MGM Studios MGM has a nice new clean feel to it that we like. Although it has grown a lot since the last time Carrie and Rusty were here (at age thirteen and eighteen) and now has more fun things to do, and even though this park helps to fill the gap of "thrill rides" that the other three Disney parks leave open, there’s still not a whole lot to do here—at least not more than once. But the few things that are worth repeating make up for it, and they’re some of the best rides at Disney World, very fun and up-to-date. On another note, MGM has experimented with a few "centerpieces" for the park over the years, but the newest one – the Sorcerer’s Apprentice hat – is the best so far. Sounds
Dangerous—Starring Drew Carey This attraction replaced something that was actually cool at MGM, the Monster Sound Show where an audience member (once Rusty) got to participate in being a foley artist for a movie. Rusty doesn’t think this one is that great, since it’s just you sitting in the dark with headphones on listening to bad Drew Carey jokes and not-that-great sound effects. Carrie, however, did get sort of freaked out by the "realness" of the sounds through the headphones – creepy things like scissors that make it sound like someone’s cutting your hair, or bees buzzing in your ears. But ultimately all you do is sit in the dark theater with headphones and, yes, you have to endure Drew Carey. Also, the "narrative" itself – the story Drew Carey navigates you through is confusing and not very well put together. Carrie: C- Indiana Jones Epic
Stunt Adventure Rusty thinks this is a decent enough show, if you like Indiana Jones. Carrie skips all live shows and encourages you to do the same. Carrie: C- Star Tours This is fun and, at one point, was the MGM highlight. The ride is a pretty effective simulator, and of course it’s exciting for any Star Wars fan to be able to jump into hyper-speed and have R2D2 controlling your ship. Since they opened the Aerosmith ride and the Tower of Terror, this seems less thrilling, but it is very fun and worth going on. "Star Tours, what are you doing here?" Carrie: B+ Jim Henson’s
Muppet-Vision 3-D This is probably the best 3-D show of the four parks (Carrie says so for sure), just because the characters in it are great. It makes the best of all your favorite Muppet characters – including Beaker – and doesn’t overdo it. We also like that they have things in the theater itself—like the Swedish chef in the back or the two grumpy movie critics in the balcony, or the rabbit that gets lost. The 3-D effects are excellent and fun throughout, the best 3-D jokes. Carrie: A Honey, I Shrunk the
Kids Movie Set Adventure A nice diversion for kids who want something to do besides standing in lines when the park is busy, or for people who want photo opportunities of you in front of a large Cheerio or whatever. Not exactly for adults, though. Carrie: C- The Disney-MGM Studio
Backlot Tour Rusty gives this ride more credit than Carrie, thinking it’s at least got some "adventurous" sections like the crazy water tank section and that you get to see a few cool movie props and sets. Carrie thinks it’s too long and that the only thing much worth seeing is the Psycho house. We both agree that if you’re on a time crunch, it can be safely skipped. Carrie: C Who Wants To Be a
Millionaire—Play It! This was a cool attraction, really fun. The set was a replica of the TV show, the host had a funny charm (at least the one we saw), and it was cool that everyone in the audience got to play along with the person who made it to the hot seat. It may seem a little stupid to go into a theater and play a trivia game from your seat, but they managed to make it exciting and fun for us to root for the audience member who made it onstage… though the game is more difficult than you may expect. They don’t pull any punches for the Disney families. Carrie: B Walt Disney: One
Man’s Dream This attraction wasn’t open when we were here, but it sounds like a cool non-ride exhibit. The famous multi-plane camera (used in The Old Mill, Fantasia, and other movies) is apparently housed here. Voyage of the Little
Mermaid This is sort of a typical – not great, not horrible – show (mostly for little kids… okay, for little girls) that’s fine if you need a sit-down break. Unless you’re Carrie, in which case you simply avoid all live shows. Carrie: X The Magic of Disney
Animation This is one of the biggest let-downs at MGM. If you’re going to call an attraction "The Magic of Disney Animation," it should be educational, entertaining, and… magic. It was none of these things. They could have created something really cool for anyone interested in Disney animation, or for kids with an interest in art, but instead we get some guy interacting with an on-screen animated Eddie Murphy dragon from Mulan, telling the dragon how he came to be (through character sketches, etc., but it’s not even as interesting as that sounds since it’s considerably dumbed-down). At the end of their banter, we had to sit through a trailer for the newest Disney animated feature, in this case Home on the Range, making this attraction essentially a commercial for whatever new film they’re promoting. When this is over, you’re huddled into a room where some staff member gives a boring lecture about animation (again, not worth anything for anyone I can think of) until kids are finally free to play at some drawing desks, but those were avoided since we were so ready to get out of there. Carrie: F Playhouse
Disney—Live on Stage! This seemed like a very small child specific attraction, so we didn’t see it. We like to tell you what we didn’t see too, in case you think we’re simply forgetting about them. The Great Movie Ride This was a nice old-school animatronic ride, the only one in MGM. They animatronically replicated the old classics like Casablanca and Singin’ in the Rain, some newer movies like Alien and Raiders of the Lost Ark, and of course plenty of classic Disney movies. Carrie’s favorite was the Wizard of Oz section. Throughout this relaxing ride, there’s a narrative involving our narrator and a gangster, which just cheesy enough to be fun. Plenty of details in here to catch your attention. Carrie: B Beauty and the
Beast—Live on Stage This was another one we avoided since it was a long show involving characters we didn’t particularly care about. Rock ‘n’
Roller Coaster Starring Aerosmith This is perhaps the best of the thrill rides in all four of the parks, in terms of being a traditional roller coaster. It’s sort of a newer, more fun version of Space Mountain since it goes through the dark so you can’t see, a fun Disney World roller coaster trademark. It goes sideways, upside-down, and everything you’d expect (or wouldn’t expect—most of these loops come as a surprise). It’s the perfect ride for teenagers and other people who come to Disney World looking for something more exciting. The ride is short but great, and genuinely thrilling at every second. And the Aerosmith music is great to jam to, even if you’re not a huge fan. The best roller coaster in Disney World. Carrie: A The Twilight Zone Tower
of Terror There’s a really funny straight-faced, creepy guy who lets you onto this elevator ride. The doors open up to some creepy scenes and then you start getting dropped. If you haven’t been on this ride before (as we had not), you don’t know exactly what to expect or when the drop comes. And even if you do ride the elevator multiple times, it’s different each time since it’s programmed to drop you at random intervals a random number of times. Because unlike most theme park rides that take you up high and then drop you, this one drops you like… three to five times? They dropped us so many times we lost count, and at various moments you get to see outside and how high you are (one of the best parts) before getting dropped down again. Rusty prefers this ride slightly to the Aerosmith ride because – even though the roller coaster is the most genuinely thrilling – this one has that Twilight Zone (and Bates Motel) theme (reminding us of The Haunted Mansion) that allows the attraction to transcend mere thrill ride and become one of those classic Disney examples of story and showmanship. Carrie: A- Fantasmic! We didn’t get to see this show, but the video footage of it indicates that it is the MGM equivalent of EPCOT’s "IllumiNations" and Magic Kingdom’s "Wishes," though more of a spectacle than both of those (though probably not better, at least not better than "Wishes"). It probably would have been a cool way to end an MGM night, though it’s apparently kind of a pain to "get in" and get to a good spot in the outdoor auditorium, and we don’t much like the idea of waiting around for two hours to see what is essentially a show. One day we’ll watch it to see how it compares to the nighttime shows of the other parks. |
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