14 Comments

1. 

   afwdwfan on July 9, 2012 at 8:29 am

   This was an easy one for me. I took the higher seed in every matchup. I would have probably taken Finding Nemo over Rafiki’s Planet Watch, but I haven’t seen it yet, so I had to give my pick to Rafiki.

2. 

   trennr on July 9, 2012 at 8:33 am

   There are some heavy hitters in this region… Goofy will be very tough for the remaining rounds.

3. 

   Captain Oblivious on July 9, 2012 at 9:04 am

   Andy, I haven’t seen the Finding Nemo show, and I still voted for it over Rafiki’s Planet Watch. 🙂

   I could see Dinosaur taking a tumble. A lot of the guys don’t seem to care for that one. And I’m surprised I wasn’t the only one who voted against TOT.

4. 

   GoofyIsAsGoofyDoes on July 9, 2012 at 12:46 pm

   This group was rather tough for me (more proof that I’m just not normal I suppose).

   The 8/9 matchup between Space Mountain and Mickey’s Philharmagic was the first stumbling block. My family loves Philharmagic and rarely ever misses it, while the queue for SM will often have us leaving the park without having ridden it. Given what appears to be an obvious preference, I ended up still taking Space Mountain. I like the theater show but if it changed I’d be ok with that. On the other hand, the Magic Kingdom would be less without that SM. I know it’s just an indoor rollercoaster in the dark, but then again… it’s an indoor rollercoaster in the dark for peat’s sake (that’s just wicked cool)! Sentiment wins this one.

   The 4/13 was similar. Again, my family makes a point to catch Dino, but we also really love the train ride at MK. Many folks don’t like the AK standard, but it’s one of the few “rides” at AK that really catches our imagination. If Disney were to put a few more engaging attractions into “critter-land”, I might be a changin’ my mind, but for now I’ll have to vote for the time machines over the iron horse (but I also won’t mind a bit if y’all end up putting me on the loosing side of this one).

   The 3/14 is another wacky one. How can you possibly even consider a choice of merely walking around one place over top of a thrill ride? Well… like I said, we’re not normal. Of the mountains, “Splash” is the one that we purposely ignore. We’ve done it, but apart from then the one long drop, it’s just a nice dark ride. As such, it ain’t in any way worth the insane wait and radical crowd that it attracts. Yet without the WS, Epcot would not be Epcot (and if I didn’t walk through it, I’d feel like the trip was missing something… something major. Point to the underdog in this one.

   The 7/10 has me picking another underdog (or is that under-fish). I respect the concept of “Planet Watch” greatly, but “Nemo” is hands down our favorite stage musical at WDW. Even with it taking a good bite out of your day to wait for a decent seat and sit through the whole show, it’s just magical once you get into the theater and the lights go down. We have another upset.

   Several other picks saw me choosing something I enjoy over top something that may be more quintessentially Disney, but we do go there to enjoy. There are many classics that I’d miss, but I’m also always looking forward to seeing what the Imagineers will come up with next.

5. 

   Jason on July 9, 2012 at 1:42 pm

   This is the hardest group so far. I am glad that i wasn’t asked to be on this podcast. Any one of my decisions could have very easily been swayed the other way. Good luck to all!

6. 

   afwdwfan on July 9, 2012 at 2:09 pm

   Mark – You actually do make a very good point. I thought about voting that way, just for that very reason.

   Some of these match ups actually are very close, but for me, the higher seeds held up. I’m a Dinosaur fan. I love the dark ride aspect of it, the animatronics and the technology that goes into it. To me, that is quintessential Disney, but then again, Walt loved his trains. This truly is a difficult matchup and I don’t think I could argue against either one of these attractions winning.

7. 

   Brady Aymond on July 9, 2012 at 4:15 pm

   This was easily the most difficult group to pick. I had quite a few upsets — six to be exact.

   I’ve never ridden Tower of Terror, never will ride it. I can handle most things, drops I can not handle. I don’t like the feeling I get from a free-fall drop. I’d probably love the queue and the theming, but I won’t even go in for fear that I’d get stuck on that ride and have to endure the stomach-churning drops.

   WDW Railroad over Dinosaur was an easy pick for me. Rode Dinosaur for our Honeymoon and hated every second of it. Got jerked around too much and I thought it was a bit loud at times.

   As much as I appreciate Rafiki’s Planet Watch, I had to go with Finding Nemo. We could skip Rafiki and not even miss it. We can’t skip Finding Nemo.

   My last two upsets were the toughest to pull the trigger on. I went with Walking around the World Showcase over Splash Mountain because of the whole drop thing again. Splash is not a big favorite of ours (another ride I haven’t done since Honeymoon). Maybe one day I’ll ride it again, but I appreciate the World Showcase greatly.

   The other one that I picked was Peter Plan over Test Track. This is one of those “haven’t tried it” picks. Oddly, we’ve been to Disney five times now and four of the five times we went, Test Track was closed for refurb. The only time it was open, I couldn’t get anyone to go on with me, so I didn’t get to experience it. I love Peter Pan’s Flight and even though it’s a short ride, I love that feeling of being on that ride. Maybe it’s a callback to my childhood days of pretending to be a Lost Boy or Peter Pan.

   Anyway, that’s a tough group to pick, especially with so many of the higher seeds being solid family choices.

8. 

   Kevin Crossman on July 9, 2012 at 7:25 pm

   I foresee a lot of issues with the picks in this region. In particular, the “seeding” seems wildly off-base here (I know this is based on forum responses, but still).

   Muppets a #1? Tower of Terror a #6? These should be reversed.

   Test Track at #2 and Splash at #3 These should be reversed.

   Space Mountain #8, Peter Pan at #15? SM seems okay by my ranking (since I am spoiled by the superior DL version, but seems beloved by WDW fans). Peter Pan should be far higher – one of the best Fantasyland attractions.

   So, I am sure the podcast discussion and polling will be very interesting to follow. There’s plenty to debate this round! 🙂

9. 

   Joe-TekMickey on July 9, 2012 at 10:16 pm

   Brady, your’s and my selections are right in line for the most part as you will hear in the Podcast. I could pretty much copy and paste your comments under my name and for mostly the same reasons.

   There are some resturants on this list that I will have to attempt during the DDC so that I can get a valid opinion of them.
   LeCellier Steak house comes to mind. Nothing but nice things have been said about it and I have just never made it in there.

   I’d like to think I am a Disney veteran since the early 70’s when I was a kid.
   Wedway People Movers and Skyway to Tomorrowland and 20,000 Leagues are fond memories. I hate to see classic Disney go to the wayside to some new not quite “Quentessential” attractions. When I watch TV and see Dinosaur movies or shows I do not think of Disney. Its just a huge space filler to me. Disney didn’t create dinosaurs they created The Wonderful World of Disney and Disney Animation and the Mickey Mouse Club. Its the characters that seperate Disney apart from other parks and places across the US. Splash Mountain has whats left of the Song of the South. A movie of the times. I know there are some things that don’t fit into the Classic imagineering, but are a necessity to appeal to all walks of life. Take Rock’n Rollercoaster. Aerosmith and one of the best indooor rides in all of WDW. That is either a lucky draw or great thinking, but it worked. You wouldn’t have 90+ minute wait times if it didn’t.

   Somehow I think I got off track. Anyway this was an interesting bracket and I think the best part is yet to come in Round 2. Its only going to get more exciting and more difficult to choose. Some very strong seeds will end up against each other and it will be hard to let some of them fall. I feel for whoever is on the panel those nights.

10. 

    trennr on July 10, 2012 at 9:43 am

    Kevin… While based on lines…Fast Pass Distribution…etc would lend Tower to be placed ahead of Muppets.

    However…Tower of Terror is not a ride everyone takes part in… and it showed in my Data collection… For Studios… Muppets was in almost everyones list. I actually expected Toy Story Midway Mania to be the #1 from Studios… I think the long lines and the “newness” of that ride is why it slipped down.

    Test track is hands down a #2 from Epcot… was only out voted by Soarin. Voting for Splash was close to Test Track… it was a #3 form MK…(out voted by PotC and HM)…like Tower… not everyone likes Splash…some don’t like the drop… others don’t like the wet… or both? That being said Splash is probaly my #2 attraction.

    Peter Pan is a bit of a paradox… while it is historicaly one of the most popular rides in Fantasyland…also a pretty neat ride mechanism. It is a very short ride…and showing its age. Often leaves people thinking… “I wasted an Hour in line for that!?!?” I think this and the large amount of experiences at the Magic Kingdom is why it fell down the list.

11. 

    afwdwfan on July 10, 2012 at 12:59 pm

    Kevin – I don’t remember specifically how everyone else did it either, but I know when I answered the 10 things I think of when I think about MK or whatever the format was, I knew I had more inidividual attractions than I could list within the limited number of responses. I ended up just lumping all of Fantasyland together without inidividual mentions of Dumbo, IASW, Peter Pan, etc. Of course, they are always a must do, but we always pick a morning to get there at RD and just focus on Fantasyland. That to me is an experience that is greater than the individual parts even though the pieces each deserve their own recognition.

12. 

    middlepat on July 10, 2012 at 1:49 pm

    I had a number of upsets in this round and I agree this could be one of the more heated debates on some of the match ups. My picks were:

    Muppet Vision 3D
    Test Track
    Walking Around World Showcase (upset)
    WDW Railroad (upset)
    LeCellier Steakhouse
    Twilight Zone Tower of Terror
    Finding Nemo the Musical (upset)
    Mickey’s Philharmagic (upset)

    The 2 biggest upsets I had (World Showcase & WDW Railroad) are 2 attractions I just couldn’t picture WDW without. Splash Mountain & Dinosaur, neither of which I have any issues with, just don’t have the same impact that these 2 attractions do for me.

    Le Cellier vs. Drinking was a relative push, but I had to lean toward my Canadian roots.

    Philharmagic & Finding Nemo were more related to our “family favorites”. Although picking against Space Mountain was difficult.

    I look forward to listening to the podcast for this round as this could cause some good discussion.

13. 

    Kevin Crossman on July 10, 2012 at 10:21 pm

    I guess my point with the Muppets rank at #1 is the implication that it is one of the top 4 “things” at WDW. And while I don’t share the love that many do, I cannot believe the most ardent Muppets fans would honestly put it as one of the top 4 in the entire property.

    Meanwhile, I do hear a lot of people who say that Splash or Tower or Terror are the #1 attractions… (maybe not for all families/kids, I grant you).

14. 

    trennr on July 11, 2012 at 12:57 pm

    I understand what you are saying. And had I asked people to list a Top 10 attraction for park X… then you would be correct.

    I guess my counter point is that… I did not ask people to make a top 10 list… I asked them what were the thing(s) they thought of when they thought (insert park name here). When it was Studios… more people thought of Muppets than Tower… most people thought both.

    This is not about… What’s the most popular… It’s about the Experience… or rather… “Dad” experience. And most Dad’s enjoy watching their family enjoy stuff together.