Main Street Top 10's

So I know its cliche, but it sparks good debate and discussion and its a good way for me to get my opinion out about certain Disney Theme park topics. So I begin my first Top 10 with the Top 10 Disney Resorts.

#10 Disney's Grand Floridian Resort and Spa
When Disney shows us this ultimate of the ultimate resorts at Disney World what resort comes to mind?  The Grand Floridian right, Disney has built this dream of the ultimate Disney vacation resort over the years.  The Grand Floridian has some flaws and strengths depending upon your view point.  The resort is not tailored to kids sure there are few kids touches around the resort.  The lack of guest rooms also can be a good thing or a bad thing based on how you look at it.  The lack of rooms makes the resort very intimate and privet and quiet sounds like a honeymoon and wedding location not a place to have a lot of kids running around.  The Location keeps this resort on the list come on its walking distant to the Magic Kingdom.  This is the most over rated of the Disney Resorts its advantages are also its down fall depending on the way you look at it.  For honeymooners, weddings, and Romantic get aways this is the resort for you.


#9 Disneyland Hotel
The blue print in which all Disney Resorts were modeled after.  The Disneyland Hotel opened in 1955 after Disneyland had opened.  At the time the Disneyland Hotel was the first Resort tailored towards kids and families and began a change in how hotels to make them more family friendly.  The Disneyland Hotel has evolved and changed with the times getting major remodeling projects over the years and it hangs on to its nostalgia quit well.  The Down fall of this hotel is that it lacks any real type of theme that holds the hotel back.  It also is the farthest hotel form any of the Disneyland Parks.



#8 Disney's Wilderness Lodge
The first of the mega resorts that Disney created in 1994 based on the the Wilderness Lodges in the National Parks all over the northwestern part of the Untied States.  The First mega lobby done by Imagineers the lobby at Wilderness Lodge gives you that jaw dropping moment that not to many hotel lobbies can give you also the overall theme is done very well and transports you to a different place and time.  The resort has two of the  best resort restaurants Artist's Point a restaurant specializing in Northwester cuisine.  The other is the ultimate kids restaurant if your looking for a quiet meal this is the wrong place.  The thing holding this resort back is its not on the monorail line also there isn't much to do around the resort unless you go to the wilderness camp ground.

#7 Disney's Saratoga Springs Resort and Spa
The newest of all the Disney Resorts it is comprised of two of Disney World's oldest Resorts the Disney Institute (if you want to go even further back The Disney Village Resort) and the Treehouse Villas have been brought back to the guests.  Disney's Saratoga Springs is located right across Lake Buena Vista from Disney's Marketplace.  Resort is Vacation Club only so the rooms are equipped  with kitchens and are ment for long stays or groups with large families.  Lake Buena Vista golf course is located around the resort and provides great access for the avid golfer.  The up side it is close to Downtown Disney and Typhoon Lagoon.  The down side is it is far from any of the Disney theme parks.  As well if you do not have a large family this isn't the resort for you .

#6 Disney's Port Orleans 
The largest of all Disney Resorts with 3,056 rooms Port Orleans is the marriage of  Disney World's  two of Disney's Moderately priced resorts Disney's French Quarter and Disney's Dixie Landings.  The Resorts bring guests two the old south and to New Orleans. The French Quarter and Riverside provide guests with a true southern feeling. With a cult fallowing resort has blossomed over the years into one Disney World's most beautiful and well themed Resort.  Also another thing bring guests to this resort over and over is the feel that you are the only ones there the resort is huge and is divided by a canal that takes guest by boat to Downtown Disney.  The landscape has grown into the resort providing the true southern feeling around the resort with live oaks with Spanish moss hanging from them and tall magnolia trees.  The most underrated resorts at Disney World Disney's Port Orleans has evolved into one of the most popular resorts for guests.  The down sides to this resort are the lack of true sit down restaurant as well as the sheer size it can take a good 20 minutes to walk back to some rooms at the resort from the bus stations and late at night after a long day at the parks that can seam like hours.

#5  Fort Wilderness Resort and Campground 
Opened one month after the Magic Kingdom  Disney's Fort Wilderness offered guests the opportunity to ruff it in the great out doors.  Offering guests the ability to pitch a tent, bring in an RV, or for the less adventurer some folks there are cabins.  The resort allowed guest from all over the United States the opportunity to stay and come to Disney World.  When it comes to amenities this Resort is the best by far with miles of walking trails, horse back riding, boating, fishing, bike riding, pools and so on and so forth.  One thing that separates the Campground from the other resorts is the Hoop-Dee-Doo Musical Review.  The Hoop Dee-Doo Review is one of the longest running shows at Walt Disney World.  Shows can be almost impossible to see during the busy times and reservation are sometimes made close to a year in advance.  If you have a small budget or want to get back to nature the For Wilderness Resort and Campground is the place for you.



#4 Disney's Yacht and Beach Club

Disney's Yacht and Beach Club is two resorts in one with two different theme's under the same roof. The Yacht Club is set to a nautical theme with rooms based on sailing the seven seas. The Beach Club represents beach house from all along the east coast.  There are three things that make this an outstanding resort and make it stand above most of the other Disney Resorts. The pool at the Yacht and Beach Club has be voted the best of the Disney pools with a sand bottom pool a wonderful water slide and a lazy river this is by far the best Disney pool.  Location Location Location is key in any Disney resort but this ones idea walking distance to World Showcase and a boat ride to the Disney Studio's and finally it shares the boardwalk with Disney's Boardwalk.

#3 Disney's Aulain Resort
Disney's Aulain Resort is a Disney vacation club resort located in KO Olina Hawaii not even opened.  The hype and look of this resort has all the "Disney Geeks" buzzing.  Set as a true Hawaiian resort Aulain has amazing pools and located right on the beach this resort may be the best resort Disney has ever created.  Aulain may have one of the greatest pools ever set around a volcano the pool has multiple water slides a lazy river, there are also pools for adults and kids as well.  The resort may have one of the best spa's located in Hawaii.  Guests can also go on adventure based excursions around Hawaii.  The only thing holding this resort back are there is no theme parks very close set in Disneyland or Disney World this would be #1 on any list.


#2 Disney's Animal Kingdom Lodge 

Disney's Animal Kingdom Lodge is the resort with the best room view on the planet.  There are live animals walking around outside of your room.  This resorts lobby mirrors that of the Wilderness Lodge but with some improvements the first is the large window at the end of the open lobby that opens up to the savanna.  Also the suspension bridge also gives guests a unique view of the lobby.  Guests at Animal Kingdom Lodge are also privileged to a special sunrise safari at Kilimanjaro Safari where guest are taken on a slower and more sight seeing safari. Animal Kingdom Lodge's location is practical being right next to Animal Kingdom, but its all most 30 minute bus ride to Magic Kingdom keeps this resort from the top spot.  It still is the best at Walt Disney World.

#1 Disney's Grand California Hotel

This is Disney's greatest hotel to date Disney's Grand California Hotel has the jaw dropping lobby of Wilderness lodge and Animal Kingdom Lodge.  It has all the luxury of the Grand Floridian and has some of the best restaurants at any Disney Resort.  Now lets get to the reason its number 1the view most of the rooms have views right into Disney's California Adventure as well as its own gate into the park.  Location wise this park is the closest of any of the Resorts in the US to a theme park and is within steps of both Disneyland and Disney's California Adventure.

Five Senses of Disney (Part 5)

Touch the sense we probable think of the least about when we go to a Disney theme park.  Disney uses it just as much as any of the other senses in the parks.  Now especially with the new interactive queues for Winnie the Pooh and now the Haunted Mansion touch is becoming a sense you use more and more in the parks.  Touch is sense that Disney is trying more and more to incorporate into its attractions.  The touch revolution probably started way back with the birth of EPCOT Center back in 1982 with the opening of one attraction Imageworks inside the Imagination pavilion when it opened it was the most interactive attraction Disney had designed.  When Imageworks opened it had stations setup where guest could touch and experience all of senses not just touch.  Imageworks had three two main touch areas a huge wall of pins where you could make a mold of your hand. Also they had touch screens and now a days a touch screen is common place we have them on iPod's and Phones and even computers, but some of the first touch screens were at EPCOT Center  in Imageworks.

The new interactive queue lines being created and implemented all over Disney World in various new and old attractions have lead a revolution in entertaining the guests at all times.  The first of the new interactive queues appeared at Soarn' it started with just random pictures of 5 different Eco systems on the wall fallowed by trivia about those Eco systems.  It was neat until the new interactive games appeared pitting different sections of the queue agents each other in 3 games that capture motions of the people in front of the screens.  This was the first of the new interactive queues to appear.  The new barrage of interactive queues came at the D23 Expo with the accoutrement of the Fantasyland expansion.  The first new interactive queue came to the Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh at the Magic Kingdom.  The tree from Pooh's Playful Spot was moved over to the queue and new interactive games were created for littler ones to touch and play and bounce.

The newest and most surprising is the new interactive queue at the Haunted Mansion a new cemetery appeared with new crypts and some familiar tomb stones.  This is the most touch oriented queue to date and guest can play the organ and instruments playing the famous Grim Grin and Ghost theme.  Also there are places you can be sprayed by water. More details will emerge once the new queue is open to the public after testing.

Touch is a sense that are parents don't want us to use at a place like Disney World you always hear dont touch that and keep your hands in your pockets well now Disney want you to touch and feel and experience more and more in its theme parks.  For imagineers using your five senses is how the draw you into the experience and the story and is the defining element that separates it form other theme parks around the world.  Weather your seeing, hearing, tasting, touching or smelling your five senses will always be on overload when you are at a Disney theme park. 

The Five Senses of Disney (Part 4)

Taste is something that you do all the time when at a Disney theme park you have to eat right and will all the yummy smells you have to taste everything.  Food is a very integrable part of the Disney experience and it goes into the story telling associated with that area.

There actually is an attraction you can eat Living with the Land and yes there is another attraction in the Land pavilion besides Soarn'.  The only attraction at EPCOT that has gone through minimal changes since opening day in 1982.  The Garden Grill restaurant is where you can eat all the food grown at the Land as the rotating dining room brings you into the attraction itself.  The food is grown organically in the green houses in the attractions and is some of the best food in the parks.  Another place Imagineers want you taste the park is in World Showcase the food comes from each country represented.  The food at world showcase is amazing and is prepared by people from the actual country being represented.  A great place to get a grate taste reaction is at Club Cool presented by Coca Cola  is a very interactive taste zone where you can try different types of Coca Cola products from around the world.  I you want to get an interesting reaction from one of your friends or family members have them taste Beverly (drink)http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beverly_(drink).  Tasting things at a Disney park is what makes the experience even more enjoyable so pass on the burger and fries and the standard theme park fair and try new things and experience new tastes in the parks.

The Five Senses of Disney (Part 3)

So you have seen and herd Disney now its time to use your nose, smells are one of the last things you would think Disney would use to immerse you into the experience.  Some Disney smell are on purpose and some are not on purpose.  Disney knows that some times smells bring a guest back to a location or a memory and they uses smells to give that feeling of being back there when were not.  Have you ever been out and cot a certain smell and it has instantly brought you back to certain attraction or memory at a Disney theme park thats the feeling Imagineers are going for. 

One smell that Disney has all over there parks is the smell of flowers Disney's Horticulture teams all over the world plant countless numbers of flowers all over the parks and provide wonderful smells in every park all over the world.  There are two wonderful smelling areas in EPCOT that come to mind one is on purpose and the other maybe, but i doubt there that smart.  The first is out side the park its in the turn around area for the parking shuttles and its a bed with a few crape myrtle trees and in the summer and spring is full of lavender plants.  I ask my self did they put all of these strong fragrant flowers there to cover up the smell of the exhaust from the shuttles.  If so Imagineers are all the geniuses that we all believe them to be.  The other and I know this is on purpose is the garden in France next to the Plume Et Palette to show where alot of the scents come from in most perfumes.  

Moving from the out side to inside attractions also boast smells that are memorable and some all of us would like to forget. For the smells we would all like to for get in Journey into Imagination the skunk smell and in Stitches Great Escape the smell of the burped up chili cheese dog.  These are examples of smells we would like to forget but its good themeing because we will never forget the bad smells.  Examples of good smells are the smell of orange blossoms in Soar'n Over California.  Another of the good smells is the water, yes the water for most "Disney Geeks" the smell of the water brings theme right back to Disney World.  For me living in Georgia where Florida's water comes from you get that smell all the time.

Finally, but certainly not least is the smell of food, why do you think Disney places food carts all over the parks to entice gusts to eat.  Food can be smelled all over the parks with resaturates and food carts all over the parks fill the parks with the wonderful smell of food. 

 In each of the lands the foods are specific to that area and the smells add to the already deep story and environment already created.  Smells are an important bit of the magic that Disney stirs into the soup that are their theme parks.  They help create memories for us that will last longer than anything we see or hear.

The Five Senses of Disney (Part 2)

The next sense most commonly used at a Disney park is your ears this sense is on over load just as much as your eyes are.  Disney uses sounds, music, and dialog to tell the great stories throughout the parks and resorts.  Music is key element Disney uses to place their guests into a scene the three types of music they use are sound effects,  instrumental music, and sung music.  


Like in movies sound effects are used to surprise or make you laughing or even scare you.  Lets look at the Haunted Mansion it has one of the most famous sound effects in any Disney attraction the dog or wolf howling out side of the attraction.  For Imagineers this single solitary sound sets a tone for the entire attraction it draws guests into the attraction weather your coming into Frontierland from Adventureland or in the Hub next to the castle or in Fantasyland you can hear that sound and you instantly think of the Haunted Mansion.  Another sound effect that instantly draws you into a place is the sound of the train at Main Street USA, when you hear the sound of the train, the whistle, and the bell it instantly takes you to that spot where ever you are. The bell and whistle have such a distinct sound that they just bring you to Main Street.


Also like in movies instrumental music plays a very important role it bring guest into the story.  Imagineers use it in a verity of ways and in a verity of places as well.  The First place you hear music is right when you enter the parks and that music is some of the most important music because it sets a tone for the entire park and gives you a sense of what lies a head.  For instants lets look and the four major parks of Walt Disney World the Magic Kingdom you hear all the great music from Disney movies and TV over time.  At EPCOT there are two distinct parts and both have their own sounds and style.  Future World has a very futuristic sound where as World Showcase has an international sound.  The Disney Studios are all about the movies and what els would you hear other than famous movie scores from Robin Hood to Gone With the Wind.  Animal Kingdom's sound is very organic sounding and it makes sense your in the jungle and your there to see Animals.


Finally you have all the great Disney songs from their movies to songs that come from the attraction.  Think of your favorite Disney attraction and now think what song goes with that?  When Walt was designing Disneyland at his disposal he had two brothers with the ability to write songs that just captivated the imagination.  Richard and Robert Sherman were Walt's go two men when he wanted a song and the Sherman Brothers deliver to a tone of  2 Oscars and 1 Grammy along with countless nominations and other awards.  The Sherman brothers wrote three songs you will never get out of your head once you hear them.  "Its a Small World" was written for the 1964 Worlds Fair and then made its way to every Disney theme park across the world, love it or hate it it makes the attraction a classic.  Another song is "In the Tiki Tiki Tiki Room" was written for the first audio animatronics attraction the Enchanted Tiki Room.  Finally one of Walt's favorite songs "Theres a Great Big Beautiful Tomorrow" also written for the 1964 Worlds Fair then transplanted into the theme parks.  


As you can tell sound is an important tool for imagineers in bringing you into the story. Weather its a songs written by the Sherman brothers or a score from a Disney move or just a sound that you hear in the park sound is and important element.  The next time your in one of the parks just stop and listen you might be surprised at what you hear or experience.  In the next installment get ready to use your nose and YES Disney Parks have these distinct smells that you just hold on too. 

The Five Senses of Disney

When I began to write this post i discovered this topic is more than just a single post and a more than I could ever have imagined. When  you visit a Disney park Imagineer's are not just stimulating your eyes and ears but they try to involve all five senses.  When you go to a Disney park you taste, you touch, you smell, you see, and you hear; every one of your senses is stimulated at any moment while you are in the park.  By using your five senses Disney is able to emerge you deeper into your experience and by making the experience even more enjoyable. The first sense i will touch on is sight and Disney wastes no time using this sense once you approach a Disney park. 

Sight is Disney's most powerful tool, the use of weenies (weenie- a term coined by Walt to describe an object that draws people in.) draws you into areas is key in bring people into the park.  OK for instants imagine the Magic Kingdom with out Cinderella Castle or EPCOT without Spaceshipearth it would take away that WOW factor when you first enter the park and it would lack a key element in the grand story Imagineers are trying to convey to the guests.  These are a few of the very noticeable weenies, but there are smaller weenies with in the theme parks as well as in the resort hotels and even the shops at the Marketplace.  An example of a smaller weenie is if you have been in the Animal Kingdom Lodge and walked into the lobby and gone whoa.  

Another Disney sight staple is dramatic lighting  if anyone has walked through any of the parks at night the notice very dramatic lighting all over the parks.  In the past year Disney has debuted two new Shows using lighting and exciting new visuals using dramatic lighting and affects.  Disney's World of Color at Disney's California Adventure uses lighting and water affects to project famous Disney movie scenes on to the water. Another new show that has less technical elements, but still delivers on the wow factor is the new The Magic, The Memories and You! witch is a projection of Disney movie clips as well as family videos take by real families while at Disney World on to Cinderellas Castle.

My next post will center around using your ears, Disney surround  you with all sorts of sounds to pull you into the story and the place that Imagineers are bringing you into.

The Mouse Loses His House

My intentions for this blog are for me to discus my Disney Theme Park opinions openly with out my wife telling me she is board and doesn't want to listen any more.  Disney has been with me since the beginning from the movies I watched over and over to my first trip to Disney World as an infant. Yes my first trip was weeks after my birth.  OK on to the nitty gritty, February 11 will mark a first in over 56 years of theme park history the will close their first land Mickey's Toontown Fair to make way for the expansion of Fantasyland.  Anyone who knows any history about Toontown Fair will already knows its been a long time coming.  Toontown Fair was originally Mickey's Birthdayland  and was to be a temporary thing for Mickey's 60th birthday it evolved over the years and finally became Mickey's Toontown Fair. What I remember most was the show from Disney in the afternoons with Darkwing Duck, Goof Troop, Tailspin, and Ducktales.