Wordless Wednesday

Snow White's Scary Adventure to Close

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Fastpass: No

Ride Duration: 2 mins 50 seconds

Year Introduced: October 1971 (Updated to be less scary in 1994)

Closing Date:  May 31, 2012

   Today Disney announced that Snow White's Scary Adventure will be closing at the Magic Kingdom (Disney World) on May 31, 2012.   This will make way for a new Princess Fairytale Hall, a meet and greet for Disney Princesses.    


      This iconic ride took the guest through the 1937 classic animated movie Snow White.   Though the ride itself was dated, it was an original from the opening of the park and was on our family’s ride list each trip. 


   After May 31st, those of you still wanting your Snow White fix will have to wait until this porition of the new Fantasyland area opens sometime in 2013. Here you will get to experience the Dwarf’s cottage and the Seven Dwarfs Mine Train. 

    The fans of Snow White's Scary Adventure seem to be more disappointed about what the replacement is rather than seeing the ride close.   In a discussion today on twitter there seemed to be some disgust in the replacement as meet and greets seems to be eating up more space in the parks.   Remember the good old days when characters just roamed the park and you could walk right up to them without waiting in a line?

 

So, goodbye Snow White’s Scary Adventure you will be missed and welcome to Princess Fairytale Hall.  Let us know what you think!   Are meet and greets eating up too much park real estate?   What will you miss about Snow White's Scary Adventure?    

Wordless Wednesday

Art of Animation Resort Update

  The Art of Animation Resort is coming along and getting ready for the arrival of their first guests at the end of May 2012.   Today the Disney Parks Blog is reporting that the marquee is in place.  Kinda looks like the Hollywood sign, but as they say it's 18 inches taller.    Take a look and welcome the new largest freestanding marquee at Walt Disney World.    

Rate a Movie: Secret World of Arrietty

Rated: G

Opened:  February 2012

Director: Hiromasa Yonebayashi, Gary Rydstrom
Writer: Mary Norton (book), Hayao Miyazaki (screenplay)
Starring: Bridgit Mendler (voice), Will Arnett (voice), Amy Poehler (voice), David Henrie (voice)

    I have to say in the world of polished Pixar and Dreamworks style movies it was nice to see something with a different look. This was our first view of a Studio Ghibli production and it was a delight to watch. Stunning landscapes and use of color, the movie left everyone with a smile as they exited the theater.

    Secret of Arrietty is adapted by screenwriter Hayao Miyazaki from Mary Norton’s 1952 children’s novel The Borrowers. The story centers on Arrietty, a teenage tiny person who lives with her family below the floorboards of a home in modern-day Tokyo. The home is inhabited by a woman and a housekeeper along with a guest named Shawn, all “beans” or humans. When Shawn discovers the borrowers he threatens their very existence.

    As Arrietty and Shawn begin to develop a friendship her family disapproves and insists that she stay away from him. Shawn isn’t the only danger. Their friendship is tested by the insane housekeeper who attempts to rid the borrowers from the home.  Arrietty and her family must now prepare to move as once a “bean” has seen them they have to move on.

   Overall we really enjoyed the film and would recommend it to our friends. Our 7 year old son said he really liked it, but the ending wasn’t what he expected. To not spoil the ending, I will let you see it and tell us know if you feel the same way.

Rating 4 / 5

Rate a Ride: Twilight Zone Tower of Terror

Fastpass: Yes

Ride Duration: 3 minutes and 30 seconds

Year Introduced: July 1994

Height Restriction:  40 inches

"You unlock this door with the key of imagination. Beyond it is another dimension, a dimension of sound, a dimension of sight, a dimension of mind. You're moving into a land of both shadow and substance, of things and ideas. You've just crossed over into the Twilight Zone.” Or, you have at least crossed into the DisneyDayByDay review area of the Twilight Zone Tower of Terror.

As you enter Hollywood Studios, you’ll be treated to the typical innocent and fun theme park music, but there…in the background…you’ll hear something else…almost sounds like screaming, people in fear for their lives, people falling from the sky.  Hmmm, maybe we shouldn’t even travel down Sunset Boulevard.  How can such an iconic street name end in fear?  Well that’s just what we will find out.

Muster your courage if you dare and head to the end of the street. That’s when you’ll see it… a 199 feet tall tower.  In fact, this attraction is the second tallest attraction at the Walt Disney World Resort. What’s first, you may ask?   Stay tuned and you just may find out.   Why 199 feet?  I mean come on, 200 feet would probably have made for easier measurements. Well, FAA regulations require any building at 200 feet or higher to have a red light beacon on top and how scary would a tower of terror be with a blinking light on top of it?

When you step into the queue willingly, or not, be sure to take some time and look around. This is one of the most interesting queues on property. You will walk through the gardens of the hotel, in their decaying state. Background music plays melodies from the past launching you into the 1930’s/40’s era of the hotel.

Onto the ride, you board an elevator with 20 other people and choose your seat.  As the elevator doors close you ascend quickly and the doors to the elevator open where you’re treated to a ghostly encounter.  Just when you think it’s safe, the lights go out and the real fun begins!  You’ll be pulled up and down through a variety of drop sequences.   Just when you think it’s over you will rise and fall again.   The Imagineers who designed the ride had cables attached to the bottom of the elevator and it’s actually pulled down at a speed slightly faster than free-fall.  In other words, as you fall you lift from your seat slightly.  The motors used can generate torque equal to that of 275 Corvette engines and reach their top speed in 1.5 seconds. Yes, that’s fast and yes that’s fun.

Be sure to take a look at your picture as you exit the ride as this is proof that you were there and you have survived a great ride at Walt Disney World.  Now you have permission to yell at your kids or friends who forced you on the ride and get in line to do it again. 

Rating: 4.5 / 5 


Rating Comment:   Our seven year old son who will go on anything is slightly afraid of this one.   And if you do have any type of motion sickness the up and down motion of this ride will affect your experience.  

And as promised, the tallest attraction at WDW is now Expedition Everest at 199.5 ft.  We will make this our next DisneyDayByDay Rate A Ride post.   

Good Bye Little Red....Hello Zebras???

The official Disney Parks Blog has announced that this fall there will be a new Kilimanjaro Safaris savannah featuring zebras.    To accommodate the zebras the final scene of the Safari including the saving of Little Red will be removed and thus more of the ride dialog will have to be updated.    


Work is expected to begin on the zebra area soon, but no closures of the ride have been reported at this time.   

FastPass Return Window

 
    Well looks like it is official as official can get and Disney will begin enforcing the FastPass Return Window.   Rather disappointing and will definitely mean more walking for us as we criss cross the park to use our passes.

So what does this mean to you?  Basically the time window on your fastpass will now be the only time you can enter the fastpass line.    Cast Members do have the ability to make exceptions if there is extreme circumstances such as an attraction being down, but not because you were at Space Mountain and had to walk to Splash Mountain.   So, plan accordingly.

When does this start?  March 7th 2012.