A Day at the Park: Magic Kingdom

Before moving into this post, I'll address the 800 pound gorilla in the room. Hello, Gorilla! Okay, now that we're done with that, I'll explain the name change. You may have noticed that the title of this blog has gone from "It's Another Disney Blog" to "Cheap 3D Tricks". While the generic-ness of the old title may have been fitting, I didn't think it was the best thing for the blog in the long-term and decided to find something a little better suited.

I'm sure many of you are familiar with Muppetvision 3D and will understand the reference immediately. If not, in Muppetvision 3D, when Kermit is introducing guests to the Muppet Labs he assures the guests of the quality of Muppetvision 3D and informs the guests that they will not be stooping to any cheap 3D tricks. Right on cue, Fozzie appears, blowing a party favor at the audience, showering them with a flower that squirts water and opening a can of spring-loaded snakes towards the audience. All the types of stereotypical 3D effects that Kermit was hoping to avoid. Cheap, tacky, gimmicky tricks. And that's why I feel it's a fitting title for this blog!

Now that we've cleared that up, let's move on to some photos and updates from a recent adventure-filled trip to the Magic Kingdom.

New Fantasyland under construction, here's Beast's Castle. Can't wait to see what it looks like when it's done!

The Country Bear Jamboree continues to be entertaining, although a little less than before.

Nothing says "Made Fresh" like a Disneyland Rice Krispie Treat at Walt Disney World!

Riverboat doing its riverboat thing from Thunder Mountain

Possums are swinging

Orange Bird hanging out over the Sunshine Tree Terrace sign

Another New Fantasyland construction wall shot

The Storybook Circus portion is open, though. Maybe we can let off a little steam here. See because the train is...oh nevermind.

Duffies hangin out at Big Top Souvenirs 

The rest of Fantasyland opened, and I won't lie

It looks great!

A look at the Castle before we move over to Tomorrowland to kick off the evening

Hey Rover

I think this is called Crawford City?

Riding the Rocket Rods

Goodbye Tomorrowland. Goodbye abandoned stroller

Back in Old Fantasyland, testing for some updates to Mission: Space is being done at the Carousel.

The Haunted Mansion is looking especially spooky tonight, perhaps because it's close to Halloween.

The lighting can be a bit harsh at night, but check out these statues they add to the hub for Halloween

Okay the park's been closed for like an hour now, Mickey and Walt are keeping an eye on Main Street. Time to go.

 I hope you enjoyed part two of this series. If you did, look forward to Disney's Hollywood Studios and Animal Kingdom updates in the near future! If not, look forward to the next two anyway because maybe you'll like them better!

Up Close at the Carousel of Progress

I regret taking these photos, they're going to haunt me for a while to come. Please proceed with caution...

Orange You Glad I Made a Photo Update?

I've always said There's no better way to start off a photo update than with a pun. and I'm not about to apologize for it. Now after all the interesting stuff going on in the world of the world wide web in the past 24 hours, I'm sure plenty of people are wondering what's been going on in the Magic Kingdom, and that's fair. Who isn't curious about that? Lucky for you, I have answers. Oh man do I have answers. Let me tell you about those answers, all the answers I have. I have so many answers that I am the Radio Shack of Jeopardy contestants. I have a lot of R/C cars and nobody understands how I'm still around. Wait, that's not right. What was I doing? Oh, right, photo update.

And that's it. That is literally the only thing that happened in the entire Magic Kingdom today. You should have seen the line at City Hall when people found out none of the rides were operating!

Zombies in the Magic Kingdom!

An interesting discussion began on Twitter earlier this afternoon, which I believe was started by @wdwfigment. People began debating which locations within the Magic Kingdom would make the best safe zones in the event of a zombie invasion. A few early suggestions included Tom Sawyer Island, the Swiss Family Treehouse and the Astro Orbiter. I thought it might be interesting to take a look at various attractions in the Magic Kingdom and to analyze their appropriateness as a zombie invasion safe zone:

Walt Disney World Railroad: I happen to know that trains can be a great method of escaping from a zombie invasion. However, this train just runs in a circle, doesn’t reach a very high speed and makes frequent stops. Definitely not a good place to seek refuge. 2/10

Enchanted Tiki Room: Well, you’re basically in a dark room with a few doors. This might make a good hiding place to catch your breath, but definitely not a good place to set up a safe zone. 5/10

Jungle Cruise: Working pistols would certainly help to make this a more ideal location, but it’s not too terrible to begin with. Boats with functioning motors might give you a greater level of control over your mobility than most attractions would. There’s also quite a few human figures in this attraction, which may distract the zombies from the actual humans! 6/10

Pirates of the Caribbean: A lot of human figurines again allow for a good number of distractions. Biggest con here: the fire is fake and so are all of the weapons. I’ve never actually researched it, so I suppose some of the swords may actually be “real” but you’d probably want a more long-range weapon to fend off zombies. Boats would leave you trapped with little hope of escape. 5/10

Swiss Family Treehouse: If you can remain hidden here, you could remain safe for a while. However, if the zombies get word of your whereabouts, you’re done for. 6/10

Big Thunder Mountain: A mine train seems like a great escape vehicle, but the ride’s currently under refurbishment. Construction sites could provide with a wide variety of tools to be used as weapons. If the queue area is still totally disassembled, there’d be a nice open area to set up a camp. 7/10

Country Bear Jamboree: This seems like a terrible safe zone for a zombie invasion, but I have a rule against ever rating the Country Bear Jamboree lower than 7 out of 10 for anything at all. 7/10

Splash Mountain: Everybody has a laughin place, and this one would be a great laughin place for zombies as they feast on your brains while you’re trapped in a log. 2/10

Tom Sawyer Island: A remote island only reachable by raft. As long as zombies don’t figure out how to work the rafts, you could last a while here. Plenty of places to hide out, a fort for defense. Vending machines to raid. The only way this location could be better is if Aunt Polly’s was still open. Unfortunately, you’ll have to settle with the food in the vending machines. 9/10

Hall of Presidents: Yeah, a room full of dead guys. You really think you’re gonna be safe here? The attraction will turn on you in an instant! 1/10

Haunted Mansion: See the Hall of Presidents. Liberty Square is not the place for you to avoid zombies. 1/10

UNLESS....

Liberty Square Riverboat: A big fancy riverboat you can take out on the water? Yeah, this seems like a great place to hide out. Plenty of space to set up anything you need and the ability to isolate yourself from the zombies. There’s even a snack stand near the loading dock where you can stock up on supplies before casting off! You can probably manage to dock over on Tom Sawyer Island for a while, giving you the advantages of that as well. This may just be THE best choice!  10/10

The Fantasyland Dark Rides: All of these are terrible choices and you will be devoured by zombies quickly. Carts on a track that you have no control over, lap bars keeping you from escaping. Death sentences, the lot of them. 1/10

it’s a small world: This is a slightly better location than Pooh or Snow White, but still retains many of the disadvantages seen there. 2/10

Dumbo: About 10 feet up in the air, spinning around. You could last for a while but you’ve gotta get down eventually. 4/10

Mad Tea Party: If you keep the ride running, you could avoid zombies by just spinning around really fast. Certainly not a good long-term choice. 3/10

Astro Orbiter: A better choice than Dumbo due to the height, but you still can’t stay there forever. 5/10

Buzz Lightyear’s Space Ranger Spin: I’m not sure if lasers work on zombies or not. If they do, this could be a prime location. Otherwise worthless. 1/10 or 10/10 i’m not sure

Space Mountain: This could be more thrilling than the Fantasyland dark rides but it retains their disadvantages. “Thrilling” isn’t something you need right now anyway. 2/10

Carousel of Progress: You think this is a good safe zone? Really? You don’t think John would snap at any second? You really think Jimmy’s just holding that knife to carve a jack-o-lantern and not to stab you? Make no mistake, this whole family is on the side of zombies. If you hide out here, it won’t be a burning turkey in the oven, it’ll be your head! 0/10

Tomorrowland Speedway: At last! An escape vehicle! Oh, it’s stuck on a railing and won’t go over 5 miles per hour? Good luck with that.

Stitch’s Great Escape: No.

Monsters Inc. Laugh Floor: This is no time for laughs, your life is in danger! I’m pretty sure Mike and Sulley are in cahoots with the zombies anyway. Monstropolis wasn’t always powered by laughter, it was powered by screams! You’ll be doing plenty of screaming if you try to hide here. 1/10

So to conclude: @wdwfigment was on the right track from the beginning. The best place to hide out could certainly be Tom Sawyer Island. However, the potential for the Liberty Square Riverboat to be used in conjunction with the island makes the riverboat a vital vehicle in your survival. Hell, you could use the riverboat as an escape vehicle and take it into the Seven Seas Lagoon. If the outbreak is contained within the Magic Kingdom, the Liberty Square Riverboat is definitely your safe zone of choice. If it has spread to the rest of the resort, it’s still a great choice.

Get here ASAP!

Photo Updates from the Recent Past!

Today we're going all the way back to October 2011, to visit the Magic Kingdom on it's 40th Anniversary!

There was a presentation at Cinderella Castle with people like Meg Crofton and Phil Holmes, I wasn't really paying attention because everyone else was and that meant there weren't any lines at any of the rides. There were a lot of fireworks though. Either that, or Cheech and Chong are also Disney VPs.

It was crowded. The weird kind of crowded though, not the normal kind. The kind where the PeopleMover and Tiki Room have lines but Splash Mountain still has a normal wait time.

Splash Mountain having a normal wait time. You can't see the sign here but trust me, it was normal.

See, back in 2011, Storybook Circus was completely under construction. Not like today, where it's mostly under construction.

John

John

John

John and also Rover

If you look closely, there might just be a mistake in this picture where I had to stitch a couple photos together.

These are various items that would be boring on their own, but a President once owned each one so they're interesting.