Counting to the Magic: 5 Days

Don't get me wrong, Chris and I love each other very much, but when it comes to competitive games, it is on like Donkey Kong! We had an ongoing competition on both Buzz Lightyear Space Ranger Spin and Toy Story Mania last year and you can bet that it will continue on this trip! Last year, Chris was able to beat me on Toy Story Mania and I kicked his butt on Buzz Lightyear, so we will have to see if that changes (aka, me kicking his butt on both!!) :)

Maybe I will try to help Chris out a little....here are a couple pages with some tips for each ride, give him a little hope ;)

Buzz Lightyear Space Ranger Spin
Toy Story Mania

Interactive Queue Ideas: Hollywood Studios

Continuing the Interactive Queues Discussion, here are some attractions in Hollywood Studios that could benefit from this addition.

Great Movie Ride – Yes, I know, this is relatively interactive already with the movies and all, but if nothing else, they need to add movie trailers! If you are in the queue for over 15 minutes, which is more than likely the case, you are going to keep seeing a repeat of the same 10 or so trailers and it gets boring after a while.  Please add new movies to that queue, they don’t all have to be just the ones for the scenes in the attraction, there can be others as well!

Voyage of the Little Mermaid – If not the inside part of this queue, at least the outside needs some sort of entertainment.  Maybe a screen wall that shows different pictures of sea creatures floating by or a giant interactive touch screen that allows people to poke and make ripples in the water with fish going by. 

Rock 'n' Roller Coaster – Different queue ideas have been tried for this before and I was not preset for these, so I am not sure how they turned out, but this queue could use some kind of boost.  I still think I like the queue idea for this like the one they are going to use for Dumbo, where you are part of a group and you are able to wander around the queue area until your group is called to board.

Those are the rides I suggest for this park.  I have also seen people suggest Tower of Terror and Toy Story Mania, but I say Heck NO! because they have such an interesting and visually appealing queue with so much to look at.  Interactive stuff in those queues would just take away from them. (See my post on Toy Story Mania's Queue)  Feel free to leave a comment below to let me know if you agree or disagree with my ideas or if you have some of your own!

Oh, and I have heard from several sources that Disney has confirmed that there will be more interactive queues to come in the future, so maybe these possibilities will become a reality!  We shall have to wait and see.  Look soon for my Epcot Interactive Queue.

View the Queue: Toy Story Mania

As I was editing some of my videos from my trip to Disney in August, I realized my dad took some nice footage of the Toy Story Mania queue. So I took the pieces of tape and edited them together to make what I am hoping to be the first in a series I am going to call View the Queue! I am going to make photo montages and videos of different queues throughout Walt Disney World and post them to share with everyone.  You get the details of standing in line without the hassle of having to actually stand in line! Feel free to send me feedback on what you think of the videos and look for more queues to be coming soon! Here's the video and some additional pictures from the queue. Enjoy!

Entrance

As soon as you enter the Queue, which is Andy's Room, you shrink to the size of a toy

Standby to the Left, Fastpass to the Right

Weekly DDL Post

This week on the Disney Drive Life, I look at some of the announcement made last week for the Disney property! Big stuff happening at Epcot and Hollywood Studios, so check it out here!

The Princess and the Frog for Wii and DS: A Royal Gaming Experience

Disney has some great video games coming out in the next few months, including the much anticipated Toy Story Mania for Wii that is based on the fairly new attraction in Hollywood Studios. The one that has caught my eye is not based on an attraction, but based on a upcoming movie, The Princess and the Frog. This game not only has you fighting enemies, but you can change Princess Tiana's outfits, play music, dance around and even cook up some old fashioned recipes from the bayou! This game has a little bit for everyone in the family and is a great game for all ages! Even the Chief Creative Officer of the Walt Disney Animation Studios, John Lasseter, enjoys this game, as you can see in the picture to the left. This picture of Mr. Lasseter was taken at the Odeon Leicester Square in London, UK and is provided by the great people at Disney Interactive Studios. This proves that no matter your age or gender, you can have fun with this game! The Princess and the Frog will be released for Wii and Nintendo DS this coming November. For more information on this game, check out Disney Interactive's page for it by clicking here and check out the rest of the awesome merchandise provided by them by going to http://www.disney.go.com/disneyinteractivestudios/.