I'm afraid I have to give Disneyworld a bad report card. If Walt was here today I do believe he'd shut the joint down. The operation typifies what happens to a dream once the dreamer is gone. The goods are top quality, but how many $12 Mickey Mouse bottle openers can you use?
I did not see all of Disneyworld, only EPCOT. That was enough, I get the idea. I have seen both Disneyland in Anaheim, as well as Knott's Berry Farm, the original themed park where he got a lot of his ideas. The tale of EPCOT and what it was supposed to be (he envisaged people actually living there) is well-known my group. Sadly, except for maybe the "Biergarten", nobody would want to live in what EPCOT is today.If you are expecting any visions of the future or glimpses of modern technology, as Marion would say, you have not done your homework. The pavilion named "Innoventions" features nylon and lexan, invented in 1938 and 1952 respectively. While a few of the displays, such as the Nemo 3D laser, do incorporate some computer animations, the remainder is as it was when EPCOT opened in 1971 (I think it was.)
The two best rides are the Mission to Mars, which lasts around six minutes, and soaring, which is basically IMAX from chairs which line up vertically. It was not busy, but in both cases the wait time was over 2-1/2 hours.
You have to wait for more details, but essentially, it is an open mall with a few unusual rides. There is no community, no experiments, it is focussed on y'day, not tomorrow, and the only experiment going on is how much of your money all the hype will extract. If you are going shopping, okay, but if you are seeking a top-grade amusement park with futuristic rides (like I was), go to Universal.
Here is a second copy of today's blog, which was written twice by accident:
That’s Marion and hubby outside the entrance geodome to EPCOT at 11:00 a.m. We made it! In my case, I had a few detours through SE Asia since I first set out for here in 1983, twelve years after the place opened. Yet, here we are. It was a day of exploring and some disappointments, so read on. There are eight exhibitions where I was expecting at least eighty. Make that seven, the dome was closed for renovations. Also, only very limited parts of each exhibit are fun, the remainders are walk-throughs. Which rival the sheer ecstasy of an art museum tour.
Basically, you are paying $71 to go shopping. Once and for all, we now know the price for an adult for one day: SEVENTY-ONE DOLLARS. It is hard to forgive Disneyworld for making this price so damn hard to discover. (You get a minor break per day for buying up to a ten-day pass for $225, but that is another situation altogether.)
If you’ve been to Disneyland, as I have, you’ll quickly discover that Disneyworld is not at all the same. It is not a themed amusement park with plenty of thrilling rides. It is a shopping mall with a few outdated 1970-ish style attractions and extremely long line-ups even when it is not busy. The place was pretty much vacant all day, yet the waits were up to three hours.
By far, the best ride is the trip to Mars, and it is over in less than eight minutes. Second place goes to “Soaring”, an IMAX film where the audience is tilted up into the dome instead on in tiers. Honorable mention goes to the Nemo laser exhibit where the 3D cartoons are projected into real aquariums, and the Norwegian boat ride (which technically isn’t in EPCOT).
Biggest disappointment? The complete lack of anything new or thrilling. The rides are toned down to limit potential liabilities. I do believe is Walt was alive today he would be horrified what has happened to his plans. I did not see all of Disneyworld, but since there was nothing at EPCOT that could be mistaken for and Experimental Prototype Community of Tomorrow, I got the message.
What was good about Disneyworld? It is easy to get around. At least some of the benches are situated in the shade. The place is spotless. They have neat little misting racks where you can stand in the cool, but whose effect wears off almost instantly. The lake around back has pavilions from many countries that are really staffed with people from those places. (Try that in Miami.) Allistair was talking to an English gal about towns they knew in England.
Sigh, she was a twenty year old blonde English girl named Melissa who had been working there six months and was leaving to tour the USA. Must be nice, double sigh. Anybody who thinks I’ve lost my touch at chatting up babes should have seen me in action, although I knew there was no chance. I may even have gone through the motions just to prove how good I can be when presented with a real woman. Besides, the English aren’t so hung up on the age difference thing. If Marion had not been there, I would have asked Melissa out.
After that, we split up until 9:00 p.m. and I got through everything worthwhile in the park. It is quite small, maybe a six-mile walk, tops. They have a system called “FastPass” where you get a ticket to show back up for an attraction at a specified time. Since the computer won’t let you have more than one, you fill the gap touring the less popular buildings.
Here is the stretcher crew headed for the Space ship ride, the one that goes to Mars. You do experience a brief force of 5 Gs, roughly what you would get hard-cornering an SUV. It seems no matter how many warnings they give, some people still manage to require medical attention. (We have no idea why the med crew was there, but like CNN, this is news, not fact.) In reality, this, and all the rides, are watered down so badly that novelty is their biggest attribute.I rode the Segway. That is that dork-machine two-wheeler that costs $4 grand and moves 12 mph. It was, I’d guess, the newest thing in a pavilion called “Innoventions”. The next newest were Nylon and Lexan, invented in 1938 and 1952 respectively. Computers were not in evidence. Even the ‘automated anima-tronics” (moving dinosaur display) was outdated a long time ago.
That is why you get a technical report on the Segway. Everything else in Disneyworld, trust me, you’ve already seen. The Segway is entertaining where it may lack being practical. No place to carry your groceries. Do try one if you get the chance. I found it to be a very sensitive device. By that, I mean that when I stepped on to the machine, my bicycle riding experience took over and I was instantly overwhelming the machine. People around me who had not ridden a bike in years took to it quicker.
To make it go forward, it is so sensitive that you just “think” forward and away it goes. Same with backwards and stopping. The chariot-like design of the axles lets you pivot by tilting the handlebars. I could not get past a very slow crawl because my sense of bicycle balance kept forcing it to correct my mistakes, causing a slight pendulum motion. So, Segway was too easy for me, I’d have to dumb-down to get any benefit from it. Sort of like talking to a customs agent.
By day’s end, I’m all theme-parked out. No more. I’ve decided against returning tomorrow. Marion left me alone to read and I watched some television. They have different channels up there and I was fascinated that almost all of them spoke English. I wish I was out playing music, something I am thinking about in depth. Come back tomorrow.
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