At barely a 6 minute walk from your room to the front gate of Universal Studios Florida, staying at the Hard Rock Hotel is a no brainer, IF…
If you’re planning on getting unlimited express pass anyway, then it makes perfect sense to stay at one of Universal’s premier hotels. Hear me out…
The room will average $500 a night, which is expensive! But you get early park admission, it includes unlimited express pass for your entire party, and it’s a short walk with private security entrance into the City Walk and Park Gate area. So let’s do some math…
Today, unlimited express pass for two parks is $125. That cost x 4, the size of my party, is $500. So I’m basically getting my room for free, staying in the height of luxury, getting early park admission, and a short convenient walk or boat ride away from the action too. Why wouldn’t I?
A popular hack… stay one night at a premier hotel in the middle of your stay and on night one and three choose someplace much more affordable. Why? Well, because the premier stay includes unlimited express on your checkin day and check out day so in my case I’d be getting $1,000 worth of unlimited express pass for the cost of a single $500 night at Hard Rock!
Hope this helps you have the best vacation ever! Now enjoy this short walk with us from Hard Rock Hotel the Universal Studios Florida gate!
Enjoy the pink morning haze of hopping onto the Skyliner for a relaxing lift over to Hollywood Studios for rope drop! The entire trip from POP to Hollywood Studios is 15 mins including the transfer station, if no wait. In all, the Skyliner has over 6 miles of cable and offers about 3 miles of travel.
Just docking from a quick Smuggler’s Run on the Millennium Falcon.
Mission Accomplished!
In the Valley of Mo'ara at Animal Kingdom’s Pandora – The World of Avatar you walk amid the Hallelujah Mountains, or floating mountains and waterfalls!
It’s a beautiful land during the day and another planet at night with glowing landscapes that come alive! Even if you’re not a fan of the movies, this land is phenomenal.
A couple of days ago we took you on a 10 minute journey from the Campgrounds to Magic Kingdom.
Today we’re taking you another 10 minute journey, but this time we’re traveling through Tomorrowland!
So…
“Welcome aboard the Tomorrowland Transit Authority PeopleMover—your quiet and carefree highway in the sky. We invite you to sit back, relax, and enjoy your grand circle tour of Tomorrowland.”
Don’t worry, you shouldn’t have to wait long for this favorite attraction among guest. It has a continuous loading system so the wait should be just one and a half minutes per every 100 people in front of you. This makes the People Mover twice as fast as the next fastest-loading ride in Tomorrowland.
Wait I hear a page coming in…
“Paging Mr. Morrow—Mr. Tom Morrow. Please contact Mr. Johnson in the control tower to confirm your flight to the moon.”
I hope Mr. Morrow heard that announcement! Good thing this awesome propulsion system of the People Mover will get him where he needs to go quickly. It’s linear Induction Motors use 629 electromagnets with a carefully timed sequence of pulses which move the cars of the PeopleMover smoothly and quietly along the over mile long track system which has no moving parts except for the trams themselves!
While Wondering IN Detail about this favorite attraction of ours, we discovered that Disney’s Imagineering built a below-ground subway system for the George Bush Intercontinental Airport in Houston, using the same technology. Now that’s some pretty neat trivia!
“Thank you for joining us on the Tomorrowland Transit Authority PeopleMover. It’s been a pleasure to have you aboard with us. Enjoy the rest of your day, and have a great big beautiful tomorrow.”
(quotes taken from disneyparkscripts.com)
As you wonder through the Black Spire Outpost village on the Star Wars planet of Batuu, you’ll eventually find yourself inside of the Ronto Roasters restaurant.
A smelter droid named 8D-J8 will be endlessly turning a rotisserie spit and complaining about his thankless job of turning “space meat” over a fire maintained by an old podracing engine.
Batuu is a 14-acre land and this little Black Spire market is loaded with detail and treats! One of our favorites is the Ronto wraps; a gyro-style ‘sandwich’ made with savory grilled pork sausage and roasted pork in a soft pita, topped with tangy slaw and a creamy peppercorn dressing.
So what’s turning on the spit? It’s ronto meat of course! Ronto is a massive beast native to the planet Tatooine. There is great story telling throughout this land and it’s worth spending some time just to Wonder around IN Detail. It’s also crazy to think this entire land is only 4 acres larger than the 10 acre TRON we discussed yesterday.
What’s your favorite thing on Batuu?
Walt Disney World’s TRON Lightcycle Run is the largest expansion of Magic Kingdom since 2012 back when the New Fantasyland opened. TRON has a 10-acre footprint with a large free-form canopy that covers 50,000 square feet and becomes the threshold entrance to the attraction.
This Ethylene Tetra Fluoro Ethylene, ETFE foil canopy reaches 105 feet high and features more than 1,200 kinetic lights that follow the coaster and make the entire canopy come to life at night.
Side note, ETFE is a 100% recyclable material with a very long life which provides a replacement for glass roof structures and expands the options in structure and geometry available to the designer. I was excited to see it used in such a creative way and to be able to get up close to it and really Wonder IN Detail, as you can with this attraction!
Now back to the fastest coaster attraction in Disney, it took more than 3,800 pieces of steel weighing in at around 4 million pounds and giving us 3,000 feet of ride track. However, the common complaint is that the ride is too short so….
What are your thoughts?
We love the structure and canopy, especially at night. The approach and music feel big and exciting! But… the ride itself, although really fun, is really short. We wish, considering the amount of space this attraction takes up, along with its monumental presence and attractiveness, that the actual ride gave us more!
Join us on this 10-minute voyage from Disney’s Fort Wilderness Resort & Campground to the iconic Magic Kingdom.
We’ll glide past a few little islands, the Bay Lake Tower, Disney's Contemporary Resort, the water bridge as traffic zooms below us, and then right at the end, a perfect shot, keep your eyes peeled for the iconic monorail zipping by just as we’re approaching the Magic Kingdom Main Street Train Station with Cinderella’s Castle in the background!
We love Wondering on the scenic routes where every sight and sound is a testament to the unparalleled charm of the Disney experience!
It’s dangerous out there…
Be careful as you’re backing up to get into position for that perfect picture! You might find yourself swimming in the landscaping.
Stay safe out there folks!
#epcot
It doesn’t matter how many times you do it, the jaw still drops every time!
Rise of the Resistance in Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge at Disney’s Hollywood Studios in Walt Disney World is a phenomenal attraction/ride. It is story telling at its finest and the actual ride is fun while keeping you guessing as to what happens next! But, perhaps the greatest moment is the First Order Star Destroyer hangar.
Nien Nunb is taking you and other guest to Picara in a transport ship but there is a First Order ambush which intercepts the transport ship before it can make the jump to hyperspace. Captured, you exit the ship and enter into the Star Destroyer hangar, where you are met with 50 Stormtroopers in this larger than life room (hanger)!
The entire experience is entertaining, intense, and FUN!
Trying to keep up with the little Wonderer in the tie-die Wonder IN Detail hat as he speeds through the Pop Century Food Court to show me something in the Gift Shop!
While we’re walking through, we may as well discuss it!
Sure, staying at a Value Resort on Disney Property dosen’t feel as fancy as the Deluxe Resorts, but on top of being 1/3 the cost per night, you also get a pretty cool and large quick service food court with plenty of options for the littles in your party.
You’ll miss out on the typical Table Service offered at Moderate Resorts (which also have large food courts by the way), certainly won’t have the convenience of walking over to the Yachtsman Steakhouse at Deluxe Resort Yacht Club, or Sanaa at the Deluxe Animal Kingdom Lodge’s Kidani Village, or our favorite, Ohana at the Deluxe Polynesian Village Resort, but you also won’t be spending the $200 to $300 on a single meal with your family at your Value Resort (or even Moderate Resort) food court.
We love the Deluxe Resorts and stay at one anytime we stumble upon a deal. Over the years we’ve stayed at many, but we’re 6am to 12am Disney Freaks so our resorts are for showering and sleeping between park visits. In this light, we enjoy the larger than life, in your face Disney theming, the comparably low price per night, and the occasional Wonder into the Value Resort food court if we decided to start late one day or leave a park early for some rest!
What’s your experience?
We just spent 4 days at Universal Studios Florida and it was fun to see their interpretation of Mardi Gras but this South Louisiana Wonderer can assure you, nothing about it looked, sounded, or tasted Cajun as the last phrase in their promo would advertise (it does rhyme good though)! “La Danse de Mardi Gras” was certainly not on their playlist… lol
It did have a definite New Orleans flare about it but even then, of the 4 days there, I didn’t once hear “Go to the Mardi Gras” or “Mardi Gras Mambo”… I mean, c’mon man!
I believe it behooves Universal to hire some Louisiana Consultants… lol… not complaining, just saying!
Festival runs Feb. 3–Apr. 7, 2024
Universal Promo
“New Food, Floats & Fun at Universal Mardi Gras
Excite all your senses at Universal Mardi Gras: International Flavors of Carnaval. Dig into sweet, savory, spicy dishes from around the globe like Chicken Schnitzel and Chilaquiles Verdes*. Catch a bunch of beads and a live concert on select nights. It’s a Grooveable Feast where the parade is raging, and the food doesn’t stop at Cajun.”
Disney Research Fellow and Imagineer Lanny Smoot reveals a new technology called “holotile”. Its a floor which allows multiple users independent omnidirectional movement. It can also move inanimate objects around by remote control.
With inventions like this, its not surprising that Smoot is only the second person ever from The Walt Disney Company to be inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame. Mr. Walt Disney himself was the first.
The obvious immediate application of this technology is for Virtual Reality (VR), but Smoot says that there are “so many applications for this type of technology”, and we just don’t know yet where it will take us!
The full story and video can be found here.
https://wdwnt.com/2024/01/breaking-disney-imagineering-holotile-floor/
Good morning, from EPCOT’s International Gateway!
Good morning AK… Hakuna Matata!
