Beckers

It's a beautiful land what are you supposed to get out of that? It's pretty.. 
If it was a land like how Earth was in Wall*e all covered in trash and inhabitable then maybe people would think differently. But Pandora looks beautiful, what is there to take away from them? not sure I get what Jon Landau was going for either.

Just wanted to praise my son who played a flawless rendition of the Cantina Band song from Star Wars yesterday in his piano recital.  

Just read an article on chip and co and that to ride the boat ride you must transfer from a wheel chair and no accommodations for FOP.  So basically Pandora is pointless for anyone who is handicapped. 
What the hell was Disney thinking? 

I was on the fence about going today. My friend went Friday (she didn't have reservations ) and waited 1.5 hours! I had reservations but was worried it would still be crazy. We got there and the line was pretty big but thankfully because of the reservations we got to walk right in.
We got to watch a trailer for Cars 3. They talked about the movie some, how they visited different places to see different car races (NASCAR vs dirt tracks etc) and showed some clips and at the end showed a "never seen before" clip from the movie. It really looks like a great movie and they said it's bringing back the heart of the original Cars. I'm excited to hear this because I didn't like Cars 2 at all but this one looks great. Both kids enjoyed the clips and we were all impressed with the "movie theater " inside the trailer. It probably held 100 people.
They had 3 cars on display, McQueen and 2 new ones (I don't remember their names) that you could take pictures with. They had it set up pretty decently with spots to stand on and employees to take your pictures.
They had a spot where the kids could color on a mural and then got a small pack of colored pencils
.
They had a picture station with a McQueen backdrop (we skipped it). A spot where they were spinning a wheel and you could win tattoos (big decent ones) a toothbrush or toothpaste (it was sponsored by Crest).
Dole was handing out tiny smoothie samples that we couldn't have because they were made with almond milk. There was also another booth sponsored by Coopertone and the kids could change a "tire" and then have a picture taken that they emailed you.
Not exactly high quality

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I was on the fence about going today. My friend went Friday (she didn't have reservations ) and waited 1.5 hours! I had reservations but was worried it would still be crazy. We got there and the line was pretty big but thankfully because of the reservations we got to walk right in.
We got to watch a trailer for Cars 3. They talked about the movie some, how they visited different places to see different car races (NASCAR vs dirt tracks etc) and showed some clips and at the end showed a "never seen before" clip from the movie. It really looks like a great movie and they said it's bringing back the heart of the original Cars. I'm excited to hear this because I didn't like Cars 2 at all but this one looks great. Both kids enjoyed the clips and we were all impressed with the "movie theater " inside the trailer. It probably held 100 people.
They had 3 cars on display, McQueen and 2 new ones (I don't remember their names) that you could take pictures with. They had it set up pretty decently with spots to stand on and employees to take your pictures.
They had a spot where the kids could color on a mural and then got a small pack of colored pencils
.
They had a picture station with a McQueen backdrop (we skipped it). A spot where they were spinning a wheel and you could win tattoos (big decent ones) a toothbrush or toothpaste (it was sponsored by Crest).
Dole was handing out tiny smoothie samples that we couldn't have because they were made with almond milk. There was also another booth sponsored by Coopertone and the kids could change a "tire" and then have a picture taken that they emailed you.
Not exactly high quality

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I was on the fence about going today. My friend went Friday (she didn't have reservations ) and waited 1.5 hours! I had reservations but was worried it would still be crazy. We got there and the line was pretty big but thankfully because of the reservations we got to walk right in.
We got to watch a trailer for Cars 3. They talked about the movie some, how they visited different places to see different car races (NASCAR vs dirt tracks etc) and showed some clips and at the end showed a "never seen before" clip from the movie. It really looks like a great movie and they said it's bringing back the heart of the original Cars. I'm excited to hear this because I didn't like Cars 2 at all but this one looks great. Both kids enjoyed the clips and we were all impressed with the "movie theater " inside the trailer. It probably held 100 people.
They had 3 cars on display, McQueen and 2 new ones (I don't remember their names) that you could take pictures with. They had it set up pretty decently with spots to stand on and employees to take your pictures.
They had a spot where the kids could color on a mural and then got a small pack of colored pencils
.
They had a picture station with a McQueen backdrop (we skipped it). A spot where they were spinning a wheel and you could win tattoos (big decent ones) a toothbrush or toothpaste (it was sponsored by Crest).
Dole was handing out tiny smoothie samples that we couldn't have because they were made with almond milk. There was also another booth sponsored by Coopertone and the kids could change a "tire" and then have a picture taken that they emailed you.
Not exactly high quality

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Yep they converted the 2 lost FP's to all day. We are using the second one now to see Nemo. My DD is so excited. My oldest was happy to see figment. All is good now that we are away from the grumps.

This show the seats
 

This show the seats
 

#Pandora at night
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I claim PBR!
Pandora Bragging Rights.
The TCD gang hit up a Castmember preview of Animal Kingdom's brand new land yesterday, May 3rd, 2017.
We received these tickets through the efforts of TCD Twin #2:


As you can see, our designated time slot was 6 pm- 8 pm.
The plan was to meet up at Nomad Lounge at 5 pm, have a drink or two, then mosey in to the preview.
But, Twin #1 received some intel from a CM friend earlier in the day letting her know that they were having severe technical difficulties with the new Flight of Passage ride, and that capacity was severely reduced.  For today, they were handling that by passing out paper FP's to the preview guests as they arrived for their time-slots.  There were not enough for everyone, and when they were gone, they were gone.
So, instead of that drink, we decided that we needed to line-up at 5.
We arrived around then, and headed to the check-in area, which is along the path leading into the new land.
Guess who was guarding the line?
Lou!
I saw him before he saw me.
I told the girls: "watch this," and I walked past the Lou and the other guards without showing my ticket.
They didn't know what to think.
Then I said hello to Lou.
It was good to see Lou.  He is doing well.  He confirmed what we had heard about the paper FP's. so we lined up.
One good thing was they started to let us in early- the line started to move around 5:30, and we moved on to the bridge leading into Pandora.
Here are some of the new light fixtures:

And a very themed wall on the bridge:

We scored our FP's for what we thought was a good time slot:

With those FP's we were able to make a plan.  We assumed that we would be let in at 6.  We would head straight to the boat ride, get that done, and then head to Flights of Passage.  It was a solid plan.
They had paper maps for us:

Looking back on the bridge:

Another look at the themed wall:

This is the small group of folks that were ahead of us- those black walls are the actual entrance to the land.  That big fake plant you see behind the walls is some kind of important landmark/photo op.  I don't have any more information on it, as we charged past it on our way to the boat ride:

This area is apparently called the Valley of Mo'ara, which is a place on Pandora.  The actual story isn't entirely clear to me, and there isn't much signage around explaining exactly where we were, or how we got here:

To everyone's surprise, they didn't hold us until 6.  They let us in at 5:27 pm.  Sweet!  Here we go:

Everywhere you can see in this new land is themed and decorated.  The landscaping is lush and beautiful, and has alien doodads added everywhere:

There is no mention of Disney or Mickey Mouse anywhere in this new land- we are on the property of Alpha Centauri Expeditions (ACE), so their name and logo is on the trash cans:

More scenery- it was all very beautiful and impressive:

The big deal in this new land are the floating mountains.  I've watched them put them up for the last few years, and it was hard for us to believe that we were now finally seeing them from the viewpoint of this new land:

A little later in the evening, Twin #1's CM friend met up with us and told us some interesting tidbits about the new land.  One thing she told us is that this restroom building is the only structure in this whole area which is a remnant of Camp Mickey Minnie:

This Face Painting Station/Merchandise stand is along the main path to the attractions.  I guess they are planning on face painting being a big thing here:

A couple of shots of the floating mountains as we continued our walk to the river ride entrance:


The river ride queue is very themed:


We zipped right through the queue and onto the ride. We saw a big switchback area in the queue which tells us that they anticipate some long waits for this ride.  Fortunately, it was a walk on for us.
I put my camera away for the ride.  There are already hundreds of photos and videos of the ride floating around the internet, including some posted by Disney.
I will share that we all loved the ride.
I have read criticisms that it is short and boring.  I don't think those criticisms are fair. This is supposed to be a calm, peaceful, beautiful ride through a jungle on another planet.  It is not a thrill ride, and they didn't try to force some fake story into the attraction.  It's just a ride on a boat where you get to see beautiful scenery, hear interesting sounds, and even smell some scents.  In my opinion, they did a great job.
Since we were let in early, we had some extra time before our FP return time. Which was awesome.
The plan now was to go and find the bar and have a drink since we missed out on our pregame at the Nomad Lounge.
Twin #2 knew where the bar was, because she had already been in that area of Pandora twice for CM-only food previews.
Sorry, but here's another floating mountain shot:

And here's some rocks.  Nobody makes fake rocks better than Disney:


They say that this place is going to be awesome at night.  I want to come back and see what it all looks like when these lights are in use:

There are all kinds of pathways leading through the land.  And there is something to see along all of them:

There are little nooks and crannies in the rocks.  Hey, is that a Na'vi?:

Looking up:


More path scenery:


There is a lot of water in this new land. I think all of the waterfalls are cascading in to a river that winds under and along the paths, so there are bridges sprinkled around, and lots of areas with multiple levels:

More waterfalls:


More fake rocks:

Finally, the bar:

This is a good place to stop, as I have a bunch of photos of the theming around the bar, and then have a long-ish story to share about our visit to Flights of Passage.
TCD

Saw these in a magazine today.
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Saw these in a magazine today.
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Saw these in a magazine today.
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There's also the zoo by Hershey (zoo america i think it's called).
 
these are all about 45 ish min away from Hershey, (but these are in the same area) Dutch Wonderland, The Choo Choo barn, Cherry crest adventure farm and Strasburg Rail Road.
 

Oh and Lake Tobias Wildlife is really neat too. I think that's about 45 mins from Hershey too, west I think. 

It was a two street. Disney CMs, no matter how high up, love to make what are called "Magical Moments", and as Dave can now verify, the CMs involved enjoyed making it happen. And unbeknownst to him, the GM and the CMs involved, got to see his reaction after receiving the sign. It was a nice moment for everyone involved. 

It has been written on other threads that the theming of Wilderness Lodge is changing somewhat with the upcoming DVC additions. One of those changes is that Silver Creek Falls, the main water feature at the resort, will be renamed Copper Creek Falls. That change made my family sad, as we have a history with Silver Creek Falls, as I'll explain below.
You see, both my wife and I are from a small town in western New York called Silver Creek. And both of my parents grew up there too. So imagine our surprise when we made our first ever trip to Disney with our kids in 2001, during which we stayed at the WL, and stumbled upon this sign.

Those 3 girls are 21, 19 and 17 now.
Six years later we had begun RVing and camped at the Fort with my parents. We took the boat over to the Fort to show my parents the sign, and continued what has become a tradition to get family pictures in front of the sign on every trip to Disney.


Fast forward....most recently, INC and I got a picture in front of the sign while on a date. We also stayed at the Lodge before our cruise on the Wonder this year.

And on our trip to the Fort a few weeks ago, I got one last picture in front of the sign of my parents, who spent part of the week with us. My Dad turns 80 next month.

I figured that might be the end of the story, as the retheming of the Lodge is proceeding at a rapid pace and will be completed before we return to WDW.
But that's not the end of the story.
Wondering what would become of the sign, I contacted the GM of the Wilderness Lodge to tell her about my family's history with the sign and our love of both the Lodge and the Fort. We traded some emails, and she assured me that she would try to find out what would be done with the sign as construction continues. I last heard from her a few weeks ago, and had not received an update since.
Until today.
A large box arrived at our home today. So I opened it.

Mabel is curious too.


Can you believe it? I was blown away. Also included in the package was a beautiful print of Silver Creek Falls, a WL magnet, and a very nice note.
I've heard of pixie dust but this is something else.
Do you now understand why I hate Disney so much? [emoji1]

All i want to know is.... if it was nice knowing MOST of us, what group am I in? [emoji1]
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They need a Rapunzel ride.  Legoland has a chair 2 people sit in, then pull on a cable to lift yourself up a tower.  Disney could make the cable look like braided hair, and the tower look like the castle turret!
They could do a Brave ride where you shoot arrows at the giant bear and the crazy witch!

Woo Hoo!
It looks like I'll be flying on a banshee  sitting on a simulator chair on May 13th!
Who else is going to the preview?
TCD

A "team" worked on those directions?
Perhaps it would help if one of them would visit Fort Wilderness?
If the "team" gives you any feedback, I'd like to know where the river is where I'm supposed to turn left to get to the Food Truck.
I would agree to be in charge of the Fort in exchange for a permanent campsite and a 1% commission on the money I could make them by running the place properly.  The Fort would be great, and I'd be rich.
TCD

https://www.google.com/amp/www.laughingplace.com/w/news/2017/03/21/cars-3-nationwide-tour-reveals-tour-stops/amp/

Thanks for the info. DW and I have talked about it and we will likely see it and then decide if the 2 girls will be ok with it. The wolves and the beast getting shot are the scenes we have heard the most about and I think that as long as it isn't gory or detailed it might be ok for them. If nothing else DW and I can have a date night to go see a movie 

Slight correction
So what can I say except "You're welcome"
But since it's TCD we'll just LET IT GO!
I see someone in the TCD household has been watching Moana!