kid I love now and luckily so do my kiddos!  The music on this ride and the fact that it is more than just your normal log flume ride is, I think, what makes it so special.  I don't want to spoil much of this ride for those that have never rode it because well...like I said there is nothing like that first ride!!

What is this ride all about...Themed after the Disney Movie Song of the South Splash Mountain tells the story of Br'er Rabbit as he gets chased by Br'er Fox and Br'er Bear and as he outsmarts them.  You "land" in several different parts of the story and are serenaded by great songs - How do you do?, Everybody Has a Laughing Place, and Zip-a-dee Do-dah. (A Disney classic!)

The ride is located in Frontierland in the Magic Kingdom.  The Walt Disney World Railroad station is right next to it and looks into the Zip-a-dee Do-dah section of the ride.  One of the most popular rides in the park, it is equipped with Disney's Fastpass.  Especially in the summer and hot times in Disney the line can be long, so be sure to get a fastpass!  You will get WET!!  (Which is why my husband is not really a fan!)  They close the ride every January, so take that into account.  One year they did an extended closure that I hadn't known about when booking a trip for February.  Knowing it is my daughter's favorite ride I pushed our trip back by a few days to be sure it would be open when we were there.  This past closure they added lap bars for safety.  Also I have been told that they disabled the cannon that shot water on to boats really soaking you, not sure if this is true or not!

Favorite Rides

Helllllooooo Disney Lovers!  :-)

So I asked a friend for advice on some things to blog about and she mentioned talking about my favorite rides.  So why not.  Although this should last me a long time to write about since I don't think I have a Disney ride that I don't like.  I may even take the chance to discuss a favorite that I miss.  Be sure to check out the Live 365 link on my sidebar too because I gotta tell you listening to this has really helped keep me in the Disney posting spirit!!

Ok so my featured favorite ride today.....lets go classic and talk about the ride that we start our trip off with.  Just mentioning the name will probably get a certain song stuck in your head for the rest of the day!  (Hey I warned ya!)

It's A Small World

Yup that is the one.  I gotta say I LOVE this ride.  Does it get slightly old after the 100th time we have rode it on a trip because it is also one of my kids favorites?  Ummmmm I guess so.  But no not really...LOL  And I don't even mind having that classic song stuck in my head either.  It's A Small World first premiered at the World's Fair in NYC in 1964.  You can now find this classic ride in every Disney Resort Worldwide in Fantasyland.

What I love about this ride?  It is the perfect ride for the entire family.  There is nothing scary about it, it isn't too fast, you can all sit in the same vehicle and enjoy it together and for us it puts us in the Disney spirit.  I have been traveling to my happy place - that would be WDW for those that haven't figured that out yet! - since 1982.  When I was a kid we went every other year, as an adult we go more often and this is always our first ride.  The line moves very quickly!  I can always tell when the park is really crowded when there is a super long line at It's A Small World!

What is the ride all about?  Really...do I even need to tell you?  I think even those that have NEVER been to Disney know about It's A Small World, but ok lets pretend you don't!  Well it is a boat ride through several rooms with different themes of around the world.  It ends with a room combining all the rooms and then lastly you are wished goodbye in every language you can think of!  All the way through you are seranaded by the wonderful It's A Small World Song!  Lyrics and Music

The ride in Magic Kingdom (WDW) has gone under a few refurbishments over the years, the biggest being in May of 2004 until March of 2005.  During this time it got a new state of the art sound system, new lighting effects and a new loading area similar to Disneyland. 

All in all this is a MUST do!  I can't wait to ride it on our next trip!  The kids are already saying - we are doing It's A Small World first...and then well there is where there is differing opinions.  :-)