Ride Review: Enchanted Tiki Room

The Tiki Room is located in Adventureland and it is right next to the Magic Carpets of Aladdin. 

There is a short pre-show and then you walk inside to the main theatre. 

As some of you may know, the Tiki Room  had a major refurbishment. There was a fire back in January of 2011 which lead Disney to change the whole show. I was actually in the park the day that the fire happened. There was no visible damage outside, so we just figured it was closed.  They changed it from being "Under New Management" :

Now it has gone back to its original version from when the park first opened. Back in June, I was able to watch this for the first time since it had been changed. The original song was still there of course, but there were quite a few new ones. 

The old songs are nostalgic for some people, I'm sure, but for the younger crowd, I thought it was boring. I will now skip this show, because I fell like my time will be better served elsewhere in the part. This is a show that I would have to say is a do once and move on kind of show. 

I don't really understand why they reverted it back to the old show, it just seems dated.

Splash Mountain: Ride Review

Splash Mountain is my favorite water ride in Disney World. It is located in the back corner of Frontierland, next to Big Thunder Mountain. You have to go across the bridge otherwise you will miss the entrances to these two rides. You don't get to soaked, so it is still comfortable to walk around the park the rest of the day. Plus, the themeing  is really cool. It is set to the story of Brer Rabbit and his adventures. It is supposed to be like the movie Song of the South. I have never seen this movie, but I have read all of the Brer Rabbit stories. I like the combination dark ride and water ride. Its more than just driving around a little and then getting wet. There is a whole story to watch in the meantime. That's what makes this ride so much fun. This ride gets a 9 out of 10 only because it needs to be updated a little. Some new paint can go a long way. 

Now, on to some pictures!

This is the main focus of Splash Mountain. 

The Main Entrance Sign

Brer Frog during the ride.

The view before the big drop.

The star of the ride, Brer Rabbit

Spaceship Earth: Ride Review

Spaceship Earth is a classic ride that a lot of people find boring. It is a ride that transports you to different points in history. It begins with cavemen and ends with a look into the future. The animatronics are a little on the retro side but that adds to the classicness of the ride. The line is always short because the ride vehicles are constantly moving. If the line is longer than 25-30 minutes, it's time to switch parks ;-)  (unless you are there during a peak visit time). 

Spaceship Earth

Mural outside of the entrance

The Renaissance section 

A newer addition to the ride is the personalized future profile. At the beginning of the ride your picture is taken and saved for later. You answer a few questions and your future is revealed. It is pretty entertaining to see yourself as different characters. It makes the ride a little bit more modern.

My future profile

I did not discover this ride until I got a little bit older. You really can start to appreciate the history after you have learned about it in school. After the addition of the picture profile, it got really cool. Now we go on the ride at least twice just to take our picture and answer the questions. 

I think that this ride is really geared towards the 12 and up crowd but it depends on your kid. My family really loves this ride now and us kids were 14, 16 and 19. 

I would rate this ride a 7 out of 10. Only because we mostly go for the future profile. It really isn't 100% about the ride anymore for us. We still appreciate it but we just love the picture taking.

Jungle Cruise: Ride Review

Jungle Cruise is located in Adventureland. It is past Pirates and across from The Enchanted Tiki Room. 

There is a fast pass for this ride. It can get really crowded because people just love it so much. I would suggest either getting a fast pass or just waiting til the crowds die down a little. 

Jungle Cruise is a water boat ride through the jungle. A tour guide guides along the way and spouts out corny jokes the whole time. A lot of the jokes are the same unless you get a really good guide that goes off the script. Those are the best ones because it make the ride more entertaining. 

Here are some pictures from a ride I took a couple of years ago. 

The entrance sign

Probably the most photographed part of the ride. 

I really do love this ride even though I have been on it before. Your experience changes because of the cast members, so they really do make the ride. Another fun tip for those who have ridden many times (or never), go at night. It really makes for a cooler ride and a little creepy in some places too. 

I would give this ride a 8 out of 10 because it really does depend on the crowd and the guide that you are with to make the ride a little extra fun. Even if you have heard the jokes before, laugh!! That's what the guides want and it is so much more fun to laugh at the corniness of it all. This ride is truly a Disney classic. You will love it!

Studio Backlot Tour: Ride Review

The Studio Backlot Tour is located in Hollywood Studios. If you keep walking through Pixar Place, you will see the entrance. The entrance is a crashed tour bus, that sometimes spits water at you.

You first queue up to go to the pre-show area. The pre-show is a special effects demonstration with some park quests to participate as actors. Its a pretty good show if you have never seen it before. If you are like me and have seen it over 5 times, then its just kind of routine.

After the show, you get to walk through the prop house to get to the ride. It is really cool and the props are sometimes cycled through when new movies come out. This time there were a lot of Prince of Persia and Sorcerer's Apprentice things out.

The Prop Warehouse (Sorcerer's Apprentice)

The first part of the tour takes you through the outside bone yard. This is where all of the vehicles are from your favorite movies. They are not changed out often enough, so if you have seen it before then nothing with surprise you. Next, you go through some of the buildings. These are really cool because a lot of the times you get to see things that are actually being worked on.  During my last trip there was work being done in the prop/construction area. It looked like a purple dinosaur almost.

The Earful Tower

The next thing you see is Catastrophe Canyon, this is probably the main attraction of the whole ride. This one is still cool even if you have seen it before. The idea is that you are taking participating in a special effects scene. There is fire and flooding and rain, its just really cool.

Catastrophe Canyon

Catastrophe Canyon

Catastrophe Canyon

You see a few more things after the canyon. Before Light, Motors, Action came to town, you could see all of the houses from different movies. I really miss the old tour, but I do like the stunt show. The tour is over after you round the corner to the exit station. There is a cool exhibit inside the exit building. It is called Villains in Vogue. It has a lot of costumes from all sorts of villains. You really must check it out. I won't ruin all of what is in there.

Villains in Vogue

I do love this tour, but unless they change it up soon, I'm not sure how often I will continue to ride it. It was refurbished two weeks before I came this April and the only thing they changed was the addition of 2 props. I would say that this ride is a one time thing. Its not worth it to go on twice or even wait hours for.

It really needs to be longer or at least have more variety. I liked the old one much better. 

I would give this ride a 5 out 10, mostly because I have been on it a million times and nothing ever changes. It is just one of those rides that you ride because it is a classic. 

Buzz Lightyear's Space Ranger Spin: Ride Review

As soon as we walk into the Magic Kingdom, we head straight for Buzz. Every time, without fail. We like to go for the competition and its just really fun to try to beat your scores. Also, right when the park opens, you can get on this ride at least 4 times in a row before it starts to get really crowded. Why? Because everyone else goes to either Fantasyland or Adventureland. 

This is the main entrance to the ride. 

This is inside the queue area right before you get loaded onto the ride.


The big Zs are what you will be shooting at. 

Photo Credit

One really cool thing about this ride is that you can control the spinning of your car. There are also hidden targets so even if the room has no Zs in it, keep shooting. I have heard about hidden targets that give you thousands of points in one shot too. There is no clear list as some have been removed since they were leaked onto the internet.

I hope you enjoy this ride as much as my family and I do!!