You searched for New Fantasyland - Page 3 of 4

Happy Fortieth Birthday To Me!

August 3, 2015 TechyDad Birthday

Today is a big day for me. Today, I bid my 30’s goodbye and say hello to my 40’s. Yes, today is my 40th birthday.

Ten years ago seems like a lifetime away. At that time, I was much heavier, NHL was only two years old, I didn’t have any grey hairs, and I felt like 30 was SO old. In the past ten years, NHL learned to walk and went from daycare to pre-K to kindergarten to elementary school to middle school. We stood up for him when he was bullied and administrators wanted to sweep it under the rug. We learned about Autism, what NHL having it meant, and that I likely am on the spectrum as well. I lost enough weight to be called "too skinny" for the first time in my life, gained some of the weight back, and lost more again. JSL was born, scared us way too many times with febrile seizures and head injuries, and progressed up to elementary school.

Over the last decade, we took the boys to Disney World four times – once on our own and three times for Disney Social Media Moms. B & I had a "just us" trip cancelled due to a hurricane and were lucky enough to get some of it back thanks to being invited to cover the New Fantasyland opening.

Technology has exploded in the past ten years. Ten years ago, I didn’t even know what WordPress was and now I’m constantly working with it. Our world expanded drastically as we discovered social media and gained new friends on social media. We’ve gone from flip phones to smartphones and constant Internet access.

I’ve learned many lessons about life in general, about parenting, and about myself. I’ve introduced the boys to many different geeky topics such as superheroes and Doctor Who. I’ve found a whole new level of geekiness that exists in sharing your geeky interests with your child.

I’m actually writing this with a half hour to go on my 30’s. As I write about my geekiness with only thirty minutes left until I turn 40, I can’t help but imagine turning 40 as if it were The Doctor’s regeneration. It might not be as dramatic as my entire body and personality suddenly changing, but I am going to have to say goodbye to 30’s-Me and say hi to 40’s-Me. Some of the last words of Matt Smith’s Eleventh Doctor seem to apply here:

We all change, when you think about it, we’re all different people; all through our lives, and that’s okay, that’s good you’ve gotta keep moving, so long as you remember all the people that you used to be.

I’ll always remember 30’s-Me and I might even miss him a bit, but I’m also excited to see what fun things 40’s-Me will encounter. Here’s hoping this will be a great decade!

Test Track Fun – Even When The Ride Is Over

February 28, 2013 TechyDad Disney

Last week, I gave a tour of the new "make your own car" feature in Test Track. Once you are finished designing your car, you wait for your ride vehicle. As you walk up to the boarding area, you tap your white card against a glowing circle to link your car with your ride vehicle. As you do so, others in your vehicle will do the same. Then, you board your vehicle and go for a ride around the track.

The ride is very much like the old Test Track, except much more futuristic looking. There are tests such as braking and steering. There’s a wind tunnel where a stream of "colored air" goes above you as you view yourself in a mirror. As each series of tests is completed, a ranking of the linked cars is displayed. Your car may take the top spot in one test only to fail miserably in another.

At the end of the sequence, like in the old Test Track, you go into a "crash test" where the wall moves out of the way at the last second. Instead of smashing into a wall, you go zooming along a track outside. Here’s a video I made during the Grand Opening. (NOTE: It’s very dark and shaky, but was the best I could do. The actual ride is much, much cooler than this video shows.)

Perhaps the coolest change, however, comes after the ride is over. Instead of just exiting outside or going into the standard store-after-the-ride, Test Track lets you out into a series of rooms where you get to do even more with your designed cars.

First, you can see how your car ranked against other cars designed that day. Next, you can design some car commercials starring your vehicle. After this is an area where you can take your photo with some real cars. (This area wasn’t completely functional when we went so, unfortunately, I didn’t get to try it.)

Perhaps the coolest post-ride feature, though, is the racing game.

That’s ten controller areas around a "race track." The track is, of course, a video game screen.

See that circle to the left of the steering wheel? Simply touch your card against that and your car will appear on the track. You then use the lever to the right to go forward or backward and faster or slower while you steer with the steering wheel. Loop your way around the track, avoiding obstacles, and without crashing into the other players’ cars. (Or crash into them and try to knock them aside.)

With all of these fun things to do, Test Track is going to be a fast favorite with my boys. In fact, I think we’ll have our work cut out for us when we need to drag them out of the post-ride fun to go see other sights.

Disclosure: I was invited to the New Fantasyland media event December 5th through 7th. Disney paid for my travel, our park tickets, room, and a few other items. I was able to take B along as my guest, but we paid for her own travel as well as an extra night in the resort. The opinions expressed above are my own. – See more at: http://www.techydad.com/2013/02/designing-a-car-on-disneys-test-track/#sthash.X23OoG2W.dpuf

Designing a Car on Disney’s Test Track

February 21, 2013 TechyDad Disney, Photos

Test Track has long been a favorite of mine. I always loved riding in the car as it got put through the paces of testing. Then, at the end, it would zoom outside for a fast loop around the track.

When they closed it down for revamping, I was intrigued. Then, I heard that the new Test Track would let you design your own cars. I wondered how they would do it. Then, in December, I got to find out.

When you first enter, the change is immediately apparent. Instead of a "factory testing grounds" atmosphere, Test Track now seems futuristic with many types of concept cars.

You are given a white card. These are tapped against a small glowing circle to link the station you are at with your car design. If you take the Fast Pass line, you will be given thirty seconds to customize some pre-built car templates. However, if you go on the regular line, you get five minutes. That might seem like a lot of time, but there are a lot of options.

First you select your vehicle type.

Next, you draw the outline of your car.

You can then refine it to maximize capability, efficiency, responsiveness, and/or power. (This is a recurring theme. Nearly everything you do affects those four variables.)

Next, you further customize the sculpt.

Then, you drag the wheels together or apart to adjust the length.

You drag the headlights apart or together to set the width to your liking.

And you choose your engine. (I went for the power-filled Plasma Burner.)

You can customize the face of the car by dragging elements of it around to reshape the car.

You can paint it any color you desire.

And even add graphics. (Flames make cars go faster, right?)

Next, you get to choose which wheels you want to use for both the front and back. You can even resize them to your liking.

Finally, it’s time to accessorize the front, hood, side, top, and rear.

At last, your vehicle is ready! (Tip: You can spin it around to see all sides.)

The design possibilities are endless!

With your car designed, it’s time to ride on Test Track.

Test Track Car Commercials

February 6, 2013 TechyDad Disney, Videos

When you go on the new Test Track ride, you get to design your own car. However, when you get off the ride, the run doesn’t stop. There are many activities to pursue, including designing your own car commercial starring the car that you put together, in scenes of your choosing, with announcers of your choosing, and spotlighting features of your car. Here are three commercials that I made.

Wordless Wednesday: Seven Dwarfs At Work

January 16, 2013 TechyDad Disney, NewFantasyland, Photos, Wordless Wednesday

While New Fantasyland is open at Disney World, one big section is still being worked on: The Seven Dwarfs Mine Train. While the dwarfs (and Disney engineers) are hard at work building it, here is a sneak preview and some photos of the barrier.

« 1 2 3 4 »