zanzibar138
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Jun 30, 2007
Soon I was back in the park, heading straight towards Fantasyland for my second meeting with Pooh Bear. I did catch a few more details on Mickey Avenue on the way through.
I took a few photos around the area while I was waiting for Pooh. It's quite a cute little spot.
I really didn't have much better interactions this time around - still no 'comments' on my outfit. But it was worth a try.
Just across from Pooh there's a little viewing area for the Seven Dwarves coaster, so I took a couple of photos while I was there.
On my way to Adventure Isle, I got stuck at the parade route, so I just watched the last of it pass by.
There was a bit of a crush once the parade had finished.
I was heading towards the Challenge Trails. I was pretty keen to do this at some point in the trip, and the wait time was down to 40 minutes, which was about as good as it was going to get.
Before entering the queue, everyone is required to place ALL loose items in a locker. This includes cameras, phones etc... everything. It was a little chaotic in there, but eventually I got all my items stashed and joined the queue. Unfortunately, by the time I was done at the lockers, the wait time had actually gone up again - must have been people coming through after the parade. For anyone who has noticed that I was wearing a skirt that day and is wondering how that worked, you'll be pleased to know that I had shorts on underneath (as I always do when wearing skirts/dresses in Disney parks). The CMs actually did make sure of this when I was joining the queue.
Since we were not allowed to take cameras through to the course, I have no photos of this attraction. I'll do my best to explain my experience in words.
The queue was reminiscent of the Jungle Cruise. Fairly plain but with elements of exploration thrown in. It really was quite a tedious wait on my own with no camera and not much to look at. There was also quite a bit of 'line squeezing' happening here, which I was getting annoyed about, because I knew that every single person who went in front of me would increase my wait time by a couple of minutes. As I got further towards the front of the queue, I was kept entertained by watching the people in front of me get harnessed up and start their journey along the course.
The harnessing is quite simple really. From the queue, you were called forward for a harness. There were three CMs doing this, and as soon as they were finished putting the harness on the person, they would call the next one. There were three sizes - they seemed to generally use the smallest one for kids, medium size for women, and larger ones for men. At this stage, they just literally plonked the harness on over your head.
Next, we joined another line for having our harnesses done up. This 'station' was a bench on either side of the queue, where there were two CMs sitting on each side. Basically as you passed through, you stopped to have the harness adjusted and done up. Be aware that the CMs here are not shy and will reach right between your legs for the harness straps.
Once the harnesses were done up, we were ready to be attached to the overhead line. There was a line on each side of the stairs up to the course, with a CM on each side attaching people as they went through. At the top of the stairs there was another CM who gave a brief safety overview. It was all in Cantonese, and when I looked at the CM for some sort of English translation, he just looked at me apologetically. I just had to assume that it was nothing I wouldn't be able to figure out for myself lol!
From the top of the stairs, there are three courses to choose from. They do seem to direct people to a specific course, and they all seem to be worthwhile options with some different point of interest on each. Along the course there are the various obstacles. All of the obstacles have a hard option, medium, and an easy option which is often basically just a bridge/path around it. The overhead system is designed so that you can choose your difficulty rating for each obstacle individually or overtake people if required - it's really quite clever.
On this course, I chose the most difficult option for each obstacle. They haven't taken it easy out there because it's a Disney attraction. This is a real challenge trail, and some of the obstacles are quite terrifying! A few of them saw my heart racing. It's definitely an attraction to do with a friend if you've got one to support each other. Alas, I didn't lol! However, one of my favourite memories from this trip was when I saw another solo traveller gingerly attempting one of the obstacles, and we had a friendly interaction where he gestured for me to go first, and we encouraged each other as we went. It didn't matter that we were complete strangers who couldn't understand each other lol!
As I was going around the course, I was wishing that I had been allowed to take my camera. The sun was setting, and the view from the course was absolutely stunning at that time of night with the warmth from the sunset glowing with the golden tones of the 'mountain'. There are a couple of amazing locations for sunsets in this park!
All the trails converge at the final obstacle. There is just one option at this obstacle - a single rope bridge with another single rope to hold onto. That was a bit much for me, so I took the plain old boring bridge through. Then it was back down the stairs to be unattached from the overhead line and undoing of the harnesses. There is a return point at the end for the harnesses, where there is a CM putting them straight back onto the racks at the starting point.
By the time I was done and had retrieved my stuff from the locker, the light was well and truly fading.
I took a few photos around the area while I was waiting for Pooh. It's quite a cute little spot.
I really didn't have much better interactions this time around - still no 'comments' on my outfit. But it was worth a try.
Just across from Pooh there's a little viewing area for the Seven Dwarves coaster, so I took a couple of photos while I was there.
On my way to Adventure Isle, I got stuck at the parade route, so I just watched the last of it pass by.
There was a bit of a crush once the parade had finished.
I was heading towards the Challenge Trails. I was pretty keen to do this at some point in the trip, and the wait time was down to 40 minutes, which was about as good as it was going to get.
Before entering the queue, everyone is required to place ALL loose items in a locker. This includes cameras, phones etc... everything. It was a little chaotic in there, but eventually I got all my items stashed and joined the queue. Unfortunately, by the time I was done at the lockers, the wait time had actually gone up again - must have been people coming through after the parade. For anyone who has noticed that I was wearing a skirt that day and is wondering how that worked, you'll be pleased to know that I had shorts on underneath (as I always do when wearing skirts/dresses in Disney parks). The CMs actually did make sure of this when I was joining the queue.
Since we were not allowed to take cameras through to the course, I have no photos of this attraction. I'll do my best to explain my experience in words.
The queue was reminiscent of the Jungle Cruise. Fairly plain but with elements of exploration thrown in. It really was quite a tedious wait on my own with no camera and not much to look at. There was also quite a bit of 'line squeezing' happening here, which I was getting annoyed about, because I knew that every single person who went in front of me would increase my wait time by a couple of minutes. As I got further towards the front of the queue, I was kept entertained by watching the people in front of me get harnessed up and start their journey along the course.
The harnessing is quite simple really. From the queue, you were called forward for a harness. There were three CMs doing this, and as soon as they were finished putting the harness on the person, they would call the next one. There were three sizes - they seemed to generally use the smallest one for kids, medium size for women, and larger ones for men. At this stage, they just literally plonked the harness on over your head.
Next, we joined another line for having our harnesses done up. This 'station' was a bench on either side of the queue, where there were two CMs sitting on each side. Basically as you passed through, you stopped to have the harness adjusted and done up. Be aware that the CMs here are not shy and will reach right between your legs for the harness straps.
Once the harnesses were done up, we were ready to be attached to the overhead line. There was a line on each side of the stairs up to the course, with a CM on each side attaching people as they went through. At the top of the stairs there was another CM who gave a brief safety overview. It was all in Cantonese, and when I looked at the CM for some sort of English translation, he just looked at me apologetically. I just had to assume that it was nothing I wouldn't be able to figure out for myself lol!
From the top of the stairs, there are three courses to choose from. They do seem to direct people to a specific course, and they all seem to be worthwhile options with some different point of interest on each. Along the course there are the various obstacles. All of the obstacles have a hard option, medium, and an easy option which is often basically just a bridge/path around it. The overhead system is designed so that you can choose your difficulty rating for each obstacle individually or overtake people if required - it's really quite clever.
On this course, I chose the most difficult option for each obstacle. They haven't taken it easy out there because it's a Disney attraction. This is a real challenge trail, and some of the obstacles are quite terrifying! A few of them saw my heart racing. It's definitely an attraction to do with a friend if you've got one to support each other. Alas, I didn't lol! However, one of my favourite memories from this trip was when I saw another solo traveller gingerly attempting one of the obstacles, and we had a friendly interaction where he gestured for me to go first, and we encouraged each other as we went. It didn't matter that we were complete strangers who couldn't understand each other lol!
As I was going around the course, I was wishing that I had been allowed to take my camera. The sun was setting, and the view from the course was absolutely stunning at that time of night with the warmth from the sunset glowing with the golden tones of the 'mountain'. There are a couple of amazing locations for sunsets in this park!
All the trails converge at the final obstacle. There is just one option at this obstacle - a single rope bridge with another single rope to hold onto. That was a bit much for me, so I took the plain old boring bridge through. Then it was back down the stairs to be unattached from the overhead line and undoing of the harnesses. There is a return point at the end for the harnesses, where there is a CM putting them straight back onto the racks at the starting point.
By the time I was done and had retrieved my stuff from the locker, the light was well and truly fading.
It's a good job there are us lazy people around to balance you lot out and cheer you on! Seriously
