Universal again, again

I have been able to go back to the Universal Studios parks a couple of times in the last month. Since I bought an annual pass I have made sure it has paid for itself a number of times over! I like Universal but it doesn't have the same feel as the Disney parks and because it has a lot more rollercoasters there are less rides I am comfortable doing there. Still I have managed to ride the Harry Potter ride heaps of times, as well as my favourite the Mummy ride (even though this is a rollercoaster it is indoors and totally awesomely themed!)
The last time I was there I ate at the Three Broomsticks in Hogsmeade. I had the Cornish pasties and salad, which was actually pretty good, and of course finished off the meal with the obligatory frozen butterbeer!



The Three Broomsticks

 I then waited in line for an hour to visit Ollivander's Wand shop. Here they do a short (7 minute!) demonstration of how a wand 'selects' a child randomly picked from the audience. The inside of the shop is completely lined with wand boxes and stuff that moves when the selected kid tries out different wands. It was quite good but I will not be waiting in line in the hot sun for it again!

 After visiting Potterworld I went to Dr Suessland and met with the Cat in the Hat and Sam I Am. I watched a cute show they did and listened to one of the stories.

I was able to go around and do all the rides I wanted that I had not been on yet, like Men in Black (which was really cool) and see the shows I hadn't seen. The animal actors show was great, very clever dogs, cats, birds, and even an orangatang and a pig. The Monster Graveyard Review was also pretty good with the classic monsters (Wolfman, Dracula, Frankenstein etc) singing and dancing. They even did a number using an ACDC track!

All in all a fun couple of days. I hope you have a fun day too and Watch Your Step!

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Backstage Expedition Everest

I was able to do another Housing tour, this time a backstage look at the Expedition Everest ride in the Animal Kingdom park. The ride is fantastic, basically a rollercoaster built inside and around 'Mount Everest', complete with the Yeti attacking you! We got up really early in the morning and headed over to the Commons housing complex to start the tour, this was pretty difficult for me as I had worked the night before until 1:30am!

We had to walk up 14 flights of stairs to get to the top section of the ride and were able to walk along the track between where the ride climb happens, to where the ride stops (at the 'broken track') and goes backwards.
The tour leaders (a couple of cast members who work at the attraction) told us some amazing facts about how the ride was built and gave us some information on the construction of the Yeti and some of the problems they have encountered with him. He is truly amazing to look at and a bit intimidating too!

We were also shown through the queue area, which acts as a pre-show, telling the story and setting the scene for the ride (i.e. a shonky Australian setting up dodgy Everest expeditions through the mountain on an old abandoned railroad without regard for the local legend of the Yeti). The imagineers collected lots of odds and ends from Nepal for this area and a lot of stuff was actually gather during a Disney funded clean up of the Mountains themselves, when discarded items from climbers were brought down and shipped back to the U.S.

The imagineers also inserted a number of Hidden Mickeys in the queue area.

We then got to ride the ride, once with all the work lights on and then again with them off, it was fascinating although I am not too keen on the going backwards bit or the great big drop!

Have a Magical Day and Watch Your Step!

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Star Wars Weekends

Disney's Hollywood Studios park hosted Star Wars Weekends the last 2 weekends of May and the first 2 weekends of June. These 3 day events showcase all things from the Star Wars universe, including visits and autograph signings from stars of the films and the voice characters from the Clone Wars animated series. They have a big parade with literally hundreds of cast dressed in Star Wars costumes, and a fantastic evening celebration known as the Hyperspace Hoopla where characters do a big dance off.
These weekends are very popular and the park was really crowded, but I still went along at least 1 day out of each 3 day weekend! On the first day of weekend number one they had the grand reopening of the Star Tours ride, George Lucas and Bob Iger (Disney's big boss) were there to officiate the proceedings.
Of course the best thing about the weekends is that Mickey appears in his Jedi outfit!

Anthony Daniels aka C3PO

 May the Force Be With You and Watch Your Step!

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Keys to the Kingdom

The Housing Programs people organised a special CP Keys to the Kingdom tour which I was able to book onto. These tours are normally run for guests by the Guest Services cast members and cost a fortune, we got to do it for free!

The tour is basically an indepth insight into the Magic Kingdom park, which talks about Walt Disney's involvement prior to his death and the hidden tributes to cast members who made everything happen, you also get to take a bit of a look backstage and ride a few of the iconic rides (like Pirates of the Caribean and the Haunted Mansion!).  Because I work in the Magic Kingdom I had already been told a lot of the content about Walt etc, during my orientation, but it was still interesting to take the tour and pretend to be a guest!

Because a fair bit of the tour is held backstage there was not a lot of opportunity to take pictures (this is not allowed in backstage areas) but here are some random pictures of the Kingdom I took earlier.

Step Out to Your Left & Please Watch your Step!

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Pixar Weekend Pictures

The EPCOT park held a special Pixar Weekend on May 14 & 15, where a large number of the movie characters from the Pixar films were available for photos. A lot of these characters are not normally available to see so I made sure I went before work and get everyone's picture. Unfortunately they were not signing autographs but it was still good to see them all, especially Bullseye and Mr Fredrickson!

   

Me & Mr Fredrickson

Me & Mater

 On the same weekend Downtown Disney held a Cars Event to introduce the newest character from Cars 2 which opens here on June 24, his name is Finn McMissile and he is a British spy car!

I love seeing the characters, even if they are just people dressed up!

Have a Magical Day & Watch Your Step!

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Resort Hopping for Hidden Mickeys

My flatmate and I visited a number of the Disney resorts here in Florida on a daytrip to search for Hidden Mickeys. These are representations of Mickey Mouse that the Imagineers 'hide' on Walt Disney World property, apparently as an inside joke. They can be really big or really small, some of them are full profiles but mostly they are just a silhouette image of his head.

The resorts we visited were all really amazing, with great pool areas and things to do while not in the Parks. I really liked the Port Orleans resort which has 2 sections, the French Quarter and the Riverside areas.

We found all the Hidden Mickeys listed in the guide book for this resort, here is an example.


Hidden Mickey on a ballistrade

 At the Wilderness Lodge they have Mickeys hidden in the wallpaper, the carpet, some wall posts, as well as on a couple of the lamps along the walls, shown here is a lamp with the Mickey and one without, can you spot it?

We also went and found the Mickeys at Fort Wilderness Campground and the Contemporary which has really huge cute images on the walls designed by Mary Blair who also did Its a Small World.

Hidden Mickey is on the owl's wing

Quite a fun day out really and a good way to get around and see some of the places the Disney guests get to stay, a whole lot nicer than ICP housing!

Step Out to Your Left and Watch Your Step!

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