jeff's Disney Page

Tasha Marie Handshaw and Jeffrey C. Handshaw's vacation tips and links homepage inc: Walt Disney World and Sea World
Featuring tips on how to enjoy an economical vacation at Walt Disney World near Orlando Florida, and why WDW is so great.

Last Updated: 7/10/5 - Orlando weather:

Tasha and Jeff Handshaw's
Orlando Vacation Tips and Links (Mainly WDW)

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@Kissimmee - @Orlando -@Lake Buena Vista - @Haines City - @ Naples

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Walt Disney World "Magic"

NEW FOR 2005
MK:
Cinderellabration
Stitch Escape
Mickey's Philharmagic
MGM
Motor Action Stunt Show
EPCOT
Sourin'
Turtle Talk starring Crush and (sometimes) Dory
Mission Space

REVIEW OF THE NEWER ATTRACTIONS AT WDW
WDW: FastPass - never wait in line again for most of the more popular attractions!
MK: Mickey's Philharmagic: Simply great
Epcot: Sourin' and Turtle talk is fun for the entire family
MGM: Rock and Roller Coaster, whether watching or riding the take-off will take your breath away
MK: Winnie The Pooh
DD: Cirque du Soleil, Seen it twice now, have tickets for 3rd, nuff said

Don't miss the British Invasion at the UK at EPCOT, they play 60s music a-la the Beatles, or Mo-Rockin in Morocco.

The new Buzz Lightyear's Space Ranger Spin ride in WDW:MK Tommorrowland replacing Dreamscape (If You Had Wings) is great!
The new Fantasmic! show in WDW:MGM is spectacular, set in a huge stadium environment!
Disney's new Animal Kingdom park is simply beautiful!
Aside from the wonderful stage shows and animal exhibits,
the park is lush with vegitation and rockwork and waterfalls.

If you're a Florida resident, you HAVE to buy the annual seasonal pass (or full annual)!
For less than the price of a 4 day pass (around $160), you can visit WDW all year,
except for 2 weeks in April, 2 months in the Summer, and the week between Christmas and New Years!
To really appreciate WDW, you wouldn't want to go during these busy periods anyway!
(except for possibly New Years Eve, if you got someone special to go with)
Therefore, if on your initial vacation you spend at least 4 days, then the rest of the year is FREE!
For a little bit more (around $235) you (even non-FL residents) can get an annual pass, which includes parking ($6/day).

The cleanliness, attention to detail, landscaping, entertainment, food, attractions,
friendly personnel and guests, and overall attitude all make this a great place to be,
to spend a lot of time at, and make any of the annual passes well worth their cost.
If you know where to look, $20-$30/night hotels are plentiful and easy to find - OFF SEASON!
Visitors who are suckered into the strip of hotels on 192, West of I-4, will pay $40 and up for a room,
but those "in the know" will check out the hotels on 192, East of I-4, and
find rooms starting at $19 and generally not more than $40 - OFF SEASON!
These hotels are not any farther away, because there are 2 "backdoor" roads into the East side of WDW.
Be aware, though, there are hotels (here as well as other places) that will display $19,
and mean per person (therefore $38/2...)
Other advantages to staying on the "East side" are: the wide variety of restaurants in the area,
the city of Kissimmee nearby, and a Walmart Superstore nearby.
See the map of the area below...

Sea World and Universal
Daddy and I spent 2 days at Sea World and 2 days at Universal last Spring.
Sea World was marvelously beautiful and restful and Daddy thought Journey to Atlantis was great!.
The landscaping was beautiful, and the sitdown shows entertaining.
You can still do everything in 1 day, but we appreciated the 2nd day free to re-experience everything.
The nighttime shows were nice and the fireworks show was entertaining
(using the same water screen technique that MGM uses for Fantasmic)

Universal, on the other hand was dreary and stressfull.
The landscaping was sparce, lacking color and the buildings were ugly and uncoordinated.
Almost every ride had rediculus lines that led to other lines or various standup preshow areas.
The nighttime stunt show barely lasted 7 minutes and from what we could see, was less than spectacular.
We still had a good time, avoiding most of the lines when they were at their longest.
We stuck around the play areas and watched the Pet Actors show, the Wild West Show and Barney.
We hear good things about IOA, but being annual passholders will probably never see it in the near future

For a area/hotel discount coupon book call: 1-800-272-KISS(5477)or (in Spanish) 1-800-450-KISS(5477)
also try 1-800-403-KISS(5477), customer service # for international orders: 1-800-327-9159
The NEW 2001 book is available now, call 1-800-272-KISS(5477).

Be sure to catch the following attractions when you visit WDW:
at the Magic Kingdom:
Buzz Lightyear's Space Ranger Spin
Alien Encounter
Legend of the Lion King
Splash Mountain
The new Tiki Room (Under New Management)
EPCOT
The American Adventure and USA (Liberty Singers)
Cranium Command
Honey I Shrunk The Audience
Tapestry of Dreams and Reflections of Earth
The music at the UK (British Invasion) and Mexico (Mariachi Cobre)
MGM
Fantasmic!
The Little Mermaid and Indiana Jones Stunt Show
Rock and Roller Coaster and Tower of Terror
Muppets 3D
And the 2 stage shows:
Hunchback of Notre Dame and Beauty and the Beast
Animal Kingdom
Dinosaur! and It's Tough to Be a Bug!
Kilimanjaro Safaris (do early and/or late!)
And the 2 stage shows:
Festival of the Lion King and Tarzan

check out the following Disney Links:
Walt Disney Company Main Webpage
Contact Mouseman Jeff Handshawfor more details.
Check out Alan's Monorail page
Mexico Pavilion's Mariachi Cobre

My suggestions for WDW improvements:

Please note how I try to justify each "wish" as if I were in charge.

1-Rearrange Tommorrowland: Move the racetrack to the other side of the train tracks, and move (or rebuild) CoP to SE part of the open area; make the racetrack longer, wider (6 or 8 tracks) and more "exciting" (add a horn, tunnels, some detours where the track splits off to different sights, eg: through a mysterious section behind Shadowland)...I'd also say make them "toon" cars, but we'd loose a sponsor and perhaps the main reason people ride it (riding the engine!), CoP would be revised to reflect technology from Jules Vernes eyes (the guy would be JV), reflecting the following time periods: before electricity(his time), his view of the near future (after electricity), his view of 2000, and his view of 3000. It would then be perfectly themed to the new Tomorrowland (and not grow old), then the entire rotating building could be seen (and redecorated to take advantage of that)
Then an entrance to Toon-town could be temporarily built using the old mini-store fronts that used to be in the old Mickey's Birthday land, until something better can be done here (another wish).
Considering that the racetrack is basically asphalt, cost for this would be relatively cheap, yet the small investment would be well worth it because it would restore and save an old favorite while theming it to be much more exciting. It would open up a tremendous amount of space that could be used to build a giant futuristic amphitheater (for some great live entertainment), shops and other attractions, and takes the crimp out of Toon-town. Toon-town may also need room to move over when Shadowland (#3) is built.

2-Theme the AK waterways: Build Fire Mountain and recreate the boat tour. FM would be built in the AK lagoon (overlooking Dinoland) as a giant volcano. bridges (helping alleviate the traffic problems would run to the mountain from the center hub, the Tarzan theatre in Dinoland, and Asia. At this point all the Beastly Kingdom additions to the waterways would be added that were originally intended to make the boat tour something special. The boat tour(s) would become a ride, not a tranportation media, where each trip would be a full 180 degree trip from BOTH docks.
(This would preview the Beastly Kingdom which would be a later project, once a new feature attraction is designed, since Dragon's Castle was already built at IOA)
This would worth the money, since it would boost the "excitement" value of the park, and solve some of the traffic problems and provide 2 diverse rides to help handle the crowds and fill out the park.

3-Add Shadowland behind Fantasyland featuring the water attraction (Bald Mountain) as previously rumored. This new area would provide a place for all the new Villian merchandise and the evil ones to lurk. The (Bald Mountain) ride would no longer be a mountain, since a mountain could take away from the majesty of the Castle. Only at the end of the ride would the boat rise high before its crashing end into the 20,000 Leagues lagoon. More like a ridge rising out of a hill, the frontside alive, tbe backside forboding. This hill would be built on top of the existing 20K building, since that someday could easily be converted to a Journey to Atlantica submarine ride with Ariel and friends (which would have it's little visit to Shadowland when Ursula attacks the submarine).
Surveys have shown that MK needs another water attraction. And eyes show it needs more capacity (see suggestion 1 as well). This addition would be a big money maker since it would add to MK capacity and provide excellent, unique and different merchandising.
I wonder how well apples would sell in Shadowland, if sold by and old hag? A Hundred Acre Woods area from the west end of Fantasyland could lead back to Shadowland (where the Pooh ride could be moved and Mr.Toad brought back to restore the original Fantasyland)...the merge area would forbode Huffalumps and Woozles. Directly behind the Ariel greet area would be an mirror image Ursula/Morgana greet area and water play area.

4-Fill in the empty space in the World Showcase. Reorganize the sponsorship requirements in the World Showcase so multiple Countries (1-4) can share a pavilion space (ala Millenium Village), bringing their food, entertainment and culture to the World Showcase. Fill in other spaces with Kid's areas (ie: Kid's Gardens), nature walks, quaint little parks (with vendors), displays, raised Illuminations viewing areas.
This would bring in more of what makes WS special, increases the capacity (which can get quiet full as the evening approaches), and would have a small price tag. I would also have the friendship transport boats cross their routes (Mor to Mex, Can to Ger) so they would provide and EW connection as well as their NS connection. This is especially important to those entering at the International Gateway.

5-Rework The Living Seas: Remove the existing winding through artifacts line and make it a straight line (with artifacts) straight to the hydrolators (single queue, no pre-preshow waiting, no required movie to watch), with maybe FastPass installed. Link the preshow movie theatre with Sea Base Alpha and show a series of 4 different short movies each hour (every :15 minutes): like the current film, dangers of the deep, harvesting the deep, wonders of the deep (and at night, Dancing Mermaids ). The pre-pre-waiting area, along with half the old line area could become another part of Sea Base Alpha featuring a sea based kids play area featuring a giant clear one piece molded plexiglas aquarium featuring climbing tubes built through it, around it and under it. A kids playground integrated with an aquarium, where the best view is "in the tubes". Clear slides would deliver the kids back to the real world. They'd almost be swimming with the fishes, and would be easy to keep track of. This would provide a place for the kids to "discover", while Mom and Pop check out the monitors, or simply sit and watch. The tubes could also extend into the vast "wasted" openness of the center of Sea Base Alpha where the kids could climb all around (and keep an eye on Mom and Pop!). This could become the most popular kids playarea around (yet the kids would all be in the tubes (capacity increase). I would also add pneumatic chairs in front of most of the interactive screens so people might actually spend some time in front of them learning something!?!?! This would make Sea Base Alpha much larger (again increasing capacity). It also provide MUCH NEEDED sitting options while being educated and hopefully entertained. It also lets the guest decide whether and what movie to see (some have been offended by the scientific take of the movie). And increases the entertainment options of the pavilion, and makes it kid friendly. This also is a cheap fix, with good results and could therefore be implimented quickly.

It should be noted that only wishes 2 and 3 would cost a lot of money to impliment, but both would pay off in vital ways. Shadowland would payoff literally by increasing the capacity of the park, creating new themed merchandising, and creating a whole new draw(theme) to quickly fill that added capacity.
The Fire Mountain additions would preview the future Beastly Kingdom, add a much needed additional excitement ride (which Beastly Kingdom would have only provided 1 of anyway, in Dragon's Castle), and provide additional walk ways to handle the traffic to Dinoland. And, anyway, if we wait too long, this new concept ride will be an old concept ride that someone else builds first (can we say Dueling Dragons?)

IF I RAN WDW - TAKE 2 (cut from one of my discussion board responses-some ideas dup above ideas)

I personally think they should have kept Horizons as a pre-show to Mission:Space, which would have been added on to the back. This would have kept a 'family' attraction for the pavilion and provided a lead in to the thrill ride, since the rides last horizon was space. The final mini-simulators could have geared towards Space, choosing a lift off, landing or moon fly-by (while promoting the thrill ride to come). It would have then dropped you into the display area where the non-thrill seekers could spend their time, while the thrill seekers went on to the new Space ride. They also could have kept Horizons open while Space was being built as sort of a teaser for the new ride (after a short update).
>I also think they should have done the same thing with World of Motion. Replacing 'family' rides with thrill rides is a dangerous thing for 'Disney' to do. And what was GM thinking anyway??? If they would have left the World of Motion and ADDED Test Track, then while the kids were waiting for and riding Test Track, Mom and Dad would have been looking at the car$!!! Now, they've scared away Mom and Pop and are left with teens running through the showroom more concerned with what their next ride would be. Same with Horizons, while the kids rode the ride, Mom and Pop would view the displays (including Compaq computers which could have touted the importance of owning a computer in a house with kids). Both GM and Compaq have both replaced 'attractions' that attracted families, and replaced them with 'attractions' that do not attract their key demographics.
I'm a PERFECT example...I am a computer professional who goes to WDW with his 7yo daughter who doesn't like thrill rides. If Horizons and Motion still existed, we would regularly ride them and pass through the display area (I BUY NEW cars-need one now a matter of fact, home COMPUTERS, AND influence the purchase of computers and network equipment at work!$?). We never go on Test Track (she did it once, I've snuck in a couple of other times when I was in the park alone), so we never see the sponsor and I don't really plan on going in the back way to do that, either.
This isn't Disney's fault, since Epcot is run more by the sponsors. JitYI is another perfect example...the ride sucks, and Tasha gets scared by the 3D film, so we never see the sponsor. What's the point?????
>I also think that Pooh and Company could have had a whole new area built for them (hundred acre woods) and the new ride, sparing Mr. Toad, who might of had a resurgence (and more meaning) after the movie was released on video.
>I also think that 20,000 Leagues could have been easily converted into a Little Mermaid Submarine ride, with the Octopus replaced with Ursula attacking the ship, and a slight glimpse of Atlantis just before the attack and retreat. Hell, the mermaids could even have been salvaged. The narration could have been done by Prince Eric (the Captain of the sub), and Ariel.
>I also think that CoP could easily be made a premier attraction by adding the current Tommorrowland theme to it and changing the scenes from the current history lesson with Mr. Boring and his goofy family, to Jules Vern's look visions of the future, starting from 1900, then his view of the near future (2000, a distorted view of now), the future (2100, pretty wild), then the distant future (2200, wacky). It could also be less far out with the final scene still being in the 21st century with aliens helping out in the kitchen. The building itself could be changed into a giant retro-spaceship.
>Living Seas could easily be fixed...eliminate the pre-show requirement and let people straight into the hydrolators. Turn the preshow areas into show areas INSIDE the 'underwater' station (more capacity, more to do). The pre-preshow (which shows nothing right now), could be converted into a kiddy aquarium where kids climb THROUGH a giant aquarium surrounded by the fishes, while the parents sit and watch or take the opportunity to explore the exhibits. The preshow area could show a series of movies that you can choose to see (IF YOU WISH, WHEN YOU WISH) The original movie, a terrors of the deep, a treasures of the deep and highlight film of what can be seen within the station (a different film every 15 minutes, 4 different films)...and a place to SIT(!!!!). The kiddy aquarium idea, again gives families something to do, Mom and Pop might just go there JUST because junior want to play, and then (if there was a sponsor) the sponsor could pitch their stuff. It's hard for parents to check out all the displays, when junior is crying, "can we go now"?
>Then there's Food Rocks...as far as I'm concerned, I prefer Disney cute to Disney cool, and miss Brocolli
>More JityI...When Kodak decided to rip-off the public by taking away the 2nd floor of the pavilion, then replaced what once was significant ride space with line space and the new play area???, I was offended. This is not something you want to do to your 'patrons'. They could have easily added on the the 1st floor providing new area for a significant new ride that would have been worthwhile and DREW people to the pavilion (instead of repulsing them).
>Superstar TV should be replaced with Superstar at the Movies. The whole premise for this attraction was right on target for MGM, providing an avenue for guests to be part of the show. And just because the TV version got stale didn't mean the idea was stale. They could alternate the movie version with the TV version every 5 years (changing them each time), and the attraction WOULD do well (hell the comfortable COOL theatre was almost good enough to go in (Doug wasn't, though).
>And Epcot could use a culture fix (Millenium Village did a good job providing us with more variety for a while). The don't have to build a whole new country, just a new pavilion hosted by 4-6 new countries. Each country could share the sponsor costs and a central stage and picnic area. Each country would take turns presenting a show on the stage and would operate a store, food counter, with a large shared restaurant in the back. Hopefully the countries would share something in common so a common architecture could be developed to represent them all (and the menu in the restaurant would make some sense, while providing a wide variety)