Attractions and Theming

Would a theme park be a theme park without the attractions? What I am trying to ask here is if a theme park where not to have attractions (I’m particularly talking about ride here), would it be worth going. I would argue no.  Regardless of how well themed parks like Universal and Disney are, especially in places such as World Showcase and The Wizarding World of Harry Potter, I couldn’t imagine spending money to shop and eat in a well themed place.  I wouldn’t even call such a place a theme park: consider the city of Gatlinburg, Tennessee. There are very few people that live there, it is particularly a tourist town with countless shops, restaurants, and museums, but this place is a town, not a park.  Thus I would claim that attractions (and again I’m talking particularly about rides here) are the most important part of a theme park are the rides.  This seems counterintuitive given that the name is “theme” park; the theming should be most important.  But theming is extremely imperative as well.  No one wants to pay ninety dollars a day to walk around an bland park with unthemed or poorly coasters all day (They’ll pay fifty dollars and go to Six Flags, ZING!).

-I don’t care if you have a Batmobile, Six Flags, your theming sucks

     There needs to be a proper balance of expert theming, entertaining shows, and thrilling, innovative and kid friendly rides; restaurants are important as well.  A great balance of all of these is important but to me attractions are the most important.  Perhaps JN would agree with me, perhaps not, but I do know he ranks theming and particularly restaurants higher than I do; why do you think EPCOT is his favorite park.  As much as I love restaurants and think every park should have a few nice ones, I don’t, for instance, hold Magic Kingdom’s or Animal Kingdom’s lack of a plethora of full service restaurants against it. I usually rank parks solely on their theming and attractions.

Yet I have still never determined a favorite park.  Magic Kingdom has numerous classic rides yet there are only a couple that stand above the rest.  The intuitive choice then would seem to be Islands of Adventure. It does not have the same quantity of rides as say Magic Kingdom, the quality of almost every one is a step above Disney’s.  The theming is great as well, but the only place it is on par with Disney, I would say, is in Wizarding World.  That is a consensus JN and I have reached, Universal Orlando is superior in ride quality and Disney is superior in theming.  Still, at Universal there is not quite a ride like DINOSAUR! and Disney has not been able to capture the essence of a story like Wizarding World has.  Thus my favorite park is still a mystery to me.  But I digress.

-Built in the early 1970s and still possibly the greatest theme park  structure in all of Florida.

      Rides are what bring me to parks.  Whether it is the story immersion or the thrilling sensations that are hard to achieve elsewhere, I could ride rides all day, if I don’t I don’t feel like I’m getting my money’s worth.  I feel as if I could just go from ride to ride and only every now and then enjoy the scenery and be perfectly content.  Though, maybe I don’t know what I actually like.  For instance when I was two years old, I reportedly could not get enough of the Magic Kingdom, I stayed up all night the night before in anticipation, ran everywhere in the park while my family tried to keep up.  I did the same when I went in first grade.  I don’t remember wanting to rides to many rides though. I had to be forced onto the mountains, and was too scared to go onto the Haunted Mansion in first grade (but apparently enjoyed it at age two). Today if I don’t go on all the major attractions at a park I feel cheated, but then it clearly wasn’t about that.

Also JN and I are quite similar when it comes to theme park prefreneces and he has been to the parks much more than I have, particular Universal.  He has been to Studios and Islands of Adventure probably over two hundred times.  And although he keeps going back, he says that he could (and has) spend a day in the parks and enjoy the scenery, without riding anything (this is the joy of having an annual pass, I recommend you go buy yours right away!).  Perhaps if I had been as much I would feel the same.  Perhaps my raw desire is to enjoy the rides only but as I go to them parks more my aesthetic preferences will change to appreciate theming even more than I do now. Who knows?

This has been a digression and random thoughts into my opinions or theming and attractions at various theme parks. I could say so much more but I wouldn’t want to bore you. Thanks for reading!

-JS

Rolling with the Changes

With Jaws closing there is a lot of griping about change in theme parks.  I personally think change in parks is a great thing.  Don’t get me wrong, I loved Jaws, it was one of my favorite rides, and I would rather have it back, but I understand classics must sometimes be lost or changed.  Universal seems to be constantly updating several of their attractions, Hanna-Barbera became Jimmy Neutron which is becoming Despicable Me, King Kong became the Mummy, Spiderman is getting a facelift, etc.  But Disney, particularly Magic Kingdom, seems to like to cling onto old ride designs.  Now this isn’t always the case, of course, Star Tours has improved greatly and Haunted Mansion recently underwent some changes as well, and there several other examples.  But then you look at rides like Pirates of the Caribbean and Peter Pan’s Flight and they feel very dated.

-Pirates of the Carribbean from guestofaguest

One of the problems is long time fans of the parks will revolt at any changes and even many occasional visitors might complain “that’s not the way the ride was when I was a kid, why did they change it?”  But wasn’t Walt Disney himself who believed that Disney would always be changing and developing, never to be finished.  A possible counter argument to this would be that he meant continually adding, not getting rid of what you already have, but you can’t expand infinitely.  No, I am not suggesting getting rid of any rides at the Magic Kingdom now (except Buzz Lightyear, that one is pretty bad), but revamping them.  Look at how much better the Jack Sparrow animatronics looks in comparison to the older ones. Imagine if they spent some money on updating the rest, the ride would be improved phenomenally.  Now in this particular ride it might be hard to resist making it more movie oriented i.e. placing as many movie characters as they can for the sake of recognition, but hopefully they wouldn’t go that far.  But Pirates is still at least decent as it is, some rides are not.  Such as Peter Pan’s Flight which, even on slow days, might but upwards or 80 minutes long because of the ride loading system. And then the ride isn’t even that great. I know it was probably wonderful when I opened over in Disneyland but know it seems beyond dated.  The walls look as if sheets were hung up to conceal the walls, and you see simple statues of characters.  This is a ride, if they weren’t to update the animatronics to match the soon to be opening Little Mermaid, then should be scraped all together. Sure “it’s a classic” or what-not but look at Snow White, that’s an old one getting replaced with a better ride in the Fantasyland Expansion, and that seems for the better.

-Peter Pan’s Flight from onlywdworld

Now I don’t think Disney should necessarily have a completely different set of attractions ten years from now but if they don’t developed what they have and lose some of the more dated attractions, then Universal will eventually completely surpass them in attraction quality. But it is Disney we are talking about here, so I don’t see Universal doing a complete eclipse it anytime soon (and probably never), but many of its rides already surpass many of their counterparts in the Magic Kingdom, i.e. Ripsaw Falls is better than Splash Mountain, E.T. is better than Peter Pan (but both are still dated), Jaws was better than Jungle Cruise (yet JC still stays puntastic today), and Men in Black drives Buzz Lightyear into the ground (as you can see have a certain animosity for that ride’s quality).  But this seems to be a probably isolated to the Magic Kingdom.  Disney’s other parks do not seem to have a probably rolling the with changes; as mentioned before, Star Tours is greatly improved, and I love the new additions to Spaceship Earth. Also you can see a quality improvement when looking at the attraction themselves at Disney’s newer parks, when compared to their Universal counterparts: Tower of Terror is better than Dr. Doom’s Fearfall, Muppet*Vision 3D is better than Shrek, Kali River Rapids and Bluto’s Bilge Rat Barge are pretty much tied, there’s nothing like Mission Space or Dinosaur at Studios or Islands, and Expedition Everest would beat the Mummy if they got that dang Yeti to work (the last on is a direct correlation but relatively close).  Now I still love the Magic Kingdom, the whole place is jammed pack with nostalgia inducers.  And some of the older technology on many rides still feels like it works with the rest of the ride, such as It’s a Small World, which has simple, rigid animatronics fit well with its them and reputation.  But the Magic Kingdom should still keep up with the time with most of its attractions.  It seems my point may be moot though, as they seem to be doing this with the Fantasy Land Expansion and the Haunted Mansion update.  Hopefully this trend will continue throughout the next few years.

-JS

Top 5 of Disney’s Hollywood Studios

On Orlando United (theme park forum), I recently saw that a user posted a poll for peoples favorite Hollywood Studio’s attractions.  This inspired me to do a breakdown of my Top 5 Favorite DHS attractions, why I like them, and how some of them can improve.

Honorable Mention.Star Tours: The update is wonderful and I still can’t wait to see all the planets, as I haven’t been able to ride it that much, but the motion simulation still is exceed by rides elsewhere.

5. Fantasmic: Classic theme park show. I’m a sucker for crossover/compilation shows and a lot of the effects are top notch, but if you haven’t seen the show yet, skip over this discussion if you don’t want it spoiled.  There are a few things that could be updated though.  A better dragon head for one, the streamer-like things coming off the neck are kind of corny but after seeing online images, I can see this may be temporary.  Also the Pocahontas section seems out of place.  I understand there compiling many of Disney’s most popular films but the fact that there is a long, live-action section devoted to the lowest rated of the Disney Renaissance Movies*. If they had live-action sections devoted to other Disney movies it would make more sense, but as it is it is, I think the show would improve without it.  A dream I have for the show is absolutely unrealistic and would be ridiculously expensive for only a short section but would be to have a giant Chernabog animatronic  come out of the mountain for Mickey to fight (wouldn’t be able to move much though given its size).  Not feasible at all, I know, but seeing that would make me more excited than I could imagine.

-Fantasmic from interactivewdw

4. Toy Story Mania: True shooting rides aren’t horribly original, you have MIB at Universal which is really fun but Buzz Lightyear at the Magic Kingdom feels like a cheap carnival ride at parts and is badly dated all around.  What makes this ride so amazing is that 3D effect are absolutely fantastic.  It’s also really fun as a shooting game ride as well but the 3D is unparalleled (we will see how the new Spiderman does).  It is the only attraction in which the things actually look like they are coming out of the screen, the whole point of 3D.  The wait for this is truly atrocious though.  Fastpasses run out before noon usually, even during down seasons, and the line is perpetually over an hour long.  If you are to coming to DHS get your FP right away.  You’ll still be probably waiting at least 20 minutes, so you can do what JN and I did.  We got to the park when it opened and during the show they do immediately before the park opening in the entrance area, we shoved our way to the front of the crowd.  Once they let us pass, the majority of the crowd rushed toward TSM, but we walk quickly past them all best we could (you get in trouble for running).  JN loves to mention how, on the way through the park to the attraction, moms with strollers were trying to run us over and shove us out of the way but we prevailed.  We ended up being the second group on the ride for the day.  Moral of the story, if you don’t want to have to wait too long for a popular attraction you may have to shove a few soccer moms.

-Toy Story Mania oncept art from destination 360

3. Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster: Not much to say about this.  It is Disney’s only inversion roller coaster, and my first, two of the reason why I love it so.  I have also always been a fan of classic rock so having Areosmith blaring for the ride is nice.  A classic, must-do for coaster fans with a great launch.

-Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster Entrance from coasterlove

2. Muppet*Vision 3D: Let me put this one in perspective for you. I really love the Muppets, probably more than I should, I even have my own Muppet from FAO Swartz, but JN does not like puppets and particularly HATES the Muppets. And he said this was the best 3D show he has ever seen.  It’s a show from the early 90s that has aged extremely well in both visuals and story. The effects are still top-notch, the humor is classic Muppet meta-humor, worthy of the original show, even the pre-show has hilarious jokes.  Most 3D shows are outdated, like Terminator, or are newer but already feel stale, like Shrek, but I could see Muppet*Vision 3D staying the same for the next decade and still aging well (I guess that depends on 3D technology development and the way it seems to be going, I’ll probably be dining on that last sentence in a few years).

-Sam wants you to see Muppet*Vision 3D from muppetwikia

1. Twilight Zone Tower of Terror: Part of the wonderfulness of this ride is its simplicity.  A simple drop ride, randomized to make a truly unique experience each time.  The queue, as JN mention a few posts ago, is phenomenal, and the intro video with the seamlessly included Rod Serling makes me feel like I’m watching an actual episode of the classic show. A thrill ride that never stops staying thrilling: I’ve ridden it many times, and I still get nervous anticipating the drops. Also I love watching my lanyard floating in zero gravity.

-Creepy Attendants unfortunately not included on ride from allthingsdisneyonline

JN or I may do another Top 5 of another park but for now I hope you enjoyed my rantings on Hollywood Studio’s best attractions.

-JS

My Thoughts on the Fantasy Land Expansion

First off, I want to say that the Magic Kingdom is probably my 2nd least favorite park, behind Animal Kingdom, because of the lack of things to do. This does not mean that I don’t love MK because I do. It’s like when you have to rank a series of perfect meals, although they all were delicious, some were better than the others. MK seems to be the park more focused on all around family entertainment, and while I commend them on that, I do think they need something more. Anyway, MK was definitely in need of an Expansion, and I have a few thoughts about what they are doing in Fantasyland.

Things I’m Very Excited for:

Be our Guest Restaurant- MK definitely needs more good table service restaurants because currently it has the least, other than AK, and remains to be the most popular park. The concept for this restaurant is that we as the guests are eating in Beast’s castle. There will be three different dining rooms: The Ballroom, the Library, and the mysterious West Wing. I just want to say that this sounds really amazing, and I really look forward to eating here later in the year. Each room sounds like it will be interesting to eat in, and I personally want to eat in the West Wing (The rose is there) or the famous ballroom. I really hope that the food will be French, and this could be an amazing new option for dinner at MK when the choices there tend to be so weak. Side Note: I do think that the facade for this building is not the greatest. They have recreated the castle, but the scale is very off. It looks like a dollhouse on top of a large building. I am also disappointed on the shape and overall structure of the ballroom. While it does look very beautiful what they are doing, I believe it does not truly capture the awe inspiring  and breath taking moment from the film.

Ballroom

The Seven Dwarfs Mine Cart Ride- MK definitely could use a few more rides, and this one sounds very interesting. I like the combination of roller coaster track with dark ride elements. The ride vehicle also sounds interesting with its tilting motion. This is going to be a family attraction, so it will most likely be on the slower side. That being said, this attraction is the ride that I am most looking forward to. However, there are many rumors of budget and scene cuts that may turn this attraction from a creative roller coaster with dark ride elements into nothing more than a 45 barnstormer cousin. (I added 15 seconds for the show scene ; ).

Things I am Excited for:

Belle’s Village and Gaston’s Pub- Seems like an interesting recreation from the movie, and a interactive show with Belle could be really interesting. I really want to experience Gaston’s pub, and to see all the animal heads and trinkets on the walls. The photos also suggest that they will have some sort of new beer like drink, maybe different kinds of root beer? Overall, this will be a great spot especially for people who are fan’s of the film.

Ariel’s Undersea Adventure- Another attraction is always a good thing, and I hear that the animatronics in this ride are top notch. MK is also getting an expanded queue that California Adventure did not receive. The ride system is going to be similar to Haunted Mansion and Nemo. Basically, with a shell car slowly moving through the scenes. I am excited to see how they put it all together using newer technology. The outside of the queue looks amazing as well with really great rock work. It is geared a little too much towards smaller children though.

Things I am not so excited for:

Another Princess Greeting Area- I feel like MK already has so many character meeting areas that they really did not need any more. I feel like this space could have been better used for an additional attraction or restaurant. I understand that many little girls want to meet those princesses, but they already have so many options to do that in the park. Overall, not too fond of this idea.

Dumbo Area- Seems kind of like Disney is taking the easy way out on this area. Simply theming it like a circus area is very generic and bland. I know that it’s a part of the Dumbo story, but I do not believe the whole area was necessary. Seems like an excuse to put midway games or other cash grabbers. I do think that they were smart for putting another dumbo in because of its popularity.

Overall, this new section will help spread the crowds and offer more to do in the MK. I am personally looking forward to this project, but I just wish they would finish sooner!

-JN

Upcoming Attractions

We are really looking forward to some of the coming attractions and improvements at Universal.  You probably already know about the updates but in case you didn’t here’s a link to a video that lays it all out: http://www.universalorlando.com/Rides/New-Attractions-2012.aspx?__source=EDW902422&ptyid=284364

Spiderman, a ride that’s already in classic status, is getting visual screen makeover, and apparently Stan Lee is going to make a cameo (we’re guessing as the driver of the truck the SCOOP vehicle nearly hits). Everything is going to be in HD, and the renderings that they have  created are absolutely amazing. They are also doing set  enhancements which guarantee that this will almost feel like a whole new ride. Spiderman has always been one of best rides in the history of Theme parks, and this revamp is sure to continue the success of the ride. Side Note: I wonder how it is going to feel during the moments we are floating in the air, it felt rather real with the older animation, and the since the new animation will be in HD I’m thinking it will boost the intensity of the ride.

-Updated Spiderman from usfaddicts

Despicable Me: Minion Mayhem looks good as well, I wonder though, if they will continue to change the theme of this ride every few years to accommodate the current children pop culture.  Despicable me is getting a sequel but it can’t stay relevant forever.  I personally think it would be cool if they made the queue (and possibly the ride itself) interactive, a la Monsters Inc. Laugh Floor. One of the biggest drawbacks for this attraction is the space it is in. We figure that they must be using the same ride system at Barbara and Neutron, but I seriously hope that the new 3D animation will be enough to set it apart. The queue/preshow room looks amazing, though, and full of detail! Side Note: Neutron’s line during peak times reached over 2 hours because of the popularity with the children, and this will probably be the same.

-Minion Mayhem Queue from micechat

Former Amity/JAWS area: No one currently really knows what is going to go there. The speculation currently is that  Diagon Alley from the Harry Potter books and films will be taking this land.  There is rumored to be another Olivander’s, several new shops (Including Weasley Wizard Wheezes), Leaky Cauldron, and a brand new state of the art attraction housed in Gringotts bank.  The most interesting rumor I have heard is that they plan to connect the two parks (USF and IoA) with the Hogwarts Express. This all seems very interesting and elaborate, and I personally would be very excited if any of these turn out to be true. While JAWS was one of my favorite attractions, I trust Universal to bring these pieces of the films and books to life because of how well the Wizarding World of Harry Potter turned out.

Night Show: The lake show looks sweet as well. I get excited just seeing the montage at the end of The Great Movie Ride (best part of that ride) so I can’t imagine how much I’ll love it seeing this new lake show, displaying universal best movies.  JN says they may even use some of the retired sharks from the unfortunately closed Jaws ride.  The unfortunate closing of that ride is especially touchy for JN who knew the entire monologue from that, his favorite ride, but perhaps I’ll let him talk about that some other time.  Universal is making a lot of changes though; for better, for worse, who knows, I’m hoping the former though.

-JS and JN

Jurassic Park Vs Dinosaur (Vs Indiana Jones?)

Universal and Disney both have movies about dinosaurs, Jurassic Park (1993) and Dinosaur (2000) respectively, and there are rides based upon each of these movies at their parks. There is Jurassic Park River Adventure at Islands of Adventure and DINOSAUR (originally called Countdown to Extinction) at Disney’s Animal Kingdom.  Now there is really not much debate over which is the better movie (it’s Jurassic Park, Dinosaur being the first post-Disney Renaissance film) but which is the better ride?

You might be asking “JS, these rides aren’t really comparable are they? One is a flume ride and the other a high-speed dark ride?” Well that is true, but you see, they can be compared on the basis of their queues, theming, story, and animatronics as well and I could rank my favorite flume rides for you to compare Jurassic Park but I’m sure you’re not interested in that; (okay you convinced me it is 1. Ripsaw Falls, 2. Journey to Atlantis, 3. Splash Mountain, and 4. Jurassic Park; and I love JPRA to put that in perspective for ya, it just too short to make it higher on the list, i.e. the Jungle Cruise-esque beginning should have been longer but I digress).

Okay let’s start with the queues.  JN just posted about queues earlier and although you may only be waiting in them briefly it is important, we believe a good ride is improved by a good one.  DINOSAUR is the clear winner here.  Jurassic Park’s outdoor queue is simply walking along a stone path with jungle-like greenery about.  Sure there is a miniature model towards the beginning but like I said, it towards the beginning, and even when the line is longer, you never really get a chance to look at it unless you stop, and let’s face it most people when entering the ride will run right past it.  In fact I’ve been on the ride many, many times and even I don’t know what it looks like.  Oh and you also have Richard Attenborough, AKA John Hammond, talking to you on some TVs but not very many people pay attention to that.  There’s a couple other thing here and there but in general if fails to impress. Perhaps if they had an indoor section of the queue with some game-like things to play with a la Jurassic Park Discovery Center, but that is probably asking too much.

-Jurassic Park Entrance from Wikipedia

DINOSAUR doesn’t have the world’s greatest queues, but it is definitely impressive compared to its Universal Dinosaur counterpart.  In the outside section there is dinosaur bones (some of which are real, both inside and outside of the queue, but that is unconfirmed). There is also models/stuffed modern animals which are related to dinosaurs.  Inside there is more dinosaur bones, murals and description of dinosaur distinction shown through a model in the center of a large room, and narrated the one and only Bill Nye the Science Guy (who pops up a lot around Disney World). The pre-show of DINOSAUR also sets up more of a story than Jurassic Park, although, the story is quite farfetched, as most ride stories are, but this one particularly absurd. You, guest at the Dino-Institute, the place in which the queue is meant to be part of, are going to be sent back mere minutes before the asteroid impact that killed all of the dinosaurs to retrieve an Iguanadon (who is Aladar form the movie but you only know that if you have seen the film, as clips are show in the pre-show).

-DINOSAUR Entrance from Wikipedia

So in general DINOSAUR wins the queue battle but what of the story?  I’ve already described the pre-story of DINOSAUR and I don’t want to spoil the ride for anyone who hasn’t ridden it so I won’t describe the ride itself.  But the JPRA story is relatively well known, you go on a river boat tour of some herbivore dinosaurs and you get knock of course and encounter some carnivores.  So if we accept both time travel and dinosaur cloning for the sake of argument the more realistic premise is definitely JPRA, but more realism doesn’t necessarily equate with better, does it?  I’m going to go with JPRA, as the better premise as it lines up with the movie better. Your about to get a boat tour of the new and improved Jurassic Park and it suddenly goes awry, so basically the plot of the movie.  I’m not saying a ride should follow the plot of the movie but that is Universal’s goal, is it not? To “Ride the Movies.”

DINOSAUR’s premise on the other hand has absolutely nothing to do with the movie as the ride wasn’t originally theme for that.  The inclusion of the movie at all is unnecessary and was only included to promote the movie. Now that the film is long forgotten, it feels as if it is just another dinosaur ride, especially to the children who have never heard of the movie.  It’s a shame the movie was forgotten though, it wasn’t that bad (JN would probably disagree but I, once again, digress).

Okay, probably the most comparable thing about these two rides is the animatronics. They both have dinosaur animatronics in ride that came around about the same time, which means, they had access to roughly the same technology.  I qualify with the word “roughly” as Disney has a lot more money to do stuff with, but that doesn’t mean Universal is poor either.  The animatronics on DINOSAUR have the upper hand I believe.  They are relatively similar, but the major distinction I can see is in their depiction of the large carnivore, Tyrannosaurus-Rex for JPRA and Carnotaurus for DINOSAUR.  The T-Rex only appears once at the climax of JPRA, and simply leans down. (SIDE NOTE: This affect is much more awesome if you go on a cool day, as their will be fog/mist around the T-Rex and it will appear as if out of nowhere, at the last second).  The Carnotaurus, on the other hand, appears several times, one time it is running at you from the side.  This look quite real and given the dark nature of the ride can be quite scary as well.  That is also something to note, because much of DINOSAUR is so dark and fast, it is hard to see all of the animatronics but they are definitely superior in quality.

But which ride wins in the end? Jurassic Park River Adventure! Sure DINOSAUR is the more thrilling ride, has better animatronics, and a better queue, but all of those things could have been used towards an Indiana Jones Ride.  While DINOSAUR is a truly great ride, it is a re-themed copy of Indiana Jones Adventure: Temple of the Forbidden Eye at Disneyland in California.  I have never had the pleasure of visiting Disneyland, but I am aware they have a ride based upon one of the greatest film series of all time.  This may be a little bitter but I believe JPRA to be the better ride because DINOSAUR to be preventing an Indiana Jones ride from ever occurring in Orlando.  True DINOSAUR could be re-themed but then it would not fit in with the area, Disney might be accused of being lazy (by DINOSAUR fans mainly), and a legitimately good ride would be gone.

-Indiana Jone Adventure Poster from Wikipedia

Perhaps JN has some different opinions about these two rides themselves, but I know he agrees with me about Indiana Jones. But my opinion is that Jurassic Park River Adventure is the superior dinosaur ride; and if they were to improve their animatronics, that opinion would be unquestionable for me.

-JS

Best Attraction Queues?

What is a queue you ask? Many people will simply say that it is the painstakingly long line in which they have to wait in before a ride. Other say that it is where the attractions story is meant to start. I personally would say that both of those are correct. I, like mostly everyone, have waited at some point for long periods of time in a long line for a ride(At certain points thinking that the line will NEVER move), but in this post I am going to highlight two attractions that have such interesting and detailed queues that I almost don’t mind waiting(well almost).

My top choice would be the queue for Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey. This is a top notch portrayal of the halls of Hogwarts, and there is SO MUCH detail I always find something new when I roam the grounds. It starts from the dungeons of Hogwarts and ends in the Room of Requirement. The Harry Potter fanboy inside me almost exploded the first time I went through it. My favorite parts of the queue are: The Statue that leads to Dumbledore’s Office (Acid pops!), Dumbledore’s office itself with the pensieve, the Defense against the Dark Arts classroom with the snow(So awesome, be sure to stay and watch the scene), and the Sorting Hat which is so very close to the movie. Every room is faithfully created to look like the movie portrayals. Overall, an experience in its own. Side note: For anyone that would just like to experience the halls of Hogwarts, they offer “Castle Tours” starting at the entrance of the attraction. These tours go all the way through the queue and allow for plenty of time to stop, take pictures, watch the scenes, and find all those details I was discussing. This a great aspect if you do not want to be rushed through the line.

Entrance to Dumbledore's office from Jaunted

Second would be the queue for the Twilight Zone Tower of Terror. The one thing about this queue that I like beyond all others is how complete it feels and looks. It SERIOUSLY looks like a real hotel, and Disney has assured that you can look at it from practically any angle. There is so much detail located in this attraction, and I definitely feel that the imagineers  have outdone themselves. My personal favorite areas are: All of it! I would love to stay at that hotel even with the shotty elevator system. The gift shop is nice as well, and it feels like the spa area of a resort. I really really love the main check in area with all the old newspapers and cobwebs, I always try to make out what the papers say. The boiler room gives a great sense of foreboding, and makes you feel like you are in a dank, dark, service shaft. Pretty amazing over all.

Tower of Terror Check In Area from Squidoo

Not all queues are created equal, and I am glad that both Universal and Disney have stepped beyond the tradition outside queues. I love been transported to a different place or through a ride, and these queues, especially, offer an amazing transition.

-JN