Benjsh
TS Member
- Favourite Ride
- Steel Vengeance
Hi guys.
We are still here in Florida and just left our Disney Hotel to return to our 'base hotel' for the remaining 5 nights of our holiday so I thought id give my honest thoughts on WDW after not visiting Orlando since 2013. Obviously a lot has changed in this time so I had lots of new rides to experience as well as a new park in Animal Kingdom which Id never visited before.
Top 3 rides:
1. Rise of the Resistance. It lived up to the expectations and then some. What an incredible attraction. 10/10
2. Guardians Cosmic Rewind. Everything you want in a family thrill coaster. So much fun and so smooth too. 9.5/10
3. Avatar: Flight of Passage. Absolutely adored it. Wasn't expecting it to be as good as it is. Again 9.5/10.
Honourable mentions:
Tiana's Bayou Adventure. Splash Mountain has a worthy successor. An incredibly well executed makeover. We loved it. 9/10
Dinosaur at Animal Kingdom. I went in hearing good things about it but Wow.....it was a lot better than I expected and its quite sad that it will soon be closing. 8.5/10
Top 3 Underwhelming rides:
1. Snow White Seven Dwarves Coaster. Far too short and didn't really get it tbh. Feel like the park needed something further away from what Big Thunder is.
2. Tron: Dont know if I had hyped it up too much but it was just okay and nothing more. Launch was pretty good and after that it's a bit of a snooze fest. Also quite short for the long wait it gets.
3. Smugglers Run. Its just Star Tours but with interactive buttons to press. A complete waste of what is one of the biggest symbolic elements of the franchise. The Millenium Falcon deserves a far better attraction in my opinion. Its a one and done. Definitely have to do it as a Star Wars fan but it wont blow you away.
Favourite Area / Land:
A close call between Galaxy's edge and Pandora. Both incredible but i think Galaxy's edge just shades it purely because there's more to do with loads of roaming actors.
Favourite Disney Park:
Tough one as there are parts I like about all the parks and parts I don't. However overall id have to say i probably enjoyed Hollywood Studios the most. Great mixture of rides and quality shows. However I really enjoyed my first ever visit to Animal Kingdom too.
Other highlights:
Staff as excellent as ever. Expect no less though at Disney. Also plenty of meet and greets over the 4 days with minimal wait times. My son enjoyed these more than I thought he would do.
Final thoughts:
There's still some magic left at WDW but it definitely isnt what it was. A massive overselling of Lightening Lane passes definitely takes away what made Disney special too. Feels like they have created a hierarchy thst simply didnt need to be made with what were already incredibly expensive entrance tickets. I have enjoyed my time here, dont get me wrong, but in no rush to come back really. Feel like I have got everything I wanted on this trip and wouldn't be in a massive rush to 'go see the mouse' again for a long while.
Universal review to follow as I still have Epic Day 2 to come as yet.
We are still here in Florida and just left our Disney Hotel to return to our 'base hotel' for the remaining 5 nights of our holiday so I thought id give my honest thoughts on WDW after not visiting Orlando since 2013. Obviously a lot has changed in this time so I had lots of new rides to experience as well as a new park in Animal Kingdom which Id never visited before.
Top 3 rides:
1. Rise of the Resistance. It lived up to the expectations and then some. What an incredible attraction. 10/10
2. Guardians Cosmic Rewind. Everything you want in a family thrill coaster. So much fun and so smooth too. 9.5/10
3. Avatar: Flight of Passage. Absolutely adored it. Wasn't expecting it to be as good as it is. Again 9.5/10.
Honourable mentions:
Tiana's Bayou Adventure. Splash Mountain has a worthy successor. An incredibly well executed makeover. We loved it. 9/10
Dinosaur at Animal Kingdom. I went in hearing good things about it but Wow.....it was a lot better than I expected and its quite sad that it will soon be closing. 8.5/10
Top 3 Underwhelming rides:
1. Snow White Seven Dwarves Coaster. Far too short and didn't really get it tbh. Feel like the park needed something further away from what Big Thunder is.
2. Tron: Dont know if I had hyped it up too much but it was just okay and nothing more. Launch was pretty good and after that it's a bit of a snooze fest. Also quite short for the long wait it gets.
3. Smugglers Run. Its just Star Tours but with interactive buttons to press. A complete waste of what is one of the biggest symbolic elements of the franchise. The Millenium Falcon deserves a far better attraction in my opinion. Its a one and done. Definitely have to do it as a Star Wars fan but it wont blow you away.
Favourite Area / Land:
A close call between Galaxy's edge and Pandora. Both incredible but i think Galaxy's edge just shades it purely because there's more to do with loads of roaming actors.
Favourite Disney Park:
Tough one as there are parts I like about all the parks and parts I don't. However overall id have to say i probably enjoyed Hollywood Studios the most. Great mixture of rides and quality shows. However I really enjoyed my first ever visit to Animal Kingdom too.
Other highlights:
Staff as excellent as ever. Expect no less though at Disney. Also plenty of meet and greets over the 4 days with minimal wait times. My son enjoyed these more than I thought he would do.
Final thoughts:
There's still some magic left at WDW but it definitely isnt what it was. A massive overselling of Lightening Lane passes definitely takes away what made Disney special too. Feels like they have created a hierarchy thst simply didnt need to be made with what were already incredibly expensive entrance tickets. I have enjoyed my time here, dont get me wrong, but in no rush to come back really. Feel like I have got everything I wanted on this trip and wouldn't be in a massive rush to 'go see the mouse' again for a long while.
Universal review to follow as I still have Epic Day 2 to come as yet.
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