"Welcome, foolish mortals, to the Haunted Mansion!"

The Haunted Mansion was an opening-day attraction when the Magic Kingdom opened October 1, 1971. Located in Liberty Square, this attraction has a long and interesting history that doesn't begin with the Magic Kingdom.

When Walt Disney was building Disneyland, he originally wanted to include a haunted house that guests could walk-through. He asked his core imagineers to come up with a design, something that would look haunted but would still look presentable in his pristine park. After rejecting countless designs, he finally came up with one that fit his idea of what this attraction should be. It was not a walk-through attraction anymore, but a ride through a haunted house, with a ghost as your tour guide. It was eventually determined that Walt wanted to build a new area in Disneyland where the Haunted Mansion could be placed. This new area, called New Orleans Square, opened in 1966 with the Haunted Mansion building built, but the ride was not opened. Guests began to wonder why, and many started coming up with their own theories. One popular Urban Legend was that the ride was too scary, and that a guest had ridden it during a "soft opening", and had a heart attack from fright. This was completely untrue, because the ride interior wasn't built yet! However, when Walt Disney died in 1966, there was more conflict regarding the mansion's story line and whether it should be a "funny" or "scary" ride. The Haunted Mansion in Disneyland eventually opened on August 9, 1969. 

When the Magic Kingdom opened in 1971, it received it's own Haunted Mansion. Disneyland's version was a Southern plantation, and Disney World's was a Colonial mansion. 

The rides are both very similar, and we're going to focus on the Disney World mansion now. Here's a complete ride-through of the attraction; you'll almost feel like you're there! While you watch, I'll explain to you what's happening, since the video isn't perfect. Go ahead, press play! I promise it isn't too scary! Make sure you watch it in HD!

The Haunted Mansion is located in Liberty Square. Master Gracey owns this mansion, and as you walk up, you can see his hearse and invisible horse.

Waiting in line for the ride, you'll notice how detailed the entire mansion is, and you have the option to enter through the cemetery or just the normal line. The cemetery is more for small children who may be a little frightened, because this cemetery is interactive with gags and funny interactive tombstones.

As you walk into the mansion, you're directed into the stretching room. This room has four portraits, and the room actually looks like it's stretching (spoiler: you're actually in an elevator, taking you to the basement where you get onto the ride). This is where you meet your "Ghost Host", who lets you know that there are no windows, no doors, and no way out of this room. At this point, you're probably a little freaked. Step into the dead center of the room! And watch as the room stretches before your eyes. Is it your imagination? Maybe. But you, my friend, need to find a way out! Or, you can use your host's way of leaving, which is shown when the lights go out and his hanging corpse is shown on the ceiling.

Now, a maid will direct you out of the stretching room and to where you board your doom buggy. This is the vehicle you will ride in. Once you're in the Doom Buggy, your journey really begins. The ghost host is with you the entire journey, giving you a grand tour of his mansion. There are 999 ghosts residing here, but there's room for 1,000!

Through the first hallway, you see that a thunderstorm is happening outside. Every time the lightning flashes, the portraits on the walls change. A ship becomes shipwrecked, a woman becomes Medusa, etc.

Then enter the library, where it seems the busts are following your every move.

Pass a piano playing by itself,

staircases that lead to nowhere,

eyes peering at you through the walls,

a candlestick floating in an endless hallway,

someone trying to break out of their casket,

a demon clock with it's hands on the number 13,

Madame Leota in her floating crystal ball summoning the spirits through a creepy (and awesome) ritual,

ghosts partying in the ballroom (this is where your ghost host leaves you for a while, saying he needs to go and join the party),

a murderous ghost bride in the attic,

and ghosts partying outside in the graveyard. The graveyard is where your ghost host finds you again.

Once you're out of there, you're warned that a ghost may follow you home. You're shown the three hitchhiking ghosts, and pass a mirror where one of them is indeed in your ride car! 

Then Little Leota sends you off, saying that there's always room for one more ghost. 

"Hurry back, hurry back! Be sure to bring your death certificate! If you decide to join us, make final arrangements now, we've been dying to have you."

Back in Liberty Square, you're near the entrance to the ride. Welcome back to the mortal world! Now, wasn't that fun?

"Welcome to a kingdom of animals... real, ancient and imagined: a kingdom ruled by lions, dinosaurs and dragons; a kingdom of balance, harmony and survival; a kingdom we enter to share in the wonder, gaze at the beauty, thrill at the drama, and learn."

Welcome to Animal Kingdom!

Animal Kingdom opened on April 22 (Earth Day), 1998. It's the largest Disney park on the planet, spanning 580 acres (wow!), and is dedicated entirely to the conservation of animals. This was something that was near and dear to Walt's heart, and Disney had wanted to base a theme park on this for a long time. Something they're very adamant about is that Animal Kingdom is not a zoo, but a theme park. However, there are a ton of live animals! The park's icon is the Tree of Life, a sculpted 145 ft. tree. If you look closely, carved into the bark are actual animals. It's gorgeous, and stands as a great icon for this park based on conservation.

Here's a complete walk-through video of the entire park.

If there's one thing Animal Kingdom is big on, it's themeing. This is a term used in relation to Disney parks; it basically mean that when something is themed so intricately and impressively, you forget where you are. You suddenly become a part of wherever you are, and this is HUGE in Disney World. You're completely immersed in Animal Kingdom, and it's seriously like you're in Africa or Asia. You completely forget you're just another tourist who's spending the day at a very expensive theme park. Even though Animal Kingdom has been called a "half day park" (meaning there isn't enough for you to do that would take up an entire day, like the other parks), it's spectacular when it comes to theme. The Magic Kingdom is really good at theme too, Epcot is decent, and Hollywood Studios is a mess. That's why I will always love Animal Kingdom, because it completely immerses and amazes you. 

Animal Kingdom is divided into six different areas.

Discovery Island

Located at the center of the park, this area includes the Tree of Life. There are many trails leading off of the area around the Tree of Life, and these trails lead to different animal enclosures. It really looks like the animals you're seeing are in their natural habitats. Inside the tree of life, there's actually a 3D show called It's Tough to be a Bug. This show is based off of the Pixar movie A Bug's Life, and basically shows you how hard it is being a bug, and that bugs are your friends. It's really cute! At least until ants begin "crawling" across your feet (it's actually just a sensory trick, but it feels real). 

Camp Minnie-Mickey

This is a small area themed to be a wilderness camp hosted by Mickey and Minnie. It hosts a lot of character meet and greets, mostly animal characters that you would expect to find at a wilderness camp. There's also a theater that houses Festival of the Lion King, a theatrical stage show based on the movie The Lion King. It's got singing, dancing, and storytelling; and also includes Simba, Timon, and Pumbaa. 

Africa

This area is a fictional African village called Harambe. There is one main attraction here called Kilimanjaro Safaris. This attraction is extremely similar to what a real African safari would be like. You're not on a ride; you board a safari jeep and have your own safari guide. They drive you through Disney's huge man-made Savannah, and you get to see all the animals that live here. The animals are freely roaming, which means they aren't caged or behind glass walls. You're driving on the road in this Savannah! I can't explain how cool this is, animals can actually come as close to you as they want. Remember when I said that Animal Kingdom was incredibly immersive? Here's a great example of that!

Rafiki's Planet Watch

This is an area that is accessible only by train, and focuses on endangered species. There are a ton of endangered species in habitats here, and Rafiki from the Lion King helps educate you on why they're important and what's happening to them in the wild. It's really informative and is especially great for younger kids. 

Asia

Asia is similar to Africa in the fact that it's a fictional village in Asia called Anandapur. The themeing here is gorgeous, and you seriously feel like you're in a remote Asian village. The Maharajah Jungle Trek leads guests through the forests outside the village, where you can see many native animals that would be located here. Asia has two rides: Kali River Rapids and Expedition Everest. Kali River Rapids is a water raft ride through the Chakranadi River. You will get absolutely soaked on this ride, but it's so much fun! You're in a huge white water rafting raft and it twists and turns so much that literally everyone on the raft gets soaked. Expedition Everest is a roller coaster through the Himalayan Mountains. It's fast and full of twists and turns, and you'll actually encounter a huge, terrifying yeti.

DinoLand USA

This area is inspired by man-kind's curiosity and fascination with dinosaurs. There are two sub-divisions of this area; The Dino Institute and Chester and Hester's Dino-Rama. The Dino Institute takes a more scientific approach to Dinosaurs, and includes a thrill ride called DINOSAUR (I didn't hit caps lock for special effect, the actual ride title is in all capital letters). This ride is a trip on a time machine back in time to save the last dinosaur from the meteor shower that made the dinosaurs extinct. It's actually a terrifying ride, full of life-size dinosaur anamatronics in a dim, meteor-lighted forest. I'll admit, the last time I went on this ride I cried like a little girl. It's scary. Chester and Hester's Dino-Rama is supposed to be a humorous approach on Dinosaurs, and is themed like a midway carnival. 

Animal Kingdom doesn't have any kind of nighttime show, because something like fireworks would upset a lot of the animals. If' you're concerned about the well-being of all the animals that are here, you'll be assured to know that the park has been accredited by the  Association of Zoos and Aquariums and the World Association of Zoos and Aquariums, meaning they have met or exceeded the standards in education, conservation, and research. Actually  on opening day there were about two dozen protesters from PETA who really didn't want this park to open! Apparently they thought that Disney would mistreat these animals, which was far from true. Animal Kingdom is a great park full of wonder and immersive experiences with animals.

"The World you have entered was created by The Walt Disney Company and is dedicated to Hollywood—not a place on a map, but a state of mind that exists wherever people dream and wonder and imagine, a place where illusion and reality are fused by technological magic. We welcome you to a Hollywood that never was—and always will be."

Welcome to MGM/Hollywood Studios!

MGM Studios (Now Hollywood Studios) opened on May 1, 1989. This park is dedicated to the glorified version of "Hollywood", kind of like everybody's vision of what Hollywood should have (but didn't actually) look like. What began as a smaller, scaled down yet detailed park eventually became a park that's basically a mish-mash of a whole lot of different things. This is Hollywood Studios today, a park that in my opinion, doesn't have much of an identity or unity. But we'll get more into that later.

Here's a complete walk-through video of the entire park.

The two previous parks that I've posted about, the Magic Kingdom and Epcot, both have a very structured layout, consisting of either "lands" or "pavilions". Hollywood Studios has always been more abstract in design. This totally isn't a bad thing, but it's definitely different than what the previous two parks were. That's the point! When the park was built, new management had taken over and had wanted to create a park that was new and different and exciting to the world. They actually hoped to use the park as a real, working movie studio, but that quickly fell through. More and more attractions themed to different things were built, and so now we have a park that's filled with amazing rides and attractions that don't really have a sense of belonging or unity to them. However, it really is a cool park!

The big sorcerer hat you see at the beginning of this post was built in 2001. The original "symbol" for the park was a replica of The Chinese Theater (below). The sorcerer hat was built to celebrate Walt Disney's 100th birthday, and was supposed to be temporary. For reasons unknown, the hat stayed. To some, it's magical and wonderful and pretty. To others, it's nothing but a big eyesore distracting from the theme of Old Hollywood. I personally am a part of the latter group, and love the look of the Chinese Theater replica.

Hollywood Studios is divided into six themed "areas".

Hollywood Boulevard

This is the park's main entrance. Similar to Main Street USA in the Magic Kingdom, it's lined with shops and restaurants and is basically like the opening credits to the park. Themed to Old Hollywood, this part of the park has one ride: The Great Movie Ride. This ride is actually inside of the Chinese Theater we just talked about! It's a 20 minute ride through scenes from classic movies, like Mary Poppins, The Wizard of Oz, Raiders of the Lost Ark, Singin' in the Rain, and many many more.

Echo Lake

This is the park's oval-shaped lake and the area surrounding it. The area has a 50s themed restaurant, an Indiana Jones show, a Hollywood Hall of Fame courtyard, an American Idol show, and one of my personal favorite rides, Star Tours. This ride is a Star Wars 3D flight simulator, and it's awesome! You get to enter a Starspeeder with your 3D goggles on, strap on your seatbelts, and it really feels like you're flying to one of the many planets in Star Wars. And the entire exterior is themed to resemble an Ewok village on the planet of Endor, complete with a life-size replica of an AT-AT walker!




Streets of America
This area is called Streets of America because it features a New York City backdrop, which creates the illusion of forced perspective. It's pretty cool because you can kind of picture yourself standing on the streets of Manhattan rather than a theme park in Central Florida. This area includes The Studios Backlot Tour, which is basically exactly what it sounds like, a tram tour through the pretend backlots of the park. Remember when I said that originally the park would be used as a movie studio? Well, all those movie studio buildings got built even though they were hardly used. This ride is a tour around the back lot of those areas. There's also a Honey I Shrunk the Kids playset for smaller kids. Even though it's basically a glorified version of a playground, what makes it magical is the fact that everything is built as though you're in your backyard and you're shrunk. Giant objects like ants and grass blades are what the kids play on. My personal favorite attraction in this area is Muppetvision 3D, a 3D show featuring the Muppets! It may sound like a simple 3D show, but this is Disney, and therefore the entire area and show building is themed appropriately. And there's one restaurant here: the Pizza Planet restaurant from Toy Story. And if you don't think that's the coolest thing you've ever heard, you need to get out of here.

Animation Courtyard
This smaller area of the park does not have any rides. It consists of shows and one special permanent exhibit. Animation Courtyard was originally going to be the beginning of the working movie studios tour, but again, the plans on that fell through. The reason it's called Animation Courtyard is because there are two live shows here: Voyage of the Little Mermaid, a theatrical version of The Little Mermaid, and Disney Junior Live on Stage, a show for small kids based on TV shows on the Disney Junior channel. The permanent exhibit is called Walt Disney: One Man's Dream. It's museum-like, but has rare artifacts from Walt's life, and it's seriously so incredibly moving. Every time I go in here I end up teary-eyed, because the exhibit does such a great job of showing Walt's dreams and aspirations. Obviously, I'm a huge Disney fan, and going through this exhibit is just a huge way for me to honor Walt and everything he's done.

Pixar Place
This is the park's newest area, and was actually built where some of the unused movie buildings were located. It's built to resemble Pixar's Production studios in California, which is actually pretty cool. As of right now it only has one ride, Toy Story Midway Mania, a 3D carnival game ride hosted by the Toy Story characters. Even though it only has one ride, it's pretty much guaranteed that there will be more rides coming soon. Why else would Disney build an entire area themed to Pixar to host just one ride?

Sunset Boulevard
If you're a big thrill-seeker, this area is for you. There are two hugely popular thrill rides here: The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror, and Rockin Rollercoaster starring Aerosmith. Tower of Terror is based on the classic TV series, and is 199 feet tall, making it the tallest attraction on WDW property. It takes place in a haunted hotel, and when you board your "elevator", you end up soaring to the top, then down, then up, then down again. This drop sequence is completely random, meaning you never know how far you'll drop before you come back up again. Rockin Rollercoaster is a rollercoaster themed to Aerosmith. You board your "limo" and have to rush through LA traffic to reach Aerosmith's concert. It takes place completely in the dark except for neon signs and lights, and it's the only roller coaster in WDW that has inversions. It's pretty intense! There's also a live show here of Beauty and the Beast, similar to the show that was adapted onto Broadway.

Fantasmic
Hollywood Studios doesn't end their night with fireworks. Instead, they have a show called Fantasmic, which takes place in a huge amphitheater not far from Sunset Boulevard. Mickey is the star of this show, and he has to fight classic Disney villains using his powers of good, magic, and imagination. It has a ton of water effects, lasers, and some fireworks. It's really cool to watch, especially when the huge replica of Maleficent the dragon comes out! In the end Mickey wins of course, and to celebrate, a huge steamboat comes out with Princesses and Princes from the same movies that the villains were from. It's a great way to end your day at Disney's mish-mashed Hollywood Studios.

"May EPCOT Center entertain, inform and inspire; and above all, may it instill a new sense of belief and pride in man's ability to shape a world that offers hope to people everywhere in the world."

Welcome to Epcot (Center)!

Epcot Center (now Epcot) opened on October 1, 1982. This park has a history that begins long before the actual park opened, way back in the 1960s when Walt Disney was planning his "Florida Project". Basically, Walt wanted to create a theme park and a Utopian City in Central Florida. The Magic Kingdom would be his theme park, and EPCOT (Experimental Prototype Community of Tomorrow) would be his Utopian city. His original vision was for a model community, home to twenty thousand residents. It was to have been built in the shape of a circle, with businesses and commercial areas at its center, community buildings, schools, and recreational complexes around it, and residential neighborhoods along the perimeter. 

However, after Walt died in 1966, his plans for EPCOT were scrapped. The Magic Kingdom was built, and eventually Epcot Center. It was not a Utopian city, but another theme park. In order to keep Walt's original vision alive, the Imagineers created this park to focus on the future and the world. That's why the two sections of the park are called Future World and World Showcase.

Here's a complete walkthrough video of the entire park.

Future World:

Future World is, you guessed it, dedicated to the future. When the park first opened, there were pavilions representing agriculture, innovations, transportation, imagination, future living, communication, energy, the sea, and the human body. That was Future World's main theme; to provide new technology and a view into what the future may be like. However, Future World has seen a lot of changes. Three of these pavilions have been completely demolished and replaced, and six have been altered. Not one of the pavilions is the same as it was opening day, which is an inevitable side effect of having a section based on the future. However, it is my humble opinion that Epcot lost it's sense of being when it lost it's original name. Not to say that the park isn't good, but it definitely is not what it used to be, and it definitely has lost some of it's sense of being.

The current pavilions include:

Spaceship Earth

 This ride is actually inside of the Epcot "ball". It focuses on how communication has changed over time. This ride has been updated over the years to include more modern communication, but it has stayed relatively the same.

Mission: Space

Mission: Space replaced Horizons (top) in 1999, which was an optimistic view of what future living would be like. Mission: Space (bottom) focuses on space expedition, and is a motion simulator that simulates what it would be like to go into space, complete with G-force spinning and your own space pod.

Innoventions
Innoventions (formerly called Communicore) is a large exhibit that focuses on innovations and new technology. It's basically a huge interactive area full of brand new technology for you to explore. 

Universe of Energy

The Universe of Energy has not seen any external changes over the years, but the show inside has. When it first opened, the ride took you back to the age of dinosaurs to explore where fossil fuel came from. Today, Ellen Degeneres and Bill Nye the Science Guy go along with you. 

Test Track

Test track (right) replaced the World of Motion pavilion (left) in 1996. Both focused on transportation, but World of Motion was about how transportation has evolved and Test Track is about how cars are made and tested.

The Seas with Nemo and Friends

The Seas with Nemo and Friends replaced The Living Seas (left) in 2006. Most of the changes that were made included adding Finding Nemo characters to the pavilion. Both focused on the oceans, sea life, and conservation, but now the entire pavilion is themed to Finding Nemo.

The Land

The Land is a large pavilion focusing on agriculture and the environment. While not undergoing many external changes, The Land has seen many internal changes. New restaurants, a hang gliding flight simulator ride called Soarin', and a boat ride called Living with the Land are just a few of the changes this pavilion has seen.

The Imagination Pavilion

Imagination has not seen any external changes, but the ride inside currently called Journey Into Imagination with Figment has changed three different times, and the interactive exhibit called Image Works has been indefinitely closed. 

Wonders of Life

Wonders of Life was a pavilion focused on the human body. It included two rides, three shows, a restaurant, and an interactive exhibit. It was closed in 2006, and has been completely gutted and is no longer open to the public. It is sometimes used for seasonal events such as the Epcot International Food & Wine festival and the Epcot Flower and Garden festival.

World Showcase

World Showcase is the other half of Epcot. It is reminiscent to a World's Fair, and has eleven pavilions to represent eleven different countries. Most every country includes a restaurant, a shop, and some type of entertainment like a ride or show. I won't go into as much detail as I did with Future World, because the World Showcase pavilions are relatively the same except for the countries they represent.

                    Mexico                                                            Norway

                         China                                                          Germany

                        Italy                                                               America

Morocco 

                                                        France

                                  Great Britain                            Canada

Japan

And that's basically everything you've ever wanted to know about Epcot!