Tuesday, December 10, 2013
Primeval Whirl Ride Video
Primeval Whirl is an outdoor, spinning coaster ride located in the Chester & Hester's Dino-Rama part of Dinoland, U.S.A. at Disney's Animal Kingdom. Its height requirement is 48 inches, the tallest in all of Animal Kingdom. Primeval Whirl makes up for its retro and cheesy decor with its unique spins and drops that no other amusement park ride has. Here is the link to our video tour: Primeval Whirl Animal Kingdom Ride Video Tour We hope you enjoy!
Wednesday, December 4, 2013
The Story Behind The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror
The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror stands on Sunset Boulevard in Disney's Hollywood Studios and measures 199 feet tall, making it the tallest WDW attraction. Tower of Terror opened in the summer of 1994, but the story behind this daunting superstructure takes place way before that.
Disney folklore has it that the Hollywood Tower Hotel in Tinseltown was the go-to for all of Hollywood’s celebrities in the late 1930’s. On October 31st, 1939, the hotel was hosting a Halloween rooftop party. At precisely 8:05pm, a lightning bolt hit the hotel, dematerializing the two elevator shafts. The Hollywood Tower Hotel closed that very night. There were five victims riding the elevator when the lightning struck. A child actress with her nanny, a famous Hollywood couple, and a bellhop. None have been seen since. The hotel, which was abandoned for decades, has mysteriously re-opened, just in time for your visit, of course.
Interesting tidbit - even though the elevator shafts disappeared, your ride vehicle for this attraction is an elevator. To add to the mystery, the Hollywood Tower Hotel only had twelve stories, but in your ride experience, you drop thirteen.
This mysterious attraction appeals to thrill-seekers of all ages. If you have members of your party that don't enjoy big drops, invite them to go through the queue with you. They can enjoy the story then tell the cast member at the loading area that they don't want to ride. They will be directed to a "chicken exit" and can meet you in the gift shop.
Now that you know the story, you can look for clues that can add more to this haunting tale next time you ride. Cast members, like on the Haunted Mansion, also join in the fun with spooky glares and some evil laughs. We think you'll enjoy traveling to this other dimension, a dimension not only of sight and sound but of mind. Your next stop - the Twilight Zone.
Disney folklore has it that the Hollywood Tower Hotel in Tinseltown was the go-to for all of Hollywood’s celebrities in the late 1930’s. On October 31st, 1939, the hotel was hosting a Halloween rooftop party. At precisely 8:05pm, a lightning bolt hit the hotel, dematerializing the two elevator shafts. The Hollywood Tower Hotel closed that very night. There were five victims riding the elevator when the lightning struck. A child actress with her nanny, a famous Hollywood couple, and a bellhop. None have been seen since. The hotel, which was abandoned for decades, has mysteriously re-opened, just in time for your visit, of course.
Interesting tidbit - even though the elevator shafts disappeared, your ride vehicle for this attraction is an elevator. To add to the mystery, the Hollywood Tower Hotel only had twelve stories, but in your ride experience, you drop thirteen.
This mysterious attraction appeals to thrill-seekers of all ages. If you have members of your party that don't enjoy big drops, invite them to go through the queue with you. They can enjoy the story then tell the cast member at the loading area that they don't want to ride. They will be directed to a "chicken exit" and can meet you in the gift shop.
Now that you know the story, you can look for clues that can add more to this haunting tale next time you ride. Cast members, like on the Haunted Mansion, also join in the fun with spooky glares and some evil laughs. We think you'll enjoy traveling to this other dimension, a dimension not only of sight and sound but of mind. Your next stop - the Twilight Zone.
Photos of The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror from Disney's PhotoPass+ CD
Friday, November 15, 2013
Disney Infinity, Part 2: Getting Started
Once you buy Disney Infinity and bring it home, what happens next? If you have a Wii, this post should answer that very question.
First, you'll have to hook up your base plate with a USB plug in the back of your Wii. Next, you'll have to put the disc in and turn your Wii on. Before you can start, it may ask you for an update. This does not take very long, and to play the game you must accept it. This does not mess up your Wii, but rather, makes it ready for the glory and awesomeness to come. Once this update is finished, you'll be ready to begin. When inside, it will have you select which "game" to use such as "Disney Infinity 1" or "Disney Infinity 2". It does not matter which one you pick, but forever after you'll have to pick the same one, so it will be easier to just choose #1. Everything you play will be saved onto the game you pick.
Make sure you have placed a character (or two) on your base. The left circle is for player 1. The right circle is for player 2, if desired. The hexagonal shape at the top is for power discs and play set pieces. To play the game, you must have at least one character placed on the left side of the base. Play set pieces and power discs are not necessary to start your toy box with.
Go to 'Toy Box Launch' after the imagination video (unless the game automatically places you there). You know you're in Toy Box launch when you see a giant Cinderella Castle before you, with scattered imagination orb capsules around it. When you land, you will be on top of the "hub". Use the nunchuck to move your character around. Press buttons A to jump, B and Z to attack, and then 2 to pause. From the hub, you can do whatever you want. For your first time playing, your best option would be to go on as single player and (after checking out the castle ☺) jump onto the red circle on the hub (it has a picture of a globe on it). This is the "travel" spot. Once you're standing here a black menu will appear. Using either your nunchuck or the control pad on your Wii remote, go to to the option "Mastery Adventures". Once here, another menu will come up with the list of Mastery Adventures. Pick whichever you want. These are tutorials for how to play the game. Depending on which Mastery Adventure you do first, you will unlock its corresponding Toy Box. There are six toy boxes & Mastery Adventures available. The tutorials are pretty cute and a lot of fun to play.
After you complete all the Mastery Adventures, you're ready to play in your toy box. From the Toy Box Launch, go up to one of the giant floating objects which represents its matching toy box. Under each object is a red pad you can stand on. Once standing, you will be asked if you want to load that toy box world. While the advertising proclaims "no rules", there are limitations to the toy box. While you can place cars and tracks in the driving toy box, you can't in the combat toy box. You can place "bad guys" to battle against in the combat toy box, but not the driving toy box. Each has its ups and downs. The six different toy boxes are: Building (Basic), Driving, Combat, Dynamics, Platforming, and Sports. The best one to begin with is Building (the giant floating square terrain piece to the right of the hub in Toy Box Launch). With this toy box, you can use townspeople and building sets.
When you first arrive in your new toy box, press + to open up your building menu. Press + again to go to toy view. It's the same thing, just a different way of scrolling through your favorite toys. You may notice that you don't have a lot of toys to build with. This is because most of the toys are locked in the vault. Every time you earn a new medal from adventures, level up, or collect a red capsule from the Toy Box Launch, you earn a spin. With the spins, you can go to the vault (the yellow circle on you hub) and "spin" for prizes (toys).
Tip: We like to save our spins until we get 16 or more before going to the vault because each "page" in the vault had 16 spaces, so with 16 spins we automatically get everything on that page rather than just hoping it randomly lands on the toy we want most.
We hope this article has been able to assist you in getting started and that you enjoy your game!
First, you'll have to hook up your base plate with a USB plug in the back of your Wii. Next, you'll have to put the disc in and turn your Wii on. Before you can start, it may ask you for an update. This does not take very long, and to play the game you must accept it. This does not mess up your Wii, but rather, makes it ready for the glory and awesomeness to come. Once this update is finished, you'll be ready to begin. When inside, it will have you select which "game" to use such as "Disney Infinity 1" or "Disney Infinity 2". It does not matter which one you pick, but forever after you'll have to pick the same one, so it will be easier to just choose #1. Everything you play will be saved onto the game you pick.
Make sure you have placed a character (or two) on your base. The left circle is for player 1. The right circle is for player 2, if desired. The hexagonal shape at the top is for power discs and play set pieces. To play the game, you must have at least one character placed on the left side of the base. Play set pieces and power discs are not necessary to start your toy box with.
Go to 'Toy Box Launch' after the imagination video (unless the game automatically places you there). You know you're in Toy Box launch when you see a giant Cinderella Castle before you, with scattered imagination orb capsules around it. When you land, you will be on top of the "hub". Use the nunchuck to move your character around. Press buttons A to jump, B and Z to attack, and then 2 to pause. From the hub, you can do whatever you want. For your first time playing, your best option would be to go on as single player and (after checking out the castle ☺) jump onto the red circle on the hub (it has a picture of a globe on it). This is the "travel" spot. Once you're standing here a black menu will appear. Using either your nunchuck or the control pad on your Wii remote, go to to the option "Mastery Adventures". Once here, another menu will come up with the list of Mastery Adventures. Pick whichever you want. These are tutorials for how to play the game. Depending on which Mastery Adventure you do first, you will unlock its corresponding Toy Box. There are six toy boxes & Mastery Adventures available. The tutorials are pretty cute and a lot of fun to play.
After you complete all the Mastery Adventures, you're ready to play in your toy box. From the Toy Box Launch, go up to one of the giant floating objects which represents its matching toy box. Under each object is a red pad you can stand on. Once standing, you will be asked if you want to load that toy box world. While the advertising proclaims "no rules", there are limitations to the toy box. While you can place cars and tracks in the driving toy box, you can't in the combat toy box. You can place "bad guys" to battle against in the combat toy box, but not the driving toy box. Each has its ups and downs. The six different toy boxes are: Building (Basic), Driving, Combat, Dynamics, Platforming, and Sports. The best one to begin with is Building (the giant floating square terrain piece to the right of the hub in Toy Box Launch). With this toy box, you can use townspeople and building sets.
When you first arrive in your new toy box, press + to open up your building menu. Press + again to go to toy view. It's the same thing, just a different way of scrolling through your favorite toys. You may notice that you don't have a lot of toys to build with. This is because most of the toys are locked in the vault. Every time you earn a new medal from adventures, level up, or collect a red capsule from the Toy Box Launch, you earn a spin. With the spins, you can go to the vault (the yellow circle on you hub) and "spin" for prizes (toys).
Tip: We like to save our spins until we get 16 or more before going to the vault because each "page" in the vault had 16 spaces, so with 16 spins we automatically get everything on that page rather than just hoping it randomly lands on the toy we want most.
We hope this article has been able to assist you in getting started and that you enjoy your game!
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| *Photo of Toy Box from infinity.disney.com/toy-box |
Friday, November 8, 2013
Disney Infinity, Part 1: Starter Pack
Disney has recently launched their newest video game, Disney Infinity. It's the dream game where all our favorite characters collide in a world we can create. Disney Infinity is available for PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, Wii U, and Wii. It is also available for Nintendo 3DS, but that version is very different from the others, and we are unfamiliar with it.
To start your Disney Infinity journey, you will have to buy the starter pack for your platform.
All starter packs come with three characters: Sulley (Monsters University), Captain Jack Sparrow (Pirates of the Caribbean), and Mr. Incredible (The Incredibles). The starter pack also comes with the game disc, base plate, random power disc, and play set piece.
This is the Disney Infinity base.
To start your Disney Infinity journey, you will have to buy the starter pack for your platform.
This is the Disney Infinity base.
With this you can bring your physical Disney Infinity toys to life on your TV screen. It plugs up to the Wii with a USB (not sure about the other platforms). Place characters and circular power discs in the round spaces. Put hexagonal power discs and play set pieces in the top hexagon-shaped space. The spaces light up different colors depending on what its holding. Like, Sulley causes the base to light up blue colors. And Mr. Incredible makes it light up red.
This is the play set piece.
With the play set piece, you can enter the characters' worlds. The starter pack play set piece actually includes three play sets: The Incredibles, Monsters University, and Pirates of the Caribbean. On the Wii, play sets are single player, while on Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and Wii U it can be two-player. In each play set is a story the player can play through. The story is not a repeat of the movie, rather, an additional adventure after the movie or between sequels. For example, the Monsters University play set is not about the Scare games like in the movie, but about proving MU is better than its rival school, Fear Tech. Since you will be in their worlds, only those characters can be used. Like in Monsters University, Mr. Incredible can't play in that play set, only Sulley. So, if you have an Xbox and want to play two-player in The Incredibles play set, then you would have to buy either Randy or Mike to accompany Sulley in that play set. This leads us to our next topic, characters.
These are the starter pack characters (Mr. Incredible, Sulley, & Capt Jack Sparrow).
Characters are what your avatars are in the Disney Infinity world. When you place (for example) Capt Jack on the base, then he "magically" appears on your screen. Characters also come with their own toy box adventure, a challenge players can compete in to earn medals. In toy box mode, everything can be two player and both Mr. Incredible and Sulley can play together. Disney sells lots of different characters, each with their own different toy box adventure.
This is the web-code card that comes with the starter pack.
On the back of this card is a unique web-code you can use to unlock your characters online. Each additional character you buy will also come with their own card. Coming soon is a free, downloadable PC Disney Infinity toy box for your computer. It hasn't come out yet, so we don't know much else about it. Make sure you save your card for when the PC version is released!
These are power discs.
The starter pack comes with one, but Disney also sells mystery packs which come with two unknown discs. The round discs can be stacked under your character and will give your character a bonus. For example, the Pieces of Eight disc shown (it has a picture of Capt Jack on it) gives the character with it a chance at extra currency. The hexagonal discs can be stacked on the hexagonal spot on the base. The purple ones are for decorating your toy box with. For example, the Rapunzel's Birthday Sky (the one with a picture of Rapunzel with the floating lanterns behind her) will change your entire toy box's sky to the Tangled-theme (it's beautiful!). The Rapunzel's Kingdom disc (the other purple disc with Rapunzel on it) unlocks Tangled-themed terrain pattern (also beautiful!) The orange discs unlock an extra toy to play with in the toy box. The Mickey's Car disc (picture of Mickey's & his red car) unlocks his toon car your character can drive in.
We hope this helps you know what you're getting into when you buy a Disney Infinity starter pack! It's a lot of fun!
Friday, November 1, 2013
Disney's PhotoPass
Each trip to Walt Disney World creates countless magical memories. Unfortunately, if you're a mom, you often have little proof that you were even there - because you were the one taking all the pictures!! Disney has a great solution to this: the Disney PhotoPass.
Stationed all over the Disney World property are skilled, friendly photographers waiting to take your picture. In addition to the camera, you can recognize them by their khaki vests and cast member name tags. They will give you a PhotoPass card (looks like a credit card), which they scan and load your pictures onto. Each time you have your photo taken by a Disney photographer, you can have them add it to your PhotoPass card. You will find them throughout all four major WDW parks, as well as at the Deluxe resorts. Don't worry, if you forget your card in the hotel room, you can always get another one. Once you get home (and recover!) from your vacation, you go online and set up an account to view your photos. It's a lot of fun to look at them, edit them, add special effects, borders, etc. The good news: all of this is free! The not so good news: the pictures are quite pricey to purchase.
There is another option, though. Pre-order! You can go to the PhotoPass website https://mydisneyphotopass.disney.go.com/wdwmemories and order the PhotoPass BEFORE your vacation (must be at least 14 days before your departure date). The current cost is $119, which is a lot of money, but consider what it includes: a CD that contains all of your pictures from your vacation! You can then print as many and as often as you like. All the editing and special features on the website are available to you before the CD is sent. If you choose to wait until after your trip to order the CD, the cost increases significantly.
My favorite option is the PhotoPass+ (notice the "plus"). This works the same way as the regular PhotoPass, except it includes attraction photos, as well as photos from select dining locations. The cost for this is $149. If you have ever bought a ride photo, you know this makes for a great deal.
When you order the PhotoPass or PhotoPass+ before your departure, you will receive a CD in the mail containing lots of great WDW photos, and - most importantly - a voucher to redeem at Guest Services in any of the major parks. They will give you a lanyard with your PhotoPass card on it - so convenient! While you WILL need this particular card for the cast member to scan for your dining and attraction photos, it's ok to get additional cards from other photographers. (This is especially handy, because our large family sometimes splits up) Once you return home, you can add all of the cards to your PhotoPass account.
Many people skip this great option because they feel they can just take all of their own photos - and they certainly can, but Disney's photographers have a way of capturing moments that is just....well..magical. :) We have purchased this several times in the past, and we have never been sorry! We often get a great family shot for Christmas cards! If this is in your budget, we hope you'll give it a try. We're pretty sure you won't regret it!
Stationed all over the Disney World property are skilled, friendly photographers waiting to take your picture. In addition to the camera, you can recognize them by their khaki vests and cast member name tags. They will give you a PhotoPass card (looks like a credit card), which they scan and load your pictures onto. Each time you have your photo taken by a Disney photographer, you can have them add it to your PhotoPass card. You will find them throughout all four major WDW parks, as well as at the Deluxe resorts. Don't worry, if you forget your card in the hotel room, you can always get another one. Once you get home (and recover!) from your vacation, you go online and set up an account to view your photos. It's a lot of fun to look at them, edit them, add special effects, borders, etc. The good news: all of this is free! The not so good news: the pictures are quite pricey to purchase.
There is another option, though. Pre-order! You can go to the PhotoPass website https://mydisneyphotopass.disney.go.com/wdwmemories and order the PhotoPass BEFORE your vacation (must be at least 14 days before your departure date). The current cost is $119, which is a lot of money, but consider what it includes: a CD that contains all of your pictures from your vacation! You can then print as many and as often as you like. All the editing and special features on the website are available to you before the CD is sent. If you choose to wait until after your trip to order the CD, the cost increases significantly.
My favorite option is the PhotoPass+ (notice the "plus"). This works the same way as the regular PhotoPass, except it includes attraction photos, as well as photos from select dining locations. The cost for this is $149. If you have ever bought a ride photo, you know this makes for a great deal.
When you order the PhotoPass or PhotoPass+ before your departure, you will receive a CD in the mail containing lots of great WDW photos, and - most importantly - a voucher to redeem at Guest Services in any of the major parks. They will give you a lanyard with your PhotoPass card on it - so convenient! While you WILL need this particular card for the cast member to scan for your dining and attraction photos, it's ok to get additional cards from other photographers. (This is especially handy, because our large family sometimes splits up) Once you return home, you can add all of the cards to your PhotoPass account.
Many people skip this great option because they feel they can just take all of their own photos - and they certainly can, but Disney's photographers have a way of capturing moments that is just....well..magical. :) We have purchased this several times in the past, and we have never been sorry! We often get a great family shot for Christmas cards! If this is in your budget, we hope you'll give it a try. We're pretty sure you won't regret it!
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| The PhotoPass+ CD |
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| The PhotoPass+ Voucher |
Wednesday, October 30, 2013
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