SharkTums

It's nice to see the parks do more and more Holiday Events, and doing a decent job with them as well. Especially parks in warmer weather locations that have no excuse!

^Well said. Also something that I didn't decide if I wanted to post or not was a quote from Bob Chapek at the Media Dinner...when talking about the transformation across the resort he said that Animal Kingdom was now a full day park. Implying that they had opened it not being a full day park!? I never thought Animal Kingdom was bad, especially if you're into animals, but him saying that kind of admitted that they needed some additional rides and experiences to justify keeping the park open later into the evening and being a real full day place. The parks are certainly now all full day plus parks!

Guys, if the Meadowlands Mall thing actually kind of opened ANYTHING HAS A CHANCE!!!!

^But! But! What about Flight Deck!!!!???

^The transformation of the whole resort is just on another level. This ride is a pretty awesome part of it though!

I love the Odaiba area. So much interesting stuff to discover. I'm a little upset that the replaced my favorite Japanese arcade with that insane Digital Art Museum, but I know that's getting phenomenal reviews and I'll just find another arcade! Joypolis is pretty cool. It's like an updated Disney Quest that didn't stay in 1993. Also, the best crepes I've ever had in Japan came from the crepe booth inside so there's that.

Come on, West Coast Racers will open before Memorial Day!* *Of the following year!

^Ooo, I'll have to check that out next time!

^Just barely. Think of it as one of the little pre drops on Tower of Terror.

^^There's mozzarella at Oga's?!?! ^I think for me at least it's one of those awkward theming things. Look, I get that this is a very immersive experience and the cast members do an AMAZING job staying in character, but I also know you don't really work for the First Order. I saw you grocery shopping at Publix yesterday! So it's just kind of funny to me and others.

^Thanks! I really appreciate the kind words from you and everyone else. It makes the work worth it and makes me want to write more fun trip reports! ^^Bill, you do the little drop into a simulator where you end up landing back on Batuu. You then exit the drop shaft into the outside (still trackless) area and then into the unload bay.

^^Was waiting to see how long it would take you to respond. Was not disappointed!

Yeah, I kind of agree with Bill here. Compared to Branson and Pigeon Forge/Gatlinburg I don't think we have as much cool 'non park stuff', especially right on I-Drive. Like the Ferris Wheel area is nice for a few hours to do some attractions and food but not like full day stuff. If you're willing to go a bit farther we have things like Gatorland which is actually more awesome than it sounds or those Eco Parks with zip lines and stuff.

^That would be my Harry Potter review as well! Now you give me an attraction themed to like MegaShark or Jeff Goldblum and I'll be completely accurate!

^^Yeah it’s really weird how it doesn’t seem to be a certain size or shape, just seems completely random if it bothers people or not. Who knows, it may be some rib cage measurement or something!

^^ and ^^^ Thanks! I really did enjoy the ride despite my lack of Star Wars knowledge! Glad to know I can at least amuse people with my dumbness.

Great question! I’m not entirely sure. They were certainly running one side much heavier than the other so it could have been that but it also could be the latter. I’ll ask and try to find the answer for you.

Thanks for the kind words everyone. Yeah, I mean, we all should have known, but of course Disney pulled off a kickass Star Wars attraction that impresses fans and non-fans alike!

It's funny cause it's true!

Agree with the reasonable pricing. Skiing is usually super expensive and this at least will make it more accessible. I really like these indoor ski places and the process and timing and how it all works, I really hope this succeeds.

^^^Glad I could answer your question! ^^Overall I'd say 15 minutes sounds accurate. Of course if you are delayed in a room or there is some additional waiting between experiences it could be a bit longer. The standing transport, think more like an airport transport train that spins slowly while undulating. I think you'd have to be pretty drunk or have a problem to fall in there but it is a bit disorienting. The FastPass Queue is separate from the Standby Queue and they meet back up right at the first preshow room. There just isn't anything super amazing that you'll miss doing one or the other like in Flight of Passage where if you FastPass you miss the lab with the avatar! ^I think I was *slightly* too young for the original Star Wars. Born in 81 so never saw the original ones in the theatre. They re-released when I was in high school and I went to see them to impress an older boy but didn't really care for them. I was more into Star Trek: TNG, but never really cared for either super much.

TPR's "We know very little about Star Wars" Rise of the Resistance Photo Trip Report! I wanted to post a bit of a ride trip report for all of you because this ride is legit super amazing. As I posted on Twitter, the ride is good enough to be at Tokyo Disney! Ok, keep in mind I do not know a lot about Star Wars and in fact only rode the Millennium Falcon ride for the first time yesterday. I knew (from what we knew about this ride) that it would be awesome, and I hoped that my indifference towards the theme would be eclipsed by an amazing ride. It was. Very similar to how I feel about Tokyo Disneyland's Pooh ride, I'm not a fan of the Pooh characters at all but the ride is amazing enough that it stands on its own. Rise does even more so. Ok, so let's take a little photo trip through the ride shall we!? Feel free to ask me any questions while it's all fresh in my head. Oh, and make sure to watch our video over and over! Seriously don't worry about 'spoilers', the ride is so good and there is so much to see, and no pictures or video will ever do it justice so it will still be super awesome once you actually ride! Here's the entrance. Similar to the Avatar rides, more immersive, less giant ride signs. Ride restrictions: Super themed FastPass touch points. Keep in mind the ride is NOT using FastPass right now and there is no announcement about when that will start. We made sure to go through the Standby and the FastPass queue. Unlike Flight of Passage, the Rise FastPass queue does not skip anything super amazing. At this point you get to your first preshow. There are two separate rooms. We did both and they appear to be mirror images of each other. It's a decent preshow with an animatronic BB8, screens, and better screens. It's explained that some bad guys are on the way and you need to evacuate. It's explained much better than this but that is my non Star Wars knowing anything synopsis. Rey telling BB8 to get back to work! I have no idea who these guys are but they're somewhat important to the ride and I just love how smug the one dude looks here! So when you exit this first preshow there are resistance fighters (cast members) waiting to hurry you into the next preshow. At this point you are back outside again!?! I really love how this ride went from outdoor to indoor to outdoor to indoor to outdoor, it's just so messed up in a good way!!! So the next 'preshow' is actually a ride! You are hurried into an escape ship that is standing only and you are urged to hang on to some of the guide rails that are around the ship. It's a 'mild' simulator but made to feel more crazy due to the fact that you're standing up with no restraints and little to hold on to! Again there are animatronics, screens, physical sets all on your ship! It's impressive and it moves! Shockingly your escape does not go to plan and there are space battles and tractor beams and you end up being sucked up by a very bad guy ship. Like the death star but longer and not a sphere. Again, did I mention I know nothing of Star Wars and yet loved every second of this entire experience?!! As you are told to prepare to be boarded the doors open and stuff starts getting even worse! Hey look we're outside again! Now back inside on a space ship! Our pilot was pretty good until that tractor beam got us. Rearview of space. Bad guy ship. When the doors open and you see this, you know that things are not exactly going your way. So now you're getting yelled at by the bad guys. Wait, they're called the First Order I think!?!? They're scary, very Nazi like, and they stay in character. These are not your normal friendly Disney Cast Members...these are scary space bad guys. Oh, and you're now in a giant space ship hangar. This is the picture that's been making the rounds for a month or two now. The scale is like nothing you've seen before. It's giant. I mean, you're on a killer giant space ship that has sucked in your space ship and has other space ships inside of it so I guess it has to be big right?! So there are a lot of StormTrooper guys in this room. Some move, some don't, it's mildly terrifying. There's also various space ships that I think have names after letters? A wing, X Wing, etc. Ok, I need to point this out. This is a ride vehicle here in this room. I don't know if it's real or just a model, but that's the attention to detail on this ride. If there are all of these ride vehicles around that are used for transport on the ship, why do you only see them at the ride!?! Nope, you see them here first! Again, the scale of this attraction. That's the good ship you just got off of now inside the big bad ship. More space ships in the hangar. You are then directed to some scary hallways to be put into cells to await your interrogation. Interrogations usually aren't fun so it's still a bit scary. There is another split here. And this is where things get a bit more complicated. We rode the 'right side split' four times and the 'straight ahead split' only once. We felt that the two sides were DIFFERENT! Different car movements, starting backwards instead of forwards etc. You always load two cars at a time and one car we felt had a far superior path...the 'front car' or Blue color on the right side split (front seat of front car) if it's still the same and you want to request it. But I'm getting ahead of myself. First you have to survive being thrown in a cell and getting interrogated by a sadly completely covered up Kylo Ren (not the topless high waisted pants version). The cell is preshow number 3 for those of you counting at home! So you get put in the cell and there are no obvious ways out, you get yelled at, and then the resistance once again comes to your rescue and light sabers you out of a wall! It's a great effect! Now you get ready to board the actual ride! Space hallway. Are they real, animatronic, or projections!? Sometimes on this ride you can't tell! Scary First Order bad guy cast members. Note the colors on the floor, that is how you are divided into boarding groups for the different rows and cars. Again, after five rides, I recommend 'Blue'. We're in a cell now with a storm trooper and bars on one side... and a dead end on the other. More bad guys show up to taunt us while imprisoned. Ok, so you're now in your escape pod to get you off the scary non-death star bad guy ship and you've got a droid and many resistance dudes to help, everything will be fine right!? Of course not!!! So much happens now. Again, pictures and video don't even do the ride justice. But I'm going to post some below! The beginning felt a little 'Mystic Manor' ish with some gentle movements and rotation around a room. But then robots and bad guys start to notice us and the ride speeds up and gets more chaotic. No forced perspective, just giant ass AT-AT's. I'm a baaaaaad guy. Bad guys lightsaber trying to kill you. Still trying to figure out how to kill us on his own damn ship. ...bunch of awesome stuff happens...we escape back to Batuu. In addition to being a trackless dark ride it also goes up in elevators, very quickly down in elevators, and I don't even have a picture of my favorite room cause I could never get a good enough one. Let's just say there are many big guns, moving very quickly and your vehicle is playing like cat and mouse with them and there are giant screens on the other side with a space battle happening, it's just insane. Oh, and I'm a sci-fi nerd so when there's a realistic explosive decompression of part of the ship I seriously like squealed in delight! Ok, so at this point you've destroyed the bad ship and a bunch of the bad guys and you're safely in your escape pod heading back to Batuu. Of course the landing is a little rough, I mean, is there any flying attraction where the landing isn't a bit rough?!?! Oh, Soarin. And surprise, you're back outside again because of course your pod landed outside back on the planet!!!! WTF?!?! It's so amazing!!! Giant indoor/outdoor ending section. A closer look at two ride vehicles at the exit. I just love how it all blends in and you can't even tell what is in there! You can see here how amazingly everything is themed and I have no idea where they hid this building and all the queue and preshow components. Actually I do have an idea. It's Disney and it's magical. Go ride it now! But if you can't, watch our video because it's worth it! Thanks for reading, feel free to ask questions or comment!

Yesterday there were only two lines I saw, Standby and Fastpass. I did not see a Single Rider line. I am working on a trip report now and will look more carefully.

Big Snow is supposed to open this afternoon!

Well, you'll definitely get on Runaway Railway as that announced at March 4. Ratatouille is still just 'summer'.