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Tag: disney

  • 25th Anniversary Disney World Trip – Part Two: Magic Kingdom

    Although my wife and I do love our trips to Walt Disney World, we do tend to push ourselves to enjoy every moment we are there to the fullest extent, which usually leaves happy but rather tired by the end of the trip. Case in point, we flew into Orlando around noonish, spent time exploring our hotel until our room was ready around 3pmish, went immediately to the Magic Kingdom as soon as we put our luggage into our room, hung out at the park until it closed, and then spent another three plus hours in the park after it closed. That made for a very fun, but also very long day.

    I know what you are thinking, “how did you stay in the park three hours after it closed?” Well, I will be happy to explain it to you. For the past ten years, Walt Disney World has been doing a little event they call “Disney After Hours”. Basically each park, except Animal Kingdom, has these events that allow you to experience the park after the crowds have all dispersed for the night. The events do cost extra, but they are so worth the price. In fact, I would even say I prefer doing the after hours event more than I would like to go to park during regular hours. Disney only sells a certain amount of tickets for these events, so the crowds are so small that you can get on any ride with barely any waiting time (sometimes no waiting at all). That alone makes the event worth going to, but there’s even more to enjoy about it! Event goers are treated to free ice cream, popcorn, soda, and water during their time, and there are even special character meet-and-greets throughout. On top of all that, spending time in the parks at night is an amazing experience unto itself. If you can spare the extra expense, I HIGHLY recommend experiencing at least one of the after hours events during your trip, it is a whole new way to experience the parks. But, this is not an ad for Disney After Hours, so I digress.

    Walt and Mickey greet all who come to enjoy the Magic Kingdom!

    One of my favorite things to do when I am at Magic Kingdom is take pictures of Cinderella’s Castle. I love the castle and I try to get pictures of it from as many sides, angles, and times as I can when possible while trying not to annoy Nancy by stopping too much while we are trying to get to different areas of the park. But…I mean…come on! It’s just so photogenic!

    A view of the castle from the begining of Main Street when you first enter the park
    Another view of the castle from further up Main Street USA. Look at all those people!!
    Disney knows how to decorate! Here we see a the castle in the distance with a beautiful fountain in the foreground
    The detail on the castle even extends to the back side. This ain’t no cheap amateur decoration!
    Here we see the castle at dusk. Oh! Pretty!
    Here we see the castle at dusk from Tomorrowland.
    And here we have the castle at night. Isn’t it magical?

    As amazing as the castle is, Disney doesn’t hold back when it comes to decorating the park, and it is a major part of what makes the park so “magical”. Sorry, I had to do it.

    Take, for example, the Haunted Mansion. Not only is it a fantastic ride in itself, but the waiting line for the ride is full of fun little “haunted” adornments.

    The outside of the Haunted Mansion looks like a real…well…mansion.
    Just a couple of examples of the cool decorations you can see waiting in line for the Haunted Mansion.

    One thing I love about the Magic Kingdom is that it is a fun mix of Classic Disney and Modern Disney. That is apparent when you venture through the different “lands” of the park, whether it be Frontierland, Tomorrowland, Fantasyland, or Adventureland. There really is something for everyone at the Magic Kingdom, unless you are a true “villain”.

    For example, in Fantasyland you can find the classic ride, Dumbo The Flying Elephant:

    It certainly doesn’t get more classic than the Dumbo Ride!

    Meanwhile, in Tomorrowland, you can find the most modern and “futuristic” ride in the park, the Tron Lightcycle Power Run where you get to ride a roller coaster featuring the famed Tron Lightcycles. It is a slick looking ride from beginning to end, and it is full of excitement and a whole lot of fun…as long as you aren’t afraid of roller coasters of course. This ride is definitely considered a more “advanced” coaster, not for the feint of heart!

    Even the entrance to the Tron ride is slick looking.
    Here is a prop lightcycle that you can see at the exit of the ride. I don’t know if this was an actual movie prop or just created for the ride however.
    Though most of the ride is indoors, there is a brief moment when the ride does go outside, and it is indeed quick. You can see this part of the ride as you are walking to line queue.
    Here you can see how cool the ride looks at night. I highly recommend riding this at both day and night to see the difference and how cool the ride is at both points.
    Not only is the rice itself cool, but the queue line for the ride is pretty impressive as well as you can see by this small part of it
    Here is a little clip of the launch of the coaster. As you can see, this ride is fast from the moment it launches as it shoots you out, making you feel like you really are riding a lightcycle.
    Here is a clip of the loading area for the ride. You can get a good look at the unique way you sit on the coaster, adding to the feeling of being on a real lightcycle. Also of note, if you can’t, or do not want, to ride one of the lightcycles, the coaster does feature two more normal seats in the back of the coaster. However, because there are only two of these seats, it can be a longer wait for these. If you want to sit in the “normal” seats, just let the ride operator know when you get to loading point of the line and they will put you in a separate line for these seats. I have ridden in these seats, and I can personally attest that the ride is still quite excellent riding in these seats. Additionally, they are at the back of the coaster vehicle, and everyone knows that the last seat is the second best seat after the first seat in any coaster.

    One element I find interesting as it is a feature that was once modern, but has since become a classic is the ride Space Mountain. Space Mountain, found in Tomorrowland, is a ride that everyone should ride at least once in their life. If you only visit the Magic Kingdom once in your life, and I can’t imagine why you would only go once, you really should ride Space Mountain. It is a fun, indoor roller coaster that is completely in the dark. Even though it is now “classic”, it is still worth a ride. Plus, the outside “mountain” is really cool looking as well.

    There it is, Space Mountain! And if you think that looks cool…
    Check out Space Mountain at night!
    In this shot, you can see the Tron Lightcycle Ride to the right of Space Mountain . The Tron ride lights change color in a cycle (no pun intended) and it looks really cool!

    There you have some of the highlights from our day/night at Magic Kingdom. My wife and I love doing the “After Hours” time at the park, and I highly recommend looking into doing it if you are able. The “After Hours” tickets are an additional price, and can be a high price to add to your trip, but there is nothing like being in the park after it has closed to the general public where you can just hop onto a ride like the Tron Lightcycle Ride without waiting in a major line. I love it!

    That’s it for this entry of our 25th Anniversary trip to Walt Disney World. Check out my next entry to find out the fun we had the second day of our trip, it was something quite different and fun.

    Until next time Friends!

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  • 25TH Anniversary Disney World Trip – Part One: Our Hotel

    In May of 2026, my wife and I celebrated our 25th wedding anniversary by taking a trip to Walt Disney World in Orlando, Florida. This particular trip was the third trip we have taken to Disney World since 2022, and we decided to splurge a little because it was also our celebration for our 25th anniversary. Yes, you read that correctly, this was our third trip in four years, and yes my wife and I do consider ourselves “Disney Adults”. Say whatever you want about “Disney Adults”, but we enjoy our trips to Disney, and that is all that matters. Period.

    Ahem…

    As I was saying, because this was our 25th anniversary and we decided to celebrate in style, we decided to stay at one of the two original Disney Resort Hotels, the Contemporary Resort Hotel which is actually walking distance to the Magic Kingdom park. The Contemporary, along with the Polynesian and Grand Floridian hotels, is also connected to the Magic Kingdom by way of Monorail for those who don’t want to walk. The Contemporary, however is the only hotel that actually has a monorail station inside the hotel, meaning that the monorail actually passes through the hotel. I know, cool, right?

    The Contemporary and Polynesian are actually the first hotels that opened at the same time the Magic Kingdom opened in 1971, and they both have a lot of history behind them. If you want to learn more details about the the history and features of the Contemporary I will include the link to the Wikipedia page for you. The rest of this essay will be about our personal experience at the Contemporary.

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disney%27s_Contemporary_Resort

    The Contemporary is aptly named because, in addition to having the monorail driving right through it, the design of the hotel is very modern looking (well, at least for 1971), and it is a pretty sharp looking building.

    This is the view of the hotel from the ground.

    I found the inside of the hotel quite interesting overall. The lobby, which I didn’t take any pictures of, was quite spacious, clean, and semi-fancy. The really interesting part of the hotel is the fourth floor where you can find shops, Chef Mickey’s restaurant (where character meals are hosted), a quick eat café, and, of course, the Monorail station.

    These giant windows are found on both sides of the hotel where the monorail passes throgh
    These two pictures were taken from the landing on the tenth floor, which is the floor our room was on
    This mural was on the fourth floor , and it stretched up several floors.
    Here you can see the monorail stopped at the station. The tables and chairs you see are from the quick service café on the fourth floor of the hotel. The monorail is right there, close enough to reach out and touch…almost
    Here is some video of the monorail leaving the station. I don’t know why, exactly, but I was fascinated by the fact that the monorail goes right through the middle of the hotel.
    The hotel does have a nice pool area, which we did not use, but it is also located right on Bay Lake, and they have boat rentals for going out on the lake for some fishing or other enjoyment.
    It wouldn’t be Disney without a Mickey head, right? This one was the entrance to a souvenir shop called Fantasia. Oh, and there’s the monorail again.
    Even though it is one of the oldest hotels at Disney, they have been expanding. This is a newer part of the hotel known as the Bay Lake Tower. We did not get a chance to go in there and check it out.
    Upon entering our hotel room, we were greeted with a special message on our tv screen, and a lovely Mickey head made out of folded towels. The sunglasses were our own addition of course.
    The theme of the Contemporary hotel is The Incredibles, and there was artwork featuring the Incredibles all around the hotel, including this print hanging on the wall outside our room.
    The Incredibles theme continued inside our room, including the clothes closet. It was quite clever.
    There was even an Incredibles print hanging on the wall right by the toilet. Fun fact, the toilet area had a door that could close to keep it separated from the rest of the bathroom that contained the sinks and shower.
    Our room even had a couch, though it was positioned right under the tv which was kind of odd. There was also a chair that was really low and difficult for me to get in and out of, but was surprisingly comfortable to sit in.
    The shower was huge and spacious, which was awesome! As a bonus, the showerhead in the shower was the exact same one that I have in my shower at home. So, I was loving the shower although the water pressure was significantly weaker than my shower at home.

    In all, we really enjoyed our stay at the Contemporary, even though we didn’t spend a lot of our time in our room. We also had a great balcony with a great view of the lake, but I somehow did not get a picture of that. The restaurant has really great choices for food, including a steakhouse on the lobby floor, and a fancy restaurant on the top floor, but I will have more on that in another post.

    So there is a look at the hotel we stayed at four our 25th anniversary trip to Walt Disney World. I hope you enjoyed getting a look at it. It was clean, comfortable, and fun, and that is really all you need for a great stay at Disney. Stay tuned for more posts from our trip, including our time at The Magic Kingdom coming up on my next post.

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  • My Review of The Mandalorian And Grogu

    To begin with, a quick bit of background on my thoughts on this movie before actually watching it. As someone who co-hosts a Star Wars podcast (Wookie Radio, find it on the We Be Geeks Collective and wherever fine podcasts are downloaded), I have obviously been well aware of this movie since it’s inception. To be perfectly honest, I has some mixed feelings about this movie in the beginning. In fact, some might even say I had some actual misgivings about this movie. Please, allow me to explain.

    I have been a fan of The Mandalorian series on Disney Plus since the beginning of the series, even though it has had a few ups and downs over all. Season three of the series, in particular, was not my favorite of the three seasons for various reasons I will not get into here in this review. With that being said, I was a bit, shall we say, pessimistic when I first learned that Lucasfilm was planning a movie based on The Mandalorian. My main concern was that with season three, the last season before this movie, being a bit of a disappointment, would a movie based on these characters, though I do love them, be appropriate at this time. I should probably go back at some point and rewatch the third season to give it another chance, but that is neither here nor there. The main point of all of this rambling is that I did not have a lot of confidence that this movie needed to exist. I was more than ready for another season of The Mandalorian, but I didn’t think that the characters were ready for, or had the status for, a full length movie. The final box office numbers will be the ultimate judge of that, and that is why I was concerned about Lucasfilm putting out a Mandalorian And Grogu movie as opposed to just releasing another season of the show.

    With all of that being said, there is no way I was not going to see this movie when it came out in theaters. After all, it is a Star Wars movie, which I love, and it is based on characters that I am a huge fan of, so why wouldn’t I go to see it in the theater? That, of course, leaves the question, what did I think of the movie as a fan of Star Wars and both Mando and Grogu?

    I shall begin my review with a little segment that I created and have used many times on my various podcasts. That segment is a little thing I like to call, “The Good, The Bad, And The Nitpicky!” Just as it sounds, in this segment I pick out things that I really liked about the movie, some things I didn’t really like about the movie, and some things that were small annoyances about the movie that didn’t affect my enjoyment of the movie exactly, but were still things I noted. I like to end on a good note, so I will actually go in reverse order and begin with the small things that bugged me about the film:

    NITPICKYS

    My first nitpicky would probably surprise some people, and most likely I might be in a small minority with this nitpicky, but that’s what a nitpicky is basically, a small detail that bothers you for some reason. Some people reading this might not even know exactly what I am talking about, and those people could probably just ignore this nitpicky altogether. The nitpicky I am referring to is the cameo appearance by Dave Filoni, the man behind The Mandalorian and current man in charge at Lucasfilm. I should probably clarify that it is his first cameo in the film where he is sitting among the pilots at the rebel base when Mando shows up (that’s all I can say without spoilers), not the second cameo when he is piloting his ship. The first cameo bothered me mostly because he was wearing his cowboy hat, which is his trademark I know, in the mess hall. Seeing something like a cowboy hat really takes me out of a Star Wars movie for a moment that is just long enough to bother me. Bear in mind that it is the hat, and not the man himself, that irked me. I know, it’s probably a dumb nitpicky to some, but it bugged me, so it’s my nitpicky.

    I actually can’t think of any other nitpickys to add, which is a good thing. With that being said, let’s move on to our next segment:

    THE BAD

    In general, it’s better to have nitpickys than bads as nitpickys are small issues, and bads are…well…issues that are more serious and do affect one’s enjoyment of the film in some way. The good news is that I have but one single bad thing to say about this movie, and that is all. The one thing that I would say was bad is that there is a part of the movie (let’s say that it was when Grogu was watching over Mando to avoid major spoilers) that really slowed the momentum of the movie down. I understand the purpose of this part, but I feel like it could have been cut down a lot as it made that part of the movie drag a bit and could have definitely been shorter.

    That is the only thing that I found bad, so that brings me to my final segment:

    THE GOOD

    There are actually a lot of good things about this movie, but I will only mention a couple of them to save time and try to avoid spoilers as much as possible. To begin with, it’s a movie about Mando and Grogu, so it was great to see them both in action. I really did miss both of those characters, and they were handled perfectly. Speaking of action, there is some really great, fun action throughout the movie, starting with the opening scene (featuring the At-Ats from the trailers), and continuing on with some really great Mando fighting. This movie features Mando and Grogu in top form, and it is fun to watch. The special effects in this movie are fantastic, and it was great to see that they didn’t just turn Grogu into a CGI character, and the usage of practical effects felt right. The music, though not a John Williams soundtrack, was fitting for what we expect from The Mandalorian and was both exciting and intriguing. The story didn’t just focus on one major plot point, but rather moved seamlessly through a several plot points without feeling overwhelming. I thought it might be weird seeing Sigourney Weaver in Star Wars, but I really liked her character, and I thought she did a great job. I could continue to ramble on about everything I liked about this movie, but I feel I have gotten my point across.

    Now that I have covered THE GOOD, THE BAD, AND THE NITPICKY, it’s time for me to reveal MY FINAL VERDICT! Basically, I feel like this movie was actually a lot more fun than I was expecting, and if you are a fan of The Mandalorian, you will enjoy this movie. It fits right in with everything you would expect from the series, but amps up all the best parts nicely. The question still remains, did this need to be a movie rather than a couple of episodes of the show? My answer to that question is yes…and no. The actions scenes were amazing, and certainly deserved to be seen on the big screen, but there were a few slower scenes that would have been better served in the series, but overall, I was glad to see this movie on the big screen. Keep in mind that this movie is less about “saving the galaxy from a great evil”, and more about the interactions between the characters of the film, in particular, the relationship between The Mandalorian and Grogu. But, if that is what you goin expecting, I really do think you will enjoy the movie.