Not-So-Hidden Mickey

by Gaylin

I love looking for Hidden Mickeys. I admit, I also love when they are not-so-hidden, like this one at Disney Springs.

In the Marketplace, near the Leftys kiosk, you can find this one!

The Little Things

by Gaylin

Something that always impresses me when I am at Walt Disney World are the small details. There seems to be thought put into everything, including bathroom floors!

In the women's bathroom by the Cirque du Soleil Theatre at Downtown Disney, it has a great tiled floor, small circles have been cut out and wee tiles put in place. Circles within circles, a lot of extra work for a bathroom floor.

But wait there's more!!!

If you look on the floor near the bathroom door . . . one of the best hidden Mickeys, set in tile. Love it!

What's So Great About the Tower of Terror in Walt Disney World?

By Lisa Green

“Hollywood, 1939. Amidst the glitz and the glitter of a bustling young movie talent at the height of its golden age, the Hollywood Tower Hotel was a star in its own right. A beacon for the show business elite. Now, something is about to happen that will change all that.” -Mark Silverman as the voice of Rod Serling, Tower of Terror Introduction

 

Disney World‘s Twilight Zone Tower of Terror…The ride that divides The Fam like no other.  Raymond and Megan really don’t care for it and will ride it one time (and one time only) during each trip to Disney World – just to be polite.  Joseph and I love it (Joseph’s all time favorite ride) – we can and will ride it again and again.  Once we even scored a surprise fast pass when we got off, so we got right back in line!

Like Rock’n’ Roller Coaster, Tower of Terror is located in Disney’s Hollywood Studios at the end of Sunset Blvd.  The queue for this ride is, as Disney tends to do with newer attractions, cleverly detailed and carefully crafted to immerse you in the ride’s theme and story line long before you board the ride vehicle (in this case a seemingly innocuous service elevator).  From the winding garden paths through the overgrown greenery, past the once grand outdoor courtyards of the Hollywood Tower Hotel to the perfectly dusty and slightly sinister-looking hotel lobby, guests paying careful attention will find wonderful gems in the details.  Hidden Mickeys abound along with several nods to the Twilight Zone television series.  Even the sullen, grey- uniform-clad bellhops add to the depth of theming for this attraction.  If the day is not too warm, I find the stand-by line for this ride actually quite enjoyable, but that’s not why Joseph loves it.  The constant screaming coming from the hotel “guests” is a good clue about the real reason this ride’s a big hit with thrill-seekers like Joseph.

As you draw closer to the pre-ride intro show, you begin to feel a sense of dread.  As if the hotel lobby is emitting a warning to you.  The bellhops will guide you into the library.  Joseph describes it this way – “The feeling of impending doom is created by the cast members working at the tower and the abandoned, worn-down look of the hotel – inside and out.  Like somewhere you don’t want to be.”

The pre-ride show provides the backstory (I won’t spoil it for you, but it’s great!) after which you are led into the hotel’s basement to the service elevators.  The theming and mood-setting details continue - watch for another Hidden Mickey on the wall.  TIP: Going to the left instead of right in line is generally faster.  Once you board the elevator (you must be 40″ tall to ride and health warnings exist), fasten that seatbelt – you’re gonna need it!  The best part of this attraction is the layers of build-up to the finale.  Everything, from the first step in line, leads up to what happens in that elevator!

Continuing with the story introduced in the library, the elevator travels through several scenes before you hit the real action.  The elevator drops, shoots up, drops, and so on – riders are constantly surprised.  Random drop sequences are what keep people coming back for more.  There’s no way to predict the exact pattern of elevator movement.  When the elevator is “falling” it is actually being pushed downward – gravity alone would not be this fast.  This is VERY scary for many people – as evidenced by the screaming!!!  Joseph and I both LOVE this part – we don’t find it frightening, just incredibly fun.  The sense of weightlessness is what makes this ride so great!

Have you visited the Hollywood Tower Hotel?  What did you think?

This article was originally posted by Lisa on her Living a Disney Life-Empty Nesting with Pixie Dust Blog.

I love Hidden Mickeys!

by Gaylin

I have always liked looking for hidden Mickeys, I will even make them using my spare change for a quick Mickey fix at home. A quarter and 2 dimes will form a terrific Mickey!

When you take the Living With The Land ride at Epcot you can often see this hidden Mickey in the aquatic part of the tour. Makes me smile, every time.

And if you ever use the women's washroom (sorry Nick) just outside of the Cirque du Soliel theatre at Downtown Disney, you will see this Mickey - set in tile. I actually did a double take when I saw it, as it is actually cut and set in tile, not stickers on top of the tile.

 

And this great Mickey head is somewhere in the Africa section of the Animal Kingdom, I was so excited to find it that I took the photo without really paying attention to where it is. Now I look for it every time I go, haven't found it again. Next trip!

And finally there is this hidden Mickey, it has been seen by very few people and you won't see it at any of the parks . . . unless I am there. Yes, I am a big enough Mickey fan that I have a tattoo! Sorry for the blurry photo - turns out it is very difficult to take a selfie of the back of your own ear.

Going on an Adventure!

Guest Writer Wednesday

 
Going on an adventure!
By: Gaylin


One of the best tours I have gone on at Disney World is the Wilderness Back Trail Adventure Segway Tour. This tour is held at the Fort Wilderness Campground and is well worth the $95.85 cost to go on it.

The tour is held twice a day, 8:30 and 11:30 a.m. I picked the 11:30 time so I could sleep in a bit that day. It is easy to get to the Campground Resort, you take a bus to the Magic Kingdom and get on a boat (the docks in front of the main gate at MK) and it takes you the dock at the campground. At that time of the day, you may be the only one on the boat - I know I was! It was a lovely quiet trip, there was a captain and one other cast member but they did their jobs and I enjoyed the view!

Once you get to the dock, you walk past the store, etc and look for the signs to Mickey's Backyard BBQ. I got there early so I could go in the store, buy a few small things, have a snack, check out the area and then find Meadows Bike Barn where the tour starts from.

Once you see all the Segway's lined up, you know you are in the right place. There are two guides, no more than 8 people on a tour and you have to sign a waiver, get safety instructions and a helmet and then learn to ride a Segway. If you have taken a Segway tour before (and I had) they let you play around a bit, as long as you stay out of the way of the beginners.

See, I look like a total expert Segway driver, don't I! If you look in the background, you can see the top of Space Mountain, the Contemporary Resort and because this in 2008, you can see the construction of Bay Lake Tower. This photo was taken once we were underway.
The leader of our fearless troop was Ron and he had a mic on and a small speaker hanging off the back of his belt. He was telling us all kinds of information about the indigenous plant life, Disney land management processes and the campground. Fort Wilderness has 770 campsites and while we toured around a couple of the areas, I couldn't take photos and drive the Segway at the same time.

Then we had a break at the Tri-Circle D Ranch. This is where the horses used at the Magic Kingdom are stabled. Other animals are kept and take care of here as well.

This is Ron, telling us all about the ranch. He was a very nice man, a wonderful tour guide, hopefully he is still guiding these tours.

This is me and my buddy Charlie, he wouldn't fit in my carry-on luggage so I did have to leave him behind!

And finally, a couple of hidden Mickey's at the ranch.

The tour from here followed the exercise trail from Fort Wilderness Campground to the Wilderness Lodge Resort. It was a lovely and quiet trip. It was great to get to use the Segway with no one else around (having taken the tour at Epcot, dealing with crowds on a Segway is not fun). On the way to the Wilderness Lodge, Ron told us more about Disney land preservation as this trail is on land that is set aside to never be used by Disney and it will stay green and wild. When we turned around to head back to the campground, we were told that Ron would now stop talking and we could go 'wild'. Okay, you can't go very wild because the Segway's are speed limited but I did hang back with the other guide and we let the rest of the group get ahead of us and then we careened all over the place going the full speed of 3 miles an hour and generally being goofs.

As I said, this tour was a lot of fun. We had 7 people in our group, I was there solo and that didn't hold me back from having a great time.

If you can fit it in your schedule and budget, I highly recommend this tour. As Mickey would say:

My Second Favorite Hidden Mickey

Hidden in the rafters of the lobby in the Villas at Disney's Wilderness Lodge Resort is this little Mickey. He's adorable, and my second favorite hidden Mickey ever. I might even say he's my favorite hidden Mickey, since my other top contender is really not a true hidden Mickey.

My Favorite Hidden Mickey

In Epcot, in Maelstrom, at the Norway Pavilion is a hidden Mickey of sorts. It's more funny than most of them out there, have you seen it?  I love to visit this mural just to make sure this Viking hasn't taken his ears off yet! Can you spot him in the photo below? Do you have any favorites out there you can recommend?