The Comando & The Newbie: Lots of Pics! Completed! [Archive] - The DIS Discussion Forums

thumperbelle3

07-10-2008, 01:08 PM

Trip Report starts on page 3 post #39!
Think of a wonderful thought. Any happy little thought?...page 3 #40
It's our problem free philosophy... page 3 #41
Be our guest! Be our guest! Put our service to the test!...page 3 #45
Anything your heart desires...page 4 #47
Hi-Diddle-Dee-Dee...page 40 #50
Good Morning, Good Morning! To you...page 4 #52
It's Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious!...page 4 #53
Zip-A-Dee-Do-Da! Zip-A-Dee-Yay!...page 4 #56
There is just one moon and one golden sun...page 4 #60
Who's the leader of the club that's made for you and me...page5 #61
Star light, star bright, first star I see tonight...page 5 #63
Everybody neat and pretty?...page 5 #67
That door is opening once again...page 5 #68
I'm so rumbly in my tumbly...page 5 #71
I'm late! I'm late!...page 5 #72
I'm just a little black rain cloud...page 5 #73
Look for the bear necessities the simple bear necessities...page 6 #78
Pink Elephants on Parade...page 6 #80
Domo Arigato!...page 6 #83
Willkommen to Germany!...page 6 #86
I've got no strings to hold me down...page 6 #87
There is more to see than can ever be seen...page 7 #92
Just keep swimming! Just keep swimming!...page 7 #95
Just around the river bend...page 7 #99
Now it's time to say good-bye to all our company...page 7 #102
Final Thoughts...page 7 #103

Ok, so I've been lurking here for quite awhile. I have read so many wonderful trip reports and felt compelled to start my own. This feeling to write started when I was reading a pre-trippie and I felt so excited for the OP and their family as their trip got closer and closer, I felt so excited for them and said to myself "self, you are going to stop lurking and write your own trippie!"

So here it is. It all started in mid March. I was supposed to go back to school to start my degree in Radiography in May, but I didn't get into the program like I had hoped. I missed it by 26 people.:headache: So where can I spend all the money I've been saving for school....hmmmm. Then it hit me. Vacation. Not just any va-ca. Walt Disney World!!! Me and DBF.

Me (29) Graduated from college 6 years ago but am planning to go back to school for Radiography next year. I have been to Disney 7 times in my life and love it to death. I am a huge planner and have frequent Disney dreams at night about planning said trip. I love food and read cookbooks for fun. I guess you could call me a foodie!

DBF (Mark, 29) He graduated from college 6 years ago also and is currently finishing up his Nursing degree. Never been to Disney. But he's the youngest of 11 children and his family just never made it down to the World. He loves that I plan everything and I try not to talk his ear off about Disney too much. It's hard!:rotfl2: He's my best friend and I can't wait to see his face when he looks at the castle for the first time!

I wanted it to be a surprise for him since he's never been there. Alas I can not keep a secret from him for long!:laughing: He was on board for it though. I told him that it is not just a place for the kiddies, even though we are both kids at heart. The trip is scheduled for Sept 9 - 14th. A lot of factors came into planning this trip. A few bumps in the road. And at one point I wondered if we are going to make it to WDW at all.

thumperbelle3

07-11-2008, 08:56 AM

Ok so once we decided we are going to Disney I started planning. This is my first Disney trip without my family, not that I didn't try and get them to come! My Dad did all the planning in the past so all this was very new to me. ADR's what???:confused3

I started bugeting how much resort we could afford and how long we'd be staying. Also I wanted to drive down from MI. What!!! Drive!!! That was DBF's reaction. I don't mind the drive because every time I went with my family we always drove. It became part of the vacation.

Well fate (or junk mail) stepped in and DBF got a postcard in the mail about free airline tickets. Ok it's a scam right? Almost. All we had to do was sit through a 90 min. sales pitch for a Vacation Club. "This isn't a sales pitch. This is reality." Really...they said that. Sort of like a time share except you can travel all over the world instead of just one destination. Sounded too good to be true so we said "No thank you. Just give us our free airfare please!" (this becomes an issue later on)

Cool so we don't have to drive there! That means no car. Ok well Disney has buses and such. I however have never used WDW transportation. I kind of like to be in control of things and waiting for a bus while I know other people are building a line in front of me at the ropes will make me anxious. Well Vacation Club Pushy Sales Pitch Reality People also gave us a rental car voucher! Yeah I have control again! :rotfl:

Transportation. Check!
Now we have to decide where to stay and what parks to do!

addictedtothemouse

07-11-2008, 10:46 AM

My first trip I used the Disney transportation and my second trip I drove. Definitely drive.

thumperbelle3

07-11-2008, 12:08 PM

I have never been to FL in the summer time. Every one tells me it's miserable. But I love the heat! I rarely wear shorts in summer here in MI. Temps in the 70's are on the cool side for me.:upsidedow DBF on the other hand doesn't like heat to much. I plan to buy a misting fan for us to use!

I really wanted to visit WDW in Sept. With DBF finishing nursing school we weren't sure that could happen. He can't miss even one class!!! Well like me he also didn't make the cut to get into the program and will have to wait another semester. September it is!:woohoo:

Then while lurking on this fab site I discovered Free Dining!! What? Disney is going to pay for my meals? It's FREE?? I jumped all over that. This trip is shaping up to be the cheapest Disney vacation ever. So 6 days/5 nights at POP Century with Free Dining.

Originally I planed 1 day at MK and 1 day at EPCOT. Mark's never been so he wont know what he's missing at the other parks. But then I was like, "Mark really likes rollercoasters. We have to do RNR. And he'll probably like TOT too. Oh Expedition Everest!! I haven't ridden that yet and I love Dinosaur!" Ok DHS and AK are in too.:banana: The Comando in me came back out. I hope DBF can handle it! I promise to relax and take our time. So that's why I choose POP as our resort. I wanted a mod but we will hardly be in our room, so why spend the extra $ right?

Now where do we eat? My first call to WDW-DINE

thumperbelle3

07-11-2008, 12:16 PM

My first trip I used the Disney transportation and my second trip I drove. Definitely drive.
A couple people I work with used Disney transportation on their trips. One was during Spring Break and the other last month. Both busy times of the year, but both people said they didn't have a problem. I however am not the luckiest person so I'm glad we have a car.
Thanks for reading! I also see it was your first post! We are both DIS newbies!

thumperbelle3

07-14-2008, 10:59 AM

I plan on posting lots of pictures when we get back. Because hey, I love me a trippie with pics! I spent some time on the photography board and I think I got some good ideas for pictures. My DBF loves photography and I hope he takes some good ones! Here is a picture of us a couple of weeks ago at a baseball game.
http://i342.photobucket.com/albums/o430/thumperbelle3/KingsGame.jpg
Yikes! Sorry its so big! I'm still learning:blush: I'll have to fix that.

thumperbelle3

07-14-2008, 11:24 AM

Ok ADR's. I knew we wanted to eat in the World Showcase in EPCOT. I really wanted to try Japan. We have a sushi place here at home that we both love. DBF really wanted to try the Biergarten. It looked fun so we put that on our list. I also know that we aren't going to do any character meals. DBF doesn't even know most of them anyway!:scared1: We are going to do all CS at MK. I've only eaten at CRT at MK and that was 23 yrs ago! I feel comfortable with just CS since we only have 1 MK day. It will give us more flexibility. For DHS I went back and forth between 50's and Si-Fi. We decided Si-Fi would be more fun for just the 2 of us. I think 50's is more fun with a group. AK just CS because we are only staying until 2:30. Ok we have 3 TS credits left. I decided to pick Artist Point. I know there are a lot of bad reviews of this place out there. I love the Wilderness Lodge and really wanted DBF to see it because I know he will love the out west wilderness feel. I hope we have a great experience! I also want to do Raglan Road on our arrival day. I can't wait to try the bread pudding!!!

I had no idea how many popular resturants there are in the World! :confused3 I feel like the ones we choose aren't very popular, but I'm too afraid to change anything this late in the game. Plus I don't want to feel rushed to get somewhere on time. The main point of this trip is to experience it with DBF. Food is just an afterthought. I hope we aren't disapointed!

So right now the schedule looks like this:
Tues (arrival day) Raglan Road lunch
Wed (MK day) CS
Thurs (DHS day) Si-Fi Drive-In linch 1:30pm
Fri (EPCOT day) Biergarten dinner 8:00pm
Sat (AK day) Artist Point dinner 6:10pm

SwansLoveDisney

07-14-2008, 10:09 PM

Your trip sounds like it will be so much fun! I can't wait to hear how your DBF likes it!

I don't make too many ADRs when I go to WDW...I prefer to eat at counter service restaurants and spend more time in the parks!

thumperbelle3

07-15-2008, 08:43 AM

So remember how I said we got free airfare? Well they sent us a form awhile back so we could pick out the dates we wanted. That was almost two months ago! I was starting to get a little anxious because we haven't heard anything and it is very hard to plan our arrival day if I don't know what time we are arriving! Well yesterday when I got to DBF's and there was a letter on the table from the airfare people. I got all excited and he said, "It's not good news." They can't get us tickets for the dates we want.:headache: I can't say I was surprised. Some things are just too good to be true. They will however send us $350 for consolation. I'll believe it when I see it. What a crock! Do not, I repeat, DO NOT ever waste 90 minutes of your life sitting through a time share presentation. We never will again.

Well I jumped on the computer right then and started searching for some cheap plane tickets. It only took us about 20 minutes and we booked two tickets roundtrip out of Detroit on Spirit Air. The cost $493.00. That's for both of us, with 1 checked bag and insurance. I hope we can fit everything in 1 checked bag and 2 carry-ons! I tend to overpack sometimes! And the best part...I know know we are to arrive in Orlando around 10:20am! That gives us almost a full first day!:dance3:

addictedtothemouse

07-15-2008, 10:45 AM

My mom and I went to Raglan Road on our last trip and oh the bread pudding:love: . I was actually dreaming about it the other night:rotfl2:

thumperbelle3

07-15-2008, 01:44 PM

My mom and I went to Raglan Road on our last trip and oh the bread pudding:love: . I was actually dreaming about it the other night:rotfl2:
That's one of the reasons why I picked it!

thumperbelle3

07-15-2008, 01:57 PM

I previously posted that we got a free rental car voucher. Well it wasn't really free we had to put a $75.00 refundable deposit down and pay all taxes and fees and gas! Beacuse of the whole airfare fiasco I made the decision to cancel and get our deposit back. I'm going to just have to tell myself, "this is vacation. Just relax and take your time. You don't need a car." Honestly we were going to use the buses on some days anyway. I really don't mind waiting for a bus at the end of a park day. It's the time it takes to get there that I wish could be faster.;)

DBF said "Are you sure?" I said "Yeah, beacuse Mickey will pick us up at the airport." DBF said "Really! Mickey will be there!" He was so excited all of a sudden and I had to tell him "No Mickey will not be there, but they do pick us up for free!" He's so cute! :love:

Last Friday I went to Walmart and bought a brand new 1GB memory card for my camera. Until now the largest card I had was 128MB. Yikes! Get with the times girl. I also bought a misting fan. And guess what color it is...........LIME GREEN!:thumbsup2

SwansLoveDisney

07-15-2008, 02:08 PM

thumperbelle3

07-21-2008, 03:16 PM

Is it September yet!? No. Ok. Just heard that Midwest Airlines cancelled most of it's non-seasonal flights to Orlando.:eek: I hope that doesn't happen to Spirit! I know I will be worring until the night before we leave.

I have planned our first day at Disney. Here is what it is going to look like:
Arrive at 10:20am
Take Magical Express to resort
Check-in (hope the room is ready...doubt it...come on pixie dust!)
Head to Raglan Road for lunch
Play mini golf at Fantasia Gardens (never done this before)
Explore Port Orleans French Quarter and take boat back to DTD
Do some shopping
Loser of mini golf buys winner their choice at Ghiradelli's (I plan to win!)
Back to resort to swim/relax/drinky drinks

I kind of want to go with the flow on the first day since we will be hitting the parks hard for the next 4 days. But, we will be in Disney finally and it'll be hard not to try and see everything we can!:woohoo:

thumperbelle3

07-30-2008, 09:10 AM

Well I'm getting to the point where I'm starting to think about packing. I want to bring some breakfast type foods with us so we can eat b-fast in the room each morning. I don't know if I should send a package down to arrive when we get to the resort, or just pack it in the suitcase. As I said before we are planning to only bring one suitcase for the both of us. I don't want to go over the weight limit. But then I look at the dining reviews (YUM!) and think I might want to eat in the food court! Decisions, decisions!

I think Mark is getting excited about our trip. He's a little preocupied right now. He closed of his new condo 2 weeks ago:yay: and he's been busy moving in and getting settled. And by that I mean he's spending $$$ like it's burning a hole in his pocket buying all kinds of new stuff for the place. Hello sweetie! We have a vacation to save for!:rotfl:

Sorry if this is boring to anyone reading! And if you are reading, THANK YOU!:flower3:
I promise it will get better once I'm able to write the actual trip report!

P.S. Someone tell me the coffee isn't that bad down there!:scared:

PrincessVal

07-30-2008, 10:04 AM

:surfweb: I'm in.

You sound like me and my DH. I'm the vet and he's always just along for the ride. We are actually leaving this Sunday for Disney! I decided to do my first trip report this time also. Good luck with the rest of your planning.

amytheobald

07-30-2008, 11:28 AM

I'm in:surfweb: we'll be there at the same time! We will be at POR with three little one's in tow.popcorn:: popcorn:: :banana: :thumbsup2

nflder

07-30-2008, 03:24 PM

Sorry if this is boring to anyone reading! And if you are reading, THANK YOU!:flower3:
I promise it will get better once I'm able to write the actual trip report!

P.S. Someone tell me the coffee isn't that bad down there!:scared:

Reading along - great so far. Two things - I love the coffee at the resorts and I also love the transportation. Call me weird! I wouldn't worry too much about bringing down breakfast food - you have your snack credits for pastries and the like in the food court. I think bringing stuff with you may be a bit of a hassle.

Have a great trip - and any day now is a good time to start packing.

thumperbelle3

07-31-2008, 09:08 AM

thumperbelle3

07-31-2008, 09:13 AM

I'm in:surfweb: we'll be there at the same time! We will be at POR with three little one's in tow.popcorn:: popcorn:: :banana: :thumbsup2

I loved POR. My family went there when it was still called Dixie Landings. We liked staying in the "Bayou Dwellings" the best. Not sure what they call this area of the resort now. The only downside to this resort for some people (not me though) is you may end up with a room that's far from the food court. I like to walk so no worries here! Have a great time and lets pray for nice weather!

thumperbelle3

07-31-2008, 09:19 AM

Reading along - great so far. Two things - I love the coffee at the resorts and I also love the transportation. Call me weird! I wouldn't worry too much about bringing down breakfast food - you have your snack credits for pastries and the like in the food court. I think bringing stuff with you may be a bit of a hassle.

Have a great trip - and any day now is a good time to start packing.

I think we may just bring a box of donuts (I know healthy right;) ).
I'm an early riser, so I will probably be the one to go down in the morning for coffee and whatnot. I'm not a total coffee snob, but I've been drinking Starbucks for the past 6 months. We'll see!

amytheobald

07-31-2008, 10:10 AM

I loved POR. My family went there when it was still called Dixie Landings. We liked staying in the "Bayou Dwellings" the best. Not sure what they call this area of the resort now. The only downside to this resort for some people (not me though) is you may end up with a room that's far from the food court. I like to walk so no worries here! Have a great time and lets pray for nice weather!

We were far from the food court last time, but close to the bus stop...I prefer it that way I think, afterall there are a million places in Disney to get food, not so many to catch the bus!!!!!

thumperbelle3

08-05-2008, 03:45 PM

I am starting to freak out!:scared1:

I just found a blog about how horrible Spirit Air is. They cancel flights last minute, lose your luggage, charge fees up the wazoo, don't give refunds, etc.! Please say it aint so!

I've checked rates for other airlines and they are too expensive! If our flight gets cancelled I will lose it:sad:

I am going hold on to these flights and just pray that we have really good luck. I mean four leaf clovers busting out of my pockets, horseshoes galore, rabbits-feet coming out my ears, eatin Lucky Charms for breakfast everyday lucky!

We got our yellow DME tags in the mail on Friday! :banana: Only 5 weeks away now!(crossing fingers while avoiding black cats);)

jjk

08-05-2008, 04:01 PM

Just started reading your report, keeping everying crossed for you that your flights are fine:wizard:

thumperbelle3

08-11-2008, 03:19 PM

Only 29 days until we leave!

:banana: :woohoo: :banana:

Oh and my 90th post;)

amytheobald

08-11-2008, 04:54 PM

Sending on time flight vibes and safe luggage vibes your way!:yay:

thumperbelle3

08-12-2008, 09:09 AM

Thanks for the good vibes!

We received our packet in the mail with all the vouchers and luggage tags and reservation info yesterday. We're starting to get really excited now! Yes I said WE! Last night DBF asked me what our itinerary is. I tried to control the speed at which everything I had planned came flying out of my mouth. I've never actually spoken the itinerary out loud yet, I've only typed it out on the computer 20 times!:rotfl: That's the first time he's asked me anything about what we are doing! :yay: I know he is excited about going because I am and everyone at his work keeps telling him they're excited for him too. He even mentioned to me that on our AK day we should do the safari first because the animals are the most active then. Good job honey! Are you sure you're not a DIS'er?

thumperbelle3

08-19-2008, 09:59 AM

It's hard to ignore it but I can't stop watching Tropical Storm Fay. I really hope that it doesn't get too bad and ruin anyone's vacations. There are a couple of DISers with trip reports I'm reading that are there right now. At least it's not a hurricane. It makes me nervous about our trip in 3 weeks. Maybe we'll be lucky enough to not have anything hit that week. It is the peak of hurricane season though. :confused3

thumperbelle3

08-25-2008, 09:40 AM

This will probably be my last post before we leave. I do have something exciting to share! Mark bought me a new camera!:yay: I have been talking about getting one for a while now since the one I currenty have is a few years old. 4 years to be exact. That's like 40 in camera years! Anyway, it's a Canon Powershot S5 IS. We are still waiting for it to arrive in the store so we can go pick it up. I hope it comes before we leave! I will be using it to take all the pictures I intend to use in this TR. Pictures! Yay!

Be sure to come back after September 14th to find out:
How much does Free Dining weigh?
Can we "Drink Around the World" and still walk out?
Does Mark look good in Mickey Ears?
How many fountains will I get my picture in front of?
Will Mark hate me for my Comando ways? (wakey, wakey it's 6:30am hee hee)
Do we see any famous people?
Who brings the crazy?
Who Framed Rodger Rabbit?
Who's Afraid of the Big Bad Wolf?

Have a great Labor Day weekend and thanks for reading!:)

PrincessVal

08-25-2008, 11:19 AM

I'm so excited for you and for the TR. Have a fabulous trip!!!!! :yay:

SwansLoveDisney

08-25-2008, 01:30 PM

Have a wonderful time!

Can't wait to see all the fabulous pics taken with the new camera!

JaxJags08

08-25-2008, 02:03 PM

I'm in! Have a great time! I'll be looking forward to your TR.

addictedtothemouse

08-27-2008, 11:47 PM

pixiedust: pixiedust: Hope this helps with the transportation situation. The buses weren't too bad, the kids were just really tired at night and it would have been nice to not have to wait for a bus and then stand all the way back to our resort.

Mom and I also went to Beirgarten and loved it. And I've actually read some good things about Artist Pointe.

Hope you have a safe and fun trip.:banana:

thumperbelle3

09-08-2008, 10:27 AM

We leave tomorrow!!!
I can't believe it came so quickly! It looks like Ike is going to stay to the south. I'm trying to be optimistic about it. You never know what those storms will do. We are prepared for the rain though. 87 cent ponchos baby!
Mark and I went out to eat last week and he said, "We should take pictures of all the food we eat while we're in Disney." :lmao: If he only knew!;)

addictedtothemouse

09-11-2008, 10:28 AM

Hpe you're having a blast on your trip. And staying dry:rotfl:

tyandskyesmom

09-11-2008, 11:05 AM

Hope you're having fun and cannot wait to hear how it all went!

thumperbelle3

09-15-2008, 09:47 AM

We got back home last night at 12:00am! I'm soooo tired and sad that our trip had to come to an end. We had a great time! The weather was almost perfect and the crowds were the lowest I've ever experienced! I can't wait to share our story with you! We have a TON of pictures and I will try to load them tomorrow and get started with the report!

JaxJags08

09-15-2008, 10:26 AM

Welcome back! I'm glad you had a great time and I'm excited to read all about it.

thumperbelle3

09-17-2008, 01:43 PM

It's time to get this trip started! Here is a brief recap of who we are and what we did:
Bri (29) I've been to Disney 7 times with my Dad, Mom and sister. This is my first trip without them. I did all the planning for this trip since my DBF has never been to the World.
Mark (29) He has never been to Disney. Knows some of the characters names and is familiar with most of the movies. Likes rollercoasters and eating. Is big in to photography.

Dates: September 9 - September 14
Where: POP Century Resort
Parks: Magic Kingdom on 10th; Hollywood Studios on 11th; EPCOT on 12th; Animal Kingdom on 13th
ADR's: Raglan Road; Si-Fi Dine In; Biergarten; Artist Point

Ready! Here we gooooooo!!!

thumperbelle3

09-17-2008, 01:56 PM

You can fly! You can fly! You can fly!

We got off to an early start. Very early. 4:30am to be exact. Mark got up and took a shower while I called Spirit Air to make sure our flight was still on time. It was. I had checked in online the night before and the flight was still a go so my worries were squelched.:) Mark had a ham sandwich and chips and salsa for breakfast. He’ll eat anything at anytime of day. He told me I should eat too but I wasn’t hungry. I was way too excited to finally be on our way.:banana: Plus it was bleepin’ early! I had already taken a shower before bed so we were all packed and ready to go at 5:00am.

It took us a couple of hours to get to Detroit Metro Airport. Morning traffic wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be. Let me just say that Detroit Metro is the most run down airport I’ve ever seen. It is extremely ghetto. It’s in need of some serious remodeling. I wanted some Starbuck’s but I wanted to get through security first. We went through security around 7:15am. Spirit has its own concourse which is nice. What is not nice is there is no Starbucks once you get past the security check point! Noooo! They had another vendor but I decided I wanted to sleep on the plane so I didn’t end up getting any coffee. I looked around and saw a few WDW luggage tags. Our plane took off exactly on time at 8:35!

I got the window seat and Mark sat next to me. The plane was nasty! I opened my tray table and it had food stuff on it still. The window had fingerprint smears all over it. I was really afraid to touch anything. Especially the in flight magazines in the pocket in front of me. The man that sat next to Mark was with a woman across the aisle and I swear they had so much crap with them! Spirit Airlines does not have complimentary anything so this couple had a plastic bag full of food. They ate and got situated for about an hour. I didn’t sleep. This is gross but someone on the plane had really bad gas. I don’t know where it was coming from but it was horrible!:eek: Mark nodded off a few times. I just listened to my MP3 player which had a few Disney songs I put on it. Mark realized that he had forgotten to clear his memory cards for the camera before he left. At least we can use the 2 I brought up first. At 10:55am we touched down in Orlando! Fifteen minutes early!:thumbsup2 The weather was mostly cloudy and temps in the 80’s.

thumperbelle3

09-17-2008, 02:03 PM

Hakuna Matata!

We got off the plane and Mark changed into shorts. We took the “monorail” over to the Magical Express (ME). Check in took about 5 minutes. We got right on the Pop Century bus which was about a quarter full.

http://i342.photobucket.com/albums/o430/thumperbelle3/Day%201/Disney2008412.jpg

Ten minutes later we were on our way! Our bus driver was from Haiti and kind of hard to understand. I thought he said something about the death toll from hurricanes in Haiti was up to 500 people. Mark thought he said there were 500 people already checked in to Pop Century. We find it hard to understand anyone without a Midwest accent. I loved the ME bus! Here is a picture of us on it.

http://i342.photobucket.com/albums/o430/thumperbelle3/Day%201/Disney2008411.jpg

The video was great and we were both really excited. Mark passed the time by talking in his Mickey Mouse voice which has a slightly southern twang to it. He does the Mickey giggle pretty good. I also loved letting ME pick up our suitcase and having it delivered right to our room!

This might be a good time to bring up the “Binder of Fun”. Anyone who watched the Full House episode when the Tanner family went to WDW knows that Danny had the “Clipboard of Fun”. We’ll I made a binder. Some of you reading have probably already made one yourself. I included our itinerary, menus, maps, reservation information. I introduced Mark to it the night before we left. He laughed and said he was very thankful that I did all the planning. I knew we probably wouldn’t use it that much but it was sort of my security blanket if you will.

It was just after 12 noon when we arrived at Pop Century.

http://i342.photobucket.com/albums/o430/thumperbelle3/Day%201/Disney2008153.jpg

What a cool resort this is. I used to think the OVERSIZED décor was kinda cheesy. That was before we actually saw it in real life. I loved it! All the bright colors and fun music. Now this is Disney. We walked into the lobby which was not that busy. We liked looking at the shadow boxes on the walls. Especially the 80’s ones since that’s the decade we grew up in. Guess what! Our room was ready! I was not expecting this at all. And we are staying in 50’s building 1. I was really hoping to stay in the 50’s or 60’s so I was thrilled. We next went over to the concierge desk to get a print out of our ADR’s and add two days to Marks 1 day MYW ticket. I had a non-expiring ticket with 4 days on it already. Mark was going to add 2 days to his making it a 3 day and then he would also use the 1 day ticket I had to purchase to get the free dining package. It cost him $145.90 for the 2 days. He used a Visa gift card from his bank for this. These are nice if you don’t want to carry cash.

http://i342.photobucket.com/albums/o430/thumperbelle3/Day%201/Disney20082.jpg

http://i342.photobucket.com/albums/o430/thumperbelle3/Day%201/Disney20083.jpg

Then we headed to our room #1263. It took a little while for us to find it but of course once you do you never lose your way again right? Our room was at the end of building 1 on the second floor overlooking the bowling pin pool. How cool is that! There were trees blocking some of our view but it was a standard room and I thought that was pretty good. Here are a couple pics of the inside.

http://i342.photobucket.com/albums/o430/thumperbelle3/Day%201/Disney2008212.jpg

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I was in shock of how smoothly everything was going so far. I at least expected to have to wait for something! We left our carry-on bags and grabbed our Keys to the World and headed out the door for some lunch.

PrincessVal

09-18-2008, 10:07 AM

thumperbelle3

09-18-2008, 11:43 AM

Great start to the trip! I love the Full House episode where they go to WDW!!! DJ keeps seeing her BF Steve everywhere - even as Aladdin. Which is completely awesome because that actor actually did Aladdin's voice in the movie. Ok completely off topic, I know I'm a huge dork. Can't wait to read more. :goodvibes

Oh yeah Steve!! And she thought she saw him at the Indy Stunt too!:rotfl:

Your Illuminations crusie looked like a lot of fun! I'm glad the weather cooperated for you.

amytheobald

09-18-2008, 10:55 PM

Great so far! Can't wait to read more!

thumperbelle3

09-19-2008, 08:52 AM

Tie a napkin round your neck Cherie and we provide the rest.

Well we did have to wait for something. The bus. We decided to take the bus to Pleasure Island (PI) and have lunch at Raglan Road (RR) because that is what the “Binder of Fun” told us to do. Good Lord it was hot. I started wishing I had planned a water park day.:headache: We waited almost 20 minutes for the bus to DTD. It was 1:05pm when we left POP. We also found out that the buses are not running to PI because of construction. We would have to get off at West Side. I decided we should get off at Market Place instead because I’m not familiar with West Side and we wanted to do some shopping. But lunch first! I had only eaten a 100 cal pack of Wheat Thins so far toady. Once we got to RR my stomach was eating itself. And the fact that the outside of the restaurant smelled funny didn’t help. I don’t really know what it was.:confused3 It kind of smelled like hot cooking oil or grease.

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Anyway the place was almost empty and it was time to test out the free dining plan. We sat inside because it was just baking on the patio. There were only 7 or 8 tables taken. It was gorgeous inside and it didn’t smell.

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Our server was David. I think he was from Ireland because of his accent. We ordered a couple waters and the Providence Beer Flight. This was 5 oz each of Guinness, Smithwicks (or Smitticks if your Irish), Harps Lager, and Murphy’s Red Ale. This cost $8.50 and Mark and I split it. It was really good.

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Mark least liked the Murphy’s so I drank most of that one. Shortly after our flight was delivered a fly flew right into our Smitticks! Guess he needed a drink too. Thankfully we got a new one. When we opened the menu I was a little worried. I had printed the RR menu off of allears and it was totally different. The two things I wanted weren’t on it! Bangers Begosh and Pie in the Sky were gone. Maybe it was because we came at lunch time? I didn’t ask David about it. We also got bread and a Guinness dipping sauce. You can see it in the background of the next pic. So yummy! For my main course I decided to get the Portobello Bridge $11.50. Portobello mushroom cap burger filled with Dubliner cheese and tomato relish. It came with a side and I choose the cesar salad.

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Oh my gosh was this delicious! The portobello was so juicy and flavorful. The cesar salad dressing was great too. Mark got the Steak Sanger $13.95. It was sliced sirloin steak with fried onions and tomato relish served on thick sliced toasted bread. He got mixed vegetables for a side.

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He loved this as well. We took pictures but I’m afraid to say that we didn’t take pictures of all of our food. But this isn’t a dining report. For your food porn you’ll have to look elsewhere! For dessert I ordered the Ger’s Bread & Butter Pudding $7.99. Excellent! I wish I could have eaten the whole thing. We thought it tasted like really soft homemade coffee cake. The sauces you pour over it were to die for.:cloud9: Mark ordered the Dundon’s Delight $7.99. Raspberry pavlova with vanilla pod ice cream, served on a raspberry and champagne consommé. He did not like this. The pavlova was too airy. When he cut it open it looked like the turkey from National Lampoons Christmas Vacation. All dry and hollow. Maybe that’s how it is supposed to be? And the consommé was so sweet it hurt. Needless to say Mark ate a lot of my bread pudding. Our total came to $52.63. But with Free Dining we only paid $19.50 (beer + tip).

amytheobald

09-19-2008, 10:38 PM

Raglan Road is on my list of must trys!

thumperbelle3

09-22-2008, 11:19 AM

Will come to you!

After we ate we walked around PI. Mark wanted to go into the Harley Davidson store. He really wants a Harley someday.

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I wanted to get a picture in front of the Adventures’ Club during the day. We are planning to go there on Saturday.

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We looked around the Lego Store.
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Then we sweated over to World of Disney and shopped around. Another DISer on here had noticed the unusual positions the stuffed animals were placed into the arms of the mannequins and had talked about it in their trip report. :rotfl: Mark noticed it also and took some pictures.

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I called my parents and left a message to let them know we had arrived ok. Mark found a nice Mickey Mouse shirt he wanted $24.00. I got a photo album with a pewter castle on the front $24.00. Then we stumbled across our first pressed penny machine. Before our trip Mark had picked out the pennies he wanted to use. He likes the really old discolored ones. These made the designs really hard to read so I’m glad I brought some shiny ones. We also bought the book for keeping the pennies in $6.95. Our total at World of Disney came to $58.53. We had our purchases shipped back to our hotel. I love this service.

Then we went into Arribas Bros. I took a picture of the crystal castle. It cost over $37,000. That’s a little bit less than what Mark’s condo cost yet the castle has more room.:confused3

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When we left the comfort of that shop we stumbled upon the caricature booth. I had really wanted to do this. Neither of us had one done before. We choose the black and white with shading. It turned out great!:thumbsup2 The artist did a great job. It cost us $50.06.
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We went into the Art of Disney shop. I really like this store and we took a few pictures of the things we liked.
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The Marketplace was pretty busy for a Tuesday afternoon but not wall to wall like at night.

Next on the agenda was to play some mini golf at Fantasia Gardens. But first we had to catch a bus to the Swan Hotel. I now bring to you Today’s Moment of Crazy: While waiting 10 minutes for a bus our travelers longed for the cool air conditioned bliss. After 20 minutes they were really longing. Finally a bus! A/C glorious A/C. Wait a minute. This bus feels like an oven. Doors close. No A/C?! :scared1:
There were probably 20 people on the bus and we were all dying! It was so hot and of course the windows don’t open. The driver finally started driving with the door open but it didn’t help. He was also driving 3 miles an hour. We had to stop at West Side where our driver got out and another one got on. Then other guests wanted to get on the bus and we tried to warn them. I think it was at this bus stop when some smokers got on. They weren’t smoking but they reeked of it and it really did stink up the whole bus. The lady next to me said, “First heat. Now smells, what’s next?” Don’t ask lady. Don’t ask. This poor old man across from us had soaked his shirt before we finally got to the Swan. I said to Mark, “We need to go inside and cool off before we walk over to Fantasia Gardens.”

It was about 4:30 when we left the Swan to walk over to mini golf. Mark discovered the little lizards. He wanted to catch one so bad, but we were too slow with the heat to try very hard. These lizards were all over Fantasia Gardens too. We had the voucher for one free round so it only ended up costing us $12.52. It is a very cute course but you can tell that it’s older. I liked the Fantasia theme. Mark loves the brooms from Sorcerer’s Apprentice.
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We played 18 holes and there was no one behind us or in front of us. It was fun but my feet were getting tired at this point. My favorite hole was the one with the hippo and alligator.
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On the 17th hole I hit my ball in to the water and couldn’t get it back. I didn’t care because we were almost done and I just wanted to sit down! I told Mark we could share the golf ball he had, but he wanted both of us to play the last hole. So he got it out of the water. It wasn’t my same ball as there were many in the water, but I was really happy and it was my favorite moment of the day.:love: This was a competition and Mark won. He got par for the course 53 and I got 59. And we each got a free golf ball from the clubhouse.

addictedtothemouse

09-23-2008, 10:07 AM

THe pixie dust for the transportation worked for the plane...I guess not so much for the bus.:rotfl2: Why is it that wgen it's the hottest it's the people that have forgotten about personal hygeine that are around.:headache:
The beginning of your trip sounds really good only a few minor annoyances (sp?) but hey, your at DISNEY:cool1: so thay can usually be lived with.
When mom and I were at RR they said every piece of the restaraunt and bar was shipped over from Ireland, maybe they sent the waiters also.:rotfl2:
Love the picture of you standing with the lego family.:lmao:
Can't wait to hear more about your trip.

thumperbelle3

09-24-2008, 08:12 AM

When mom and I were at RR they said every piece of the restaraunt and bar was shipped over from Ireland

Wow, I didn't know that! That's really cool!

thumperbelle3

09-24-2008, 08:21 AM

A Comando's life for me!

After mini golf we walked over to Boardwalk.
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It was a lot closer then I thought it was which was good because my sandals were starting to rub me the wrong way.:guilty: But we must go on. Lots to see! I had wanted to hop on a friendship boat and ride around the lagoon but Mark was hungry again so we decided to leave Boardwalk and go all the way back to DTD. Sounds crazy but it’s kind of my tradition to go to Ghirardelli’s for ice cream. But first we had to take pictures in my favorite chairs.
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And I bet Mark whoever wins mini golf has to by the sundaes. We got off at the Marketplace and headed straight for……Goofy’s Candy Co. Yes, it’s time to put those snack credits to good use. I got the pretzel sticks dipped in dark chocolate, rolled in crushed peanut butter cups then drizzled with milk chocolate $3.50. Mark got the Mickey rice crispy treat dipped in dark chocolate and rolled in crushed peanut butter cups $3.00. Our cost $0. Yay snack credits!:woohoo: They looked really sweet.
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We planned to eat them later in the week. Mark forgot to put his name on his order. Good thing we were the only ones ordering treats. Ok there were two other people there but seriously I thought that Goofy’s would be packed and it wasn’t. Ghirardelli’s wasn’t that bad either. I was glad to see the remodel included more cash registers.
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Mark got the Mint Bliss $7.95. One scoop of mint chip ice cream, one scoop of chocolate ice cream, dark chocolate hot fudge sauce, whipped cream and a square of Mint Bliss Intense Dark chocolate.
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I got the World Famous Hot Fudge Sundae $7.95. Two scoops of premium vanilla ice cream, fresh home-made hot fudge sauce, with whipped cream, chopped almonds and a cherry.
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Total $16.93. So yummy!:worship: Mark said his had too much hot fudge. I said that’s impossible.

It was around 8:30 when we decided to head home. When we got back to POP we went to buy our refill mugs. Since we were only a three minute walk from the food court I figured it would be worth it. They cost $26.61 at $12.49 each. The CM told us they sell about 500 of these a day!

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Then with drinks in hand we went to our room and found our suitcase waiting for us. We quickly unpacked and changed into our swimsuits and went to the pool for a half an hour. The water was so warm! The pool in my apartment complex is not heated so this felt awesome! We were in heaven! What a perfect day. It felt so good to be here at Disney with 5 more days to come. Mark was really liking it so far and I could tell he was happier than he normally is. When I asked him he said his favorite thing we did today was the caricature. Since we had to get up early we went to bed around 10:00pm. I made a wake up call for 6:45am. Tomorrow we go to my favorite place in WDW.

SwansLoveDisney

09-24-2008, 09:57 AM

What a great first day! You did a ton of stuff in one day, especially with waking up so early.

The sundaes look delicious. I agree...there can never be too much hot fudge!

thumperbelle3

09-26-2008, 08:10 AM

And you, and you, and you!

When I woke up and looked at the clock it said 4:30am!:eek: I was wide awake! My mind would not stop racing. “Are we going to get there in time for rope drop?” “Are the crowds going to be crazy?” “Is it going to rain today?” All these scenarios were popping into my head and I really just wanted to go back to sleep but as the old saying goes, “I’m too excited to sleep!”:yay:

We are going to the Magic Kingdom today!
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This is my favorite park and I can’t wait for Mark to see it! I laid in bed and tried to close my eyes but it was no use. At 5:40am all my tossing and turning woke Mark up and I told him I had been awake for an hour now. I decided to get up and take a shower so at least I’d be doing something. I grabbed my notebook and took some notes about our day yesterday. I have a feeling I won’t be able to take notes on a daily basis but I’ll try!

After I was ready I woke Mark up. We brought Pop Tarts and granola bars with us for breakfast in the room. I decided we should eat first and then go to Everything Pop to get our drinks. We could drink on the way over to MK. At 7:45am we headed down. I got the coffee. It was ok. Mark doesn’t drink coffee so he got ice tea. The bus stop for MK was the most full out of all the bus stops and I was worried that I had picked a bad day to visit. The bus came at 8:00am and we had to stand on the way there. It was a jerky ride. I made sure not to spill my hot nasty coffee on anyone.:cutie: The ride took about 13 minutes. I thought that was pretty good.

When we got there Mark went through the bag check line. He was such a good pack mule this whole trip! We took some pictures of the flower Mickey head and picked out a spot to watch the Good Morning Show.
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It was very humid already and my camera had fogged up. It was overcast but it didn’t look like it would rain. We sat on the right side by the small tree that’s in the big round cement pot that you can sit on. I made sure we sat on the back curve so no one would be able to stand in front of us. They had the Halloween decorations up. I like that it’s simply decorated and not overkill.
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We had to wait awhile but we had our drinks to sip on. Then the announcements came that MK would be opening soon. When the show started I got a little misty eyed. That’s never happened to me before.
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I was so happy to be at the MK with Mark.:love:

thumperbelle3

09-29-2008, 10:17 AM

After the show we went through the tunnel and around the corner to see…Cinderella Castle!:yay: Mark was smiling and he wanted to take my picture in front of the castle. I said “OK but make them quick!”
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Then we walked up Main Street and we could feel the A/C coming out of the shops. The Mad Hatter and Alice were walking up along with us and the Mad Hatter says to the mass of people, “Where’s everybody going?” It was funny and Mark would repeat that line often in his best Mad Hatter voice. We took some more pictures at the hub.
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I like the back view of the Partners statue. I of course was in commando mode now so I rushed us off at light speed to Tomorrow Land.
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We got right on to Space Mountain. This is my favorite Disney ride. We rode on the right side. It was a lot jerkier than I remembered. I was in the last seat and my neck was a little sore afterwards. Mark thought it was fun too. Then we went over to Buzz Lightyear. Also a walk-on. I did really bad. For the life of me I could not see my little red dot and the trigger was hard to push. Mark beat me, but we were both Space Ranger First Class!
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Time for Stitch’s Great Escape. We waited 2 minutes for this one. I still think it’s cute. When we sat down Mark felt that the seat was wet and he kept asking me all these questions. I told him to just wait and see! For some reason I did not get the chili dog burp in my face. I must have picked a good seat. Mark got a taste of it though.:sick:
We walked back over toward the castle. The Dream Along with Mickey Show was performing. I think its cool how the characters eyes and mouths open and close.
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But I rushed us past it. I had a plan to stick to. We now marched over to Adventure Land.
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This is my favorite land. I love the architecture. We had a five minute wait for Jungle Cruise. I normally like this ride and it’s cheesiness but our Skipper wasn’t that good.
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Plus we sat in the middle of the boat which I don’t like as well. Mark laughed at all the jokes but he was the only one. He’s so cute.:hug:
After Jungle Cruise we headed to Pirates of the Caribbean and walked on.
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We both love the movies. I hadn’t been on it since the new additions. I told Mark not to expect to be blown away by the ride since the movie was based on the ride not the other way around. I like the new Jack Sparrows. Did they change the audio too? I couldn’t hear it that well because two French tweens were chit-chatting loud right behind us. Boy that is a quick ride. It seemed faster than before. We found the key of Davey Jones in the gift shop.
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When we left the shop the pirate tutorial was going on so we stopped to watch a little. They were singing “Yo Ho Yo Ho a Pirates life for me.” And then it was over. We did get some pictures of it though.
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Wow did he look like the real thing! Then we ran into this guy.
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It was around 11:00am and we were getting hungry. So we did what anyone who’s hungry in Adventure Land would do. We got Dole Whips at Aloha Isle! I got a pineapple Dole Whip float $3.99 and Mark got root beer float with vanilla Dole Whip $3.69. Used our snack credits so cost was $0.00. We found a spot to sit and eat. They were huge and very yummy!
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I really liked the vanilla soft serve Mark got. It was at this point that I decided to slow down the pace of our touring. We were about an hour ahead of schedule and the lines were non-existent. Since we were so close we took a tour of the Swiss Family Robinson Tree house. I had been through that in years. I took a couple pictures at the top. I thought about doing The Enchanted Tiki Room but I felt Mark needed to experience something a little more exciting.;)

MiaBella05

09-29-2008, 03:08 PM

popcorn:: subscribing popcorn::

SwansLoveDisney

09-29-2008, 08:14 PM

Wow! You got a lot done already! It's great that you were an hour ahead of schedule.

The floats look delicious.

I've never noticed that the characters eyes close like that!

thumperbelle3

10-01-2008, 08:49 AM

My oh my what a wonderful day!

We moseyed on down to Frontier Land.
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We could hear the screams from Splash Mountain.
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Here is the wait time.
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I couldn’t believe it. I’ve never seen it less than 30 minutes. We walked on of course and sat in the third row of the log.:thumbsup2 Mark liked this one a lot. He liked all the characters especially Brer Fox. We didn’t get that wet. But that was ok with us.

Next up “The wildest ride in the wilderness!” Big Thunder Mountain Railroad. Or as Mark called it “The Mine Ride”. I think this was our longest line of the day. It was about 10 minutes. We sat in the back half which is so much better than the front half. We got Fast Passes for later. Our first FP of the trip and we probably wouldn’t even need it.

It was around 12:00 and we decided it was time to rustle up some grub. Pecos Bills Tall Tale Inn and Café was close so that’s where we went. There were virtually no lines so we got our food quickly. I got the Chicken Wrap with fries, a Sprite and carrot cake $14.07. Mark got Bacon Double Cheeseburger, fries, water and carrot cake $13.97. We used counter service credits so $0.00! The wrap was delicious and HUGE!:) So was the Sprite it was 32 oz. I never drink pop(that’s what we call it in MI) so it was a lot for me. The French fries were really good to. Mark liked his food as far as I could tell. It looked really big too. We decided to save the carrot cake for later.

After filling our stomachs it was time to digest and take in the sounds of the hand-clappin, foot-stompin Country Bear Jamboree!
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I think the songs are really funny. My favorite is Big Al singing “Blood on the Saddle”.
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Next on the agenda was Haunted Mansion.
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I was really looking forward to this ride. I wanted to see all the changes they made. I like the tombstones out front but we flew past them since there was no line. It’s nice to have the MK all to ourselves. At least that’s what it felt like. A few years ago I bought the Hidden Mickey book and I brought it with us this time but we never looked at it that much. I just pointed out the ones I could remember to Mark as we passed them. Like the three plates on the dining table that make up a Mickey. I loved the new additions here too. The bride was really creepy. At one point in the graveyard we got stuck and the music got really quiet. It never turned up once we got moving again so we missed most of the song. We decided not to do Hall of Presidents so where did we go next?

JaxJags08

10-01-2008, 09:19 AM

Wow - I can't believe how low the crowds were!

PrincessVal

10-01-2008, 02:05 PM

Wow - I can't believe how low the crowds were!

Me neither, I'm jealous! Maybe someday I'll be able to go during the off season.

thumperbelle3

10-02-2008, 08:19 AM

I loved the low crowds!:goodvibes

But the stress of impending hurricanes might be enough to steer me away from that time of year. Perhaps a late September date would be a little better? Seems pretty quiet storm wise right now.

I'll be in school again that time next year so we wont be back in Sept for another couple years.

thumperbelle3

10-03-2008, 08:38 AM

And a smile means friendship to everyone

The sun was beating down by this time of day.
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Peter Pan was a 45 min wait as usual so we FP it and got on It’s A Small World. I took a picture of the Irish dolls.
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I like this ride ok but I wouldn’t want to be stuck on it for very long. Next we went to Mickey’s PhilharMagic.
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Mark had never seen a 3D movie before. Unfortunately a big tall man was sitting in front of him so some of the effects were hard to see. Mark really liked it and I did too. We went to Sir Mickey’s shop and tried on some Mouse Ears.
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Mark decided they didn’t look too good on him so we passed on purchasing any. I thought they looked cute! I kind of regret it now but we’ll get them next time.

I had to get my picture taken in front of Cinderella’s Fountain.
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We also took some pictures of the back view of the castle.
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We went inside the castle too and we could see the parade going down Main St. It was time to use our FP for Peter Pan so we got on that in a couple minutes.
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It’s too short! I wish they would to something more with Tiger Lilly. I love the movie Peter Pan!

When we got off there was a very dark cloud moving overhead.:eek: What? It was sunny just a minute ago. It was almost 2:00pm I decided now would be a good time to see the Hall of Presidents since it was starting to sprinkle. It’s a nice show and people clapped at the end. They should have more of the presidents talk instead of that long video. They made the guys they should use them!

When we got out it was raining. We opened our ponchos and put them on. By the time we got to Tomorrow Land it was letting up. We stepped into Monster’s Inc. Laugh Floor. We both thought it was really funny. The interaction between the characters and the audience was great. It was so much better than I had anticipated.

“Paging Mr. Morrow, Mr. Tom Morrow” :rotfl2: We rode the TTA twice in a row. We ate our carrot cake from lunch while we rode. It was good to get off our feet for a few minutes. Then we did the Carousel of Progress. This is my sister’s favorite ride. Mark and I laughed at the final scene. It is so 1990’s. Oh well it’s still a classic.

It had stopped raining now. We were getting so much done it was time to start repeating things. We did Buzz (Mark beat me) and Space Mountain again.
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This time on Space Mountain we rode on the left side. It was so much better!:banana: I was laughing so hard I was crying.

Then back to Fantasy Land to do Pooh and Snow White.princess:

thumperbelle3

10-06-2008, 04:34 PM

M-I-C-K-E-Y M-O-U-S-E!

Sorry there are no pics in this post.:confused3 But I promise more next time!
We did Mickey’s PhilharMagic again and this time Mark could see everything. Then we repeated Haunted Mansion. Then we cut over to Adventure Land again and rode The Magic Carpets of Aladdin. We got spit on by a camel.;)

Back to Splash Mountain! We were in the front row of the log this time and my left side and rear end got wet. It was a much better ride than the first time. After we got off and went through the gift shop we were stopped by a CM who choose me to complete a trivia quiz. Well I must say that I am the queen of Disney trivia.princess: It was no challenge for me and I got a Year of a Million Dreams certificate for completing it. Yay Me!

It had started to rain again so we jumped on the Train to Mickey’s Toontown Fair. We were going to meet Mickey! Well the line was 30 to 45 minutes so we said no thanks and maybe we could meet him at Hollywood Studios. We got some pressed pennies.

It was 6:00pm now and we had done everything we wanted to. I have never ridden the teacups so we walked over. I took one look and said “No way”. Too much spinning.:sick: I get dizzy on Buzz Lightyear!

It was time for dinner so we went to Cosmic Rays. I was not excited about this place, but Mark wanted to try the ribs. Again there were no lines to order. He got the ½ slab of BBQ Ribs, mashed potatoes, and green beans, a water, and sugar free brownie $13.38. I got Chili Cheese Dog with fries a Sprite and Triple Chocolate Cake $11.87. Again we used the dining plan. While we were inside it started to rain again. Hard this time. I could see the trees waving in the wind. We took our time finishing our meals a listened to the tunes from Sonny Eclipse. The place was packed.

I put my poncho back on and Mark went with the umbrella and we left Cosmic Rays. I didn't take too many pictures once it started to rain. Didn't want anything to happen to the new camera! Mark wanted to do Space Mountain again so we did. Twice. Both times on the left side.:thumbsup2 The rain stopped again. Then we did Monsters Inc again. The first time we did it the two-headed monster was a guy and girl and this time it was two guys. The second show was better.

addictedtothemouse

10-07-2008, 10:31 AM

It was 6:00pm now and we had done everything we wanted to. I have never ridden the teacups so we walked over. I took one look and said “No way”. Too much spinning. I get dizzy on Buzz Lightyear!
I love :love: the spinning rides, but when I rode the Teacups with my DDs I was afraid to get off. I thought I was going to fall flat on my face.:rotfl:
I like this ride ok but I wouldn’t want to be stuck on it for very long.
I agree, it's cute but could quickly become annoying. My DD(16) says she refuses to waste her time going on it again!:rotfl: We'll see.;)
It sound like the two of you are have a great time. And I'm loving your TR and the pics.:thumbsup2

thumperbelle3

10-08-2008, 08:15 AM

I wish I may, I wish I might, have the wish I wish tonight.

We walked toward the castle and took some pictures of it all lit up. It really is beautiful at night.
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We had our BTM Fast Passes to use so we headed over there at 8:15pm. I don’t remember ever riding it at night before. Didn't need the FP's. We sat towards the back. I think we were the third row from the end. It was awesome at night.:woohoo: We both thought it was better. Then we made our way back to the hub to look for a place to watch Wishes.:wizard:

We picked a spot on the left side of the castle near the food stand on the railing. We could see tons of people crowded on Main Street. We had no one in front of us. Just people sitting on the curb. Mark noticed the line that Tinker Bell files down on and asked me what it was for. I wanted it to be a surprise so I didn’t tell him. Wishes was really good. Again I got teary eyed because I know someday Mark and I will be back here with our future children. We took some pictures and video.
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Our spot was so good the woman next to me sat the entire time and never had anybody stop in front of her. I’m glad the rain had stopped for the show. After it was over we hung around the hub and took some more pictures.
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When we finally left at 9:45pm we were happy to see that there were 3 busses for POP Century loading. We got to sit on the way home. Thank God because my feet and back were killing me. We did sooo much walking today! I’m totally wearing tennis shoes tomorrow.

When we got back to POP we filled or mugs and I picked up the stuff we bought yesterday from the gift shop. Mark is going to wear his new Mickey shirt tomorrow and I think I’ll wear mine too. These guys were waiting for us when we got home.
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Went to bed around 11:00pm. I had no trouble falling asleep!

thumperbelle3

10-08-2008, 08:21 AM

My DD(16) says she refuses to waste her time going on it again!:rotfl: We'll see.;)
It sound like the two of you are have a great time. And I'm loving your TR and the pics.:thumbsup2

Thanks for reading! I don't think I've ever gone to MK without doing IASW. The line is usually short and it's kind of a tradition I guess. A trip to MK wouldn't be the same unless that song is stuck in my head part of the day.:rotfl:

JaxJags08

10-08-2008, 08:32 AM

Sounds like a fun night! I'm totally going to try that spot for Wishes in December. I want a good view, but am not really about waiting for an hour. How far ahead did you get your spot? And was it on one of the walkways to Adventureland or Frontierland? Sorry for so many questions :) Last time I got some bad info and was on the terrace for Cosmic Ray's and couldn't see a thing! We had to run out once Wishes had already started and stand on the bridge to Tomorrowland. This time I'm determined to get a better spot in advance.

thumperbelle3

10-10-2008, 07:57 AM

I think we waited 20 or 30 minutes. I'm thinking a lot of people left the park beacuse of the rain and that's why we were able to get the spot we did.
When you face the castle we were on the very left edge of the hub. To the left of us was the bridge to Liberty Square and to the right was the bridge to Adventureland. I hope that helps you? I'm bad with direction somethimes! The only downside is there was no bench to sit on. We had to sit or lean on the railing.

thumperbelle3

10-10-2008, 08:16 AM

Now on with the show!

I set the wake up call for 6:45am and that is what time I woke up. I think I just needed to get one park under my belt in order for me to relax. Because the crowds are so low it took the urgency out of touring which was a blessing. But that didn’t mean we would be taking any afternoon breaks! After I showered I went and got us some coffee and tea. Yes I tried the coffee again, but it would be the last time.:sad2: We ate a quick breakfast and headed down to the bus at 7:50am. Once we got to the front of Classic Hall I could see the Disney Hollywood Studios bus. Mark was trying to take pictures and I said “Come on the bus is there!” Comando reporting for duty! We didn’t make it in time. It was ok as we would be first for the next bus. Except for the first day our experiences with the buses were really great.

DHS is only 5 minutes away from POP. So we had a lot of time to wait for rope drop.
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I can’t believe how humid it was already.:scared: I hate to wear my hair in a ponytail and I tried to hold of as long as I could but it was so darn hot! They let us through the gate at 8:50am. We were pretty close to the rope on the far right side. We got some pictures of the opening show.
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It was cute. Then they threw down the gauntlet and everybody speed walked towards Toy Story Mania.
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They had 3 or 4 CM’s walking in front making sure no one ran ahead of them. We were about 20 to 30 people back. I thought we should get Fast Passes and then get in the standby line, but when I looked behind us there was a bazillion more people coming.:eek:
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We wizzed through the queue area which looked really cool. Next thing you know were on! This is the coolest ride I’ve ever been on.:3dglasses Who ever thought of combining video games with a ride is pure genious. But man do your arms get tired.
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Mark beat me of course. When we got out we got FP’s and looked at the standby time and it said 10 minutes so we got back on. I lost again but my accuracy is better!
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What can I say I don’t like to miss. Mark just constantly pulls on the rope. We love this ride! :love:

thumperbelle3

10-13-2008, 08:33 AM

And this time it's opening for you.

We took some cute pictures of the brooms that Mark likes.
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Then we headed down Sunset Blvd. We went to check in to the Hollywood Tower Hotel…or The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror!
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Creepy! We only waited about 15 minutes to get from the outside of the hotel to the elevator.
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Our elevator operator was very creepy and into his role. I love it when CM’s get into it. We were seated in the top row. This ride is so scary! A man on the other side of the elevator in the second row had his video camera on the whole time.:mad: It’s supposed to be pitch dark but we all had his bright LCD screen shining in our eyes. Maybe he didn’t realize it was that bad, but seriously what are you trying to record? Total darkness and screaming?:sad2: So that kind of ruined Mark’s first time. He loved it though.

Next we went to Rock N Roller Coaster.
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This was a very short wait also. Maybe 10 minutes until we were in the car. I did not remember how cool this coaster was! In the past I remembered only going upside down once, but I know we did it more than that. The take off is the best part! We liked the Aerosmith music too.
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After that we tried to find the spicy cheese stuffed pretzel. We were told they were over by the lake. First we were able to get FP’s for TOT. We got our pretzel ($3.79) and a couple waters ($4.00) at Min & Bill’s Dockside Diner. Our cost $4.00. Then we were just in time to catch the Indiana Jones Stunt Show at 11:00am.
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We had pretty good seats on the left side. We had to crawl over a bunch of people to get to them though. How come people can’t slide all the way to the end like their told?

Here is were we had our celebrity sighting. Michael Moloney from Extreme Home Makeover was cast as an “extra” in the show.
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Little did we know but I had gotten a picture of him earlier at rope drop. I was trying to get a picture of the characters and was annoyed that this "guy" was in the way.:lmao:
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Mark thought this show was great and I was glad we saw it because Lights, Motors, Action! wasn’t running today. After the show we took pictures with some old friends.
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I wanted Mark to get his picture taken with Bill Cosby but he thought Michael Landon was cooler.

It was baking outside so we took shelter in the Chinese Theater.
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I think Kermit and I have the same size hands! The Great Movie Ride. What can I say. This ride needs help. Our “driver/guide” was about as robotic as the animatronic actors. They need better movies too. Mark didn’t like this ride and I don’t blame him. We still had some time before our 1:20pm ADR at Si-Fi Dine In so we went to ride Star Tours.
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I think we waited 15 minutes for this. We had the front row seats. It’s fun, but once is enough for me. Plus it was really hot inside our vehicle. We took a few pictures and then walked over to Muppet Vision 3D.
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I really like the pre-show area. I got a picture of the spaceship from “Pigs In Space”.
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This one could use some updating too but I love the Muppets especially Gonzo. By the time we got out of Muppets it was 1:15pm. Si-Fi is pretty close so I wasn’t worried. We checked in and were seated within 5 minutes.

lilsydney

10-13-2008, 09:29 AM

OK :rotfl: I am hanging by a thread!!
we leave on Thursday this week and right when I thought I was going to get to the Sci Fi review (we are eating there this week for our first time!) I got to the end of the thread so far!!

Great review- I am totally enjoying it

We are from Howell and I am guessing by The Zoo, MI you are from Royal Oak! howdy neighbor

our flight leaves at 5:45 a.m. from FLINT and we have DTD ADR the first day plus MNSSHP that night. Gonna be exhausted I know!

thanks for such a great daily read

thumperbelle3

10-14-2008, 07:51 AM

thumperbelle3

10-14-2008, 08:05 AM

Time for something sweet!

I was hoping we wouldn’t be seated at a flying saucer table in the very back. We were led to the front row of cars on the right side of the screen to sit in the back seat. A party of three later joined us in front. I really like the atmosphere of this restaurant.
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The movies were funny too. We especially liked “Attack of the 50 Foot Woman” and the “Catwomen of the Moon”. I can’t believe these were real movies! I pretty much knew what I wanted to eat before we got there. Our server was an Asian woman named Nancy and she was nice enough to take our picture!
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She did a good job considering it was really dark in there. I ordered the Angus Chuck Burger with cheddar cheese and bacon, served with fries. I got a chocolate shake for my drink, cheese cake for dessert, and I also ordered the Pirate Punch with the light-up Tinker Bell toy $28.26. I don’t have a picture of the toy but she was clipped on to the straw and is about 4 inches tall. You can kind of see it in the previous picture. She is so cute and I had her clipped to my shorts most of the day.
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Mark ordered the Angus Chuck Burger with cheddar and bacon too. He subbed onion rings for fries and got cherry coke for his drink and hot fudge sundae for dessert. He also ordered an Amstel Light $25.32.
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Sorry the pics are so dark. It's a dark resturant! Later I looked back and saw that people were sitting at the flying saucer tables. They must have been booked. We thought the food was really good and we were stuffed by the end. The sundae was soft serve ice cream and Mark likes hard ice cream so it wasn’t his favorite. My cheese cake came with caramel sauce, caramel corn and M&M’s. It was really good!:lovestruc

It took us about an hour for lunch as it was 2:30pm when we got out. We walked past the Jedi Training Academy and the young jedis were fighting Darth Vader. It was so cute because the kids were so serious about it.
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With our stomachs full of lunch we decided the best thing to do was use our FP’s for TOT. Yeah great idea. Actually it didn’t bother us at all. We sat in the front row! Mark declared this his favorite ride. Our elevator operator this time was a young girl who didn’t look like she was comfortable being there. She wasn’t as into it as the last guy. We got FP’s for RNR before heading back towards the hat.
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The Block Party Bash was still going on when we walked by on our way to the Animation Academy. We didn’t watch any of the parades because Mark doesn’t really like them all that well. I kind of wish we had stopped to watch this one. It looked fun!

We had to wait awhile to get into the theater. The Mushu movie was kind of cute. I could have fell asleep in there though. After we got out of that we saw that Mickey was doing pictures! The line was super short so we jumped in. He was dressed up as the sorcerers apprentice. We got a good picture of us. Mickey gave me a hug and kissed me on the cheek!
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Then we got to find out what Disney character we are most like. I was most like Ariel and Mark was most like Gaston. After that we waited about 15 minutes to get into the animation studio to learn how to draw a character. Today we were going to learn to draw Tinker Bell! I was so excited! A few minutes into the drawing we all realized how hard she is to draw.:confused: The eyes were the hardest to do. It would help if they gave us erasers! This is how they turned out.
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I think Mark’s turned out a lot better than mine. And he said he couldn’t draw! Mark didn’t want to keep the drawings in our bag so he asked the gift shop to send them back to our resort. I told him they wouldn’t do it because we had to buy something first. But I was wrong. They shipped them for us!

thumperbelle3

10-17-2008, 08:17 AM

For a very important date!

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After the Animation Academy we went to use our FP’s for Toy Story Mania. When we went to the FP return the older gentleman checking FP’s looked at our and said “You’re late.” I looked at him and said “Is that bad?” I knew from the boards that you can use your FP’s after the time range. I thought maybe he didn’t know that. But then he just smiled, laughed and let us through.:goodvibes This was our final TSM ride of the day so I was determined to beat Mark. Our strategies are completely different. He’s fast and furious and I just go for the big points.
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He beat me again but I still had fun! When we got out of TSM is was starting to sprinkle. By the time we ran to RNR it was coming down pretty hard. We got right on with our FP’s. I can keep my eyes open during take off but it’s hard! I put my poncho on and Mark got the umbrella. We FP RNR again and went to TOT. We could see the pouring rain when the elevator doors opened. We had front row again! It was cool. It was 5:40pm now and we were getting hungry.

I now bring to you Today’s Moment of Crazy: Brought to you by myself. Well it’s pouring rain and we are at TOT. I had planned on eating dinner at Pizza Planet which is like the farthest possible place away from us. Did I change plans and choose somewhere closer? Nope!:sad2: Let’s run in the rain! I made Mark put his poncho on because the backpack had got wet. Then we ran. There are huge puddles everywhere! Our tennis shoes soaked. Yuck I hate that feeling! Crazy me.

When we got to Pizza Planet we discovered Marks poncho had not covered the backpack so it was soaked as well.:headache: The place wasn’t that busy. We were able to sit upstairs which was only ¼ full. I ordered the Woody Meal. Individual pepperoni pizza and garden salad with blue cheese dressing a Sprite and chocolate chip cookie $11.97. Mark got the Junkyard Meal. Individual veggie pizza (with mushrooms, peppers, onions, and tomatoes) and garden salad with fat free Italian dressing a ice tea and chocolate chip cookie $12.17. Our cost $0.00. The pizza was pretty good. I didn’t like the salad dressing. I saved my cookie. Mark ate his cookie and said it was delicious. I had a bite and it was!

The rain had stopped by 7:00pm we went back to ride TOT because that is what we do when we’ve just finished eating a large meal.:laughing: Front row again! Then we used our FP’s for RNR. Mark wanted to do TOT one more time but I decided it was time to get a seat for Fantasmic. Would the weather hold off? :confused:

thumperbelle3

10-17-2008, 08:22 AM

Pay no attention to little me!

We found some seats in the middle section about 9 or 10 rows from the front. I noticed that most people were sitting further back. Then I remembered we can get wet if we sit to close. Oh well how wet could we really get?:confused3 It’s not Splash Mountain! It looked like another dark cloud was moving towards DHS. The announcements kept coming on, “Due to the nature of this blah blah blah.” I hoped it wouldn’t rain again. I put my poncho on anyway just to be safe. My mom always says if you carry an umbrella with you it wont rain.;) And hey! It didn’t and the show started.

The last time I saw Fantasmic we were in the very back row. I didn’t like it very much. This time was so different. I looked at Mark and I could tell he really liked it which made me like it even more! We took mostly video. My memory card filled up so we didn’t get the whole thing. I tried to get the finale. The characters didn’t come around on the boat like I thought they did. It was fantastic…I mean Fantasmic!

After the show we took some pictures of the hat all lit up.
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I love the way my camera takes pictures at night. My old one never would have done this good!
We didn’t have to wait too long for a bus. We had to stand but it was only a short ride. Back at POP we decided to take a swim. It seemed colder this time so we just got our mugs filled with frozen coke and went back to the room to watch TV.

addictedtothemouse

10-17-2008, 10:43 AM

thumperbelle3

10-17-2008, 12:56 PM

Did you get very wet sitting so close? I mean not that you weren't already totally soaked.:rotfl: I thought that the princesses and princes came around on barges.:confused3 Maybe it was just do to the possibility of more rain.

We only felt a little misting of water. Perhaps we had the wind blowing toward us. The princesses and princes did come around on barges as did the indians in canoes but there was no "Steamboat Willie" at the end.:confused3

Belle_princess

10-20-2008, 08:48 AM

Subbing! This is just like what DH and I will be like when we go to Disney in November- I'm the comando and he is the newbie! :rotfl2: I love reading your trip report!!

Kristin

thumperbelle3

10-20-2008, 09:00 AM

Subbing! This is just like what DH and I will be like when we go to Disney in November- I'm the comando and he is the newbie! :rotfl2: I love reading your trip report!!

Kristin

Thanks for reading! You guys will have a great time!:goodvibes

thumperbelle3

10-20-2008, 09:17 AM

Forget about your worries and your strife!

I’ve been sleeping much better since that first morning. Thank God because we were going to rope drop and staying until close every night! I told you I was commando! Mickey called (or was it Stitch?) at 6:45am. I got up and got ready. Our tennis shoes were still wet from yesterday so it was back to flip flops today. I hope my feet will last! I went down to the food court and got us each an ice tea. No coffee for me this time. I wish they would offer OJ at the fountain. All we saw was apple juice. For breakfast today I had two of my pretzel sticks from Goofy’s Candy Co. What I wouldn’t give to have another one of those right now. Heavenly! Mark had his usual Pop Tart and granola bar. Then down to the bus to visit EPCOT! I was really excited to get to World Showcase and do our “Eat/Drink around the World”.

We got inside and took some pictures in front of “the big ball” as Mark called it. And I let him. Although I call it by its correct name “Spaceship Earth”.
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We headed to the rope where the characters were out. I tried to get some pictures of them but there were a lot of tall people at EPCOT today. Not two minutes later they dropped the rope and everyone booked it to the Land Pavilion. And we followed them to Soarin.
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I think we were in the second showing of the day. And unfortunately we were in the bottom row. Not ideal for sure. It was still cool and we decided to get FP’s for later. Next I saw a fountain I needed my picture by.
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EPCOT must have the most fountains.

We kept walking over to Test Track.
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I think we waited 5 minutes. We skipped the briefing room or whatever it is. The doors were closing us in but people just pushed it open and kept walking. One of Mark’s brothers (he has 6!) does crash tests for GM back home. I told him to take some pictures and ask his brother if it looked like we were at his job.
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This ride is good but I only really need to ride it once. My hair was so mussed after this ride!

We headed on to Spaceship Earth. We took the wrong way and ended up at Universe of Energy. Marks doesn’t like Ellen so we aren’t going to do it this time. We had to cut through Innoventions West to get over to SE. We didn’t stop to do anything in there though. The wait for “the big ball” was very short. Big surprise. I had read about the changes to the ending of the ride and so when they took my picture at the beginning I made a really weird face. I think this ride is really relaxing and I could totally take a nap on it! I didn’t want it to be over! Mark said this ride was his biggest disappointment. He thought Disney could have done so much more with the ride. He thought it was going to be like Space Mountain. Oh sorry buddy! The end was hilarious! My face looked so bad. I tried to take some pictures but they didn’t turn out great I think because we were laughing so hard.
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Then when we got off the ride I had no idea they put your picture up on the big screen! I wanted to run right out of there so no one would see me!

Our FP time for Soarin was getting close so we headed back over that way. Gosh EPCOT is huge. I’m glad I told Mark we would do a lot of walking. He hadn’t complained. Yet. I ate my chocolate chip cookie from Pizza Planet and it was delish! We saw Club Cool on the way and thought I was a perfect time to try…The Beverly. Dun Dun Dun!
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I secretly tried it first and boy is it nasty. Then I said, “Here babe, try this one. It’s from Italy.” He did and I got the perfect shot.
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I liked the ginger one the best and Mark liked the one from Japan.

So with our thirsts quenched (we drank a lot to rid the Beverly taste) we went to ride Soarin. But Living with the Land was a walk-on so we got on that first. It’s educational and fun! We both liked it. I tried to pay attention as to why they have the baby alligators and I think they use them in the wild to kill pests like water snakes? Idk. Love the FP for Soarin. We sat in the middle this time. Better but not the best. Got more FP’s for later again. World Showcase was open so our plan was to tour there until about 5:00pm. We stopped at the jumping water fountain on the way.
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It was super hot and the water felt good. We did not bring our misting fan today.

Cindeegyrl

10-20-2008, 09:19 AM

Great trip report, I'm subscribing!! :thumbsup2

thumperbelle3

10-22-2008, 09:07 AM

They're here and there pink elephants everywhere!

We loved the World Showcase. We had the most fun taking pictures here. We crossed over into Canada. I had no idea Canada could be so hot!
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We walked up to the little gift shop in front and bought the World Showcase passport. It cost $10.60 which I think is a great deal. It‘s a passport with two pages per country and stickers you can put in it for each country too. It also came with an EPCOT button with Mickey on it. We sat down in a shady spot and put all the stickers in. Then what you are supposed to do is take your passport to be signed and stamped at a Kidcot station by a representative of whatever country you are in. Sometimes they would put their personal touch on it to make it unique. It was a great souvenir and I’m really glad we did it.

After we got stamped in Canada we crossed the Atlantic to the United Kingdom.
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I really liked the shops here. This is also where we began our “Drink/Eat around the World” (mostly drink!). We stopped at Yorkshire County Fish Shop and split an order of Fish & Chips, shortbread cookies, and a water $12.31. Used one counter service credit. We also got 2 Harps Lagers $14.91.
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There were no tables so we sat on a bench by the water. There were lots of ducks swimming around but they weren’t too pesky. It was very hot! The beer was already going to our heads. We almost forgot to get stamped here!

We crossed the English Channel over to France.
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I got my picture taken by another fountain of course.
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And we got the best drink I think I’ve ever had. The Grand Marnier slush! ($8.00) This was unbelievably good! I wish we had each gotten one.
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Once we finished I vowed to get another one before Illuminations. We got stamped and walked a few steps over to Morocco.
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Huh? That was fast! I really like the architecture here too. We went into Tangierine Café.
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I had wanted to eat lunch here but Mark doesn’t like that kind of food. So we got some great baklava and a Strawberry daiquiri ($9.48). I thought the daiquiri was pretty strong. We played around in here for a while.
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Then walked over to Japan.

PrincessVal

10-22-2008, 09:44 AM

thumperbelle3

10-23-2008, 02:25 PM

I love all your pictures in the countries. I looks like you guys had a blast. And you are for sure tougher than us. We never made it all the way around when we went in Aug because it was so darn hot. :sunny:

Oh and I will have to remember to get a passport for next time. It sounds like a great souvenir!

We did have alot of fun at World Showcase. These are my favorite pictures to look back on. Towards the middle of the day it was ungodly hot!:scared:

The passport was cool. I would buy it again!

thumperbelle3

10-23-2008, 02:34 PM

You're Welcome!

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We took some pics outside and a nice couple took our picture but my battery died so we didn’t get it. Good thing I brought extra batteries. We quickly ducked into the huge department store. I’d never been in here before. It was pretty cool.
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I found out that the candy lady was not performing today. Oh well.
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We stopped for some Miso soup at Yakatori House ($2.44). It was ok. I just can’t believe we ate soup today! It was around 2:00pm and the drummers had started playing so we watched them for a while.
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I realized we had forgotten to get stamped in Morocco so we went back. I gave the guy our passport and he asked Mark “How did you get into Morocco without a passport?” and laughed because we were sharing. It was funny. Then back to Japan to get stamped!

We were feeling a bit homesick so we stopped in the good ol’ U.S.A. The fife and drum corps were performing.
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They were great and we all sang along to “God Bless America”. Patriotic songs always get me choked up.
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I was excited to see The American Adventure but it was shut down today. So sad.:sad1: We did get our selves a beer ($6.13) and later saw Voices of Liberty who were fantastic.
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We were for sure buzzed when we left America.

Italy was kind of boring I’m afraid to say. We had just missed the World Showcase Players though.
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We got an amazing Italian margarita ($8.52). There are a couple shops here but otherwise not much to do. But totally worth it for the drink!:woohoo: And from this point on we would not forget to stamp our passports even though we kept drinking.;)

addictedtothemouse

10-25-2008, 07:26 PM

I love watching the Japanese drummers. And anytime I hear The Star Spangled Banner I cry.:sad2:

KittyKat08

10-25-2008, 09:15 PM

Just started reading, can't wait for more.

thumperbelle3

10-28-2008, 08:57 AM

All of a sudden we were in Germany! I took some pictures outside and then we went into the shops.
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I’m part German and have a pickle ornament for my Christmas tree. For those of you that don’t know the tradition: The pickle is hidden in the Christmas tree by the parents and the first child to find the pickle gets an extra present. We got big soft pretzels ($6.98) here with our snack credits. They were so good!
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We decided since we were eating dinner in the Biergarten we didn’t get any beer at this time. We tried to find a shady spot to sit. We watched the barges of fireworks come out into the lagoon.

We crossed the bridge into China.
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We just missed the acrobats. I really like watching them so I was a little bummed. We went into the Temple of Heaven to look around.
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It is beautiful inside. Mark thought it looked like Christmas wrapping paper on the ceiling. It kind of did. Did you know that every carved statue is different? I thought that was so cool. We went into the 360 movie “Reflections of China”. Too bad there were no seats in there. After the movie we went to the Lotus Blossom and got some egg rolls ($4.25).
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These were the best egg rolls I’ve ever had. I was surprised how good they were. The best thing about stopping for food in every country was that there were no lines. Guess Free Dining doesn’t draw too many the 2nd week of September.

It had rained while we were in the China movie. We missed it!
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Norway was next and we got in line for The Maelstrom. I liked this ride as a child but today not so much. We basically rode it because it was there and it was a short wait. After the ride we had to wait about 10 minutes to get in the little movie which we just walked through anyway. I got my picture taken with the troll!
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We did not eat or drink here. And I really wanted to try the School Bread. We weren’t hungry for it and I thought it would melt in the backpack. Oh well maybe next time. My memory card finally filled up here so I changed that. Where should we go next?

Oh look a Margarita vendor! We each got one.
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We went inside the Mexico temple and took some pictures.
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I had set my drink down to photo op with some maracas and a little boy about 3 years old came and started to put his finger in my drink! We were like “Whoa there!” Where were his parents? We tried to ride the new improved river boat but they wouldn’t let us on with our drinks.

thumperbelle3

10-31-2008, 09:00 AM

To make me fret. To make me frown.

We decided to use our FP’s for Soarin. But on the way we did Honey I Shrunk the Audience. Yikes! This was not that great. Very outdated. That movie came out soooo long ago. I smell a rehab in the future. Then we walked on Journey into Imagination with Figment. I still like the old one better but at least they kept some of the Figment animatronics in it. He is adorable and that is the only reason I still ride it. Mark was starting to whine a little about his feet. My back was killing me. As God as my witness I will never wear flip flops to EPCOT again! We were pretty buzzed now and it helped the pain I suppose. We got on the top row for Soarin and it was the best ride of the day! It was 7:30 now so we headed back to Germany for dinner.

Our reservation was for 8:00pm. We got in line to check in. The only “food” line we waited in all week. They gave us a pager and we went outside to sit and wait. About 5 minutes later we were beeped. Our hostess took us to our table in the middle of the second tear. She had the cutest accent and voice. These were great seats. We were seated with two other couples each with one daughter. The daughters were both around the age of 4 so they had a lot of fun becoming friends. One couple was from Louisiana and the other was from Maryland. I think we lucked out with good tablemates. Our server was an older gentleman named Robert and he was American as far as I could tell. Mark and I each got liters of beer! (like we needed any more!) I got the Heffeweis and he got the Oktoberfest. The band started to play shortly after we got our drinks. The kids loved it.
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I wish I could have eaten more here. I think I made two trips. One trip all I managed to fit on my plate were cold salads and beef roulades. My second trip was soup and dessert. I would definitely eat there again but as a late lunch instead. We both got to-go cups for our beer (I needed two cups!). It took a long time to get them. I was worried we wouldn’t find a good spot for Illuminations because it was starting in 10 minutes!

We got a really good spot near where we ate our pretzels today. About halfway through I noticed there was no globe. What happened to the globe? Oh well it was still great and I took video of it. I just love the music too.

After Illuminations we slowly made our way to Future World. We stopped in Mexico and finished our beers.
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I had promised Mark that we would ride Mission: Space on our way out of the park. I was so full of beer and food I didn’t think it would be a good idea. But we did it anyway. Twice. In a row.
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The orange intense side. I thought it was great and didn’t feel anything until we landed on Mars the second time. I felt it a little bit dizzy but not enough to make me sick or headachy. We decided to leave the park now. It was around 10:30pm. We took some pictures of Spaceship Earth.
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I was in bad shape though. I sneezed and just about fell over because a shooting pain went all the way up my back.:scared1: Ouch! Motrin take me away! Luckily we got to sit on the way home. I just kept telling myself it’s a shorter bus ride than MK! It was so nice to be home and in bed. A hot tub would have been awesome tonight. I’ll have to look into that for next trip.;)

addictedtothemouse

10-31-2008, 06:14 PM

You rode Mission Space after all the eating and drinking :scared1: :worship:

Hope your back felt better the next day.:flower3:

AussieAngel

10-31-2008, 08:08 PM

Yay! I just found your trip report, and have really enjoyed it so far! :yay:

Sounds like a fun Disney vacation so far!! :thumbsup2

Can't wait to hear more!

thumperbelle3

11-03-2008, 08:43 AM

You rode Mission Space after all the eating and drinking :scared1: :worship:

Hope your back felt better the next day.:flower3:

I can't believe I rode it either! It was EMH that night so we got on twice in a row. Mark said he felt a little :sick: after the second ride so we probably wouldn't do it in a row like that again.:rolleyes:

My back did feel better the next day and we remembered to bring the Motrin with us to the park!;)

thumperbelle3

11-03-2008, 08:46 AM

Yay! I just found your trip report, and have really enjoyed it so far! :yay:

Sounds like a fun Disney vacation so far!! :thumbsup2

Can't wait to hear more!

Thanks for reading. We went to Wilderness Lodge for dinner at Artist Point on our last night. It was really good and that resort is so beautiful! I'm jelous you get to spend 12 days there!

thumperbelle3

11-04-2008, 09:35 AM

More to do than can ever be done

This is our last full day. We left the room at 8:00am. Mark was moving pretty slow today. We are going to Animal Kingdom today!
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We got to the bus stop and waited for awhile. Finally an Animal Kingdom bus came but it stopped at the Magic Kingdom. Stupid people got on until one smart man must have told the driver that he pulled into the wrong bus stop. Then all the stupid people got off the bus and he pulled up to us and we got on. Mark asked the driver if he was going to Animal Kingdom. Just checking! So the whole ride there I was nervous that he was going to take us to the wrong place and we would miss rope drop! But we made it just in time!
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I really like rope drop here. I especially like it when Mickey comes up on the tower next to the Tree of Life. It really puts things into perspective! Mark was amazed at how big the tree was.
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At first he thought Mickey was a small robot but I set him straight. We followed Mini, Goofy, and Pluto towards Africa and the Village of Harambe!
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Then got in line for our 2 week safari!
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I was excited to see all the animals this morning. We figured the left side is the best side to be on. We were on the right and it was hard to get pictures even though Mark was on the outside. Everything seemed to be on the left.
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Anyway, it’s hard to take pictures when you’re moving and then my memory card filled up. Wow I guess it must have been a small one I just changed it last night. Then Mark told me my battery was dying. I just changed those too! And I didn’t have any extra. So when we got back from our safari we went into the gift shop and bought batteries and Mark bought me a giraffe carving. It has two giraffes with their necks intertwined. I like giraffes mostly because of their African name which is twiga. I think it’s cute!
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After that we walked the Pangani Forest trail. I was super excited to see the gorillas. They did not disappoint either.
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SwansLoveDisney

11-04-2008, 12:05 PM

I've mostly been lurking on your TR and I LOVE it! Your pictures are all wonderful.

It looks like you and your BF had SO much fun on the trip!

Thanks for sharing it all with us!:goodvibes

thumperbelle3

11-04-2008, 02:03 PM

I've mostly been lurking on your TR and I LOVE it! Your pictures are all wonderful.

It looks like you and your BF had SO much fun on the trip!

Thanks for sharing it all with us!:goodvibes

Thanks so much for reading. We did have alot of fun and I can't wait until we can go back! I'd like to stay for 8 nights next time though.

Have fun on your trip! Can't wait to hear what Thanksgiving is like in the World.

thumperbelle3

11-05-2008, 08:53 AM

Next we headed to Asia.
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We got FP’s for Expedition Everest and got in the stand-by line. This is my first time on this coaster. It is a very cool queue area and I’m glad we got to see it.
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The line moved very quickly and I think we only waited 10 minutes. We were seated in the very first row! I had watched youtube video of it and knew what to expect so I got out my camera to take some pictures once we reached the top of the mountain.
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This ride was awesome! Being in the front wasn’t like being in the front on Big Thunder. It was fast! I loved the backwards part and being in the dark!
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It felt like we were going upside down but we weren’t. Great job Disney!

We got a couple of Mickey Mouse ice cream bars and sat on a bench to eat. Mark's first Mickey Bar!
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It was so hot already. We did the Maharaja Jungle Trek after that. Not too much going on here. The tigers were sleeping as usual and the giant bats were doing…ah…what they do.
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We tried to get FP’s for Kali River Rapids but they weren’t giving them out.:confused3 So back to EE and we rode towards the back this time. Got more FP’s for later. We had time to do one more thing before lunch. So we did It’s Tough to Be A Bug.
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I really like this 3D movie. It is kind of scary and I did see small children being taken out of the theater. Mark liked that we were under the Tree of Life.

After that we went to Flame Tree Barbecue for lunch.
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I got the ½ slab of ribs with baked beans and cornbread muffin, a sprite, and a frozen lemonade ($14.37). Mark got the Beef sandwich with baked beans, an ice tea and key lime pie ($13.47). We sat by the water looking out at EE. There is tons of seating at Flame Tree.
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I gave Mark some of my ribs and he said they were much better than Cosmic Rays.
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I liked everything except the cornbread muffin. Too gritty for me but Mark liked it. I really liked the beans. The key lime pie was too sweet for Mark so I ate most of it. The frozen lemonade was too sweet for both of us. I tried to eat it but I was full and I also had a huge Sprite to finish. I would eat here again but I’ve never eaten anywhere else at AK so I think we should branch out.

We went to Dinoland and got in line for Dinosaur!

This ride scares the crap out of me!
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I had to grab Mark’s arm for safety. The dinosaurs aren’t that scary I just hate the dark. I really am scared in this picture.
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I usually ride this twice but time was running out and we still needed to do some more things.

We managed to catch the Finding Nemo show. I was really good. We didn't take any pictures though. Dory’s fin fell off in the middle of the show but they “just kept swimming”.;) I’m glad we decided to see at least one show while we were here. Mark was disappointed in the hard wood benches, but at least we were sitting. It was about 2:00pm now. We went back to our fav ride of the day EE. We were in the middle this time. FP is a godsend!

AussieAngel

11-06-2008, 07:31 AM

Yay!! More fun chapters!! :yay:

"Just keep swimming" is my favourite Disney quote!! I even made myself a t-shirt on Zazzle with a picture of Dory on it with that quote underneath! Can't wait to wear it in Disney!! :thumbsup2

Thanks for some more great updates!! :woohoo:

SwansLoveDisney

11-06-2008, 08:42 AM

Yum! I love Flame Tree!

I'm jealous that you went on EE 3 times in one day! I hope to do the same later this month!

I haven't seen the Finding Nemo show. Would you recommend it?

thumperbelle3

11-07-2008, 11:23 AM

Yum! I love Flame Tree!

I'm jealous that you went on EE 3 times in one day! I hope to do the same later this month!

I haven't seen the Finding Nemo show. Would you recommend it?

I thought the Finding Nemo show was really good. A nice shortened version of the movie with some great new songs. The line was looooooooong to get in the theater when we went(probably the longest line of our trip). The performers are really good and I would def go see it again!:thumbsup2

thumperbelle3

11-07-2008, 11:33 AM

Our last ride of the day was Kali River Rapids.
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I planned it this way so if we got soaked we could just leave and go home. We have dinner ressies at Artist Point for 6:10pm so I wanted to go home and clean up before dinner. I did not care if we got soaked because we were so hot. AK is the hottest park. Why is that? EPCOT was hot too. Maybe it was because we didn’t bring our misting fan those days? Anyway back to Kali. Did we get soaked? Oh yeah! I felt like someone dumped a huge bucket of water on us. I looked like it too. It was a blast! Totally worth it. Well I guess it’s time to leave. We took some pics on the way out.
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The bus ride was long and cold. We had to stop at Typhoon Lagoon first. At least we weren’t the only wet ones on the bus.

Went we got home we changed into our swimsuits and headed to Petals for a frozen cocktail. Warning! Do not get a frozen drink at Petals if you want to get drunk. There was less than an ounce in it I swear. I watched her make it too. $18.98 down the drain. We weren’t looking to get drunk but come on. We hung out at the pool for an hour then got ready for dinner. We took the bus to Hollywood Studios and saw the Wilderness Lodge bus all the way at the end. We totally ran there. We caught it. That was pure luck.

Once at the Lodge we had about a half hour before our reservation. Perfect time to explore the resort.
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The lobby was really packed.

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So was the pool. I would love to stay here sometime. We check into Artist point 15 minutes early.

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The place was pretty much empty and we were sat next to the window but also right next to a beam. It looked like a weird place for a table and only one of us could see outside without turning around. Oh well. We started off with drinks. I got a glass of cabernet sauvignon for $14.50 and Mark got a bottle of Red Hook for $6.25.

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I ordered the grilled beef tenderloin, pomme fries and wild mushrooms with chive oil ($40.00). Mark got the Grilled Buffalo Sirloin steak with sweet potato gratin ($39.00). Both were outstanding. The “french fries” I got were really good if you got a little of the chive oil on them. Wow! No pics sorry! Our waiter was Raphael and he didn’t come around a lot. He didn’t come back until it was time for desert. I got the Hazelnut Chocolate torte with blood orange sauce and Lavender ice cream ($9.00) and Mark got the Artist Point Berry Cobbler with black raspberry ice cream ($9.00).

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We ate everything on our plates. That was the first time the whole trip we did that. Our bill came to $148.16 and we paid only $20.77 for the drinks and tipped him $22. Free Dining Rules!

SwansLoveDisney

11-07-2008, 05:59 PM

Wow! Those desserts look GOOD!

As does the Cabernet!

addictedtothemouse

11-07-2008, 06:28 PM

I loved IABL and hope to catch Finding Nemo in May. When DM and I were there in April she insisted on riding Kali 2 times in a row:headache: I don't like getting wet at all. But I was a good daughter:angel: and rode with her.:rotfl:

thumperbelle3

11-10-2008, 10:36 AM

M-I-C see you real soon!

We were super stuffed and ready to go to Pleasure Island. I can’t believe they are closing these clubs! When we got out to the bus stop people were complaining that a bus hadn’t come for DTD in 30 min! I think we waited another 15 min. Once we were picked up we had to go to the Grand Floridian and pick people up there too. It was a long bus ride but we weren’t in a big hurry. Once we got to DTD we went to the World of Disney store again and got Mark another t-shirt. The first one we bought he decided it was too small so he wanted a bigger size and I would take the small one. We have matching shirts now. Whoa…don’t tell anyone. Also now that we are back home he decided the medium size is too small.:headache: Next time we get the large!

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We got Mark a ticket to PI. I already had one on my Water Parks and More option. We headed straight for the Comedy Warehouse.
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We got into the 9:15 show. It was really funny! Mark sat at the end of our row by the wall with the phones on it. I made sure he went down the row first! Unfortunately his phone did not ring. We were in there for about an hour or so.

Then we headed to the Adventurers Club.
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There was a line to get in and we waited a few minutes. It was packed inside. We only made it into the Library once. And we couldn’t get in to the Hoopla. I really wish we had gone here first. We can never go back but at least we have some pictures to remember it by.
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We left there around midnight. We walked back through the marketplace and got a bus back to POP. We are leaving tomorrow. :guilty:

We woke up around 9:00am. I started to pack a little bit and got our room bill from off the front door. We were confused about some of the charges so we went to the concierge for help. They had done some funky things when Mark upgraded his ticket. We actually had a small credit because we had bought his ticket before the price increase and they credited us the difference. Then we got some breakfast and ate outside. We split the breakfast platter and paid OOP for it $6.70. We finished packing and took a walk around the resort. Here are some pictures of POP Century a great resort!
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Here is some pics of the 50's pool. Our room was on the second floor behind the pink dancing lady under the Sock Hop letters.

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Then we went to the pool for a couple hours. It was nice and relaxing. Finally a relaxing day! We went back to the room at 1:45pm and changed into clothes and took our bags to bell services. Then we got some lunch. I had the chicken penne alfredo with breadstick, a fruit bowl and a PowerAde $17.68. This was our last counter service credit. Mark got a double cheese burger and fries. We also got 2 beers and paid OOP for his meal and the beer $18.65. Our last snack credit we used for a bag of chips. We headed out to the ME bus pickup at 3:00. At 3:30 we were on our way to the airport. I did not want to leave. I really wish we had more time. :sad1:

thumperbelle3

11-10-2008, 11:02 AM

I don't think Final Thoughts is a good title for my last installment in this trip report because I have NOT stopped thinking about this trip and how great it was.:cloud9:

Magical Express was great! We had no issues with this service at all and I would recomend it highly.

POP Century is the nicest value resort in my opinion. Mousekeeping was good. We tipped them everyday. Can't say too much about the food as we only ate there twice but what we did have we liked very much. The 50's pool was very quiet and relaxing. Don't bother getting a frozen drink at Petals. Booze was next to nil. Even a virgin drink wouldn't have been that good. We were both sick of them half way through. All CM's were very nice and willing to help us.:thumbsup2

The buses were so much better then I had imagined they'd be. We did wait over 20 minutes a couple times but it wasn't that bad. We only had 1 ADR we needed a bus to get to so stress was minimal in that respect. Oh and the bus with no A/C was horrible.:eek:

Even with the Free Dining going on we didn't wait in lines for food at counter service and were seated almost right away for table service meals. No issues with bad food. We liked everything except the dessert Mark got at Raglan Road. If I had to pick a favorite meal I'd say Artist Point and for CS I'd say Pecos Bills and Mark says Flame Tree.

If September wasn't hurricane season I would go this time of year again. Low crowds were awsome. I never knew Splash Mountain could be a 5 minute wait! The heat was tollerable and I would probably take afternoon breaks next time.

Speaking of next time...
We don't have a date in mind, probably 2010 or 2011. I'll be in school full time again next year so money will be tight. I already know I want to stay at CSR for 8 nights! Lots of resturants on my list to try! I'm glad I don't have to convince Mark to go back but I think he was a little shocked to hear I'm planning our next trip.:laughing:

Thanks for reading! Take care everyone!:wizard: