Originally Posted By vbdad55 Really interesting to read the feedback from those that are there. My daughters piano teacher is from Hong Kong and she has already planned her trip back, and to take nieces/nephews that are still there. So all the info you provide is very valuable - thanks. I have plannedmany a WDW trip for friends & relatives, but I am in new ground here.....
Originally Posted By SuperDry <<< SuperDry that very loud noise we heard in the lobby when we were chatting was the large metal bar falling off in the caged elevator! It was hanging off when we went upstairs! >>> Wow, that could REALLY have been the Tower of Terror in real life if a different piece had broken! Wow, emergency doors that won't stay open, and now elevator pieces breaking off - maybe this joint is haunted? It was good you meet you as well.
Originally Posted By SuperDry Pooh: I went on it expecting the worst, especially after what happened with DL's. I have to say that I was very pleasantly surprised. Yes, it is a simple dark ride with simple ride system technology, but then again, that's what the traditional FL dark rides are at DL. Ride system aside, it's a completely different ride than at DL, and I thought it was MUCH better done. I don't know if this was just a false rumor or my mind playing tricks on me, but the notion that they made up two sets of set pieces when they built the one at DL is just not true. Although there were a lot of flat set pieces, it didn't seem like a plywood maze like DL's does. Also, there isn't the over-use of bright primary colors and black lights which makes DL's version share elements with a carnival dark ride. It seemed very Disney-esque from start to finish. It was not what Hunny Hunt is, either in terms of ride system or set layout, but I think it makes a good attempt to be a 2005 version of a 1955-ish FL dark ride. It's much closer to the DL dark rides than the other Poohs are in that there are many more sets of much smaller size, and the track twists and turns a great deal when going between sets. Also, unlike the other ones, this Pooh didn't leave me with the feeling of "that's it?" when you reach the end - it didn't seem that it was unexpectedly short. Also, I think that Pooh may end up being the most popular non-show attraction in the park. At least on the days I went there, there were far more elderly people than you typcially see in the other parks, and these people are not going to be able to ride Space Mountain, and to a lesser extent, may not want to deal with the moving load ramps at Buzz. Pooh is right along the lines of an attraction that accomplishes what Walt talked about with the original park: it's an attraction that all generations of the family can enjoy together. And, because of its strategic location in FL, it's certain to get a lot of traffic.
Originally Posted By PrincessInPink Nice review there SuperDry, thanks. I didn't try the Pooh ride coz it was way too crowded and I heard it wasn't anything spectacular. The Fastpass went out very quickly and the queue grew to a 180 min wait. I'll be going again in November with family and little cousins. Hope it'll be less crowded then.
Originally Posted By WorldDisney <<I didn't try the Pooh ride coz it was way too crowded and I heard it wasn't anything spectacular. The Fastpass went out very quickly and the queue grew to a 180 min wait.>> Wow, nearly every criticism of the park laid out in this one take lol. A 180 minute WAIT!!! Yep, 3 hours kids for something most of us won't spend longer than 45 minutes to see. I never spent more than 2 hours waiting for Pooh in Tokyo and that's easily 10 times better. BUT, SD has got my interest peaked . I was under the impression that it was going to be an exact copy of Florida's version, not L.A.'s though. I like the Florida version too . Thankfully, if they put that weak crap from Anaheim in, there would be a lot of hissing and protest us LPer's. But, it sounds a little different from the rest also. Interesting that there are 4 Pooh rides now and each one is different from the other. So SD says its good so I'm definitely giving it a shot, but NOT for a 180 minute wait lol.....not even for an 80 minute wait. It looks like it's FP all the way with this one. SD, you never answered my question about the JC!! What did you think? Is it superiorily better than the other ones or just a little different. Curious.
Originally Posted By SuperDry Regarding Pooh, it may in fact be an exact duplicate of WDW for all I know - I've only ridden WDW's once and don't remember any details. But it's very different from DL's. I rode it with maybe a 10-minute wait in standby on the 13th, but pretty much everything in the park was either a walk-on or a 5-10 minute wait that day. A few other details I forgot to mention: the queue area is minimal - just a couple of switchbacks parallel to the load/unload area - again, very much in keeping with FL. They did have these large-ish representations of pages from a book among the queue. It of course reminded me of Tokyo, but they weren't nearly has large, were flat, and just ran from above the railings to the ceiling, rather than being large things that the queue snaked through. Again, given the space available, and a close watch on the budget, I thought it was well done for what it was. For someone like me, this would not be a ride that I'd go on every time, unlike Hunny Hunt which is a "must ride" for all visitors in my opinion. The reason I say that it will be among the most popular rides is not because it's the best ride, but the one with the widest appeal and appropriateness.
Originally Posted By SuperDry I'm going to sign off this thread for a few days. I have TONS to say about HKDL but I've left the resort and have 3 days in Hong Kong - I don't want to spend it in my room typing up stuff for LP! I'll probably type a bunch of stuff up on the flight back home. See y'all online next week.
Originally Posted By WorldDisney Take care dude and ENJOY Hong Kong . We'll all be waiting for the mega report when you get back.
Originally Posted By SuperDry Alright - I've been back home for a few days, after a brief unscheduled detour to Tokyo for a couple of days (Mr X managed to twist my arm to fit in a day at TDS on my way back). As soon as I got back, I had to start dealing with the coming hurricane, so I've been delayed in posting the rest of my thoughts. But here they start: The ferry terminal is basically complete. It's nicely constructed, with a great design that's not really Disney-esque but nice nonetheless. Pretty much everything is in place, including ticket/information booths (but not the equipment inside). There were a few people like me that walked out there just to check it out and take in the wonderful view of Central from the pier. It struck me as a bit odd that they would have this part of the resort 100% done on Opening Day, but no ferry service in place, or even firmly planned as far as I know. It would seem that with the MTR link, there might be little need for a ferry. The ferry from Central to Discovery Bay takes 25 minutes from what I'm able to gather, and I would expect that it would about the same to HKDL (maybe a couple of minutes less). It's about 40 minutes from HKDL to Central on the MTR, including transfers, so a ferry would not save all that much time.
Originally Posted By SuperDry The MTR stations of the Disneyland Line are interesting. Sunny Bay Station has what I would describe as "magical" music, even though it's not Disney music as far as I can tell. The Disneyland Station has actual Disney music and some Disney design elements, even though the station is run by the municipal subway system and not Disney itself. What I really wanted to comment on was the "safety" gates in the station. Over the last few years, the MTR has had a program (programme?) to install safety gates in the stations, in order to prevent people from falling onto the tracks when the train is not in the station, or being hit by the train when it's coming in if they were to stand too close. In most stations, there is a full-height wall with sliding doors that runs the length of the track. At the two stations for the Disneyland Line, the walls and doors are only about waist high, reportedly at the lobbying of Disney, so as to not obscure the Mickey design elements of the train windows. What's interesting about this is that I believe that this arrangement actually provides LESS safety than the old system of having no wall or gates at all. Having a waist-high wall provides a very natural place to lean against or stand very close to, and the train is just a couple of inches on the other side when it comes into the station. It would be incredibly easy for someone to get seriously injured by having an arm or their head hit by the train as it comes into the station, and by having only a waist-high wall, I think this is actually much more likely than it would be if there was nothing there at all, as far fewer people would be standing right at the edge. There is a yellow line maybe a foot back from the wall, and there are several attentants at both stations whose job is to constantly tell people to not lean on the wall and stand behind the line. I got scolded once, not really realizing what I was doing. I saw lots of other people in the same situation, adults and children alike. It's got to cost a lot to have these extra attendants on duty all the time that are not needed at the other stations (either before or after adding the safety walls there), and it's only a matter of time before someone gets hurt that would not otherwise have been hurt. I hate to say it, but I think in this case, a Disney design element has significantly reduced safety, and I think it's highly ironic that the design element that was changed was a safety system itself that in its modified form, actually provides less safety than no system at all. Again, this is just my opinion, but it's based on my experience as an engineer and someone that deals with human factors issues.
Originally Posted By Mr X Yikes. Hopefully your predictions will end up not coming true, SD (although it sounds pretty likely, given human nature and murphy's law!)...
Originally Posted By WorldDisney Hey SD, I hope you are okay in Houston!!! I been watching CNN all day reporting about Rita and noticed that Texas might get slammed hard. Let us know what's up .
Originally Posted By WorldDisney Oh yeah, as for the ferries, you make a good point that it's about the same time as the subway, but it seems like a nice alternative to ride on a ferry AND relieve some of that train congestion that seem to hit it when that charity day event went away. Just my thoughts .
Originally Posted By SuperDry We're all okay here in Houston. I think we dodged a bullet on this one - had Rita hit us head-on, it would have been bad.
Originally Posted By WorldDisney Well, its good to know things are fine . Will be sending you a PM soon.
Originally Posted By SuperDry <<< u came from HK , u chinese? >>> Well, I came from HK back to America last week when I traveled back home. No, I'm not Chinese. May I ask why you would ask these questions?
