After my most recent trip to Walt Disney World, here are some of my thoughts about some of the changes and additions to the parks. This time around, there were some new attractions, some new parades, and some new procedures.

Roy O. Disney and Minnie Mouse in the Magic Kingdom's Town Square

The biggest, and most obvious, recent change involves security. Now, if you bring any kind of bag to any of the parks, you must go through security and have them inspect your bag. At peak times, the lines can be rather long. The only thing close to a Fastpass is not bringing a bag, which lets you bypass the security lines. I can understand why they do this, and I didn't hear too many complaints, except at Animal Kingdom, where the security lines were exceptionally long when we were trying to go through, right around the park's opening time.

Spaceship Earth at Epcot

It was interesting to note the varying degrees of the bag checks. Some of the guards just took a quick glance into each bag. Others would make the guest take out and open things like glasses cases or camera cases. The guards could not reach into the bags, so some of them would ask the guest to move things around so that they could better see what was underneath. So how much each bag was inspected depended on the particular guard. Some looked harder in each bag than others, and those guards made me feel like they were actually concerned, while I wondered about the guards who just took a quick look in each bag. How much each bag was searched did not appear to be dependent on the time of day or size of the crowd, but rather on the whim of each guard. I would guess that the bag searches will be around for quite a while.

Spaceship Earth seen across World Showcase Lagoon at dusk

We also noticed more guards in the parks, as well as more cars patrolling the property outside the parks. I have never felt unsafe anywhere on the property, but I know other people have increased fears now, and I can appreciate the show of force that they are making to ensure the safety of guests and cast members alike.

Also along the lines of security, I noticed a new safety spiel at Splash Mountain, right after the logs leave the loading area. I also noticed a few new signs on some of the attractions about keeping your hands and arms inside the vehicle. The narration at the Walt Disney World Railroad had been completely re-recorded, although most of the content is the same. Disneyland's new safety spiels at Big Thunder Mountain Railroad and the Haunted Mansion haven't made it to Florida yet. But I wouldn't be surprised if they arrive soon.

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Primeval Whirl and Dino-Rama at Animal Kingdom

At Animal Kingdom, Chester and Hester's Dino-Rama is a new addition to the Dinoland area. Several people have complained about this new area, which is themed to a carnival. Most of the complaints have to do with the area looking cheap and run-down. However, upon close inspection, it appears that this is exactly the atmosphere the park was looking for. They purposefully themed it to resemble one of those small carnivals that comes to the parking lot of your local department store. The new rides, Primeval Whirl and Triceratops Spin, are not too much different from those you would find at a carnival or local fair, and the same can be said about the midway games. The story is that Chester and Hester, the owners of the nearby store selling cheap dinosaur merchandise to tourists, set up the carnival in their parking lot. If you look closely, you will notice that the pavement has cracked and been sealed, and the parking stripes are visible in many areas, contributing even more to the carnival atmosphere. So perhaps when people complain that it looks like a cheap carnival, someone at Disney is smiling, because that is exactly what they were after.

While we did not ride Triceratops Spin, we did visit Primeval Whirl, which is a fun, if small, roller coaster. What makes this one different from others is that at one point in the ride, the cars begin to freely spin, making each ride a little different, and providing some of those cheap carnival thrills. After all, the more one of those carinval rides makes you dizzy, the better it is, right? It was a fun ride, but we didn't have to wait in line thanks to our Fastpass. If we had to wait very long, I would have felt like I had wasted my time due to the length of the ride.

Dino-Rama serves to add a few more things to Animal Kingdom that kids will enjoy. And it also draws the crowds away from Dinosaur, meaning shorter lines for one of my favorite rides.

Hollywood Boulevard and the large sorcerer's hat

The big promotion at Walt Disney World right now is 100 Years of Magic, and the biggest things they are pushing are the four new parades, of which we saw three. Actually though, there are only three "new" parades. Epcot's Tapestry of Dreams is a close relative of the old Tapestry of Nations parade created for their Millennium Celebration a few years ago. Tapestry of Dreams takes many of the same elements, including the large puppets, the drum floats, and the main music. But the new parade has different beginning and ending music, along with new characters called Dream Seekers. I was a big fan of Tapestry of Nations, which had a theme that despite our cultural differences, we are all part of one planet. But I thought their additions and changes ruined the parade, which now has a theme of everyone having a dream. The jubilant spirit of the old parade seemed to be missing, and I won't be making a special effort to see the new parade again.

Mickey, Minnie, Donald, and Goofy in the Disney Stars and Motorcars Parade

The Disney Stars and Motorcars Parade at the Disney-MGM Studios was a fun parade with a light-hearted feel to it. The theme is pretty obvious, with all of the stars of the Studios participating in a motorcade down Hollywood Boulevard. It was raining when we saw the parade, so a few of the characters were missing, and most everyone else had an umbrella. I liked the idea of a live host who would introduce the characters as they came by; that added much more character to the parade than a recorded spiel would.

The Tree of Life at Animal Kingdom

Mickey's Jammin' Jungle Parade at Animal Kingdom was pretty good, too. I had a little trouble picking out the theme to this one, unless it was Mickey and his friends travelling through the jungle. There were also some large stylistic animals involved that were fun to see. One thing I found interesting about this parade was that there are no speakers along the parade route; all the music comes from the parade vehicles, and therefore, the music is quite loud when a float is right by you. Guests are selected to ride on some of the floats, and I noticed right off that they were all wearing ear plugs, for which I am sure they were thankful.

We had a spot picked out on Main Street to watch the fourth parade, the Magic Kingdom's Share a Dream Come True Parade. But soon after the parade was scheduled to begin, Pinocchio's voice came over the speakers to say that the parade had been delayed due to the inclement weather in the area, although it hadn't yet started to rain. We waited around a bit, but after the announcement was made the second time, we decided to start heading for Splash Mountain, thinking that if did start the parade, we would be able to see some of it in Frontierland. By the time we reached Splash Mountain, it started pouring rain, as it did most every day we were there. And right about then they started the parade. I thought it was quite interesting that they waited about starting the parade when it was not raining or just barely sprinkling, but then they went ahead with the parade during the downpour. We decided that we didn't want to stand in the rain to see the parade, so we missed that one.

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Some of the exhibits at One Man's Dream include an Audio-Animatronic figure, the Moonliner Model, an original Tiki Bird, and the Dancing Man

The other new attraction for 100 Years of Magic is One Man's Dream at the Disney-MGM Studios. In this attraction, you walk through exhibits about the various stages of Walt's life. It was interesting to see some of the artifacts, such as the model of Granny Kincaid's Cabin or the Dancing Man, which was one of the forerunners of Audio-Animatronics. At the end of the exhibit was a film about Walt's life, similar to the old Walt Disney Story film. The exhibit and film were interesting, and they gave a good telling of Walt's life, especially to someone who didn't know much about him. But when it was over, I realized that I had expected a little more, although I am still not sure what that would be.

Walt Disney World is always a fun place to visit. Even if it rains, as it did during almost our entire trip. Changes will always occur, as is the nature of a place such as this. But as long as the fun spirit remains, then the changes can't be too bad.

For even more from our trip, check out the full report on BurnsLand.com.

- Story and Photos Steve Burns
Posted

Steve is a three-time Disney Store National Trivia finalist and webmaster of BurnsLand, home of Steve's Disney Railroad Adventures.

E-mail Steve at steve@startedbyamouse.com, discuss this article in the StartedByAMouse.com Disney Discussion Forums or use the Talkback feature below.

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