Thursday, May 19, 2011

Which Attraction Is Better Where? Fantasyland Edition, Part II

Here goes part two, people. I’m just going to jump right into it:


Walt Disney World's Version of Peter Pan's Flight
Dumbo the Flying Elephant: It's the same same ride at both places. Not uncommon. They’re differences between to two, though. Much like “Snow White’s Scary Adventure,” the Walt Disney World version will cease to exist when the new Fantasyland opens, at least in its current form. A new Dumbo, with two different sections of flying elephants, doubling the capacity, and a first-of-its-kind deli-ticket style line will open as part of the new Fantasyland. As it stands, the Disneyland version has superior theming, with the ride doubling as a water feature, taking off over a fountain of sorts, while the Disney World version takes off over a drab, cement slab.

Disneyland's Version of Peter Pan's flight. It's prettier
Peter Pan’s Flight: It’s a little repetitive, but the attractions are almost identical. The biggest difference is that the Walt Disney World version has a Fastpass option, which is both a good and bad thing. It’s a good thing if you have the a Fastpass, and bad thing if you decide to wait in stand-by. The Fastpass options can make the stand-by queue up to an hour longer, as a friend of mine who works the attraction has reported. So in terms of equality, the Disneyland version bests its Florida counterpart. Also, the theming of Disneyland’s Fantasyland is much more detailed and much less circus-like, so the Disneyland version has a more attractive facade.

it’s a small world: To the untrained eye, these two attractions can seem very similar on the inside as well. Anyone that can see can tell that Disneyland’s version has the superior facade, so large and triumphant that “The Magic, The Memories and You!” are projected onto it. Also, the cukoo-clock aspect of the whole shindig is great, and during Christmas, the projection show that takes place on it is fantastic. Then you go inside, and you’ll notice that Disneyland’s version is much more throughly themed, with less visible wires, better hidden ceilings, and what seems to be a more routine maintenance schedule. For some reason, the World version just seems cheap compared to its the original attraction in California.

Disneyland also has the Storybook Cruises, Casey Jr., Mr Toad’s Wild Ride and the Matterhorn, which at the moment makes it a far superior land. We’ll see how it compares to the new Fantasyland expansion in Walt Disney World, which will ad a re-themed Goofy’s Barn Stormer, a Beauty and the Beast themed restaurant, Ariel’s Undersea Adventure dark ride, Gaston’s Pub, and the aforementioned larger Dumbo and Seven Dwarves Mine Train. My sentiments are it’ll make it almost, but not exactly up to par with the original in California.

2 comments:

  1. Also Disneyland's Small World now incorporates Disney characters in the Mary Blair style into each of the lands. For instance Alice and Peter are in London, Aladdin & Jasmine are in the Middle East sections. It makes it very fun to look for them throughout the ride!

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  2. The Walt Disney World entrance to Peter Pan's Flight looks like it mirrors the original Disneyland attraction before California's Fantasyland revamp decades ago. It's a shame Cali's Fantasyland couldn't find room for Ariel's Undersea Adventure dark ride...it sounds like it's gonna be out of place in California Adventure :/

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