Disney Questions, Disney Questions, and More Disney Questions

 

Okay so tonight I am back to answering the many Disney questions that have been submitted over the past couple of weeks.  Thanks again to everyone who has submitted questions to me.  Thanks to you all, I now have over 100 questions I can pick from to answer over the next many weeks, so thanks again and now, on with the show.

Tonights first question comes from DisneyFanK and they ask, “Brad my family loves your blog and especially all of the pictures that you share with us.  Do you use a special camera for your pictures?”

Nope, not at all really.  We have a Canon CoolPix DSL camera and no special lens or anything.  I have found that the key to getting great pictures is to take as many as you can. By that I mean I will stand in front if whatever I am shooting and I will take probably around 10 to 15 shots of it and then I keep the best ones.  That is the great things about digital pictures – don’t like them?  Then throw them away with no money lost.  It can also be very hard to get pictures without a ton of people in them or someone walking in front of you, so we try to get pictures in the early mornings when less people are in the parks.  As a final picture tip, you should always hand your camera to the PhotoPass people and ask them to take a picture with your camera as well.  That way you can get in some pictures of yourself and they are always happy to take pictures with your camera.  Thanks for writing in and I hope this helps!

Next question comes from TomH from Minnesota.  Tom asks, “Besides your blog, can you help me find some ways to keep Disney with me when I am not able to get to the parks?”

You definitely asked the right guy this question Tom.  There are hundreds of way to keep Disney with and around you all the time when you can’t be at the parks.  To begin, you should load up your iPhone/iPad/iPod with all the Disney music you can find.  I love the movie soundtracks for a start.  There are so many soundtracks that you could almost fill your iPhone just with animated soundtracks from DIsney and Pixar films.  You can also fire up iTunes and click on the “podcast” tab and then search for Disney podcasts.  These are usually weekly shows that are either news related or otherwise all things DIsney related.  The best 2 Disney podcasts are WDW Radio hosted by Lou Mongello and Inside the Magic hosted by Ricky Brigante.  For WDW Radio, Lou was an attorney who had such a passion for Disney that he quit his job and now he does his Disney podcast and he does videos in the park, audio guides to all of the lands in the Magic Kingdom, and he charges people to take them on guides tours of any of the Disney Parks.  Inside the Magic is more Disney news oriented and Ricky also has a passion for Disney and it shows by the quality of his show.  Podcasts are a great way to to feel as if you are in the parks year around.

If you love food like I do, there are many Disney cookbooks available that have the recipes in them from many of the DIsney restaurants.  So when you start craving the BBQ ribs from the Brown Derby, you can open up a cookbook and cook them yourself!

Of course there are all the Disney movies on DVD and Blu-Ray.  There are literally tons of DIsney books on bookstore shelves and at Amazon that you can read and most of them are really great at making you feel like you are getting insider info about Disney World.

I could go on and on here, but rest assured that if you look a little, you will be able to keep Disney with you every day that you are not in the parks.  Hope this was helpful to you!

My last question tonight comes from Terri and she asks, “Ok you have to pick one and only one food dish at Disney that you can keep with you after the zombies take over the world.  What food dish do you take?  I know how much you love the food at Disney so I assume this will be a hard one for you?”

Man you had to go and get all cruel on me Terri!  By the way, I have decided when the zombies do come I’m immediately running up to them and getting bitten so I can join the winning team quicker!  I love me some zombies, especially the Walking Dead TV show.  Ok so basically, what is my all-time favorite food dish at Disney World?  Hmmm, there are just so many and like my kids, it is impossible to pick a favorite, but for the sake of answering your question, I will go with…

 

this juicy, tender filet on a bed of the tastiest risotto with bacon from Le Cellier in the Canadian Pavilion in Epcot.  By far, the best meal I eat each time when we go to Disney, bar none.  It is just the right portion, and the pretzel bread and cheese soup that I had before the main course welcomes this filet in my tummy with open arms!

Thank you again to everyone who has taken the time to write in and ask your questions.  i will try to do better about answering more of them now much quicker since I has such a backlog of them.  Thanks for joining me again this evening and as always, I appreciate your time and I will see ya back here real soon!

Soarin To Tower – We Are Ready For Takeoff!

 

If you have never taken a flight on Soarin Over California, or just Soarin as it is more commonly known, then by all means you are missing out on one of the finest attractions that all of Disney has to offer.

Do you like hang gliding?  Oh come on what do you mean you have never been hang gliding?  Well now is the time start true believe because Soarin is the absolute safest way to go daredevil hang gliding across most of the scenic places that California has to offer!

Soarin Over California started it’s life in the mind of Imagineer Mark Sumner in 1996.  He had an idea for a ride that would use a lift mechanism unlike anything that had ever been built before.  So like any great Imagineer, her pulled out his old Erector set and he built a working prototype, seen here:

 

This lift system would sit three rows of people and as it lifts toward the sky, it pulls the first row up higher than the second, and the second up higher than the third, enabling everyone to have a very clear view of the Omnimax screen in front of them.  Oh and it lifts you up 10 stories into the air, and swings you around as if you were on an actual hang glider!  Here you can see the ride vehicles:

  

Once on board and strapped into your hang glider, all of the lights go out and you “lift off” in your glider and instantly you are “Soarin Over California”

The ride lasts about five minutes and will see you flying over the Golden gate Bridge, in San Francisco, Redwood Creek, Napa Valley, Monterey, Lake Tahoe, Yosemite National Park, the PGA West golf course in la Quinta, Camarillo, Anza-Borrego, Desert State Park, San Diego, Malibu, Los Angeles and of course Disneyland itself during the Christmas season. The final scene takes place at Christmas time and at night as the Christmas firework show is taking place.  You will be flying over river rafters (be sure to take big smells during the ride as there are many amazing smells around you, such as pine trees and orange groves), snow skiers, horseback riders, kayakers, hot air ballooners, fighter jets, golfers, and of course other hang gliders.

Here you will need to duck because a golfer did not see you coming before he tees off and he almost hits you right in the face with his ball.  Oh and if you look at the ball very closely, you will see that it has Mickey Mouse on it, but you must look quickly!

 

During this scene, the majestic snow filled hills give way to snow skiers.  The last skier you see will wipe out in a huge and hilarious way!  No skiers were harmed in the filming of Soarin!

 

Soarin is a ride unlike any other.  It is at the same time serene, peaceful, and yet exhilarating and exiting.  You have a constant breeze in your face and the smells that I mentioned work a magic on you that really pulls you into believing that you truly are on a hang glider.  The soundtrack to the ride is so very good that I actually purchased it from the store outside of the ride and it makes great listening in the car to and from work.

Now the bad news!  When you enter Epcot, PLEASE RUN to The Land Pavilion as quickly as you can and go immediately and get a FastPass for Soarin.  If you do not, they will all be gone by 12:00 noon, and it doesn’t matter what time of year you go.  Soarin is in the two 3 most popular attractions in all of Disney World and the FastPasses go quicker than lightning.  We always send our kids ahead to get the FastPasses, then we catch up with them and then get in line immediately so that we can at least ride it twice in a day.

Soarin is simply not to be missed, and if your into very complicated ride mechanisms, you will lose yourself in wonder because while the ride was thought up while playing with an Erector Set, the ride still looks like a huge Erector set!

Thanks for taking your time to read my Disney ramblings!  I truly appreciate it and I’ll see ya back here real soon where tomorrow I will again be taking your Disney Questions and giving them a thorough answering!  Have a blessed day everyone!