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Magic Meets Adventure is where Disney meets Universal! This is your one stop shop for all things Disney and Universal Theme Parks. As park enthusiasts, Tim and Ayren share their ideas, rankings, travel tips, history, and more to help create an everyday escape into the incredible worlds of magic and adventure!
Magic Kingdom Reviews
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Intro: [00:00:00] Welcome.
Tim: So we're in the
Intro: tower. We are ready for takeoff.
Please stand clear of the door. It looks like you've lost power. There's a wildest ride in the wilderness.
Ayren: Hello everybody. And welcome to another episode of magic meets adventure. I'm Tim and I bring the magic and I'm Aaron. I bring the adventure. And today we're. doing a new concept for you, something we've never tried before, but I'm actually really excited about this.
I think this is going to be really funny. Yeah. If this ends up working out, this is going to be basically an entire series of recordings that we do around this topic, but we thought it would be a good idea to head over to Yelp and, read some reviews about the park. I think some of them are going to be good.
Some of them are going to be bad and that's really the way that opinions work. You know, opinion lists
Tim: are like armpits. Everyone has them, and they stink. Some stink.
Ayren: Most of them stink. The reason why we [00:01:00] wanted to do this is, you know, this, podcast has hopefully been helpful for you if you're considering planning trips and all that sort of stuff, and it feels like, , I'm willing to bet if you are planning a trip, we're probably not the only Disney related podcasts that you're listening to, or probably not the only form of media that you're checking out.
And there are a lot of opinions circulating out there. We've talked on the show before about how, , we've had people share their opinions with us. We've shared our opinions with other people and maybe we just differ for whatever reason. There have been times where Tim has opinions that differ from my own.
And so what we want to do is we want to kind of take you on a journey through some of the parks to see some of the opinions that people have on the parks. Some of them are going to be good. Some of them are going to be maybe not so good. And then we're just going to kind of analyze them a little bit and see whether or not these opinions are valid.
Does that sound okay to you, Tim?
Tim: Works for me.
Ayren: All right. So I think to get this whole thing started off, we're going to keep it real simple and we're just going to start off with the magic kingdom today. We are going to look at, Reviews about Walt [00:02:00] Disney World's Magic Kingdom, , we're going to go kind of general and we're going to go all over the place.
We're going to have some good ones, some bad ones, everything kind of mixed around in there and you let us know, if you agree with these or not. Some people absolutely love these, some people absolutely seem to trash them, , and there's a lot of stuff kind of in between. So, let's go ahead and start.
These are just general reviews, about the Magic Kingdom to go off with. Tim, I'm gonna go ahead and read the first one, if you're cool with that. This is a Little bit longer, but I want you to just let us know whether or not you think this is the most recent one This was at the time of recording was posted 10 hours ago.
Oh, yeah, so it's a relatively Recent review and I just want to hear whether or not you agree with it or not. Okay.
Tim: What star is it?
Ayren: This is a five star review Eight? Ten hours ago, so somebody just had a really good trip to Walt Disney World. Apparently. They said, How I went into the trip. Nervous to travel with two under three, and second guessing if I was making a terrible mistake.
Tim: Oh, and they got a five star. I could have told you that you probably were.
Ayren: How I left the trip. Dying to book our next [00:03:00] trip back to Disney. Wow. Feels cliche and cheesy to say, but this is a magical place. My one and three year old had a ball. God bless you. Uh, rides, ice cream, bubbles, characters, and perfect weather.
What more could a kid really want? The park was smaller and easier to navigate than we'd expected. Okay. We got to see and do a ton in one day. And then they listed a, a couple of pro tips. They said pro tip splurge for preferred parking. If you were coming with littles, it's nice to be close. They said by the, Oh, Gosh, buy that bubble, bubble wand before at home.
Yes. We got suckered into buying the 35 bubble wand. So they just mean if you're going to buy one, get the cheaper one. That's Gina, Jeannie plus, of course, they're saying to do it. It was 25 well spent. They said, we were surprised at the lack of lunch options that weren't, that weren't sit down, but offered a little something more than just hot dogs and pretzels.
You might want to map this out. Think about it in advance. We scrambled a Um, and then the last, pro [00:04:00] tip they have is don't hand a new toy to a one year old who will throw it and lose it. Rip to our new Elsa doll. We had a nice run.
Intro: Oh no!
Ayren: They close out by saying, That's awesome. That's very wholesome.
Yeah, that is
Tim: very wholesome.
Ayren: That's pretty sweet.
Tim: I'd agree with the lunch options though. I mean, You got a lot of quick services, but.
Ayren: But that's the way that I prefer to do it. Like I don't usually, especially in magic kingdom, I don't eat a full meal. I just kind of snack around all day long. , but I could see how.
Yeah, I don't know. I could see how when you have two littles, maybe it might be easier just to, Hey, let's sit down, eat our meal, and that way we don't have to There's probably a bunch of other things sidetracking you, but
Tim: During lunchtime's not too terrible, too. I've done that a few times with family.
Like, we'll do a reservation at, like, Liberty Tree or something. And yeah, it'll go over pretty well, I think.
Ayren: So overall we agree with this review? I mean this is wholesome. This seems like a level headed person who goes in with I'm not gonna [00:05:00] say low expectations, but tempered expectations.
Yes, they went in expecting to be stressed out So I think they were prepared for the craziness that can be Disney,
Tim: especially with Disney
Ayren: Yeah, especially with little kids. One and
Tim: three year old, absolutely.
Ayren: But because of those expectations, I think they had a good time. Now, as we're going to see as we continue to read through these, not everybody has the best expectations.
No. You have one ready to go? I do. Go for
Tim: it. This one doesn't have a star because this was posted on a website. Oh, okay. But this is too good to pass up. So I'm going in the opposite direction. Okay.
Something about Disney brings out the cynic in me. It's a great start. It's a great way to start. Oh my goodness. I was tempted to graffiti the walls, um, In, uh, Saturine Hughes? I don't, no clue. He uses a lot of, Oh, wait a minute. I think I saw
Ayren: this one earlier. I, I [00:06:00] actually did come across this one. I forgot how, what the word was, but yeah, that one made me pause too.
Okay, keep going. Deco
Tim: page? I have no clue. Like, decoupage? I,
Ayren: words I don't know. They're making up stuff. Yeah. Words that are hard. They found a thesaurus to write this.
Tim: Anyways, they essentially want to graffiti on the walls, , like, Mickey Mouths with Splenda packets and force Snow White to have a makeover ad nauseam.
Not to mention that the quote unquote real little Mermaid doesn't get the prince and ends up a perpetual limbo. To me, this place is akin to torture.
Ayren: You can, you can typically figure out the quality or the review based on the grammar that you find spin on as well. This, this
Tim: one, this one. This one's a kicker.
I'd rather get a root canal. Magic kingdom, my golden butt, but they don't use butt. Oh man. They decide to use. Some lovely language here.
Ayren: These are the people that I wonder if they actually [00:07:00] went to the park or if they just thought it'd be funny to go on and spam. I don't know.
Tim: I, I, my, my thing is like, maybe it's just me.
Cause I enjoyed these parks, but it's like magic kingdom. Nah, I'd rather get a root canal.
Ayren: Yeah. That, yeah.
Tim: Gosh, dang it. Give me a root canal.
Oh All right. Here we go. I respect the opinion, but I find it funny. Oh
Ayren: gosh Okay, that one's that one's really long too, but I think i'm gonna go for it. Okay, do it Here's a one star review that we got from samantha. I think this one's actually going to be Pretty substantial so there's going to be a lot here and we're gonna have to figure out whether or not we We agree with what she's saying overall this one's from 11 months ago, and it is a one star review.
She says, we paid too much to come here last night and not see any Disney characters at all. I'm talking no Mickey, no Donald, like no one. I've never been in a place and have had and have been told no so much. At the on campus Starbucks got a 50 cup asked, can you rinse it [00:08:00] out so I can fill it with ice?
They said, no, we can't have anything from you behind the counter. Then they gave me five tiny cups of ice water. Well, I can't drink out of my newly bought cup. Please give me one big cup. I can't walk around carrying five cups. The answer? No. The staff are rude, lazy, and selfish. They, Care, they careless about you, again, there's always, I don't know if people who do a one star review are just like typing in a fit of rage.
Probably. And don't actually take time to like double check their grammar. They careless about you. We was threatened by staff as we entered the park. I have a hard time believing that. What? Your tickets read 5 to 11, so be back here and ready to go back to your cars by 1030 or we will leave you.
Huh? Who told them this? I don't know where We went to a so called famous hot dog shop. I'm assuming this is Casey's Corner. Yep. The hot dog was Discussing. Discussing? Not disgusting. It was discussing. They were having a [00:09:00] conversation with their hot dog. And the chili spelled C H I L I E Cold The cheese cold.
Hold on, this is one full sentence. I'm gonna read it for you. The hot dog was discussing the chili Cold the cheese cold. That is one sentence. Again, typing in a fit of rage, I'm assuming. With no other place to sit, we sat by the bathroom door, and we ate what we could eat of it. Okay, I'm, okay, the food, not the bathroom door.
The staff send you on purpose on a journey. Just ask for anything, the restroom, or how to get to Mickey. They will gladly point you in the incorrect direction for giggles and fun.
Tim: What? I
Ayren: don't know. Mm hmm. What's next? So the fireworks, is there not a break in between? No, that's just what's next. So the fireworks, that is a complete sentence.
Intro: Oh,
Ayren: these employees are controlling. They will move you. And there's not a comma. I put that there for posterity. These employees are controlling. They will move you a million times. Don't sit here. Don't stand there [00:10:00] yet. Once you move to accommodate them. That's the end of the sentence. You guessed it.
Others are standing or sitting in the forbidden spot that they ushered you away from. Everyone has a fake smile, fake voice, and a reason to say no. I've never in my life been to any park for children and had so many rules in my life. We don't take cash. It's like, excuse me. Then should you pull out your master card?
Oh, we only take visa. They are not kind or friendly. Long story short, made it to see the mouse. That's in quotes. The whole reason for my birthday trip. Oh, Mickey went home. He's Was here all day. Wait a minute. I flew from St. Louis, Missouri to see the mouse himself. And you tell him that he's gone home. I was told in a bragging tone, all the characters.
I'm sorry. All the charters are going home. Anger is not the word for what I felt. You mean at 7 PM, every character is gone. Then why sale? Not so why sale me tickets for 5 p. m. to 11 p. m. Disney got me, which I've, I don't, I have no idea what they're talking [00:11:00] about. Okay. Timeout. I have one mission. Get my money back.
Oh, I want a full refund. The walk back to civilization is a hard one. You have to hike about three or four miles, take a boat, then train all. While employees yell at you, like they forgot most of you are not children. And even if everyone was children, we don't deserve to be spoken to. A spoken to in a ignorant, disrespectful tone.
These employees are not safe to be around children. The emotional abuse should not be tolerated, nor should verbal abuse. Everyone was just being quiet, not taking up for themselves. Now I know we at Cinderella castle, but don't keep thinking you about to keep talking to me disrespectfully. I love that.
It's like I'm in Cinderella's castle and I'm about to get ignorant. we were all disappointed with Disney last night. I'll never go back. Never. I proudly wore a Cardinal shirt that matched my husband's and from Arizona's probably. Oh, St. Louis Cardinals. Nevermind. , the captain of the boat had to goal to heckle me.
[00:12:00] Had the gall, okay. The captain of the boat had the gall to heckle me. Apparently, she did not appreciate me wearing my St. Louis shirt. He was lucky children was around. , I started to make him cry. But children should be protected from adults arguing, so I simply said nothing. Happily ever after, my Okay, thanks for reading.
It's a negative billion for me trillion. They deserve zero stars There's a lot to unpack. Three people marked that as a helpful review.
Tim: That's unfortunate.
Ayren: Yeah, that is unfortunate
Tim: So I'm trying
Ayren: to there's plenty that stands out there for sure.
Tim: I mean, yes, the characters go in at seven That's because of fireworks Because they want everybody to watch it or ride a ride.
Yeah cast member You I'm trying to figure out what she means by cast members yelling.
Ayren: I'm trying to figure out what she means by the, my ticket said 5 to 11. I've never seen that. [00:13:00] I've never seen it either. In my life. They've
Tim: not done afternoon tickets in a very long time. Again,
Ayren: this review is 11 months old.
They've not done it
Tim: in years. Yeah. I don't, I don't. Epcot's the only one, but that was even an annual pass. Okay. That was like, but that was before COVID. Gotcha. So Yeah, that's interesting. I don't really know but then like okay like real talk I can understand if you're not used to like a megaphone it could see like they're yelling at you.
Trust me They're not they're just making it very clear. Do they use megaphones? They have like best way to describe it is it's like it's a pocket. They have like oh, yeah the little microphone And then there's a patch. Yeah, and so like if you're not used to louder voices, that makes sense Maybe, but also, they're not, they're not yelling at you.
They're trying
Ayren: to move like thousands of people at one time.
Tim: And they're trying to be clear so everyone around them can hear it. And yeah, you're gonna move from time to time depending where you're at. If you're in a walkway, guess what? You're gonna be asked to [00:14:00] move. Yeah. I've had that happen to me before.
Yeah. It's no big deal. It is what it is.
Ayren: I, I do think, and again, this kind of goes back to our opening point. I do think this is a result of like over idealized ideas or visions of what your trip is going to be. We're going to see here as we look at a couple of other reviews that a lot of people just complain about the, I mean, wait times, the crowds, the cost of the food.
Like it's, I don't know, man, in my brain, I'm like, this is an amusement park. This is what you have to imagine. You're going to have to, you know, You're going to have to deal with, do you have anything else on just magic kingdom overall? If not, we're going to go ahead and move on to some attractions.
Tim: Not that I can think of.
Ayren: Okay. Let's go ahead and let's start looking at some of the attractions that are here because it's interesting to me to see some of the takes that people, that people put on these rides. I mean, some of them, like, again, the reason why we're doing this to see, are they actually, , Genuine or not.
Are they helpful? Do they have any merit? this one that we're gonna look at let's look at the most recent review Never mind. , there's a lot of language in that one. , let's look at a review from a year ago about space mountain Okay, , this person said one star. I will never ride this again I've [00:15:00] never had neck or back issues, but this ride is rough r u f f rough , I was the last person in the car.
I'm not sure how much that made any difference. There were two drops that were so hard. I had a neck and back strain. It was bad enough that I wouldn't have been able to ride any other aggressive coasters. My back felt better after a few hours, but my neck didn't feel any better until the following morning.
Be, be aware before writing Tim. What are your thoughts on that?
Tim: That's fair. It is a bit of a rougher ride. It
Ayren: is a little bit of a tough ride, which also, I'm jumping around here a little bit, but did you hear this is completely unrelated speaking of rough rides? I saw an article yesterday that there are rumors that Rip Ride Rocket is planning on shutting down for good.
I did hear that. Yeah. Fall of 2025, they said the ride could be, decommissioned and they haven't figured out what they're going to do in place of it. But yeah, that was good. I did see that was a rough ride.
Tim: I think it was Josh Vaughn on Instagram posted a video about it. I like his idea about the Fast and Furious coaster going in there.
Oh, that could be cool. Because then they can get rid of, you know.
Ayren: Yeah. Here's another one. This one's two [00:16:00] stars. This one's from 20 days ago. This person says, We were on a mission to complete the mountain challenge. , so we had to do Space Mountain. Which, if you're doing this 20 days ago, There's only two mountains open right now, so yeah, that's a pretty achievable mission
Tim: mission
Ayren: Mission failed we were on a mission to complete space the mountain challenge, so we had to do Space Mountain I am 6'4 and this ride is not meant for people that tall I literally have to sit with my feet together and my legs spread apart like a butterfly This is not the ideal position to be jarred around in the dark I'm sure that this was a great coaster in its early years, but it could surely use an upgrade
I mean, this ride is not built for bigger people. No. It's not. Even for me. I mean, I'm 5'9 and I struggle getting in and getting out of this ride is like the most embarrassing thing. People are always afraid of like, man, I hope my search history never leaks. I hope nobody ever finds security footage of me trying to get off of Space Mountain.
It's very complicated.
Tim: This one, , is from I don't know. It doesn't have a star rating, [00:17:00] but it has like, Person gave a little fun facts about it, so, Figures a good time to do that. I'm gonna try to read this in a, did you know sort of way. Did you know that it only goes 35 miles an hour and has a max drop of 26 feet?
Yes, yes I did. It is a very small coaster. I do feel I'm going to get decapitated, but I saw how they Tested the ride to ensure you can't. Oh, by the way, it's a four star review. Oh, gotcha. Lack of. Decapitation, I guess. Who knows what that one? Yeah, definitely feel like
Ayren: your head is going to get cut off every time that you take this ride.
Okay, here we go. This one's, , over two years ago, this is a three star review from Yelp. This person, Andrew B says, when I was a kid, I was too scared to go on the space mountain rollercoaster ride because my parents made it sound super scary. I thought my parents were overprotective. So when I took my kids to Disney world, I said to myself, I bet that space mountain ride is not so scary.
Ayren: And on the first day we went straight there and guess what? Dot, dot, dot, and there's a long paragraph break. Space Mountain feels like free falling into a lightless void where not even [00:18:00] God can find you.
And then he, uh, attached a picture of his son that's just fantastic. That's super good. Yeah, it seems like they, uh, they hit us. That's amazing.
Tim: You going through like the quote unquote hyperspace. It's like, oh gosh, oh no.
Ayren: Yeah, no, they, yeah, I love that. That's flightless void where even God can't find you.
That's absolutely hilarious.
Tim: Jesus, you there?
Ayren: Oh man.
Tim: Help. Oh, that's amazing. I love that so much.
Ayren: That's pretty, that's pretty hilarious.
Tim: Let's, let's jump over to another classic attraction. I have a three star review for Pirates of the Caribbean. Sweet. Yo ho, hold up.
Ayren: That's, that's great.
Tim: That's a long line for a slow moving boat cruise through scenes of animatronics playing Where's Jack Sparrow?
Ayren: That's instead of Where's Waldo. Yeah.
Tim: , not a [00:19:00] terrible escape if it's hot outside. Or rainy. And that's it. I
Ayren: don't think I agree with either of those statements. That's a great escape.
If it's raining or hot outside.
Tim: Greatest attraction of all time. And you can't tell me otherwise.
Ayren: This, this might be the most honest three star review I've ever seen in my life. Four months ago, Brian F says pirates of the Caribbean is located in the adventure land section of magic kingdom. He's just stating facts.
, it had a very short drop in some water splash. It was mostly a slow boat ride in the darkness and it was just okay. Strong disagree, but whatever. I mean. It's a very like, yeah, here you go. This is, this is what happened to me while I was on this ride. Pretty straightforward. , let me go ahead and jump down to some of the lower stars, some of the one star reviews.
Tim: Are these going to make me mad?
Ayren: Probably.
Tim: Fantastic.
Ayren: This one is a one star review. This is relatively old. It's over eight years ago. But Joel B says, now I don't use Yelp to be one of those complainers to vent. I, I want to go and look at Joel's profile and see which [00:20:00] other posts he has because I feel like Man, it actually blows my mind that there are so many five star reviews on Yelp because I feel like most people just use it as a place to vent and complain.
He says, I don't like being one of those people, in quotes, today I'll be walking a fine line between critique and embarrassment. Outright Venter, I think he meant critic. , I'm not happy with this ride today and it's mostly because of negligence due to its cast members. I was ecstatic that the ride was open again because of .
Refurbishments. Unfortunately, it's really busy, which seemed to freak out. Today's cast members. Which made the ride uncomfortable and more importantly, unsafe. We had fast passes. So we got on pretty fast and the refurbishments look great. Unfortunately, my girlfriend and I were stuffed into the front row with two other people uncomfortably, not OMG.
They're strangers. I feel uncomfortable. I mean like sitting on each other, uncomfortable, which weighed down the front of the whole boat and we didn't just get wet. We got drenched. I had water come out of my back pocket. That's how wet I got. I don't know how water works that way.
I [00:21:00] mean, I would love, I guess it depends on what type of pockets he has, but I know the park was busy today for God knows what reason, , doesn't mean you have to stuff people into this ride and risk safety. I tried waiting before writing this review and I'm trying to be as nice as possible, but my butt is still wet.
Tim: You don't need to expose yourself like that. I'm sorry. I don't, I don't
Ayren: read these before I start going. So that caught me off guard. My butt is still wet and it ruined my experience of the ride. Not happy again. That was a one star review.
Tim: Hate to break it to you, , I did take a peer over and , he is very critical.
He has 21 one star reviews out of 47. Okay.
Ayren: So he predominantly goes over to make some negative reviews. Okay. So yeah,
Tim: he, You went against your word there, Joel. Sorry. Hate to break it to you.
Ayren: Here's another one. This was a one star review from Bonnie. , Bonnie says this ride was dark. The references to women be, Oh, like that kind of dark.
I thought she meant like it's a dark ride. No, she means like this, this ride is [00:22:00] dark. The references to women being sold in slavery were offensive to someone who has worked with an organization that deals with human trafficking. Maybe I'm being a bit of a stuffed shirt, but I did not like that at all. I don't know what that expression means, but I get it.
But that's also the reason why Disney changed it. So
Tim: that is true. Yeah. Even though it is historically accurate.
Ayren: I mean, yeah, that's yeah. We probably should have even a bigger issue with, you know,
Tim: like a children's ride,
Ayren: you know, like a children's ride. If you don't get that reference, go ahead and listen to our last episode that we just did.
Where you can hear us talk a little bit more about that. , let's go ahead and hop our way over a little bit. , we're going to move on to Peter Pan's flight here. Unless you have anything else for Pirates of the Caribbean. I'm really interested in this one because I know this one has a lot of people split.
Let's go ahead and stay on the positive side really quick. I'm going to read a five star review. This is from two days ago. , this is from Karen V. She says, when you see the line, you're probably asking yourself one big question. Why is this ride so popular? Well, it actually isn't. It just operated less efficiently than the other rides.
This is a great start to a five star review. It's slower and the seating capacity per [00:23:00] pirate gallon, gallon, gallon, galleon, galleon, maybe that's, that's the way it's spelled. It's very limited. They can't speed it up because it would make the ride way. Too shorter than it already is. But hey, it has been updated since the last time I was there.
Waiting in line doesn't seem as bad now that there's an indoor queue. It's cool to see the darling's home as you're walking through the hallways looking at family portraits. I will admit this is one of, one of my favorite queues and I'm glad they beefed it up considering how long you usually spend your time in there.
The wait for us was 35 minutes. All right, Karen, you don't have a, you can't. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. 35 minutes. Yeah, exactly. She's like, Oh, you know, the way it's not that bad. You can't wait an hour. Wait an hour 15 and then let us know. The wait for us was 35 minutes since we took advantage of early entry to the park.
The ride opens at 8 30 a. m. Just about everyone that was waiting for the rope drop. On the bridge near Cinderella castle seemed to be headed that way. It was a 45 to 60 minute wait after we finished the ride. If he, there we go. That [00:24:00] seems getting a little bit closer. If you feel that this is too long, then I recommend getting a genie plus lightning lane.
Many people actually do that. It's worth it. The ride is nostalgic and fun. You're flying over the big bin and you're in Neverland before you know it. The ride never gets old in my eyes. I feel the same way I did when I was a kid riding for the first time. I'll never pass this one up. That's wholesome.
That's wholesome. And I feel like it's pretty accurate. You know, she seems like a lady who was like, Hey, I had a good, a good time. And, I just wanted to let people know about it on the internet. So that's cool. This one might be a little bit more honest, potentially.
This is a two star review from Brian F left four months ago. It says we saw a long line for this ride. So we thought it was going to be something really fun. We eventually came back to try it out and found that it was
We talked about this on a recent episode where we said this ride, not really sure it's entirely worth the wait.
Tim: Yep. I have a three star review that says in standby, [00:25:00] you'll enjoy darling's room and ticker bell comes to visit opening drawers and activating toys. You also will play shadow bells. So like, you know, that one scream that, you know, all that.
She then gives a little warning. Be mentally prepared, since everyone else will hit them too.
Ayren: Oh, well, yeah, cause once somebody figures out what's going on, of course they're gonna start swinging away at it as well.
Tim: Yep.
Ayren: See, this is the, those are the ones that get, that get me. They're like, hey, did you know there are other people at this park?
It's like, yes, and that's what they, I don't, I just don't understand that, that line of thinking of, Life is a lie. We're gonna go in and we're gonna have a good time and nobody else is gonna be around. Everyone else
Tim: is NPCs except for you. Yeah. I'm kidding. It's
Ayren: ridiculous. This is one that I was really excited for and one that I really want to dive in the reviews for. This is for, the jungle cruise. Now, the reason why I said I was really excited to get to this one is because I've never done the jungle cruise. We've talked about that on the show before.
[00:26:00] And it's interesting to me. It seems like People are relatively split on this attraction. , let me show you what I mean. I'm not going to read this in entirety because it's long, but this one is from Annie in, , this is 10 months ago. It's a five star review for jungle cruise says jungle cruise, the best cruise there is.
This is located in magic kingdom over in adventure land and is your ride for a casual, lazy, laugh field, puntastic attraction. This is one of my favorite rides and I make it a point to ride it every time we're magic kingdom. So, you know, that, that makes sense. That's seems like somebody who maybe has fond memories of the attraction.
And, yeah, just wanted to share it. It is a much, much longer review than that, but we don't have time to get into it. On the other hand, you have guys like Andrew B who a year posted total garbage ride. This line is hours and hours long. Why? Because of a movie starring the rock, which has nothing to do with the ride.
The ride. Pre dates the movie by like half a century and it shows poorly made robot jungle animals and an obnoxious staff member talking the whole time.
Tim: But that's the,
Ayren: aww. [00:27:00] That's hilarious to me that they're like, who's this idiot standing at the front of the boat that won't shut up? I'm trying to look at the, like no, that's actually a part of the whole Let me look at the animals!
Oh wait, they're not animals, well. That's actually a Okay, we do need to have a conversation about this, Tim. I Part of the reason why I've never done Jungle Cruise is because it just doesn't make sense to me.
Tim: What doesn't make sense? I don't
Ayren: see the appeal in getting in a boat, moving slow, to look at animatronic animals.
I
mean, where am I, when I can go and do Kelimanjaro safaris in, , Animal Kingdom, or, I don't know, I just, I don't know. There, I, I need you to sell me on the ride, I don't, haha. It's just a fun time. Is it?
Tim: There's a lot of cool animatronics in there and, a lot of solid dad puns.
Ayren: Is a ride through going to be enough?
Like if I watch a POV on YouTube?
Tim: I mean, it'll give you a little taste, but it's nothing like actually, you know. [00:28:00] Sitting in the boat. I don't know. I feel like I've seen the 39 of your closest friends.
Ayren: That's enough for me. I don't know. Maybe I would, , Agree with someone named MS. That's all that it says on here.
It says honestly This is a one star review over six years ago. Honestly, this ride was pretty stupid and pointless I guess young kids might enjoy it But all it is is a tour guide shouting lame tacky jokes non stop over the loudspeaker While we boat around and look at some plastic animals. I expect a lot more from Disney Don't recommend this one.
I gotta be honest. I have a hard time disagreeing with them. I mean, again, I haven't done this attraction before, but that's all it seems like in my mind. Yeah.
Tim: I mean, that's, that's crazy, but that's what it is. That's, that's, that's,
Ayren: I know that seems like a valiant. An honest one star review. This one actually has the most four star reviews.
So I'll go ahead and read off the top one here. It says, one of my husband's favorite rides. The Jungle Cruise experience really is dependent on your guide. The jokes are hit or [00:29:00] miss, usually corny or dad jokes, but still a fun experience overall. Warning, it can get very hot, and if it rains, you can get wet depending on where you're sitting on the boat.
Tim: Never done it raining.
Ayren: She still gave it four stars, which is pretty nice.
Tim: It is cool.
Ayren: It's pretty sweet.
Tim: Yeah. So let us creep on over to the Haunted Mansion. Yeah. Since we're kind of in the vicinity. Yeah. This is a three star review. This is from a month ago. Let's see how this compares to Disneyland in Anaheim.
The ride is much shorter. Wrong. The walkthrough, the mansion is on a much smaller scale. Correct. Nicely done, but I prefer the one at Disneyland. .
Yeah, that one seems kind of matter of opinion to me. , saying that it's shorter, I don't know if I agree with that. There's extra scenes. I was about to say, I feel like it's actually longer than the other ones.
Tim: There are extra scenes in this one compared to anyways. Yeah. What do I know? I have another three star review that says, This was a nice ride through spiderwebs, ghosts, ghouls, and goblins. A few [00:30:00] scary thrills on the way.
Intro: Yeah,
Ayren: there you go. I mean, Hey, it's a review, you know, it's honest.
It tells you, , tells you what it is, but nothing, nothing spectacular there. I mean, that's pretty honest. I mean, hopefully if you've been listening to the show for a while, you know that we have glaring reviews for this one. , we're big fans of this attraction. This is Tim's number two on his all time list, right behind Pirates of the Caribbean.
, pretty good. Here's a positive take on it. They gave themselves a title. Title, Hauntingly Delightful Day and Night. And then here's the rating. It says, The Haunted Mansion at Disney World is an absolute must visit whether it's day or night. I had the pleasure of experiencing this iconic attraction both During both times and each visit was a delight in its own unique way.
During the day, the haunted mansion still manages to captivate with this intricate details and eerie charm. The exterior with this Gothic architecture and whimsical elements sets the stage for what's to come. The cute area is filled with interactive elements that keep you entertained while you wait.
Once inside, the attention to detail is astounding. From the stretching room to the dune buggy ride through the haunted halls, every aspect is [00:31:00] meticulously crafted to immerse you in the spooky narrative. Even in broad daylight, the special effects and illusions are impressive and add to the overall experience.
Now, let's Let's talk about the nighttime experience. It's a whole new level of enchantment. As darkness falls, the haunted mansion takes on a different ambience. The exterior is beautifully illuminated, casting an eerie glow that beckons you inside. The queue area feels even more mysterious under the moonlight.
Riding the haunted mansion at night is a magical experience. The lighting effects, sound design, and subtle changes in atmosphere create a spine tingling adventure. The ghosts seem more animated. The shadows are more pronounced and the overall atmosphere more hauntingly delightful. Whether you choose to visit.
During the day or at night. The haunted mansion is a timeless classic that never fails to enchant kudos to Disney world for maintaining such a beloved attraction that continues to capture the imagination of guests of all ages. Don't miss out on this haunted journey. Edward J from 15 days ago. I, you were officially my favorite Yelper, not just because of your opinion of this attraction, but just your eloquence overall, [00:32:00] man, 315 reviews.
I'm going to, I'm going to, Oh, he's got some stuff in Nashville. So I'm going to be in Nashville next week. And he gives some, got some pretty honest reviews here. He's got, got one through five stars, you know? Man, he's got, Oh,
I don't think we should do this yet. We should probably save this one in particular, but, he gave Muppet Vision 3d two stars just so you know. You want to take back some of those claps that you gave him? I take them all back. Oh, take back all, take back all of the claps. How dare you? Okay. Wow.
Tim: Speaking of low star reviews, I have one from Andrew.
Okay. This is from last year. I will, this is a long one. Yeah, go for it. , I woke up at the crack of dawn and pay genie plus. So my entire family could sprint to the haunted mansion and skip the line. Side note, can't sprint. But when we got to the Haunted Mansion, it was broken! Oh, womp womp. Womp womp. I kind of lost it at that point.
I'm not proud of it. It was day six of [00:33:00] being continuously exploited and abused by the mouse. Oh, oh gosh. I shouldn't laugh, but I'm sorry. So I was pretty upset. I know the staff members, sorry, cast members, he put that in all caps, posted outside the Haunted Mansion were not to blame for my six days of abuse, And I did tell them that, but still, I was upset.
I let them know I was upset. It happened. I'm sorry.
Ayren: Okay. Stuff. Anyways.
Tim: Several hours later, we tried again. This time it worked. We were riding the Haunted Mansion amusement park ride. Until we weren't. We got to the Haunted Library and the ride stopped working. As I sat in the dark with my seven year old son, our eyes adjusted to the darkness and the spooky haunted library just turned into a regular old room.
We might as well have been in a bowling alley in a suburb to north of Indianapolis or a movie theater lobby in Hazleton, Pennsylvania. These are oddly specific. [00:34:00] That's how magical it was. In other words, not magical at all. Not spooky at all. It was just another room, albeit one we paid thousands of dollars to be trapped in.
I don't get it. Why do people pay for this? How powerful is this specific Disney brand of nostalgia? I want to tell people, you can feel nostalgic about anything, you don't need to take this kind of abuse. Just go to the beach or the lake somewhere, it's not hard to have fun. You can do much more with your money than feed it to the mouse.
And he puts, , in a quote, so I'm gonna read this a little louder. Yeah. Stop giving your money to the mouse! Oh man, man. That was hilarious. What an angry young man. He was very angry. He did not have a good time. Okay, so like, things happen. It's a 50 year old plus 50 plus year old ride. Things will break.
It does. That does happen. Nothing's perfect.
Ayren: It is. I mean, I get again, this, this goes back to expectations, but I get people's desire, you know, Disney is one of those things you book [00:35:00] out. sometimes years in advance. , for some people, this is a once in a lifetime opportunity. And so you go in expecting everything to be perfect.
And when it's not, I mean you're going to get let down somewhere, right? , so really what it is, it's really just a case of being able to temper expectations. And be sure to, to, you know, Be able to kind of go with the flow here. , we don't have to spend a lot of time on this next attraction, but there is one review that I wanted to read in particular.
Actually, I'd like to curb it with something positive. I want to hop on over to the hall of presidents because I was really curious to see what people were going to say about this attraction. And for the most part, there's a lot of really good reviews. It's got an overall four star rating. , there's only 75 reviews total, probably because there's only 75 people who have ever ridden this ride.
Um, or sat in on this show, but Well, actually 76. Marianne W. says, , The Hall of Presidents is another place I'm sure I reviewed. I guess she does multiple Disney reviews. She says, as I mentioned in other reviews, I always introduce my daughter to many educational experiences during our fun visits to all the attractions.
I'm recommending this one for children and adults. I have a lot I, for one, have a lot to [00:36:00] learn. So I think she just said, Hey, look, this is a nice little educational thing. If you got kids bringing on, it could be a, could be a good, good experience for them. Right. , a couple of kind of mixed reviews. This one, so from.
Best Z. This one was left over four years ago, so it's a little bit dated, but, , she gave, she gave a pretty good, she gave bullet points of her opinion of the show. She said the show's message was positive and inspiring. The waiting room is a rotunda reminiscent of the interior of the White House and contains many artifacts related to the presidents to look at and read as you wait.
Fun fact, I think this is only the second official U. S. seal. In the world, I think there's one in the White House and then Disney actually had, like, people from the White House recreate one here. So I think it's the only, like, legally recognized, presidential seal, , in the rotunda of the Hall of Presidents.
That's awesome. She said, I had mixed feelings about the information given because they obviously left out all the forms of negative history which prevents us from learning from our past mistakes. The information is [00:37:00] accurate but at times vaguely so. For example, they referenced the events that happened during the During the terms of certain presidents, but oftentimes the situation were more complicated than they were made to appear.
I like the, I like the animated statues of all the presidents. They also keep it up to date. She said the seats were comfortable and the building was very nicely air conditioned. I imagine this show may be boring to those who are, you know, Particularly not interested in history. And then she said for wait times, shows happen every 10 minutes.
So technically no line, just a waiting room, a pretty large theater too. So you won't have to worry about finding a seat. So that's a, I appreciate the well informed, , review. She left it three stars here. There is one. So I don't know if you found this yet or not, Tim, but if you look up the reviews for a certain, not for certain things, but if you just go to like the page, don't go to the review section, just go to the page for an attraction, scroll all the way down to the bottom, and there's going to be a little button that says, how many reviews are not recommended?
And these are the ones that Yelp has kind of blackballed for whatever reason. , as like, eh, these probably aren't helpful. We're just going to go ahead and kind of shadow ban [00:38:00] these. This one was left by Michelle B. She says. I was impressed every year when there's an update. I like to go this year, period.
I was very impressed period could have done a better job on Trump.
That was, , that was all she had to say about it. That was, that was her feedback. , but, , it is interesting. Wasn't, didn't, didn't they start working on the Hillary animatronic and then switch it halfway through? And that's the reason why Donald Trump, yeah, Donald Trump does look like Hillary Clinton in this ride.
He does. He, he, yeah he did. It looks like it, I could, it's very believable that that's what happened. I don't know. I wouldn't be surprised. , so yeah. There you go. That's the Hall of Presidents. There's a lot more there that we could probably get into, but but we're just not gonna do that. You got anything for us?
Tim: Not for Hall of Presidents, but I want to make our way over to the newest attraction in Magic Kingdom. Yeah, that's a good way to go. Let's let's look at Tron. Let's look at , a negative review real quick. Let's do it. This is left five months ago. One star. Don't even bother. You will not be able to ride the [00:39:00] ride unless you know someone on the quote unquote inside.
They force you to do this thing called virtual queue, from which we learned, fills in three seconds. That's about accurate. And for those without connections, will never be able to hit the three second mark to get the slot no matter what you do. Hate to break it to you, you don't need connections. I did it within one second.
I was not able to get in. That tells you something is fishy. There's not. Anyhow, we spent a ton of money for no reason and no cast member was able to help whatsoever. The system Is designed like a vegas slot machine it keeps sucking you in With more and more money with promised payoff But all you're doing is throwing your money away to be able to ride kitty rides old garbage rides Where BS shows that no one wants to see, but you need to burn time right now?
What a disaster this place has [00:40:00] become.
Ayren: Man.
Tim: , he seems a little angry. He
Ayren: does seem a little angry. I would love to know how many of these negative reviews are left by dads. I feel like dads are the primary ones. This one definitely seems to be a dad. Yeah, I feel like dads are the primary ones who, they just get over it pretty quick.
And they don't want to have anything to do with it. Which is unfortunate, but again, I get it. That's why I'm so impressed by home girl at the beginning. You had, her five star review with a one and a three year old. Okay. So we're going to take a little bit of a step back here and I think we're going to get ready to end up on this note because we're, we're hitting around time.
But this is just overall Walt Disney world resort review. Somebody left this one behind. And I, I only read the opening sentences of it. And so I'm curious to see where this goes. This was left for. Months ago by Yali F or maybe Yoli F from Denton, Texas. And she says it is ridiculous. Oh, are you ready?
You, [00:41:00] I could give you a thousand dollars. If you can guess the next sentence. I don't, I don't even want to try. I left my prescription glasses at a restaurant.
That was not what I was expecting. Went the next day to retrieve and supposedly all items never stay at location. They turn everything into list and found. I lost. It's, again, it's the angry people man. They're just typing away and they don't have time to proofread. , turn everything into list and found at the end of the day.
That's correct. Yep. Well, if this is true, why did I not get my glasses back? Because they were expensive. I've called filled out reports. I mean, someone took them from point A to point B. I'm really surprised at the lack of care these days. So she left a one star review for the entire Walt Disney world resort, because she, Lost her glasses there, and in the large sea of people who lose things, she was just mad that she didn't get hers back.
Tim: You know, it happens. It does. You lose things. You know, I had a time at Disneyland where I lost my magic pen, and [00:42:00] I went up to guest relations and said, Hey, I lost it. Yeah. I'll be honest somehow I managed to get it back. I didn't think I would but they managed to find it The fact that they get
Ayren: anything back to anybody is always impressive.
Tim: I mean they shipped it home. Oh, wow.
Ayren: That's even more Yeah to be able to take that effort
Tim: Yeah to take that effort and do it probably because they weren't as
Ayren: expensive as those Prescription glasses that Yoli F had from Denton, Texas. Yeah, you
Tim: know people, you know, it's probably probably them pirates You know, they just stole stole them glasses, you know, that
Ayren: was only seven years ago They don't do that anymore because you know, they cleaned it all up
so that, for the most part, that's a Walt Disney World there or Magic Kingdom rather. A lot of people upset about the most magical place on earth, man. It's a, you know, it's funny. I do think that at the end of the day, this whole thing, it comes down to being able to temper your expectations.
A lot of the reviews that we saw, I think, , you know, what I learned today is the five star reviews are people who choose to look on the bright side. Yep. The three star reviews, at least [00:43:00] today, had been a lot of people who were just really honest about their experience. Hey, this thing wasn't my cup of tea or it is what it is.
And the one star reviews typically, , are unfounded. They don't really have any real grounding in anything other than, Hey, I was, I just had a bad time. Which again, it's all subjective. I think it's all about what you walk into it looking for and what you prepare yourself for. But yeah, that is, that is honest.
So, so here's what we want to know from you guys is if you have any experiences that are five star experiences or one star experiences, , be sure to share those with us. We would love to hear those things. Eventually we'll have to make our way and circle back. Plenty of attractions we haven't talked about yet.
So if there are any magic kingdom attractions that you're interested in, you're like, man, I wonder what the internet has to say about that one. , go ahead and let us know it. But other than that, Tim, do you have anything else that you want to add? Yeah, well, there we go. We went ahead and looked at the magic kingdom, took a look at a couple of different attractions and stuff like that.
, maybe next time I think we'll go ahead and hop over to a universal park and see what people have to say over there. , yeah, I'm, I'm interested to see how that [00:44:00] goes. Uh, yeah. Oh, I can already tell you right now we're going to save Supercharged for last, man. Fast and Furious. I want to know people's, I wonder if Fast and Furious has any five star reviews.
I don't know. Stay tuned and come back in a couple of weeks. We'll be sure to hit on that. Uh, thank you so much for hanging out with us today and listening. And I'm Aaron, I bring the adventure. This is another episode of Magic Meets Adventure, and we will see you next time.
Tim: See ya. And so our journey comes to an end.
Guess that wraps things up. You guys did all right. Carefully raise your left arm and
Intro: exit the vehicle. Oh, and don't forget to retrieve your stolen belongings. We hope that you've enjoyed your visit with us and that you will come back soon. See you real soon. Careful gettin home!