Halloween Hangover at Epcot and Magic Kingdom: Thrillography's Great Floridian Expedition Trip Report - Part VIII

Hello everyone :}

I hope everyone had a wonderfully spooky Halloween! 

The day after Halloween is hard. Nobody likes having to come down from that Halloween high! Fortunately Thrillography has the perfect Halloween hangover rememdy:

Delicious baked goods from the Norway Pavilion at Epcot!

Here we have a berry cream puff, school bun, pecan sticky roll, egg tart, and buttery-sugary rollup thing. :}

Another good remedy for post-Halloween blues is NEW FROZEN RIDE!

Everyone is so excited to ride!

(and excited not to wait in line for 2+ hrs)

*EXCITEMENT*

Princess Elsa is a fair and good queen now that she and Anna have gotten their ish together. 

Just about everyone knows that Frozen Ever After is a large scale remodel of the Norway Pavilion's 1988 flume ride, Maelstrom.

What you may not know about Frozen, however, is that it is freaking amazing. 

I'll be the first to admit that I'm a diehard Frozen fan, but the ride isn't some IP overlay rushjob on an existing ride. Frozen Ever After is now one of the most technically impressive rides in Florida.

Your cruise starts by a drift into the forest, home to the Trolls, Wandering Oaken's Trading Post, and more.

You're first greeted by Sven and Olaf (the latter being one of the most impressive audioanimatronics I've ever seen).

Some parts of the ride are easier to photograph than others. I'd give away every scene of the ride if I could, but that simply wasn't possible. ;}

Sven you've been living in ice for your entire life you should know better.

Ok don't laugh but when we got to the Let it Go scene I legit got choked up. 

Marshmallow and the Snowgies! 

Thank you Anna and Elsa for your tour of Arendelle!

#betterthanmaelstrom

We really didn't need to spend all this money on a vacation. All Emma needed to be happy was a 3-point mirror. 

It's just as fun as a multi-million dollar Frozen ride, right?

btw the Trolls say hi.

Also Sven. :}

Back to China to visit Mulan!

Other princesses are running around marrying princes and finding themselves; Mulan is over here saving China.

Ceiling on point!

A sunnier visit to Germany than last time.

Does everyone remember Winnie The Pooh's "Pooh-koo" clock? That's what these reminded me of. :}

Everything was fine until it was our turn to meet Snow White and then Emma had an epic meltdown. Made for some classic photos. x}

Almost forgot we were in the same park as the big silver ball! Haven't spent much time in Future World today.

Definitely better weather conditions for Italy, too.

Family portrait in Venice!

We now finally pick up where we left off last time, beggining our way around the back half of World Showcase. We blew past American Adventure, the showcase's most useless pavilion.

Up next is the *BEST* Epcot pavilion: Japan!

We're here just in time for the kendo drum exhibition.

:}

The Japan shop goes on seemingly forever. I wanted to buy all the things. 

Each of Epcot's World Showcase shops are actually contracted independent vendors who are responsible for bringing culturally-relevant merchandise that you can't find at any other theme park in the U.S.

Here you can model and purchase authentic kimonos.

Sake!

POCKY!

Here's an amazing cultural exhibit on Japan's obsession with cute things. 

Amazing statue. 

Kawaii at home!

Kawaii in the kitchen!

Kawaii on the can!

I'm impressed that Disney allowed this exhibit full of non-Disney IP artifacts. I could've studied the exhibit for an hour!

But I didn't stay too long because FOOD!

The restaurant is perched on a hill next to a beautiful rock garden. If you've ever wondered what Six Flags Magic Mountain's Samurai Summit looked like back when it still had some thematic integrity, look no further than the gardens of Epcot's Japan Pavilion.

Signature shot for the fam!

These koi are the luckiest in the world! They get to live at WDW!

What have we here...?

Remy! You sneaky chef!

Didn't spend a lot of time in Morocco. It's a bit light on attractions, but it does have the unique designation of being the only Epcot pavilion funded by its respective country's government. 

On to France. :}

Erin relishing her sensational strawberry ice cream macaroon.

The France Pavilion is great 'n all, but you know what it needs? The Ratatouille ride from Disneyland Paris! 

Mom and Erin in their favorite pavilion: Great Britain!

You can smell the fish and chips in the air!

Last stop: Canada. Now that Soarin' Around the World has a 3rd theater, Canada is the only pavilion that can't expand in the future. :{ 

Family shot with Spaceship Earth!

So we walked over here with intentions of doing Universe of Energy.

Then we noticed that it's a forty-five minute attraction. The only reason I really wanted to ride it was because it may be going away soon; that wasn't motivation enough to devote that kind of time. 

Found a lizard tho.

Erin and I got a shot with everyone's favorite personal healthcare companion. :}

One last signature stop with PhotoPass before heading out!

Bye Epcot! You've been amazing! Looking forward to (hopefully) some new attractions by my next visit!

Next stop: Disney's Contemporary Resort!

I absolutely had to come in here. Not for the Disney Cruise model (although it was a nice surprise),

but for the sensational 10-story, 18,000-tile Mary Blair mural. 

In addition to her much-celebrated work on several Disney films (including Alice in Wonderland; Peter Pan; Cinderella) and on classic Disney rides (it's a small world; Mexico Pavilion's Gran Fiesta Tour), Mary Blair is famous for her incredible tile murals inside the Contemporary Resort and in Disneyland's Tomorrowland.

Sadly, the murals that festooned 1967's New Tomorrowland entrance corridor were replaced along with their building's respective original rides: Adventure Thru Inner Space in 1986 and Circle Vision 360 in 1998. Rumor has it that the Circle Vision mural and the upper half of the Adventure Thru Inner Space mural are still intact behind the the murals that replaced them.

On the north fire escape of the Contemporary Resort we see the hotel's Bay Lake Tower, home to some of the Disney Vacation Club's most expensive and coveted rooms.

And also this.

These (extremely loud) midday fireworks mean that Princess Elena of Avalor has had her official Disney Princess induction (this happened every day of our visit at around 3pm, much to the surprise/fright of unsuspecting children in Fantasyland)

The Contemporary Resort fire escape gives arguably the best view of Space Mountain there is. 

Yes, the Christmas light crane is in this picture. Yes, I used the smoke plumes from the fireworks to help photoshop it out. No, I'm not ashamed. 

The Monorails resort-hopper line is coming in for a landing!

The adjacent monorail track, which provides non-stop service between the Magic Kingdom and the parking lot, was down for maintenance while I was taking these pictures.

The resort hopper monorail has five stops; Magic Kingdom, parking lot (with transfers to the Epcot line), and the 3 signature Disney World Resort Hotels (Contemporary, Polynesian, and Grand Floridian).

The Contemporary and the Polynesian are the two hotels that opened with WDW. The Grand Floridian opened in 1988 and remains Disney's most luxurious hotel.

Bye Monorail :}

Now for some quality time in Tomorrowland!

Who's up for Autopia Tomorrowland Speedway??

What you're looking at here is the weakest link of a proud race of...well...races, I guess. 

Time to put all of that training at the Test Track Pavilion to the test, Emma!

Disneyland's Autopia represented the future in 1955 because the Dwight D. Eisenhower National System of Interstate and Defense Highways was about to revolutionize the way people travel. By the time 1971 rolled around, the Interstate had become a conventional idea and therefore no longer represented the future. 

WDW's Grand Prix Raceway opened with the park, affording drivers to participate in a futuristic international car race. Or something.

Not exactly the best example of Tomorrowland's future/fantasy mission, but frankly, neither is the original Autopia (at least, not anymore). These rides represent retro-future, and I think that's just fine. :}

The same can certainly be said for Peoplemover, during which guests can get a quick look at an early Epcot concept model. 

Jets and space travel will probably always be Tomorrowland's hallmark. Unlike intercostal highways, individually-manned micro spacecraft are still a long ways off. They're going to be "the future" for quite some time.

But you know what's really the most charmingly-dated-but-also-not attraction in Tomorrowland?

This.

Nothing captured Walt Disney's fascination with the passage of time quite like the Carousel of Progress.

Four realities, each a world apart. Since its debut at the 1964 World's Fair (along side it's a small world, Circle Vision 360, Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln and a prototype Peoplemover), the Carousel of Progress has delighted visitors with its depictions of the everyman's American household during the turn of the century, the roaring 20s, the fabulous 40s, and the future.

The ride received an update in 1967 when it moved to its new home in New Tomorrowland. It was updated once again when it came to help anchor the underdeveloped WDW Tomorrowland in 1975 along with Space Mountain. Subsequent updates in 1981, 1985, and 1993 (the latter just before WDW Tomorrowland's last major remodel) helped keep the ride relevant.

The future scene rests comfortably somewhere between the present and that which is yet to come. Current developments such as Oculus Rift-style virtual reality gaming headsets live harmoniously in the same household as a talking oven that accepts voice commands in a fashion similar to that of iPhone's Siri. 

The delightfully dated kitchen hardware is in stark contrast to the nice-looking TV that looks like it could've been bought at Best Buy yesterday. The first three rooms haven't changed much since the ride's inception, but I expect the last room to continue changing with the times.

(hopefully soon because that kitchen is killing me)

I like WDW's Tomorrowland. It's about as different as it can be from Disneyland's. It's a bit less futuristic, but also wonderfully unspoiled. 

On that note, it's time to end the night with a little Space Mountain marathon! :}

I hope everyone enjoyed this update and I hope your Halloween Hangover is over now. :}


There's only two more Disney World days left before we continue on to more exciting adventures! 


See you at Animal Kingdom! ;}