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After completing EPCOT our next destination was Hollywood Studios (previously knows as Disney-MGM). We decided to take third mode of transport to go to next park, the ferry. Yes, Disney world has a fleet of 300 buses, 20 mono rail trains and ferries for people to move around. We were a bit late to reach the park and realized that theme parks can be crowded too (we did not face any queues for first two days).

We started with the Indiana Jones Epic Stunt Spectacular, it was a show based on the movie. Here a director was trying to shoot a movie and then things go wrong. A mix of humor and fake fight sequences, made this show really amazing. We could see -  how movie sets are built, how fight sequences are coordinated, how blasts and gunfire are done. Overall, it was a very entertaining show and I could watch it multiple times.

Tower of Terror

We moved on to The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror, this is a free fall ride based on some random sequences (to go up and fall again) and a good mix of darkness, 3D animation and other visual effects. But the fun part is free fall and sudden bounce upwards. Moving on we went to Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster. It was indoor roller coaster designed to be the Limousine where you go on a ride with Aerosmith.  Best part of this ride was the high speed launch into the tunnel and there were three instances when we went upside down. The last attraction was a 3D interactive ride based on Toy Story, this ride is developed in collaboration with Pixar. This proved to be the best 3D interactive ride ever, we had the guns and we were supposed to shoot different items in a carnival like setup. That was end of Hollywood Studios, we went to downtown Orlando that night and had a lot of fun.

Cinderella’s Castle, Magic Kingdom

Next day it was time for Magic Kingdom, the most visited theme park in the world. We started with the oldest and most popular ride – The Space Mountain. It is another indoor roller coaster and most interesting part is the surprise element, we have no clue about which direction it is going to turn and does not have a big fall. Its not a fast ride and that is why it is loved by every age group. Since Brett was with us, we knew all tricks about Disney World and could do this ride three times that day. We headed to Buzz Lightyear Aestro Blasters which is another interactive ride where we shoot  with laser guns. My gun did not work (or I didn’t know how to use it) and I could not have fun in this ride.

Next destination was Pirates of the Caribbean ride, the movie is based on this ride (Yep, this ride inspired the movie). This was a boat ride, where we move in a dark tunnel and see a lot of pirate animatronics and some very cool lighting effects. Surprise of this ride was a ‘drop’, I enjoyed it. There is a story that goes in Disney Circle, this ride is haunted and if workers do not greet the ghosts (GM/GN) the ride does not work properly the next day. We moved on to the Jungle Cruise, a boat ride with fake animals. Initially you think why a jungle cruise with no real animals, but in some time you realize its a fun ride and there are a lot of jokes involved.

We headed to the Haunted House, I thought it funny rather than scary but I was amazed to see the way it was done. Then we did few more stuff in Fantasy land like Snow White’s Scary Adventures and It’s a small world. I liked It’s a small world a lot, this is a boat ride (the longest one I had) and we move on to different countries and see animatronics from that area. For India it was the setup of Taj Mahal and Rajasthani dancers in front of it. We moved on to the famous Splash Mountain ride but sadly it was closed for renovation for last 2 months. Sad part was it was supposed to start operating from next day, so we missed it by a day. To make up for that we went on Big Thunder Mountain Railroad two times. It was a normal roller coaster with few ups and down, I liked the setup and synchronization of the ride.

Finally it was time to meet Mickey, we moved on to Mickey’s Toontown Fair. It was the real “magic” kingdom, picture (or I must say Toon) perfect. Every single piece from the Mickey’s life was live here. The photograph (from Mickey’s house) will tell rest of story, I have no words to describe the experience. 

Mickey’s House

We had some more time to kill before the parade starts, people had already started taking positions three hours before the parade but we knew how to get a good spot. We went to Tomorrowland once again and tried few more things. Had maximum fun at Monster’s Inc Laugh Floor. It was a live show with a lot of practical (real time) jokes were blended with the movie sequences. It was 6:30 PM, so we selected a place to get a good view of the parade. The excitement of parade was so much that it was very hard to kill those 30 minutes. Parade was excellent, all the Disney characters made the appearance in a grand way. It was dark and the characters’ dress fitted with a lot of bulbs, synchronized dance and music was an experience that one would never forget in lifetime. It was a celebration, the way to spread fun in the world, an experience one cannot describe in words.

Fireworks @ Magic Kingdom

After the parade came the most anticipated moment of the day, fireworks. In the last post I wrote, till today that was the best fireworks because the next day it changed to Magic Kingdom’s fireworks. This was the fireworks of absolute brilliance, it was not just the fireworks, it was accompanied by Jiminy Cricket’s commentary and beautiful story. Fireworks were part of a story, as I said before, Disneyworld does not sell you some rides or fun, it is an experience, the package that takes one being from this life to magical world. That has happened to me, I was speechless after this magnificent show. I was in a magical world, I didn’t want to come out of it.

Facebook Album | Zooomr Album – EPCOT, Animal Kingdom

After the fun at Universal it was time to enter the magic of Walt Disney. We did not start with the parks, but Brett took us on the tour of resorts. We started with Polynesian Resort and as name suggests, its based on tropical rainforest style. It has a artificial white sand beach with the exact settings to give a full experience. We took Monorail (Yes, Disney has a full fledged monorail system) to go to Grand Floridian Resort. This hotel is based on the Victorian theme and is on the other end of the lake (Seven seas lagoon). This was a very beautiful hotel and we were mesmerized by its grandness. Next stop of monorail was Contemporary Resort, this is one of the oldest Disney hotels and has a lot of mosaics on walls. Monorail runs through this building. Next we went to Disney’s Coronado Springs Resort, this is the place where our friends used to work. Since he had worked at two of the parks and one resort, he knows almost everything possible about Disney World. It was a great time, knowing those small details, walking through shortcuts that people do not know usually and finding out how things works at Disney.

Disney’s Grand Victorian Resort

Animal Kingdom was our next destination. As soon as we enter we see the famous tree from Lion King (The Tree of Life). This is not just the tree, roots of the tree hold a theater we can watch a 3D movie based on the movie Bug’s Life. First destination was DinoLand USA – we went for the Dinosaur which is a dark ride based on a story on Dinosaurs and how the extinct because of a meteor. Now, I don’t remember that ride, so definitely it would not be as exciting. Next destination was Chester and Hester’s Dino-Rama, this is designed as sort of carnival, this was a first and the last ride Jamie did which had a ‘drop’.

At this point, I was praising Disney for having such great attention to detail and the whole experience, but the next ride was going to take the experience to a whole new level. We moved to Asia zone of Animal Kingdom and started with Expedition Everest, this was the most fun ride I had at Disney. Entrance of the ride itself was amazing, exactly like an Indian mountain village. Every single piece was designed in the exact way, according to Brett, the house was built in India and then transported to DisneyWorld. The ride is fun, because its a train track till the top and then we encounter a broken track because of yeti and it goes backwards, then forward and backward for long time. Moving in-out of tunnel, backward and forward gave an awesome experience. We did that ride twice and then started exploring Asia. The setup is of an Indian Village – Anandpur and I could feel, it was done with perfection. Shop names written in Hindi, restaurant menu, broken roads, half constructed temple – I could feel home and I count that as Disney’s success. We them moved to Asian zoo and that was beginning of new adventure. David tried to enactment of Homer Simpson doing ‘Boring! Boring!’ got him into trouble from a zoo keeper and then Wes’ light whistling made him a federal offender for ‘harassing endangered species’.

We moved on to African Safari and that was fun. The safari (actually just a ride) was done very well, one does never realizes that it was a ride. We go around in a open bus with a lots of animals all around, but the trenches and walls are concealed nicely that it gives us an illusion of open jungle. But a careful observation of how deer, lions, zebra can all live in a very small open jungle, will give you a clue. It was 4 PM and was time for African parade. The parade was very good, a nice blend of animal and Disney creatures with good music and fun atmosphere can cheer anyone up.

African Parade

We were dead tired after walking all day, after all Animal Kingdom is the world’s largest Disney park (in area, 500 acres).  We went for Finding Nemo – The Musical, this is the best musical I have seen in my life. The characters, music, props – they all were designed with perfection and stage was designed in a way to take us to a dream world of  underwater. It was such a beautiful show that we all our tiredness was gone.

We moved to the next theme park, EPCOT – Disney’s park dedicated to international culture and technology of the future. EPCOT stands for Experimental Prototype Community of Tomorrow and as it says, there are various attractions from different countries bundled together to form the “country”. We went ahead and moved to China, Norway, Mexico, Japan, France, Morocco and many more countries. Attractions include the ride, animatronics,  restaurants etc from the countries. Moving on, we went to watch the American History show. It covered the main points of history and was pretty interesting.

It was 9 PM and was time for the fireworks. Everyone gathers around the lake and there was a big ball which floats on the water, it forms the shape of globe and we see a lot of different videos playing, along with them there are fireworks all around. This was the fireworks I had seen till that day (yep, I am going to change my opinion in next blog).

Fireworks at EPCOT

Next day, we started with EPCOT again. This time instead of visiting countries we did the rides. The Spaceship Earth reminds me of Infy, the outside structure is similar as Mysore’s Multiplex. This was a fun ride, where we travel through the technological changes – from ice age to space age. Then we did Mission Space, the most intense ride of our tour. This is based on the space simulation and enough G forces are produced to feel weightlessness. This ride was so intense that Disney have two versions of it, Green ride- a stripped down version of Orange ride. Imagine this ride as a centrifuge, but you have no idea you are inside one. I thought the feeling of weightlessness would be great, but it wasn’t. We did Orange and our opinion afterwards was, we should have done Green. This proved another point, none from our group is capable of space missions.

We did few more rides and finally ended up at Test Track. This is a ride developed by GM to showcase the testing they do with car. We went in a “car” and were experimented on with crash test, weather test, brake test (ABS, non-ABS),  suspension etc. It was a fun ride. We moved to Hollywood Studios next, but that is the next blog.