Disney 2013: Day 4 - Epcot

Welcome to the fourth day of our trip. Epcot is a park that I have a bit of a love/hate relationship with. As a kid, I absolutely loved EPCOT Center and I guess I was in the minority. I loved the educational nature of the pavilions and it didn’t matter that Mickey wasn’t in EPCOT because Figment was. It was a huge shock when I first returned to Epcot as an adult in 2001. Journey Into YOUR Imagination was an abomination. There was no Figment and the ride was terrible. Horizons was closed and World of Motion had been replaced with Test Track. Innoventions was terrible with no real theme. The only real improvement to me was that they had added Ellen DeGeneres to the Universe of Energy pavilion. It was still really long at 40 minutes, but now it was a little more entertaining.

Over the years there were more changes and it was to transform EPCOT Center from an education theme park to Epcot, just another Disney park. These aren’t necessarily bad changes, but the park has completely lost any educational value that it used to have outside of the World Showcase and even that has been Disney-fied. The final nail in the coffin was the closing of the Wonder of Life pavilion. Unlike Horizons and World of Motion that closed for new attractions, the unused Wonders of Life pavilion still sits there unused and neglected. I was lucky to catch Cranium Command, The Making of Me, and Body Wars a few more times as an adult and wish there was still something in the park that was still like these attractions.

Enough of my old man ramblings, let’s get back to the current trip. We got to Epcot right when they were starting to let people into the park which was great timing. Our first FastPass for the day was Soarin’ Over California at 10, so we weren’t in any rush. We started off the day at Spaceship Earth because you just have to. Everyone else can rush to the thrill rides. We still had plenty of time before we had to head to Soarin’ so we went next door to The Seas with Nemo & Friends. It’s not The Living Seas any longer because none of the main attractions here are alive. The Nemo ride is great and if you’ve already seen the Finding Nemo show at Animal Kingdom, will get Big Blue World stuck in your head again. The real gem of this pavilion though is Turtle Talk with Crush. Cass asked a question this time around, “What’s the biggest wave you’ve ridden?” which led to a lengthy conversation between her and Crush. Due to FastPass timing, we had to do what the majority of Epcot visitors do and skip looking at the fish. Cass and I did get to look at the manatees for a little while Jenne ran to the bathroom, but we’d make up for this later in the week.

The Land was next. While I do love Soarin’, it’s a shame that they couldn’t relocate Food Rocks to somewhere else in the pavilion. Maybe replace The Circle of Life? Cass loves The Lion King, but didn’t want to watch the boring movie about recycling and conservation. Since they’re getting rid of everything else educational, maybe it’s time to replace this film with something else. We used our FastPasses for Soarin’ and waited about 5 minutes. The ride was fun as always, but I wouldn’t mind if they were to update this film as it is looking a little worn. Also, I don’t think that I’ve ever experienced this ride from the front row. I can’t remember for sure. Next trip, we’ll just ask to wait for the front row of the next flight. After pressing some pennies, we made sure to ride Living with the Land because it’s one of the few classics remaining. Sure, it’s had some tweaks here and there, but I love the nice relaxing boat ride through the greenhouse.

We made our way back towards the middle of Future World for our next FastPass, the Epcot Character Spot. The wait time wasn’t high yet at 11 since everyone else was still riding the park’s three thrill rides, but I’m still glad that we had the FastPasses. It turned what was advertised as a 15 minute wait time into about a 5 minute wait time. It can take a while to get through this attraction so any help that you can get is greatly appreciated. We got to see Mickey, Pluto and Minnie. The characters went on break right before we got to Minnie who was in the back snacking on some cheesecake, so it extended our time in the attraction for a little longer than usual. Once we were done, we hopped in line for Chip and Dale who have been relocated outside of the Character Spot after the latest renovation.

This brought an end to our time in Future World for now, but we’d be back later. Since we had lunch reservations in the World Showcase, we figured that we’d make our way there and visit the country pavilions on the way. Now that Epcot is all about rides, I’m not sure how kids react to the World Showcase. I remember enjoying it as a kid, but I don’t think that we spent a ton of time there. Disney is aware of that and has added something that makes kids love the World Showcase. What started as the Kim Possible World Showcase Adventure is now Agent P’s World Showcase Adventure.

We did one or two missions of Kim Possible on our last trip, but that wasn’t enough to really get a feel for the experience. Since this was rebranded as a Phineas and Ferb attraction, I’m counting this as a new experience. There are three locations in the World Showcase where you can sign up to be a secret agent and help OWCA (Organization Without a Cool Acronym for those won don’t watch P&F) thwart the evil schemes of Dr. Doofenshmirtz. When you sign up, you are given your Field Operative Notification Equipment (or FONE) which is what you use to play the game. You are given a mission by Major Monogram and Karl the Intern from OWCA in one of seven World Showcase pavilions that you have chosen. You’ll view humorous clips on your FONE and get clues leading you to specific areas in the pavilion. The coolest part of this attraction is how all kinds of little things are hidden in the pavilions. You wouldn’t ever notice them if you weren’t playing the game, but they’re extremely awesome once you see them in action. Each mission takes 20-30 minutes depending on how quickly you decipher the clues. I can honestly say that I’ve never had more fun in the World Showcase. You use your brain to figure out some of the clues, you get exercise, you learn about the countries, and you have a ton of fun. This is a huge addition to the park experience, especially if you have kids. (I saw a few adults on missions without any kids in sight.)

We saved Mexico and Norway from Dr. Doofenshmirtz before it was time for lunch (with a ride on the Gran Fiesta Tour thrown in there as well). We finished our second mission and then got to Biergarten in Germany just in time for our lunch reservation. We love this place and come here every trip. The food is delicious, you sit at a long table with other people, and there’s an Oompah band. I love that this is a buffet because there’s always so many delicious things to eat. I know that I’d have a hard time deciding on just one thing if I had to pick from a menu. We shared a table with two couples. One was local and not very talkative while the other were taking a Disney vacation without their kids for a change and were as awesome couple to share a table with. Cass was happy once the band came out since she had been looking forward to dancing for the whole meal. Ziggy zaggy ziggy zaggy! Oi oi oi!

Once we were finished with lunch, we picked up a new FONE and took a Mickey Premium Ice Cream Bar break. After a ride on the Maelstrom, we saved China and Germany from various –inators. We were a little delayed between China and Germany due to the bridge opening for the inferno barges. I wouldn’t have minded as much if it was the opening for the lighted globe, but the barges are nothing to look at. I hope that I never get stuck at the bridge opening again. I’d rather wait in line 30 minutes for a ride because at least then there’s a payoff for your time spent. All we got was to witness the worst of Disney tourists as everyone rushed the bridge as it was about to open back up. You would have thought that they were giving away unlimited FastPasses on the other side.

After finishing our Germany mission, we hopped on the boat back to Mexico so that we could return to Future World. We had FastPasses from 5-6 for Test Track and were looking forward to seeing what they did with the ride refurbishment. The previous version was looking pretty shoddy on our last trip with many of the effects not working. Once they stopped having the other car full of crash test dummies crash right before you “hit the wall” this ride was ruined anyway.

We got into the car design area pretty quickly thanks to our FastPasses. Cassidy was in charge of designing the car so we ended up in a big, pink speed machine that did really well in the metrics that are measured during the ride. I like the look of the new ride a lot. It’s still basically the same ride, but they’ve managed to improve the overall experience which is great. The biggest addition to this ride is the experience once you are done racing around the track. You can check how your the car you designed rates against all of the other cars designed that day and you can race your car against other people. My favorite thing was the automated photo opportunities that they have set up. You tap your MagicBand, pick what you want your picture to look like, and then get in line. When it is your turn, you tap your MagicBand again and proceed to the picture area. The camera takes three pictures which are emailed to you. You end up with great pictures unless some neglectful parent allows their child to climb into the car while your pictures are being taken.

Our next stop was Innoventions East. My main reason for going there was the two new pressed penny machines that had been placed, one in each side of Innoventions, but we ended up having a great time. We beat up on things for a little while at the Test the Limits Lab. I skipped The Sum of All Thrills this time around in the interest of time. I enjoyed it last time, but Universal’s Kuka Arm attraction is a much better experience. We did check out StormStruck which was a lot of fun. You watch a 4-D video of homes getting wrecked by a storm and then are asked to make choices to improve the durability of the house. Another storm comes through and you get to see how your choices improved things (if you chose correctly).

Across the way in Innoventions West we found some great attractions as well. We played Where’s the Fire? which is a fun game that teaches fire safety. Next up was The Great Piggy Bank Adventure which was also a lot of fun. We skipped the Videogame Playground because we didn’t come to Disney to play videogames. I really wish that they’d get rid of this, but it’s one giant commercial for all of the Disney videogames out there. We had a great time and I got a bunch of new pressed pennies so I’m a huge fan of Innoventions now. I’m bummed that you can’t ride the Segways any longer without paying for the tour, but everything else we saw were big improvements over three years ago.

At this point it was getting close to 7 PM and not only was Innoventions closing, but we had a 7:30 reservation at Teppan Edo that we had to make. We had to skip O’ Canada for now, but I know that I’d visit with Martin Short before the end of this trip. While we didn’t have time for the movie, we did have time to pose for some fun pictures.

We once again got to Teppan Edo right on time. We made the most of every single minute on this trip. No waiting around and wasting time. Teppan Edo is another restaurant that we try and visit on every trip. Teppanyaki cooking is always fun, but they take it up a notch at Disney. I had steak and scallops and loved every bite. While we were eating, Cassidy noticed that a girl we had met at a Wilderness Explorer activity the previous day was at the other table in our room. They chatted for a bit when we were done eating. Dinner seemed to go a little slower than we planned and we didn’t get out of there until 8:50. We had already planned not to watch Illuminations and that plan was reaffirmed by the fact that Cass is going through a phase where fireworks explosions really bother her. The booms started right around France and then paused right around the United Kingdom as the globe took center stage. There were more booms on the way out, but by then we were far enough away that it didn’t bother Cass. We beat the crowd out of the park and called it a night.

One thing that I’ve got to say about this trip: We didn’t do any of the parades or nighttime shows without a FastPass. On past trips, we lost hours and hours just claiming spots for these shows. What a waste! By skipping all of these things on this trip, we had so much extra time for other things. We also didn’t have to deal with the ridiculous crowds getting out of the parks after these show. It might sound sacrilegious, but this approached really worked for us this trip.

I also wanted to mention that I’m finally very happy with the status of Epcot. It was in a state of flux for a while, but they’ve done a good job of making the park kid friendly while also putting some of the educational experiences back into the park. It’s still not the park that I loved in my youth, but it’s the best it has been since then. Now they just need to bring back the original Journey Into Imagination along with the Figment meet and greet and I’ll be completely happy.

Disney 2013: Day 3 – Animal Kingdom

Ok, here’s where the Disney part of our trip really starts. I made use of Easy WDW while planning this trip and planned each of our Disney days on days said to be less crowded compared to the rest of the week. I checked out a couple of sites for this info and Easy WDW got the nod because it was free and because the explanations for their recommendations seemed more reasonable than the other sites.

Since this was our first full day in the park, we had business to take care of before we could start enjoying the park. Jenne picked up her Guest Assistance Card (which she never had to use, all of the cast members were very accommodating when it came to stairs) and upon entering the park, I picked up our PhotoPass+ lanyard. We were now ready to go.

Since our FastPass for the Kilimanjaro Safari wasn’t until 9:30, we took our time walking through the park to get there. We discovered something awesome along the way: Wilderness Explorers! The big thing at Disney lately has been adding extra value to the park through games and experiences tailor-made for kids. Once you sign up to be a Wilderness Explorer, you get a book that you take with you around the park. Once you complete activities at stations located all over the park, you get a badge sticker for your book. Cass had a blast learning new things as we explored the park. This picture here is from the first stop that we made right in front of the flamingo habitat. We probably made 15 – 20 stops through the course of the day and each stop had new knowledge to share. The cast members that we encountered at these locations were all extremely friendly and enthusiastic. This was a great addition to Animal Kingdom and something else for our list of new experiences.

The Kilimanjaro Safari is always awesome and I’ve got a ton of pictures from our trip. This one is probably the best of the bunch though: baby giraffes! We had a great safari with a close-up view of the baby giraffes, rhinos blocking our path which extended our trip, and the best view of the male lion that I’ve ever seen. You can click on the giraffe picture to see a larger version and those of you who know me on Facebook can see all of my pictures there.

We didn’t have another FastPass until 11:30 so we took a stroll along the Pangani Forest Exploration Trail which had even more Wilderness Explorer badges to earn. From there, we made our way towards Asia collecting more badges as we went. Cassidy made a last minute decision to join me on Expedition: Everest which started a week where she was mostly brave, but still had some moments where she didn’t want to go on rides. She was a lot more excited about the ride this time than she was last time which was awesome. She just wanted to close her eyes for the Yeti part. That’s no big deal because I want to close my eyes at that point also because I’m ashamed that Disney has left that neglected, broken Yeti in that state for so long. There’s no way it is ever getting fixed.

From Everest, we made our way to Chester and Hester’s Dino-Rama. If you ever visit a Disney message board, you’ll see nothing but hate for this section of the park, but I kind of like it. I can’t wait until Avatar-land is completed so that everyone can direct their hatred there instead. We played a quick game, rode TriceraTop Spin, and browsed in the shop until 12:30 came around which meant it was time to ride DINOSAUR. This is one of my favorite rides in the park and this is the best that it has looked in years. Some effects were working that I hadn’t see in years. I hate that you miss the Bill Nye stuff in the entry hall and the beginning of the preshow when the ride isn’t busy, but on the other hand, the ride wasn’t busy. I always make sure that I point out all of the little details to Cass that everyone else misses as they chat away during the preshow or are too busy rushing to the ride. One of my favorite things about this ride of the “security camera” footage of the dinosaur wandering through the halls after the ride, but the majority of the people just blow past that area to get to the next attraction. Then they complain that Animal Kingdom is just a half-day park. #You’reNotDoingItRight

The rain started right around the time that we got out of DINOSAUR. It was a little heavy at times, but it never got us down. You can’t take a trip to Florida if the rain bothers you too much or else you’re going to be miserable. Heck, I didn’t even use a poncho most of the time. The only bummer for me is that I don’t like taking my camera out in the rain so that led to a bit of a lack of pictures in the middle of the day.

Seeing that there was a Wilderness Explorer badge to be had in The Boneyard, we made our way there which was another first for me. The rain kept Cass from playing around in there, but she did get her badge. Getting through there quickly gave us time to watch It’s Tough to be a Bug! before lunch. Starting a trend of things going our way and arriving places just in time, we arrived at Yak and Yeti one minute before our reservation time.

Yak and Yeti was another first time experience for all of us and we were glad that we tried it out. The food was great and the theming of the restaurant was nice. I had a yummy rack of ribs. Our waiter was great, but that was the case for all of our dining experiences. Dessert was nice, but what was even better was the pressed penny machine in the lobby of the restaurant. I think I added around 50 new pressed pennies to my collection which isn’t bad at all.

Our one disappointment for the day came after lunch. We had planned on heading back to meet Russell and Dug, but their meet and greet time ended around noon. We had been in the line earlier in the day, but they were going on an extended break while we were just at the end of the line and ran out of time to wait. That’ll just be the top thing on our list of new things to do on our next trip.

The rain stopped right after we finished lunch and we made our way back to Asia for the Maharajah Jungle Trek. This wasn’t a first for Cassidy, but since we didn’t get a chance to do it last trip, it wasn’t really something that she remembered. The bats are great and the komodo dragon is awesome, but the best things about the Jungle Trek are the tigers. There were a bunch of Wilderness Explorer badges to be earned all along the trail which made Cass very happy.

Between this being a slow day for Animal Kingdom and the bad weather driving people people away, there were barely any people waiting along the parade route. The fact that the parade was delayed might have had something to do with that as well. We easily made our way along the parade route back to Africa so that we could visit Rafiki’s Conservation Station. We weren’t going to have much time there, but Cass wanted Rafiki to sign her autograph book and there were 5 badges to be collected there. We had to rush a bit once we got off of the Conservation Station train, but we got to the Finding Nemo theater right at 5 for the final show of the night. We sat down right as the show was starting in some conveniently located seats that were right on the entrance level.

Our plan for the evening was a trip to Downtown Disney. This place was packed all week. It felt more crowded than the parks and I don’t remember it ever being this crowded. We browsed through World of Disney and got both Jenne and Cass set up for pin trading. Jenne and Cass also got their themed Mickey ears: Evil Queen for Jenne and Ariel for Cassidy. I got a Roger Rabbit shirt and some pins.

When hunger approached, we decided to try out T-Rex which was another new experience. For those of you who have been to Rainforest Cafe, this is the same thing, but with dinosaurs instead of rainforest critters. We put our name in and waited for 45 minutes or so. Cass and I took a stroll over to the Lego store and checked out the cool Lego sculptures. Once they call your name, you just go and wait somewhere else. After another 15 minutes or so, we finally were seated. This was honestly the only thing that I really disliked throughout our whole trip. The food is overpriced, the place is way too loud, it just wasn’t a relaxing experience at all.

Since the majority of our time this evening was spent waiting at and then eating at T-Rex, we didn’t get to finish all of Downtown Disney. We did get to check out more of the shops, but not strolling through the Art of Disney store was painful. It’s probably good that the shops closed when they did because we wouldn’t have wanted to stay out any longer. We were getting to bed later than we probably should have anyway. That’s it for day 3!

Disney 2013: Day 2 – Discovery Cove

Since the theme of this trip was new experiences, I was extremely excited about our destination on our first full day in Florida: Discovery Cove. I didn’t know much about Discovery Cove before researching SeaWorld as a part of this vacation. I knew that you could swim with dolphins, but I didn’t know what else it offered. It turns out that they offer a lot and since we went during the off-season, we got a great deal on the admission price. That admission price is all-inclusive and includes food and drinks for the day, a souvenir photo, snorkel, special sun block that isn’t harmful to the sea life there, as well as use of a mask and wetsuit or vest. You also get admission to SeaWorld and Aquatica for 14 days (Busch Gardens can be added for another $35). This was an amazing deal, but the financial stuff and lists like this are boring so this is the end of that.

We started the day with a nice breakfast buffet. There was plenty of food to choose from, but you don’t have to worry about stuffing yourself at the buffet since there’s plenty of food available all through the day. After suiting up and putting on the special sun block (which some of us did a better job at than others, I looked like an Albino because I had so much on my face) we started exploring the park. Our first stop was the snorkeling area which is pictured above. Jenne took to it right away, Cass got the hang of it after a while, but my postnasal drip prevented me from keeping the mask on for more than a couple of minutes. That’s ok, I still had a great time checking out the fish and rays from above the surface.

I’m not normally much of a beach person, but I loved this beach. It had that silky sand that feels great to walk on, the weather was beautiful, and there were comfortable lounge chairs as far as the eye could see. I had some snacks with Cass while Jenne swam around and then later was joined by Jenne as Cass built sandcastles. After a nice chill session, we made our way back to the buffet for lunch where we found more great food.

After lunch, we made our way to the other side of the park. Freshwater Oasis gives you the opportunity to wade out to an island where you can watch marmosets frolic. Once you are done there, you can head on over into a cave where you’ll find an otter habitat. The cool thing about this habitat is that you can use your snorkel gear to watch the otters swim around underwater on the other side of a Plexiglas wall. We were lucky enough to see the otters just as they were being fed. Watching them break open clams with rocks is adorable.

Our next stop had nothing to do with water, but was my favorite part of the day due to the experience offered. We’ve fed little parakeets birdseed on a stick at the Southwick Zoo, but that was nothing compared to this. The aviary at Discovery Cove mostly has larger birds in it. There is a room with just smaller birds for those who might be intimidated by the larger birds. That’s definitely a possibility since these birds have no problem with landing right on your arm to grab a bite to eat.

There were some beautiful birds in the aviary and feeding them allowed you to get a great, close-up look at them. I really can’t express how much I loved this. We still had more of the park to explore so we few the birds a few times and then went on our way.

The next thing that we did was something that I wish existed in more places. There’s an area of heated water around 18 inches deep with a bunch of underwater chairs and couches for you to sit on. We grabbed some Piña Coladas and had another chill session. This place was the perfect way to transition from the “real world” to vacation mode. You could just feel any stress melting away with all of the opportunities to relax.

I was just about done with the water at that point, so I changed out of my swim trunks and vest and grabbed my camera so that I could snap some pictures. Jenne and Cass made their way to the swimming area at the beginning of the lazy river. Cass had a swimming noodle here so she felt a little more secure in the water. While they were swimming, I made a return trip to the aviary where I made friends with a ton of birds and snapped lots of pictures.

Once Jenne and Cass were done swimming, we all made our way back to our locker and changed back into our regular clothes. We went and checked out our photos that were taken during the day, ended up purchasing a few, and picked up the complimentary picture that was taken when we first arrived at the park. From there, we did a little bit of shopping so that we could all have something nice to remember our day. I grabbed a pin (of course), Jenne got some postcards, and Cass picked out a very nice necklace.

We left a little early so that we’d have time to return to our room before we had to leave for the Animal Kingdom Lodge for our dinner at Boma. For those of you who have never had a meal at Boma, you’ve got to try and check it out on your next Disney trip. It’s not as easy to get there on the busses, but we’ve done it in the past and it is well worth it. Boma serves up a delicious buffet of African food. The great thing is that since it’s a buffet, you can take a little bit of something to try it out and then go back for more if you like it. Every time we’ve gone, I’ve found something new that I love which wasn’t there on the last trip. Before or after your meal, head outside and check out the animals that live right there at the Lodge. At night, they’ve got night vision goggles that you can use to check out the wildlife.

That’s it for Day 2!

Disney 2013: Day 1

Welcome to my Disney trip recap. This was my 11th trip to Disney and because of that, we decided to approach things differently this trip. The emphasis for this trip was to see as many new things as possible. It was a huge success and I think that this was by far my favorite Florida trip.

After a smooth flight, things got off to a bit of a bumpy start when we arrived at Pop Century to check in. It turns out that their internet was down which didn’t let them do much of anything. We couldn’t complete our check-in which meant that we couldn’t activate our park tickets or our dining plan. The MagicBands that we were so excited to use were currently only good for FastPass+. I had set up some FastPasses in the Magic Kingdom in case we had some time there after checking in, but the long wait due to the internet outage put the kibosh on those plans. We were sent on our way with old fashioned tickets for the night, a temporary room key, and instructions to save receipts for any food purchases we made so that they could be applied to the dining plan.

Due to the delay, we decided to skip eating at the resort and grab some food at the Magic Kingdom. That plan didn’t work out as well as planned since most of the food carts and stands that we passed were closed for the night. We had a good night though. It was slow going upon entering the park due to the Main Street Electrical Parade so we took the first opportunity to ditch the crowds and hung a right at the Plaza Ice Cream Parlor and went down past the Tomorrowland Terrace. I jealously gazed at the goodies being offered at the Wishes Dessert Party. We didn’t partake on this trip, but we had a great time at the party on our last trip. If you haven’t done it before, it’s definitely worth checking out. You get some great desserts, a nice seat before the fireworks begin, and an area to stand in that’s not very crowded once Wishes begins.

We wanted to get on at least one ride since we had some free time before our Wishes FastPass and the 5 minute wait time at Buzz Lightyear’s Space Ranger Spin was calling our names. We walked right on and taught Zurg a lesson. Unfortunately, I hadn’t picked up my PhotoPass+ yet and forgot to write down our picture numbers so we lost those ride photos. I had my highest score ever, but Cassidy beat me. Right near the exit to Buzz, we saw that the Tomorrowland dance party was in full swing and went to check it out.

We weren’t there for long, but the dance party was the first thing on our list that we’d never done before. This is a cool thing for parents to bring their kids to if they want to wear them out before returning to the hotel for the evening. Stitch was there dancing along with everyone along with Chip ‘n’ Dale in their space outfits. Jenne and Cass did some dancing while I took some pictures.

From there, we made our way to our Wishes FastPass with the goal of acquiring food on the way. We got to the Rose Garden successfully, but the only food we saw was popcorn which none of us were really in the mood for. So, we weren’t in the greatest of moods as we settled in for the show.

For those of you considering the use of one of your three FastPasses for Wishes, there are some pros and cons. The biggest advantage you have is that you don’t have to stake out a spot an hour or more before the fireworks begin. The time lost waiting for parades and fireworks is one of the worst things about a trip to Disney and avoiding that was one of the things I was most excited about.

The biggest disadvantage that you have of watching from the Rose Garden is that you have an obstructed view of Cinderella Castle. If you haven’t seen the Wishes pre-show before, this could be disappointing. That being said, I thought this was a great place to watch the fireworks. The explosions are high enough in the air that the tree wasn’t an issue even when I was sitting on the ground. The area wasn’t crowded and you didn’t get bumped and poked while watching the show. Getting a viewing area like that with only an investment of around 30 minutes is totally worth it in my book. If you don’t mind spending a little more time, jump in the line for the Rose Garden early and make sure that you get the exact spot that you want.

I normally never leave the park right after Wishes, but we were all hungry and joined the herd moseying down Main Street. We fell for the Cast Member tricks and ended up in a very long line for the ferry. The line did more pretty quickly, but since everyone was being directed away from the Monorail, we would have gotten back to Ticketing and Transportation a lot quicker that way. It was a nice ride across the Seven Seas Lagoon though and there is that great view of the park that you get from across the Lagoon.

Our night concluded with dinner at Pop Century (along with a hundred or so people who had the same idea) and finally completing our check-in. With our MagicBands working, Cassidy now became the official door opener for the trip. Not a bad way to start off the trip. Our first full day was going to be spent at a non-Disney park, but we had to fit in a little Disney first. After all, we don’t make this trip if Disney World doesn’t exist.

Disney Infinity

We’ve had Disney Infinity for two weeks now and I feel like I’ve finally got a good feel for the game and figured that I’d share my thoughts for those of you who may not have it yet. There are a bunch of different things to consider when it comes to this game and hope to address them all here.

The Starter Pack

Here’s what the $75 starter pack will get you: Disney Infinity game CD, figure activation base, three figures (Sulley, Mr. Incredible, and Jack Sparrow), one play set figure (containing three playsets), and one random power disc. The buy-in for this game is high, but you do get a good amount of stuff in that starter pack box.

So, that’s what you get physically, but what does that actually give you in terms of game play? Right out of the box you’ve got the ability to play three playsets: The Incredibles, Pirates of the Caribbean, and Monsters University. Depending on your skill level and how thorough you are, these playsets contain anywhere between 5 and 10 hours of game play. That’s just the missions that are there for you to complete. You’ve always got the ability to roam around the playset and do your own thing. The only downside is that you can only play in single player mode right out of the box. In order to play two players at once, you need to purchase more figures for the three playsets. Disney gives you a little bit of a break by making the Sidekicks and Villains 3-packs available for around $9 less than what you would pay for three individual figures. That’s ok, you’ll probably end up spending those $9 on something else Disney Infinity related.

When you want a break from completing playset missions, you can check out the Toy Box. This is what’s going to keep people coming back to play more of Disney Infinity. If the Toy Box can’t keep people interested between new releases, it’s a lot less likely that people are going to keep picking up new figures and playsets unless they have some amazing new play mechanic that hasn’t been seen yet. The best way to get started with the Toy Box is with the Mastery Adventures. These adventures will help you accomplish multiple goals. First off, you’ll learn a lot about how to build in the Toy Box. There’s a lot more to it than just placing things on a map. Once you get the Activi-toys, you can create all kinds of complex chain reactions and these adventures teach you how to do them. Second, by completing these missions you unlock a lot of great pieces for use in the Toy Box. Trust me, these are pieces that you’re going to want when you start playing around in the Toy Box. Finally, completing these missions will give you a good number of spins which can be used to unlock even more cool things in the Toy Box. This is how you’re going to unlock things like the Haunted Mansion, Spaceship Earth, and the Matterhorn. It’s going to take a long time and a lot of game play to unlock everything, but this will get you off to a good start.

Something else that you’ve got access to right out of the box is a specialized adventure for each character. You can track down collectibles with Jack Sparrow, rescue townsfolk with Mr. Incredible, or grab your paintball gun and blast Fear Tech with Sully. There are also a bunch of generic adventures that any character can attempt such as a gladiator battle and a bunch of races. Completing these adventures will get you even more spins to unlock things in the Toy Box. You can also gain spins by leveling up your character. This is most easily done by completing missions in the playsets, but it can also be done fairly easily in the various adventures. This will become important when series 2 of Disney Infinity launches.

The Toy Box itself takes some getting used to as far as the controls go. Once you get the hang of it, you’ll be designing things in no time at all. Designing in two player mode is tough due to the restricted view with the split screen. I’d recommend designing one person at a time and then bringing in the second person once your creation is complete. That being said, my daughter and I have had a blast in the Toy Box “designing.” It usually last for around 10 minutes before we’re just running around finding creative ways to attack each other’s characters.

What Else Is there?

The rest of what’s available to purchase after you get the Starter Pack falls into three categories: figures, playsets, and power discs. I don’t have too much of a problem buying figures of all of the characters that I like. Want to know why? Take that little Disney Infinity figure and walk over to the action figure aisle. The prices for these figures aren’t that far out of line with everything else that you’ll find in the action figure aisle.These aren’t junky figures either. The sculpts are great and perfectly capture the cartoony style used for the Disney Infinity game. The paint job is also well done on the figures that I’ve seen. Disney could have put sloppy Happy Meal toy paint jobs on these and they still would have sold, but they have produced quality figures and that helps to lessen the impact on my wallet.

The playsets are a different story though. I don’t think these are priced fairly at all. For $35, you get two figures (priced $13 individually or $10 in three packs) and a figure that unlocks the playset. That means that the playset itself will cost you somewhere between $10 and $15 depending on how you want to figure out the prices. The reason that I think this is a bit too much is that unlike the character figures, the playset figures are nothing great. These things are sculpted out of clear plastic and are pretty small. On top of that, they’re just unlocking content that is already there on the CD that you purchased with the game. You aren’t getting much for that $10 - $15 that you’re paying for the non-figure content in that package. There’s a huge problem iwth this though. Without the corresponding playset, you can only use a character in the Toy Box. That doesn’t sound fun to me at all. Luckily, every figure that was released in series one has a corresponding playset that you can play in. [foreshadowing]

The final thing that you can acquire to “enhance” your game play are the 30 (40 if you count the tough to find Toys R Us exclusives) power discs. The power discs are by far the most option part of the Disney Infinity experience. You can go through the entire game without ever purchasing a single power disc and do completely fine. What do the power discs do? The round discs are used in combination with a character figure (up to two can be stacked under a figure) and do things such as increasing the amount of coins or sparks that you get from defeating enemies or increasing the power of your attack. Special combinations will give you a third power up. Hexagonal discs unlock theme and items in the Toy Box. The catch is that these items are only available while you have the disc on the activation base. Yes, you can stack three of them at a time, but it’s annoying that you have to choose just three of the many discs that you may have collected. I understand the need for this. If it were done differently, you could unlock the item and then sell off the disc on eBay cutting into the sales of packs for Disney. Oh yeah, did I mention that these are sold in blind packs? You don’t know which discs you’re getting until you open the package. (Well, unless you’re looking for rares which are easy to find.) If you only want one or two specific discs you might just be better off buying them individually on eBay.

What’s Next?

Series 2 of Disney Infinity will launch around the end of October through November with a few figures getting early exclusive releases. Woody can be picked up early at Walmart and Jack Skellington at GameStop. The main problem that I see with series 2 is that there’s only going to be one new playset released in the group. The Toy Story in Space playset comes with Buzz Lightyear and Jesse and will allow them along with Woody to go on adventures involving the search for a new home of the Little Green Aliens. That’s great for the franchise that started it all for Pixar, but what about the other 8 (Sorcerer Mickey supposedly isn’t coming out until January) characters that will be released? These characters can only be played with in the Toy Box upon their release. It makes you wonder how long you’ll have to wait before being able to use those characters in a playset.

Jack Skellington will be pretty lonely without Sally, Zero, Oogie Boogie and possibly The Mayor. Wreck-It Ralph and Vanellope will hopefully be joined by Fix-It Felix and Turbo when the playset comes out, but since there are Sugar Rush power discs is a playset a given? Hopefully there will be a playset of one of the other videogame lands. I’m excited to see Phineas and Perry the Platypus get released, but where’s the Danville playset? Who will it come with? Ferb, Candace, and Dr. Doofenshmirtz should be automatic. My daughter is beyond excited for Rapunzel, but there’s not much you can do with her. Again, the presence of power discs for this character make me wonder if there will ever be a playset released. What other characters are worthy of figures other than Flynn Rider? Maximus is just a vehicle in the game. The two Frozen girls are released right in time for the release of the movie.

Another thing to keep in mind is that there will be sequels. For example, there have been two Skylanders games so far with a third one coming out soon. Each one has introduced a new mechanic. The second Skylanders game introduced giants and it looks like the next game will introduce minis. Who knows what future releases of Disney Infinity will bring. This could be where you’ll find playsets for the toys that didn’t previously have them. There could be cool new mechanics introduced. For now, I’m not even sure that Disney has announced how many series of figures will be released for this first edition of Infinity. You don’t see many figures in the trailers other than those that have been included in the first two series, so I’m worrying a little bit. I wish they’d at least provide a list of everything that’s coming out even if they don’t reveal what series it will be included in.

What Do I Think?

So, what do I think of the game? I’m having a blast playing it with my daughter. We’ve already completed The Incredibles and Monsters University. I liked those worlds a lot because my daughter could roam around while I completed missions. We could join up when we wanted to and do our own things when we wanted to. That aspect of the game is great. That aspect of the game is also a bit lacking in the Pirates playset. There’s a lot of time spent traveling by ship which has to be done together. I’m also interested what solo play is like. It’s ok when one person is steering and another is firing the cannons, but if you have to do both it may not be as fun.

Once we finish the Pirates playset, we definitely want to get the Cars playset, but I can wait until there’s a sale to pick it up. Until then, I’ll put in a lot of time in the Toy Box to see what I can come up with. I’ll also be waiting to see what is revealed for the future of the game. I’d be willing to spend a lot more on this game if Disney were a lot more open about this plans for the future of the game.