The Yacht club is a nice facility which commonly hosts large conferences as it is adjacent to Disney’s giant convention center. The traveler’s biggest complaint was the long corridors residents need to navigate to get from their room to the sparse elevators – and fire alarmed stairways don’t allow walking. Rooms were fairly spacious and well equipped – a nice water park with several pools and a water slide offered fun when guests didn’t venture into the parks.
Ray offers his top 10 list of Disney Attractions to not miss (from an adult’s perspective) – note that 2 popular attractions at Epcot (Cranium Command and Body Wars were closed during their visit)
1. Wishes Firework Show (nightly at the Magic Kingdom) – if you enjoy firework shows, see Wishes – the choreography is spectacular and you will see an amazing variety of pyrotechnics set to Disney tunes.
2. Kilimanjaro Safaris (Disney’s Animal Kingdom) – Ray’s favorite “ride.” Guest’s board jeep like vehicles and take a safari with “wild” animals in their “natural” habitat. Not exactly like visiting an animal preserve in Kenya, but a lot better than visiting any zoo.
3. Festival of the Lion King (Disney’s Animal Kingdom) – Ray’s favorite “show,” held daily at multiple times. Why travel to New York and spend lots of money on Broadway tickets? See the amazing costumes, hear living musical performance and see some neat “Cirque du Solei” type stunts in a 30 minute rendition of the Lion King. Don’t miss it!4. Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster (Disney’s Hollywood Studios) – a wonderful coaster, the best at Disney World – an indoor version of Disneyland’s California Adventure coaster Screaming, Ray’s all time favorite coater. The coaster shoots you forward from a complete stop, puts you thru complete loops yet has an amazingly smooth ride.
5. Soarin (Epcot) – Disney copied the popular California Adventure attraction and built it at Epcot. An incredible ride – people sit in a hang glider like contraption simulating a flight over scenic California – complete with sounds and smells of the Golden State.
6. American Idol (Disney’s Hollywood Studios) – Fans of Idol, don’t miss this attraction. The producers have daily auditions at the park and 3 selected participants per show perform live on a set mirroring the TV show with the audience selecting their favorite performer. Each show winner participates in the final show of the day where the daily winner gets a priority invitation to audition for the real American Idol show. Obviously the quality of the performances differs from show to show but Idol’s popularity keeps the pool of contestants quite deep.
7. Fantasmic (Disney’s Hollywood Studios) – a nighttime show which is not always open daily during off peak season. A sometimes scary combination of fireworks, stunt actors, parade of floats with Disney characters and video clips projected on a screen made of water fountains, this show is full of imagination and entertainment. Young children may be frightened!8. The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror (Disney’s Hollywood Studios) – supposedly a “different” ride each time, this simulated drop ride in a broken elevator is only one part of the whole experience. From the creepy entrance, to the videos of Twilight zone clips, this ride exemplifies why Disney is different than any other theme park with their attention to every detail.
9. Beauty and the Beast (Disney’s Hollywood Studios) – Ray enjoys the 30 minute “abridged” version of the Broadway shows – you get live musical performances with great costumes and choreography, and the 30 minute limit excludes lots of filler materal. This is a well done show which parallels the classic story.10. Space Mountain (Magic Kingdome) – After many decades, still a favorite of Disney visitors. A great roller coaster.
