robbalvey

I imagine it is not cheap to ship those rides across the pond. Olympia Looping is 20 containers on its own! Exactly. I wish people had more understanding of what it takes to maintain, operate, and move around the 27-year old world's largest traveling roller coaster. I paid 9 Euros per ride at Oktoberfest and I think I probably rode it at least 10 times without even thinking about it especially when you consider that a ride like Manhattan Express costs $16 per ride and I'd much rather be riding Olympia Looping over and over. The other option is that maybe Barth will just stop operating such an awesome coaster at so many fairs and I'd rather just pay the 9 Euros to keep that ride operating.

What's this? We have another "festival" event at Epcot? That now makes FOUR festivals annually if you include Food & Wine, Flower & Garden, International Art, and now what used to be Holidays Around the World has now been plussed up into what is being called "Epcot International Festival of the Holidays." Trust me, I am *NOT* complaining in the least bit because Epcot festivals are IMO some of the best times to be had at Walt Disney World and we are getting closer to Epcot having year-around festivals and I am not upset by this in the least bit! This year's Festival of the Holidays takes the past Christmas events at Epcot and amps them up quite a bit! There are new "Holiday Kitchens" around World Showcase (the Food & Wine booths that so many of us are familiar with), new entertainment, new food & beverage offerings, and overall just a really awesome time to be had during the holidays at Epcot! Here's some photos & videos from the first TWO days I spent at the event! NOTE: This update was originally posted live on our Twitter: Good morning from @WDWToday #Epcot! We will be checking out #FestivalOfTheHolidays all day today! Chip n Dale fans rejoice! They are the mascots for Epcot’s #FestivalOfTheHolidays! Grab your event guide and get ready to explore the holidays at Epcot! The Odyssey has been transformed into the "Festive Center" for the holidays. If you’re a fan of Chip n Dale you can watch their classic Christmas cartoon in the Festive Center! “Holiday kitchens, entertainment, and merchandise have been expanded for this new #Epcot International Festival of the Holidays.” We are about to make you very hungry as we sample some of the new Holiday Kitchen offerings! Yes! The Cheese Fondue is back and it is WONDERFUL!!! Highly recommended! The new Holiday Kitchen in Canada has two new offerings this year! The Tourterie was wonderful! [twitter] /status/935936080813219841[/twitter] You’ll find Holiday Markets around World Showcase for all your Christmas Disney merchandise needs! Two #Epcot icons in one shot! We are currently looking for Chip n Dale’s around World Showcase! We found one, but we won’t tell you where this is! Here are the Chip n Dale themed button sets you can choose from when you complete the scavenger hunt! OMG! I love Belle in her red Christmas dress! It wouldn’t be a Christmas event without Santa & Mrs. Claus! You can meet them next to American Adventure! If visiting Santa isn’t your thing, there’s also the jolly, jolly, jolly British version Father Christmas over in the England pavilion! I’m not sure if cheese fondue and grapefruit beer is officially a good combo, but we think it’s delicious! There are more Holiday Kitchens around World Showcase this year and #Epcot’s new holiday event feels more like one of their seasonal festivals! We love it! Yes... this is a Chip n Dale themed holiday event and we think that is AMAZING!!! More Chip n Dale merchandise, please! Chip n Dale fans! You an get this new #FestivalOfTheHolidays shirt and they will sit right on your back shoulder! [twitter] /status/935977114381242369[/twitter] I thought these Christmas decorations over in the France pavilion were pretty cool! Wow! The French Canadian Tourtiere was wonderful. That and the fondue are so far my “must haves” of this event! Tonight's Candlelight Processional host! Loved tonight’s Candlelight Processional hosted by @AnaGasteyer! She was fantastic! Watch the replay of our live stream: [fbvideonew]https://www.facebook.com/themeparkreview/videos/10155945033313566/[/fbvideonew] If you’re a fan of the Candlelight Processional, booking a dinner package is the way to go! Here’s some info on options and pricing. Look, I am not a “religious person” at all, but that doesn’t stop the Candlelight Processional from being a GREAT show filled with wonderful music! Here are more of the cookies from the “Cookie Nook!” They are all good, but that cream cheese ginger snap... OMG! The #EpcotHolidays Christmas tree lit up at night! The last 60 seconds of Holiday Illuminations is just bonkers! Watch this clip over & over! [twitter] /status/936065861839880194[/twitter] What a fantastic day @WDWToday #EpcotHolidays! The new Festival of the Holidays is just a wonderful time to be here! In fact, I’m coming back tomorrow! I said we would be back today and we’re back! Starting out with two items I didn’t try yesterday.. Mongolian beef bun & pork rice bowl! I I recommend both! Of course @ElissaAlvey is already sucking down all the Potstickers! Good luck getting any for yourself! Because one fondue isn’t enough for @ElissaAlvey! Seriously, the fondue is the highlight of @WDWToday #EpcotHoliday Kitchens! We just found Chip n Dale in #Japan! Won’t give away the actual location but we hope they sell this one at some point because we love it! Thank you again for reading and to those of you who followed us LIVE on Twitter during this update! Now please... POST YOUR COMMENTS!!!

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We have EVERYTHING in Orlando. What kind of things do you like? Sorry for not being able to answer the question, but we get asked this all the time and there are HUNDREDS of restaurants in Orlando and without having any insight as to what you like, it's impossible to answer. And honestly, if you have your sights set on "not fancy" and Waffle House is one of your options, then I'm not sure I can be much help. Outside of chain restaurants everything we eat at is probably going to be somewhat "fancy" if Waffle House is on your to do list!

I would agree with that. I came away from the ride liking it more than I thought I would, but I honestly went in with low expectations. If anything I think it will serve as a well needed addition to World Showcase and the trend to bring more actual rides to that part of the park continues. With everything else going on at WDW: Star Wars, Tron, Guardians, etc, I feel like Ratatouille will be a solid "B" ride compared to the rest and part of me wishes we were getting whatever the new Beauty and the Beast ride will be at Tokyo instead, but I'm still very happy this is making it's way to Epcot as we need more rides there.

Never said that. Height or speed alone just doesn't make a good coaster. Sure, the "world's fastest" is still more interesting than some Wacky Worm, but "worlds fastest" still says very little about the quality of the ride and how "worth" the trip was. People get impressed by those records, but it doesn't mean much. That's not even the point of this thread. EDIT: And I also see that you're a new screen name for someone we recently banned on the forum for being an obnoxious poster. Thankfully, we caught that and you're now banned again. I guess your new screen name should have given it away...

Yeah, we've been really having a great time with this 4K60 stuff from the new GoPro Hero 6. Here's a few more that we did recently... Kumba is still one of my all-time favorites: And you can't go wrong with this Schwarzkopf classic:

It's totally up to you. There isn't any rules for how you count and people make up new rules all the time. I know people who count relocated coasters, cloned coasters, double tracks of coasters, even cycle monorails or log flumes as coasters. Hell, I probably know people that if you pushed them down a steep driveway in a shopping cart, they'd probably count that too. Which, goes back to my earlier statement that "counting is dumb" and why bother in that case?

That's not really quality either. "World's fastest" or "tallest" is the stuff plebs care about so they can brag about it, but it says nothing about the quality of those rides. Sorry, but you make absolutely zero sense. You're basically saying that going on Formula Rossa is the same as riding a Wacky Worm which is going to be the dumbest thing I'm going to read today. The only scenario in which your statement could be true is if you went on the world's tallest Wacky Worm or something stupid like that, and in that case, it would still be considered "quality" because it's so stupid that it's worth riding just to laugh at it.

Yeah, you don't want to go early on a day where there is EMH in the morning. By the night it *probably* won't matter as much, but parks that have EMH tend to be busier because you have THOUSANDS of extra people who will choose to visit that park that day, and then a lot of them just stay there for the duration of the operation hours. That being said, one of the nights I did my end of the night ride on FoP was also an EMH morning and it ended up being my shortest wait of 35 minutes, so go figure...

Basically just keep clicking on Morning, Afternoon, Evening, or changing times on the drop down menu over and over again and hope something comes up!

Here's an idea for a two day plan. I have no idea if this fits with your personal agenda or not, which I understand is different for everyone.... Day One - Rope Drop MK Go ride Space, then Mansion, Pirates, get out there there... Head to DAK. Have FP+ for this day on Safari, Everest, anything else you can grab. Night time ride on FoP Maybe have to suck it up and wait for River Journey (It's usually just under an hour of the line is just inside the entrance) Day two - Rope Drop Epcot... Have a FP for Soarin and Frozen if you can get one, otherwise go directly to Frozen and hope for the best. SIngle Rider Test Track. Spend time eating & drinking (probably mostly drinking) and close out the park with Illuminations. Another idea would be: Day One: DAK all day taking it more relaxed and get in your FoP at night. Day Two: Morning at MK similar to what I posted above Afternoon/Evening at Epcot If you are able to get a FP for Frozen, FoP, or River Journey that will at least help you out a bit. ProTop for getting Fast Passes! 1. Do it on the desktop browser. I seem to have better luck that way. 2. Try for ONE person at a time. 3. Keep refreshing and changing the times 30min before/30 min later. 4. Just keep doing this over and over. 5. Once you get one person a FP try to get the other. 6. It seems to be better to get a FP for a time you don't want, and then go back in and try to change the time than it is to skip that FP and wait for a new time. Example: We had friends out recently that wanted to ride Frozen. It probably took me refreshing the page 200 times over the course of 30-40 minutes, but they finally popped up! I got them one person at a time. Some of them were not the right time when I first grabbed them, but then I was able to go back in and match up the times close enough to when they overlapped. As long as both of your FP are within the same time, they don't need to be the exact same time. You have a 15 minute grace period AFTER the expire time to still get on the ride. GOOD LUCK!

Yeah, I mean, I was really busy and I cannot believe you MADE ME take time out of engaging with self-entitled assholes on Twitter. You owe me for my time. I'll send you an invoice. It is a legit concern. They actually have FOUR theaters, but that doesn't mean the entire ride couldn't go down for some reason. It rarely happens, but you never know. If you at least plan to do the night ride on your first night, you always have the next morning? I concur about your not wanting to get up at 7am on a vacation day. That is why I do the night time rides for both FoP and Frozen. Yeah, the shorter park hours really are unfortunate. And ever since they took away the night time parade, this has been a result. Hoping that will change back when we get a new night time parade at the park. Unless you can do MK first thing in the morning one of your mornings, MK will be tough, not gonna lie, on a weekend. You'll run into huge crowds even though the weekend you're out here isn't considered a peak weekend. It's just hard to do multiple parks in one day when one of them is a shorter-operating hour Magic Kingdom. I personally like Nine Dragons, but it sometimes doesn't get the best reviews. Although I'd probably choose the Teppanyaki restaurant over it because... Japan... and it's also very good! Off the top of my head my other top choices at Epcot would be: Via Napoli, Le Cellier, Spice Road Table, Tutto Italia. Although the best Asian food on Disney property, IMO, is either going to be Morimoto Asia or Yak & Yeti.

Parties of two had a MUCH better chance of getting in somewhere. Hell, I've even walked up to Be Our Guest as a party of two and gotten right in!

I like it but it would be far from my first choice. But again, that's why I ask Bill what they are into because there is so much that Epcot offers. I personally like Spice Road Table much MUCH more than Marrakesh. But that's just me...

Another note - I just noticed on the dates you are here that Magic Kingdom closes at 8pm. That's really unfortunate. I hope some of those hours get extended. The nights that MK is open until 11pm or later are some of the best nights at the park. Those last couple of hours you have the place to yourself! Keep an eye on park hours as they CAN adjust them. For example, up until about 5 days ago, MK was closing at 10pm during the two weeks of Christmas & New Years and they just changed that to 12am. That being said, I'm not exactly sure how I would suggest doing MK as it sounds like you guys may be more interested in doing some night time stuff at DAK or Epcot. Unless you could dedicate more time to it, or if they extend park hours, it might be worth just skipping it unless there is something you REALLY needed to do. Going to MK in the middle of the day can be quite hectic. If there was one MK thing I would recommend would be Happily Ever After as it really is a completely amazing fireworks show, but that would pretty much mean you need to be at the park from about 6pm - closing and it would also mean you wouldn't be able to do any other park that night.

Yeah I have to agree with Elissa's statement above. This is not accurate information and most certainly not correct based on the time of year. Make sure you listen to the people who are Orlando locals! We won't steer you wrong! EDIT: In fact, this live stream was done on a very hot day in May at 12:30pm and you can see there are many animals out. I've been on the safari both in morning and night and also seen next to nothing. Remember they are animals and not animatronics and can be unpredictable. [fbvideonew] [/fbvideonew]

If you can get the FP+ that's awesome! That will give you one less thing to worry about. If you are going for rope drop, consider going right to Soarin' instead of Test Track and using the single rider line for Test Track unless single rider lines aren't your thing and you really really like the new Test Track pre-show where you can make your own car. (side note: they have the same machines at the exit of Test Track where you can customize your car and it saves it to your Magic Band.) If you cannot get Frozen Ever After Fastpasses, right at park closing, I have never waited more than 45 minutes for it, usually the line is more like 25 minutes even if the sign posted wait time still says 70-100. NOTE - I would avoid this park on an evening EMH day. Epcot can get VERY busy on days when they have EMH. Another side note - Now that they have built the 3rd theater for Soarin, the line isn't as long as it used to be, but it can still get fairly long, but I haven't seen those 120 min common waits in a while. They have been making quite a few changes to the FP+ system and they have mostly been for the good. Yes, you can only get a FP for one park at a time UNTIL you have exhausted those three pre-booked FastPasses for that park. Once those are used up, you can then go on the app and get a FastPass ONE AT A TIME for a ride at the same park or another park if you wish. Allears has a pretty good breakdown of the FastPass+ system: http://allears.net/tp/fastpass-plus.htm Of course it depends on the time of year you go to the parks, but on non-peak days I've been with people at Studios, had 3 FP for the morning/early afternoon, used all of those, and then ended up getting 3 more FP for Kingdom later that night. But if you're going on some super busy day, yeah, you'll probably be left with crap. If you have a car, just drive to MK. Don't even mess with the monorail. And don't leave the park EARLY, hang out for a while. They will leave Main Street and the hub area open for sometimes 90 minutes after the park closes. Go hang out, get some cool castle pictures, grab a coffee at Starbucks right before they close and go hang out in the "grass" area and just relax and enjoy the park as it's emptying out and you're not in that crazy hordes of people. We do this all the time and it's actually a lot of fun! If you've never seen it, and you have some free time, and you're a super huge Nemo nerd, then yes. Keep the memories you had of the original... Pretty much. The only limitations is at Magic Kingdom. You cannot take alcohol outside of the restaurants. This is one of those hard questions because there are so many options. I'd ask you back "what kind of food are you interested in?" Mexico. Just to the left of the "ring carver" kiosk (which is to the left of the outdoor restaurant) and it's exactly where I filmed this live stream last night: Everest has an amazing single rider line and I have managed to ride 3-4 times in about 30 minutes even on busy days. Kilimanjaro is worth doing but IMO if it is a huge line (I'm also not a big animal person so there is that) but the line does move very fast because those vehicles hold a ton of people and then run like 600 of them at a time. Conservation Station can be time consuming but it's interesting if she is into veterinary science. The rest of them are easy to do walking trails. Be sure to see the naked mole rats!!! Ok, here's my take on the Avatar stuff. As Elissa said you have two options if you can't get a FP: Option 1. You have to go EARLY in the morning. And I mean REALLY REALLY EARLY - You *NEED* to be at the front entrance of the park 90 minutes before park opening. That doesn't mean be pulling into the parking lot 90 minutes, it means AT THE FRONT ENTRANCE ready to go into the park. Let me show you why. Here is a picture of a friend of ours who recently was at the park 90 minutes prior to park opening on a non-peak day.... This is one of those situations where every minute you delay getting there, you'll have like 500 more people in front of you. He got there 90 minutes early (to which they opened the park at 8:50am instead of 9:00am which they commonly will open early) and he was done with BOTH Flight of Passage and River Journey by 9:30. Now granted, he still basically waited two hours. BUT...at least he had the rest of the day ahead of him. Option 2. Get in line about 3 minutes before park closing (NOT on an EMH night) and even if the line says 180 minutes, your actual wait should only be about 45-75 minutes. At this point there is no more Fast Pass people coming through and you just have to clear out the standby line. When the standby line is at the ride entrance (all the way outside) the line is about 45-50 minutes. I have done this several times and the only time it took longer than 50 minutes was because one of the theaters broke down while we were waiting. If you love the ride, you could always combine option 1 & 2 and get a bonus ride in! Nope. Unless you are into shows. Nemo & Lion King are both pretty good. But if you're not into shows, you can skip them. Tree of life shows are constantly going on throughout the night. You can just stand in front of the tree in the entrance area and usually catch one. I'm not a fan of Rivers of Light. Your time is better spent in Pandora, IMO. But maybe watch a video of the show on YouTube and decide for yourself. Not really. Hit Everest or Pandora at night instead. Yak & Yeti! It's wonderful! Also the QSR in Pandora is great as well! You can drink alcohol if you're 21 and over. I hope some of this is helpful or useful.

It has really improved a lot over the past few years. The variety of treats and the new stage show give it a lot more uniqueness than before.

Hey everyone! If you have followed TPR for any length of time, you'll know that we *LOVE* the after-hours themed events at Walt Disney World's Magic Kingdom! The big two every year are Mickey's Not-So-Scary Halloween Party and Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party. Both of which are considered the best of any holiday events at parks here in Orlando, and we would have to agree! If you love Disney and love the holidays, these events should be a MUST DO for your trip to Walt Disney World! We have already been to the Christmas Party twice this season, and here's a compilation of photos & videos from both nights! This event runs select nights in November and December and we highly recommend it! Yay! I love when the Christmas decorations are out above the Magic Kingdom toll plaza! We just got into the park and we already have cookies! The very first "Frozen Holiday Wish" castle lighting of the season! [twitter] [/twitter] Watch the full show here: Elsa works her magic starting off with a blank canvas... And within moments it looks like this! Thank you Elsa for the awesome job of lighting up the castle! Everyone is decked out for the holidays! When you see the giant candy cane that’s where you get awesome Christmas treats! Wait, are you giving me soft pretzels? Christmas treats are included in the price of the event and each location has different treats! These were some of the best! Hot soft pretzels and Sno-Cones are the amazing holiday combo you never knew you needed till now! It wouldn't be a Christmas Party without a Christmas tree! Hey look! It’s Big Al and Big Alvey! I love it when they bring the characters out in their Christmas costumes! The cast members are always so happy to give me food! Yes, please! I will take some! The cookies and drinks are delicious! This is a GREAT spot to watch the parade at both the Halloween & Christmas events. When main street is packed like crazy with people, you can usually find a spot fairly easily over across from Country Bear Jamboree. Here's the re-cap from our live stream of the parade! [fbvideonew] [/fbvideonew] Another ProTip is to watch the fireworks from this location - We are standing in the hub on the left side of the "Partners" statue but do not go any further forward than the Partners statue! You'll have a great view from right here! Mickey’s Once Upon a Christmastime Parade has all of your favorite characters...plus Santa! Of course, watching the parade from Main Street is awesome, too, but you have to get there VERY early! The Christmas and Halloween parties are one of the few times during the year where you can see fireworks "in the round" meaning there are fireworks all around you and this experience is amazing! [twitter] [/twitter] This fireworks show is soooo good! Red and green = CHRISTMAS!!! Nobody does theme park fireworks shows better than Disney! I love that Walt Disney World has been getting more and more of these awesome popcorn buckets like you see in Japan! Here is the new Christmas Party MagicBand! It's cute with lots of holiday characters... And of course I had to buy one! Yes... it is legit snowing in Orlando! Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party! Come for the awesome holiday atmosphere... ...stay for the delicious treats! Yes we went back for more snow cones! Mickey's Most Merriest Celebration is a "don't miss" castle show that plays several times during the event. Here's a couple of clips from the show. I love this! [fbvideonew] [/fbvideonew][fbvideonew] [/fbvideonew] This show has so many characters in it! It's impressive to watch and it might even be my favorite castle show so far! The castle looks the BEST during the Christmas holiday season! And yes "Jingle Cruise" remains a holiday tradition here at Magic Kingdom! Trader Sam has his Christmas lights! Get it? #JungleCruiseHumor PhotoPass have been doing these awesome pictures during the events the last couple of years. I think this one with Zero is new this year! Another Very Merry tip: The treat location at Pinocchio Village Haus gives you ALL the cookie flavors! They did bring back the Haunted Mansion lantern pic from Not-So-Scary and we think that is awesome! And let's not forget another very important feature of these special ticket events... LOW WAITS for rides! We rode Space Mountain... ...and then we rode again... ...and again! I think we got in 5 rides with never more than a 5 minute wait! And if you play Sorcerer's of the Magic Kingdom, each event will give you an exclusive new card! Here's this year's version! It was another AWESOME Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party! Do not miss this event if you are in Orlando for the holiday season! Oh! And don't forget! If you want some additional holiday cheer at Walt Disney World this year, Hollywood Studios has this new "Tower of Terror" projection show for the holidays! Now please POST YOUR COMMETS! After all, we took the time to write the report, thru very least you can do is say something about it!

Why do you think I've become so bitter about it? But seriously, THIS! Our more recent and upcoming China trips focus on the major parks: Happy Valley, Disney, Fantawild, Chimelong, etc. No more of this credit whoring crap. QUALITY > QUANTITY!

Did Elissa also stop counting? I remember talking to her about counting a little bit on the trip in 2012. Yes. 2012 was the year we did that big China trip and we had all those horrible credit whores on that trip that kept insisting that we add crappy little parks to ride garbage credits, which we succumbed to (and yet more reasons why we don't do public tours anymore, but that's a whole other thread...) We probably rode at least 25 garbage kiddie coasters on that trip, maybe more, just so that people could pad their count. We got back from that trip and when we sat down to add them to a list, first of all, we couldn't even remember half of them because they all sucked, and we realized at that point how dumb it was that people would go out of their way to ride total crap just prove to the world that they had a higher coaster count. Unless you're talking to another sad and pathetic coaster nerd who also meticulously counts coasters like Rain Man, just saying "I went to China to ride roller coasters" is usually enough to impress the masses if that's the kind of thing you are into.

No, I get it. But let's be honest, there are quite a few people who DO take that kind of thing seriously. If there wasn't, you wouldn't have been able to make that joke!

This is what frustrates me about this whole stupid debate. This thing you just "left here." Who really cares if someone counts it as a "credit" or not? Will someone adding ONE MORE stupid number to their overall count impact you in any way at all? No. Which is why the only "counting" thing is IMO stupid and pointless. And yes I know I used to do it, and yes I realize my mistake. Now granted, IMO there is a difference to those who keep a list to keep track and those who are obsessive about "counting." Example: If you have ever taken a photo holding up a number with the purpose of bragging about your count on your Facebook page, that IMO is stupid and pointless. If you are keeping track for your own personal records, and yes, maybe even keeping track of how many you've ridden, but your goal is for recording keeping not for bragging rights, then you have my partial respect. And for the record, I don't do either anymore. I haven't kept a list or counted since 2012 when I realized that in the grand scheme of things, it really didn't matter. I like visiting theme parks for fun, not for doing math.