To Fastpass or Not to Fastpass, That is the Title

Fastpass. This one word can cause a lot of emotion in the Disney Park fan community. When I first learned of this system I thought it was the greatest idea I had ever heard. You would only have to wait for 10-15 minutes and then the E-ticket of your dreams is all yours. There have also been a few downsides to skipping the wait.


When it comes to Space Mountain I can't imagine that I would like to wait outside during the hot summer months. It would be crazy to stand in line for an hour or two when you can grab a fastpass then sit down, have some lunch, and cool off. After an hour or three you come back, walk up the ramp and into the building.


At the same time that Space Mountain is a great time saver the fastpass has ruined half the fun of Indiana Jones Adventure. You miss out on most of the greatest queue in a US Disney park. When you run to the safety movie room you don't really take in all the little details that are packed in this queue. The decoder card that used to be passed out to you made the time a lot easier to deal with. Now you wouldn't even have a chance to look at the glyphs let alone translate them.

Big Thunder Mountain is still a different situation. The standby line could have a 20 minute wait and people are still getting fastpasses. There is no real reason to have fastpass here. So maybe there would be a 20 to 30 minute wait. Who can't wait that long?


I have heard people moaning about both the fastpass system in general and the lack of fastpass on certain attractions. You often hear Matterhorn, Peter Pan, and Dumbo mentioned as attractions that should be fastpass enabled. I have even seen posts mentioning Pirates of the Caribbean and Star Tours as possible attractions.

I laugh every time I see Star Tours since it used to have fastpass but they took all the machines out when it didn't prove worthwhile. Pirates of the Caribbean is probably the fastest moving line in the park. If you had to deal with taking fastpasses and separating the queue would only slow the entire attraction down.

Peter Pan and Dumbo have issues that can't be solved by fastpass. They need to increase capacity for those attractions before they could even consider an option like this.

I think that Disneyland would be just fine without fastpass and you would still enjoy yourself. As long as it is still there I am going to continue using it though.

O, CircleVision where art thou?

I was reading a press release today from the Canadian Tourism Commission regarding the updates to the CircleVision movie for the Canada Pavilion at Epcot and it made me sad to realize something. There are no longer any CircleVision movies in Disneyland. Not just in that one park but in the entire resort. It is true that they are dwindling at Walt Disney World too, but they still have two.


Tomorrowland used to be home to two fantastic CircleVision movies. You could visit the Wonders of China and American Journeys. You were able to see one movie in the morning and one in the evening. As a child one of my personal favorite features of this attraction was going to the row that had the translation telephones and listening to the narration in different languages. Too bad none of it stuck.

In the waiting room to enter the theater you rarely found a crowd. There was usually a seat available and you could watch the preshow video in a nice air conditioned room. Every few seconds if you looked up and behind the Peoplemover would pass by. This was an appropriate waiting area for the show you were about to see.

As you entered the CircleVision 360 theater you were surrounded by screens. When the movies would start you would be focused on one screen in the front of the theater then as the screens filled in you were immersed in the environment. It felt like you were riding a wagon over a covered bridge in America or floating down the Yangtze River in China. On more than one occasion I had to reach out and grab the lean rail to keep my balance since my senses had been fooled.


Both American Journeys and Wonders of China gave you a broad overview of the scenery of the two countries. They found some of the most beautiful and special places that either country had to offer. There is nothing quite like the experience of watching 360 degrees of beautiful scenery to make you feel like you are there.

In 1997 the CircleVision 360 theater was closed to make way for the Rocket Rod queue. The Rocket Rods opened on May 22, 1998 and closed permanently in September of 2000. This attraction never lived up to expectations with frequent break downs and the fact that you had to slow down at every corner due to lack of banking. It was disturbing that one of the truly unique experiences in the parks was downgraded to a queue. At least this would give Imagineers another chance at righting the wrong that was the Rocket Rods.

Buzz Lightyear Asto Blasters opened in the building on March 17, 2005. While this interactive attraction is fun and I enjoy competing with friends and family for the best score, it has never had that special feeling of a great attraction to me.


Now for anyone wanting to have the CircleVision experience you will have to trek across the country to Walt Disney World and visit Epcot. There you will find two CircleVision movies playing daily. In the China Pavilion you can see Reflections of China and in the Canada Pavilion you will get to see O, Canada. O, Canada has recently had 65% of the film updated and added narration by Martin Short. This update will be debuting soon at Epcot.


I for one can not wait to visit Epcot again and take in the whole experience of these two beautiful countries in CircleVision 360. Seeing these countries in a CircleVision theater is something that all should experience. It embodies the edutainment that Disney and Epcot are famous for.

Disney's California Adventure is about to undergo a major transformation. This would be a great time to bring back the CircleVision 360 theater to California. I think Soarin' is already offers incredible visuals of the varied landscape of California so a new CircleVision movie could explore the details of the Golden State. I personally would love to see American Journeys or Reflections of China back in Disneyland's neighbor across the esplanade. I know that CircleVision is not a new concept, but it would be great to see it in DCA. If it is even on a drawing board in Glendale consider this my vote for the inclusion of a new 360 theater somewhere in the Disneyland Resort.

“Disneyland will never be completed. It will continue to grow as long as there is imagination left in the world.” - Walt Disney

Reimagineering Disney's California Adventure

Is there anything that is more exciting to a Disney Park nut than new construction in the parks. construction walls? You have the excitement of new attractions that nobody has ever experienced. The first construction walls that I really remember were for Splash Mountain. Over the course of a couple years as we would visit and watch the progress they made I couldn't wait to get on that ride.

For the last year every time I would visit I would look at the wall around the lagoon and wonder what it was going to be like to ride the submarines again. I think the expectations may have got the better of me since I was not that thrilled with the new ride. Maybe I will love it when the line is under an hour.

Now when you visit Disney's California Adventure they have a big section of Paradise Pier walled off for construction of the Toy Story Mania attraction. I hear this 3-D shooter attraction will be similar to Buzz Lightyear's Astro Blasters only more interactive. Since this has been under construction I find it harder to enjoy California Screamin' because I spend so much of the ride just trying to get a glimpse of the construction. I truly can't wait until this opens so we can see what the imagineers were able to come up with this time.


This is going to be a very exciting time for everyone, like me, that likes to see construction walls. As DCA prepares for a major rehab, refresh, and re-theming the walls will start going up sometime in October and they will be up in one area or another for the next several years. I have heard estimates anywhere from five to ten years. In my book that means several years of anticipation.

I would go into detail on all of the rumored changes to DCA but if you are reading this then you probably know them already. If you are in need of more details I would suggest reading Al Lutz's article on MiceAge.com or one of the posts by Honor Hunter on his Blue Sky Disney blog. Needless to say there are rumors of the whole park being changed and rethemed and several E-ticket attractions being added to the roster. There is so much unconfirmed information out there right now that if even half of the reported changes come true it will make DCA a special place. I am not among the masses of people that hate DCA. I really like it so this makes me a little odd as a Disney fan. I have always felt that DCA is small and could use some growth and that the western side of Paradise Pier needed serious work. I am sure that both of these issues will be addressed behind construction walls during the years to come.

If Disney is absolutely committed to fixing DCA then who knows what we may end up with? There isn't the space for a grand overhaul of the entire park and turning it into Epcot West or Tokyo DisneySea East, but they will surprise most, delight many, and disappoint a few. I believe that I will be surprised and delighted. Take DCA, throw a billion dollars at it and see what you end up with.

If you would like to keep updated on all of the latest rumor and rumblings regarding DCA I recommend the following sites:

Miceage
Blue Sky Disney
Jim Hill Media
Mouse Planet