The Magic and the Misery ~ Updated 6/13: June Trip Report Started!

[Dugette]

Our “Year of Disney” has begun! This was the kickoff trip of what we hope will be several (shorter) trips this year. This trip was 10 days: Saturday, January 16-Monday, January 25, 2010. For some background and planning info, you can view our pre-trip report here: "We Dug Disney: So We're Going Back in January, 2010!" (http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2359969)

The cast of this trip consists of my husband (“Dug”) and me (“Dugette”). Here we are on a cruise we took a couple years ago:
http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%200/P2160036-2.jpg

The cast members staying home in Minnesota are our cat, Kitty, and dog, Bailey:
http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%200/IMG_0111.jpg
http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%200/IMG_0115.jpg

Don’t let the title fool you…any trip to Disney is a great trip. We really enjoyed most of it, but had a few unexpected challenges along the way. But we’d do it over again in a heartbeat. Except for Thursday. I wouldn’t re-do Thursday the 21st. You’ll have to wait and see why…

The journey begins in the next post, with our travel day.

Chapters
Day 0 - Pre-Trip Surprise (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=35236351&postcount=2)
Day 0 - Dug's Perspective (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=35319688&postcount=7)
Day 1 - Polynesian Paradise - Part 1 (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=35320139&postcount=9)
Day 1 - Polynesian Paradise - Part 2 (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=35320162&postcount=10)
Day 1 - Epcot Afternoon and Kona Dinner (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=35328319&postcount=11)
Day 1 - Sand is Bad! (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=35336880&postcount=20)
Day 2 - From Polynesia to the Wilderness - Part 1 (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=35385938&postcount=32)
Day 2 - From Polynesia to the Wilderness - Part 2 (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=35385983&postcount=33)
Day 2 - Happy Trails - Part 1 (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=35416966&postcount=45)
Day 2 - Happy Trails - Part 2 (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=35417201&postcount=46)
Day 2 - The Magic Multiplies After Midnight (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=35448199&postcount=49)
Day 3 - "We're Going from New Orleans to Japan...for Lunch!" - Part 1 (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=35518477&postcount=53)
Day 3 - "We're Going from New Orleans to Japan...for Lunch!" - Part 2 (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=35518550&postcount=54)
Day 3 - DHS & Our First Visit to Downtown Disney (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=35526794&postcount=61)
Day 4 - 4 Parks in 1 Day: the Video (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=35564044&postcount=67)
Day 4 - 4 Parks in 1 Day: AK & Kona (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=35633763&postcount=75)
Day 4 - 4 Parks in 1 Day: MK & Snack (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=35636467&postcount=76)
Day 4 - 4 Parks in 1 Day: Epcot & "Dinner" (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=35669229&postcount=86)
Day 4 - 4 Parks in 1 Day: DHS & 2nd Dinner (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=35719535&postcount=97)
Day 5 - A Morning Stroll to the French Quarter (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=35750354&postcount=104)
Day 5 - Animal Kingdom & Tusker House - Part 1 (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=35888815&postcount=113)
Day 5 - Animal Kingdom & Tusker House - Part 2 (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=35889425&postcount=114)
Day 5 - Animal Kingdom & Tusker House - Part 3 (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=35889775&postcount=115)
Day 5 - Animal Kingdom & Tusker House - Part 4 (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=35890101&postcount=116)
Day 5 - AK at Night, AKL, & WPE - Part 1 (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=35910475&postcount=121)
Day 5 - AK at Night, AKL, & WPE - Part 2 (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=35911816&postcount=122)
Day 6 - The Misery (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=35973966&postcount=134)
Day 6 - Dug's Day (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=36115443&postcount=148)
Day 7 - 102 Degrees in the Magic Kingdom! (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=36160960&postcount=155)
Day 7 - 'Ohana, Wishes, & Epcot EMH (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=36200819&postcount=161)
Day 8 - Exploring the World - Part 1 (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=36301378&postcount=173)
Day 8 - Exploring the World - Part 2 (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=36301661&postcount=174)
Day 9 - Our Three Breakfasts & DHS (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=36395150&postcount=182)
Day 9 - Fast Passes, Shows, & Scenery (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=36496929&postcount=189)
Day 9 - Animation Afternoon - Part 1 (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=36517496&postcount=195)
Day 9 - Animation Afternoon - Part 2 (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=36517691&postcount=196)
Day 9 - Bouncing Back (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=36602662&postcount=201)
Day 10 - The Last Day...for Awhile - Part 1 (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=36653426&postcount=207)
Day 10 - The Last Day...for Awhile - Part 2 (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=36653595&postcount=208)

The Prequel Chapters
Day 0 - History & Travel Day (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=36661558&postcount=214)
Day 1 - MK & Anniversary Dinner - Part 1 (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=36671898&postcount=215)
Day 1 - MK & Anniversary Dinner - Part 2 (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=36672007&postcount=216)
Day 1 - MK & Anniversary Dinner - Part 3 (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=36672225&postcount=217)
Day 2 - Epcot & Tutto Italia - Part 1 (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=36736351&postcount=226)
Day 2 - Epcot & Tutto Italia - Part 2 (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=36736499&postcount=228)
Day 2 - Epcot & Tutto Italia - Part 3 (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=36736637&postcount=229)
Day 3 - AK, Boma, & MK (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=36746402&postcount=230)
Day 4 - DHS & Sci Fi - Part 1 (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=36808955&postcount=236)
Day 4 - DHS & Sci Fi - Part 2 (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=36809058&postcount=237)
Day 5 - Drama at AK (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=36846066&postcount=238)

[Dugette]

I’ll start with the night before the travel day. Thursday, January 14th would be our last night at home. We packed and cleaned :laundy: and checked items off our “bring to Disney” list. Dug’s parents had kindly (though not enthusiastically) agreed to dog-sit Bailey while we were gone. They are already long-term dog-sitting Dug’s brother’s dog :dog2: while he is working out of state, so another dog was not exactly thrilling to them. But they said okay. So, we packed up Bailey and all her stuff and set off for her “vacation” with her “cousin dog” about 20 minutes away. We dropped her off and headed out. I peeked in the window by the door as we left and she was just standing by the door looking like she was thinking, “Where are my people going? They must be coming right back. Mommy-dog? Daddy-dog?” I felt kind-of bad. But I’m sure she got over it with another dog to play with. :dogdance: So, we headed home and finished things up and went to bed.

Friday morning was an early one. We had to grab the last-minute packing items (like the stuff we still needed to use that morning) and load all the bags into Dug’s car. We wanted to avoid crazy luggage fees, but with a 10-day trip, carry-on would not cut it. We ended up each with one large bag to check and one small bag to carry on, plus a backpack, a messenger bag, and a video camera bag as the “personal items” to carry on.

We set out cat food and supplies, as Dug’s best friend had kindly agreed to stop in every few days and visit Kitty while we were gone. Luckily, Kitty is very fond of him, as he and Dug were roommates for a time during Kitty’s kitten-hood. As usually happens when we travel, Kitty knew what was going on and spent some time sitting in a suitcase the night before. :cat: She’s never pleased when we leave.

We both had a full day of work this day. I normally take the bus to work in downtown Minneapolis (we live out in the eastern suburbs and there is express bus service, which I have a pass for through work). Rather than park and ride this day, Dug dropped me off at the bus stop, then drove to his work in the western suburbs. :drive: We both worked all day. It was kind-of strange knowing that when we went to bed that night we’d be in Florida! :cool1:

After work, I walked to the lightrail stop downtown so I could take the train to the airport (my transit pass covers the train too) and meet Dug there. He would be driving to his sister’s house after work, leaving his car there for the week, and she’d give him (and all our luggage) a ride to the nearby airport. And we’d meet up there, check in, and have dinner at the airport.

As I was walking to the lightrail, I gave Dug a call to see where he was at and make sure everything was on track. I asked Dug, “How’s it going?” to which he replied, “Um, not good.” “What’s wrong?” “I have impetigo.” “What’s that?”…. :eek:

Well, a day or two earlier I guess I had noticed that Dug had a small blemish near the corner of his mouth, but I hadn’t thought anything of it. Chapped lips this time of year in Minnesota are pretty standard. Well, it was bothering Dug, so he called his mom to see if she knew a good remedy for what he thought was maybe a cold sore. Somehow, she managed to diagnose him over the phone with impetigo (no medical training, she’s a French teacher). Dug had left work early, planning to get a haircut (didn’t happen) and stop by Target for some last-minute things (umbrella :umbrella: and sunglasses :cool2: ), so he went to the Target Clinic to have it checked out. Sure enough, his mom was right. In case you don’t know, cause I sure didn’t, impetigo is a highly contagious infection :worried: , kind-of a staph infection. Dug’s was around his lips. He was given a topical antibiotic to apply throughout our trip. It also meant that I had to be very careful to not get it. Since we often share food, especially when travelling, this would be a challenge. But we were leaving in a couple hours, so we’d just have to do the best we could.

Dug beat me to the airport. When I arrived, we met up in the ticketing area, juggled around the luggage a bit, and went to print our boarding passes and check our bags. Everything went well. On our last trip, I’d accidentally left a large bottle of aloe in my carry-on, and had to throw it out, so I was extra careful packing this time and had no problems. :woohoo:

Now, time to find some dinner before our 7pm flight boards. We didn’t have enough time for a sit-down meal, so looked for a place to grab something quick. We walked around a bit, then I spotted the perfect dinner: D’Amico & Sons’ Turkey with Dried Cherries Salad. :yay: A little shop had a small selection of salads from D’Amico. This is one of my favorite foods. In fact, since D’Amico coincidentally had catered our wedding reception 4 years ago, we even had it as a side dish to our wedding dinner. Here’s a wedding dinner plate, so you can see the yummy, yummy Turkey Cherry Salad.

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%200/0614175.jpg

So, I had that for dinner. Dug didn’t see anything he wanted yet, so we kept wandering. He came across a place called “Wok & Roll.” He got a meal consisting of Kung Pao Chicken, Bourbon Chicken, and Crab Rangoon. It was so big that we easily could have split it normally, but we were trying to be extra careful because of the impetigo. We both enjoyed our dinners.

Time to go board the flight. We got on, stowed our carry-on, and took our seats. Dug had an aisle seat, I had a middle seat, and a guy who's family was in the row in front of us had the window seat next to me. After we’d been sitting for a couple minutes, the guy next to me jumped up in a panic and said he needed to get out NOW. :confused3 He pretty much tried to jump over me. Very uncomfortable. But Dug and I couldn’t get out of the way enough to let him out, as there were kids blocking the aisle. The guy’s wife ahead of us started saying, “He really needs to get out!” Finally, we were able to let him through. Turns out he couldn’t find his wallet. I looked on the floor around his seat, but no dice. I think he got off the plane to look for it. Not sure. While he was gone, his wife went through their bags and found it in their carry-on. He came back and took his seat and was fine the rest of the flight. It was just weird with the panic to start the flight.

We taxied around for so long that I started to wonder if we were just driving the plane to Florida. :car: Finally, we took off and I looked forward to napping. However, this plane was showing a movie I hadn’t seen that looked good, “Love Happens” with Jennifer Aniston. So, I decided that just relaxing and watching a movie was almost as good as sleeping. Movie was pretty good. Had some Fresca to drink. Kinda cool that Delta/NWA has Fresca, as neither of us drinks caffeinated pop and usually there is not much selection, other than Sprite. After the movie, I got in a little napping. It was a little tough, due to quite a bit of turbulence combined with a lot of crying babies. But I’m a good sleeper.

Towards the end of the flight, we noticed a small commotion a few rows ahead of us, across the aisle. We couldn’t quite make out what was going on, but a couple of the flight crew were acting somewhat concerned about a passenger. After a bit, they did an announcement asking any doctors on the flight to come to the front of the main cabin (we were close to the front). A woman ahead of us jumped up and told them she was a nurse. A moment later, she sat back down, as three doctors appeared out of first class to help! Guess we know how the doctors fly now…it was almost funny. Anyway, they briefed the doctors (we couldn’t quite make out what they were saying) and two of the doctors went back to their seats and the third sat down and stayed with the woman for the rest of the flight. And a flight attendant brought out some sort of medical kit. From the rumblings of others on the plane, it sounded like she was having an allergic reaction and had trouble breathing. But she was doing well enough to get there, since we were close.

They made an announcement that once we landed, we would be met by an ambulance and we should stay in our seats until the paramedics and the passenger were off the plane. I mentioned to Dug that the medical emergency would probably lead to priority parking for the plane…no waiting for a gate or taxiing around forever. And that was the case. Very quick to the gate. Paramedics got on, checked the woman out briefly, and she got off the plane with them. It was very different to be in a plane that just pulled up to the gate, but there was no mass chaos of people jumping up and pushing to get out. Just calmness. Once they cleared us to get out, it was probably still the most calm and orderly exit from a plane I’ve seen. Once in the terminal, we saw the woman sitting in a wheelchair being attended to. Looked like she would be just fine. :)

I love arriving at the Orlando airport late at night. I think it was 11pm or so that we arrived, both this trip and our last one. The airport is so quiet and peaceful. We headed for the “monorail” and got our bags (once we figured out which baggage claim they were at).

Then we called the Fairfield Inn to get a shuttle. Headed out to the parking spot they directed us to. There was one other couple waiting there. Several shuttles came and went, none of them ours. More people had gathered. Then, after waiting maybe 20 minutes or so, a shuttle pulled up, but we couldn’t tell what it was for. A bunch of people behind us jumped in. We wandered around it and finally found a Fairfield Inn logo amongst all the others on the back end of it. By then, it was full. So, everyone behind us got on and us and the other couple that was there first had no choice but to wait for the next shuttle. :mad: So, while we waited, we started chatting with this couple. They were a very nice older couple, also from Minnesota. They were going to be visiting some of their friends who live in the Orlando area, but also making a quick visit to Disney World, staying at the Polynesian. They had stayed there before and it was great chatting with them and getting advice from them. Yea for nice Minnesotans! :goodvibes Finally, the same shuttle returned (even though he said he’d send the other one over) and we got to our hotel. The Fairfield Inn was pretty nice and right by the airport, in “Hotel World.” After reading a TR on here where they got bedbugs, I vowed to check all our beds for them, as we would be staying in 4 different places. This one passed inspection and we went to sleep, dreaming of the fun that lay ahead. :cloud9:

Up next: heading to the Poly and Epcot. Will we be able to control the spread of impetigo? Will we be able to get our park tickets early even though they are attached to our POR reservation starting Monday? Will there be more than one picture on the TR? Will our nice, new digital camera survive the next 24 hours? Stay tuned! Some of these things will work out okay!

[gellybean]

I'm here!!! That stinks about the impetigo! Hope you guys can contain it!


So cool that you found your favorite turkey salad at the airport.

The guy rushing over me to get out of the aisle would have freaked me out too!

And that's nuts about the woman needing medical attention! Your trip definitely got off to a crazy fast start!

Can't wait to hear about your Poly arrival!!

:banana:

[cmp1111]

Exciting start! Can't wait to hear the answers to all your questions! :thumbsup2

[Connerhailee]

ur cat is sho shweet, i wish i could have it :)

[Dugette]

I'm here!!! That stinks about the impetigo! Hope you guys can contain it!


So cool that you found your favorite turkey salad at the airport.

The guy rushing over me to get out of the aisle would have freaked me out too!

And that's nuts about the woman needing medical attention! Your trip definitely got off to a crazy fast start!

Can't wait to hear about your Poly arrival!!

:banana:

Hey, Gellybean! Good to see you here! Poly arrival is in the works!

Exciting start! Can't wait to hear the answers to all your questions! :thumbsup2

Welcome! Answers coming soon...

ur cat is sho shweet, i wish i could have it :)

Thanks! We like her :)


I've been working on the Poly arrival as I've had time. Hope to get an update posted in a day or two. I think Dug might chime in soon too.

Thanks for reading. More to come!

[Dug]

Dugette did a great job with day one. Let's give her a hand! :dogdance:

Or a paw.

My job here is to fill in the blanks.

Dugette's morning consisted of getting up and going to work. Mine consisted of packing, getting up and going to work. Ok, I guess I was at least a bit awake while packing. :thumbsup2

I had a really busy week. Due to really bad planning on my part, I had evening meetings Monday and Tuesday and Wednesday and Thursday. I dropped the Thursday meeting so I would have some hope of packing, as I was dead tired when I got home each night. I didn't get all my packing done Thursday night, though, so it was an early morning for me.

I always get really tense getting everything done before a trip. I try to be polite to let people know I will be out of town, so that if there's anything critical, I can get it done before leaving. Inevitably, that means my web design clients outside of work discover all sorts of delightful tasks for me to complete. And so I complete them. Then, at work, it's getting everything ready so my supervisor can shoulder the load while I'm gone. She is not as technical a person as me (though she's very capable, and--spoiler alert!--did a great job while I was out), so I try to get as much done beforehand, so she doesn't have to do so much in my absence. And again, that means, everybody wants to get updates to me. My workload was pretty high, and Friday was pretty stressful. It's always my busiest day of the week anyhow. It didn't help when I needed to give a presentation to some new employees on our intranet, and one of them showed up late. I'm a pretty patient, forgiving guy, but my fingers were tapping, as I had so much to get done. It went well, and I walked through the whole site pretty thoroughly. I had completely redone it recently, with the new version launched last summer, and it was good to show off all the neat things I had built. Finally, I finished, wrapped up a last few things and was done.

There's always a bit of terror in the morning when you leave, after you packed everything. Did I forget anything? The same is true at work. Did I get everything done? I never really feel relaxed until I'm on the plane. And even then, it takes actually getting some place before I can ease up and enjoy the trip.

So I finally walked out of work to the car. As I got on the highway, I noticed what looked like a few nasty cold sores. It was about 3 or so, and our flight was leaving at 7. I needed to meet my sister at her house about 4:45 or so, so I could drop off the car in her driveway, and she could drive me to the airport. In the meantime, my agenda was to try to get a haircut, pick up a mini-umbrella (I had searched and couldn't find one in the morning), and sunglasses (mine had broken). If time permitted, I wanted to pick up the Imagineering book on Animal Kingdom for the plane, as I had really enjoyed the Magic Kingdom book and had the Epcot one as well.

But these cold sores looked nasty. So I called up my mom to see if she had advice on a good over-the-counter medicine to pick up, as it would probably be trickier to get something once at Disney. I described what it looked like, and she said, "Oh, you better get that looked at right away. That could be impetigo." Impetigo? I'd heard the word, but didn't know enough to dread it yet. It's highly contagious? It's a staph infection? Sounds delightful! Well, I'll get it checked out, but surely it can't be...

I pull into the Target parking lot and go into the clinic there. It just takes a few minutes to see the physician there. And sure enough, there's telltale honey crustage showing up. It's impetigo. Moms sure are amazing, diagnosing rare face diseases over the phone.

I still don't know how I got it. Kids typically get this, and I'm not around kids. The only thing we could figure is that work had a potluck on Wednesday; maybe, a coworker brought it in on a dish? Though nobody else seemed to have gotten my crusty face disease. I had been stressed, and I may well have had some cold sores pop up. (I kept calling them cole sores while talking with the physician. I feel kind of dumb about that now.) Plus my lips were chapped from the winter dry air. Apparently we all have bacteria living on our skin (delightful!) and having breaks in your skin can let them in. So lesson learned: use chapstick in the winter and don't get too stressed! :scared1:

So I get a topical cream to put on it, and I'm told to get a benzoyl peroxide wash as well. I'm told it's in the acne aisle, and the Target beauty area customer service person is completely not a help. Time is ticking, and she's wasting it. Finally a pharmacist helps me find something suitable. I find an umbrella and sunglasses while I wait for the topical cream prescription to be filled. It gets filled. One part done.

Then I swing down to Barnes & Noble and pick up the Animal Kingdom book. I kept my eyes out for the Hollywood Studios version as well, but no luck.

With that done, there was no time for haircuts, Dr. Jones, so I was off to my sister's place. I called my boss to let her know that they should probably hose down anything I touched. I also let my mom know that she was a genius; she then proceeded to give my all sorts of mom warnings, including what was probably good advice to stop wearing my contacts, as I wouldn't want to infect my eyes. Honey crusted eyes doesn't sound so fun. I also let my sister know to prepare the haz-mat suit for my arrival.

When I got to her place, I got my first taste of what leprosy feels like, as she sanitized everything I touched, and she had to turn on the faucets for me, so that I could wash my hands. It was very nice for her to take me to the airport, and I appreciated it.

Since Dugette was taking the train from work, I had all our luggage, so I managed to drag inside two pieces of checked luggage, two rolling carry-ons, a backpack, her messenger bag and her video camera bag. I managed to struggle inside and find a place to sit while I waited for her.

We ate at Wok & Roll, as she mentioned. It was probably too much food for just me; I was pretty full afterwards, but again, I was a leper, so I couldn't share it. The bourbon chicken was so, so good, but we had to eat fast, so I had to scarf it down.

We got to the gate; it was already boarding, and we got on. My face had started the "seeping" part of impetigo, which is where your face feels wet, and the stuff that's oozing crusts over, so that it looks like you have honey-colored cauliflower bits around your mouth. And they harden, so it's then hard to open and close your mouth. Often I ended up dabbing at the seepage, because it feels so weird having your skin get moist. I'll stop there, because quite frankly, it's gross. I hope you don't stop reading our trip report, because of that. After all, I didn't give up on our trip, and neither should you!

I read a bit of the Epcot book on the plane and enjoyed the movie. When we landed, I had more fun cleaning up my face, we had our shuttle adventures, and we got checked into our hotel. The room was pretty standard. The ceilings were tall, but the room wasn't decorated in a way that made you ooh and ahh at the tall ceilings. They were just tall. I had more fun putting medicine on my face, and I dearly hoped the medicine would fix everything soon.

Would the medicine work? Would I be forced to walk around the parks bandaged like a mummy? Would any body parts fall off? Would I still enjoy Disney World?

All these questions and more will be answered, after a few words from our sponsors...

Or until we write some more.

TTFN!

[gellybean]

It was great reading Day 1 from your perspective too Dug! So sorry about your facial malady! I can't imagine. Cold sores are bad enough but impetigo! Not fun!

Don't you love how mom's do that? You tell them three things and they diagnose it?

Jack-Jack was really sick Christmas 08 and we could not figure out what was going on. 4 doctors appts, 10 days of vomiting, fever on and off for 2 weeks. It was scary. I just happened to mention to my mom one day on the phone that I had noticed his hands were peeling. She immediately tells me he had scarlet fever. I thought she was crazy.

Sure enough, the next day he finally broke out in the rash. By the time the doctor got a positive strep test on him (scarlet fever is strep + a rash) he was well on his way of getting over it on his own. Let me tell you, she has not let me forget she diagnosed him!

Staph and strep operate very similarly! I hope you were able to fight it off in time to enjoy most of your trip!!


:goodvibes

[Dugette]

We got up this morning excited to head to the Poly! But first, we had to take advantage of the free Fairfield Inn breakfast. Our room was on the first floor, right off the lobby, so we just wandered out and grabbed some food and a table. I’m not a big breakfast food fan (except for cereal…I love cereal!), so I just had a bowl of Cheerios and half a bagel with cream cheese. Dug had a Belgian waffle. And we both had some juice.

Dug decided to take advantage of the Fairfield Inn’s offer of free-toiletries-if-you-forgot-them. He didn’t technically forget anything, but the impetigo kind-of changed his plans. Sharing a tube of toothpaste no longer seemed wise. And he was told that he should switch to a new toothbrush because of the infection. So, he picked those up at the front desk. Then, we headed back to the room to gather up our stuff and catch our 9:15am shuttle back to the airport.

Got on the shuttle and got dropped off in the Magical Express area. Went inside to the ME counter. Weren’t sure what to expect. Last trip, we arrived late at night, so the ME area was deserted. This time, it was morning, but fairly early morning…we were figuring most people’s flights wouldn’t have come in yet. And we must have been right. Just like last time…walk straight up to the counter! :cool1: Once we checked in, I took a little video and here is a still frame from where I’m narrating, “Look, it’s our first super-long Disney line!” ;)

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%201/MELine.jpg

Yes, I do believe that is a total of one family ahead of us. And then it’s time to board! Hey, it’s me getting ready to get on the ME!

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%201/P1010431.jpg

We sat in front, right behind the driver.

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%201/P1010432.jpg

There were only a few families on our bus, but we took right off. Time for the Disney magic to officially begin!

And, after a bit, we saw this:

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%201/P1010434.jpg

Then this:

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%201/P1010441.jpg

And, finally, this:

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%201/P1010444.jpg

They dropped us off and we took in the beautiful surroundings, waterfalls outside and in:

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%201/P1010448.jpg
http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%201/P1010452.jpg

As we walked in the front doors, we caught a hula lesson in progress:

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%201/P1010451.jpg

We had done online check-in and had no wait to check in. Just walked right up to the desk. (Yes, that's me videotaping at the front desk!)

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%201/P1010453.jpg

The gentleman who helped us was super nice and was absolutely dying to give us buttons for celebrating something! We really didn’t have anything, but since he kept asking, we said, “I guess we’re celebrating getting annual passes?” He was thrilled to have an excuse to give out the pins:

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%201/PolyButton.jpg

We only wore them the first day. Last trip, it was our anniversary (well, it was within a few weeks of it…) and we wore the pins the whole time and it was cool. (On a side note, our last day of our previous trip, we got into an argument as we were leaving Animal Kingdom to head to the ME to go home. We hadn’t been able to find each-other, finally did, and now were running late. Anyway, we’re arguing and clearly not pleased with each other, but that doesn’t stop a cast member from merrily wishing us “Happy Anniversary!!!” I wonder if they found any humor in that? I think I said, “Uh, yeah, thanks.”) This time, we just really didn’t feel there was a legit reason to be wearing the give-me-free-stuff-and-endless-attention-because-“We’re Celebrating!” pins.

Now that we had our leis and matching pins and room keys (no room yet, though), we had to take a picture in our new home:

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%201/Leis.jpg

Then, we brought the luggage out to bell services to store until our room was ready. Now it was time to explore the Poly!

Is it just me or does it look like this Tiki Guy is sneaking up to get me?

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%201/P1010463.jpg

We were a bit hungry and these looked good (and were good):

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%201/Coconuts.jpg

Notice the picture behind them. Dug liked this picture and we thought about buying it, but decided to wait until later. However, this evening, the picture will take on an ironic new meaning and we don’t end up getting it.

There was a really cool gallery we wandered through. I took some video of it. Dug thought this picture (titled “Hook”) was pretty cool:

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%201/Hook.jpg

I wish we could take this one home:

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%201/Window.jpg

And, in case you’ve ever wondered how Michael Jackson would have looked if he were made entirely of candy:

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%201/Candyman.jpg

Anybody see a Hidden Mickey in the decorative wall?

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%201/P1010466.jpg

Such pretty scenery everywhere you look!

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%201/P1010467.jpg
http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%201/P1010468.jpg

I wish I could put one of these signs up at work!

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%201/Sign.jpg

Who knew Mickey and Minnie had kids?!? This was up high on a shelf in the Boutiki. And Mickey moved, by the way.

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%201/P1010469.jpg

At 10:50am, we decided to make our way outside, by way of Captain Cook’s. Just to scope it out and make sure the “treasure” was there. Not a very good still from my video camera, but what an awesome sight:

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%201/Dolewhip.jpg

Continued in next post...

[Dugette]

We wandered out to the marina area. It would be so fun to rent a boat and head out on Bay Lake someday. We walked past the Volcano Pool and decided that we would have to test out that waterslide at some point in the next 24 hours. Then, Dug saw this beautiful beach:

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%201/P1010477.jpg

And I saw this amazing oasis:

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%201/Hammock.jpg

We had to try it out. I took some video:

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%201/P1010482.jpg

Believe it or not, Dug took this picture of himself:

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%201/P1010483.jpg

We enjoyed several very pleasant minutes in the hammocks, then saw a boat coming, so headed over to the dock. We were going to the Magic Kingdom! But, only to go to Guest Services. Boring, I know. But we had tickets to get!

We boarded the Mermaid 1 and enjoyed a lovely cruise across the lake to the MK. This was a cool shot Dug got:

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%201/P1010499.jpg

At some points during our trip, I started to feel like Disney was really Walt’s tribute to transportation. This moment shows what I’m talking about. We’re on a boat, watching a monorail go by, which is in front of a train going by. Gotta love all the ways to get around WDW!

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%201/Transport.jpg

We headed over to Guest Services and got in line. Yes, a line! We didn’t have a Touring Plan or a Fast Pass for this one! It actually was one of the longer waits of our trip. The reason we were in this line is because we had ticket changes to make. Our POR stay for the last week of the trip was booked as a package, so 10-day park-hoppers (and the DDP) were attached to it. We wouldn’t be checking in there for a couple days, so we needed our tickets. But, we also wanted to upgrade to Annual Passes. Figured we might as well do it at the same time. And get a Tables in Wonderland card, mostly for future trips. I was a little worried about getting the tickets early. My understanding from asking on the Dis was that it was possible, but not necessarily easy, to do this. And that the MK Guest Services was our best bet. Finally, we reached the front of the line. Explained what we wanted and….no problem at all! Yea for Disney! We walked away with our new APs and a TIW card a few minutes later.

Then, we headed for the resort loop monorail. Seemed strange to go all the way to the MK and not go in, but we had to eat lunch! Plus, our plan was Epcot for the day. We enjoyed the ride on the monorail, going through the Contemporary, and made it back to the Poly. Once again, the Poly had entertainment upon walking in:

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%201/P1010506.jpg

Then, we headed to lunch:

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%201/P1010508.jpg

I did not expect Captain Cook’s to have computerized ordering kiosks. I was momentarily confused, but we figured it out. We’d looked at menus in advance on allears.net and had tentatively been planning on splitting the Aloha Pork Sandwich, but the Hawaiian Flatbread won out that day. And, of course, a Dole Whip to share. We got pineapple/vanilla twist:

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%201/P1010509.jpg

We were sharing food when possible for the first few days, since we were paying OOP until the DDP kicked in. The impetigo made this slightly more challenging…and risky, I suppose. I cut the flatbread in half, so that was fine. The only way to handle the Dole Whip was for me to eat my half first, then hand it over to Dug to finish. Worked out okay for me! The food was all delish!

We hoped our room might be ready by that time, but no luck. So, after lunch, we wandered around the grounds a little bit and checked out the views:

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%201/Palmcastle.jpg
http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%201/P1010511.jpg
http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%201/P1010516.jpg
http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%201/P1010519.jpg
http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%201/P1010510.jpg

We were already loving the Poly! :love:

Up Next: Epcot!

[Dugette]

After lunch and our Poly grounds exploration, it was time to actually go into a Disney park! I believe we walked from the Poly to the TTC, then took the monorail over to Epcot. Got the monorail-overview of Epcot and soon we were strolling in.

If you couldn’t tell already, these first couple days of our trip were intended to be pretty relaxed. No rope drops, no commando-style touring, no solid itinerary. Our last trip was all of these things, each day. Because this was a longer trip, we were hoping to get a little relaxing in too. The first couple days, especially, as they were expected to be the most crowded of our trip, due to the MLK holiday weekend. This is why we were going to Epcot this day—supposed to be one of the less crowded parks. We were arriving mid-afternoon, so we had no plans to do any headliners, just some of the more minor attractions.

So, seeing as it was pretty much a walk-on, we headed to Spaceship Earth. Got on quickly and enjoyed the ride. Our previous trip, the video at the end did not have our pictures in it (not sure why?), so we were excited to actually see ourselves (and not just some animated faces) in the future. It worked! (And, no, I have no idea what's on top of Dug's head.)

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%201/Future.jpg

We went to one of the video kiosks afterwards and we had our SE video sent home to us. Funny, though, I videotaped it while on the ride and watched the home version now…they switched our characters to the opposite roles!

Next, we strolled over to The Land. Not for Soarin’, but for Living with the Land. We knew that it was going down for renovations soon, plus it had been down during our last trip, so it was high priority for us. Dug had never been on it and the last time I rode it was back in 1990! I should point out that I love boat rides of any sort, so I was excited. Turns out we both really enjoyed the ride, seeing all the food growing there. Oh, by the way, the wait was fairly short for this, maybe 10-15 minutes? We actually did have to wait, so not a walk-on, but not too bad.

Last trip, we had been mesmerized by the intoxicating smell coming from Sunshine Seasons, so we had to try it this time. Snack time! Again, we were still paying OOP, but decided to each get a snack from the bakery there.

I got this:

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%201/chocolatecrumbcake.jpg

Dug got this:

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%201/strawberry.jpg

Both yummy!

Dug was looking forward to exploring Innoventions, so we thought this would be a good day to do that. We headed over to Innoventions West. The first thing we ran across was Smarter Planet. It was just a bunch of interactive video kiosks. We each took one. Dug took a survey on his. I played a card-matching game on mine. I did fairly well at this, so Dug tried it too. He beat me, of course, so I had to play again. I ended up playing a few times until I beat his score.

The next thing was in ThinkPlace, called Run Time. It’s where you actually get to be the character(s) in a video game. You go into a little booth and are told to act out some running, jumping, and dancing. Then, you go to a videogame terminal and actually play a video game where you are the character. You can also have it emailed home to you, so I just played it right now!

At one point in Innoventions, we peaked in a window and saw a conveyor belt of Cabbage Patch dolls being diapered by men. Interesting…we figured we should check it out. When they were getting ready to start a new show, we wandered in. This was SlapStick Studios by Velcro. It was a fun (and not crowded at all) show. First, they had a few kids come up and build towers with Velcro blocks. It ended up being pretty amusing watching each team attempt to build the tallest tower that doesn’t fall over. Next, they had a couple guys come up. Dug got picked! And he got to do the crazy Velcro doll-diapering game. Against a guy who actually had children and had diapered them before! Guess who diapered and Velcroed the most Cabbage Patch kids to their apron?

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%201/Diapers.jpg

Yea for Dug!

Next, we did The Great Piggybank Adventure. This was my request, as the accountant in the family. It consisted of carrying around our little piggy to different game stations and trying to fill him up towards our selected goal, by doing well in the games. I think the goals were a vacation (um, we were already doing that), college (we already paid for that, thanks), a bedroom makeover (no need for that), and retirement. We picked retirement, which I thought I remembered hearing is the hardest one. But, not sure. Anyway, we did very well, but came up just short of the goal. Oh, well!

The last exhibit we did was Where’s the Fire? This was a pretty fun game too. The whole group of people is split into two teams on two different sides of the house. Each room, you have to zap the fire dangers on each video screen. Whichever team gets the most wins. Although Dug and I did well (I think we got all the things in every room), our side of the house didn’t win. Oh, well, still fun.

Of course, after that, we had to head over to Club Cool for a drink. Last trip, we sampled everything, so no need to have any Beverly this time! I love the Costa Rica Fanta, so had some of that. I also like the Mexico and China drinks (both fruity). I should point out that even though neither of us drinks caffeinated drinks, we have whatever we want here. One, because I don’t know if they are caffeinated. And two, it’s not like we’re going to run out and buy them at home too. So, special treat.

At this point we knew we should head back to the Poly. Our room was ready and we wanted to get our bags in there before heading to Kona for our 6:05pm dinner ADR. So, we took the monorail to the TTC and walked back to the Poly. By the way, such convenient transportation at the Poly!

Since we were only staying at the Poly one night, we weren’t terribly concerned about where our room was, but put in a request anyway. We had heard Tokelau was conveniently located, so we requested that. Turns out we got it. We got room 1924, which was on the ground level. I had heard that balconies were preferable, but that sometimes the patios on the ground level were nice and private. Ours was pretty nice, if not super private, but not bad. I think I have a picture of it coming on Day 2 morning.

The bell service people retrieved all our bags. They offered us a ride with our bags on the golf cart to our room. Yea, another ride! We hopped in and sped off to Tokelau. Apparently Dug didn’t take any pictures of our room and I just took a bit of video in the dark. The room was very nice, but here’s all you can really see from my video:

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%201/PolyHiddenMickey.jpg
http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%201/TikiLamp.jpg

Hopefully Day 2 morning I’ll have some more video I can pull stills from. I haven’t watched it yet, but I know I took a little video.

We still had a bit of time before dinner. One of the things I’d packed was a small foot massaging pillow Dug had got me for Christmas. And I packed the batteries. We had not used this one yet, though. I say “this one” because he actually bought me another one (same model), which I liked, but returned it (with the brand new batteries still in it :headache:) thinking he could find a better one (like shiatsu, instead of just vibration). Well, this was the best we could find to bring with, so he re-bought the same model. We were looking forward to the foot massage. I put the batteries in and turned it on. Nothing. I knew it wasn’t the batteries, as they were brand new. Tried and tried, but this one wouldn’t turn on. No foot massages for us! Just wasted space in my suitcase. Oh, well. Even the best-laid plans can’t all work out, right?

After a bit, we headed out to Kona Café for dinner. On the way, we spied a hidden Mickey in the lobby carpeting:

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%201/P1010526.jpg

As for Kona, yummy, yummy, yummy is probably all I really need to say, but I’ll elaborate anyway. Again, still OOP, so found stuff to split. I should mention that we often split things when we go out to eat at home, so this was nothing new. We have similar enough taste in enough things that we can almost always find something we agree on. We ordered the Pan Asian noodles with both chicken and shrimp. I don’t like shrimp (or really anything that lived its life in water…), so that was for Dug and we removed it from my portion (had two separate plates). We considered having a Lapu Lapu, but opted to wait and have an Island Sunset for now. (Description from allears.net: Captain Morgan original spiced rum, Parrot Bay coconut rum, melon, and peach combined with our guava-passion fruit juice). I’m a fan of pretty much anything with peach in it, so we enjoyed (with two straws, of course). I love the bread at Kona! Probably too much. We ended up getting a second, so each of us essentially ate an entire loaf of it! No wonder I was so full I could hardly eat our delicious Banana-Chocolate Crème Brulee for dessert! Before I show you the pictures, this would be a good time to point out that you’ll probably notice a common theme of slightly-eaten food. We kept digging in, then going “hey, pictures”, making the food look as whole as possible, snapping the photo, then resuming our food-fest. Here you go:

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%201/P1010527.jpg
http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%201/P1010528.jpg
http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%201/banana.jpg

We were planning to use our Tables in Wonderland Card for the first time to get 20% off on this meal. As we got the bill, Dug realized it was back in the room. I was preparing to jog back to the room and get it, but our waitress made an exception and let us use the discount without the card on us. How nice! But, don’t worry, she was well compensated for her kindness: we didn’t realize until several days later that we must have tipped her twice! We’d forgotten that TIW automatically adds an 18% gratuity to your bill. And we tipped her. That explains why our bill was so high for just one split meal and drink! Oh,well. You live, you learn. It was a delicious meal and not our last at Kona.

Up next: Fireworks from the Poly Beach!

Also known as: Sand is Bad :furious: :sad:

Plus, will we be able to counteract the upcoming bad event with some Disney magic? pixiedust:

[cinderella crazy]

Your pictures of the Poly is getting me excited about our upcoming trip! And the food pictures are making me drool! Can't wait to read about the rest of your trip.

[Dugette]

Your pictures of the Poly is getting me excited about our upcoming trip! And the food pictures are making me drool! Can't wait to read about the rest of your trip.

:welcome: Thanks for reading. You're staying at the Poly on your trip? Lucky! We only got one night there, due to "fun with availability", but it was great! We totally agreed that our favorite place we stayed was the Poly. If it wasn't so darn pricey, we'd stay there all the time. We are tentatively planning to stay there in early December, though. 40% off helps. :)

The food pictures were making me drool as I posted them too. I told my husband that I'd kill for Kona bread, Pan Asian Noodles, and Chocolate-Banana Creme Brulee for dinner tonight. Unfortunately, that's not happening. :sad1:

Hopefully I'll get another update done tonight or tomorrow. More Poly stuff to come!

[cmp1111]

That sounds like a really nice day at Epcot, even without the headliners, so to speak - and dinner looks fantastic. :goodvibes

[Sunset Cliffs]

Hi! I finally made it over. You have made a lot of progress in a short amount of time (hanging my head in shame over my TR that has taken me approx 7 months to write). I like that you both are having your input.

Yay for Pan Asian Noodles! That sounds so good right now. Much better than anything that I ate today. I'm not a seafood person, either, so I've never tried it w/ shrimp.

The Poly looks amazing. I really hope we can stay there someday. How nice that you got to walk around and just enjoy the property. Can't wait for your next update!

[beckyb29]

Your trip report is great! I can't wait to follow along! :-)

[E-Stop]

I've subscribed to your thread. I look forward to reading how your trip turned out. That shrimp noodle meal looks delicious, as did that strawberry shortcake. We leave for the world in 13 days. Cant wait

[Dug]

This is the way the thread ends
This is the way the thread ends
This is the way the thread ends
Not with a bang but a whimper.


Nice sig. I suppose you might say the dudes at Disney who haven't eaten yet are the hollow men (though they likely leave the park each day as stuffed men!).

Sorry. Recovering double English major here. Carry on.

[Dugette]

Hi! I finally made it over. You have made a lot of progress in a short amount of time (hanging my head in shame over my TR that has taken me approx 7 months to write). I like that you both are having your input.

Yay for Pan Asian Noodles! That sounds so good right now. Much better than anything that I ate today. I'm not a seafood person, either, so I've never tried it w/ shrimp.

The Poly looks amazing. I really hope we can stay there someday. How nice that you got to walk around and just enjoy the property. Can't wait for your next update!

Thanks for stopping over! :goodvibes No shame over your trip report...you've done a great job! :worship: I don't think anyone wants it to end, so 7 months is a good thing! I'm sure I won't be able to keep up this pace on ours. My time during the week is pretty limited, so I'm trying to get as much done now as I can, since we have a pretty free weekend.

You know, I didn't even realize until I asked Dug what the plate was behind the Pan Asian Noodles in our picture...turns out that's the other half (mine)! That is one big serving they bring! Thanks for endorsing them on your TR or we wouldn't have known what to order!

I hope you get to stay at the Poly sometime too. Even for just a night, it was great! We really tried to take it easy so we could explore and enjoy the resort that day.

Your trip report is great! I can't wait to follow along! :-)

Thank you! More to come shortly. I've got another update almost ready to post!

I've subscribed to your thread. I look forward to reading how your trip turned out. That shrimp noodle meal looks delicious, as did that strawberry shortcake. We leave for the world in 13 days. Cant wait

Wow, your trip is coming up soon! You must be leaving on the 19th or so? Funny thing, Disney is really trying to get us to come back then! My birthday is 2/21, there's reasonably cheap airfare that weekend, the MK has EMH until midnight on my birthday, we already have APs, AND we just got an email offer for 40% off Pop Century that weekend! But I think we'll be staying home. Very tempting, though. Hope you and your family have a great time!

The Pan Asian Noodles were great, by the way. And the bread...so yummy! Dug said the Strawberry Shortcake was quite good too. I'm guessing it's made with fresh strawberries that were grown on the premises, as we saw some growing when we were on Living with the Land and I know they use those foods at Sunshine Seasons.

[Dugette]

After our delicious dinner at Kona, it was time to head out to the Poly beach :beach: to find a spot to watch Wishes. The show would be at 8pm that night. We had asked our golf cart driver earlier if ALL the beaches piped in the soundtrack from Wishes or just the main beach? He said everywhere had the soundtrack, so we chose one of the smaller beaches we’d discovered, hoping to avoid crowds. We sat on a swing at first, but decided it wasn’t that comfortable. There was a hammock at our beach, but only one. Besides not wanting to fight over it, I wasn’t sure how well we’d be able to see fireworks with a palm tree (that the hammock was attached to) directly in front of us. So, we grabbed a couple of lounge chairs instead. We were the only people at this beach thus far. Reclining in the lounge chairs was fairly comfy and we settled in to wait for the show to start.

Dug played with his iPhone and I played with my video camera. Here’s a shot I got: the castle on the left, Space Mountain in the middle, and the Contemporary on the right. Very pretty at night:

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%201/Beacons.jpg

Some more people joined us at the little beach and the show soon began. It became apparent immediately that sound was not being piped in from Wishes. Dug remembered hearing that MouseWorld Radio (on his iPhone) often played the Wishes soundtrack during Wishes. He tuned in, but it turned out to be a variety of non-Wishes Disney music. It worked anyway, so we left it playing. I took some video, so I’m able to pull a few stills of cool fireworks out of it. I love the reflections off the water on the first one:

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%201/Fireworks2.jpg

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%201/Fireworks1.jpg

Hidden Mickey firework:

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%201/MickeyFirework.jpg

Dug also took some pictures, but it’s hard to capture cool fireworks moments with a still camera. This is the last picture he took:

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%201/P1010537.jpg

Soon, the show was over. We stood up. As Dug stood up, I saw something slide to the ground. It was the camera. I yelped for him to stop, as I didn’t want him to step on it. He stopped and did not step on it. So, I figured everything was okay, right? The camera was turned off, lens closed. Just brush the sand off and no problem, I’m thinking. Dug wasn’t so convinced.

He was immediately upset. He was sure he’d put the camera back in the case, but either he forgot or it must not have been zipped. And he knew that a grain of sand is capable of ruining a camera lens. After gently brushing off the sand, we headed back to the room to make sure the camera was okay.

I should point out that we bought this camera prior to our previous Disney trip, so only about 5 months ago. Dug had a digital camera already, but it was older and very large compared to most. We decided it would be nice to have a small point-and-shoot for our trip. Dug researched quite a bit and ended up having to order it from Amazon, as he couldn’t find what he wanted in stores. It was a (pretty) blue Panasonic Lumix DMC-FS15. Took really good pictures.

Well, it turns out that fireworks picture was its last. The camera continuously gave error messages and the lens wouldn’t stay open (and later, wouldn’t close). Dug read up on trouble-shooting (that iPhone comes in handy!) and even tried using the hair dryer to get any loose grains of sand out. Nothing worked. We were hopeful when we got a different error message sometimes, but the camera was done.

Dug was quite devastated, as this was the first day of our trip and he loves to take pictures. After sulking in our room for awhile, I suggested that we make ourselves feel slightly better by heading over to the Magic Kingdom. It was open until 11pm that night, so we still had some time. I think it was maybe 9:15pm or so by then. Dug agreed, so we headed out. We figured, since it was just for a short time, we wouldn’t bring our park backpack. I brought my video camera, though. And we wore our fleeces. Although it had been a pretty nice day :sunny: (probably around 70 degrees), the evening was chilly.

We hopped on the monorail at the Poly. While we were waiting for it, I mentioned to Dug that with the way our luck was going, it would probably be Monorail Red. I don’t know if anyone else read that recent mini-trip-report on here about Monorail Red being stuck for 3 hours late at night and it was crowded and people were not allowed to get off or even open a window?? :eek: I figured if we got Monorail Red it would freak me out a little bit. But, we got a different one and were off to the MK. I must say again, we loved the ease of transportation from the Poly!

In a few minutes, we were strolling into the MK. Didn’t even need to go through bag check, since we didn’t bring one. It was starting to sprinkle just a bit.

We headed over to the camera shop on Main Street to see what kind of options they had. All they had was a small selection of Kodak cameras. Dug took note of their model numbers and pricing and we headed off.

I had magical memories from last trip of riding the TTA at night (it had just re-opened from refurbishment during our September 2009 trip), so we headed over there first. The view of Tomorrowland all lit up is so pretty. Plus, Space Mountain had been closed for refurb during our prior trip, so I thought it would be fun to ride the TTA through it now that it’s running again. We figured our late arrival wouldn’t allow us to actually ride Space Mountain (no fast passes at 9:30pm), but this would be a good way to get a glimpse of it. Plus, it would keep us out of the sprinkling rain.

Naturally, there was no line for the TTA. I love how relaxing that ride can be. I always sit facing forward, then put my feet up on the seat across from us. It’s comfy! I noticed this trip that the TTA went a lot faster than I remember it. I know back when we rode it as the PeopleMover in 1990 it was slow. But, I think last September it was almost that slow still. Maybe they worked out some of the kinks, cause we were whipping around that track pretty good. I videotaped the whole ride, as I figured I might want to re-live it later. No good stills from that video, though.

Once we were coming back to the station, I decided I wanted to ride again. I didn’t get to fully experience it with the camera, so I wanted to just ride. We asked to stay on and they let us. Another lap! It was cool to see Space Mountain in action again. Made me want to go on it. If you happened to peruse my 1990 “trip report”, you will know that I went on this a lot of times as a 13-year-old. In fact, once on that trip, I actually went 6 times in a row (almost no line, so we’d get off, run through the queue, and get back on again). I really was excited to ride it again sometime on this trip. But, for now, the TTA at night was providing some much-needed Disney magic for me.

Well, by the time we finished this lap, it was really pouring down rain hard. And, of course, it was the one and only time we attempted a park with no bag, therefore, no umbrellas or ponchos. It was just that kind of night, wasn’t it? Luckily, I was able to keep my camcorder dry in the interior pocket of my fleece. And Dug was smart enough to have us walk under the TTA track as much of the way as we could to Buzz Lightyear.

As far as Buzz Lightyear, I must say that we are not good at it. I, in fact, am pathetic at it. We are much bigger fans of Toy Story Mania. The problem I’ve had in Buzz is trying to locate my red dot. Never can seem to find and/or control the thing. But, there was no wait and it was raining, so Buzz it was!

We walked through the queue and got right on. I did my normal horrible-playing until close to the end. All of a sudden, for reasons unknown to me, I could clearly see my red dot and control it. pixiedust: So, I hit a whole bunch of targets a whole bunch of times! I’m trying to remember the score. I want to say I jumped from almost nothing to, maybe, 165,000???

Now I was excited. I had a breakthrough! Maybe I could finally be good at Buzz Lightyear! When we came to the exit, there was absolutely nobody waiting, so I asked it we could stay on. Nope. They were not as friendly here as on the TTA. So, we got off. We considered going through the queue and riding again, but Dug had other plans. By the way, you’ll see more Disney Magic (not for me) on this game later in our trip report. I’m still puzzling over the upcoming one…:confused3

By the time we got off Buzz, it was getting close to the 11pm park closing time. Dug's idea was to venture (yes, still in the pouring rain) over to Space Mountain. Just out of curiousity as to what the wait time might be. Again, we took as much shelter under the TTA track as possible on the way.

The posted wait time was 70 minutes. I had heard that sometimes, right before park close, rides will post longer wait times than they really have, so as to discourage more people from getting in line at the last minute. I wondered if that might be going on here. I asked the cast member at the entrance to the queue, “Is the wait time really 70 minutes?” She said, “It’s actually closer to an hour right now.” Dug and I figured, what the heck, what else are we going to do in the next hour? Wait in a crowd and the rain for transportation at park close? So, we jumped in line.

And walked. And walked. What a long queue! Walked some more. Came across the new games that were installed for people to play while waiting in line. Walked past them. We were starting to feel pretty hopeful, as we were walking past the games. This couldn’t be an hour line! Kept walking. Walked past the splitting point between the two coaster lines. Went left. Finally found the end of the line. Turns out that the 70 minutes was actually 17 minutes total until we were in our rocketships. What a great ride! Loved it! What a great way to end the evening at the MK!

Well, when we got off, it was still a few minutes before 11pm. We thought maybe we could get back in line before 11 and go again. Unfortunately, the exit corridor is so ridiculously long (and single file) that by the time we got out it was a minute or two late and the line was closed. Bummer! Guess we’ll have to ride the other side later.

It was still pouring down rain outside. We managed to make our way over to Main Street (via the Tomorrowland-Main Street shortcut) and walk through the connecting shops to get to the entrance. I think we kind-of browsed in the shops while we were cutting through. We’re not big shoppers, though, so didn’t get anything.

Sprinted through the non-covered area to get to the monorail station without drenching my video camera that was still in my (non-waterproof) jacket pocket. Ironically, guess which monorail pulls up for us? Monorail Red. Just our luck, I figured. I got on, ready for the next dose of bad luck for the evening. But the ride was uneventful! We got off at the Poly. Headed over to Captain Cook’s to pick up a carton of milk so I could eat cereal for breakfast the next morning. I brought my own cereal, since I was excited we’d have fridges for milk everywhere we were staying.

Got back to the room, stored the milk, and watched some SNL. To be honest, I have zero memory of watching SNL, but my notes say we did, so we must have! Checked the camera, in case some Disney Magic had gotten to it. It still was broken. Then, we passed out in the comfy (and bed-bug inspected) Poly beds. We were exhausted. Dug wore a pedometer and we clocked 24,000 steps that day!

Next up: From the Poly to the Wilderness Lodge

Also, what will we do about the camera? Will we have time to swim at the Volcano Pool? What will happen to Dug’s shaggy uncut hair? Do Figaro Fries actually exist? All this and more, coming up!

[cmp1111]

Very nice night, despite the rain and camera. I hope something worked out - that's such a bummer. We have a larger Canon that doesn't like damp at all - it's always fine once it dries out, but the lens goes crazy, not just if it gets wet, but if it's humid, which is a pain. :mad:

Can't wait to hear the next answers! :thumbsup2

[cinderella crazy]

:welcome: Thanks for reading. You're staying at the Poly on your trip? Lucky! We only got one night there, due to "fun with availability", but it was great! We totally agreed that our favorite place we stayed was the Poly. If it wasn't so darn pricey, we'd stay there all the time. We are tentatively planning to stay there in early December, though. 40% off helps. :)

Yes, we'll be staying at the Poly. So excited! :woohoo: We'll be gong for our 10 year anniversary. I'd love to stay there every time we go as well, but there is that little issue about price. But since it's for our anniversary, we decided it was worth the cost. I'm just ready to eat some Tonga Toast (it's my favorite!).

[Mndisneygirl]

Hi neighbor! Just popped in to say I'm reading along!
So sorry about the camera!

[Goofy442]

:surfweb: All caught up and jumping on board. Great TR love all the details. I should be packing and doing laundry :laundy: or finishing my work before we leave on our trip to Beach Club Villas but having more fun reading. My DS will not leave our Daisy at home so she comes with us and stays in a kennel in WDW.

[Dugette]

Very nice night, despite the rain and camera. I hope something worked out - that's such a bummer. We have a larger Canon that doesn't like damp at all - it's always fine once it dries out, but the lens goes crazy, not just if it gets wet, but if it's humid, which is a pain. :mad:

Can't wait to hear the next answers! :thumbsup2

Aren't cameras fun? Can't believe this happened on the first night of our trip! Forgot to mention in the report, but that incident is why the cool beach/castle picture we saw in the Poly gift shop earlier took on an ironic new meaning.

Yes, we'll be staying at the Poly. So excited! :woohoo: We'll be gong for our 10 year anniversary. I'd love to stay there every time we go as well, but there is that little issue about price. But since it's for our anniversary, we decided it was worth the cost. I'm just ready to eat some Tonga Toast (it's my favorite!).

Enjoy the Poly! And Happy Anniversary! Not to spoil anything, but there will be a picture of Tonga Toast (from Captain Cook's) in the next update. And, later, there will be a picture of some at Kona Cafe too.

Hi neighbor! Just popped in to say I'm reading along!
So sorry about the camera!

Thanks for coming over! Good to see you here, neighbor!

:surfweb: All caught up and jumping on board. Great TR love all the details. I should be packing and doing laundry :laundy: or finishing my work before we leave on our trip to Beach Club Villas but having more fun reading. My DS will not leave our Daisy at home so she comes with us and stays in a kennel in WDW.

Thanks! We're pretty detailed people. I was writing some of this and thinking, "Do people really want to know this?" But, I figured, I would, so why not?

You're leaving for the Beach Club soon, huh? Very cool! We have a reservation at BCV for Food & Wine in November (bounceback-45% off). Really looking forward to it. We wandered through on this trip.

Trip reports are addicting, aren't they? Don't forget to pack!

Wow, you bring your dog? Do you drive or fly? I actually found myself wishing our dog was one of those little ones that you can carry on a plane with you, just so we could bring her and kennel her at Disney. It would save on the "burdening" of the relatives who agree to watch her. You have an adorable dog, by the way!

[E-Stop]

I made an ADR for Kona Cafe based solely on that one picture of the Pan Asian Noodle platter. Wow, that looks good!!!

[Dugette]

I made an ADR for Kona Cafe based solely on that one picture of the Pan Asian Noodle platter. Wow, that looks good!!!

Cool, I'm sure you will enjoy Kona! :thumbsup2 We had 3 meals there this trip (breakfast, lunch, dinner) and they were all excellent. I think they only have the Pan Asian Noodles at dinner, though. It's also just a nice environment to have a meal in...and not overly crowded. Enjoy!

[disneyaddicted]

Hi my name is Ty, I am totally hooked on your TR. My Dh and I are taking our first couples only vacation to Disney this September and I hope to take it easy and have a relaxing stay.

That's awful that Dug was diagnosed with emptigo hours before the trip but I guess it was better to learn before you go and have some kind of fix for it, but it still is sad that it happened at all.

I love the pictures you took of the Poly, they are gorgeous. The food sounds delicious and I love the idea of watching wishes from the beach. I sure hope you were able to remedy the camera situation.

I have heard the same thing about Disney postin glong wait times to deter people from gettin gin line right before closing, I have never tried to see if it was true, but hey thanks to you I will try that on my next trip.

I can't wait to read more, I hope another installment is up soon, looks like I am snowed in for a few days now and reading your TR would just be awesome.

[Goofy442]

Yes we do drive because my DS will not leave her behind and we are okay with this. She came with us when she was eight months old and stayed at AK kennels which worked out well for us because we were at AKV. They have a fenced in area for your dog to run in and it was right by where the characters came out. They would stop and play with her which was very funny.

[Dugette]

Hi my name is Ty, I am totally hooked on your TR. My Dh and I are taking our first couples only vacation to Disney this September and I hope to take it easy and have a relaxing stay.Very cool, I hope you have a great time! Our previous trip was in September and it was a great time to be there. Super-low crowds, but with summer-like weather.
I have heard the same thing about Disney postin glong wait times to deter people from gettin gin line right before closing, I have never tried to see if it was true, but hey thanks to you I will try that on my next trip.Yeah, it can't hurt to test this out. The 70=17 on Space was awesome. I can't recall details right now, but I think we took this gamble on another ride later in the trip and the line was approximately the length they showed it to be. So, you never know, but can't hurt to try...you can always get out of line if it's bad.
I can't wait to read more, I hope another installment is up soon, looks like I am snowed in for a few days now and reading your TR would just be awesome.
Thanks! I hope another installment will be coming soon. I don't have as much free time during the week to write. However, Dug has a meeting this evening, so that should give me some time to work on this while he's out. No promises, but I hope to get another update up tonight so you have something to do during your snowstorm :)

Yes we do drive because my DS will not leave her behind and we are okay with this. She came with us when she was eight months old and stayed at AK kennels which worked out well for us because we were at AKV. They have a fenced in area for your dog to run in and it was right by where the characters came out. They would stop and play with her which was very funny.
How cool is that: your doggy got a Disney vacation too! Complete with character interaction! For some reason, this has me daydreaming about how cool (yet completely crazy) it would be if Disney ever had a bring-your-pet-to-the-parks day! I can just picture Bailey sitting in the boat with us at Pirates of the Caribbean, enjoying the scenery and barking at the dog/cat/pig audio-animatronics!

[Dugette]

I just remembered we took this picture at Where's the Fire in Innoventions that day. It was emailed to us (once we enhanced it on their computers).

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%201/WheresTheFire.jpg

Another update is nearing completion. I'll get it posted soon!

[Dugette]

Well, after the late night we’d just had, we decided to sleep in this morning. After all, this weekend was supposed to be the most relaxing part of our trip. Dug got up first and headed down to the Great Ceremonial House. He wanted to pick up some souvenirs that we’d seen in the Boutiki the day before. He got a Disney glass for his mom (she’s a comical drinker, for instance, she once opened a wine cooler and said, “I think I’ll take this with me to bed” and headed off :drinking1 …we like to give her a hard time about this). He got a package of tropical-flavored Disney taffy for his co-workers. And, of course, how could he resist picking up some breakfast for himself while he was out? So, he swung by Captain Cook’s and came home with this:

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%202/tongatoast.jpg

Yes, the bargain version of Tonga Toast!

I was very excited about my breakfast too. Somehow, I’ve developed a constant craving for peanut butter/chocolate flavored things (foreshadowing a No Way Jose perhaps?) So, naturally, Reese’s Puffs are the perfect breakfast! ;) I brought an entire bag with me and planned to eat them every day of the trip. So, here’s my yummy breakfast:

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%202/ReesesPuffs.jpg

As we ate, we turned on Disney TV and watched Stacy :happytv::

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%202/Stacy.jpg

Apparently we didn’t do a great job getting photos or video of our room at the Poly. All I can pull from video that’s not a blur of camera motion is this bed:

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%202/PolyBed.jpg

Dug did get a few shots of our patio view, though:

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%202/patio1.jpg
http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%202/patio2.jpg
http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%202/patio3.jpg

Since we had slept in, we were running a little later than we’d hoped. Check-out was at 11am, not leaving enough time to take a dip in the Volcano Pool. So, Dug decided to see how the Poly is about late check-outs. Turns out they’re very agreeable! We got our check-out time pushed back to 1pm, no charge! :yay:

We weren’t sure if impetigo and swimming were an okay combination, but we figured Dug would just try to keep his face out of the water. And hopefully the chlorine wouldn’t irritate his face. For the record, it was still in pretty much the same condition he described: alternately scabby and damp. Not fun. :sad2: We needed some fun!

So, we got in our swimsuits and headed down to the Volcano Pool. It was a bit chilly out (maybe 70 degrees at most) and quite windy. However, the pool is heated (but I was still chilly, even in the water). There were not many people there at all. We wanted to try out the waterslide right away, so we headed up the stairs. A whole bunch of kids ran past us. I thought, “Wow, those kids are really excited to go down this waterslide again!” We got to the top and went down. It was pretty fun…a more substantial slide than I expected. It curves through the fake volcano a few times before you splash into the pool.

Well, we wanted to do it again, so we got out and headed to the stairs. Now I understood why the kids were running: they were freezing! Once you’ve gotten that wet, and you get out into that wind, yikes! We did the waterslide a couple more times, glided around in the pool, and sat in front of the pool jets a bit (our makeshift hot tub). Made Disney plans while sitting there. It was nice. Especially since you could see the castle from there. :cloud9: This is approximately the view we had:

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%202/volcanoview.jpg

After a bit, it was time to get out, as we had a Magic Kingdom day ahead of us. And it was pretty cold. Headed back to our room, wrapped up in towels for warmth.

Back in the room, we needed to take care of some more camera business. Dug called Panasonic just to see if there was any chance of the camera being covered under warranty, since it was so new. Turns out, until you send it in, you really can’t know. Although, if they determined that they won’t fix it under warranty, they do allow you to buy a new one at a discount. Good to know, but that wasn’t going to help on this trip. We had considered the Kodaks we saw on Main Street, but they were probably marked up quite a bit (it was Disney). And we hadn’t researched enough to know if we’d be happy with one of them.

Our other option: we found the same Panasonic Lumix on Amazon again (only cheaper than 5 months ago :cool1:). Plus, overnight shipping was only $17 (not bad for overnight). Plus, we already had all the accessories (case & extra battery) that we would need for this camera. The only catch was that today was Sunday and Monday was MLK Day, so it probably wouldn’t ship until Tuesday. So, we’d have to keep making due with the video camera and the iPhone for the next few days. All things considered, this option made the most sense.

Before ordering it, Dug called up Port Orleans Riverside to find out where we should have it shipped to. The woman there who helped us was super nice and helpful. And she empathized with the situation. I was impressed with the quality of customer service we were getting from Port Orleans before we even arrived! :thumbsup2

After that call, Dug got the camera ordered and set up to ship to Port Orleans (and we’d pick up at the front desk there). I’m not sure when we found this out, but a good surprise was that it did ship Monday, even with the holiday. Of course, we would be out all day Tuesday (4 parks in one day attempt! :rolleyes1), so we wouldn’t be able to pick it up until late night Tuesday.

That completed, it was time to head out for the day. I believe it was around noon-12:30 by then. We called bell services to come pick up our luggage so it could be transferred to the Wilderness Lodge. Sat out on the patio and enjoyed it while we waited. A few minutes later, someone showed up to collect our bags. And we were off!

Snapped this iPhone photo of the Hidden Mickey carpet in the hallway of Tokelau:

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%202/hiddenmickeycarpet.jpg

Now here’s where it gets tricky. My notes say we took the monorail to the MK, but I see a picture that seems to indicate we were on a boat. :confused: So, we took some form of cool transportation to the MK! Once we passed bag check and entered, we had some important business to take care of:

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%202/barbershop.jpg

Yes, Dug finally got his much-needed haircut. They’re pretty reasonably priced and there was no wait. While he was in there, I made a Peter Pan Fast Pass run. It’s quite a hike down Main Street, through Fantasyland, and back (at a brisk pace)! There was a show going on in front of the castle, so I went to the left to go around. I noticed that the moat was nearly dry and Cinderella was apparently having some work done on her castle with a large crane. Found my way right to Peter Pan, procured the Fast Passes (for 4:10pm or so, I think), and made my way back to the barbershop. Dug was just walking out. Here’s a random shot where you can see his new haircut:

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%202/NewHaircut.jpg

He asked for no pixie dust pixiedust: or colored hair gel, but they do offer to add it for free!

We headed down Main Street and watched a few minutes of these guys performing:

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%202/mainstband.jpg

We were heading to Fantasyland, as it was lunchtime and we wanted to try these legendary “Figaro Fries” we’d heard about on WDW Today Podcasts and on the Dis. On the way past the castle, I met this friendly bird. He actually came closer when I held my hand out:

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%202/Birdie.jpg

Behind him was the castle. If you ever wanted to see the net of lights close-up, here’s a zoom:

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%202/CastleLights.jpg

Continued in next post...

[Dugette]

We walked around and here’s the crane I spoke of:

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%202/castleandcrane.jpg
http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%202/craneandcastle.jpg

These women were entering Cinderella Castle through the upper level :ssst::

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%202/CastleBack.jpg

And we checked out the Cinderella Fountain. This is how it looks at the wrong angle:

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%202/CinderellaBefore.jpg

This is how it looks when you’ve read the “Hidden Magic” book. See the crown sitting on top of her head?:

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%202/cinderellacrowned.jpg

We arrived at Pinocchio Village Haus. Looked at the menu. Did not see any mention of the famed Figaro Fries. Asked the order-taker about them. Turns out that both the Figaro Fries and the Cannoli were taken off the menu about a year and a half ago! :sad1: How did we miss this? Apparently, we are not the first to have asked about this. I think she was wishing they still had them too. Disney disappointment! Nothing else on the menu compelled us to stay, so we just left in search of better eating.

On the way out of Fantasyland, I noticed a large tour group lining up for It’s a Small World. My widescreen video was not wide enough to capture how far this line went:

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%202/TourGroupLine.jpg

Good thing we were taking it easy and not trying to ride too much today! It was crowded!

What’s a couple to do when they’re hungry in the Magic Kingdom?
Head to Pecos Bill’s, of course!

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%202/pecosbill.jpg

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%202/PecosMenu.jpg

Apparently we forgot to take a picture of this one, but we made our own “Figaro Fries”. :idea: Ordered some Chili Cheese Fries and loaded stuff on from the fixins bar. It was a decent substitute!

After that lunch/snack thing, we headed to the nearby Pirates of the Caribbean. There was a line, but not terrible… maybe 10-15 minutes or so? Here’s the cannon the pirates use to shoot at people loading into the boats, I guess :laughing::

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%202/PirateCannon.jpg

I actually took video of most of this ride (we were in the front row, so seemed a good opportunity). We were disappointed that the mist waterfall with Davy Jones wasn’t going (it wasn’t the whole trip). I love that this dog sings along with the Pirates:

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%202/SingingDogBetter.jpg

The pirate on the bridge:

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%202/PirateonBridge.jpg

Next, we took the train from Frontierland over to Toontown. Saw the mining village from Big Thunder on the way:

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%202/MiningTown.jpg

Scenery along the way:

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%202/Train1.jpg
http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%202/Train2.jpg
http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%202/Train3.jpg

We stopped by the Barnstormer. Not to ride, but to check out the chickens. We’d read that the chickens react when the train goes by and that it was worth seeing. It was okay. We couldn’t see all that much. I think they just squeal as it goes by.

Want to know how the impetigo was doing? :eek: Here’s a still I grabbed from my footage of us walking into Tomorrowland:

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%202/ImpetigoUpdate.jpg

We grabbed some fast passes for Space Mountain for later, then headed over to the TTA.

On the way, we saw the best gift shop roof ever:

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%202/TheClaw.jpg

I love these little guys! Every time we walked by them, I had Dug do his impression of, “Ohhhhhhhhhh…the claw……” So funny! :rotfl2: I saw a talking/dancing stuffed animal of the little aliens in several gift shops, but they only had one thing they said, so I didn’t get one. If they had several sayings, I’d love that!

Rode the TTA and enjoyed. On a side note, when we rode the TTA at night, we could actually see the track for Space Mountain. During the day, we couldn’t. Maybe our eyes were just better adjusted to the dark at night.

After that, we decided we didn’t have time to stick around to use our Peter Pan Fast Passes. We decided to save them for that night. We had to get to the Wilderness Lodge, check in, and head over to Fort Wilderness for dinner at Trail’s End. Which Dug kept accidentally calling Happy Trails.

On our way out, we saw this dragon (and you can clearly see the dried up moat):

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%202/dragon.jpg

We wanted to take the boat over. Went down to the boat dock and found a cast member stationed there, specifically to explain to people that the boats were not running, due to the high winds. So, we headed over to the bus stops and got on a bus to Wilderness Lodge.

Soon, we arrived at Wilderness Lodge, our home for the next 24 hours!

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%202/wildernesslodgeexterior.jpg

Up next: Wilderness Lodge exploration and a trek to Trail’s End

[cmp1111]

Glad you found a solution for the camera! Sorry about the fries... I didn't know they were gone, either.

[my2disneyboys]

I'm in! I have enjoyed reading so far and can't wait to hear more. We just got back too!! We stayed at the Poly and our next trip is booked for WL so I am really excited to hear how you liked it!! I love all the pictures! What a shame about the video camera!!!

[donnajean17]

Can't wait to hear more!

[Goofy442]

You two are braver than us three hotels in one stay:scared1:. My DH says where ever we are we stay for the week. He will not change hotels while we are on vacation.

[Dugette]

Glad you found a solution for the camera! Sorry about the fries... I didn't know they were gone, either.

Yeah, from how popular they seemed to be, it seems very strange that they took the fries (and the cannoli) off the menu. And a year and a half ago...you'd think I'd have heard about that!

I'm in! I have enjoyed reading so far and can't wait to hear more. We just got back too!! We stayed at the Poly and our next trip is booked for WL so I am really excited to hear how you liked it!! I love all the pictures! What a shame about the video camera!!!

Welcome back! I just checked out your TR and I'll comment over there. I feel like we didn't get to spend as much time just enjoying the WL as we did with the Poly, but I'll post what we have soon. We definitely liked it!

Just to clarify, the video camera was fine, it was the regular camera that bit the dust (sand). All the pics from the next few days are either still frames from video or photos taken on an iPhone.

Can't wait to hear more!

Thanks! Hope to get another update up in the next day or two!

You two are braver than us three hotels in one stay:scared1:. My DH says where ever we are we stay for the week. He will not change hotels while we are on vacation.

You know, we were a bit apprehensive about the 3 changes in 3 days thing, but it all went seamlessly. I think the reasons it worked for us were:
1.) We were taking it easier those days, so taking the time to make resort changes didn't hurt any commando-style park touring plans we might have had otherwise.
2.) We had such short stays that it was easy to live out of a suitcase at the Poly and WL. No real desire to unpack for 1 night.
3.) It was kind-of nice to get golf-cart rides to rooms with our luggage! We did spend more money tipping because of all this, but it was a nice treat to experience all the different places.

Love your avatar picture, by the way! The blue icicle castle is so pretty!

[my2disneyboys]

oh I misunderstood!! I bet you were so glad to have the iphone with you huh??

[Dugette]

oh I misunderstood!! I bet you were so glad to have the iphone with you huh??

Yes, I actually found it kind-of amusing that, with the state of technology these days, we had three spare cameras: the video, the iPhone, and my (junky) cell phone. But nothing was as good as the real camera...and Dug loves to take pictures, so new one it was!

[disneyaddicted]

That was a smart solution to the camera.

I have always wanted to stay at Wilderness lodge, the closest I ever got to it was dinner at Whipsering Canyon Cafe, I always have to choose betwen staying a longer time at a Value resort or a short time at a Deluxe. I always choose more bang for my buck, but one of these days.........
anyway so I love reading TR's that have other resorts in them, I can kind of live vicariously through that.

I love Pecos Bill, it's always on my list. I've never had the chilli cheese fries they've never appealed to me, but I also never thought of adding onto them at the fixins bar, smart, smart, smart.

[Dugette]

That was a smart solution to the camera.

I have always wanted to stay at Wilderness lodge, the closest I ever got to it was dinner at Whipsering Canyon Cafe, I always have to choose betwen staying a longer time at a Value resort or a short time at a Deluxe. I always choose more bang for my buck, but one of these days.........
anyway so I love reading TR's that have other resorts in them, I can kind of live vicariously through that.

I love Pecos Bill, it's always on my list. I've never had the chilli cheese fries they've never appealed to me, but I also never thought of adding onto them at the fixins bar, smart, smart, smart.

Thanks! You know, the other thing with the camera decision was that we figured IF the broken one ended up getting replaced for free (we don't know yet), we'd each have a camera, so that would be nice :)

I totally understand the Value vs. Deluxe choice you mention! We are not "deluxe" people usually. When we travel, we stay in Super 8's. Our last Disney trip we stayed at Pop Century and loved it (first time I'd stayed on property too). The places we stayed this time really came about through a combination of PIN code discounts (40% on deluxe) and lack of availability (since we booked only a month out). Of course, for trips later this year, we've booked moderate and deluxe again, due to 30-45% off bounce-back offers. :cool1:

We love Pecos Bill too! I even used to love it as a kid. We had never tried the chili cheese fries, but we were thinking fries after our adventure. They were pretty good. Not a real big serving when splitting them, though.

[Sunset Cliffs]

THanks for clearing up the Figaro Fries thing. I have heard about them on this site too, but we ate there a couple of times on our trip last June and I did not see them on the menu. I was disappointed too, but I figured it was one of those "special" things that you had to ask for and we forgot. I'm glad you mentioned they were gone, because I've been feeling like we missed out on something.

What a bummer about the camera. I'm glad you came out w/ a great solution to buy another one. I never would have thought to go on Amazon and have them overnight it. It sounds like you didn't let it ruin your day though. And I'm glad you got to see the fireworks from the Poly beach. That is still one of my favorite experiences from our last trip.

LOL about your cereal. We have that same cereal in our pantry and I LOVE it.

[Dugette]

THanks for clearing up the Figaro Fries thing. I have heard about them on this site too, but we ate there a couple of times on our trip last June and I did not see them on the menu. I was disappointed too, but I figured it was one of those "special" things that you had to ask for and we forgot. I'm glad you mentioned they were gone, because I've been feeling like we missed out on something.

What a bummer about the camera. I'm glad you came out w/ a great solution to buy another one. I never would have thought to go on Amazon and have them overnight it. It sounds like you didn't let it ruin your day though. And I'm glad you got to see the fireworks from the Poly beach. That is still one of my favorite experiences from our last trip.

LOL about your cereal. We have that same cereal in our pantry and I LOVE it.

I thought the same thing about the Figaro Fries when I didn't see them on the menu. Figured we'd just ask for them and they'd make them up. Didn't expect to hear they'd been extinct for awhile! :confused3

Yes, the fireworks on the beach were cool. I think this experience will always be a little bit marred by the camera incident, though. Dug commented that they were the most expensive fireworks ever! But it was really relaxing to be out there on the quiet beach watching them.

You have good taste in cereal! :thumbsup2 I actually ran out of it yesterday, so I'll need to go to the store soon to replenish my supply! :)

[Dugette]

One thing I forgot to mention about our MK afternoon: our MN Vikings were playing the Cowboys in the playoffs. We had considered watching it, but only if it was convenient. As we got to the MK so late, though, we decided not to watch. We just checked the score occasionally with the iPhone. Vikings won! :cheer2: The other cool thing about this was that we saw LOTS of other Minnesotans in the MK that day. It was easy to identify them with purple Vikings gear on! Shocking, I know, that there would be lots of Minnesotans in Florida in January! :lmao: One funny moment was in line for POTC. A guy wearing a Favre jersey and his young son were walking backwards through the line to leave. As he walked by, he commented, “I’m like Favre, I just couldn’t make up my mind whether or not to do it!”

But back to the Wilderness Lodge! We got off the bus, walked up to the entrance, and took in the sights. Very nice. Went up to the desk for our online check-in. I think there was just a very brief wait. While we were checking in, Dug was asking about the route to walk over to Fort Wilderness for dinner (at “Happy Trails”…yes, he said it again and we had a good laugh). The front desk cast member seemed shocked that anyone could possibly want to walk to Fort Wilderness. But she gave us a map anyway.

Our room was ready, so we went over to the Bell Services stand and had them bring out our luggage. It had successfully transferred over from the Poly! We took it and headed to our conveniently located room. I should mention, we had a “woods-view bunk-bed” room. Not that we had a preference for that (although I know many people with kids do), but it was all that was available when we booked this trip. Our room was on the same level as the lobby. Over near the gift shop, across the main hall, there is a small hallway with guest rooms. We were a little ways down that hall, in room 2112. The room was nice. I apologize in advance for the quality of the pictures (especially the blurry ones from the video camera), but we took a lot, so here they are.

Our Mickey:

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%202/wlmickey.jpg

Main Bed:

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%202/wlbed.jpg

Upper Bunk:

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%202/wlupperbunk.jpg

Lower Bunk:

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%202/wllowerbunk.jpg

Boy, were we happy to see these! As much as we liked the Poly, one of the few flaws was only 1 sink. At home, we have double sinks, but we seldom are using them at the same time, so it’s not that big of a deal. On vacation, we almost always were getting ready at the same time, so the double sinks were really helpful!

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%202/wlsinks.jpg

The headboard of the bed was so impressive:

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%202/wlheadboard.jpg

And the bedposts (I think the other one was a rabbit? I didn’t get a picture):

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%202/wlbedpost.jpg

Neat light fixture:

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%202/wllight.jpg

The fridge for my future milk. I like the handles on the drawers:

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%202/wlfridge.jpg

View from the patio—right, straight ahead, and left:

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%202/wlpatioright.jpg

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%202/wlpatiocenterfixed.jpg

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%202/wlpatioleft.jpg

After checking out our room, we explored the lodge and the grounds a bit.

Lobby:

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%202/wllobbyv1.jpg

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%202/wllobbyv2.jpg

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%202/wlbridge.jpg

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%202/wlbubbles.jpg

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%202/wlpennies.jpg

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%202/wllobby1.jpg

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%202/wllobby2.jpg

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%202/wllobby3.jpg

Think this one was taken later that night:

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%202/wlwater.jpg

Front desk:

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%202/wlcheckin.jpg

Store:

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%202/wllobbyv3.jpg

Continued in next post...

[Dugette]

The grounds:

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%202/wlwaterfall.jpg

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%202/wlriver.jpg

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%202/wlpoolwlake.jpg

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%202/wlhotsprings.jpg

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%202/wlgeyser.jpg

Pool (we also checked out the one at WL Villas, but didn’t take pictures—it was really nice!):

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%202/wlduckstopool.jpg

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%202/wlwaterslide.jpg

Beach:

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%202/wlbeach.jpg

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%202/wlmoviebeach.jpg

One thing that I enjoyed was looking at all the (imagineered) animal footprints on the sidewalks around the resort. Thanks to some of the books we read before the trip, I was more aware of some of these little touches. (By the way, the ground at Animal Kingdom is worth paying attention to also, for the same reasons).

Our exploration led us to the beginning of the walking trail. There was a bike rental shop near there. Dug had left the map we just got in the room, so asked for another one there. They also thought we were crazy to walk to Fort Wilderness. The person there gave Dug advice on which way to go, but he didn’t think it made the most sense, so he used the map to take us a different way.

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%202/trailsbeginning.jpg

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%202/trailtowoods.jpg

Turns out that walking to Fort Wilderness was not bad at all. Maybe half an hour to 45 minutes, at a fairly leisurely pace. I mean, we’re at Disney—we’re used to walking! The view was great:

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%202/trailcontempview.jpg

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%202/trailprettysky.jpg

We saw wildlife:

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%202/traildeer.jpg

And, this was a surprise to us, there were Hidden Mickeys along the trail:

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%202/trailmickey1.jpg

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%202/trailmickey2.jpg

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%202/trailmickey4.jpg

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%202/trailmickey3.jpg

Then, we arrived at Fort Wilderness:

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%202/fortranch.jpg

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%202/forthorsies.jpg

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%202/fortponies.jpg

Finally, the thing we had worked up an appetite for today:

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%202/forttrailsend.jpg

Our ADR was for 5pm, but I think we were maybe 20 minutes late, due to our walk. It was no problem, though, and we were seated (right by the buffet) within a few minutes.

I guess we forgot to take any pictures of the inside or the food. Oops. But, it was a buffet of comfort foods, pretty much. We chose to eat here since we’d heard that it was a good value. Since we were still not on the DDP, seemed like a smart choice. We both had several plates from the buffet. Dug got Pomegranate Lemonade to drink. I was already getting sick of Sprite (Disney does not have a lot of variety for non-caffeine drinkers), so I was happy to find milk as a beverage choice. Harkening back to my childhood, where I always drank insane amounts of milk with meals, I had three pretty big glasses. :drinking1

My personal opinion was that this place was okay, but I probably wouldn’t go back again (unless I were staying at FW). The food wasn’t amazing, but wasn’t bad (except for one nasty rib I got). It wasn’t nearly as big of a buffet as Boma, Tusker House, Biergarten, etc. But I still stuffed myself silly. So much so, in fact, that I felt horribly sick to my stomach as we were leaving. I think 3 glasses of milk, along with a brownie sundae when I was already full, was overkill!

We remembered not to leave a second tip this time (unlike at Kona!), as we used our Tables in Wonderland discount again. It was kind of strange knowing that our server at a buffet (and not a particularly good server) would be getting an automatic 18% tip. I hobbled out, stomach aching, and we made our way to the boat back to WL. Ironically, we stopped at Roaring Fork when we got back and grabbed a carton of milk for my cereal in the morning. Once we got back to our room, it was naptime!!!

It was a great nap and I felt much better afterwards!

Before heading out to the Magic Kingdom for its late-night hours, we had one issue to take care of. If you read our PTR, you know that we were conflicted over our Teppan Edo reservation for the next day’s lunch. It was at 12:20pm and we wanted to use DDP dining credits on it. Which meant we would have to be checked in at Port Orleans before going there. Which just didn’t seem to be an efficient use of our time, especially now that we hadn’t had a chance to try out the hot tubs at WL yet! So, we took the advice of our loyal PTR reader Gellybean :wave: and moved our Teppan Edo ADR to 2pm.

That taken care of, it was time for the magic to engulf us! pixiedust:

Up next: When people ask us what our favorite part of the trip was, we tell them about this night at the Magic Kingdom!

[gellybean]

Glad you guys were able to move the ADR!!!! :goodvibes I personally, think that was a smart choice. And not just because I was the one that suggested it! :rotfl: Hope to hear that it worked out for the best for y'all!

Your pics of WL are making me check availablity for a 3 day weekend in April! :lmao:

Just twist my arm why doncha?!

IDK though. I'm holding out for a better deal than 30% off room only! :rolleyes1


Sorry all that milk made your tummy ache! Glad you guys rested up and relaxed before touring commando style! I'm so anxious to hear what the crowd levels were like the week AFTER MLK day!

Great update, guys!

[Dugette]

Glad you guys were able to move the ADR!!!! :goodvibes I personally, think that was a smart choice. And not just because I was the one that suggested it! :rotfl: Hope to hear that it worked out for the best for y'all!

Your pics of WL are making me check availablity for a 3 day weekend in April! :lmao:

Just twist my arm why doncha?!

IDK though. I'm holding out for a better deal than 30% off room only! :rolleyes1


Sorry all that milk made your tummy ache! Glad you guys rested up and relaxed before touring commando style! I'm so anxious to hear what the crowd levels were like the week AFTER MLK day!

Great update, guys!

The WL is pretty nice. We were lucky that we got 40% off both there and the Poly. The PIN code I had wasn't supposed to be effective those days, but it worked anyway! :cool1:

I'm anxious to hear how your experience MLK weekend was! And that's going to be way at the end of your TR! Oh, well, I'll have to wait...

Another update going up tonight on this, I think!

[Dugette]

We headed out to the Wilderness Lodge dock to take the boat to the Magic Kingdom. We were first in line. As we waited, we caught the end of the Electric Water Pageant:

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%202/mkwaterpageant.jpg

The boat came in and people got off. One person walked up to us on their way out and asked if we wanted Fast Passes for Space Mountain! Of course, we said yes. She gave us 3. So, here we were, headed to the Magic Kingdom with 7 Fast Passes on us: 2 for Peter Pan that we got earlier, 2 for Space Mountain that we got earlier, and now 3 more for Space Mountain! :cool1:

As a side note, at this point in the trip, we’d really ridden hardly anything. Here’s the whole list of the attractions we’d done in the last 2 days:
Spaceship Earth
Living With the Land
Innoventions West (5 exhibits)
Club Cool
TTA (3 times)
Buzz Lightyear
Space Mountain
Pirates of the Caribbean
The Train

That’s pretty crazy for two people who spent their last trip doing nearly all the rides in a park each day! But, Fast Passes in hand, and a 1am closing time (or so we thought!), we’d be making up ground this night. We didn’t plan to stay till close, but just figured we’d stay until we were tired. We had taken that nap, so we were feeling pretty good. It must have been close to 10pm by then.

Once we arrived at MK, we thought we’d take the train over to Frontierland. Went up on the platform and realized the train was closed. We tried out the little crank-machine movies on the platform, since we were there. Those were kind-of cool. One of those things we’d never noticed before.

We checked out a couple of stores on our way down Main Street. Went to the cinema store and apparel store. Dug wanted to check out the books in the cinema store, but couldn't find the one he wanted (turns out it's not published yet...the Imagineering Guide to DHS). Didn't get anything either place.

Then, we headed over to check if there were Fast Passes remaining for Big Thunder. No Fast Passes left!

So, we headed over to Peter Pan to redeem the Fast Passes that I’d gotten for us earlier that day. While we were in the brief Fast Pass line, we must have overheard someone say that the MK was open until 2am that night! Dug used his iPhone to check on this. They must have changed things up, because now the park was open until 2am and those last 3 hours were Extra Magic Hours! Hmmm, this could change our leaving-early plans…

Peter Pan was great as usual. It’s always been one of my favorite rides. When we got out, we headed across the street and rode It’s a Small World. I took a bunch of video. Here are a few still frames from it:

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%202/mksmallworld1.jpg

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%202/mksmallworld2.jpg

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%202/mksmallworld3.jpg

We caught the end of the clock being open:

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%202/mksmallworldclock.jpg

We saw the sword in the stone, so Dug made his unsuccessful attempt at it:

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%202/mksword.jpg

Next, we headed over to Mickey’s Philharmagic, as a show would be starting soon. I had really enjoyed this show last trip and wanted to do it again. And, again, it was a lot of fun. We remembered reading that somewhere you can find the front half of Donald (where he went through the wall), but we couldn’t remember where, so we checked out the nearby gift shop. Couldn’t find anything. Maybe next time. We’ll have to look it up, I guess.

Up next was Snow White. I videotaped the whole ride (I was apparently in quite a video mood this night). Video in the dark rides with the camera on night mode doesn’t turn out too easy to look at….lots of blurriness! So, no shots of that ride to share. By the way, the iPhone doesn’t have a flash, so most of the “photos” on this post are actually stills from my video, which is why the quality is not great.

After that, we saw that there wasn’t really a wait for Cinderella’s Carousel. We had not ridden this on either trip, so figured…why not? I had read that Cinderella’s horse could be identified by the gold ribbon tied around its tail. I figured I’d try to get that horse, just because. Unfortunately, a teenage boy was on it already. We found horses a couple rows behind.

Well, it turns out this teenage boy was part of a small group of unsupervised young mischievous teenagers. As the carousel started, he and his friends began climbing around from one horse to another (and yelling to each other about it). This is what I’m talking about:

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%202/mkcarouselcrazies.jpg

Dangerous? Yes. Terrible example for the little kids watching them? Yes. Too much of a distraction for us to enjoy the ride? Yes. Did they stop the ride or kick them off? No. The cast member running the ride clearly saw them, but did nothing. I thought for sure she’d stop the ride and ask them to leave. But, nothing.

We were kinda bummed about this ruining our ride experience. We were going to get off at the end of the ride, but Dug’s horse stopped in such a high position that we just decided it would be easier to stay on. And it would make up for the last ride. We stayed on for a second round. Much better ride this time! Of course, Dug’s horse stopped in the very top position again, but he managed to get down via my horse.

After we exited, we saw these guys signing autographs:

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%202/mkgoofyauto.jpg

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%202/mkchipdaleauto.jpg

We didn’t stop, but little did we know we’d see them again later…

Went over to Winnie the Pooh. On our last trip, we rode this ride ½ of a time! We had funny luck on our September trip. We did all these rope drops, but kept having the first ride break down on us! Pooh broke down, Mission Space broke down, Toy Story Mania broke down…but we did get a lot of cool “super fast passes” (as I called them) out of the deal. So, our last ride on Pooh ended about halfway through with sitting in our Hunny Pots for awhile, then being escorted out and sneaking photos of behind-the-scenes things. This is why we were riding it now…to finish it! And it worked and was fun!

We had no intention of riding the Mad Tea Party (hadn’t on our last trip either), but there was no line and Dug was intrigued. So, we hopped on. I am not great with spinning, so I was a little nervous. I found that I was fine spinning one direction, but got a headache the other direction. Strange. Anyway, it was mildly fun, I guess.

Then, we decided to do another thing that we didn’t intend to do (and hadn’t done before)—the Tomorrowland Speedway. Well, this is where we encountered another bunch of unsupervised mischievous young teenage boys! Where are their parents?!? There were two of these boys in the cars ahead of me and Dug was behind me. The driving started off okay. I had the petal to the metal and was driving smoothly. Then, I started to catch up with these boys. They were purposely driving as badly as they could. Not only slamming into each-other, but slamming their own cars side to side on the rails endlessly. Clearly they thought this was hilarious. I had to keep slamming on my breaks (and so did Dug behind me) to avoid hitting them when they hit each-other. It was such a terrible experience. And, unlike on a real road, you can’t just pass them. And there’s no one to pull them over. Once we finally made it back, the attendant opened the hoods of both of their cars and took them out of service. Dug and I had to get out of our cars on the track and walk up to the unloading platform.

Due to this bad magic, we needed a dose of good Disney magic. So, we went over to Space Mountain, our 5 Fast Passes in hand. Rode the right side this time (since we’d done the left side before) and enjoyed it. Went in with our next set of FP and rode again. I love that ride. We really had no use for the lone FP we still had, so decided to re-gift. Found a teenage girl sitting by herself outside the ride and asked if she wanted it. She did!

It was around 1am by this time. The park was not at all crowded. Which was cool, considering how crowded it had been that afternoon. And that it was the Sunday of MLK weekend. So, we decided to do yet another thing in that weren’t-going-to-do-it category. In fact, I don’t think I’d EVER done this one: Dumbo!

Well, apparently most people weren’t even aware that Dumbo was still open. The attendant was running the ride empty, probably to get attention:

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%202/mkdumboemptyride.jpg

We got in the queue…it was empty:

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%202/mkdumboemptyqueue.jpg

So, how do you recruit people to ride Dumbo at 1am? Have this guy hop in line:

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%202/mkgoofydumbo.jpg

Yep, Goofy himself queued up with us :goofy::

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%202/mkgoofyline.jpg

A few other people had ventured into the line by now, too. Goofy was kind enough to greet everyone. Dug got a handshake and I got a kiss. And, once enough people had gathered, it was time to get on Dumbo. Goofy ended up riding with a little maybe 6-year-old girl:

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%202/mkdumbo.jpg

I ended up a few Dumbos behind them, with Dug behind me. It was pretty cool riding Dumbo in an empty MK with Goofy!

After we exited the ride, I noticed Goofy strolling off hand-in-hand with the little girl, I think to the Carousel. What a magical night for that little girl!

A few minutes later, we spotted Goofy and Chip & Dale on the Carousel:

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%202/mkgoofycarousel.jpg

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%202/mkcarousel.jpg

And now Pluto was riding Dumbo:

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%202/mkplutodumbo.jpg

Since we love Peter Pan, we decided to get in another ride. According to my video narration while we were walking through the queue, it was 1:22am. If you’ve ever wondered what a true walk-on looks like (at a slightly crooked angle):

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%202/mkpeterpanqueue1.jpg

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%202/mkpeterpanqueue2.jpg

I took video of the whole ride again, but it’s too hard to see, like with Snow White. So, no stills of that. When we got to the end, seeing there was nobody in line, they asked if we wanted to go again. Normally, this would have been awesome, but we had other things to do..so we climbed out of our ship and moved on.

We headed over to the Haunted Mansion. Also a walk-on. Here’s the only semi-acceptable still I could pull out of the dark blur of my video on this (our ghost hitchhiker):

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%202/mkghosthitch.jpg

At this point, we figured it was likely we could get right on Big Thunder. So, we power-walked over and hopped on. What a great ride! This was my favorite as a kid! And it’s still pretty cool—especially at night!

It was only a few minutes until 2am now. We’d done my request (Big Thunder), so Dug wanted to get his request in too. He loves the Jungle Cruise, so we jogged over there, hoping to catch a boat. Well, we were just in time. And we were the only ones there. So, we got a Private 2am Jungle Cruise! How awesome! Our guide did a good job, which is impressive considering she had to do her spiel to a crowd of 2, both of which knew what was coming (for the most part). Here’s a glimpse of our private cruise:

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%202/mkprivatejunglecruise.jpg

Once we disembarked, the park was a ghost town. This is what it looked like near the castle:

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%202/mkempty2am.jpg

Just nobody! We enjoyed strolling out of our own personal Magic Kingdom!

Super Magical Night! pixiedust: No lines, character rides, private cruises, empty streets….hard to beat that!

We took the boat back to the Wilderness Lodge. There was a dad and his young son behind us on the boat. They were having a cute conversation and the boy was asking a lot of questions. When we got back to the WL dock, we heard them behind us. The son asked, as we were getting off the boat in front of them, "Why do some people get to go first?" The dad replied, "Just because that's the way it is." The son then asked, "Why are some kids so tired?" Then he loudly answered his own question: "Because they haven't had caffeine...like me!!" Dug couldn't help but laugh. The dad said something like, "Great, now they're going to report me to child services!" We told him it was okay. Just funny!

We went back to our room and hopped into bed, tired and happy. And, for the record, the pedometer said we clocked 21k steps that day.

Up next: What celebrity likeness do Dug’s infected lips have? And who’s the freak bringing a ½ gallon of milk to the Magic Kingdom?

[cmp1111]

I'm glad that the good magic outweighed the bad! Sounds like a fantastic night! :goodvibes

[Dugette]

I'm glad that the good magic outweighed the bad! Sounds like a fantastic night! :goodvibes

Thanks! Yes, it was a great night, despite the teenage boys! Wish every night in the MK was like that! pixiedust:

[praisehisname]

Joining in, and really enjoying it!

[Dugette]

We woke up this morning, after sleeping in a bit, at the Wilderness Lodge. We’d be moving to our week-long home today. But the resort-hopping :yay: was fun while it lasted!

Dug woke up with very swollen and very sore lips, surrounded by redness. His description of his condition, which was pretty accurate, was that he looked like “the love child of Angelina Jolie and the Joker.” :lmao: So, he headed over to the (very nearby!) Wilderness Mercantile to find some sort of remedy. The topical antibiotic he’d gotten by prescription clearly was not doing much for him. He came back with several new things to try: some kind of camphor product, regular Benadryl, topical Benadryl, and some sort of cortisone product. He used them all…crazy, but he was desperate for relief.

We had some breakfast. Dug had an oatmeal bar we’d brought from home. And I had another bowl of my beloved Reese’s Puffs :love: (with the small carton of milk we’d bought the night before).

We were up a little earlier this morning than we were at the Poly, so we had time to take a dip in the whirlpool before checking out. I thought the design of the WL whirlpools was pretty cool. They looked just like the little bubbling hot springs they had around the place. We had one of them to ourselves for a bit, then a little girl joined us. I don’t get how a kid can go for a swim, putting their head underwater, in water that hot! :confused3 But she did. Anyway, that dip in the whirlpool was a pleasant way to start the day.

After that relaxation, we headed back in and got ready for our day. Just like the morning before, we called Bell Services to come get our luggage and sat out on the patio while we waited. Once they collected our bags, we headed over to the store again. Dug had noticed that they carried half gallons of milk, instead of just the little cartons. Since we were staying in one location for the next week, it made more sense to get a big thing of milk. But, he figured we needed to get one now, since they probably only sold them here, due to the campground. Ironically, much later in our trip, I noticed that Port Orleans’ store had the same half gallons of milk! :headache:

So, we bought the milk at WL. The clerk asked if I wanted it in a bag. I think milk in a plastic bag is so much more awkward to carry than just holding the jug by the handle. So, I passed on the bag. This was my mistake. I didn’t think about the journey this milk needed to take with us. We couldn’t just hop in the car to get over to POR. We had to use Disney transportation!

So, we went to the boat launch and got on a boat to the Magic Kingdom. We’d take a bus from there to get to Port Orleans. Anytime Dug would get self-conscious about his Jolie-Joker lips, I would reassure him that, if anyone were looking at us, they were surely looking at ME, wondering why in the world I was bringing a half gallon of milk to the Magic Kingdom with me. I definitely felt the bigger freak! Luckily, this was Disney, so people had plenty of better things to look at, but I think I caught a couple of odd glances our way. They were probably seeing this: :crazy::crazy2: I mean, really, who lugs their own jug of milk to the MK?

Once we got off the boat at MK, we headed straight to the bus stops. Found POR bus. I believe it was just us and one other couple on it. It was awfully early to be heading home from the MK, after all. I really wanted to put the milk in the backpack, but there wasn’t room for a half gallon in there. So, I just held onto it, even though it was starting to get some condensation on it.

We arrived at POR and went to check in:

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%203/POR.jpg

I panicked, suddenly realizing we might not have a room ready yet! Then what would I do with the milk?? :scared: It was still just very early afternoon, so the likelihood of our room being ready was probably not very good. Why didn’t I think of this earlier?

Luckily, someone must have ordered us some extra Disney magic, as our room WAS ready! Yahoo!! :woohoo: We even got our room request for this building:

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%203/Parterre.jpg

We were room 9911 on the third floor. Corner room, King bed. We made the hike over to our room to store the milk. We didn’t take any pictures of the room until the end of our trip, and not many at that, but I’ll share them now:

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%203/PORChair.jpg

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%203/PORBorder.jpg

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%203/PORBench.jpg

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%203/PORPicture.jpg

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%203/PORSinks.jpg

We were very happy to see the double sinks! Here are some semi-hidden Mickeys (bedspread and coat rack):

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%203/PORMickeys.jpg

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%203/PORCoatrack.jpg

Here’s the one towel creature we received during our week-long stay:

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%203/PORTowelAnimal.jpg

In September, at Pop Century, we got a new one pretty much every day. Not here. Oh, well.

Once we’d checked the place out, it was time to head to the bus stop for Epcot. Here’s the view from just outside our room:

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%203/Roomview.jpg

Here’s some pretty pics of our walk:

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%203/Bridge.jpg

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%203/River.jpg

I really liked the river and pretty scenery at Port Orleans Riverside! This is where the title to this chapter comes from. I pulled those previous pictures off of my video and I noticed, on the video, I was talking to Dug and excitedly said something you can only say at Disney World: “We’re going from New Orleans to Japan…for lunch!”

Continued in next post.

[Dugette]

We made it to the bus stop by the main building, got on the Epcot bus, and disembarked in Epcot. First thing we did was check how far out the Test Track Fast Passes were for. I really wanted to go on Test Track, as I loved it last trip. They were for too late in the day, as we would be leaving Japan for Hollywood after lunch. Some other time, then.

We were both thirsty, so trekked over to Club Cool. Had some refreshing non-Beverly beverages :drinking1 , then headed out to walk around the world.

We actually took the long way around World Showcase to Japan, because my second-choice (since we couldn’t do Test Track) was to ride the Maelstrom. I think I get too excited about this ride because, as a kid, I’d really wanted to go on it (I’d seen pictures and video), but we never went to World Showcase! So, now I’m making up for lost time, I guess. We did ride it in September, so I had been on it before this trip.

So, on our walk, we passed Mexico:

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%203/mexico.jpg

Norway, where we grabbed the Maelstrom Fast Passes for after lunch:

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%203/Norway.jpg

China:

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%203/China.jpg

Germany, where we checked out the miniature train:

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%203/Germany.jpg

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%203/Tinytrain.jpg

Italy:

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%203/Italy.jpg

America:

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%203/America.jpg

And, finally, we arrived in Japan:

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%203/Japan.jpg

We waited for a little while, upon arriving for our 2pm ADR. Surprisingly crowded :crowded: at that time. We were seated with a couple other families. Took awhile for our chef to arrive. But she did. We got a female chef, which I thought was really cool! She was funny too. :laughing: Every time Dug tried to sneak a picture with his iPhone, she would whip around and pose for the picture:

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%203/teppanedochef1.jpg

Here’s the Hidden Mickey/Minnie she made for us:

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%203/teppanedomickey.jpg

The onion volcano:

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%203/teppanedovolcano.jpg

Cooking:

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%203/teppanedosaucefood.jpg

The white sauce in front she called the “yummy, yummy sauce”…and it was! Dug got the scallops:

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%203/teppanedoscallops.jpg

I got the filet mignon (woohoo for the dining plan getting me the most expensive thing on the menu! :banana: ):

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%203/teppanedofilet.jpg

I got a Sprite to drink and Dug got lemonade. Everything was very tasty and we enjoyed. The chef was also very fun and silly. I really enjoyed Teppan Edo and would go back. My only other experience with a Japanese steakhouse was a couple years ago. We went to Ichiban in Minneapolis for my dad’s birthday. Although it was similar to Teppan Edo, it was a very different experience. The chef did all kinds of crazy tricks—food was flying everywhere! Our mouths were hanging open watching him catch everything. And the food was amazing, possibly one of the best meals I’ve ever had (I had steak there too). So, in comparison, Teppan Edo was maybe a 4 if Ichiban was a 5. But, if I didn’t have anything to compare it to, I’d say it was a 5. Very good meal, especially a good value on the DDP.

For dessert, Dug got the Green Tea Pudding and I got the Chocolate Ginger Cake:

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%203/teppanedodesserts.jpg

I really liked the cake. I tried the pudding and didn’t particularly care for it.

After lunch, we strolled over to the Maelstrom to redeem our Fast Passes. It was fun and worth walking a little bit out of our way for.

Next, we walked over to the International Gateway to take the resort launch :boat: over to Hollywood Studios. The boat ride gave us a nice little tour of the Boardwalk, Beach/Yacht Club, Swan/Dolphin area. And then we arrived at Hollywood Studios:

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%203/DHSHat.jpg

Up next: What is there to do at DHS when you show up mid-afternoon? Does Saratoga Springs have its own ZIP code? And what counter service restaurant gave us distinctly non-Disney service? Stay tuned!

[Dugette]

Joining in, and really enjoying it!

:welcome: Glad you stopped by to say hi! It's been so quiet the last few days that I was starting to think all my readers ran off to Disney World or something! (Ok, I think a couple actually did.) Enjoy the new updates! Thanks for reading! :goodvibes

[reyasmommy]

Joining in!! I'm only on the 1st page however.

I just wanted to let you know I'm enjoying your tr so far and the pictures.

I'm sorry your DH had to deal with Impetigo while there. My poor DD had gotten it a couple years back and it's wasn't fun to deal with at all.... Especially because she was too small and young to understand that she couldn't touch it and touch everything else in the house too..... Lysol was my best friend at that time.

Okay, gotta go catch up now.

[lovesdumbo]

Enjoying your TR!

I was at WDW the same time as you-1/20 to 1/27 at AKL for my youngest's 7th birthday.

Can't wait to read more!

Your night at MK sounds great!

[my2disneyboys]

Great update! I think I would wonder what you were doing with a half gallon of milk at MK too! :rotfl2: Just an FYI - I always get groceries delivered from Garden Grocer (Milk, waters and some snacks) and Bell Services at each resorts has a fridge to store that stuff until rooms are ready!

Love the pics of Port Orleans! We loved our stay there. It is just a very pretty resort!!

[praisehisname]

We were room 9911 on the third floor. Corner room, King bed.

So glad your room was ready so you could put your milk away! POR is so pretty. I'm seriously considering switching to there for our November trip.


So, in comparison, Teppan Edo was maybe a 4 if Ichiban was a 5. But, if I didn’t have anything to compare it to, I’d say it was a 5. Very good meal, especially a good value on the DDP.

Good to know. We have a great Japanese steak house near where we live, so I've never been interested in Tepan Edo. But it really is a great value, and our steakhouse doesn't do Mickey onion volcanoes...:rolleyes1

[Dugette]

Joining in!! I'm only on the 1st page however.

I just wanted to let you know I'm enjoying your tr so far and the pictures.

I'm sorry your DH had to deal with Impetigo while there. My poor DD had gotten it a couple years back and it's wasn't fun to deal with at all.... Especially because she was too small and young to understand that she couldn't touch it and touch everything else in the house too..... Lysol was my best friend at that time.

Okay, gotta go catch up now.

Welcome! Wow, someone who understands the "fun" we were having! That would be really tough to have a little one that doesn't understand how easily it can spread!

Enjoying your TR!

I was at WDW the same time as you-1/20 to 1/27 at AKL for my youngest's 7th birthday.

Can't wait to read more!

Your night at MK sounds great!

Hi! Cool that you were there at the same time--maybe we crossed paths! And, yes, that night at the MK was awesome! I had no idea there were late-night character rides...so cool! :goodvibes

Great update! I think I would wonder what you were doing with a half gallon of milk at MK too! :rotfl2: Just an FYI - I always get groceries delivered from Garden Grocer (Milk, waters and some snacks) and Bell Services at each resorts has a fridge to store that stuff until rooms are ready!

Love the pics of Port Orleans! We loved our stay there. It is just a very pretty resort!!

That's good to know about the food storage! I wondered if there might be something like that they could do, but I was hoping not to have to find out the hard way that they didn't.

I agree, POR was just beautiful! I think we have some more pics coming up from walking around it later in the trip.

So glad your room was ready so you could put your milk away! POR is so pretty. I'm seriously considering switching to there for our November trip.

Good to know. We have a great Japanese steak house near where we live, so I've never been interested in Tepan Edo. But it really is a great value, and our steakhouse doesn't do Mickey onion volcanoes...:rolleyes1

Yes, Teppan Edo was fun. I liked the Disney touches she did (there were several things where she made Disney characters and then destroyed them...kind of weird to be eating Mickey!).

Where are you staying on your November trip? We really liked POR and the building we were in worked out well, as it was not too far from the main building and we could actually walk over to French Quarter pretty quickly too. And I loved the river. So peaceful!

BTW, I took a quick look at the first several pages of your TR. You have good taste in dogs! You probably noticed, but our dog is a Cocker Spaniel too. And Lady and the Tramp is my favorite Disney movie!


I have another update almost ready. Will be putting it up shortly!

[Dugette]

If you read our PTR, you may know that our first two days went more-or-less according to our plans. This was the first day where we ended up switching things up a bit more. Originally, we had planned to attend Early Magic Hours at Epcot, do the headliner attractions, have a 12:20pm lunch at Teppan Edo, walk to DHS, and have dinner at Studios Catering Company. We actually didn’t do any of those things as planned. Between our DDP dilemma with Teppan Edo and our late Extra Magic Night at MK the night before, EMH at Epcot was no longer a priority. Our trip was long enough that we would have other opportunities to get the headliners in. The relaxed morning and late lunch worked out well. The walking from Epcot to DHS didn’t happen, as we were getting tired and semi-grumpy by that time (too much walking in World Showcase, I guess), so we opted for the boat. And, with the late lunch, we weren’t hungry for dinner while at DHS. So, yeah, this day ended up holding only very loosely to our plans.

In case you’re wondering, Dug’s new collection of medications was helping his impetigo a little bit. He felt like the swelling went down somewhat. But it definitely wasn’t going away. :sad2:

So, after a relaxing boat ride :sail: , we arrived at DHS. First thing we did was head over to the photo store. I was taking a lot more video than expected and Dug didn’t want me to run out of tape our next day (4 parks in one day planned!). We got me some new (overpriced, of course) mini-DV tapes and set off in search of attractions without lines.

Dug is a huge Star Wars fan, so we hit Star Tours :darth::ewok::yoda::chewy: :

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%203/StarTours.jpg

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%203/Robot1.jpg

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%203/Robot2.jpg

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%203/C3PO.jpg

These little guys screeching get pretty obnoxious when you are stuck in line under them for several minutes :listen: :

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%203/Robot3.jpg

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%203/LeavingST.jpg

Next, we strolled over to the Muppets:

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%203/Muppets.jpg

We had read something about a hidden key by the ticket booth, so took a quick look at the booth. But, with nobody else around, the cast members were just looking at us like we were weird :confused: , so we moved on without finding it. I really like the Muppets show, so that was fun. :3dglasses

Since we had arrived so late and the park was closing so early (7pm), we didn’t have much time left. We wandered over to the Great Movie Ride to check on the wait:

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%203/GreatMovieRide.jpg

It wasn’t too bad, but we knew that the park would be closed by the time we got out of the ride. Was this how we wanted to end the day? We weren’t sure :confused3 , so we walked partway down the queue, then changed our minds and turned around and left. We decided to go see the American Idol finale instead:

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%203/Idol.jpg

We actually saw only the finale on our last trip too. It was enjoyable both times. I think it’s probably a little different than going to one of the shows earlier in the day, as everyone in the finale is pretty good. We had a good time and the contestant we voted for won (she had a ton of enthusiasm and was just fun to watch :thumbsup2 ).

The park had been closed for awhile by the time we got out of the show. We wandered through various shops on our way out.

It was still fairly early to just go home. And we still had to eat dinner. So, even though we hadn’t planned on going to Downtown Disney until later in the trip, we decided this night would be a good time to make a spontaneous trip over there. We had never been to Downtown Disney before, but Earl of Sandwich was calling to us (we’ve seen all those food pictures on this site).

The challenge with Downtown Disney is trying to get there directly from one of the parks. Luckily, however, there’s an app for that! Dug pulled out his iPhone and it told him that Saratoga Springs was the best resort to go to on the way to Downtown Disney. So, we caught a SS bus.

The bus ride there took awhile, but the resort is right next to DD. Then, we had to figure out where to get off the bus. This resort is huge! After staying on through a few stops (all of which felt like they were miles apart from each other), we realized (from conversations we overheard) that we were not the only ones that were taking this bus to get to DD. So, we just watched the others. When we saw some of these people get off the bus, we did too. This was at the Congress Park bus stop.

We could see the DD hot air balloon, so we knew we were close. We walked in that direction and ended up by the river. How to cross this river? I had an inkling that we should go to the left, but I’m not the directionally-inclined one in the family, so we went to the right. Walked for awhile along the river. It was nice. We thought we could see a bridge up ahead, but it was looking like we might have to find another bridge to cross another body of water before we could get to that bridge to cross the river. Plus, I was feeling like we were walking towards the wrong end of DD. Dug thought maybe we could catch a boat. After walking a little further, we decided this was not going to end well, so we turned back and found our bus stop again.

We ended up taking the bus to DD. Got off at the Marketplace stop, just where we wanted to be. After our walk around a small part of the giant expanse that is SS, we were hungry. Went straight to EOS.

We had never been here before, obviously. Saw everyone ahead of us grabbing a basket to put their food in, so grabbed a basket. Went up to order. Informed them we were on the dining plan. I got the Ham & Swiss. Dug asked what made their BLT the “Best BLT” (what they called it), thinking maybe there would be something different about it. The clerk looked at him like he was a crazy man and snapped, “I don’t know.” Dug took his chances and ordered it anyway. Moved down the counter to where the desserts were. One of the clerks ordered me, “Give me that basket!” I did, thinking maybe she would give it back with food in it or something? No, she just took it. Ok, then. I think Dug asked about a dessert that was on the menu, but he didn’t see in front of us. Again, rudeness. How dare he ask to have something that’s on their menu, I guess? :snooty: So, he grabbed a Strawberry Shortcake cup and I took a Triple Chocolate Brownie. I got a Hot Chocolate (WAY too hot, even with ice cubes) to drink and Dug made himself a mix of Sprite, Lemonade, and Fanta.

We took our seat. Got our sandwiches. The food was quite good:

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%203/earlofsandwich.jpg

I was just surprised how bad the service was. I think everyone working there was rude to us! I’ve seen a lot of reviews of EOS and have never seen anyone mention this, so I’m assuming we just caught them on a bad night. I think the staff needed some Disney attitude training. The good thing is that we didn’t have much of a wait and were eating quickly. And the food was yummy. So, if you’ve never gone there before, I guess I’d advise: don’t take a basket and don’t ask any questions. :thumbsup2

I think I ate half my brownie and got full, so we wrapped it up and stuffed it in the backpack to bring back to POR for later. Although I don’t remember if I ever did eat the other half. Our fridge ended up getting full of leftovers during the next week.

After eating, we checked out the toy store (Star Wars toys!), Ghirardelli (free chocolate samples!), and World of Disney (lots of stuff to keep in mind for souvenirs!).

After our explorations, we caught the boat back to POR. It was a chilly ride that night, but nice to be on the river. We wandered around the main building of the resort a bit to check it out. Then we requested our luggage. Again, the transfer had gone smoothly and our bags were there. They offered us a ride on the golf cart with our bags! We were beat (after about 20k steps that day again), so that ride was wonderful! And the guy helping us was super nice. Back in the room, we hit the sack quickly, as we had a big day planned tomorrow!

Up next: Four Parks in One Day…can we do it?

[praisehisname]

Where are you staying on your November trip?

We're book at CBR. I really want to stay there, but I also love the looks of POR. Whichever one I don't pick, we'll just stay there next time. So I just have to decide which one is first! ;)


http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%203/earlofsandwich.jpg

That BLT looks really good! That stinks that you had such horrible service; hopefully it was just an "off" day for the CMs.

[my2disneyboys]

Great day! We are big Star Wars people in this house! I was wondering if the boat wasnt running from your resort to DTD?? That is our favorite reason for staying there.

[Dugette]

Great day! We are big Star Wars people in this house! I was wondering if the boat wasnt running from your resort to DTD?? That is our favorite reason for staying there.

You know, you're actually right: we did take the boat back. I didn't read my notes carefully enough, I guess! I'll go edit that post now. Thanks! :goodvibes

[cinderella crazy]

I am going to have to try that BLT sometime. It looks wonderful! Can't wait to read about 4 parks in one day!

[Dugette]

That BLT looks really good!

I am going to have to try that BLT sometime. It looks wonderful!

Yes, Dug said the BLT was very good. For what it's worth, I also really enjoyed my Ham & Swiss (in the background of the pic). Yummy! I'm sure we'll be back there on a future trip (and hopefully have better service too).

Can't wait to read about 4 parks in one day!

I can't wait to write about it! :) I actually am just about done making a short video summary of it, so I'm hoping I can get that posted on here soon, then follow up with the narrative, which will probably take me awhile to put together (it was a full day!)

[Dugette]

This is a fun day. We had big plans. We had accidentally planned ourselves most of the way into doing all 4 parks in one day. This is how it came about:

Animal Kingdom had the EMH in the morning, so we wanted to go there and get the headliners done.

We had a brunch reservation at Kona Cafe.

Kona is right next to the Magic Kingdom, so might as well go there.

I wanted a No Way Jose from Beaches and Cream. Beaches and Cream is not far from Epcot. Epcot is not far from MK. Might as well hit Epcot too.

DHS had EMH in the evening until 10pm. We wanted to hit the headliners there too.

Doing 4 parks in one day is a challenge we'd enjoyed hearing about on WDW Today podcasts. Why not do it? And why not mix in some fun things, like a sit-down meal at Kona and a No Way Jose? Who needs to be all crazy commando?

I will be writing up a narrative, as this day was quite full of activity, not all of which is on video. But, I've already pulled together my video into an 8-minute synopsis. (It's just one video, but I had to break it into 3 parts to upload it to Photobucket). Check out how our day went here:

Part One:
http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/4%20Parks%20in%201%20Day%20Video/th_4Parksin1Day-Part1.jpg (http://s938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/4%20Parks%20in%201%20Day%20Video/?action=view&current=4Parksin1Day-Part1.flv)

Part Two:
http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/4%20Parks%20in%201%20Day%20Video/th_4Parksin1Day-Part2.jpg (http://s938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/4%20Parks%20in%201%20Day%20Video/?action=view&current=4Parksin1Day-Part2.flv)

Part Three:
http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/4%20Parks%20in%201%20Day%20Video/th_4Parksin1Day-Part3.jpg (http://s938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/4%20Parks%20in%201%20Day%20Video/?action=view&current=4Parksin1Day-Part3.flv)

[cinderella crazy]

Wow! I guess Tomorrowland has some work they need to do. ;)

The No Way Jose was big enough but that Kitchen Sink! That thing is ridiculous!

Pretty cool that you got to do all of those things in 1 day. Looked like a ton of fun!

[lovesdumbo]

Love your 4 parks in one day video!!!! How fun!!!

We almost did 4 parks in one day but not easy with a 7 year old and myself recovering from whooping cough. Maybe I'll try in May with my 9 year old.:laughing:

[mom2mek]

Just found your report and loving it so far! The 4 parks in 1 day videos are fabulous!!! How fun! Plus you got two nice meals in there too! :thumbsup2

Looking forward to more!! Great report!

Sara

[donnajean17]

Loved, loved, loved the videos!! Great work!:banana:

[Dugette]

Wow! I guess Tomorrowland has some work they need to do. ;)

The No Way Jose was big enough but that Kitchen Sink! That thing is ridiculous!

Pretty cool that you got to do all of those things in 1 day. Looked like a ton of fun!

Yes, it was funny that we had such bad luck in Tomorrowland! But at least all the delays were pretty quick.

We were lucky we ended up sitting at the bar right in front of where they make the ice cream sundaes. It was pretty cool seeing that crazy Kitchen Sink being built right in front of us!

Love your 4 parks in one day video!!!! How fun!!!

We almost did 4 parks in one day but not easy with a 7 year old and myself recovering from whooping cough. Maybe I'll try in May with my 9 year old.:laughing:

You know, I'll be writing more about it, but I actually found that 4 parks in 1 day was not as challenging as we'd anticipated. You can probably tell from the video that we stopped and ate, watched street entertainment, listened to music, etc. It was really fun. As long as you pick a low-crowd day with decent park hours, I bet you and your 9-year-old could do it :)

Just found your report and loving it so far! The 4 parks in 1 day videos are fabulous!!! How fun! Plus you got two nice meals in there too! :thumbsup2

Looking forward to more!! Great report!

Sara

Welcome and thanks! Yeah, if you consider a No Way Jose a meal, then we got two good meals in :laughing:

Loved, loved, loved the videos!! Great work!:banana:

Thank you!!!


I've been super-busy with work lately (gone 15 hours/day), so I'm hoping I'll be able to start writing up the narrative of "4 Parks in 1 Day" over the weekend. Many more stories and pictures to share from that day.

[mom2mek]

Welcome and thanks! Yeah, if you consider a No Way Jose a meal, then we got two good meals in :laughing:





::yes:: Why yes, yes I do! ::yes::

Sara

[Dugette]

::yes:: Why yes, yes I do! ::yes::

Sara

Fair enough! Certainly big enough for a meal! :laughing:

[Dugette]

This morning, we got up early. We had a big day ahead of us! I think we grabbed a small breakfast in the room of stuff we’d brought (more Reese’s Puffs for me!), then were out the door by 7:15am. EMH at AK started at 8am.

It was a gloomy, foggy morning as we headed to the POR bus stop:

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%204/AKPOR.jpg

It seemed like it took forever, but our bus pulled up just after 7:30am. After we got on, the bus made a quick stop at all the other POR stops, then we were off!

We pulled into AK just before 8am. Our plan of attack once in the park was somewhat experimental. Here’s the back-story:

We both had annual passes, which we’d gotten by upgrading the 10-day park-hopper tickets attached to our POR reservation. We found it interesting that, when we checked into POR, they said our 10-day park-hoppers were attached to our KTTW cards. We had been using our APs for park entrance, but Dug’s had gotten bent and was making it difficult for him to get through the gates on the first try. So, the previous day, he decided to use his KTTW card instead to see if that would get him in the park. It did!

So, given the knowledge that both our APs and our KTTW were valid for admission, we thought…are they both valid for Fast Passes? :idea: The plan was for me to take our APs to Expedition Everest and get FPs while Dug took our KTTW to Dinosaur to get FPs. And, if it didn’t work, no big deal—it was early, we’d be okay.

So, we entered the park right as it was opening. I used my AP to get in and Dug used his KTTW. Then, I took both of our APs and headed over to EE. Dug took our KTTW and made his way to Dinosaur. I got to EE and tried Dug’s AP in the machine first. It gave me a message that this ticket had not been used at the gate, so it was not valid. Made sense—he’d used his KTTW to get in. That would mean that my KTTW wouldn’t work on Dinosaur for him, as I’d used my AP to get in. Fair enough, good to know that Disney has safeguards against double-Fast-Passing.

So, I put my AP in the machine. It didn’t spit anything out. Tried a couple more times, but same thing. I asked for help from the attendant. Turns out that my AP was not working for some reason. :confused3 So, she gave me a “Fast Pass Key Card” and an EE FP:

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%204/FPKC.jpg

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%204/EEFP.jpg

I had never seen one of these “Fast Pass Key Cards” before. I don’t remember her exact words, but the attendant’s explanation sounded to me like, “Use this as a Fast Pass at any attraction in AK today only.” OK, seemed reasonable. I figured it was a little Disney magic—we’d gotten bonuses like this on our last trip when rides broke down. I just figured that the FP machines weren’t working properly (I was the only one at them). And that maybe she saw that Dug’s AP didn’t work either, so the EE FP was for him? It seemed a little strange, but whatever.

So, I called up Dug and told him that only his KTTW was going to work for Dinosaur. But that it would be okay, because I had a special FP pixiedust: that should work for everything in AK. So, he got the Dinosaur FP and we both made our way to Kilimanjaro Safaris to meet up. Here’s some pics Dug took on his way:

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%204/AKFoggyTree.jpg

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%204/AKAfrica.jpg

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%204/AKSafariSign.jpg

We met up at KS at 8:25am. There was only a 5 minute standby wait time posted. We got in line and were on our jeep quite quickly. On our last trip, we’d requested the last seat, as you have a clearer view on 3 sides of you, with no heads in the way. However, it’s also extra bouncy in the back, so more difficult to get pictures. This time, we decided we’d just end up wherever they put us, rather than wait for the back. Well, they put us in the back row! It actually worked out pretty well, as it was not as bouncy as past rides and we had some great animal views (as you may have seen on the video).

I loved our driver. She called herself a “mature woman driver” and her name was Sue. She clearly loved her (retirement?) job and, if I could, I’d request her as a driver on every safari. :thumbsup2 Here are some pictures that Dug got with the iPhone:

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%204/AKAnimal1.jpg

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%204/AKAnimal2.jpg

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%204/AKAnimal3.jpg

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%204/AKCoolTree.jpg

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%204/AKSavanna.jpg

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%204/AKFlamingos.jpg

There were a lot of animals out this morning. We even saw a running giraffe, which was cool (it’s in the video).

After our safari, we walked over to use our EE FPs. They were for 9:05am and we arrived at 9:05am. Nice! Gave Dug the normal FP and I showed them my “special” one. They told me that I couldn’t use it. Huh? Turns out the attendant I got it from should have said, “Use this as your park ticket to get a Fast Pass at any machine in AK today.” Not what I heard. So, my “special” FP was actually useless, except to acquire FP. Bummer! :sad2: I was clearly surprised and told them that it wasn’t explained clearly to me, so that I didn’t get a FP for EE with it. They were kind and let me in anyway. So, we got on EE in the FP line. Whew! That would have screwed up our day, possibly, if we had to wait standby. We enjoyed EE, as usual.

Next, we made our way over to Dinosaur, trying to figure out how to deal with our 1 real and 1 invalid FP for it. We decided that I would just explain the truth to the CM working the FP line: that we thought the FPKC was a FP (and just learned it wasn’t), so we didn’t get a FP for me for Dinosaur. We’d just see what they did. The CM as Dinosaur would not let us through the FP lane, but told us the standby was only 5-10 minutes. So, we gave him our 1 FP and asked him to give it to someone who needed it. We then went through the standby line and got right on.

It was only 9:35am and we had accomplished the Big Three for AK already. Time to leave! :woohoo: I made Dug take this picture as we walked through Dinoland:

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%204/AKDino.jpg

I love that Mr. Potato Head is eating a Mickey Bar! Too cute!

We left the park around 10am. The sun had finally come out and it was looking to be a beautiful day (predicted high of 70). We had already walked 8000 steps for the day. Here’s AK as we were leaving:

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%204/AKLeaving.jpg

We went to the Poly/Contemporary bus stop and waited. And waited. And waited. :rolleyes1 We saw 2 TTC busses come by and wished we had gotten in that line, since you can easily walk to the Poly from the TTC. But we couldn’t get to those TTC busses without going around a long way or dodging busses and jumping fences. So, we kept waiting. Bus arrived around 10:15am. I think this was the bus ride where the driver was really chatty with us (her only passengers) and even said something about Disney opening another park at WDW! :ssst: Cool!

We got to the Poly at 10:40am. Our Kona ADR was for 10:45am. Good timing!

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%204/AKMonorail.jpg

I ordered the Tonga Toast and Dug got the Big Kahuna. Dug wanted to try the 100% Kona coffee, even though he usually doesn’t drink caffeinated drinks. This was a 1-time experience. He said it would give him “a buzz for Buzz.” We were on the dining plan, so he figured he’d have to pay OOP for the Kona coffee. But, our waitress said she’d give it to him on the DDP! I got a Lilikoi juice, which was very yummy. I know the DDP gets you two drinks each with breakfast, but I didn’t feel like pushing it and asking for another drink, when she had given us this expensive coffee. Plus, I didn’t need more than one drink. So, I suppose it all worked out for everyone. Here’s our yummy, yummy food:

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%204/AKKona.jpg

Dug was tweeting the details of our day on his iPhone (so we’d remember what we were doing and when), so his phone was running low on battery power already. And he couldn’t find his cool “I-Max Power” charger he’d been using to recharge it. But, he did have the wall charger plug-in, so he asked the waitress if she might be able to plug it in somewhere for him. Sure! She was very nice to do that while we ate. After the meal, she went to get the phone and saw the picture of our pets that Dug has as his wallpaper on it (same picture you see in the first post of this TR). Turns out she loves animals and became extra chatty, hanging out with us and talking pets! Kona was a good experience again. And it marked the first of three things this day that I liked, but normally don’t like: breakfast food! I don’t care for the majority of breakfast foods, including French Toast, but that Tonga Toast was delicious!!! :love:

We were now fueled up for the next leg of our journey. It was about 11:50am as we made our way up to the Poly monorail station to go to the Magic Kingdom.

Up next: The Magic Kingdom and the second thing I normally don’t like, but did this day!

[Dugette]

Time for our second park of the day! Gotta love that Poly transportation…we were on the monorail platform waiting at 11:50am and walking into the MK at Noon:

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%204/MKArrival.jpg

Or at least trying to, I guess. My AP was now giving me troubles at the gate. So much so that I had to go to Guest Services (outside the park) and get a new AP. Goodbye Donald AP :wave2: :

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%204/DonaldAP.jpg

I got a new Mickey AP. Turns out that APs frequently get demagnetized. The CM who helped me explained that there are 3 levels of magnetic strips and they use the lowest one on the APs to keep costs down. Seems a little silly to me…we spent enough on the APs…can’t they make them at least the same quality level as a KTTW? Guess not. Anyway, got through the gate with my new AP. And Dug used his bent one and it worked. We decided not to use the KTTW card for admission anymore, just in case they tried to charge us for 10 day PH & APs, since we were using both tickets (they didn’t, though…whew!)

We caught a bit of a show on Main Street:

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%204/MKMainStreet.jpg

Then made our way to Tomorrowland. Our plan was to spend our MK time in Tomorrowland only. We knew that our 4 Parks in 1 Day quest might be more impressive if we just did the big headliners, but we’d done BTMR and Space two nights ago (and Splash was closed for refurb), so we were wanting to get some other attractions in. We did check Space anyway, but the FP return time was too late for our plans. The standby line wasn’t terrible, but we had done Space 3 times already on this trip, so it seemed silly to wait in line for it now.

We figured Buzz was probably the closest to a headliner, plus I wanted to ride it again to see if I could do any better, so we got FP for it. It was just before 12:30pm and the FP were for just after 1pm. Not bad!

We had not done the Carousel of Progress yet this trip, so made our way there next. It was about 12:55pm when we left the COP, so we had 10 minutes to kill before our FP for Buzz came up. And what better way to do that than ride the TTA?

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%204/MKTTA.jpg

Last time we rode the TTA, it stopped immediately after we got on. Same thing happened this time! But, I must say, if you’re going to have any ride stop on you, the TTA seems to have the shortest delay. The announcement tells you that it will start again in one minute—and it did every time! So, it started again and we enjoyed our ride. Until it stopped again. Waited another minute and it was back in action.

We could have used our Buzz FP then, but Dug really wanted to get in a show at the Monsters Inc. Laugh Floor. So, we grabbed additional Buzz FP (since the window was now open) and went to the Laugh Floor:

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%204/MKMonstersInc.jpg

We’d been to this show once before, on our September trip. Dug had texted in a joke that actually got used. I think it was: “Which monster loves to dance to disco music? The Jitterbug!” I guess he hit just the right blend of corny and family-friendly with that one! :laughing: He texted in another one this time, “What is Mike’s favorite event at the Winter Olympics? Wozowski jumping!” This one didn’t make it into the show. But, Dug himself did! He was “That Guy.” He tried to ham it up for the camera, but off-camera he was constantly dabbing at his seeping impetigo with a kleenex. Glad they never caught him on camera doing that. Probably would have scared the kids! :eek:

On to Buzz! It was about 1:50pm. If you recall, our first night at Disney, I had a breakthrough on Buzz. After never being any good at it, I finally was able to see and control my red dot, but not until close to the end of the ride. I was hoping maybe that would be the case for the whole ride this time.

Not so much. I got 63,800 and Dug got 158,900. So much for that pixiedust: I had hoped for! Right at the end of the ride, a few cars away from being able to exit, the ride broke down. We sat there looking around, taking pictures and video. There were two little girls in the car ahead of us. Maybe sisters? And I think their dad was ahead of them. He had a score of 200k+. The girl in front of Dug had an extremely low score. But, the girl in front of me…..608,700!!!!!!!! How is this even possible???? She was probably 7 years old! And, from what we could gather, clearly not an expert at this game. She was reading the scoreboard next to us, telling her seatmate what rankings they got.

Seriously, does anyone know how this score is even possible?!? :confused3

So, once “the Claw” allowed the ride to resume, we got off and back on, with our other set of FP. I believe this was the ride where the CM working the FP lane got quite perplexed, since we were there at the exact time listed on our FP. Seeing him checking the time, I commented, “We’re prompt!” to which he just kinda grumbled and let us in. I guess being on time is bad?:confused:

So, this ride I was determined to do better. If a 7-year-old can get 600k, I should at least be able to get 200k, right? Hah! Well, just before we entered the game area, the ride broke down again. This is a ride where a breakdown can sometimes be beneficial to your score, but our score hadn’t come up yet. We were just outside that point. So, I just practiced aiming and shooting until we got going. This game we got—are you ready?—23,300 (me) and 29,400 (Dug)! Wow, we’re terrible! :sad2: I’m starting to think that game just randomly generates scores!

We exited Buzz at about 2:20pm. Pretty much on schedule, as we wanted to get out of the MK by 2:30-3pm. In fact, we had a little bit of time to cross another “try with snack credit” item off our list. We had heard that the Ice Cream Cookie Sandwiches at the Main Street Bakery were something worth trying, so we stopped into there on our way out. We picked out the two cookies we wanted for the sandwich: one chocolate chip and one oatmeal raisin. The CM then began scooping up vanilla bean ice cream to put in the middle of it. As it came together, our jaws dropped. We were foolish enough to order one of these without ever having seen a picture of one before! They are huge!

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%204/MKSnack.jpg

How would we ever have room for dinner at Sunshine Seasons and a No Way Jose (which were coming up next in our plans)? At least we were splitting this “snack.” We sat in the bakery and I ate my half, then gave Dug his half (to avoid impetigo spreading). I can’t believe we actually ate the whole thing. It’s too big to even fit in your mouth, but we did it! This also marked the second thing that I normally don’t like, but did today: Vanilla Ice Cream. I always feel like Vanilla Ice Cream is “plain ice cream.” Too boring for me. But this was delicious! Yum! It’s definitely a good value for a snack credit.

On our way out, we stopped for a few minutes to watch some of the parade going by:

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%204/MKParade.jpg

We made our way out of the park just after 3pm. 4000 more steps taken here. It was gorgeous out:

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%204/MKWater.jpg

Up next: Epcot and Beaches and Cream (otherwise known as our 2nd all-ice-cream meal of the day!)

[my2disneyboys]

Love the day so far! I really like that last picture!! Makes me want to go back!!! So funny that your DH was "That Guy"!!! :rotfl2: My Dh was the dancer last time- we loved Monster Laugh Floor! Did you go on Astro Orbiter? We love that one. Kind of like Dumbo- but faster and the view is pretty cool because you are up so high.

[Dugette]

Love the day so far! I really like that last picture!! Makes me want to go back!!! So funny that your DH was "That Guy"!!! :rotfl2: My Dh was the dancer last time- we loved Monster Laugh Floor! Did you go on Astro Orbiter? We love that one. Kind of like Dumbo- but faster and the view is pretty cool because you are up so high.

Yes, I just stare at the last pic wishing I was there! We actually don't get to Astro Orbiter until close to the end of the trip, but we do get there. Cool that your DH was in the Monsters Inc show too! That's a fun show!

[burly]

Wow just read it all using the handy dandy links!
Really great so far.
Looking forward to more.
Thanks for sharing.

[mom2mek]

Great update! That ice cream sandwich looks so good! I'm with ya on the vanilla ice cream thing - it just doesn't appeal to me in most cases, but looks like the best choice when you have all that sweetness of the cookies! I cannot score out of 4 digits on Buzz, no matter what I try! I just can't figure out which dot is mine! :headache: Beautiful last picture! :goodvibes

Sara

[Sunset Cliffs]

I'm finally caught up again. Love the video idea, & you did a nice job editing the whole thing. :thumbsup2 My husband & I did the 4 parks in 1 day thing once before. We were on a work trip & flew in 1 day early to go to WDW (we had been before so it wasn't our first time). We had so much fun. It was like a treasure hunt, trying to find all that we could do in short amounts of time.

I think you guys have bad luck when it comes to rides breaking down. I kept laughing while watching the video each time another one broke. As for Buzz Lightyear, I'm wondering if it was stopped to let someone in a wheelchair on the ride. The last time we went to DL, we were w/ Todd's cousin who is in a wheelchair, & they stop the ride so that he can use one of the special cars. He wheels his chair right in & then off we went. Pretty cool.

[disneyaddicted]

I got real behind on this TR, but I am all caught up now. This may sound ridiculous but I want to be on a ride when it breaks down, it just sounds like tons of fun.

Peter Pan is my favorite ride in Fantasy Land, I like Pooh and Snowhite, but there is something about the Peter Pan ride that is extra magical for me.

I've never ridden dumbo am definitely planning on doing it my next trip.

I had to laug at the visual I had of you carrying a half gallon of milk around, I would totally be one of th epeople starring at you and wondering what the heck was up with that? The Lady must like milk.....

4 parks in one day? just thinking abou tit makes me feet hurt. I can't wait to read the rest.

[Goofy442]

:surfweb: All caught up

[Dugette]

Wow just read it all using the handy dandy links!
Really great so far.
Looking forward to more.
Thanks for sharing.
:welcome: and thanks for reading!

Great update! That ice cream sandwich looks so good! I'm with ya on the vanilla ice cream thing - it just doesn't appeal to me in most cases, but looks like the best choice when you have all that sweetness of the cookies! I cannot score out of 4 digits on Buzz, no matter what I try! I just can't figure out which dot is mine! :headache: Beautiful last picture! :goodvibes
Nice, someone who understands the vanilla ice cream thing! And with Buzz, that is exactly my problem...I can never identify my red dot! Except for that last little bit of that ride the first night. Maybe there's just one special blaster that works and I had it that ride...

I'm finally caught up again. Love the video idea, & you did a nice job editing the whole thing. :thumbsup2 My husband & I did the 4 parks in 1 day thing once before. We were on a work trip & flew in 1 day early to go to WDW (we had been before so it wasn't our first time). We had so much fun. It was like a treasure hunt, trying to find all that we could do in short amounts of time.

I think you guys have bad luck when it comes to rides breaking down. I kept laughing while watching the video each time another one broke. As for Buzz Lightyear, I'm wondering if it was stopped to let someone in a wheelchair on the ride. The last time we went to DL, we were w/ Todd's cousin who is in a wheelchair, & they stop the ride so that he can use one of the special cars. He wheels his chair right in & then off we went. Pretty cool.
Very cool that you guys did four parks in one day too! It was such a fun day for us...very memorable. And you guys only had one day, so good thing it worked out!

Yeah, we have crazy luck with rides breaking down. On our September trip, we were only there for 4 1/2 days and did one park per day. 3 of those days, our first ride broke down: Winnie the Pooh, Mission Space, and Toy Story Mania. Plus, I know we had other breakdowns that trip too...I remember being stuck on Buzz and blasting the target on the wall next to me over and over again. I still didn't do very well.

I wonder if there was a wheelchair? I didn't see one when we stopped before exiting. But the stop right after entering, I didn't even look that direction. Who knows? Sounds cool how they do that, though.

I got real behind on this TR, but I am all caught up now. This may sound ridiculous but I want to be on a ride when it breaks down, it just sounds like tons of fun.

Peter Pan is my favorite ride in Fantasy Land, I like Pooh and Snowhite, but there is something about the Peter Pan ride that is extra magical for me.

I've never ridden dumbo am definitely planning on doing it my next trip.

I had to laug at the visual I had of you carrying a half gallon of milk around, I would totally be one of th epeople starring at you and wondering what the heck was up with that? The Lady must like milk.....
Well, if you think it would be cool to be stuck on a ride, you apparently need to hang around with us! I love Peter Pan too. And I'd recommend Dumbo around 1am! Keep an eye out for your favorite character :)

Yeah, the milk thing was probably the only time I really should have thought through the consequences of the question, "Would you like a bag?" :laughing: Oh, well.

:surfweb: All caught up
You're back! You just were at WDW, right? How was your trip?

[cinderella crazy]

Mmmm...Tonga Toast! That looked heavenly! And the ice cream cookie counts as one snack?! I am so going to gain 10 pounds when we go. Enjoyed reading your update!

[Dugette]

On to the third park of the day! We took the express monorail to the TTC, then switched to the Epcot monorail. Dug was so happy to find his phone charger that he took a picture of it:

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%204/EPCharger.jpg

Arriving at Epcot:

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%204/EPMonorail.jpg

We used the Lines app from touringplans.com to help figure out what we’d be able to do with little wait time, since it was mid-afternoon at Epcot. We wouldn't be able to Fast Pass anything this time of day. It seemed our best bet for a headliner would be Mission Space.

Once we arrived, we went to Innoventions to take a look at the new Sum of All Thrills. We watched it for a few minutes, then found there is a test-fit seat. Dug tried it out and found it pretty tight. So, we’ll be saving this attraction until later this year, after some more weight-loss progress. Looks interesting, though.

We headed to Mission Space:

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%204/EPMissionSpace.jpg

On our last trip, we tried to do this attraction first on our Epcot day. Since I am not fond of high-speed spinning, I went to the Green side and Dug went on Orange. But I never actually got on the ride. Fitting with our September theme of “1st rides of the day breaking down”, Green was not working. My Green group was standing on those little numbers in the holding room forever! :hourglass The CMs kept assuring us that we’d get in soon, but we were giving up, a couple people at a time. I finally left (and took the “super fast pass” they gave out), as Dug would be wondering where I was. We never made it back to Mission Space on that trip. :sad1:

So, anyway, this would be my first time actually going on the ride! The sign said 5 minutes, but the wait was definitely more than that. But tolerable. I thought the ride was cool. Dug thought it was pretty tame compared to the Orange side. We both had to operate two sets of buttons, as there was no one else in our group.

Next, we saw that the single rider line for Test Track was only 10 minutes, so we jumped in:

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%204/EPTestTrack.jpg

Love that ride! I also found a Hidden Mickey. I think it was between the hot and cold areas, there was a little office. In the pencil cup, there was a Mickey pencil!

At this point, we’d worked up a little thirst, so we dropped into Club Cool for some refreshments:

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%204/EPClubCool.jpg

Hey, cool! I just now noticed a Hidden Mickey in that Club Cool sign!

Even though Dug had found his iPhone’s backup battery charging thing, he’d discovered that it wasn’t working. So, he located an outlet near the door of Club Cool and discretely charged his iPhone while we enjoyed our beverages. Fun, fun, sneaking Disney’s power… :ssst:

We needed to get in at least one more ride to feel like we’d “completed” Epcot. There was no way to do Soarin’ in a reasonable time frame. We thought about one of the boat rides in World Showcase, but they were out of our way. But there would be no wait for Journey Into Imagination! We’d just have to hold our noses in the smell area! So we did:

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%204/EPImagination.jpg

After Imagination, we made our way towards the International Gateway. It was a little before 6pm. Still beautiful out, though starting to get dark:

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%204/EPLagoon.jpg

As we passed Canada, we discovered that Off Kilter was performing! We had to stop and watch the rest of their show. Dug had been looking forward to seeing them. He loves bagpipes and kilts! They were really good:

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%204/EPOffKilter.jpg

After they finished, we continued toward the exit. Heard the British Invasion performing in the U.K. pavilion, but kept on walking:

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%204/EPBeatles.jpg

Once we arrived at the Beach Club, we wandered around the place a bit. We wanted to check it out, since we are planning to attend the Food & Wine Festival in November and it seemed like a good, nearby resort option. We looked around the lobby and the common areas and the grounds. Peeked in at Stormalong Bay…looks very cool! :thumbsup2

Made our way to Beaches & Cream. We were a little nervous, as this place does not take ADRs, but can get pretty busy (it’s not very big). And it was still dinnertime. We were lucky, though. We were seated right away at the counter. Right in front of where they make the ice cream sundaes! :cool1:

Well, after that massive ice cream cookie sandwich on Main Street, neither of us was really that hungry. We’d scrapped our dinner plans at Sunshine Seasons. But, we had come to B&C for one reason…I had to have a No Way Jose. Chocolate and peanut butter…yummy! We asked the waitress for a second bowl so we could split it. She offered to bring a second spoon and put it in a bowl that was easy to share from. But we insisted on an extra bowl. I think she thought it was odd, but we didn’t want to gross her out with talk of contagious face disease! So, I do believe our sundae was served in a different style dish than the No Way Jose usually comes in. She wanted to make it easier to split. And we got our extra bowls (we each got a little bowl).

Before:

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%204/NoWayJose.jpg

After (well, partway through):

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%204/EPNoWayJose.jpg

Dug also was happy during this “meal,” as he switched the cords he was using to recharge his phone from his Imax Power thing and the new cord worked! Now he would have iPhone battery for late night tweeting!

While we were eating, we realized there was a massive Kitchen Sink being concocted in front of us. Check this out:

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%204/KitchenSink.jpg

They put on a little show of bringing it out to that table.

We enjoyed our ice cream, but not as much as we could have, as we were so ice-cream-full already. Maybe we’ll just have to come back there sometime… :idea:

We used our Tables in Wonderland card for a 20% discount here. As we left, we saw that the Kitchen Sink table had left behind a melty mess in their Kitchen Sink.

After this, we wandered around Yacht Club for a bit. It seemed like a nice place too.

But, it was getting late and we still had one more park to do. We headed over to the boat dock and waited for a boat to Hollywood Studios:

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%204/EPBoat.jpg

Up next: What's the worst line to be in at DHS? How'd we get a laugh from the crowd in the Tower of Terror library? And will we eat anything that is not ice cream tonight?

[Dugette]

Mmmm...Tonga Toast! That looked heavenly! And the ice cream cookie counts as one snack?! I am so going to gain 10 pounds when we go. Enjoyed reading your update!

I love that Tonga Toast picture too! I definitely have to have some of that again! And, yes, the ice cream cookie is just one snack credit! And it's HUGE. I don't think the picture even does it justice. Very yummy, though. Share one amongst your whole family or have it for a meal :)

[Goofy442]

Yes I did just get back, weather could have been a little warmer but everyone said it was me:confused3 but I like it really really hot. Lines were long on somedays but not bad. DHS is where my son works so we did that park in no time (thanks to some friends we went right on). I want to go back during the Flower & Garden Festival and stay at The Boardwalk. That's funny everytime Off Kilter is palying we have to stop for my DH. My kids get so mad how many times must we see this. When we were there we ate at B & C and had the Kitchen Sink. I had seen it before but didn't know what they do when they bring it to your table. I thought I was going to crawl under the table my DS knew what was coming and started :laughing: :rotfl:. But we ate the whole thing and we were really full. It feeds four people and I thought well there is four of us so we will see. When she tolds us what was in there :scared1: I'm just glad we weren't counting calories

[Dugette]

Yes I did just get back, weather could have been a little warmer but everyone said it was me:confused3 but I like it really really hot. Lines were long on somedays but not bad. DHS is where my son works so we did that park in no time (thanks to some friends we went right on). I want to go back during the Flower & Garden Festival and stay at The Boardwalk. That's funny everytime Off Kilter is palying we have to stop for my DH. My kids get so mad how many times must we see this. When we were there we ate at B & C and had the Kitchen Sink. I had seen it before but didn't know what they do when they bring it to your table. I thought I was going to crawl under the table my DS knew what was coming and started :laughing: :rotfl:. But we ate the whole thing and we were really full. It feeds four people and I thought well there is four of us so we will see. When she tolds us what was in there :scared1: I'm just glad we weren't counting calories
Welcome back, glad you had a good trip! That's cool that your son works at DHS! Wow, you tackled the Kitchen Sink! I bet it was yummy. It was pretty fun to watch them put one together. And they really do make quite a production of presenting it!

[cinderella crazy]

DH loves Off Kilter. I had to promise him we could stop and watch them this trip.

I too don't ride the orange side on Mission Space. I did it one time and that was enough for me. Green side rules! :thumbsup2

I don't know when, but we are definately going to have to go to Beaches and Cream and at least get a No Way Jose. Maybe even a Kitchen Sink. I wonder how many calories are in each of those. Wait! Since you're in Disney, it's fat free and calorie free. Right? :rolleyes1

[Dugette]

DH loves Off Kilter. I had to promise him we could stop and watch them this trip.

I too don't ride the orange side on Mission Space. I did it one time and that was enough for me. Green side rules! :thumbsup2

I don't know when, but we are definately going to have to go to Beaches and Cream and at least get a No Way Jose. Maybe even a Kitchen Sink. I wonder how many calories are in each of those. Wait! Since you're in Disney, it's fat free and calorie free. Right? :rolleyes1
Dug definitely enjoyed Off Kilter, and so did I. Wouldn't mind stopping to watch them for a little longer sometime.

I'm very curious what the Orange side of Mission Space is like, but I'm thinking it wouldn't be wise for me to go on it, since any ride with intense spinning (i.e. Tilt-a-Whirl, etc.) hurts my head. I'm not so much worried about my stomach as I am about ending up with a horrible headache.

It's funny how something as calorific as a No Way Jose can look positively dinky compared to a Kitchen Sink! And, yes, with all the walking you do at Disney, I believe all the food is calorie free! :thumbsup2

[laura74]

Just found your report and am really enjoying it. We're leaving in about a week and a half and planning on trying the 4 parks in a day challenge. I don't know if we'll be able to do all the headliners though because we'll have two roller coaster-leery eight year olds. I'm trying to figure out which park would be best to go to first. I had also thought AK would be best to go to in the morning. But then I guess there's no chance of TSM in DHS. Decisions, decisions...

[mom2mek]

Loved the Epcot and B&C update! That ice cream looks good! One of these days we will make it over there for the Kitchen Sink. I've only ever been there once (and it was with girlfriends) and we made the mistake of eating first (really good burgers though) - and then we couldn't get the Kitchen Sink since we were too full! Ended up splitting a regular sundae similar to the No Way Jose! I can't remember which one right now - something with brownies! It was delicious! Anyway...carry on....popcorn::

Sara

[Mouse's Shadow]

Found the thread last night. I'm hooked. Going with friends in Oct. It will be my first time at the Poly:cloud9:. It looks like the tonga toast is a must. I'm very impressed with the 4 parks in a day idea, but I don't know if I could do it.

I have a son in a wheelchair. The stops on Buzz, probably, were to allow wheelchairs on and they have to be strapped down, before the ride can continue. This also happens on WP. HM, PoC and SE at Epcot (to name a few) stop to allow us to transfer from the chair to the ride, which for us can take longer than the rides where they put the chair on.

Can't wait for the next installment.popcorn::

[praisehisname]

I've already pulled together my video into an 8-minute synopsis.

Loved the videos!

I'm very impressed with your "4 parks 1 day" so far! Can't wait to hear about the ToT library...:confused3

[Dugette]

Just found your report and am really enjoying it. We're leaving in about a week and a half and planning on trying the 4 parks in a day challenge. I don't know if we'll be able to do all the headliners though because we'll have two roller coaster-leery eight year olds. I'm trying to figure out which park would be best to go to first. I had also thought AK would be best to go to in the morning. But then I guess there's no chance of TSM in DHS. Decisions, decisions...
Welcome! That's cool that you're going to try 4 parks in 1 day! Here's the three pieces of advice I have, based on our day:
1.) Pick a low-crowd day. We like to check the crowd calendar on touringplans.com. The day we did it was rated a "4", which is very low-crowd.
2.) Make sure the parks have long enough hours and take advantage of EMH, if possible. We had 8-9am EMH (at AK) and 7-10pm EMH (DHS), which we felt was plenty of time. The crowds seemed to thin a bit during EMH too. And, I could be wrong, but I'm guessing that MK and Epcot were not as busy because they did NOT have EMH, so people w/o park hoppers would be stuck in AK and/or DHS.
3.) Figure out what your priorities are for this day. For us, it wasn't so much doing all the headliners, it was more that we wanted to fully experience all four parks throughout the day. And we definitely got that. If we had wanted to do all the headliners, the ones we missed were: Space Mountain, Big Thunder, and Soarin'. But, if we'd really wanted to do those that day, we could have if we'd given up the sit-down meals, the riding things twice, the wandering around the BC/YC, the listening to Off Kilter, etc.

Oh, and stay tuned--we will do Toy Story Mania! Enjoy your trip and have fun!

Loved the Epcot and B&C update! That ice cream looks good! One of these days we will make it over there for the Kitchen Sink. I've only ever been there once (and it was with girlfriends) and we made the mistake of eating first (really good burgers though) - and then we couldn't get the Kitchen Sink since we were too full! Ended up splitting a regular sundae similar to the No Way Jose! I can't remember which one right now - something with brownies! It was delicious! Anyway...carry on....popcorn::
I've heard the burgers there were good, but we were so not hungry by then! Hope you get your Kitchen Sink someday!

Found the thread last night. I'm hooked. Going with friends in Oct. It will be my first time at the Poly:cloud9:. It looks like the tonga toast is a must. I'm very impressed with the 4 parks in a day idea, but I don't know if I could do it.

I have a son in a wheelchair. The stops on Buzz, probably, were to allow wheelchairs on and they have to be strapped down, before the ride can continue. This also happens on WP. HM, PoC and SE at Epcot (to name a few) stop to allow us to transfer from the chair to the ride, which for us can take longer than the rides where they put the chair on.

Can't wait for the next installment.popcorn::
Welcome! Enjoy the Poly! And definitely try some Tonga Toast!

That's good to know about the wheelchairs. I wonder if that was what happened on Buzz? I didn't see anything, but I had plenty of distraction. (Although, the Winnie the Pooh and Toy Story Mania breakdowns on our September trip for sure were not wheelchairs, as we had to get out of our vehicles mid-ride and be escorted out!)

Loved the videos!

I'm very impressed with your "4 parks 1 day" so far! Can't wait to hear about the ToT library...:confused3
Thanks, glad you enjoyed! Hope to get the rest of the day posted this weekend.

[Dugette]

It took a little bit, but eventually a boat arrived and brought us to Hollywood Studios. We arrived just before 8pm. Two Extra Magic Hours left!

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%204/DHSArrival.jpg

Once we got into the park, Dug made a stop at the restrooms just inside DHS. I leaned against a tree while waiting. Then I looked up:

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%204/DHSPalmTrees.jpg

Boy those are tall!

DHS is so pretty all lit up at night:

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%204/DHSLights.jpg

We passed a DVC booth:

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%204/DHSSecret.jpg

This became a running joke throughout our trip because all their advertising is “Disney’s best-kept secret!” Really? :scratchin Do they really think so? Because it’s on the sides of busses, billboards, booths everywhere you go, etc. If Disney’s idea of keeping a secret is putting it on the sides of busses, they have to re-think that! So, every time we saw DVC, we’d say to each other, “Oh, look, it’s a secret!!!” :ssst: Just silly. :laughing:

Anyway, we had checked the tip board and the waits didn’t look too bad. We decided to go to the Tower of Terror first. The posted wait time was only 10 minutes. It was basically a walk-on. There was a lady and her son in front of us in the line that had a Hidden Mickeys book. We have this book, but haven’t really looked at it much. But this woman was desperately trying to find a Hidden Mickey in the boiler room. Dug spotted one on the wall and showed her and she was thrilled! :earsboy:

We made our way into the library/pre-show area. The CM announced, “Your rooms are not ready yet”. I whispered to Dug, and he repeated out loud to the nearby guests, “Will you send us a text message when they’re ready?” We got a few laughs from the people around us. I mean, if you’re staying at a Disney resort, this probably sounds familiar. :rotfl:

This was a good ride on the Tower of Terror. I actually videotaped the whole thing! It’s different riding this when both of your hands are wrapped around a camera you’re holding in the air. You definitely float off your seat! But I held onto the camera and got some cool, but blurry footage. We actually saw a ghost on one of our drops…we’d never seen that one before. And, of course, the view of DHS at night is so pretty.

Once we exited, we decided to check on the wait time for RnRC. Sign said 50 minutes! Yuck. We’re not really line people…we either get in short lines or do Fast Pass. So, we decided to go on ToT again while we waited for the line to hopefully get shorter. It was another walk-on. I didn’t videotape this time, so I could just enjoy the ride. We ended up in the other library this time, by the way. On our first ride, someone asked the CM about a Hidden Mickey in the library. They said it was in the other one. So, we asked in this one. They said it isn’t there anymore. Oh, well. I love how the ride is always different on ToT!

Once we left there, it was about 9pm. We now remembered that RnRC had a Single Rider Line.

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%204/DHSRNRC1.jpg

There was no time posted for the SRL, so we asked the CM at the entrance and she told us it was about 15-20 minutes. Seemed reasonable. We got in line. So far, so good, we thought as we walked full-speed past the 50-minute standby line. We got up to the part right before the pre-show area and the CM there stopped us to tell us that they were closing the SRL because it was getting too long. But we were still okay? Sure, he said. And how long is the wait? 30 minutes, he said. Okay, guess we’ll stay in this line. Big mistake!

We went into the pre-show area. Aerosmith invited us along. We stepped into the limo-boarding area. The SRL goes along the back, behind the standby line. There were a lot of people. The standby line was moving. The SRL was not. We stood there, watching people go by. Occasionally, a single rider would be allowed to board. I don’t know what it is about this ride. On Test Track, single riders get put in pretty frequently. Not here. Very rare. So, we kept on waiting.

The guy in front of us was getting very frustrated. He explained to us that he was a “true” single rider (here by himself) and was really upset that he was being made to wait longer than non-singles. Many people in the SRL were saying that they should just load up a car with single riders every so often, just to move us along a bit. It wouldn’t have noticeably slowed down the standby line any. It got to the point that I was really tempted to jump over the rope and into the standby line when there was a gap between groups coming in. It was annoying knowing that we’d likely been in line longer than the people who were getting on the ride. We managed to stick it out, though.

After nearly 40 minutes, we finally got called. I was first and was talking to the family that I was to be riding with (we were not in the cars yet). They said that they had only waited 20 minutes standby. :headache: I saw Dug get called to the car behind us. I realized that I was set up to be in a front seat and Dug in a back seat. The front seats have more leg room, so I offered to trade with Dug. He was happy to trade. Went and chatted with my new family. Finally, we were in our limos and on our way:

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%204/DHSRNRC2.jpg

Such a fun ride! Anytime you can combine a roller coaster with an ‘80’s rock band, it’s gotta be good! This marks the third thing I normally don’t like, but did this day: upside-down rides. :upsidedow I really do not like to be turned upside-down on rides. It usually gives me a headache. But I like this ride, for some reason. Maybe Aerosmith makes it better, I don’t know. If we had time, I would’ve gone again. But it was about 9:45pm by the time we got out of there.

We decided to take our chances on the TSM line for our last ride. We normally do not wait in the standby line for TSM. We go immediately at opening, which is pretty much a walk-on. Or we go with Fast Passes. So, we weren’t sure what to expect, but the standby sign only said 30 minutes, plus we figured they might be inflating that since it was near closing time. We didn’t mind waiting in line a bit, though, as we never have really gotten to enjoy all the stuff to look at. One of our books pointed out the detail in the crayons—some are new, some are well-used:

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%204/DHSTSM1.jpg

Turns out that the wait was only 20 minutes! Not bad! I think it helped that it was close to the end of an EMH night. We hopped on, after having briefly reviewed some tips while in line (using Dug’s iPhone). We did fairly well: Dug got 136,800 and I got 133,100 (with higher accuracy).

After the ride, we strolled out to a bench across the street and rested our feet for a bit, waiting for the park to clear out. This was our view:

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%204/DHSTSM2.jpg

We also saw this giant outlet:

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%204/DHSOutlet.jpg

Where was this when Dug was looking for outlets to charge his iPhone??? :laughing:

Once we had rested a bit, we slowly made our way out of the park:

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%204/DHSLeaving.jpg

If you’ve ever wondered what a Sorcerer Mickey party hat would look like:

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%204/DHSPartyHat.jpg

We were out of DHS around 10:30pm. Took the bus back to Port Orleans. First order of business was to see if our new camera had arrived. Went to the front desk and, sure enough, we had a package. Woohoo! Finally, a real camera again! :cool1:

Next, we went to Riverside Mill, as we had yet to eat any real (non-ice-cream) food since brunch. One of the things on our list to try was the make-your-own pasta. I had read about it on a TR once and it sounded yummy. Plus, it was still open!

We were still not terribly hungry, so decided to split a CS credit. We got penne with pesto and a bunch of veggies (I don’t remember which anymore). It came with a piece of bread. I believe we passed on dessert and got an extra drink instead. One of our drinks was O.J., don’t remember the other. Or who had what. It was fun to watch them make the pasta...they do it right in front of you. Here’s the meal:

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%204/DHSPasta.jpg

That’s only half the pasta, by the way. It was a large serving and we had already split it into two containers. It was very tasty! It was a nice meal, in an empty seating area, after a busy day. We reflected on all that we’d done that day. It was a truly fun day. After dinner, we took the pretty stroll across the river to our room and fell right asleep!

Back when we were on the bus ride home to POR, Dug had tweeted some tips for doing 4 parks in 1 day. Here are his tips:

• Make time to eat & drink. Easy to get dehydrated. Pack snacks in case you run out of time.

• Early magic and evening magic on same day helps. Day where one park open till midnight could be good too. 14-16 hours helps.

• Be realistic. You have time for 3-5 rides per park, depending on wait times for rides. Big rides are doable.

• Offseason helps. Touring Plans crowd calendar said today was a 4. We rarely waited long, partly by choice.

• Lines from Touring Plans gives a good idea for wait times. Helps you pick which rides have short waits.

• Use FP strategically. In each park 2-3 hours, so long return times don't work. Short returns let you FP a couple rides.

• Listen to WDW Today podcast. They have the best advice for all things in Disney World!

• Have fun! Not something to do every day, but fun to try. Tiring, but no worse than full day of commando touring.

• Tip from wife: slow down & smell the audio-animatronic roses! There is time to take in the magic & that's so much more fun.

That last tip is mine and I really think it was key. We did so many offbeat things that it didn’t feel like a big commando-touring kind of day. It was actually surprisingly relaxed. We had a leisurely meal at Kona. We spent a fair amount of time exploring the Beach Club. We hung out for a decent chunk of Off Kilter’s performance. We never really felt like we were in a rush to get anywhere. We just got to do a lot of different stuff in different parks that day. When I think back on our trip to various things that I enjoyed, a lot of them happened to be on this day. Oh, by the way, we didn’t end up walking too much further this day than we did the other days—about 24,500 steps total.

Up next: We spend more than 2 hours in Animal Kingdom! We also explore the French Quarter and have yummy treats! And we take lots and lots of pictures!

[burly]

all four parks! wow. :thumbsup2
I bet it was nice to get your hands on that new camera! popcorn::

[MiaBella05]

popcorn:: joining in popcorn::

[Mouse's Shadow]

I can't wait to see what your next day brings. Did you sleep in? Lay by the pool? or do another 24,000 steps. 4 parks in one day, you're my heroes.:worship:

[Goofy442]

:thumbsup2 Great update. When we got back from our trip we talked about what we saw and what we missed. We missed alot and not having a plan everyday was nice.

[cinderella crazy]

I love it when ToT is walk-on! It's like a dream come true!

That's crazy about the single rider line! Wonder why they did it that way?

That make your own pasta sounds yummy! I had never heard of that before.

Can't wait to see pictures from the new camera!

[Dugette]

all four parks! wow. :thumbsup2
I bet it was nice to get your hands on that new camera! popcorn::
Yes, Dug was thrilled to have a camera in his hands again. As you will see in the upcoming post...

popcorn:: joining in popcorn::
:welcome: Enjoy!

I can't wait to see what your next day brings. Did you sleep in? Lay by the pool? or do another 24,000 steps. 4 parks in one day, you're my heroes.:worship:
Thanks! Our next day is not quite as crazy, but we do get up at a reasonable time and spend our day in a park. But, not quite 24k steps...

:thumbsup2 Great update. When we got back from our trip we talked about what we saw and what we missed. We missed alot and not having a plan everyday was nice.
Thanks! And anything you miss on one Disney trip just gives you an excuse to go back...

I love it when ToT is walk-on! It's like a dream come true!

That's crazy about the single rider line! Wonder why they did it that way?

That make your own pasta sounds yummy! I had never heard of that before.

Can't wait to see pictures from the new camera!
Yes, ToT walk-on would be your dream come true, wouldn't it? I love it at night too...all the pretty lights and it's a little more spooky. So, maybe aim for late night on an EMH night to walk on?

Avoid RnRC single rider line at all costs! I don't think I'll ever go back in that again!

The pasta was yummy! Dug even had some another night too.

[Dugette]

I don't remember what the time was, but we actually got up reasonably early this morning. We had Animal Kingdom planned for the day and wanted to get a trip to Rafiki's Planet Watch in before our lunch ADR at Tusker House.

But first, we had to cross another item off our "try with snack credit" list. So, we headed out of our room at Riverside and made the short stroll over to the French Quarter (well, first I still had a small bowl of Reese's Puffs :thumbsup2 ). The weather was beautiful again. :sunny: I believe the high was forecasted to be in the 70's and it was already nice and sunny with blue skies :cloud9: I think we really lucked out with the weather on this trip. It was really nice most every day. The only real rain we got was that first night.

Anyway, since we had the new camera now, I think I'll just let Dug's picture-taking-frenzy tell the story of our walk to POFQ:

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%205/P1000002.jpg

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%205/P1000003.jpg

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%205/P1000006.jpg

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%205/P1000009.jpg

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%205/P1000010.jpg

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%205/P1000011.jpg

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%205/P1000012.jpg

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%205/P1000013.jpg

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%205/P1000016.jpg

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%205/P1000017.jpg

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%205/P1000018.jpg

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%205/P1000019.jpg

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%205/P1000020.jpg

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%205/P1000021.jpg

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%205/P1000023.jpg

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%205/P1000026.jpg

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%205/P1000027.jpg

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%205/P1000030.jpg

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%205/P1000032.jpg

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%205/P1000033.jpg

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%205/P1000035.jpg

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%205/P1000038.jpg

That snack/breakfast you see above is Beignets. Dug had been really looking forward to them. He thought they were okay, but not as good as he was hoping for. Since I hadn't known what to expect, I thought they were good. We also split a drink with another snack credit.

Beignet advice: don't eat them at an outside table in the breeze! They are full of powdered sugar and it blows everywhere...both of us were getting coated in powdered sugar.

After we finished eating and looking around POFQ, we headed to the bus stop to catch a bus to Animal Kingdom.

Up next: Lions and tigers and buffets, oh my!

[Mouse's Shadow]

Love the pictures. POR is such a beautiful place. We stayed there the last trip, but never made to POFQ. I love seeing the blue sky in your pictures. It's a wonderful diversion from a wintery Ohio.

[Goofy442]

Great pictures with your new camera. :thumbsup2 Where are all the people or did you get up with the roosters.

[Dugette]

Great pictures with your new camera. :thumbsup2 Where are all the people or did you get up with the roosters.

Thanks! You know, I can't remember when we got up, but it couldn't have been terribly early. According to Dug's tweets, we got to Animal Kingdom around 10:30am...and we went there right after eating our Beignets. Just a quiet morning, I guess.

[Dugette]

Love the pictures. POR is such a beautiful place. We stayed there the last trip, but never made to POFQ. I love seeing the blue sky in your pictures. It's a wonderful diversion from a wintery Ohio.

I love the blue skies too! It's a good diversion from not-so-wintery-but-very-gloomy MN too. POR was surprisingly pretty. It seemed really peaceful. And I loved the river! It was also nice that our building was really close to POFQ.

[RedPanda]

I'm really enjoying your trip report! We'll be staying at POR soon, so I loved those pics. I hope someday to try the 4 parks in 1 day thing -- I have a feeling it won't be on this next trip, though. ;)

I love your userpic, by the way! I really hope we get to see Dug and the rest of the Up bunch on our trip.

[honeydiane1953]

What kind make model of camera? Great pix and am enjoying your TR.

[A&Bmama]

Dugette,

I can't believe that I just realized you were currently writing a TR.

I found it yesterday and have read every bit and am enjoying it very much!

I love that you tried a taste of the poly and wilderness lodge before settling in at POR. It has me thinking...the only drawback for me is that it might be a little more cumbersome to switch resorts when you have luggage for 4 people rather than 2. We would most likely have a rental car that would make it easier I would think.

Four parks is one day. Wow. It's a good thing you guys are up for the walking that this requires! Looks like a lot of fun but I don't think I would ever attempt it unless for some reason I wouldn't be going to the parks the next day.

As for the impetego, my DD had it as a toddler in her armpit, If I remember correctly it did take awhile to clear up. I think I put the ointment on and taped a teflon coated badage over it. Not fun, thanfully no one else caught it from her. I haven't a clue where she got it in the first place, she wasn't attending a daycare or school at the time. Just one of those things I guess.
I hope Dug got some relief.

[Dugette]

I'm really enjoying your trip report! We'll be staying at POR soon, so I loved those pics. I hope someday to try the 4 parks in 1 day thing -- I have a feeling it won't be on this next trip, though. ;)

I love your userpic, by the way! I really hope we get to see Dug and the rest of the Up bunch on our trip.
Looks like your trip is coming up soon! Have a great time! I thought POR was really pretty. The rooms are fairly standard, but the surroundings are impressive.

I hope you get to see the Up bunch too. I had regretted bypassing them on our Sept. 2009 trip, so we made sure to catch them this time. I had to have a picture for my avatar! :)

What kind make model of camera? Great pix and am enjoying your TR.
Thanks! The camera is a Panasonic Lumix DMC-FS15 in blue:
http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%205/DMC-FS15.jpg

Dugette,

I can't believe that I just realized you were currently writing a TR.

I found it yesterday and have read every bit and am enjoying it very much!

I love that you tried a taste of the poly and wilderness lodge before settling in at POR. It has me thinking...the only drawback for me is that it might be a little more cumbersome to switch resorts when you have luggage for 4 people rather than 2. We would most likely have a rental car that would make it easier I would think.

Four parks is one day. Wow. It's a good thing you guys are up for the walking that this requires! Looks like a lot of fun but I don't think I would ever attempt it unless for some reason I wouldn't be going to the parks the next day.

As for the impetego, my DD had it as a toddler in her armpit, If I remember correctly it did take awhile to clear up. I think I put the ointment on and taped a teflon coated badage over it. Not fun, thanfully no one else caught it from her. I haven't a clue where she got it in the first place, she wasn't attending a daycare or school at the time. Just one of those things I guess.
I hope Dug got some relief.
:welcome: Glad you came over!

I'm really glad that we had the chance to try out some different resorts on this trip. I have heard that it's easier to resort-hop when you have a rental car, but we really didn't have any problems without. We gave out more tips than we would have staying in one place, as so many people were handling our luggage, but all went quite smoothly. With a rental car, you could just throw everything in the trunk and move it yourself.

Impetigo is no fun! Sounds like your daughter was like Dug in that we have no idea how he got it. And it definitely took some time to heal.


Hope to get another update up sometime soon. With the new camera in Dug's hands, there are SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO many pictures, many of them pretty good, so between that and my indecisiveness, this is a lot of work. I think the next update will be many posts long, due to pictures.

[Dugette]

We took the bus from French Quarter over to Animal Kingdom:

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%205/AK1entrance.jpg

Because we'd just done the headliners the previous day, we were taking a more relaxed approach this morning. We actually had time to wander through the Oasis and take in the sights:

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%205/AK2waterfall.jpg

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%205/AK3animals.jpg

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%205/AK4waterfalls.jpg

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%205/AK5animal.jpg

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%205/AK6animal2.jpg

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%205/AK7bird.jpg

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%205/AK8bridge.jpg

We love the theming in Animal Kingdom. Lots of cool little touches. Here's a couple of signs we liked:

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%205/AK9sign.jpg

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%205/AK10sign2.jpg

And the cool ladybug lights:

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%205/AK11ladybugs.jpg

We entered Africa:

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%205/AK12Africa.jpg

Here's another one of those cool Disney theming things. Notice how the concrete is made to look old and broken:

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%205/AK13scenery.jpg

We made it to Harambe:

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%205/AK14Harambe.jpg

While in Harambe, we picked up Fast Passes for the safari.

We encountered some lonely characters, so we took some pictures:

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%205/AK15character.jpg

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%205/AK16characters.jpg

You can see the fun Dug was still having with his lips in that picture. It was hard for him to smile.

One of the things we'd been hoping to encounter on our last trip was Devine. We hadn't found her in September, so we wandered a bit looking for her now. I believe we asked a CM who pointed us in her direction. And here's what we found:

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%205/AK17Devine1.jpg

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%205/AK18Devine2.jpg

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%205/AK19Devine3.jpg

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%205/AK20Devine4.jpg

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%205/AK21Devine5.jpg

In that last picture, she was staying completely still in that position for quite awhile. The crowd that had been watching her when she moved was still watching her. But the people who were just walking by all kept looking at the wall in confusion, wondering what we were all looking at. :confused3 I found it pretty amusing. The people walking by had absolutely no clue that the vine on the wall was a human! :laughing:

After this encounter, we made our way to the train for Rafiki's Planet Watch.

Continued in next post...

[Dugette]

Dug really wanted to check out Rafiki's Planet Watch. It was something we hadn't done on our commando-style September trip, but we had more time for these secondary attractions on this trip. Here's the train:

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%205/AK22train.jpg

We passed the "backstage" areas where animals spend their "days off":

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%205/AK23elephantbldg.jpg

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%205/AK24elephant.jpg

The view of the RPW building from the train was pretty cool:

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%205/AK25rpwsign.jpg

Rafiki was waiting to greet us when we disembarked from the train:

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%205/AK26Rafikisign.jpg

This Cotton Top Tamarin was showing off for us:

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%205/AK27animal.jpg

Once inside the building, there were a lot of exhibits lining the walls. Here's one I found amusing:

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%205/1whatarewedoing.jpg

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%205/2whatwearedoing.jpg

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%205/3fecesspecies.jpg

I also found a turtle that was trying so hard to eat a giant piece of whatever turtles eat. He was having such a hard time, because the food was as big as his head and his little arms just couldn't hold it:

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%205/4turtle1.jpg

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%205/5turtle2.jpg

I also spotted a Semi-Hidden Mickey by the turtles:

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%205/6turtlesmickey.jpg

There were a couple of characters around:

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%205/7jiminy.jpg

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%205/8rafiki.jpg

We also discovered the best place to take a nap in the parks! :cloud9: There were a bunch of little booths (private rooms with doors and signs that say "in use" when you're in them) that are dark and have headphones to listen to various nature audio programs. I think our audio program was about rainforests. Which sometimes sound peaceful, but also can sound loud and startling when you're drifting off on your cushion in the dark... At least during the non-busy seasons, these are great little private nap rooms ;)

They had announced an upcoming animal appearance/presentation, so we hung around to see what that would be. Turned out to be this creature:

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%205/AK28snake.jpg

After a few minutes, we decided that we'd seen enough snake and didn't need to pet it, so we headed out to the petting zoo. There were goats:

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%205/AK29goats.jpg

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%205/AK30goat.jpg

After a little while out there, we decided we'd seen enough of Rafiki's Planet Watch. It's nice to experience once, but wasn't anything we'd consider a must-do. I think it would be more ideal to bring little kids to. We headed back to the train station and caught the train back to the main part of the park:

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%205/AK31wildlifeexpress.jpg

Continued in next post...

[Dugette]

We headed back into Harambe:

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%205/AK32backtoHarambe.jpg

It was time to use our safari fast passes:

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%205/AK33safaridriver.jpg

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%205/AK34safari1.jpg

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%205/AK35safari2.jpg

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%205/AK36safari3.jpg

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%205/AK37safari4.jpg

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%205/AK38safari5.jpg

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%205/AK39safari6.jpg

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%205/AK40safari7.jpg

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%205/AK41safari8.jpg

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%205/AK42safari9.jpg

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%205/AK43safari10.jpg

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%205/AK44safari11.jpg

After our safari, we grabbed some more fast passes for later (but didn't end up using them). Then we checked out the gorillas:

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%205/AK45gorillanap.jpg

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%205/AK46waterfall.jpg

Also saw the monkeys:

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%205/9monkeys.jpg

Then we trekked the Pangani Forest Trail:

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%205/AK47Panganisign.jpg

These guys were cute:

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%205/AK48cuteanimals.jpg

A CM gave us a lot of info on the Naked Mole Rats. For one, they have a queen. Also, they organize all their little holes into rooms, as we do with our homes. They have bedrooms, bathrooms, dining rooms, etc. Never would have noticed otherwise, but if you take a close look at their display, you can see it:

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%205/AK49molerats.jpg

We saw some other critters:

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%205/AK50frog.jpg

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%205/AK51bird.jpg

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%205/AK52fish.jpg

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%205/AK53ducksnfish.jpg

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%205/10bird.jpg

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%205/11prairiedog.jpg

Continued in next post...

[Dugette]

Here we are, enjoying the AK:

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%205/AK54usbywaterfall.jpg

Dug found a wall with artwork done by kids. It was super impressive:

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%205/AK56artwall.jpg

We were especially impressed with this one:

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%205/AK55elephantart.jpg

A couple more animals:

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%205/AK57bigfish.jpg

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%205/AK58justchillin.jpg

Now it was time for our 1:30pm ADR at Tusker House:

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%205/Tuskersign.jpg

We had reserved the Finding Nemo lunch package. If you have this package, you get priority seating for the 3:15pm Nemo show. But you have to be at the show half an hour early to get into the special section. And Tusker House was making us wait quite awhile to be seated. We weren't liking the timing of all this. A 1:30pm ADR, a wait to be seated, a big buffet, a hike over to Nemo, and you have to be there by 2:45pm? Wasn't looking promising. Dug went up and talked to a CM and was able to exchange our 3:15pm Nemo voucher for a 4:45pm (4:15pm seating) voucher. Good, more time to enjoy our meal! And, finally, we were seated. This was our (empty-ish) section:

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%205/Tuskerroom.jpg

Here's the buffet area:

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%205/Tuskerbuffet.jpg

And the ceiling:

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%205/Tuskerceiling.jpg

And, finally, the food:

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%205/Tuskerfood2.jpg

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%205/Tuskerfood3.jpg

Notice my awesome combination plate in the back of this one. It has soup, corn dog nuggets, corn bread, and desserts. Yummy! :

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%205/Tuskerfood1.jpg

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%205/Tuskerfood4.jpg

We enjoyed Tusker House.

Up next: Spending the afternoon and EMH at the Animal Kingdom. Will it be busy at night? Will it be empty at night? How many times will we ride Everest? All this and more, coming up!

[cmp1111]

Nice day! Rafiki's is an "eh" for me, too, and the last time we went my kids were 6. :confused3

How was the food at Tusker House? We ate there when it was QS and not a buffet, and it was good, but I've not heard much about it since the changeover.

[Dugette]

Nice day! Rafiki's is an "eh" for me, too, and the last time we went my kids were 6. :confused3

How was the food at Tusker House? We ate there when it was QS and not a buffet, and it was good, but I've not heard much about it since the changeover.

Good to know we're not the only ones that felt that way about Rafiki's.

We thought Tusker House was pretty good. The food is similar to Boma, but I still prefer Boma. This was good, though. We had no complaints and filled ourselves up pretty good :) I must say that I was glad they had corn dog nuggets (pretty sure that was at the kids' table), since we never made it to Casey's on this trip! Good little substitute!

[reyasmommy]

Great update(s) .... I love all the photos. TR's loaded with photos are my favorite! :thumbsup2

We did Rafiki's for the first time on our vacation last week and we rather enjoyed it. I'm not sure if it's something we'd do again but I'm glad that we did. My 4 year old loved the actual train ride and the petting zoo.

I'm sad that missed out on Nemo and Devine this trip. So thanks for sharing your photos.

I look forward to reading more and looking at your fabulous pictures. :goodvibes

[Dugette]

Great update(s) .... I love all the photos. TR's loaded with photos are my favorite! :thumbsup2

We did Rafiki's for the first time on our vacation last week and we rather enjoyed it. I'm not sure if it's something we'd do again but I'm glad that we did. My 4 year old loved the actual train ride and the petting zoo.

I'm sad that missed out on Nemo and Devine this trip. So thanks for sharing your photos.

I look forward to reading more and looking at your fabulous pictures. :goodvibes
Thanks! If you like pictures, I think you'll enjoy the rest of this TR :goodvibes There are a lot!

Glad your family enjoyed Rafiki's. I can definitely see how it would be more entertaining to small children than it was to us. It just didn't seem much different than anything we could experience at our local zoo.

Glad you enjoyed the Devine photos. She's pretty fun to watch. We're glad that CM helped us find her!

More pictures coming up soon!

[Dugette]

I should mention (and, if you read our PTR, you may have noticed) we deviated from our original plans a fair amount this day. We had planned to either hit some headliners in DHS in the morning or have an easy morning at POR. However, we'd ended up doing the DHS headliners the night before. And, although we had a somewhat lazy morning, we still had time to spend in AK before lunch. And we were curious about RPW. The upcoming afternoon/evening follows our plans a little bit more closely, but there are still some changes, especially later in the evening. It was fun to make some spontaneous changes during this trip. But, back to the narrative:

When we finished lunch at Tusker House, I sprinted over to Everest to check for Fast Passes. It was about 3pm and they were all out. Oh, well. I quickly made my way back and met up with Dug just in time for a show.

Flights of Wonder was next on our agenda. We enjoyed this show on our last trip and wanted to go again...I especially wanted to get some good video to show my step-mom, since she's a big bird-lover. Dug took a lot of pictures, which was good since my video camera battery died during the show (towards the end, though).

Here's a still frame from my video. It's Miles, the Trumpeter Hornbill, eating the grape he caught in mid-air:

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%205/Bird1Miles.jpg

Next, here's a picture of Groucho, the singing Parrot:

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%205/Bird1Groucho.jpg

Next up was Harley, the African Pied Crow. We didn't get any great pictures of him, but he retrieved (and returned) a dollar bill from someone in the audience.

After Harley, JJ the Great Horned Owl made an appearance. The cool thing about having my video is that I can pull some fun still frames from it. Here he is flying towards the back of the audience:

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%205/Bird2JJowl.jpg

Many of the birds ended up flying right over our heads. The owl was supposed to land in the back, then fly back to the stage, going just over the heads of two audience members with cameras that had been brought up on stage. Well, JJ the owl really was not interested in the return flight. He stubbornly sat in the back, with everyone watching him. You can kind-of see the amusement on his face:

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%205/Bird2JJ.jpg

After a couple of minutes of prodding, he finally gave up and returned to the stage. Next up was "Baby Webster", the baby vulture:

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%205/Bird3Webster.jpg

He was followed by this Harris Hawk:

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%205/Bird4Harris.jpg

At some point in the show, I had noticed the row of Hidden Mickeys on the set. Dug snapped this shot of one of Mickey's cousins running along the row:

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%205/Bird3Mouse.jpg

Next guest was "Fraser Crane", the Crane:

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%205/Bird4Fraser.jpg

They also brought out a Bald Eagle:

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%205/Bird5Eagle.jpg

These birds at the end of the show were pretty:

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%205/Bird6blue.jpg

After the show, we found ourselves with enough time to do the Maharajah Jungle Trek before we had to be at the Finding Nemo show. We must have seen these guys on the way over to the MJT:

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%205/MJT1monkeys.jpg

Here are some of the animals and the impressively-imagineered scenery from the trail:

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%205/MJT2sign.jpg

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%205/MJT3.jpg

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%205/MJT4.jpg

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%205/MJT5.jpg

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%205/MJT6.jpg

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%205/MJT7.jpg

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%205/MJT8.jpg

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%205/MJT9.jpg

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%205/MJT10.jpg

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%205/MJT11.jpg

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%205/MJT12.jpg

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%205/MJT13.jpg

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%205/MJT14.jpg

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%205/MJT15.jpg

Continued in next post...

[Dugette]

More Maharajah Jungle Trek scenery:

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%205/MJT16.jpg

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%205/MJT17.jpg

These next two are a couple of my favorite (action) shots. I think there was a mating chase going on:

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%205/MJT18chase1.jpg

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%205/MJT19chase2.jpg

More scenery:

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%205/MJT20.jpg

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%205/MJT21water.jpg

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%205/MJT22.jpg

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%205/MJT23.jpg

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%205/MJT24.jpg

Pretty bird:

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%205/MJT25.jpg

Elaborate birdhouses:

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%205/MJT26birdhouse1.jpg

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%205/MJT27birdhouse2.jpg

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%205/MJT28birdhouse3.jpg

Now it was time to head over to Finding Nemo. We arrived and were directed around to the side of the building for our "priority seating." There was a section in the front right and we were allowed to sit anywhere we wanted in it. We ended up sitting several rows back from the stage, right next to the walkway part of the stage that the actors use in some scenes. Then came the waiting for the show to start.

We were a little sleepy and tried to rest a bit. At one point, I noticed kids calling out "Nemo!!!" in unison. It took me awhile to see that they were spotting Nemo randomly appearing in the bubbles at the sides of the stage. But, once you see him, it's somewhat addictive to keep watching for his appearances.

The show started. The seats were good...felt right in the middle of the action at times. We enjoyed the show (we also saw it last September, but it's worth repeating).

During the show, I believe the park officially closed to the public and Extra Magic Hours began. This would be our first time being at AK in the evening. Our first order of business was to see the Festival of the Lion King show. We loved it last time and wanted to see it again. On our walk over, we saw this guy:

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%205/EMH1dino.jpg

We also found out where all the birds go to sleep at night. Very cool:

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%205/EMH2bird1.jpg

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%205/EMH3bird2.jpg

We also saw these guys hanging out in Camp Minnie-Mickey:

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%205/EMH4donald.jpg

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%205/EMH5fishing.jpg

As usual, FOTLK was great!

AK doesn't have a lot open in the evening, so we just planned to hit the headliners and hope the lines weren't too bad. I can't remember when, but at one point we stopped by Kali River Rapids, but it was apparently closed for EMH and we were shooed away. That was okay with me. I had no interest in getting wet. It worked out well on our September trip that it rained all day when we were at AK, so getting wet on Kali was no big deal--we already had ponchos on! We actually went twice in a row that time. But it was chilly and dry this evening, so it was probably good it was closed!

Anyway, we made our way over to try our luck with Expedition Everest. Turned out that it was a walk-on! Awesome!!

Then, we made the hike over to Dinosaur. It was also a walk-on! I know some people don't like Dinosaur at all, but we enjoy it enough. It's not the best ride ever, and it is pretty rough, but it's enjoyable. I especially like the video on the monitors at the end, showing the dino roaming the halls of the Institute! They have a good sense of humor on this one.

There was another attraction in Dinoland open for EMH, but we were avoiding it like the plague: Primeval Whirl. We've only ridden it once and it was during that rainy day in September I mentioned before. It was somewhat traumatic. While we were waiting in line, a girl (maybe 13 or so?) got out of her ride vehicle and slipped on the wet pavement. She fell hard, her head hitting the pavement...right by the edge of the ride vehicle. It looked like it was going to run over her head. It was quite horrifying. Luckily, she was helped up quickly and appeared to be okay. Very scary, though. So, of course, we already weren't feeling real good about Primeval Whirl after witnessing that. But we went on anyway. We HATED it!!! Dug is a bigger guy and he and I shared a seat on the right side of the car (I was on the outside). Two other people were seated on the left side of our car. If you've been on this ride, you can probably imagine how completely squished I was during all the spins. So, I was in pain the whole time AND it was still raining, so we were getting wet too. I couldn't even tell you what the ride itself was really like, I was trying too hard not to end up with any lasting injuries :eek: So, yeah, we were skipping that EMH attraction.

Next, we went to It's Tough to Be a Bug. Another attraction with no wait. In fact, it was the opposite of a wait. As we were making our way down the long and rambling queue, there were a couple announcements that the show would be starting very soon and we should make our way quickly to the entrance. We were cruising through the line pretty fast...it went on forever! Finally, we reached the entrance and got in. Enjoyed the show. We saw it once last September, so we were a little more prepared for the "exiting bugs" at the end.

Then it was back to Everest, because we really wanted to ride it while it was dark outside:

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%205/EMH6everest.jpg

Despite what appeared to be crowds of youth outside of it, we were able to walk right on again! We requested and got the front seat. Nice view! Once we got out of our train, we decided to try what we'd tried (and failed at) with Space Mountain our first night...running out and getting back in line again right at closing. Luckily, EE's exit is short and the CM at the entrance was still allowing people in. So, we got to ride again! (not the front seat, but that was okay)

It was just after 8pm at this point and the park was closed. We had originally planned to go back to our resort and have the make-your-own-pasta in the food court for dinner. However, we'd ended up having that the previous night, so we changed plans and hopped on a bus over to Animal Kingdom Lodge. We'd been thinking it would be cool to spend a little time there if we had a chance...and now we did.

Once we arrived at the AKL, we wandered around exploring the inside a little bit. It's a pretty place. We went out the back doors and enjoyed the savannah view. We saw some Zebras in the distance. Also saw an Ankole Cattle, I think.

Then we headed over to Mara. There was another item we wanted to use a snack credit on:

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%205/EMH7zebradomes.jpg

Yummy, yummy! Good appetizer before dinner :thumbsup2

After we finished munching, we took a stroll out by the pool area. It was closed for renovations, but we wanted to wander around a bit and see what it was like. Looked like it would be pretty nice when it was open.

We made our way to an animal viewing area. We took a look out of the various lookouts. We saw some flamingos. We also saw sleeping pelicans.

We saw the sign for the Night-Vision Goggles animal viewing. We got in the (short) line for it. There were only a few animals out, but we saw Elan, a Tommy, and a Vulture. It was a neat experience.

We still hadn't had dinner and we knew that we needed to get from one resort to another to go home, which is kind-of difficult. So, why not connect in Downtown Disney? And why not eat there? We'd heard that Wolfgang Puck Express was a great CS credit value, but we didn't originally have enough time scheduled in Downtown Disney to try it, so this was a good opportunity to work that in.

We took the bus from AKL to DD. It was a LONG ride. We were hungry and it was getting late, so we headed straight to WPE.

I had heard that the pizza was especially good and I love meatballs, so the meatball pizza sounded perfect! I got that with an orange juice to drink and a cookie for dessert (because they didn't have many options and it was portable, in case I wanted to save it for later). Dug got the Four Cheese Mac & Cheese with Chicken on it. It also came with a side salad. I think he got a lemonade to drink. And he got Creme Brulee for dessert. After we ordered, we sat down in the nearly empty dining room. When they brought out our food at first, it was 1/2 wrong. They put a meatball pizza in front of me, so that was good, but they put some other pasta dish (clearly not mac & cheese) in front of Dug. I think it turned out that the whole order belonged to another table. But they told me to keep the Meatball Pizza. They brought the other meal to the other table. I felt bad when I realized that the second person at the other table was probably watching me eat her pizza!

Anyway, once they got it all sorted out, here's the right food:

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%205/EMH8WPE.jpg

It was very yummy! The pizza was filling, so Dug had a little of it too. And I was too full for the cookie, so we brought it back to POR with us.

After dinner, we took a bus back to POR (Maybe it was too cold for a boat? I can't remember). We were very tired and went right to bed. 21k steps taken for the day.

Up next: What could possibly compel me to turn down a Soarin' Fast Pass and dinner at LeCellier?!?!

[cmp1111]

Great pictures! I'm glad you got to see AKL. For our first family trip, my DH declared that we were going to "do it right" and we picked AKL, savannah view. Now he refuses to go anywhere else, because he likes having breakfast, and wine at night, on the balcony with the animals. :goodvibes

But yes, the ride to DTD is a LONG one from there. :eek:

I loved all your Jungle Trek pics, and hooray for getting some extra EE rides! :thumbsup2

[lovesdumbo]

Great pictures! My DD & I arrived at WDW on that day. We went to EHM at AK. The only ride we did was Dinosaur and then we went back to AKL as we had been up early and needed to be up extra early the next day (her birthday) for the Sunrise Safari. Wonder if we crossed paths.:laughing:

[burly]

Okay I give what did compel you???popcorn::

[LuvEeyore]

Okay...What would compel you to forgo at FP to Soarin and dinner at Le Cellier?
This is making me want a Disney fix.

[disneydreamingdebby]

I'm in and all caught up! (I have a terrible habit of reading a trip report to its (current) end before posting. I am enjoying your report. I loved the four parks video. I was tired watching it though- we do tour commando even with our twin girls. (They were 6-1/2 and 7 on our trips.) I am excited that in July they will be nearly 8-1/2 and we can push even more. (Really, aside from the requests to leave the parks to go swimming, they can tour with the best!)

You said early on that you wouldn't repeat Thurs. I can't wait (but it must be bad) to see what Thurs. held.popcorn::

[Goofy442]

I love WGP foods. I have to eat there everytime we visit can't wait to go back.

[Sunset Cliffs]

Your new camera is amazing. Great pictures! The bird show pictures were very clear.

We love WGP and we always get pizza there. The pasta looked good too, so we might need to try that next time. Yay for getting to ride EE twice in a row!

[Dugette]

Great pictures! I'm glad you got to see AKL. For our first family trip, my DH declared that we were going to "do it right" and we picked AKL, savannah view. Now he refuses to go anywhere else, because he likes having breakfast, and wine at night, on the balcony with the animals. :goodvibes

But yes, the ride to DTD is a LONG one from there. :eek:

I loved all your Jungle Trek pics, and hooray for getting some extra EE rides! :thumbsup2

I would love to stay at AKL someday. It seems like such a unique resort. I'd definitely have to get a savannah view. I'd love hanging out on that balcony too!

Great pictures! My DD & I arrived at WDW on that day. We went to EHM at AK. The only ride we did was Dinosaur and then we went back to AKL as we had been up early and needed to be up extra early the next day (her birthday) for the Sunrise Safari. Wonder if we crossed paths.:laughing:

I wonder if we did cross paths? It's entirely possible! How was the Sunrise Safari? I bet that would be really cool!

Okay I give what did compel you???popcorn::

Okay...What would compel you to forgo at FP to Soarin and dinner at Le Cellier?
This is making me want a Disney fix.

I'll be working on that update tonight, so hopefully you'll know tonight or tomorrow!

I'm in and all caught up! (I have a terrible habit of reading a trip report to its (current) end before posting. I am enjoying your report. I loved the four parks video. I was tired watching it though- we do tour commando even with our twin girls. (They were 6-1/2 and 7 on our trips.) I am excited that in July they will be nearly 8-1/2 and we can push even more. (Really, aside from the requests to leave the parks to go swimming, they can tour with the best!)

You said early on that you wouldn't repeat Thurs. I can't wait (but it must be bad) to see what Thurs. held.popcorn::

Welcome! Glad you're enjoying so far. I read TRs the same way you do...I have to be fully caught up to comment. That's impressive that you do commando-style touring with your kids! Strangely enough, even though we did so much on our 4 Parks Day, it actually seemed fairly relaxed--maybe because we didn't have a strict schedule and were fairly spontaneous.

I love WGP foods. I have to eat there everytime we visit can't wait to go back.

Yes, it was pretty good. It might take me awhile to go back there, though. I'll get to that in the next update.

Your new camera is amazing. Great pictures! The bird show pictures were very clear.

We love WGP and we always get pizza there. The pasta looked good too, so we might need to try that next time. Yay for getting to ride EE twice in a row!

Thanks! EE twice is cool, but being in the front row at night, and looking out over that view and all the lights, is really cool!

[A&Bmama]

Another great update!

I would love to do Everest at night. All in all it sounds like you guys had a great day. I can't wait to hear what could possibly make you turn down soarin FPs and Le Cellier!

[cinderella crazy]

All caught up now! Wow! It's amazing the difference in picture quality.

Looks like you had a great time at AK! I would love to ride Everest at night!

Yum! Meatball pizza. It looks really good too!

Can't wait to hear about the Soarin fast passes and LeCellier (Mike keeps hoping that LeCellier will have an opening while we're there. I keep telling him not to hold his breath).

[Dugette]

Another great update!

I would love to do Everest at night. All in all it sounds like you guys had a great day. I can't wait to hear what could possibly make you turn down soarin FPs and Le Cellier!
Yes, it was a pretty good day. Unlike the next one...coming right up...

All caught up now! Wow! It's amazing the difference in picture quality.

Looks like you had a great time at AK! I would love to ride Everest at night!

Yum! Meatball pizza. It looks really good too!

Can't wait to hear about the Soarin fast passes and LeCellier (Mike keeps hoping that LeCellier will have an opening while we're there. I keep telling him not to hold his breath).

Keep checking on Le Cellier...you never know...something like my next entry could happen to someone and open up a spot for you and Mike!

[Dugette]

The plan for the day:

Up early to attend EMH at the Magic Kingdom from 8-9am. This was a highlight from our September trip, as we went on so many things in a row with no lines during that early hour. :goodvibes

Next, we hop on the monorail for Epcot. Grab some lunch at Sunshine Seasons. We did not eat there on our previous trip, but we were VERY tempted to, as the scents coming from it are amazing. I suspect that Disney is utilizing the same technology they use for the skunk on Journey Into Imagination and the chili dog on Stitch’s Great Escape in order to pump out yummy, yummy food smells from Sunshine Seasons. :rolleyes1 (And to pump out yummy, yummy popcorn smells from the popcorn carts! popcorn:: )

After lunch, the plan was to spend some time in World Showcase, maybe do some Kim Possible missions (we did the France mission on our last trip and enjoyed it). Grab a snack at the Boulangerie Patisserie. :yay: I was looking forward to trying a Napoleon and a Ham and Cheese Croissant.

After more time in World Showcase, we make our way to Canada for our most-anticipated dinner of the trip: Le Cellier! :cool1: We had not been here before, but were really looking forward to that cheese soup and steak!

Sounds like a nice day, yes? :woohoo:


The actual day (from my point of view):

Sleeping soundly. I’m a good sleeper. I like to think I’m a highly skilled sleeper. ;) I don’t wake up during the night. But I did this night. At 4:30am, to be exact. And I woke up with an upset tummy. (I’ll try not to be too gross here…but maybe don’t read this while you’re eating…don’t worry, there are no pictures!)

Headed into the bathroom, confirmed my stomach was not overly happy with its contents, but wasn’t too concerned. I’d be fine in the morning. Maybe the meatball pizza didn’t agree with me, who knows? Went back to bed. Went right back to sleep. Told you I was a good sleeper!

Woke up again awhile later. Still early, don’t remember when. Dug was still sound asleep. Needed to make another run to the bathroom. This time, I became aware that my stomach was not only unhappy with its contents, but that it was determined to evacuate its contents by any means available. :eek:

As a side note: We listened to a WDW Today podcast once where they interviewed a former janitorial cast member from WDW. He explained that throw-up is referred to as a “protein spill.” I will be using this Disney terminology in this post.

On another side note, I rarely spill protein. In fact, with the exception of one isolated incident maybe a year ago that probably involved food poisoning, I had not had a protein spill since I was 13 years old. On family vacation at Yellowstone. I’d had a lot of orange juice prior to that incident, so you can imagine I developed quite an aversion to orange juice for many years.

Anyway, I tell you all this, because there was a protein spill. And, being that meatball pizza was the last thing I ate, you can now understand why I’m not in a hurry to go back to Wolfgang Puck’s after seeing my pizza for a second time. :eek: To be clear, though, the food was not the cause—Dug had some of my pizza too and he was fine. So, don’t be afraid of WPE!

Well, that was no fun. But, last time it happened (the year-ago incident), I felt much better afterwards and the sick feelings went away immediately. So, I figured that would be the case this time too. Went back to bed. Dug didn’t even wake up!

I think the third time I woke up was morning-ish and Dug was awake. I told him that I hadn’t been feeling good. Made another bathroom visit, but luckily did not spill any protein that time. Did the next time, shortly later, though! Yuck! :crazy2:

I had a thermometer with and took my temperature. It was 99.8 degrees at that point. :sick: I tried to figure out what was going on. It didn’t seem like food poisoning…and there was nothing I had eaten that Dug hadn’t also eaten…and he was fine. It couldn’t be the seasonal flu or H1N1, as I’d been vaccinated for both far enough before our trip that the vaccines should have been fully effective. Plus, I had no respiratory issues…only stomach. It had to be just some sort of terrible stomach flu. Go figure—I spend all this time trying to avoid getting Dug’s impetigo (and I never did get it!), but I get some random stomach flu instead! Uuuugggggg! :sad2:

It was clear that I wouldn’t be able to handle the EMH at the MK, so we decided to take it easy for the morning, let me rest, and see how I was doing at lunchtime. I went back to sleep, with occasional visits to the bathroom. No more protein spills occurred, but I felt very nauseous when I did anything, except lie flat on my back. Sitting, standing, thinking of food…all of it made me feel very sick. But when I laid on my back in bed, I felt decent. Slept a lot more.

I can’t remember when, but at some point in the day, Dug called his mom. He told her that I was sick. I believe that her advice to him included sleeping in a cot and wearing a mask. Lovely! :rolleyes:

Around lunchtime, it became clear that I was still not up to going out. I didn’t want Dug to waste his whole afternoon watching me sleep, so I told him to head out to Epcot on his own. I didn’t need anything except the bed and the bathroom.

He headed out. He will be writing about his day in another post. I guarantee it will be more fun than my day! :thumbsup2

I spent the afternoon sleeping, running to the bathroom, and sipping a bit of water. I didn’t eat anything at all. Not even a Reese’s Puff! :sad1: I think Dug called to check in a couple of times. I don’t really remember. I felt bad at one point that I was sleeping away the day, so I managed to turn the TV on briefly. All I remember is that the weather was on and they were saying that there was a tornado somewhere a couple counties north of us. I didn’t know they had tornadoes in Florida in January! :scared1: Turned the TV back off. I was so out of it. Laid on my back and slept some more. Thank goodness Disney has pretty comfy mattresses! :cloud9:

I’ve read some trip reports on here where people get sick and they say, “It’s better to be sick at Disney than sick at home!” I have to disagree with that statement. I think it depends how sick you are. If you can still function, I agree with it. If you are unable to do, well, anything…I disagree. I was miserable. I wouldn’t wish that flu on my worst enemy. I kept feeling terrible because I knew I was losing a precious day of Disney! If I was at home, I’d be taking a sick day from work—I wouldn’t have minded missing work! I’d have preferred that for sure!

So, my afternoon was boring. Slept, slept, and slept some more. At 5pm, I took my temp again and it was 100.8 degrees. I wished I had packed some Tylenol, but I only had Ibuprofen and figured that would be bad for my stomach. Water (and not very much) was all I consumed all day, in a feeble effort to not become dehydrated.

At some point in the early evening, Dug called again. He was really hoping I’d be feeling better after all that rest. He had managed to get two Fast Passes for Soarin’ by waiting until his window from the first one was open, then getting another (for me :lovestruc ). And we had Le Cellier reservations for 8:05pm. He asked if I’d be up for meeting him for Soarin’ and Le Cellier. It killed me to say it, but I had to say no. :sad: There was no way I could walk to the bus stop at POR unassisted, not to mention all through Epcot. Plus, even thinking about food made me feel nauseous. I’d hate to be spilling protein at Le Cellier! So, he went on his own.

I continued to sleep. I can’t believe I basically slept through the entire day! And I was still tired! And I didn’t eat anything, but was not the least bit hungry. This is one way that having the Dining Plan can go wrong…when you’re too sick to eat the food you’ve prepaid for. :headache:

I don’t remember when it was, but whenever Dug came home, he showed me some souvenirs. The waiter at Le Cellier felt bad that I was sick and couldn’t make it, so he sent some things home. Dug had several pieces of bread (including pretzel bread). He also had an entire piece of Chocolate Whiskey Cake that they’d given to him for free (for me to eat when I felt better). Just looking at the cake nearly made me spill protein, so we put the bread and cake in the fridge for later.

Dug also had stopped at the store at POR and picked up a few "sick supplies". There were no saltines, so he got a loaf of white bread. He got some ginger ale. And he brought home a variety of medications: Nyquil, Pepto, and some other cold/flu thing. I'm not big on taking medications, especially when some of the warnings on these contradicted my symptoms, so I didn't take anything. All I wanted was Tylenol, but I could wait till morning to see if I still needed that.

And then I probably went back to sleep. I don’t remember anything else. Most boring (and wasted) day at Disney ever! Good thing we got annual passes and are going back a few times! :dance3: And, don’t worry, we have Le Cellier booked again for our June trip…and I intend to eat there this time! :cheer2:

Hopefully sometime soon I’ll get Dug to write up his day. I’m sure it will be dramatically different than mine!

I hope none of you ever has a day like mine!

[burly]

Oh man, i'm so sorry you went thru that, hope you felt better fast!
The first time i went to WDW i had and emergency root canal!:scared1:

[Dugette]

Oh man, i'm so sorry you went thru that, hope you felt better fast!
The first time i went to WDW i had and emergency root canal!:scared1:

Yikes!!! :scared1:

[praisehisname]

Oh no! I'm sorry you were so sick! I hope the next day you woke up feeling better. :goodvibes

[A&Bmama]

Wow sorry to hear that you were sick.

Sounds to me like you had norovirus to me. My daughter had it at about the same time you would have. I nursed her through her violent protein spillages, brought her small drinks and took her temp at regular intervals. My thanks for performing my Dr. Mom duties was a case of norovirus of my very own. Not fun at all.

I wholeheartedly agree with you. I would much rather be sick at home be in than a strange place and lose a day of precious vacation. I wouldn't even want to be sort of sick.

Im going to go out on a limb and say if you had norovirus that by the next day you were feeling much improved but not 100%. I'm guessing you were still feeling somewhat tired and weak. You probably ate some small meals and drinks and didn't spill any protein. I predict you went to a park but didn't do a "full" day and avoided any thrill rides. Sounds like MK would be a good park to visit.

popcorn:: Can't wait till your next update to see how close I am.

[Dugette]

Oh no! I'm sorry you were so sick! I hope the next day you woke up feeling better. :goodvibes
Thanks. Things will improve...

Wow sorry to hear that you were sick.

Sounds to me like you had norovirus to me. My daughter had it at about the same time you would have. I nursed her through her violent protein spillages, brought her small drinks and took her temp at regular intervals. My thanks for performing my Dr. Mom duties was a case of norovirus of my very own. Not fun at all.

I wholeheartedly agree with you. I would much rather be sick at home be in than a strange place and lose a day of precious vacation. I wouldn't even want to be sort of sick.

Im going to go out on a limb and say if you had norovirus that by the next day you were feeling much improved but not 100%. I'm guessing you were still feeling somewhat tired and weak. You probably ate some small meals and drinks and didn't spill any protein. I predict you went to a park but didn't do a "full" day and avoided any thrill rides. Sounds like MK would be a good park to visit.

popcorn:: Can't wait till your next update to see how close I am.
I looked up norovirus after reading your post. I have to say, that sounds exactly like what I had! As far as your predictions, you'll have to wait and see...but you might want to look into fortune telling for some extra Disney money ;) Sorry you and your daughter had to deal with it too...it was the sickest I've been in a LONG time! Just terrible!

[Goofy442]

I would be feeling the same way what a waste of a day. Go fiqure if we could plan getting sick it wouldn't be in Disney. My kids have only been sick twice in Disney and they go out of there way to help you. I hope you were only sick for one day and the rest of your trip was better.

[disneydreamingdebby]

That stinks that you were so sick! How nice of Dug to bring home all those "supplies" including some from Le Cellier. I hope that I soon read that you were able to enjoy the goods in the fridge in your next post!

[my2disneyboys]

Hi!!
Wow that sounds pretty awful but like you said atleast you knew you were coming back soon. I got sick too. We had dinner reservations at Narcoosees and I really didnt want to miss it. I ended up feeling better (I wasnt as sick as you) and service and food was yucky... should have just stayed in and rested!

You take such great pictures. I love all the pics from the AK!

[JLR]

[COLOR="Blue"]

I got a Sprite to drink and Dug got lemonade. Everything was very tasty and we enjoyed. The chef was also very fun and silly. I really enjoyed Teppan Edo and would go back. My only other experience with a Japanese steakhouse was a couple years ago. We went to Ichiban in Minneapolis for my dad’s birthday. Although it was similar to Teppan Edo, it was a very different experience. The chef did all kinds of crazy tricks—food was flying everywhere! Our mouths were hanging open watching him catch everything. And the food was amazing, possibly one of the best meals I’ve ever had (I had steak there too). So, in comparison, Teppan Edo was maybe a 4 if Ichiban was a 5. But, if I didn’t have anything to compare it to, I’d say it was COLOR]

I am just starting to read your TR. Thanks for putting in chapter links. I'll have to figure out how to do the single post link. So far I can only get the whole page hyperlinked.

I had to laugh when you mentioned Ichiban - it is one of my favorite restaurants! If we drive instead of fly to Iowa we go through the twin cities to see friends and eat great food. (North Dakota is great, but not known as the Mecca of fine dining!) At any rate, the trip I am planning to Disney for my dd9 and myself is a surprise for her. Since I wanted to get her to do all the math and spelling before we left, I had to tell her we were going somewhere - so I told her we are going to Minneapolis. This is the gospel truth since we are going to Minnapolis not once, but twice! She has been planning to go to the Mall of America and the amusement park inside it, and to the Minneapolis Zoo. Do you think she'll be too disappointed to go to Disney?:lmao:

I'm only up to day 3 so I'm not being insensitive about the Misery - I just haven't read it yet!

[Dugette]

I would be feeling the same way what a waste of a day. Go fiqure if we could plan getting sick it wouldn't be in Disney. My kids have only been sick twice in Disney and they go out of there way to help you. I hope you were only sick for one day and the rest of your trip was better.
Bummer that your kids were sick in Disney a couple times. No fun! I will recover, but more slowly than I would have liked. No hopping out of bed completely cured for me.

That stinks that you were so sick! How nice of Dug to bring home all those "supplies" including some from Le Cellier. I hope that I soon read that you were able to enjoy the goods in the fridge in your next post!
I'll get to them eventually, but not in the next post. Although, not to spoil anything, but now I totally understand why everyone always raves about the pretzel bread!

Hi!!
Wow that sounds pretty awful but like you said atleast you knew you were coming back soon. I got sick too. We had dinner reservations at Narcoosees and I really didnt want to miss it. I ended up feeling better (I wasnt as sick as you) and service and food was yucky... should have just stayed in and rested!

You take such great pictures. I love all the pics from the AK!
That's too bad that you were sick too. I would hate to have gotten up and gone out to dinner and had it be not-so-great like that!

All credit goes to Dug on the photos. He loves taking pictures.

I am just starting to read your TR. Thanks for putting in chapter links. I'll have to figure out how to do the single post link. So far I can only get the whole page hyperlinked.

I had to laugh when you mentioned Ichiban - it is one of my favorite restaurants! If we drive instead of fly to Iowa we go through the twin cities to see friends and eat great food. (North Dakota is great, but not known as the Mecca of fine dining!) At any rate, the trip I am planning to Disney for my dd9 and myself is a surprise for her. Since I wanted to get her to do all the math and spelling before we left, I had to tell her we were going somewhere - so I told her we are going to Minneapolis. This is the gospel truth since we are going to Minnapolis not once, but twice! She has been planning to go to the Mall of America and the amusement park inside it, and to the Minneapolis Zoo. Do you think she'll be too disappointed to go to Disney?:lmao:

I'm only up to day 3 so I'm not being insensitive about the Misery - I just haven't read it yet!
:welcome: As far as the chapter links, I don't know if there's a better way to do it, since I figured it out myself through trial and error, but this is what I did: find a TR with chapter links (this one will work:thumbsup2), hit "quote" on the post with the chapter links, you'll see the code used, copy it (and back out of the quote screen), change the info to your info, to get the longer number I hit quote on the post I want to link and copy it from the beginning of that (back out of quote again), then fill in that and the post # into the code, then test it. That sounded much more complicated than it is!

That's awesome about surprising your daughter with the trip. Yeah, I think WDW will be a reasonable replacement for MOA. ;) That's cool that you like Ichiban too!

No worries about not being to the "Misery" yet...the stuff you're reading now is more fun anyway :thumbsup2

[Mouse's Shadow]

Just got caught up. I love your animal pics. AK is just a great park to photograph. I'm glad you found devine. She's so cool. You're making me rethink missing EMH hours at AK in Oct.

Being sick stinks. Loosing a Disney day is such a disappointment. I hope the spillage was behind you. (Not literally) I'll be waiting with anticipation.:surfweb:

[Sunset Cliffs]

Oh no! I was really hoping that the reason you missed your ADR was for something even cooler, not because you were sick. I hope that you felt better the next day. I swear that our bodies know when we are on vacation & they decide to "let down" as well. It seems like either Todd or I get at least a little sick on most of our trips. It's so annoying!

[Dugette]

Just got caught up. I love your animal pics. AK is just a great park to photograph. I'm glad you found devine. She's so cool. You're making me rethink missing EMH hours at AK in Oct.

Being sick stinks. Loosing a Disney day is such a disappointment. I hope the spillage was behind you. (Not literally) I'll be waiting with anticipation.:surfweb:
Yes, AK has so many cool details...fun for photos! The evening EMH at AK were definitely nice for getting on things w/o lines, but there are very limited options of attractions that remain open.

I agree, losing a Disney day is so disappointing! Especially our Le Cellier day...no openings to reschedule that during our trip.

Oh no! I was really hoping that the reason you missed your ADR was for something even cooler, not because you were sick. I hope that you felt better the next day. I swear that our bodies know when we are on vacation & they decide to "let down" as well. It seems like either Todd or I get at least a little sick on most of our trips. It's so annoying!

I'm trying to imagine what kind of super-cool thing would need to happen for me to miss Le Cellier! I would have much preferred that were the case. I agree, it seems like one of us always ends up at least a little sick on vacation...this was more sick than most times, though.

[Dug]

Waking up at Disney World is usually like Christmas morning. Even if you didn’t get a lot of sleep, you’re excited to get up, because so many fun things lie ahead.

That is not as true when you awake to discover your wife spilling protein.

I no longer remember all of the details. I would like to hope I was a nice, concerned helpful hubby. I’m sure I asked if she thought she might get better. I wouldn’t be surprised if she moaned in response.

I was still dealing with impetigo at the time. Typically when I awoke, my lips were fused together, so it’s entirely possible I needed to address that before even speaking with Dugette. That routine typically involved applying several types of medicine, from the topical antibiotic to the roll-on Benadryl to the hydrocortisol to the camphor. I didn’t always use all at once. It often took a hot shower as well and a warm wash cloth to help get the overnight gunk build-up off. (I discovered how good a warm wash cloth could feel at Teppan Edo.) I discovered at some point, that the continued rubbing off of the gunk on my lips also rubbed off the skin on my lips, leaving them cracked and stinging.

(See, now, aren’t you glad that Dugette has been writing these updates rather than me, with the messed-up face?)

I was at least kind enough to not abandon my wife right away in the morning. We hung out in the room in the hope that she might get better. I would have run out to get medicine, I think, but I seem to remember she wasn’t interested: she just wanted to rest.

So instead, I did what I do best: I read tweets on my iPhone. (For you iPhoners, I highly recommend Twittelator Pro for Twitter.) My wife calls my intensive reading of tweets “downtweeting” which seems like a term that should catch on. This went on for a couple hours or so (a lot of tweets had built up while we touring the parks). To supplement my narration of the day, I’ll be glad to share some of my tweets from the day. For example, at 10:53 a.m., I tweeted the following:

“Wife sick. We have Le Cellier reservations for tonight. No open slots available during rest of trip. Hope she gets well. Not sure what to do.”

And I didn’t know what to do, until noon, when Dugette encouraged me to go to the park:

“Going to Epcot all by my lonesome while wife rests. Hopefully she will be able to join me later for Le Cellier. It would be a shame to miss.”

My plan was to grab a Soarin’ Fastpass, then eat fish and chips in the UK (which she wasn’t too keen on: she’s not a fan of seafood). After that, head to Mission Space Orange, explore the Innoventions exhibits we had missed, and grab another Soarin’ Fastpass so that if Dugette got better, she could join me on Soarin’ and then we could go to Le Cellier.

So I headed over to the bus and took it to Epcot. If I remember right, I wasn’t feeling 100% that day, either, so the morning rest had done some good for me. I put my plan into action, grabbing a Soarin’ Fastpass on the way to the UK.

In between Canada and the UK, I discovered that Off Kilter was getting set up, so I grabbed a good seat. I studied in Scotland for a year in college, and have Scottish and Irish heritage, so bagpipes truly soothe my soul. My tweet captured this pretty well:


“More rock music should be done in kilts and with bagpipes. Off Killter totally rocks my world.”

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%206/1offkilter.jpg

I’ve always said that the best British food is Indian, but the one exception is fish and chips. Those are great. So I headed over to the Yorkshire Fish & Chips shop.

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%206/5fishshop.jpg

It was wonderful to see it served in newsprint, as it is over in the UK. I of course grabbed some malt vinegar packets (the only way to eat chips/fries, with fish or no).

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%206/2fishnchips.jpg

I headed over to the pavilion next door and grabbed a seat. It was very windy, and my food got blown around, but I managed to eat everything, as the seagulls hovered nearby.

After that, I wandered through the UK pavilion, exploring all the shops. I’m not a huge shopper, but it was neat seeing the different building styles and recognizing a few products like digestive biscuits that I remembered from living over there.

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%206/3building.jpg

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%206/4street.jpg

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%206/6cottage.jpg

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%206/7rooftops.jpg

After that, I headed over to France. My parents are French teachers, so France has always held a special place in my heart and in my memories: I’ve had the chance to go there twice.

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%206/8water.jpg

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%206/9posters.jpg

I watched Impressiones de France: a beautiful look at all that is wonderful with La France. Then I grabbed a snack at the Patisserie. Dugette and I had hoped to grab a Napoleon at some point on the trip, so I didn’t have one of those, but instead had the French equivalent of a cannoli.

When I got out of the patisserie, I spotted a ferry about to head out, so I booked it and ate the pastry on board.

It’s probably worth saying that when I said I booked it, that’s a relative term. I have some delightful hip problems, so I don’t move so fast. I had hoped the chiropractor would be able to fix me up beforehand, but it wasn’t so.

So after disembarking, I continued my hobbling and grabbed another Soarin’ Fastpass, even though it seemed at this point that Dugette might not make it, as she still wasn’t feeling well.

I don’t have notes on this, but I wouldn’t be surprised if I grabbed some Club Cool afterwards. Watermelon, the Israel one and Mexico/Costa Rica are my favorites, probably in that order.

Next, on to Mission Space. When I got close, I noticed a Brazilian tour group making a beeline for the entrance. I didn’t make it fast enough, and with the huge influx of new astronauts, I thought it best to try something else.

So I walked next door to Test Track and got in the single rider line. It was predictably fast. Lucky I did that one first, as when we hit the fast part outside (which always feels exhilarating, even though you’re not going so fast), a few rain drops started falling, and they had announced that this might shut down the ride.

I headed back to Mission Space and got in line for Orange. Dugette wasn’t a huge fan of this ride, and didn’t feel like she could handle Orange, so I wanted to make sure I could get through this while she was out of commission.

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%206/10mission1.jpg

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%206/11mission2.jpg

It was a longish line, but it was worth it. I also hadn’t had a chance to play the Space Race game before, so I took the opportunity to do so. I was playing from the Mission Control station and did a fairly good job. It looked like our team was behind the whole time, but we came through in the end and won!

Afterwards, I called up Dugette again to check on her, sitting on the ledge outside Mission Space, and she was still sick. It was pretty clear she woudn’t be able to join me.

I headed over to Innoventions East, which we hadn’t explored yet. I don’t remember all the exhibits there. The one that sticks in my mind was the Waste Management exhibit, where you go from station to station trying to reduce, reuse and recycle. I don’t think I quite met the goal, but didn’t do too bad on my own.

Dugette definitely wasn’t coming, so time to use the Soarin’ Fastpasses. I think I picked up another on the way in, so I was up to three. I had fun with math on either the first or second time through and determined the following.

With the fastpass, it takes about three minutes to walk from the entrance to the boarding area. Unless you time it right, you are likely to wait about eight minutes in the queue, even with the fastpass. Then, you have eight minutes of preshow. The show itself is, you guessed it, another eight minutes. Walking out, not surprisingly, takes three minutes. So even with a fastpass, one complete cycle is likely to take you thirty minutes. A good fact to keep in mind if you need it, during your touring. I ended up riding Soarin’ twice, then gave the third fastpass away, as it was time to get to Le Cellier. I really love Soarin’. It is such an exhilarating experience, and I always love the part where you smell the oranges.

I headed over to Le Cellier, checked in at the top entrance, then headed down into the lobby, feeling pretty bad that Dugette couldn’t join me. (I had checked in the morning if we could move Le Cellier to another time during the trip, but it wasn’t possible.)

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%206/12lecelliersign.jpg

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%206/13lecellierentrance.jpg

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%206/14thecellier.jpg

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%206/15maplelight.jpg

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%206/17lightfixture.jpg

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%206/18waiter.jpg

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%206/20lightcorner.jpg

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%206/21waiters.jpg

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%206/23candles.jpg

The waiter was pretty sympathetic to my situation. He was quite busy, but good. I had the cheddar cheese soup. I was surprised it wasn’t bright yellow, which is what I had in mind, but it was still delicious. The pretzel bread is great, and even better when dipped in the soup.

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%206/16breadncheese.jpg

For my entrée, I had the filet with the mushrooms, which was goopy, but yummy.

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%206/19mushroomfilet.jpg

I had the maple crème brulee, which seemed the obvious choice to me, and I thought it was pretty good.

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%206/22cremebrulee.jpg

The waiter gifted me with some of the whiskey chocolate cake and extra bread to bring to Dugette, which was extremely nice.

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%206/25whiskeycake.jpg

Even though it wasn’t the same without my wife, it was still a delightful dining experience. There’s not too many people there, the ambience is warm and inviting, the service is great, and the food is wonderful. I don’t think I’m going out on a limb claiming that it’s probably the best dining experience at Walt Disney World.

As I headed out, Illuminations was going on.

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%206/24fire.jpg

I didn’t stay to watch, as I was feeling very full, and I wanted to beat the crowd. I think I called my mom on the way out to get some medical advice. I think she told me to get a cot and a medical mask to avoid getting sick. I did not do so, but instead, got my wife some medicine and white bread (the closest thing to saltine crackers) on the way back into Riverside. She was still out when I got back to the room, and wasn’t too excited to see the food I brought. So it was off to bed (with perhaps a bit of downtweeting before my eyes shut).

A bittersweet day, but I tried to make the best of it.

Would Dugette recover? Would I have to spend the rest of the trip in the park myself? Would more dinner plans be dashed?

Stay tuned, for the next exciting episode of the Magic and the Misery!

[A&Bmama]

In between Canada and the UK, I discovered that Off Kilter was getting set up, so I grabbed a good seat. I studied in Scotland for a year in college, and have Scottish and Irish heritage, so bagpipes truly soothe my soul. My tweet captured this pretty well:


“More rock music should be done in kilts and with bagpipes. Off Killter totally rocks my world.”

I love that kind of music too, maybe because I'm from Nova Scotia (latin for New Scotland)

Here are some of my favorites:

MacKeel (group is now broken up. Bummer)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tlqb4znnAxo
Cranntara (pls listen beyond the one minute mark, heavy on the pipes and fiddles)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SssdmgtChmU
Heaved Away (tied with Cranntara as my personal fav)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FwkKZqJgSt8&feature=related
Star of the County Down

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8cTAcGY-ot0
Drunken Sailor

Sons of Maxwell (of United Breaks Guitars fame)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d1zibvLvHbk
Oceanside Again

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dJVSNLTdJWY
Queen of Argyle

Rawlins Cross

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qHgPDavGyKE
Reel and Roll (I know Off Kilter plays this bur this is the version I'm used to)

Great update Dug! Can't wait for more.

[FreezinRafiki]

Arrrrrrgg! I did it again. I started reading your trip report back when you started it and then forgot to subscribe! You mentioning you Le Cellier experience in my TR jogged my memory, so I came over here and got all caught up. :surfweb:

Ok, I'm ready now. You may continue. :rotfl2::rotfl:

[burly]

:goodvibeshey thanks for posting your version of that day dug.

[mom2mek]

So sorry you were sick, Dugette! It really isn't fun. We had a trip in January of 2006 with 12 of us and we all stayed together in a big house in Formosa Gardens and one by one all of us ended up getting sick. It's so true that you really hate being sick at Disney more than at home. :sick: Of course, I got sick right at the end of the trip, missed a day of the parks, got home the next day and was perfectly fine! Ugh.

Wonderful update from you, Dug! It looks like a great day although I'm sure it would have been a lot more enjoyable with your wife beside you. :sad2: Thanks for filling all of her readers in on the events of the day! :goodvibes

Hoping you were all better the next day!

Sara

[cinderella crazy]

Oh you poor thing! :hug: Both Alex and Lauren had stomach bugs on our last Disney trip but they didn't have anything that bad. So sorry you missed out on LeCellier! I'm glad you were able to rest and that Dug was able to somewhat enjoy himself. I'm sure you're really going to enjoy going to LeCellier in June!

[Dugette]

I love that kind of music too, maybe because I'm from Nova Scotia (latin for New Scotland)
Great update Dug! Can't wait for more.
Thanks for the links. I'm sure Dug will enjoy. And I'll have to check them out too.

Arrrrrrgg! I did it again. I started reading your trip report back when you started it and then forgot to subscribe! You mentioning you Le Cellier experience in my TR jogged my memory, so I came over here and got all caught up. :surfweb:

Ok, I'm ready now. You may continue. :rotfl2::rotfl:
Oh, good, now that you're here I can start working on another update ;)

Good to have you here!

:goodvibeshey thanks for posting your version of that day dug.
It only took about a week and a half of my "reminders" for him to do it!

So sorry you were sick, Dugette! It really isn't fun. We had a trip in January of 2006 with 12 of us and we all stayed together in a big house in Formosa Gardens and one by one all of us ended up getting sick. It's so true that you really hate being sick at Disney more than at home. :sick: Of course, I got sick right at the end of the trip, missed a day of the parks, got home the next day and was perfectly fine! Ugh.

Wonderful update from you, Dug! It looks like a great day although I'm sure it would have been a lot more enjoyable with your wife beside you. :sad2: Thanks for filling all of her readers in on the events of the day! :goodvibes

Hoping you were all better the next day!

Sara
Gosh, no fun with everyone in your house getting sick. Yuck! Missing a Disney day is so sad :sad1: Things do start improving soon, slowly.

Oh you poor thing! :hug: Both Alex and Lauren had stomach bugs on our last Disney trip but they didn't have anything that bad. So sorry you missed out on LeCellier! I'm glad you were able to rest and that Dug was able to somewhat enjoy himself. I'm sure you're really going to enjoy going to LeCellier in June!

I can't wait for Le Cellier in June! In fact, our ADRs for June are pretty much a make-up-for-things-I-didn't-get-to-fully-enjoy! So excited! :yay:

[Dugette]

In case anyone is wondering, I found a note that Dug walked 16k steps on his Epcot day.

Onto the next morning, though. I got a pretty good night’s sleep. Considering that I slept the entire previous day also, that’s pretty impressive. Took my temperature and it was 101.9 degrees. :sick: Not so impressive. Or maybe it is, I don’t know. :confused3

But, I did feel like maybe I was capable of doing a little bit this morning. My stomach felt more stable. Probably because it was empty. I figured that I must have been borderline starving at that point, as I hadn’t eaten anything in a day and a half, plus everything I’d eaten prior to being sick was evacuated. But I still wasn’t hungry.

Because I wasn’t feeling quite as nauseous anymore, I decided to try to eat a bit of that white bread Dug had bought. After trying for awhile, I gave up having eaten less than half a slice. It was just so dry and chewy that it was hard to get down. I remember commenting that something blah, but juicier, would be better…like an apple. Given that the bread wasn’t really working for me, I decided to try something that my stomach had grown quite accustomed to during this trip: Reese’s Puffs. I just munched a few dry ones (both the chocolate and the peanut butter ones, in case you were wondering). Breakfast of champions. :thumbsup2 That seemed sufficient, so I stopped with that. Didn’t cause any protein spillage, so that was good. I have no idea what Dug had for breakfast…maybe a breakfast/granola bar we brought or something?

Since I was well-rested and well-fed (ha), we decided to head out to the Magic Kingdom. We packed an empty Disney plastic bag, just in case of protein spillage (didn’t need it…whew!) We figured we'd just take it easy and do only gentle rides and see what I could handle. We took the bus and arrived at the Magic Kingdom around 9:30am. It had rained overnight, but it was nice now, forecasted to get into the 70’s this day.

The Magic Kingdom was very quiet. Gotta love Disney in mid/late January! We walked onto Peter Pan, Small World, and the Haunted Mansion. I felt decent through all of them. Dug took a lot of pictures of Small World, so here’s a random sampling (including the clock, which was going both before and after our ride!):

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%207/SmallWorldclock1.jpg

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%207/SmallWorld1.jpg

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%207/SmallWorld2.jpg

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%207/SmallWorld3.jpg

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%207/SmallWorld4.jpg

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%207/SmallWorld5.jpg

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%207/SmallWorld6.jpg

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%207/SmallWorld7.jpg

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%207/SmallWorldclock2.jpg

Next, we went to the Hall of Presidents. We enjoyed the show.

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%207/HallPresSign.jpg

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%207/HallPresRug.jpg

At this point, it was time to attempt some lunch, so we went over to Pecos Bill.

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%207/Adventureland.jpg

Dug got a bacon double cheeseburger, fries, carrot cake, and Sprite. I tried to get the most bland meal I could find, in hopes that my digestive system might find it acceptable. I got the chicken wrap, apple slices (remember I’d been wanting apple earlier?), strawberry yogurt, and water:

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%207/PecosBillFood.jpg

I didn’t eat very much, definitely less than half of my food, but it was all I could handle. I still had no appetite, but was really only eating because I hadn’t for nearly two days. It was nice that we found a table up around the corner from the crowded area, so we were in our own little private, empty area. Oh, by the way, our meal-time-fun had doubled now. Instead of just making sure that I didn't get Dug's impetigo, we had to make sure that he didn't get my flu either! We did some careful pre-cutting of food, so that he could have some of the chicken wrap too. It's impressive that we managed to avoid catching each-other's highly contagious things while sharing meals!

After lunch, I decided to check my temperature again (I’d brought the thermometer along). It was, I think, about 99.5 degrees. I thought it was promising that it was lower than it had been, but I also knew that I’d just been drinking cold water with my meal, so it likely was bringing my temp down. Turns out that was the case; when I checked later in the afternoon it was back up to nearly 102 again!

I felt okay after eating and relaxing for a bit, so we headed over to Pirates after lunch. We'd read that, while in the queue, you can see two pirates trapped in a game of chess that is set up just right to be un-winnable:

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%207/PiratesChess.jpg

What a great ride! Except that the mist waterfall was not going at all on our whole trip! Still good, though.

When we got off the ride, we got on the moving walkway that goes uphill. While on that, it suddenly hit me that I felt really sick! I turned to Dug and said, “We need to leave…now!” When we made it out of Pirates, I made a beeline for the restroom (luckily there is one right there). No protein spills, but I’m pretty sure the Pecos Bill’s food didn’t spend much time in my digestive system. :eek:

We headed out of the Magic Kingdom at this point. Returned to POR for a rest. Just like the people with little kids, we went back to our resort for a midday nap! I was out very quickly. When I woke up, I felt very refreshed and declared it “The Best Nap Ever!” (Really, how can you top a nap that ends with you waking up in Disney World?)

Surprisingly, this day we were sticking pretty well to our plans (on our PTR). We’d planned to have an easy morning in the MK and lunch at Pecos Bill’s. Check. We even made a note that, although we didn’t have any afternoon naps scheduled on this trip, this particular day might be a good day for one. The rest of our plan for the day consisted of dinner at 5:15pm at ‘Ohana and Evening Extra Magic Hours at Epcot. We’d initially planned to see Illuminations this night, but changed our minds and decided to head to the MK after dinner and actually make an effort to watch Spectro and Wishes (rather than just seeing them from rides).

When we woke up from our nap, we still had some time to kill before dinner. We’d been wanting to take a walk around the beautiful grounds at POR, and it was a nice sunny afternoon, so we headed out. Here’s a few pics:

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%207/POR1.jpg

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%207/POR2.jpg

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%207/POR3.jpg

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%207/POR4.jpg

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%207/POR5.jpg

It’s such a pretty place. It is big, though. The walk really made me appreciate how close our building:

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%207/ParterreSign.jpg

was to the main building, bus stops, and POFQ. We had a good location. After our walk, we went over to the POR shop and got me some Tylenol, as I still had a fever. I hadn’t taken any other medications, but I thought it would be wise to try to bring that 102 down (and get rid of some of the aches). I took the Tylenol while we were waiting for a bus to the MK. Our plan was to take the bus to the MK, get on the monorail to the Poly, and check in for our dinner at ‘Ohana. We were so excited to be going back to our “first home” at the Poly! :cloud9:

Up next: Will I survive an all-you-can-eat family-style meal? Can we find a good spot for our first “real” Wishes viewing? And waiting for a bus that doesn’t even exist!

[A&Bmama]

I see my predictions were pretty close.

[But, I did feel like maybe I was capable of doing a little bit this morning. My stomach felt more stable. Probably because it was empty. The Magic Kingdom was very quiet. Gotta love Disney in mid/late January!

Glad that you were feeling a little better. I think off season is great!

Oh, by the way, our meal-time-fun had doubled now. Instead of just making sure that I didn't get Dug's impetigo, we had to make sure that he didn't get my flu either! We did some careful pre-cutting of food, so that he could have some of the chicken wrap too. It's impressive that we managed to avoid catching each-other's highly contagious things while sharing meals!

You guys deserve a gold star! I'm not sure how you managed it.

No protein spills, but I’m pretty sure the Pecos Bill’s food didn’t spend much time in my digestive system. :eek:

:sad1:

We headed out of the Magic Kingdom at this point. Returned to POR for a rest. Just like the people with little kids, we went back to our resort for a midday nap! I was out very quickly. When I woke up, I felt very refreshed and declared it “The Best Nap Ever!” (Really, how can you top a nap that ends with you waking up in Disney World?)

I'm sure you needed that nap!

When we woke up from our nap, we still had some time to kill before dinner. We’d been wanting to take a walk around the beautiful grounds at POR, and it was a nice sunny afternoon, so we headed out. Here’s a few pics:

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%207/POR5.jpg

So pretty! I totally ripped this off, it's now on my desktop. I'm planting a seed in DH's head...

Will I survive an all-you-can-eat family-style meal?

Survive, yes; enjoy, I predict not really.

Can we find a good spot for our first “real” Wishes viewing?

I going to say yes.

And waiting for a bus that doesn’t even exist!

That can't be good...

[Dugette]

I see my predictions were pretty close.
You were impressively accurate! I'd almost think you had someone following us around the MK! I have a feeling your next set of predictions may be pretty good too :rolleyes1

So pretty! I totally ripped this off, it's now on my desktop. I'm planting a seed in DH's head...
Yes, POR is really pretty! Enjoy the picture. :goodvibes Hopefully that seed you're planting grows into a lovely Disney tree. :wizard:

[Dizneydawn]

Hi! I am here! Will catch up tom and do a proper post!:)

[praisehisname]

It was fun to read about Dug's day from his perspective! :thumbsup2

The next day you were able to get quite a bit done, even though you were still feeling crummy. Impressive!

[Dugette]

Hi! I am here! Will catch up tom and do a proper post!:)
:welcome: Glad you stopped by! :goodvibes Enjoy the catching up!

It was fun to read about Dug's day from his perspective! :thumbsup2

The next day you were able to get quite a bit done, even though you were still feeling crummy. Impressive!
Yeah, we did get a fair amount done (and more to come!) A lot more productive than the previous day, that's for sure!

[Dugette]

We left off after taking The Best Nap Ever, exploring the grounds of POR, and acquiring Tylenol. We waited at the main POR bus stop, then caught a bus to the Magic Kingdom. Once there, we took the monorail over to the Poly:

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%207/1monorail.jpg

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%207/2aloha.jpg

It was so nice to be back again! We just love this place!

Checked in at ‘Ohana:

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%207/3ohana.jpg

While we waited to be seated, we both decided to use the restroom. During our stay at the Poly, the only restroom we were aware of was down on the first level. But now we discovered that there are restrooms right inside of ‘Ohana! Plus, these were the only restrooms I found at WDW that had “real” toilet paper. Not the cheap, thin stuff, but nice, quilted stuff! Cool! (The things that impress me, huh?)

Soon, we were seated. We were in the main dining area with a view of things like this:

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%207/18pit.jpg

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%207/19skewers.jpg

The CM who seated us also mentioned that we were directly in front of where the entertainment would be. And, although we weren’t next to a window, we could see this from our table:

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%207/4castle.jpg

At this point, my stomach was feeling okay, but I still had a very minimal appetite. At least the thought of food was no longer making me feel sick. Because there was a lot of food here.

We started with the Welcome Bread:

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%207/5bread.jpg

This was across from our table and Dug thought it was funny that the tiki guy appears to be licking the torch:

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%207/6tiki.jpg

Next up was the salad:

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%207/7salad.jpg

Our “cousin” brought out the dipping sauces:

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%207/8sauces.jpg

And then the entertainment began. And the greeter wasn’t kidding, it was right in front of/next to our table:

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%207/9performer.jpg

All the kids were cute. The entertainer flirted with Dug on several occasions. Apparently she has a thing for crusty-faced guys? She liked that he wore a Hawaiian shirt. We ended up getting a couple of the leis she’s holding in that picture.

Next up were the potstickers:

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%207/10potstickers.jpg

After that, the sticky wings:

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%207/11stickywings.jpg

Then, they brought out some hot washcloths, which Dug loved to hold on his face:

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%207/12washcloths.jpg

This was followed by noodles and broccoli:

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%207/13noodles.jpg

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%207/14broccoli.jpg

And then, all the meats:

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%207/15meats.jpg

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%207/17shrimp.jpg

A note on the picture of the shrimp: We realized late in the meal that we never got a picture of them serving the meat. So, Dug tried to take a picture of it happening around us, but was having trouble getting a picture. A random CM noticed and came over to pose, just so he could have a good picture! Nice people at Disney!

Last but not least was the bread pudding:

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%207/16breadpudding.jpg

I can’t even tell you how hungry it’s making me now to look at all these pictures! At the time, I was not so hungry. However, I did manage to eat 1 bite (literally one bite, except for the potstickers--I had a whole one) of each item, except for the sticky wings. I had a little sweetness-aversion going and they just didn’t appeal to me at the time. That sweetness-aversion applied to the dessert too. I know many people love it, but I really couldn’t enjoy it at that moment and was only able to eat one bite. Oh, I also didn’t have any shrimp, as I don’t like seafood. But I believe I had one small bite of each of the other meats. On the bright side, though, we have an ‘Ohana ADR again on our June trip, so I hope to make up for my lack of appetite! The other good thing is that ‘Ohana was the first meal that my stomach actually found acceptable! Finally! It was all very yummy, by the way.

After dinner, we headed back out to the monorail to go to the Magic Kingdom. We wanted to actually sit down and watch Spectro and Wishes from the MK. We ended up selecting a bench down by the rose garden, just outside the seating area there. The view of Spectro was marginal, but both of us really wanted to be sitting, plus we’d have a good view of Wishes from here.

We were able to see Spectro, but just from a little distance. And the floats were only fully visible for a brief moment, as there was a small hill blocking much of our view (except for the tops of the floats). But it was okay and we enjoyed.

As time went on, more and more people gathered in our formerly-empty area. People were pulling chairs out of the covered seating area and putting them out on the path near our bench. We hoped this was a good sign—that this would be a good view.

The show started. It was a very good view, although not symmetrical, since we were off on the side of the castle. We really liked it, though. I videotaped the whole thing. The coolest part is that we had an excellent view of Tinkerbell. I managed to get some good video, so enjoy (only 20 seconds long):

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%207/th_Tinkerbell.jpg (http://s938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%207/?action=view&current=Tinkerbell.flv)

Here are a few still frames from my video of some of the best moments:

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%207/Wishes1.jpg

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%207/Wishes2.jpg

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%207/Wishes3.jpg

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%207/Wishes4.jpg

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%207/Wishes5.jpg

After the show, we walked around a little bit, waiting for the crowds to clear out somewhat. It was apparent that there would be a wait to take the monorail from the MK, so we decided to walk over to the Contemporary and try to get to Epcot from there. The walk was nice and I’m sure it was much quicker than waiting for the monorail at the MK.

We went to the bus stop at the Contemporary and sat on a bench. A bus for Downtown Disney arrived. Most of the people at the bus stop got on it. We waited. Another Downtown Disney bus arrived. Again, most people got on it. You may be laughing at this if you know more about the Contemporary’s transportation than we did. Although, at this point, we were starting to get a bad feeling about this. At some point, after we’d been watching the parade of Downtown Disney busses for awhile, we started wondering if there actually was Epcot bus service from the Contemporary. We looked it up on the iPhone and it turns out the bus we were waiting for didn’t exist! Oops!

So, we headed into the Contemporary and up to the monorail platform. We got in just in time to catch a monorail. Made the switch to the Epcot monorail at the TTC.

Once we arrived at Epcot (for Extra Magic Hours), we hit Spaceship Earth first (no line). After the ride, we did one of the activities. We put on 3D glasses and assembled a body. The game has a (video) conveyor belt of body parts going by and you have to pick them up and drop them into the right part of the body. It was fun.

Next, we made our way to The Seas with Nemo and Friends. Again, there was no line, so we hopped in our Clam-mobile and were off.

On our previous trip, we had seen a disembarkation accident that was scary. A few Clam-mobiles in front of us was a family with the dad in a wheelchair. The dad was in a wheelchair because he did not have legs. I’m not sure what happened, but when he was getting out of the vehicle, he somehow went flying backwards and fell out of his chair onto the floor. Luckily, he appeared to be fine and had a good sense of humor about it. He was back in the chair quickly, with his family’s assistance. We saw the ride operator make a call after the incident. It was quite frightening-looking.

Luckily, this particular ride was uneventful. We had enjoyed Turtle Talk with Crush on the last trip and were hoping to do it again on this trip. However, we thought we had heard that it was not open during evening EMH (maybe because it’s late at night and geared towards little kids?) We decided to take a look anyway and it was actually open! We waited a bit for the show and played the little quiz games they have in the waiting area.

We really enjoyed this show again. It was fun that it was different than last time we saw it. I don’t remember Dori making a guest appearance before, for instance.

Soarin’ still had a lengthy wait, and was out of Fast Passes, so we made our way over to World Showcase. It was time to take a boat ride through a pyramid!

On our last trip, we were the only people in our boat and enjoyed the relaxing cruise with our feet up on the front of the boat. I was hoping to do that again. It almost happened, but a couple of guys got in line a little behind us and made it into our boat. We still got the front seat, so I put my feet up again anyway. Turns out that the young guys behind us (maybe college-age) were like little kids on this ride…just enchanted by the magic and enjoying it. They were fun to listen to—it sounded like they hadn’t been on this ride since they were little kids. I had a relaxing cruise.

Next up was the other boat ride, Maelstrom. It was great too. I love the drop!

It was getting towards park close, so we went back to Soarin’. There was still a wait posted (30 minutes maybe?), but we got in line. From Dug’s math the previous day, this wasn’t too much of a wait.

We were standing in line for what felt like a long time. I think the Tylenol wore off and I was starting to feel very weak. I had a really hard time standing in line for very long. Dug was tired too and ended up sitting down in line (as did the family ahead of us). If I didn’t think this would be my only chance at Soarin’ this trip, I probably would have skipped it and left. But I had to ride Soarin’! Eventually, we got on and had a lovely ride.

The walk back to the busses was tough on both of us. It seemed so long and we were so sore and tired. But, we got a bus and made it back to POR, happy to see our bed. 18k steps walked for the day. Not too bad for a sicko!

Up next: Sleeping in, a day of Epcot, and another big buffet!

[my2disneyboys]

Great Update!! I have never seen Tinkerbell so close. WOW! That was so cool. Thanks so much for posting. I cant wait to show my boys tomorrow! We always see her from so far away that I had thought it was just a light....

[FreezinRafiki]

While we waited to be seated, we both decided to use the restroom. During our stay at the Poly, the only restroom we were aware of was down on the first level. But now we discovered that there are restrooms right inside of ‘Ohana! Plus, these were the only restrooms I found at WDW that had “real” toilet paper. Not the cheap, thin stuff, but nice, quilted stuff! Cool! (The things that impress me, huh?)

A few years back I was chatting with a CM while waiting for a monorail. I was mock-complaining about the single ply TP that they have every where. He said he was going to let me in on a little secret. He got real close and started talking very quiet, like he was letting me in on some tightly held Disney Secret. He said that if you pull off twice as much as you need from the roll, then fold in half length-wise, you get two ply!

[disneydreamingdebby]

Loved seeing Tink; when you say you sat on a bench near the rose garden, where is that? Is it outside of Plaza?:confused3

O'hana - pot stickers and the bread pudding - YUM! :goodvibes Sorry you still weren't up to enjoying fully!

Can't wait to hear about the buffet :surfweb:- hopefully, you were feeling better!

[burly]

you said you sat down in line for Soarin'. didn't they have the games working? :confused3
thanks for the update, I'm so glad you were feeling well enough to actually eat at O'hana, would have been a shame.....and expensive, if you couldn't.;)

[Goofy442]

Wow you are braver then I . Don't think I could handle rides with a bad stomach that would make me feel worst. Ohanas I love their food, my favorite is the bread pudding.

[Dugette]

Great Update!! I have never seen Tinkerbell so close. WOW! That was so cool. Thanks so much for posting. I cant wait to show my boys tomorrow! We always see her from so far away that I had thought it was just a light....
Yeah, I thought the Tinkerbell view was great, even though I had nothing to compare it to. I hope your boys enjoy the video! :goodvibes

A few years back I was chatting with a CM while waiting for a monorail. I was mock-complaining about the single ply TP that they have every where. He said he was going to let me in on a little secret. He got real close and started talking very quiet, like he was letting me in on some tightly held Disney Secret. He said that if you pull off twice as much as you need from the roll, then fold in half length-wise, you get two ply!
Ha ha, those zany CMs! :laughing: You know, it would still be low-quality compared to the super-soft stuff they had at 'Ohana, though. You should check it out if you get the chance! :thumbsup2

Loved seeing Tink; when you say you sat on a bench near the rose garden, where is that? Is it outside of Plaza?:confused3

O'hana - pot stickers and the bread pudding - YUM! :goodvibes Sorry you still weren't up to enjoying fully!

Can't wait to hear about the buffet :surfweb:- hopefully, you were feeling better!
The rose garden is near where you take a right to go over the bridge into Tomorrowland. You take a left before the bridge and follow the trail down into the garden. I believe it is pretty near the Plaza.

I just looked at my 'Ohana pictures again and I would LOVE to have that food for dinner tonight! Oh well, less than 2 months until I can! :yay:

The upcoming buffet was an interesting experience. The before and after of my plate was pretty comical.

you said you sat down in line for Soarin'. didn't they have the games working? :confused3
thanks for the update, I'm so glad you were feeling well enough to actually eat at O'hana, would have been a shame.....and expensive, if you couldn't.;)
Our line didn't quite go back as far as the games. And I think the games were turned off. :confused3

I'm glad I could eat at 'Ohana too. It was yummy! Although I'm sure the "cousins" were wondering why I was eating significantly less than your average toddler...they probably thought I didn't like it. Plus, I for sure didn't get my money's worth, but luckily the Dining Plan obscures that a bit.

Wow you are braver then I . Don't think I could handle rides with a bad stomach that would make me feel worst. Ohanas I love their food, my favorite is the bread pudding.
We tried to stick to the tame rides. Anything was better than being stuck in bed again, while at Disney. I was most concerned about the drop in Maelstrom, but I figured I'd be okay since the 'Ohana meal was staying down. And because I really like drops like that. :)

I have heard that the bread pudding is delicious, but I just couldn't get past the sweetness that night. Don't know why, but it was bothering me. Normally, sweet=yummy!

[praisehisname]

Mmm, that Ohana dinner looks so good! I *will* eat there someday!

[jillianml]

Love the animals!

[A&Bmama]

Dinner looked really good at Ohannas. Too bad that you couldn't enjoy it more.

All in all you seem to have had a decent day despite your illness.

[GaRain]

Not really a seafood lover myself, but I would enjoy the experience of eating at Ohana's sometime!
Glad you were starting to feel better and I hope I read that you could totally eat the next day!

[Dugette]

Mmm, that Ohana dinner looks so good! I *will* eat there someday!
Me too! :laughing: Well, I'll eat more than one bite of each dish, at least!

Love the animals!
I'm assuming you mean at AK? I could go on the Safari over and over without getting tired of seeing all the animals.

Dinner looked really good at Ohannas. Too bad that you couldn't enjoy it more.

All in all you seem to have had a decent day despite your illness.
Yes, it was a pretty good day, considering. Any day where you can keep your dinner down is exciting! :eek:

Not really a seafood lover myself, but I would enjoy the experience of eating at Ohana's sometime!
Glad you were starting to feel better and I hope I read that you could totally eat the next day!
'Ohana is great. I think the only seafood was the shrimp, but there's so much other stuff! I'll try to get an update put together in the next day or two, so you can see how "much" I ate the next day!

[Dugette]

Given how tired we were heading out of Epcot the previous night, this seemed like a good morning to sleep in. So, we did.

We completely deviated from our touring plans this day. Originally, it was going to be our DHS day (early EMH). It was a Fantasmic night (which we saw on our last trip, so planned to skip this time), so we were a little worried about the crowds. But our plan had been to chance things and go there anyway.

The original plan for the next day was to go to Typhoon Lagoon and Downtown Disney. I wasn’t really all that excited to go to Typhoon Lagoon in the first place. We live 3 hours from Wisconsin Dells, otherwise known as “The Waterpark Capital of the World.” I’ve been to Noah’s Ark Waterpark many times. Although I’m sure it would be cool to experience a well-themed Disney waterpark, it wasn’t a high priority to me. Maybe if it had been sweltering out, but this was January. And then I got sick. And now a waterpark really just didn’t sound like fun.

After Typhoon Lagoon, we had planned to go to Downtown Disney for the first time. Since we’d already made it over there a couple unplanned times on this trip, we wouldn’t need as much time there anymore.

So, we decided to move our DHS day to the next day, still go to Downtown Disney that night to get some souvenirs, and go to Epcot this day. After all, our dinner ADR was at Biergarten. And we still hadn’t gotten to eat a meal at the ridiculously good-smelling Sunshine Seasons. And we still wanted to explore the countries in World Showcase.

So, all this plan-changing contributed to our sleeping in. When we did get up, I actually decided to eat breakfast! Although I still didn’t have much of an appetite, food was staying down now, so I figured I should eat. I had….you guessed it, a bowl of Reese’s Puffs! Also, I decided to sample the bread from Le Cellier. I had been wondering what the fuss about pretzel bread was about. I’m not super-crazy for pretzels (they’re okay), so I wasn’t sure why breadstick-shaped pretzels would be all that great. But it was SO yummy! :cloud9: I wish there had been more than one of that kind! I have no idea what Dug ate for breakfast. Maybe some of the other Le Cellier bread? Not sure. :confused3

Looking carefully through our notes, I now realize that the walk around POR I thought we took the other day was actually on this day. The other day, we must have taken a short walk, but this one was the long one. I have a note that says “Ol’ Man Island is cool.” We don’t have many pictures of this walk, but this is what we have:

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%208/PORwalk1.jpg

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%208/PORwalk2.jpg

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%208/PORwalk3.jpg

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%208/PORwalk4.jpg

The weather was sunny with a high of 77 degrees this day. Nice for a walk. After exploring POR, we took the bus to Epcot.

It was about lunchtime, so we went right to Sunshine Seasons. Dug got: Salmon with Kalamata Pesto, mashed potatoes, rice, orange juice, and Butterfinger cheesecake. I got: a ham and salami sandwich, potato salad, Sprite, and a piece of chocolate mousse cake. Here are the pictures:

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%208/SSFood3.jpg

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%208/SSFood2.jpg

Apparently this was one of the few meals where we remembered to take a picture before taking a bite! My sandwich was enormous. I think I maybe ate a third of it and was full. The potato salad was good. Strangely enough, what I really remember during this meal was that Sprite had never tasted so amazingly refreshing to me before. I don’t know what it was (well, maybe dehydration?), but I was in heaven drinking that Sprite (and I don’t even like Sprite all that much). :drinking1 My dessert was awesome. Well, if you love chocolate mousse like I do. I think I managed to eat about half the giant piece of cake. Dug liked his food okay, but he said the scent of Sunshine Seasons throughout The Land overhypes it a bit.

Since we had arrived at Epcot at lunchtime, we looked around for something without much of a wait to do next. Honey I Shrunk the Audience was going to be starting soon, so we went there. We really did not like the pre-show for this. First, you have to stand for a long period of time. I still wasn’t feeling 100%, so this was challenging. Secondly, the pre-show was pretty much a big commercial. Not cool.

Finally, we were let into the theater. The show was enjoyable. :3dglasses

Next, we grabbed Fast Passes for Test Track. Our dinner ADR was at 7:45pm, so we figured there might be a slim chance of using them after dinner. Never did use them, though. Too bad, because I love Test Track!

We made our way to Ellen’s Energy Adventure:

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%208/UofEnergy.jpg

We did this in September, but it was enjoyable enough, so we decided to go again. It’s a long show, but it’s pretty funny. Although I wish the ride vehicles/theater moved a little faster.

Although Dug had covered a lot of Innoventions on his solo day, he hadn’t done the StormReady exhibit. It’s a severe weather simulator. So, we did that. It was okay. Worth doing once, I’d say.

After this, we took the boat over to Morocco. What a great country to explore. Lots of cool things to see:

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%208/Morocco1.jpg

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%208/Morocco2.jpg

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%208/Morocco3.jpg

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%208/Morocco4.jpg

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%208/Morocco5.jpg

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%208/Morocco6.jpg

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%208/Morocco7.jpg

We also explored Japan a bit:

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%208/Japan3.jpg

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%208/Japan1.jpg

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%208/Japan2.jpg

Then, we went to see The American Adventure:

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%208/America.jpg

I had specifically requested that we do this, as I slept through the majority of it on our last trip. I wasn’t bored or anything, I was just super tired and couldn’t keep my eyes open in the dark theater. So, I was actually awake and got to see the show this time!

After the show, we walked through Italy:

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%208/Italy.jpg

We went to the real Italy on our honeymoon and this pavilion is a nice re-creation of Venice. Without all the pigeons. I saw they had a gelato booth, but with my lack of appetite, I filed that away under “do on future trip.” We also saw some construction going on in back of Italy (I believe). Cool!

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%208/Construction.jpg

Continued in next post...

[Dugette]

We checked Germany out a bit also. As we approached Biergarten, I became a little nervous as to whether or not I’d be able to eat there. The German-food smell outside was so strong that it was making me feel sick. I decided to try going in and hoped for the best. Turns out the strong smell must have been coming from the counter-service place, as I was fine inside (although being up at the buffet was a little iffy for me).

We were seated with a family from Massachusetts. There was a couple close to our ages (a couple years younger), her parents, and some other older female relative…maybe an aunt or something? They seemed pretty nice. The girl’s parents were taking them all on this trip, it seemed. I think it might have been to celebrate the girl’s birthday. She was turning 30. She said that turning 30 wouldn’t bother her so much if “he” (the boyfriend) "ever decided to" [points at her empty ring finger]. :laughing: The way she said it was kind-of funny. Hope it worked out for them! Who knows, maybe he had a Disney proposal planned? :lovestruc

We went up to the buffet. Dug ended up making a few trips. Here are his plates:

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%208/Buffet1.jpg

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%208/Buffet3.jpg

I only made one trip to the buffet. Here’s the “before” of my plate:

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%208/Buffet2.jpg

I guess I don’t have a picture of the “after”, but it looked very similar, minus a few bites of most items. Most of those items with bites being potatoes of some sort. And a bit of meat. That dessert thing I got was rejected after one bite for over-sweetness. I still had some sweetness-aversion going on (apparently "chocolate mousse cake okay, sweet syrupy strawberries not okay"). I’m sure the other family probably wondered if I was anorexic or something, based on my low food intake. Oh, well. Don’t worry, we’ve got an ADR for Biergarten on our upcoming June trip too. :thumbsup2 (That’s right, our June trip is full of “make-up” ADRs: ‘Ohana, Le Cellier, Biergarten, and Raglan Road—we’ll get to that one.)

The entertainment was good. It was fun to watch all the kids out dancing:

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%208/BuffetBand.jpg

I also enjoyed their rendition of Edelweiss on this thing:

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%208/Edelweiss.jpg

We were lucky that we had good table-mates. One fun thing was that we realized that both Dug and the boyfriend-guy had done the Velcro Cabbage Patch Kid diaper thing at Innoventions. It became a contest between them to see who got more dolls velcroed to them. The boyfriend-guy kept exaggerating, but his group called him out on it. Turns out that he and Dug both ended up with the same number of dolls strapped to them (7, I think?), plus they both beat their competitors in the game. :cheer2:

A lot of the second half of the meal was spent in Disney-advisor mode. This family had just arrived and only had about 4 days to see The World. Although this was only Dug’s second trip to WDW, he had read a lot of guidebooks and listened to a lot of podcasts. (And I knew some stuff too!) He pretty much set this family up with touring plans for their whole trip: which parks to go to on which day, which EMH to use, when to park-hop, what to do, what to skip, etc. They were taking notes on napkins. Funny. Hope their trip went well.

On a side note, Dug is now something of an unofficial Disney trip advisor. Since this Biergarten family, he has helped two other families (in MN) plan their trips. Pretty cool! :goodvibes

The other family offered to take a picture of us in front of the indoor moon:

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%208/BuffetMoon.jpg

Can you believe that they never once asked what the matter was with Dug’s face? Or why I hardly ate? Maybe they talked about how odd we were for the rest of their trip… :crazy::crazy2:

We’d all been done eating for awhile and were getting rather frustrated that the waitress had not yet brought our check. It had been so long that we almost forgot she hadn't brought it yet and started to leave! We had hoped to catch Illuminations, but we were still attempting to get our check at Biergarten at 9pm. Finally, we made it out and caught about the second half of Illuminations.

Here’s a few pics Dug took:

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%208/Illumi1.jpg

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%208/Illumi2.jpg

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%208/Illumi3.jpg

And here’s some still frames from the video I took:

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%208/Globe.jpg

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%208/IllumFinale.jpg

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%208/IllumPurple.jpg

On the way out of Epcot, Dug took a couple nice shots:

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%208/Exit1.jpg

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%208/Exit2.jpg

We got out to the bus stop and got in the POR line. Which was pretty long. We were right next to the POFQ line, which had almost no one in it. When we saw a POFQ bus coming, we jumped lines. The cool thing about our building is that it was not much further from POFQ than from the closest POR bus stop. So, we took the bus to POFQ, then took the nice stroll home. We only walked 14k steps this day. But Dug’s pinky toe had turned into a giant blister. :eek:

One other thing to mention. Since I’d missed out on Le Cellier the other day, we had an extra TS credit to use. :cool1: We are good at splitting meals, so this meant an extra ADR to make. We’d both been interested in trying breakfast at Kouzzina, plus it had ADRs available, so we booked a late breakfast there for the next morning.

Up next: What’s the fastest way to get on Toy Story Mania? What food do I wolf down and wish for more of? Will I ride anything wild? And will Brett Favre allow us to go to Downtown Disney? All that and more in our last full day!

[praisehisname]

Sounds like you had great tablemates at Biergarten; that's so cool that they were taking notes on what Dug told them! :rotfl:

I'm looking forward to hearing about your breakfast; yum!

[FreezinRafiki]

We live 3 hours from Wisconsin Dells, otherwise known as “The Waterpark Capital of the World.” I’ve been to Noah’s Ark Waterpark many times.
Don't forget about all the t-shirt shops, cheese stands and other assorted oddities around The Dells!

Looking carefully through our notes, I now realize that the walk around POR I thought we took the other day was actually on this day. The other day, we must have taken a short walk, but this one was the long one. I have a note that says “Ol’ Man Island is cool.”
I love morning walks around the resorts. I'm usually up well before anyone else, so I get to stroll around. :thumbsup2

It was about lunchtime, so we went right to Sunshine Seasons. Dug got: Salmon with Kalamata Pesto, mashed potatoes, rice, orange juice, and Butterfinger cheesecake. I got: a ham and salami sandwich, potato salad, Sprite, and a piece of chocolate mousse cake. Here are the pictures:

We've only been there once and I loved it. So much better than burgers & fries that you get over at the Electric Umbrella.

Secondly, the pre-show was pretty much a big commercial. Not cool.
Gee, what company sponsors that attraction, again? I agree: not cool. I won't even give them free advertising by mentioning their name here.:sad2:

She was turning 30. She said that turning 30 wouldn’t bother her so much if “he” (the boyfriend) "ever decided to" [points at her empty ring finger].
Yeah, so no pressure or anything. :rotfl2:


Biergarten looks like so much fun. It's on our "must do list." I just don't know when we'll get around to it. :confused3

[Sunset Cliffs]

I am all caught up. I must say that you were quite a trooper to go on rides while you were so sick and with such a high fever. You deserve a medal or something. :thumbsup2

Your pictures of Ohana were amazing. The food looks so good, especially the dessert. That bums me out a little because it is the ADR that we cancelled on our trip last summer. I was the only one who wanted to go. That will be a MUST-DO on our next trip.

I haven't ever wanted to eat at the Biergarten place due to the seating situation. I think it sounds awkward to have to sit with people that you don't know... your situation sounds like it was a good one though. I bet they appreciated all of your help to plan their trip!

Great updates!

[Mouse's Shadow]

You are a real trooper. I hope you had a great last full day.

[Dugette]

Sounds like you had great tablemates at Biergarten; that's so cool that they were taking notes on what Dug told them! :rotfl:

I'm looking forward to hearing about your breakfast; yum!
Yes, we were lucky that a good family was seated with us!
Breakfast on the Boardwalk was cool!

Don't forget about all the t-shirt shops, cheese stands and other assorted oddities around The Dells!
Yummy, fresh cheese curds! We always have to stop for some when we drive through Wisconsin!

I love morning walks around the resorts. I'm usually up well before anyone else, so I get to stroll around. :thumbsup2
We didn't do the crack of dawn walks, but the late-morning walks were pretty deserted and peaceful too!

Gee, what company sponsors that attraction, again? I agree: not cool. I won't even give them free advertising by mentioning their name here.:sad2:
The sad part is I can't even remember for sure who the sponsor was...just that I was held captive to a film company's advertising!

Biergarten looks like so much fun. It's on our "must do list." I just don't know when we'll get around to it. :confused3
It was fun! I bet your kids would love it...all the kids there seemed to be having a great time on the dance floor!

I am all caught up. I must say that you were quite a trooper to go on rides while you were so sick and with such a high fever. You deserve a medal or something. :thumbsup2
You know, I'd much prefer sitting in a boat on Pirates to being sick in bed! As long as I was semi-capable, I just couldn't miss another Disney day.

Your pictures of Ohana were amazing. The food looks so good, especially the dessert. That bums me out a little because it is the ADR that we cancelled on our trip last summer. I was the only one who wanted to go. That will be a MUST-DO on our next trip.
Not only does it look good, but the small tastes I got of it were yummy too! You should definitely go there on your next trip! At least you got some yummy Kona when you cancelled your ADR.

I haven't ever wanted to eat at the Biergarten place due to the seating situation. I think it sounds awkward to have to sit with people that you don't know... your situation sounds like it was a good one though. I bet they appreciated all of your help to plan their trip!
It could be awkward, but it worked out pretty good for us! I think they really appreciated the advice, since they only had a short time and wanted to do a lot.

You are a real trooper. I hope you had a great last full day.
Thanks! It's easier to be a trooper when your non-bed alternative is Disney as opposed to, say, work. ;)

Last full day was a pretty busy one. And, luckily, we have another half day after that, before our flight.


I think the next day's update is going to be broken into several, as we seem to have A LOT of pictures from this day! There are close to 150 pictures of just the Indiana Jones stunt show! Crazy!

[cinderella crazy]

Oh I know all about making ADRs to make up for past failed attempts. It seems neither of us got to really enjoy the food at Biergarten during our last trips (remember, Lauren had multiple protein spills at Biergarten?). Here's hoping that both of our trips our sickness free! :goodvibes

[Dugette]

Oh I know all about making ADRs to make up for past failed attempts. It seems neither of us got to really enjoy the food at Biergarten during our last trips (remember, Lauren had multiple protein spills at Biergarten?). Here's hoping that both of our trips our sickness free! :goodvibes
Oh, that's right, I remember that! I think my outing at Biergarten was more successful than hers! I hope we all can get our fill without a spill this time! :rotfl:

[Dugette]

If you recall, this day was originally intended to be our Typhoon Lagoon and Downtown Disney day. It was modified to replace Typhoon Lagoon with DHS and to shorten the time spent at Downtown Disney, as we’d already made two unplanned visits there. It would have been a nice day for a waterpark (77 and very sunny), but we had some DHS to do!

We got up early and munched on the remaining Le Cellier bread for “First Breakfast.” Then took the bus to DHS. I think we must have arrived in time for rope drop, as I remember doing the Toy Story Mania race against the crowd:

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%209/1DHS.jpg

We used the same strategy that worked for us in September (but reversed roles). We both cruised with the crowd to TSM, then split up. Dug got in the standby line while I took our APs to the FP line. I got in line for the FP machine with the shortest line. A few people before I got to the FP machine, they shut it down. No explanation and nothing for those of us that were almost to the front of the line. Just had to switch over and get in another line and wait again! Luckily, the wait wasn’t too bad and Dug was able to wait by the chain right before you go into the TSM building. He let some people pass by so that he could open the chain and let me in. Then we waited together in the rest of the standby line:

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%209/2PotatoHead.jpg

I don’t remember our scores, but judging by our norm, probably in the low-to-mid hundred-thousands.

After TSM, we had a little bit of time to kill before we could obtain any other FP and before we needed to head to our Kouzzina ADR. So, why not try out Starring Rolls for “Second Breakfast”? We split a chocolate croissant (snack credit). Yummy! Guess we forgot to take a picture of it.

Next, we swung over to RnRC and grabbed FP for later. I was feeling pretty good this morning and knew I wanted to get another ride in on this while we could. And there was no way we were chancing the Single Rider Line again, after last time.

We headed from there to the resort boat launch. Took the boat to the Swan/Dolphin stop, as it was first and we could easily walk over to the Boardwalk from there. Here are the pics from our walk:

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%209/3Swan.jpg

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%209/4Boardwalk.jpg

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%209/5MeonBoardwalk.jpg

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%209/6YachtandBeach.jpg

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%209/7Boardwalk.jpg

We arrived:

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%209/8Kouzzina.jpg

As we were waiting to be seated, I found a (semi) Hidden Mickey:

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%209/9HiddenMickey.jpg

We were seated. Dug snapped a few photos of the restaurant and the cool light fixtures:

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%209/10Kouzzina1.jpg

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%209/11Kouzzina2.jpg

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%209/12Light1.jpg

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%209/13Light2.jpg

Since we were splitting our excess TS credit, we ordered the Stacked Kouzzina Breakfast to share. AllEars.net describes it as this: “Two Poached Eggs, Kalamata Olive Toast, Artichoke Spread, and Sweet Potato Hash with choice of Bacon or Chicken Sausage”. Sounds about right. Judging by our picture, we chose the bacon. Breakfast on the dining plan gets you two drinks, so I got orange juice and Dug got the Frappe. I know the breakfast contained more food than this picture indicates—we must have forgotten to take the pic until late in the meal:

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%209/14SPHash.jpg

I don’t know if it was because it was truly that amazing or if it was because potatoes really agreed with me during my flu recovery, but I LOVED that sweet potato hash. It was the first thing that I had gobbled up and wanted more of since I’d been sick. In fact, I didn’t realize it was also offered as a side until I got home and looked at the menu on AllEars, but if I’d known, I’d probably have ordered the side too. It was just so yummy. I still daydream about it regularly. :cloud9: Perhaps on a future trip, we’ll have to stop in for more and see if it really is as good as it tasted to me that particular day.

After that “Third Breakfast”, we wandered around and explored the Boardwalk Resort for a bit:

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%209/15Tower.jpg

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%209/16Balconies.jpg

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%209/17Chandelier.jpg

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%209/18Lobby.jpg

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%209/19MiniCoaster.jpg

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%209/20MiniCarousel.jpg

Is the Cowardly Lion riding the carousel?:

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%209/21CowardlyLion.jpg

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%209/22PoolSlide.jpg

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%209/23Colors.jpg

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%209/24Bridge.jpg

Once we were finished with our explorations, we took the boat back to DHS. We'd had a brief, but productive (in Fast Pass procurement) morning there already, but had a lot left to do.

Up next: more DHS!

[unsinkable]

I wanted to say hello and tell you what a great trip report this is!

I am sorry you got sick at Disney. It happened to me, too. In hindsight, my DH and I realized I got heat exhaustion. But at the time, we had no idea what was going on! It hit me so fast that I nearly spilled protein in the lobby of AS Movies.

I went to our room and my DH took our kids back to the parks. I was so sick & delirious that there were times I thought Mickey Mouse was in the room with me! It is funny now but at the time, it was awful.

I hope the rest of your trip was uneventful!

[disneydreamingdebby]

Dugette, I am so glad you felt better and found amazing food! Love your photo tour of boardwalk!

[Dugette]

I wanted to say hello and tell you what a great trip report this is!
:welcome: and thank you!

I am sorry you got sick at Disney. It happened to me, too. In hindsight, my DH and I realized I got heat exhaustion. But at the time, we had no idea what was going on! It hit me so fast that I nearly spilled protein in the lobby of AS Movies.

I went to our room and my DH took our kids back to the parks. I was so sick & delirious that there were times I thought Mickey Mouse was in the room with me! It is funny now but at the time, it was awful.
Wow, that sounds terrible. At least we went in January, so no real threat of heat exhaustion. I can't believe you were seeing Mickey in your room! :rotfl:

I hope the rest of your trip was uneventful!
Yes, I was finally feeling better! :yay:

Dugette, I am so glad you felt better and found amazing food! Love your photo tour of boardwalk!
Thank you! Glad you enjoyed the photos!

[Goofy442]

I'm glad you told us how you liked Kouzzina because we want to try it in August. The BWV is where we are staying in August so I love all the pictures, thanks. :)

[Sunset Cliffs]

I have not heard much about that restaurant since it opened. I'm glad you had a good review. I must head over to All Ears & check out the menu.

[Dugette]

I'm glad you told us how you liked Kouzzina because we want to try it in August. The BWV is where we are staying in August so I love all the pictures, thanks. :)
I bet that will be cool to stay at BWV! All those nice walks along the Boardwalk whenever you want.

I have not heard much about that restaurant since it opened. I'm glad you had a good review. I must head over to All Ears & check out the menu.

We liked Kouzzina. It wasn't very crowded (late breakfast) and the breakfast food was good. The service was just average. I've heard mixed reviews about the non-breakfast food, but we may just end up back there to try it sometime...who can resist the lure of flaming cheese? We really like Greek food.

[Dugette]

Once we arrived back at DHS, we went to redeem our FP for RnRC. Clearly, I was feeling a lot better this day to do this shortly after eating! Got on the ride quickly with the FP and enjoyed it! This ride has the distinction of being the only upside-down ride anywhere I’ve ever really liked.

Next, we went to check the show/wait time for Little Mermaid. Decided to come back after we’d redeemed our TSM FP.

Normally, when you use FP during a busy time at TSM, you still end up waiting in line for a bit on the stairway part (where the FP joins the regular line). So, it’s usually not a walk-on. But this time, we had a super-short wait. We used our FP to get up to the point where they collect them and have you join the regular line. Since we were a party of two, instead of sending us into the line, the CM asked us to go to the right. I believe this path is normally reserved for wheelchairs (due to the stairs on the regular path). We walked down the path and ended up right at the off-the-beaten-path loading area (which I’d always seen and wondered about). They loaded us right in. I’m still not sure exactly what was going on, as I didn’t see a wheelchair anywhere. But I’m thinking we might have been filling in the back of a car for some other members of a party with a wheelchair? Not really sure, but we were on the ride!

Enjoyed the ride and used all the “secrets” we had learned about through a podcast. Here are our scores:

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%209/25TSMscores.jpg

I think I was on the left and Dug on the right, but not sure.

Next, it was time to go see Little Mermaid. Saw it on our last trip, but still enjoyed seeing it again.

Now it was time for the Indiana Jones stunt show. Before we went in, I remembered reading in the “Hidden Magic” book that there was something we had to try here. There was a well with a rope and a sign that said, “Do not pull the rope.” With the “not” crossed off. I pulled the rope and heard Marcus (from the Indiana Jones movies) calling up from the bottom of the well. Cool.

We went in and got good seats towards the front, on the right-hand side. Last time, we’d been late to this show and were seated way in the back (and we’d missed the start of it). This time, we got to see the whole intro and such. Believe it or not, we have just shy of 150 pictures of this show. In fact, if we printed them all and bound them together, they’d probably be like a flip book where you can watch the “motion” of the entire show. It’s kind-of ridiculous. So, I’ll spare you and just post a small sampling:

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%209/26Indy1.jpg

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%209/27Indy2.jpg

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%209/28Indy3.jpg

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%209/29Indy4.jpg

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%209/30Indy5.jpg

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%209/31Indy6.jpg

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%209/32Indy7.jpg

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%209/33Indy8.jpg

As we exited the show, we passed the Jedi Training in progress:

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%209/34Jedi.jpg

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%209/35Muppets.jpg

We wandered around the New York and San Francisco streets before heading to lunch. The detail along the streets is really cool. We enjoyed all the little touches:

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%209/36Street1.jpg

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%209/37Street2.jpg

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%209/38Street3.jpg

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%209/39Street4.jpg

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%209/40Street5.jpg

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%209/41Street6.jpg

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%209/42Street7.jpg

Something new?:

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%209/43NewStreet.jpg

We had decided to have lunch at Studio Catering Company. DHS really doesn’t have many good options for CS and this menu sounded the best to us. I can’t resist Greek Salad, so I had that with Sprite to drink and water for “dessert.” I’m not big on cake and I told the CM, “I’m all caked-out, can I just have a bottle of water for dessert?”:

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%209/44Salad.jpg

Dug had the pulled pork sub, chips, Sprite, and marble cheesecake:

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%209/45Sub.jpg

Food was decent. Nothing to rave about, but good. I gobbled my salad down, really enjoying having a semi-normal appetite again. I think we saved the water for later.

After lunch, Dug stopped into a restroom. I sat outside to wait and noticed something that I found hilarious. These people had their strollers parked directly under a “ton of bricks” for the longest time and never even noticed! :lmao: Poor kids:

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%209/46Bricks.jpg

Up next: One Man’s Dream, meeting our namesake, and trying our hand at animation!

[Mouse's Shadow]

So glad you were feeling better. I love the ton of bricks observation.:rotfl2:

[Sunset Cliffs]

I really like your pictures of the New York city area. I feel like we have explored that area a lot, but you have a lot of pictures that I've never noticed before. Now I want to go back and spend some time there.

I also feel like DHS does not have the best CS places.... We usually try to eat at Sci-Fi for a big meal & then we wait to leave the park to eat our other meal. Nothing ever sounds exciting enough. :confused3

[JLR]

Glad you were feeling better! I feel the same way about RnRC. Awesome scores on TSM. I just wanted to comment and not lurk.

[praisehisname]

Yum! That sweet potato has sounds so good!

Great updates!

[Dugette]

So glad you were feeling better. I love the ton of bricks observation.:rotfl2:
I'm glad someone else appreciates the prop comedy! I felt a little guilty about laughing over toddlers stuck under a "ton of bricks", but it was just so funny! :lmao:

I really like your pictures of the New York city area. I feel like we have explored that area a lot, but you have a lot of pictures that I've never noticed before. Now I want to go back and spend some time there.

I also feel like DHS does not have the best CS places.... We usually try to eat at Sci-Fi for a big meal & then we wait to leave the park to eat our other meal. Nothing ever sounds exciting enough. :confused3
You know, I thought I was looking pretty closely at the details, but Dug captured some things on camera that I hadn't even noticed until I saw the pictures! They do such a great job with details in the parks!

Yeah, we ended up eating most of our DHS-day meals outside the park too!

Glad you were feeling better! I feel the same way about RnRC. Awesome scores on TSM. I just wanted to comment and not lurk.
Thanks! I found a video online the other day that shows someone getting a 500k+ score on TSM, so now I'm inspired to improve!

Yum! That sweet potato has sounds so good!

Great updates!
Thanks, another update coming right up! Mmmmmmmmm.....sweet potato hash! It drives me nuts that there's no smiley for "Yummy!" We'll just go with :cloud9:

[Dugette]

Cool set:

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%209/47CoolSet.jpg

Hot set:

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%209/48HotSet.jpg

After lunch, we must have taken a stroll through Pixar Place. Lots of pics of the scenery:

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%209/49Monkeys1.jpg

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%209/50Monkeys2.jpg

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%209/51Monkeys3.jpg

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%209/52ArmyMen.jpg

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%209/53TSMWaitTime.jpg

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%209/54Toys.jpg

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%209/55Pixar.jpg

Next on our agenda was a leisurely viewing of the One Man’s Dream exhibit:

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%209/56OneMansDream.jpg

On our last trip, we really enjoyed what we saw of the museum, but got pulled into the movie and missed a lot of the exhibit. This was our chance to see the rest of it. And take lots and lots of pictures!

We’ll be attempting something like this soon:

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%209/57MickeyDrawing.jpg

Walt’s office:

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%209/58WaltsOffice.jpg

Disneyland castle model:

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%209/59DLCastle.jpg

Jungle Cruise model:

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%209/60JungleCruise.jpg

Peter Pan’s Flight model:

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%209/61PeterPan.jpg

One of my favorite Disney movies:

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%209/62LadytheTramp.jpg

Walt explaining the Florida Project:

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%209/63FloridaProject.jpg

Spaceship Earth model:

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%209/64SpaceshipEarth.jpg

This picture makes me want to cry. I believe it was in response to Walt’s death:

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%209/65SadMickeyEarth.jpg

WDW Castle model:

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%209/66WDWCastle.jpg

Me and my pals Roy and Mickey:

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%209/67MeRoy.jpg

The bones of an audio-animatronic:

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%209/68AnimatronicBones.jpg

A retired bird:

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%209/69Bird.jpg

I found WALL-E hiding in a corner:

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%209/70Wall-E.jpg

Continued in next post…

[Dugette]

Typhoon Lagoon model:

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%209/71TyphoonLagoon.jpg

Tree of Life model:

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%209/72TreeofLife.jpg

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%209/73TreeofLifeRoots.jpg

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%209/74TreeofLifeCarvings.jpg

Tiny hat:

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%209/75TheHat.jpg

Tiny Tower of Terror:

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%209/76TowerofTerror.jpg

We skipped the movie this time. We saw it last trip and it was very good, but we had other things on our agenda.

For instance, we had to get in our only “must-do” character meet and greet! The only character meeting regret I’d had from our September trip is that we saw the cast of Up, but didn’t get in line. So, we waited in the 15-minute-or-so line this time. I had to get a good picture for my avatar!

Taking photos of the photos while waiting in line:

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%209/77UpQueue.jpg

Here’s where my writing will get confusing…lets call them DugDH and DugDog to keep everything straight. DugDH didn’t want to be in the pictures, because his lips were clownish and he didn’t want to ruin any photos!

Instead, he decided to take photos, since we wanted good ones and were not going to be purchasing the few PhotoPass pics we’d had taken. So, when it was my turn, I went up and met the cast. Here I am shaking DugDog’s paw:

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%209/78MeetingDug.jpg

I had told DugDH that it would be fun to yell “Squirrel!!!”, but I didn’t have the guts to do it. So, DugDH did! When he yelled “Squirrel!!!”, DugDog did a little excited bouncing around thing. I’m sure people do it all the time, but it was still fun.

Me and my pals:

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%209/79UpCharacters.jpg

Then, DugDH suggested that I get a hug from DugDog. This is where my avatar is from:

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%209/80DugHug.jpg

I think the CMs were getting a bit impatient with us by then, so we took off. I only wish that the DugDog character had the little voice box, like in the movie. He could just randomly spit out things like, “I just met you and I love you!” It would be so cute! Oh, well, I guess they’re not on display anymore now anyway, so we were just lucky we got to get those photos.

Now, back to calling DugDH just Dug again! Dug really wanted to do the Animation Academy, so we got into the little holding pen for that. They kept lying to us about when it would start. It was a long “two minutes” before they finally let us in. We grabbed our seats in the studio. Found out that we would be learning to draw Stitch.

This was not easy. Of course, I didn’t expect it to be, as I’m not much of an artist. Dug is more talented than I at that sort of thing. But they do give good direction…just maybe a bit too quickly for us novices.

I love this picture, because I think it looks like I am a real artist (even though we’ve just covered how untrue that is!):

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%209/81MetheAnimator.jpg

These aren’t the best scans (the paper was too big for our scanner), but here are the results.

Mine:

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%209/91DugetteStitch.jpg

Dug’s:

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%209/90DugStitch.jpg

Although there’s no mention of it in our notes, we must have done the Great Movie Ride next. Because we have lots of blurry pictures of it. Here are the only non-blurry ones:

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%209/82GreatMovieMarquee.jpg

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%209/83Munchkinland.jpg

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%209/84EmeraldCity.jpg

Dug also must have picked up some of that wonderful-smelling popcorn on our way out of the park. popcorn:: He said it tasted good, but not nearly as good as it smelled.

Near the exit, we were stopped for a survey. I had forgotten to mention that this happened earlier on our trip also. After getting Dug’s haircut at the Magic Kingdom, we’d been surveyed. And now we were getting asked some questions about DHS. “What rides need to be updated?” for instance. It was fun being able to give feedback directly to Disney, while at Disney. Though, I admit, we were hoping to maybe get some sort of reward for participating, but we haven’t gotten anything (to my knowledge, at least).

Once we finished with the survey-taker, we made our way to the busses and back to POR. All day long, we’d been enjoying the easy identification of fellow Minnesotans (in purple), as there was a big Vikings playoff game that night. We decided that we wanted to relax in the room, watch the game, and take care of some bounce-back decisions we needed to make!

Up next: What do we book to continue the “Year of Disney”? And doesn’t Brett Favre know that Downtown Disney will be closing soon?!?!

[praisehisname]

Great pics with the Up crew! Can't wait to hear about your bounceback plans!

[Dugette]

Great pics with the Up crew! Can't wait to hear about your bounceback plans!

Thanks! I hope to get the bounceback update done tonight!

[disneydreamingdebby]

Thank you for all of the pictures. It was cool to see Walt's office. I am reading The Kingdom Keepers with my daughters, and one of the scenes took place in there! Bounceback - fun!:yay:

[Dugette]

Thank you for all of the pictures. It was cool to see Walt's office. I am reading The Kingdom Keepers with my daughters, and one of the scenes took place in there! Bounceback - fun!:yay:

You're welcome for the pictures! That's neat about the book! Bounceback coming right up...

[Dugette]

We left off with our arrival back at POR. We headed to our room and turned on the Vikings vs. Saints NFC Championship Game. If the Vikings won this, they would go to the Superbowl! :cheer2: I am not a big football fan, but I will usually jump on the Vikings bandwagon if things are going decently. So, we wanted to watch.

While the game was on, we multi-tasked. Dug worked on the not-so-easy chore of getting us checked in for our return flight online (via an iPhone). :headache: I crunched budget numbers to figure the extent of “Disney funds” we still had available. :teacher:

When we were staying at the Poly, we had gotten a bounceback offer:

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%209/94Bounceback1.jpg
http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%209/95Bounceback2.jpg

We did not act on it, though, as we knew we’d probably get more in our other two resorts. Plus, we were hoping for moderate or value options (this just had deluxe). We did not receive anything at WL. However, POR had just the offer we were looking for:

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%209/96Bounceback3.jpg
http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%209/97Bounceback4.jpg

Now we had some planning to do. We had upgraded to Annual Passes so that we could spend long weekends at some of the special events at WDW throughout the year.

First up: Star Wars Weekends. :darth::yoda: Dug is a big Star Wars fan. I tolerate it. It’s not really my thing, but hey—it’s in Disney World! We decided that the first weekend in June (week 3 of SWW) would work best in our schedules. We had enjoyed POR, but (you may remember from our PTR) we had originally wanted to try POFQ. Lack of availability kept us from staying there this trip. However, it was available for our June trip. At 35% off. Resort #1 selected:

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%205/P1000012.jpg

Next event: Food & Wine Festival. We both agree that this sounds like fun! Can’t wait to try all the different foods! And it will be nice to spend more time in World Showcase. We picked Veteran’s Day weekend, as Dug has a day off work for the holiday. During our resort explorations on this trip, we’d decided on our favorite Epcot resort:

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%209/6YachtandBeach.jpg

We really liked Beach Club in general, StormAlong Bay in particular, and the location is great for walking over to Food & Wine. Better still, deluxes were 40% off, but deluxe villas were 45% off. Simple math :teacher: showed us that a Studio at BCV was actually cheaper than a regular room at BC, due to the increased discount. Plus, we’d have a kitchenette! Awesome! :cool1:

Although we know that some holiday decorations will be up by the November trip, we both have been enchanted by all the pictures and video of WDW during the holidays. So, we really want to make sure to catch everything. Guess a December trip is in order! We decided on on the second weekend in December, as rates are low, crowds are low, and decorations are up! We’re going back to a resort we fell in love with during our one night:

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%201/P1010452.jpg

The Poly! :cloud9: Thanks to low season rates and 40% off, a long weekend splurge was do-able. It seems crazy, as we are value resort people at heart (we just stayed at a Super 8 when we went out of town this weekend), but you gotta take advantage of the deals while they’re out there!

So, Dug called up the bounceback number and made our reservations. June 3-6, November 11-14, and December 10-13. The second two weekends we may not stay the whole time, but the reservationist suggested that we book an extra day, as we can always cancel bounceback days, but not add days at that rate. And we won’t know exactly which days we’ll want until we find some decent airfare.

I can’t remember if we also booked this the same night or if we already had, but we called and booked Le Cellier for dinner on June 6th. Had to make up for my illness.

Three more Disney trips! Getting our money’s worth out of the APs! Less than a month until the next one! Can’t wait! :yay:

So, anyway, the football game was still going on. It was a pretty good game, very close. So close, in fact, that it went into overtime. It was getting late and we still had to go to Downtown Disney! But we wanted to find out who won! Well, we should have left, as the Vikings blew it. :sad2:

Now, with very little time, we had to get to Downtown Disney, get souvenirs, get candy from Goofy’s Candy Co., and maybe get some dinner. We sped (by foot) down to the bus stop. A Downtown Disney bus came. The driver wasn’t sure that we’d make it there before things closed, but he got us there as quickly as he could. We arrived with 10 minutes until the stores closed!

Dug and I had made a plan of attack while on the bus. We’d split up. He’d get the souvenirs (we’d already browsed enough that we knew what we wanted, mostly) and I’d get the GCC treats.

He took off to WOD and I happily arrived at GCC. :cloud9: I had never been in here before. It would have been fun to look around more, if I’d had more time. But I had a mission to use snack credits on create-your-own candy! Luckily, it was empty, so I was helped right away. An older gentleman was working the candy counter. I asked what a snack credit would get me. He said either the marshmallows-create-your-own or one of the premade candies on a stick (I think he hoped I’d go for that…less work right before close). Of course, I had to create ours! I filled out the paperwork for our candies. For mine, I had marshmallows, covered in dark chocolate, rolled in Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups, and drizzled in dark chocolate. For Dug, I guessed what he would like and got him marshmallows, covered in white chocolate, rolled in Butterfinger, and drizzled with dark chocolate. It was fun to watch him make the candy. He wrapped them up, I paid with two snack credits, and headed out. We didn’t actually look at them until the next morning, but here’s a sneak preview:

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%209/92Candy1.jpg
http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%209/93Candy2.jpg

Called Dug and he was just heading out of World of Disney. He got: Lady & the Tramp salt/pepper shakers for his boss, a purple Mickey tie for his dad, Disney pizza plates for his sister and BIL, a Goofy-Chewbacca figurine for his best friend (who was looking in on our cat while we were gone), and a frame that I wanted for us:

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%209/98Frame.jpg

We still don't have a picture in the frame...thanks, impetigo! We'll have to get a good one next trip. My family has never been big on souvenirs, so that was all we needed. (We’d already gotten his mom that glass at the beginning of our trip, if you recall).

Success! :cool1: We’d done all our Downtown Disney shopping in under 10 minutes! Obviously, it was too late to get dinner there, so we headed back to POR to eat at Riverside Mill.

We had meal credits to use up, so we each got our own meal. Dug did the create-your-own pasta again. He got a warm apple pie for dessert. And a Sprite to drink. I got the baked ziti, water to drink, and ice cream for dessert. I asked if two scoops (rather than just one) worked for a dessert credit and they said that was fine. So, I got one mint chocolate chip scoop for myself and one vanilla scoop that I gave to Dug to top his apple pie with:

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%209/86Pasta.jpg

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%209/85Ziti.jpg

After we ate, we went back to the room. I think we might have packed up a little. Only one partial day left! :sad1:

We walked 18,679 steps this day. Time to sleep!

Up next: How much can I remember about our last day, since we have no notes on it? I, for one, can’t wait to find out!

[praisehisname]

Your bounceback plans are so exciting! :cool1: Plus you were able to score a ressie for LeCellier. Can't wait to hear about the trips!

I can't believe you guys were able to accomplish so much at DD in 10 minutes! :laughing: I'm impressed!

[LuvEeyore]

This trip report has been so much fun. I am looking forwardward to the last days report and to the June report. We are going July 15-18.popcorn::popcorn::

[Dugette]

Your bounceback plans are so exciting! :cool1: Plus you were able to score a ressie for LeCellier. Can't wait to hear about the trips!

I can't believe you guys were able to accomplish so much at DD in 10 minutes! :laughing: I'm impressed!
3 weeks and 1 day until we're off to Disney again! :cool1: Can't wait to try Le Cellier! And, yes, I still can't believe we got all that done at Downtown Disney when the bus driver seemed to think we were crazy to go there at that time!

This trip report has been so much fun. I am looking forwardward to the last days report and to the June report. We are going July 15-18.popcorn::popcorn::
Thank you! Your trip's coming up soon too! :goodvibes


Although it's borderline crazy, I'm considering writing up a belated TR for our September 2009 trip (before we leave for our next trip). I recently discovered we have better notes than I thought (considering we didn't make any until after the trip). Not to mention over 800 pictures. Gotta finish this TR first, though! :)

[gellybean]

Holy Bounceback Booking Batman!

That's awesomeness in a nutshell, Dugette!

I'm so jealous. And kicking myself. I so should have booked bounceback. Next year I'm booking it just to have on a what if.

As it is, we're stuck with general discount and AP discount through my mom. Well twist my arm why doncha? :lmao:

We may or may not have just added a quick trip in August. What was in the Disney drinking/swimming/batheing water the week we were there that has made us such addicts?!!! :rolleyes1

:rotfl:

So sorry your trip is coming to a close (all over again via a TR) but glad you guys have 3 trips to look forward to!!

[Dugette]

Holy Bounceback Booking Batman!

That's awesomeness in a nutshell, Dugette!

I'm so jealous. And kicking myself. I so should have booked bounceback. Next year I'm booking it just to have on a what if.

As it is, we're stuck with general discount and AP discount through my mom. Well twist my arm why doncha? :lmao:

We may or may not have just added a quick trip in August. What was in the Disney drinking/swimming/batheing water the week we were there that has made us such addicts?!!! :rolleyes1

:rotfl:

So sorry your trip is coming to a close (all over again via a TR) but glad you guys have 3 trips to look forward to!!
I just perused your PTR. Looks like you got some equally good deals anyway, between the PIN code and your mom's AP. Awesome!

We figured booking bounceback room-only couldn't hurt, as we can cancel anytime up to 5 days before with no penalty.

Yes, Disney must put magical pixie dust pixiedust: in the water that tells us to come back soon! And often! :laughing: I'm so glad you get to go back a couple more times this year! :goodvibes

[Dugette]

So sad waking up your last day at Disney, knowing that you have to go home that day. :sad1:

Luckily, we had plenty of chocolate-covered leftovers in the fridge for breakfast:

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%2010/1cake.jpg

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%2010/2butterfinger.jpg

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%2010/3reeses.jpg

We ate what we could but, sadly, we ended up throwing quite a bit away. We needed to have POR hold our luggage all day and were not sure that the food would stay cool enough.

We packed up and headed out of our room. Goodbye POR! :wave2: We brought our luggage down to the airline check-in area to store for the day. We attempted to correct our seating assignments for the flight (as we got separated during the online check-in). Their system wasn’t working, so they told us to try later, when we came back.

In our PTR, we mused about spending the last day in either AK or DHS. But, with me having been sick and missing some park time, I wanted to go to MK and Epcot. However, we had to drop Epcot off of the plans, due to an ADR change we made the night before.

I forgot to mention, the previous night, we had an ADR for dinner at Raglan Road. When we decided to watch the Vikings game, we considered cancelling it. Then we found out that there is NO entertainment there on Sunday nights! So, that sealed the deal and we did cancel our ADR. Which left us with two table service credits to use our last day. Hmmmmm, where can we go that’s yummy and can get us in last minute? :idea:

Kona! Yes, we’d already had breakfast and dinner there, so why not complete the circuit and have lunch too? So, we made an ADR for a late lunch at Kona. Our flight wasn’t until 6:10pm, so we didn’t have to catch the Magical Express until 3pm.

So, this morning we were catching a bus to the Magic Kingdom. Once we arrived, we split up. I power-walked over to Space Mountain for Fast Passes. Dug took the train over to Frontierland so we could meet at Thunder Mountain. He got some photos of the train ride:

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%2010/4train1.jpg

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%2010/5train2.jpg

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%2010/6train3.jpg

We met up and got in line for Big Thunder:

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%2010/7thunder1.jpg

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%2010/8thunder2.jpg

Got right on. Love that ride! In fact, so much so that I insisted we go again. Line was still short, so we went on a second time.

Now, it was time to take the boat over to Tom Sawyer Island:

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%2010/9huckfinn.jpg

We’d heard that the cast members hide paintbrushes on the island each morning and that if you find one, you get special Fast Passes. Our mission was to find a paintbrush!

On the raft ride over, the CM also made an announcement about the paintbrushes. So, everyone would be looking now.

Shortly after we got to the island, some older (college-age?) guys each had found a brush. Not sure if they made one give a brush back, as there is supposed to be a max of one per party. We explored the island, splitting up and meeting back up occasionally. I saw a little boy with a paintbrush.

We explored the fort. Last trip, the fort was closed, so it was nice to see it. But we weren’t finding any paintbrushes!

After we’d covered the island pretty thoroughly, we decided we were out of luck. We wandered dejectedly back toward the boat dock. And out of the corner of my eye, I noticed something sticking out between some crates. Pulled on it. Sure enough, it was a paintbrush!

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%2010/10paintbrush.jpg

When the boat got back to the mainland, the CM gave out the Fast Passes. Guess what they were for? And guess how many he gave us?

Yes, two sets of Big Thunder Fast Passes. When we had just ridden it twice with no line. Ha! We tucked away the 4 FP and figured we’d keep an eye out for some fellow MN Vikings fans to give them to, since they’d surely need cheering up after the game the previous night.

After all this island exploration, we needed some refreshments. And we had snack credits to burn. On our way to the refreshments, I noticed how this bird looked like it almost belonged on that sign:

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%2010/11signbird.jpg

I almost expected it to be audio-animatronic. But it was real.

Snack time:

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%2010/12dolewhips.jpg

I believe that Dug got the Orange/Vanilla Float. I got the Pineapple Dole Whip. I like the floats, but it seemed like that would be too syrupy-sweet for me at that point. It’s funny, because even though I was “better” by then, I didn’t feel like I had my normal appetite back until a couple days after getting back home.

We found some seating near Aloha Isle and had the whole area to ourselves. Sat and enjoyed our Dole Whips. :cloud9:

Next, we had to squeeze in another ride on Pirates. We ended up getting our very own boat!

After that, we made the stroll over to Tomorrowland. Obligatory picture along the way:

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%2010/13waltmickey.jpg

Here’s a picture of the rose garden area that we watched Wishes from a few nights ago. There was a bench behind the bushes, right outside the covered area, that we had sat on:

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%2010/14rosegarden.jpg

Once we arrived in Tomorrowland, we got Fast Passes for Buzz Lightyear.

Dug had been wanting to ride Astro Orbiter, so we headed over there. We had magical memories of riding this at Disneyland several years ago at night during the fireworks show. That was cool.

There was a little bit of a line for this one. And it was slow-moving. So, when they asked for a party of two, I jumped at the chance. It brought us straight up to here:

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%2010/15astro1.jpg

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%2010/16astro2.jpg

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%2010/17astro3.jpg

However, at this point, we also remembered that we probably would not be a party of two, but two parties of one. Because these ride vehicles do not fit two adults comfortably. I remember this at Disneyland…we were squished and could hardly get back out. Uh, oh. :crowded:

Once we got up to the loading platform, a guy in our elevator who was holding a little baby said, “Oh, I didn’t think it was going to be like this” and bailed. We immediately asked the attendant for his spot. Luckily, she agreed and we each were able to get our own rocket. Whew!

Dug took some photos of the views from the ride:

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%2010/18astro4.jpg

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%2010/19astro5.jpg

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%2010/20astro6.jpg

Neither of us really liked the ride. I think maybe it’s only magical when there are fireworks going on. I didn’t like how fast it spun. Dug didn’t like that it was so cramped. Oh, well. On to Space Mountain!

We rode with our Fast Passes. Loved it, as usual!

On the way out of the ride, we discussed our extra Big Thunder Fast Passes. We had not spotted any purple-clad Vikings fans. Minnesotans are not as easy to identify the day after a loss. So, we figured we should give them to someone getting off Space Mountain, as they would probably like coasters. In the gift shop outside of Space, Dug asked a family near us if they wanted them. They said sure. Done.

We had just enough time to take a quick spin on Buzz with our FP. Still bad at it, as usual.

Continued in next post…

[Dugette]

After Buzz, we made our way over to Main Street. We had 3 more snack credits to use up on things we could take home with us. Headed to this place:

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%2010/26confectionary.jpg

I wanted to find something that I could bring back for my co-workers. Hard to find something that travels well, is uniquely Disney, feeds 12 people or so, and you can get for a snack credit. I was looking for awhile.

While I was in there, Dug took some pictures of the parade that was going by:

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%2010/21parade1.jpg

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%2010/22parade2.jpg

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%2010/23parade3.jpg

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%2010/24parade4.jpg

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%2010/25parade5.jpg

I finally decided on a family-sized package of Disney character cookies. Nothing fancy, but it was the best option I could find. We paid out of pocket, as it was too much for a snack credit. However, I did remember hearing that the fudge here is a good use of a snack credit, because you can bring it home. Okay, then. We tried some fudge samples. We got three pieces: Tiramisu (the one we sampled), Peanut Butter Fudge, and S’mores Fudge:

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%2010/27fudge.jpg

Would you believe I just took that picture a couple days ago?! Oops, guess we only sampled the fudge. It’s still in our fridge. I’m sure it would have been good, but I’m scared of it now that it’s 4 months old! :scared1:

On our way out, we spotted the Lady and the Tramp heart near Tony’s:

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%2010/28pawprints.jpg

Dug took some nice pictures on our way to the monorail:

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%2010/29leaving1.jpg

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%2010/30leaving2.jpg

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%2010/31leaving3.jpg

We headed back to the Poly to have lunch at Kona. We were cutting it a little close on time.

We ordered quickly. Just took the waitress’s recommendations on some of her favorites. Seemed like it took forever to get our food, since we were in somewhat of a hurry, but it finally came. We dug in too fast to take pictures. Looking at AllEars.net, I think we shared these two dishes:

Island Chicken Sandwich - grilled chicken breast with bacon, Swiss cheese, curry mango mayonnaise, fried onions on a Kaiser served with Asian Vegetable Slaw or Sweet Potato Chips

Beef Teriyaki Salad - mixed greens, carrots, tomatoes, chives and cheddar, tossed with grilled beef strips in a crispy wonton bowl

We wolfed them down so quickly that I couldn’t really tell you much about them. I guess they were at least reasonably good.

I do remember dessert. I got the Banana-Chocolate Crème Brulee. I’d had this during our dinner at Kona the first night, but I had been so full I couldn’t really enjoy it. Well, this time I couldn’t really enjoy it because I had to wolf it down so fast. Oh, well. Dug got some sort of lava cake. I don’t see it on AllEars’ menu, but I know because we have pictures of before and after the chocolate eruption:

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%2010/32lava1.jpg

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%2010/33lava2.jpg

After scarfing down our lunch at Kona, we headed out the door and caught the monorail back to the Magic Kingdom. And, as always when in a hurry, the monorail had a few-minute break down. We were stopped way up high with a great view, though:

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%2010/34monorail1.jpg

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%2010/35monorail2.jpg

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%2010/36monorail3.jpg

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%2010/37monorail4.jpg

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%2010/38monorail5.jpg

Got to MK and sprinted to the bus for POR. We were fortunate to arrive with a couple minutes to spare. Tried to change our seat assignments for the flight again, but were told that they can’t actually do that from the resort. Guess we’ll have to do it at the airport.

ME pulled up and we hopped on. Goodbye Disney! :wave:

At the airport, we were able to change our seating assignments so that we would be together. I think we ate something, but neither of us can remember. I know that we were sitting at a table and discussing Dug’s face at one point. It wasn’t doing well at all. The impetigo wasn’t getting better; it may have been getting worse. So, he called and made a doctor’s appointment for the next day. If you don’t want to be grossed out by a close-up of impetigo, I suggest you skip the next picture. If you are daring and have a strong stomach, you can click the link and see what it was looking like at the airport:

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/Day%2010/39yuck.jpg

Our flight home must have been uneventful. Neither of us remembers anything about it. Speaking of not remembering, this day has all been from our memories, as we have no notes. So, we may have omitted things or even imagined things, who knows? But, it’s the best we can do at this point.

When we arrived back in MN, we called Dug’s sister from the airport. She had been sick and had laryngitis. But, she and her husband still came and picked us up.

In the car, we recounted our favorite Disney memories (the 2am night being at the top of our list). They appreciated hearing about it, as they love Disneyland (they lived in L.A. for several years).

Funny to be riding in a car with a person recovering from a virus (me), a person with a highly contagious infection (Dug), and a person with laryngitis. Poor BIL, being the only healthy one!

They took us back to their place so that we could pick up Dug’s car. We gave them their souvenir pizza plates. Then, we got in the car and headed straight to Dug’s parents’ house to pick up our dog Bailey. I think they were happy to get her off of their hands. She’s a generally good dog, but she enjoys being an alarm clock sometimes. And not at the good times. :headache: Bailey was happy to see us. :dog2: We gave Dug’s parents their souvenir glass and tie. Then, headed home.

Back to real life. :( Well, at least we did get to sleep in our own comfy bed again! (although the ones at Disney were good)

The happy ending is that Dug went to his doctor’s appointment the next day, got an oral medication, and was pretty much healed up a few days later.

I know most people do little summaries of the highlights and stuff at the end of their TRs. I’m not going to do that. For one, because it’s not over: we have at least 3 more Disney trips this year! Three weeks from today, our bellies will be full of ‘Ohana food and we’ll be at MK until 2am. Also, I am planning to attempt the impossible and write up a TR from our September 2009 trip. Let’s see, I wrote about this 10 day trip in 4 months, so a 5 day trip should only take…:teacher: 3 weeks?!? Sure, why not, I already told some of the stories. I think I’ll just tack it onto here as “The Prequel.” I hope to get it started tomorrow! Also, Dug claims he’s going to start a PTR for our June trip this weekend. If that happens, I’ll let you know.

So, stay tuned and thanks for re-living this trip with us! :thanks:

Up next: We travel back in time 4 months!

[burly]

thanks so much and keep us posted on the past and pre trips!:bored:

[gellybean]

I guess this means I really have to finish my TR now too eh?

:confused3

I really enjoyed reading about a different perspective for the same time we were there!! Glad Dug's lips cleared up soon after getting the medicine! Coming back home from Disney is so hard. The only thing I've found to make it better is to plan another trip!! :woohoo:

Can't wait to read the PTR! HINT HINT DUG! :lmao:

[LuvEeyore]

Loved the trip report and hope to see more.

[disneydreamingdebby]

Enjoyed your report! Thanks for the viewing location for Wishes (rose garden). Three more trips - you are certainly lucky!

[Dugette]

thanks so much and keep us posted on the past and pre trips!:bored:
You're welcome. Thanks for reading! I just wrote up the first day (travel day) of our September trip, so I'll be posting that soon!

I guess this means I really have to finish my TR now too eh?

:confused3

I really enjoyed reading about a different perspective for the same time we were there!! Glad Dug's lips cleared up soon after getting the medicine! Coming back home from Disney is so hard. The only thing I've found to make it better is to plan another trip!! :woohoo:

Can't wait to read the PTR! HINT HINT DUG! :lmao:
Ha ha! Dug needs that hint. :rolleyes1 He did just book a whole bunch of ADRs for our November trip, though. :yay:

I've enjoyed your TR too. Good thing you have some other trips to plan too, since you're getting close to the end.

Loved the trip report and hope to see more.
Thank you, I really appreciate that! It's always nice to know that someone besides me is enjoying this! :thumbsup2 More to come shortly...

Enjoyed your report! Thanks for the viewing location for Wishes (rose garden). Three more trips - you are certainly lucky!
You're welcome, I think you had asked about the rose garden before, so I made sure to post that pic. We are lucky! They're short trips, but we can't wait!

[Dugette]

I went to Disney World twice as a kid. Both times, my dad had conferences in the area and brought my brother and I along. The first trip was when I was 7, I think, and I don’t really remember anything. Although I think I’ve seen a few character greeting pictures from it. Second trip, I was 13 and I remember quite a bit, mostly because we kept a journal of it (link is in my signature, next to the 1990 trip). Both times, we stayed offsite. Animal Kingdom didn’t exist yet and MGM Studios had just opened on the 1990 trip (and didn’t have a lot of rides yet).

When I was 16, I got to spend one day in Disneyland. I was on a trip to the L.A. area with my dad and step-mom and we took one day to enjoy DL. Rode some rides, met some characters. I don’t remember a lot of details, but I think we all had fun.

Sometime in my early-mid twenties (I think, I don’t really remember when this was :confused:; I made up the 2002 date in my signature), I was in the Orlando area for a work conference of my own. A few other people I worked with wanted to go to Orlando a couple days early so that we could hit some parks. Of course I was up for that! :woohoo: We spent one day at Universal’s Islands of Adventure. I remember being really impressed with all the roller coasters at that park. We spent the other day at MGM Studios. It was the first time I’d ridden the big thrill rides there and it was a lot of fun. I remember that on Tower of Terror, one of the people I was with had something light in their hand (a Kleenex or something maybe) and we were getting a kick out of watching it hover during the drops. And, since I’ve always enjoyed Aerosmith :rockband: , the RnRC was a blast too. I also remember going over to Epcot and finding a spot along the lagoon to watch Illuminations. It was impressive. I don’t remember much more about that visit.

So, I was on a good once-a-decade WDW streak, I guess. No wonder we started playing with the WDW website in 2009…

Dug had never been to Disney World. He had, however, been to Disneyland. When he was about 7-8 years old, his parents had a conference that they'd be busy with for a couple days, so his uncle took him out to southern California to surprise his grandparents, who had a motorhome out there. And they went to Disneyland. He remembers riding Pirates pirate:, he thinks he did the mountains, he got Goofy ears :goofy:, and he ended the day by falling asleep in a Godfather’s pizzeria.

We also went to Disneyland together (for a day) in 2006. We were out in L.A., visiting Dug’s sister and her husband (before they moved back to MN). We all went to Disneyland together. It was a very commando-style trip and I think we pretty much covered the park. It was a great (although, chilly) day. Here we are at DL:

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/2009%20Day%200/Disneyland.jpg

So, this 2009 WDW trip came about rather quickly. Sometime in July, I’m not sure why, we started pricing out WDW trips. Maybe I just knew that I was due for my once-a-decade trip. And it had been awhile since we'd had a real vacation. The free dining promotion was going on and really appealed to us. We also were impressed that we could stay on property at a value resort for a low price (I’m thinking it was about $80/night) and get free airport transportation. (As a side note, we were originally going to book All-Star Movies, but while on the phone making the reservation we found out that it wasn't available and they suggested Pop Century--which we ended up being very happy with!)

To make a long story short, we ended up booking the trip to WDW instead of flying me to Texas to hang out with Dug during his conference in Galveston. It was going to cost a decent amount to rent a car and fly me out to Galveston to join him, so why not spend time together somewhere more fun before his conference? :idea: (not that there’s anything wrong with Galveston) Dug was able to use his frequent flier miles to get flights from MN to Orlando to TX and back to MN. All free. I was able to get a fairly cheap ticket round-trip MSP to MCO. All included (airfare, hotel, transportation, food, wine, misc.), we only paid about $1500 total for this trip. We are bargain shoppers. I think we ate about $400+ of free food too.

I should also point out that, although I knew that I loved Disney World, Dug was not entirely sure yet. He had liked Disneyland, but he loves to travel to new places. This trip won him over, clearly. :cool1: So, let’s get rolling!

Okay, so here we are in May 2010. Are you ready? Get in your teleportation device… :teleport:

You have arrived in September 2009! Specifically, Wednesday, September 9th. Otherwise known as 9/9/09.

This day may sound pretty similar to the beginning of our January 2010 trip in many ways.

The morning started off with Dug dropping me off at the park & ride so that I could catch the bus to work. We brought Bailey, our dog, with us. Dug passed by his sister’s house on his way to work and dropped Bailey off there. She was going to spend a few days with her “cousin” dogs, two Yorkies that she loves. Very nice of Dug’s sister and BIL to watch her for us. :goodvibes

We both worked all day. :surfweb:

After work, Dug drove back to his sister’s house. :car: He and the luggage loaded up in her car and she took him to the airport.

I took the train from downtown Minneapolis to the airport after work.

We met up outside the ticketing area. Had to re-arrange luggage a bit to integrate the things I’d had at work with me.

Checked our large bags and brought our small bags through security. Where I got in trouble. Oops. :scared: I forgot that there were a couple of things that I’d packed early and put in my small bag temporarily and was going to move to one of the big checked bags once we packed them. Forgot to go back and move them. One was a few small things, like shampoo and stuff. All small enough to meet the carry-on size. I just had to cram them into my quart-size plastic bag with the other stuff that was already in there. The bigger problem was that I’d packed a nice, big bottle of spray-on aloe that we’d bought for some crazy high price on our cruise the previous year. And it was too late to move it to a checked bag. I hated having to throw out something we’d overpaid for in the first place. At least the TSA person was understanding, I guess.

So, after that ordeal, we went to eat before our 6:50pm flight. Just grabbed a quick dinner at Subway. You’ll notice that this TR does not have very many food pictures, as we had no plans to do a TR on it. I wasn’t even a member of the Dis yet! (Of course, I had already lurked a bunch of TRs…:rolleyes1)

A bit later, we boarded our flight. All went well. We played games on our iPhone and iPod Touch for a lot of the flight. Bowling, Paper Toss, Scramble, etc. Time passed quickly. Before we knew it, we’d arrived in Orlando.

Went to the luggage carousels and claimed our checked bags. Made our way over to the Magical Express area. No line and were on the bus quickly. We took the front seat, opposite side of the driver. We did have to wait awhile before going anywhere. I listened to a WDW Today podcast about Tipping at Disney while we waited. Mostly because we weren’t sure if we were supposed to tip the ME bus driver (turns out that, yes, they do accept tips).

We got moving soon and enjoyed the video. As it was after 11pm, it was dark, but we did see this:

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Pop Century was the first stop!

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We headed inside to check in (after having done the online check in). We had repeatedly requested a King bed at every possible opportunity leading up to the trip. They gave us a room. I asked and it was NOT a King bed room. :mad: We made our pouty faces and played up that this was our anniversary trip. (It more-or-less was, as our anniversary was a few weeks later). The cast member went in back to discuss this with the person who does the room assignments, as she saw it was noted in our reservation that we wanted a King. About 5 minutes later, she came back with good news. They gave us a King and upgraded us to a preferred room. pixiedust:

We were in the building right next to the main building, 50’s area, 4th floor, overlooking Lady and the bowling pin pool. Room 1403. It was an accessible room, but had a bathtub. And the bed was comfy!

We were too tired to look around much and just went right to sleep. :cloud9:

Up next: Early Magic and commando-touring at the Magic Kingdom!

[Dugette]

So, I forgot to mention one detail. This trip, we did not have the level of ailments that we had in January, luckily. However, we did have one. One of my eyes had been bothering me, so I’d gone to the eye doctor a day or two before our trip. Didn’t think it would be too big of a deal. Turns out that I had an infection in BOTH eyes. The bad news: I couldn’t wear contacts and had to give myself eyedrops several times a day for the next week. I told the eye doctor, “But I’m going to Disney World!” He didn’t seem to care. I hate wearing glasses and giving myself eyedrops. This was not cool. I didn’t want to worry about trying to keep from losing my glasses on rides. And I have terrible vision, so I’d lose most of my peripheral vision with glasses. And what would I do for sunglasses? And how obnoxious having to repeatedly put in eyedrops at Disney! Well, I ended up getting a new pair of glasses with prescription sunglass clip-ons made the night before the trip. :cool2: Since my vision is so bad, there are very limited options on such short notice. But, at least it was something. So, you will notice this in the pictures.

Back to our first full day:

We were up early, as we wanted to make sure we took advantage of the EMH from 8-9am at the MK. We packed up the backpack for the day and put on our Anniversary buttons. We had packed a bunch of breakfast bars (no fridge at Pop, so not many options), so we had those for breakfast. Time to head out!

We caught the bus and made it before rope drop. Even though it was early September, the MK was decorated for Halloween:

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We caught the opening show:

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Although the travel day was similar, this trip was very different than our semi-relaxed-paced January one. We had 4.5 days to cover all 4 parks thoroughly, as we didn’t know when we’d be back. One, we weren’t sure that Dug would want to go back anytime soon (he doesn’t like to repeat things very often). Two, we didn’t know what the circumstances in our lives would be like in the next year. No clue at that time that we’d be back a few times. So, we had all the Unofficial Guide Touring Plans on hand and were ready to follow them commando-style.

First on the plan was a visit to Tomorrowland for Buzz Lightyear (Space Mountain was closed down for renovations or else it would have been first). We made our way over to the entrance to Tomorrowland. It was blocked off. Turns out it wasn’t open during EMH. So, we took a cool pic:

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Then headed to Fantasyland, as that was next on the Touring Plan. Turned out that Fantasyland was not crowded at all. But, we still followed the plan. Winnie the Pooh was first. No wait at all. Halfway through, during the dream sequence, the ride stopped. Lights came up. We had to wait there awhile:

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Eventually, a CM came around, leading a group of riders out. They let us out and we followed along, snapping some sort-of behind-the-scenes pics on the way:

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Before we exited, the CM passed out what we referred to as “Super Fast Passes”. These were good for any ride in the MK for our whole trip (only one use, though). Very cool! This will not be the last time this happens to us this trip…:rolleyes1

Next up was Snow White:

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Then Peter Pan, one of my all-time favorites. Then, across the street to It’s a Small World:

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We were literally walking on to everything. Gotta love Early Magic Hours in the MK!

Next, we made our way over to Liberty Square for the Haunted Mansion:

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Loved all the new things they added!

Now the Touring Plan told us to hit the Frontierland Mountains! On the way, we ran into some lonely characters. Although it was not in the Touring Plan, we figured we had a few minutes to spare, since we’d gotten through so many things already and the park still wasn’t even open to the public!

There was also another reason we wanted to stop for the characters. This day was Dug’s sister’s birthday. :bday: And she loves Disney. So, we thought, wouldn’t it be cool to send her some birthday greetings from her friends at the Magic Kingdom (via Dug’s iPhone). Of course, we didn’t think of this far enough in advance to make a nice sign, but we improvised as best we could:

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Dug immediately emailed these to his sister, who thought it was pretty cool. We also took some pics with the characters:

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We headed to Splash Mountain. It was just now getting close to 9am:

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We went on and did not get very wet.

Up next was Big Thunder Mountain Railroad. One of my all-time favorites. (If you read about my 1990 trip, you may notice that we went on this (and Space Mountain) about a bazillion times during our trip!) There was no line, so we decided to go on again.

Next on the Touring Plan was Pirates. Loved the ride, of course. Can you believe the next thing on our Touring Plan was lunch? It was definitely not lunchtime yet. We had some time to deviate from the Touring Plan again. We saw something happening outside of Pirates. Stopped to check it out. Turned out the show was starting. We stayed to watch:

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The Touring Plan told us that after lunch we should go check out Mickey’s Toontown Fair. We weren’t really interested in that, so we skipped past it. Next up, was Jungle Cruise. We strolled over to take a look. The posted wait was only 20 minutes, but we decided to Fast Pass it so that we could get a few other things in, rather than waiting in line. It wasn’t that long until the FP return time would come up.

It was pretty hot out. This seemed like an opportune time to try a special treat we kept hearing about. Off to Aloha Isle. We saw that a snack credit would get us a Pineapple Dole Whip Float (normally $3.99), so we took advantage (split it). Ahhhhh, refreshing! :cloud9:

Continued in next post…

[Dugette]

After that pleasant break, we decided to explore the Swiss Family Robinson tree house:

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We had just a bit of time to kill before our Jungle Cruise time. I remembered listening to a podcast that was about “how to kill a few minutes” at WDW. One thing mentioned was the little remote control boats outside of Jungle Cruise. So, we did that:

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It was a nice diversion. Now, time for our cruise:

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Our Touring Plan told us that after Jungle Cruise, we should head to the Tiki Room. Off we went:

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The show was okay. Neither of us was wowed with it. After the show, we noticed that there was no line for Aladdin’s Magic Carpets. This wasn’t even in our Touring Plan at all, but why not? So, we rode and enjoyed:

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Finally, it was lunchtime, even though we were well into the after-lunch portion of our Touring Plan. We knew exactly where we were going:

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We used two of our free dining CS credits to share food. We got a bacon double cheeseburger, fries, Sprite, carrot cake, chicken wrap, apple slices, strawberry yogurt, and orange juice. Total OOP would have been $29.44. This was a lot of food! We were just stuffing ourselves trying to eat it all. Good, though. The fixins bar is fun. I was disappointed with the fries though. One of the things I remember from my 1990 trip was waffle fries at Pecos Bill. I must not have seen them before that trip, but I was apparently fascinated and hooked. It’s just regular fries now. They were fine, though. We hung out for a bit at Pecos Bill, just relaxing in the air conditioning.

After lunch, we decided to spontaneously do another thing that wasn’t on the plan: explore Tom Sawyer Island. We took the raft over:

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The fort was closed, but there was still plenty to see. The barrel bridge was fun:

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The views were neat:

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Continued in next post…

[Dugette]

Since we were right there, we decided to jump ahead in the Plan and take a spin on the Liberty Belle riverboat:

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It was very hot out, but the views were nice:

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Since it was so hot, we decided to stop by Pinocchio Village Haus for some ice waters. Such yucky tasting Florida water! Oh, well. We also saw these little guys:

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When we headed out again, we caught a little bit of the afternoon parade:

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We decided that, since we had some extra time, we would head over to Toontown after all. We had another birthday idea for Dug’s sister in mind. Some pretty pictures from the walk over:

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Our idea was to have some of the “face characters” wish Dug’s sister a Happy Birthday, via video (and send from the iPhone). The line for the princesses was much shorter than the line for the fairies, so we went with the princesses. Still a long enough wait…maybe 20 minutes or so. When we got there, we explained to each what we were doing. I think they probably thought his sister was about 5, rather than in her 20’s, though! I can’t seem to fix the dimensions on the video in Photobucket, so it’s a bit squished:

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/2009%20Day%201/th_51princess1.jpg (http://s938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/2009%20Day%201/?action=view&current=51princess1.flv)

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/2009%20Day%201/th_52princess2.jpg (http://s938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/2009%20Day%201/?action=view&current=52princess2.flv)

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/2009%20Day%201/th_53princess3.jpg (http://s938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/2009%20Day%201/?action=view&current=53princess3.flv)

We also took pictures, since we were there:

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His sister also enjoyed the Princess birthday greetings.

Since we were in Toontown, we wandered through Minnie’s house. Fun to play with everything (like the cake baking in the oven and such).

Since we were clear on the other side of the park from where we wanted to go, we decided to take the train. While we were on the train, Dug realized that the camera battery was getting low and his spare camera battery was not working (it was new and we had not tested it yet). We ended up riding the whole loop on the train, then the extra stretch, so that we could get to Main Street.

We went to the camera shop and tried to find an extra battery. They did not have anything that would work for our camera. Dug decided to stop taking pictures for awhile to conserve the original battery for later. While we were on Main Street, Dug wanted to look for a Disney snow globe for his sister. She has a large collection of them, so we had to call her husband to try to figure out what she didn’t have yet. We finally found a small Nemo snow globe and had it sent directly to her.

With the shopping taken care of, it was time to jump back on the Touring Plan. After skipping the ones we’d already done, Country Bear Jamboree was next. It was okay. We were seated pretty far back, so maybe it would have been more interesting a bit closer. Neither of us was thrilled with it, though.

We skipped some more things that we’d already done on the Touring Plan and went to Hall of Presidents. We enjoyed it. Dug likes historical things.

Next on the Plan was Mickey’s Philharmagic. This was pretty cool and we both enjoyed it. I think me, especially.

At this point, our Touring Plan said to eat dinner. We skipped that, as we had a special ADR planned for later in the evening.

Next up was Monster’s Inc. Dug texted in a joke that got used in the show! It was something to the effect of, “What monster loves to dance to disco music? The Jitterbug!” :rolleyes2 He was going for corny and family-friendly and I guess it worked!

Next up on the Touring Plan was the “optional” Stitch’s Great Escape. We’d heard the reviews and knew that most people hated this ride. But, we decided we should experience it for ourselves at least once. It was (at best) okay, but we really didn’t like the way it slammed your shoulders down. Ouch!

Next on the Plan was the TTA. However, it was closed down. So, this seemed like a good time to get in Buzz Lightyear, as we’d had to skip it this morning. Turned out that there was no line, so we went three times in a row. Not that we were any good at it. Just wait until our upcoming June trip, though. I’ve learned some secrets recently! ;)

Next on the Touring Plan was the Carousel of Progress. “It’s a Great Big Beautiful Tomorrow…” Good way to end our day in the park.

Our Touring Plans said to watch the parade and the fireworks next. We had decided to skip the parade. We’re not particularly big parade people. And we had other plans to see the fireworks.

So, we left the MK and got on the monorail, headed to the Contemporary! We went in and found the restrooms. We’d been carrying “business casual” clothes/shoes (and a hairbrush and such) with us the whole day, so that we’d be attire-appropriate for dinner. We had a 9:05pm ADR at the California Grill at the top of the Contemporary Resort. Wishes was scheduled for 10pm. We hoped to get a window seat to watch Wishes.

We checked in downstairs and went up to the CA Grill. We checked out the outdoor decks first. This did seem like a good place to watch fireworks. And you can get up during your meal to do so, with your table being held for you. But, we didn’t know that we’d be able to stand that long without pain, after our long day.

We went inside and soon we were called to be seated. They brought us to an interior table, not very near the windows. We made some comments about being disappointed and hoping for a window. Our host didn’t seem to care, but someone that was presumably important happened to walk by at the right time and overhear. He plucked us from our table and asked us to wait a bit more. We did. A few minutes later, we were seated at a perfect window seat!

We ordered some drinks. Waters and I got a lemonade and Dug got a Sprite-ade. I could not stand the nasty water. I could even taste the sulfur-taste in the lemonade. I needed something to drink. So, we decided to get some wine OOP. The first one we tasted, we did not really like. The server was great and insisted on bringing us another one that we would like better. It was a Montalcino and was delicious. They also brought out some bread.

I ordered the Oak-Fired Filet with sour cream mashed potatoes and zucchini. Dug got the Scallops with gnocchi and bacon sauce. Mine was pretty good (the filet was on the crispy side, though) and Dug said his meal was amazingly delicious. Oh, but we didn’t get to eat them right away. Just as they brought them out, the fireworks started:

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After the meal, we ordered some desserts to share. We got the Dark chocolate semi-freddo with hazelnut cookie and the Valrhona chocolate cake with pineapples and caramel ice cream. They brought us out some anniversary goodies: some Mickey confetti, some champagne, and our dessert with special chocolate anniversary things on them:

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Both desserts were ridiculously delicious! This was a great meal! It also was an expensive meal:

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Luckily, we were on the free dining plan, so only had to pay for the wine (and tip). Yes, it was 2 TS credits each for this meal, but well worth it. Especially because we had an extra TS meal (2 credits), due to arriving late at night. So, this was an ideal way to use those.

After dinner, we headed down to the monorail. Had to go back to MK to get a bus back to Pop. On the monorail ride, there was an announcement about technical difficulties and the ride ended up going really slowly while the system was resetting or something. When we got off at the MK, the monorail driver got off for a moment too. We ended up chatting with him and found out that the monorails run on Windows 95 and he had gotten “the blue screen of death”. Not so comforting to know the monorails are running on such old technology. The driver was very friendly, though.

Back at the MK after park close:

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We went to the bus area and were told by the attendant to tell a bus to take us to Pop. We did and the bus took us to Pop…by ourselves. Like a giant limo or something. Kinda fun.

We got back and saw this in the window:

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So cute! Wonder if they knew we have a dog at home? We were worn out after 23,800 steps for the day and headed straight for bed.

Up next: Deviating from our commando-touring plans at Epcot. Uh oh!

[donnajean17]

Lovin it!

[LuvEeyore]

love the Prequel trip report. The October Pictures are wonderful. I've never been when the decorations were up for Halloween. Maybe that should be a next trip??

[Dugette]

Lovin it!
Thank you!!! :goodvibes

love the Prequel trip report. The October Pictures are wonderful. I've never been when the decorations were up for Halloween. Maybe that should be a next trip??
Thanks! Believe it or not, this was early/mid September, so they put up the Halloween decorations early! I'd definitely recommend that time of year. Yes, you have the decorations, you have Mickey's Not-So-Scary Halloween Party, but our favorite thing was the lack of crowds (right after Labor Day). :cool1:

[Goofy442]

Love all the details. :cool1: You are going to love the F&WF we ate around the world and it was good. If you are not on the DP do your self a favor and get a gift card it was so much easier then pulling out your credit card all the time. They gave me one to put on my wraist so I had it handy all the time.

[Dugette]

Love all the details. :cool1: You are going to love the F&WF we ate around the world and it was good. If you are not on the DP do your self a favor and get a gift card it was so much easier then pulling out your credit card all the time. They gave me one to put on my wraist so I had it handy all the time.
I can't wait to eat around the world at Food & Wine! :cool1: I'm glad you mentioned the gift card thing. We heard something about it the other day but were unclear...is there a special gift card that you get just at the event?

[Goofy442]

The one they gave me was different from the others. Everytime we would use it they would say I have never seen this one before. I think we got it at guest relations. We used our credit card one year and it was a hassel, so when we saw someone with a gift card we got one the following year.

[Dugette]

The one they gave me was different from the others. Everytime we would use it they would say I have never seen this one before. I think we got it at guest relations. We used our credit card one year and it was a hassel, so when we saw someone with a gift card we got one the following year.
Thanks for the info. Good to know. We'll have to look into getting one of those.



In other news, for anyone out there, Dug has not yet started our PTR for June. We leave in two weeks. But he has good incentive to start it soon: We just upgraded. Involves 2 different resorts (no more POFQ) and 3 new ADRs! :yay::yay::yay: I'll leave it at that for now. ;) I'll let you know when the PTR is started...may be a few days, as Dug's at a conference till Sunday.

[Goofy442]

Can't wait for the PTR.:)

[Dugette]

We were up early the next morning, ready for another commando-touring day. Had another breakfast of breakfast bars in the room.

We took the bus over to Epcot and arrived prior to rope drop. Since I can be a pretty fast walker, I geared up to make the speedy trek over to Soarin’ for Fast Passes, while Dug would head towards Test Track to get in line. This would cover the first two items on the Touring Plan. When the rope dropped, I took off on my power-walk. Dug took a couple pictures on his way in:

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/2009%20Day%201/2009%20Day%202/1arrival.jpg

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/2009%20Day%201/2009%20Day%202/2arrival.jpg

I made it over to Soarin’, having passed much of the crowd on the way, and got Fast Passes fairly quickly. On my way back, Dug called to say that Test Track was out of order. We decided to meet at Mission Space instead, as it was next on the Plan:

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/2009%20Day%201/2009%20Day%202/3missionspace.jpg

I refused to try the intense orange side, since spinning with high g-forces tends to make my head hurt. :headache: So, we split up. Dug went to the orange side and I went to the green less-intense side. I was handed a red card that the CMs use to measure the wait time. This will not be the last time I get one of these this trip. We actually ended up getting quite a few on various rides. Strangely enough, we never got one in January.

Since it was so early, Dug got on his ride quickly. I was right up at the front of my line and went into the holding area to stand on my number. I ended up standing there for a long time, due to technical difficulties. The CMs were unable to tell us how long it might be, but kept encouraging everyone to wait. A couple at a time, people started bailing out. I tried to stick around for a bit, knowing that our Touring Plan did not include coming back here again, but I eventually opted out. Mostly because I was sure that Dug would be wondering where I was. And the video was getting obnoxious. We all got Fast Passes that were good for up to 5 people to go on either Mission Space or the Maelstrom during our trip.

I found Dug in the gift shop at the end of the ride. I actually had to walk backwards through the entrance of the ride, then go in the shop from the exit, to get there. But I found him. I think he was enjoying the chance to relax after experiencing the intense side.

At some point, maybe this one, we caught the fountain doing a show:

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/2009%20Day%201/2009%20Day%202/4fountain.jpg

Also at some point, not sure when, we stopped at Club Cool. We had read up and knew that Beverly was awful, but had to sample it ourselves. Yuck! :eek: And to think that I like almost anything Italian...but not this! We enjoyed many of the others, though.

Next, the Touring Plan told us to ride Living with the Land. Since it was closed for renovations, we used our Soarin’ Fast Passes instead (after getting another set of them for later, as recommended by the Plan). We enjoyed our ride on Soarin’. This was one I had really been looking forward to, as it didn’t exist on my previous visits to Epcot.

At this point we made a small deviation from our Touring Plan and went to the Circle of Life movie. The Plan had it later in the day, but we needed to kill a bit of time before redeeming our second set of Soarin’ FPs. The movie was okay, but seeing it once is probably enough.

Back to Soarin’ again! Because we ended up waiting a long time right before the row-assigning area, they seated us front and center. That was cool to not have feet dangling in front of our view!

According to the Plan, we were supposed to do more Future World attractions now, like The Seas with Nemo and Journey Into Imagination. But Dug really wanted to try the Kim Possible Missions. As we passed through Innoventions earlier, we had reserved a Kimmunicator. So, we decided to deviate from the Touring Plan. :scared1:

We headed into World Showcase to pick up our Kimmunicator and receive our mission. Looks like Dug took some pictures along the way:

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/2009%20Day%201/2009%20Day%202/5boat1.jpg

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/2009%20Day%201/2009%20Day%202/6boat2.jpg

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/2009%20Day%201/2009%20Day%202/7boat3.jpg

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/2009%20Day%201/2009%20Day%202/8boat4.jpg

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/2009%20Day%201/2009%20Day%202/9boat5.jpg

We got our Kimmunicator and were assigned a mission in France. But, first, we had to stop by Canada. We had been unsuccessful in obtaining a Le Cellier ADR, so we thought we’d drop by shortly after it opened to see if they had any cancellations. No such luck! Dug took some pictures of Canada:

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/2009%20Day%201/2009%20Day%202/10canada1.jpg

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/2009%20Day%201/2009%20Day%202/11canada2.jpg

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/2009%20Day%201/2009%20Day%202/12canada3.jpg

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/2009%20Day%201/2009%20Day%202/13canada4.jpg

So, we decided to have a quick lunch in Morocco. We’d heard the Tangierine Café was a good counter service option. On the way there, we passed the United Kingdom and France:

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/2009%20Day%201/2009%20Day%202/14gardens.jpg

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/2009%20Day%201/2009%20Day%202/15rosecrown.jpg

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/2009%20Day%201/2009%20Day%202/16france.jpg

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/2009%20Day%201/2009%20Day%202/17chefs.jpg

We arrived in Morocco:

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/2009%20Day%201/2009%20Day%202/18tower.jpg

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/2009%20Day%201/2009%20Day%202/19tree.jpg

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/2009%20Day%201/2009%20Day%202/20tables.jpg

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/2009%20Day%201/2009%20Day%202/21cafe1.jpg

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/2009%20Day%201/2009%20Day%202/22cafe2.jpg

The Tangierine Café was not crowded at all and we got our food quickly. We used two of our free CS credits. I got a Chicken Wrap, a bottle of water, and baklava (the only dessert you can get on the DDP). Dug got the Lamb & Chicken Shawarma Platter, as well as a bottle of water and baklava. I think we also got a side of olives. We found a nice table inside, in the corner, and enjoyed our lunch. We both liked our food.


Continued in next post…

[LuvEeyore]

popcorn::patiently waitingpopcorn::

[Dugette]

After lunch, it was time to do our Kim Possible Mission. We went into France, got our clues, had our picture taken from the Eiffel Tower, and solved the mystery. I really liked that the Mission forces you to examine the details in a country more closely than you would otherwise. I feel like we really saw France.

We kept the Kimmunicator for awhile, since it offered us another Mission, but we never had time to do another one. Ended up turning the Kimmunicator back in later in the day.

Also, while we were still in France, we happened to see inside the windows of Chefs de France. Guess who was in there? Remy from Ratatouille! That was pretty cool to see, as it was something we didn’t know about prior. We do intend to experience it close-up (instead of through the windows) on our November trip, though.

Before we made it out of France, there was one more thing that got our attention:

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/2009%20Day%201/2009%20Day%202/23chairs1.jpg

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/2009%20Day%201/2009%20Day%202/24chairs2.jpg

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/2009%20Day%201/2009%20Day%202/25chairs3.jpg

Super impressive show!

We decided to take the boat across the lagoon back to Future World:

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/2009%20Day%201/2009%20Day%202/26boat1.jpg

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/2009%20Day%201/2009%20Day%202/27boat2.jpg

Cool picture:

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/2009%20Day%201/2009%20Day%202/28monoglobe.jpg

Me and Spaceship Earth:

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/2009%20Day%201/2009%20Day%202/29meglobe.jpg

Since Test Track was now up and running, we headed over. To save some time, we used the Single Rider Line and were on fairly quickly. Loved it! This had been another ride I’d looked forward to, as it didn’t exist on my previous visits.

Now it was time to pick back up on the Touring Plan. Next up was The Seas with Nemo and Turtle Talk with Crush. We enjoyed our ride through the aquarium. At the end of this ride, we witnessed a scary unloading incident. In one of the Clamobiles ahead of us, a man without legs accidentally tipped his wheelchair backwards while exiting the vehicle and fell out of his chair. Yikes! His family helped him back into the chair quickly, though, and he was laughing about it. The ride attendant (who looked somewhat traumatized) went straight to the phone after they left, though.

After the ride, we headed into Turtle Talk and took a seat. Enjoyed the performance. Pretty cool what they can do with technology!

Afterwards, we spent awhile exploring the aquarium:

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/2009%20Day%201/2009%20Day%202/30fish1.jpg

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/2009%20Day%201/2009%20Day%202/32fish3.jpg

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/2009%20Day%201/2009%20Day%202/33fish4.jpg

There was one tank that I found amusing. A large fish was sitting on a small fish. Wouldn’t let the other fish out. And I could see his little eyes saying, “Please get me out!” I’m not sure if the big fish was aware that he was pinning another fish down. I suppose he made a nice cushion. I think this is a picture of it, though it’s hard to see what’s going on in the picture:

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/2009%20Day%201/2009%20Day%202/31fish2.jpg

More from the aquarium, including Nemo (yes, we found him!):

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/2009%20Day%201/2009%20Day%202/34fish5.jpg

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/2009%20Day%201/2009%20Day%202/35fish6.jpg

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/2009%20Day%201/2009%20Day%202/36nemo.jpg

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/2009%20Day%201/2009%20Day%202/37starfish.jpg

Next up on the Plan was Journey Into Imagination. I was such a big fan of this back in 1990 that I got a souvenir Figment stuffed animal. Although the ride is still okay, it definitely has changed over time.

Next on the Touring Plan was the movie Honey, I Shrunk the Audience. We had seen this in Disneyland a few years earlier, so decided to skip it.

We had already done the next few things on the Touring Plan: watching the Circle of Life movie, using the Soarin’ FPs, and eating lunch. We jumped ahead to the next item on the list, which was Spaceship Earth. Enjoyed the ride, but we were disappointed that the animations at the end did not have our pictures in them. Not sure why, but it was just cartoon faces. :confused3

Now our Plan sent us over to the Universe of Energy. I liked the addition of Ellen into the attraction, as I remember this getting rather boring when I was a kid.

Next, the Plan said we should explore the Innoventions pavilions. We had to skip this, though, as we needed to make our way back around the world for our early dinner ADR. We could see our destination in the distance:

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/2009%20Day%201/2009%20Day%202/38distantitaly.jpg

Dug took some pictures of our journey:

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/2009%20Day%201/2009%20Day%202/39pyramid.jpg

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/2009%20Day%201/2009%20Day%202/40towersky.jpg

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/2009%20Day%201/2009%20Day%202/41stonetower.jpg

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/2009%20Day%201/2009%20Day%202/42frame.jpg

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/2009%20Day%201/2009%20Day%202/43germany.jpg

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/2009%20Day%201/2009%20Day%202/44italy1.jpg

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/2009%20Day%201/2009%20Day%202/45italy2.jpg

Continued in next post…

[Dugette]

We arrived for our 4:30pm ADR:

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/2009%20Day%201/2009%20Day%202/46tutto.jpg

Used a couple of our free TS credits here. I got the Lasagna al Forno (with meat ragu, bechamel and parmesan), Sprite, and Cannoli (crisp pastry filled with sweet ricotta, chocolate and candied orange). Dug got the Tortelli di Vitello al Chianti (veal and Chianti ravioli, parmesan cheese, sage butter, roasted tomato), Ginger Ale, and Copetta Sotto Bosco (berries, zabaglione cream gelato and chocolate sauce). The food was good, but we've had better Italian food (both near home and in the real Italy). Part of me would like to try this place again, as we hear so many good things about it, but we just had an "average" experience here. We'll see if we make it back, I guess.

Here we are:

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/2009%20Day%201/2009%20Day%202/48usattutto.jpg

And here are the desserts (we shared, by the way, and both were good):

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/2009%20Day%201/2009%20Day%202/47canolli.jpg

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/2009%20Day%201/2009%20Day%202/49gelato.jpg

We also got a bonus chocolate mousse cup for our anniversary. I loved this! :lovestruc :

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/2009%20Day%201/2009%20Day%202/50yum.jpg

This meal was pricey, but not nearly as expensive as the CA Grill had been the previous night:

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/2009%20Day%201/2009%20Day%202/51tuttoreceipt.jpg

We headed out and took some pictures of Italy:

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/2009%20Day%201/2009%20Day%202/52italy3.jpg

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/2009%20Day%201/2009%20Day%202/53italy4.jpg

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/2009%20Day%201/2009%20Day%202/54italy5.jpg

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/2009%20Day%201/2009%20Day%202/55italy6.jpg

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/2009%20Day%201/2009%20Day%202/56italy7.jpg

This was another point where we deviated from our Plan. Dug wanted to make sure to catch all the movies, so we ended up back-tracking a lot. The Plan was much smarter than we were, as it told us to cover the countries in the order they are, from Mexico to Canada. Would have made sense. :idea:

Here’s the way we did it, though. Since we were right by it, we went to check out the miniature train by Germany. Pretty impressive.

Since it was also nearby, we went to see the American Adventure. Although the show was good, I was super tired by that point. I kept dozing off. Oops. It was dark and I couldn’t help it. (Luckily, we went back to see it again on our January trip.)

After that show/nap, we headed over to France to watch the movie there. Dug has a little figurine of this at home, so he had to take a picture with it:

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/2009%20Day%201/2009%20Day%202/57pose.jpg

Then we went to Canada’s movie. Then China’s movie. We could barely stand/lean through it after all that walking. The movies were all pretty good, though.

Now it was about time for Illuminations. Since we had not staked out a spot in advance, we had to improvise as best we could. We ended up in Italy. Couldn’t see very well over everyone, so ended up climbing up on the footing of one of the big pillars. Not a comfortable way to watch the show, balancing on one foot and hugging a pillar, but the show was good.

It was now Extra Magic Hours until midnight. Dug was thirsty, so he headed over towards France/Morocco to find a drink. He ended up with a Grand Mariner Orange Slush from the French kiosk.

I was dying to ride Maelstrom, as I’d always wanted to as a kid, but never got a chance to. We headed over there and it was a walk-on. Didn’t even need those super-fast-passes we got earlier. I enjoyed the ride, especially the backwards part and the drop.

Time for another boat ride! We went to Mexico and walked-on to the Gran Fiesta Tour there. We got our own boat. It was so nice to sit in the front row, put our feet up on the front of the boat, and enjoy the scenery!!! :cloud9:

We had just enough time left to do one of my favorites again…Test Track! We waited in the regular line so we could ride together this time. Got another red time-check card. While we were waiting, the ride broke down. What had been a short line ended up taking a long time. Dug was very sore from all the walking that day, but stuck it out until the ride was back up and running again. Test Track at night is cool!

Time to head out:

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/2009%20Day%201/2009%20Day%202/58nightglobe.jpg

We took the bus back to Pop. Found lovebirds in our window:

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/2009%20Day%201/2009%20Day%202/59lovebirds.jpg

We headed to bed after logging the most insane step total ever (thanks to our Touring Plan deviations): 37,204!!! :scared1:

Up next: A rainy day at Animal Kingdom, a delicious buffet, and our only Park-Hop of the trip!

[Dugette]

We woke up early again this morning to find a rainy, dreary day. Animal Kingdom was opening at 9am this morning. We got ready, ate our breakfast bars, and headed out.

Got to AK and enjoyed the opening show. Luckily, we had packed both mini umbrellas and ponchos, as we would be needing them for most of the day.

First up on the Plan was obtaining Expedition Everest Fast Passes. We saw our destination ahead:

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/2009%20Day%203/1everestreflection.jpg

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/2009%20Day%203/2everestprofile.jpg

When we got there, we found there was no line at all, so we just went on the ride instead. We got the back seat of the train and really enjoyed the ride. Again, this was another ride I’d been looking forward to, as it didn’t exist last time I’d been to WDW. (Well, nothing in AK existed, actually).

Due to the rain, there was still no line, so we went back on again. Got the front seat this time. Great view from the front, even though I was only peeking through a small opening in the poncho hood, glasses getting splattered with rain.

On the way out of Everest, in the gift shop, we saw something we’d been looking for since our arrival: spray-on sunscreen. We only had brought along the lotion-type sunscreen and it was so time-consuming to put on every day. So, even though it wasn’t exactly a day for it, we got some sunscreen. I think the gift shop CM thought it was an odd purchase. :confused:

Since we were already wet and in ponchos, we figured that this would be a good time to do Kali River Rapids. The Plan had it a little later in the day, but the park was not very busy, so we felt okay improvising a bit.

Before Kali, we went over to the restrooms to change. We’d brought along water shoes/sandals and swimsuits specifically for this. We changed, threw some clothes on over the swimsuits, put the ponchos on over everything, and made sure all our electronics were safely stowed in plastic bags. Time for Kali. Walked right on. The other people in our raft were staying on for their second ride in a row. Even with the ponchos, we still had gushes of water leaking in through the sides. Since we were already wet, we stayed on the raft and went again. It was fun, but I think we would have been able to see more of the surroundings if it hadn’t been raining. After the ride, we returned to the restrooms and changed back into our dryer things.

Next up, we decided to head to a dry, indoor ride: Dinosaur. When we entered the building to get in line, they made us take our ponchos off. Kind-of a pain. Got on the ride and enjoyed. Then put our ponchos back on and ventured back out again.

We’d skipped a couple of items on our Touring Plan. One was TriceraTop Spin, which we had no interest in. The other was Primeval Whirl, which we headed to next. We waited in a short (10-15 minute) line there. While we were in line, we witnessed another scary unloading incident. A girl, maybe about 13 years old, slipped on the wet surface while getting out of her ride vehicle. She fell and hit the back of her head on the ground next to the track, right in front of where the moving vehicle was. It looked for a split second that the vehicle could run over her head. :scared1: It was really scary. Luckily, she was helped up very quickly and seemed okay. Still terrifying, though.

So, with images of that incident fresh in our minds, we boarded Primeval Whirl. Four people sit in each car, separated in pairs. We were on the right side, me on the outside of the car. If you’ve been on this ride, you may know that this led to me being squished horribly the whole time. And it was raining. We couldn’t get off this ride fast enough! Hated the whole experience!

We were thirsty at this point, so we went and got some Sprite. We found a table with an umbrella and relaxed under it with our drink.

Since it was still raining, we decided it was time for another indoor attraction: Finding Nemo – The Musical. We really enjoyed this show.

We decided to go see another show next: Flights of Wonder. It wasn’t too rainy at the time, so seemed like a good time to squeeze this show in. It was a great show!

Since it was still not too rainy, we took the opportunity to walk the Maharaja Jungle Trek. Enjoyed the animals and scenery.

Not sure when this was taken, but just wanted to throw in this cool scenery/theming picture:

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/2009%20Day%203/3colors.jpg

We were hungry for lunch now, so we headed to the Flame Tree BBQ. We decided to share and just use one CS credit for this meal. We got ribs, baked beans, coleslaw, Sprite-ade, and bottled water (as dessert). Total would have been $16.01, but free on the DDP. Once we got the tray of food, we went over to the condiment bar. I hear that this has changed since (for the better), but they only had a small space to set a tray, which was being used, so Dug had to balance the tray while getting stuff. He ended up spilling the drink all over our whole tray. We were able to get a CM to help us and got a new drink. I think we had to wipe the Sprite off the food. We sat in one of the covered pavilions and enjoyed our lunch. Here’s the ceiling of it:

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/2009%20Day%203/4ceiling.jpg

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/2009%20Day%203/5ceilingclose.jpg

Although somewhat out of sequence, we’d done all the pre-lunch items on our Touring Plan, except for the Safari. Technically, the Plan told us to get Fast Passes for the Safari and come back later, but there wasn’t much of a wait, so we just got in line. That was the nice thing about the rain/drizzle all day…short waits (although it was pretty non-rainy at this time).

I was excited for our journey:

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/2009%20Day%203/6mesafari.jpg

A lot of our pictures are blurry, but here are the non-blurry ones:

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/2009%20Day%203/7animals1.jpg

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/2009%20Day%203/8animals2.jpg

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/2009%20Day%203/9animals3.jpg

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/2009%20Day%203/10animals4.jpg

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/2009%20Day%203/11animals5.jpg

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/2009%20Day%203/12animals6.jpg

The next item on the Plan was to take the train to Rafiki’s Planet Watch. This wasn’t really a high priority to us, so we skipped it and moved onto the next item: the Pangani Forest Exploration Trail. Enjoyed the trail.

At some point in the afternoon, we took these pictures:

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/2009%20Day%203/13tree.jpg

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/2009%20Day%203/14treeclose.jpg

Also, at some point, we used a couple of free snack credits. We got a veggie egg roll (the ones with meat did not work with a Snack Credit). We also got a frozen lemonade. The egg roll would have been $1.89 and the lemonade about $3.50.

There were only a couple more things on the Touring Plan that we wanted to do. First, we went to It’s Tough to Be a Bug. It was fun and the exiting bugs at the end surprised us!

Last attraction was the Festival of the Lion King. This show just blew us away! We didn’t know what to expect, so it really impressed us.

We had a bit more time before we had to leave for our dinner ADR, so we decided to take one more spin on Everest. It was only a light sprinkle now, with some sun peaking out, so we thought it might be nice to ride Everest without the rain beating down on us. Cool pic on the way over:

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/2009%20Day%203/15everestmatch.jpg

I love how they have even themed the pavement here. You can see the fake bicycle tracks in this picture:

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/2009%20Day%203/16magic1.jpg

Some more pictures of the detailed theming:

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/2009%20Day%203/17magic2.jpg

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/2009%20Day%203/18magic3.jpg

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/2009%20Day%203/19magic4.jpg

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/2009%20Day%203/20magic5.jpg

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/2009%20Day%203/21magic6.jpg

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/2009%20Day%203/22magic7.jpg

We got to ride in the front of Everest again. Not that it was bad before, but it was much more enjoyable without the heavy rain.

After this, we headed to the busses. We hopped on the bus to the Animal Kingdom Lodge. We arrived a bit early for our 5:35pm ADR at Boma. We checked in, then went to use the restrooms while we waited. As I walked toward the women’s room, a woman leaving informed me that someone had thrown up in the doorway. Okay…. She was right. Gross! And I had to jump over it to get in! I also warned someone on my way out. I think the CMs came out to clean it up shortly after that.

We were seated and really enjoyed Boma. The buffet only had short lines and everything was very good and unique. It was 2 of our free TS credits, but would have been $58 (plus tip) OOP.

I tried nearly all the desserts on the buffet. Although the legendary Zebra Domes were very good, my favorite were the little bite-sized chocolate mousse cups (miniature versions of what they brought us at Tutto Italia). Yummy! I ate a bunch of these! We really enjoyed Boma and would definitely go back. :thumbsup2

After dinner, we caught a bus to the MK. Yes, this was our one-and-only park-hopping experience on this trip. But we both agreed that it was worth having the PH tickets, just for this nice night in the MK. The rain had tapered off, only drizzling a bit on and off the rest of the night.

Once we got to the MK, we went to Tomorrowland, as we’d heard that the TTA was running again. It had been shut down, due to the SM work, I think. And I had fond memories of the PeopleMover from my childhood, so we had to ride! It did break down briefly during our ride, but started back up again quickly. Love the views of Tomorrowland at night!

Next, we decided to use that Super Fast Pass (from Winnie the Pooh the other day) to ride Peter Pan, since it had a line. The CM actually gave us the pass back with a wink, so that we could use it again (even though it was one-time-only)! That was nice! However, we never needed it again, as lines were short from there on out.

Next, we wanted to ride Jungle Cruise in the dark. That was fun. We also wanted to do the Haunted Mansion at night, so we did that too.

It was now Spectromagic time, so we headed over to ride Splash Mountain without a wait. There was a father and son in our log that had stayed on for a second ride in a row. We sat in the back again, so we wouldn’t get too wet on the hill. This ride was great to ride during Spectro, as we could see all the parade lights every time the log went outside the mountain…very pretty. As expected, we didn’t get wet on the hill. Yea! However, shortly after, we got nervous when we saw the empty logs ahead getting splashed by the logs that were going down the hill. Uh oh. We hoped it would get the front of the boat…they were already wet! Well, the empty log came down the hill and….drenched us! They offered to let us ride again, and it was very tempting, but it was getting close to Wishes time, during which we had other plans.

We got off Splash and went over to Big Thunder. We’d heard that it is a magical experience to ride BTMRR during Wishes, so we timed it to do so. By the way, at Disneyland, we’d ended up on the Matterhorn during fireworks, which was pretty awesome too.

We rode Big Thunder a couple times, but the fireworks hadn’t started yet. It helped to sort-of dry us off, though. Although it was slightly drizzly again. The third ride, right before park close, was when the fireworks started. Very cool view of them while on BTMRR!

After the ride, we just enjoyed the fireworks as we made our way across the MK.

We got to the bus area and went to the Pop Century line. It was crazy long!!! Dug’s feet were beat, so he found a nearby bench to sit on and we hoped that the line would get shorter if we waited a bit. Well, that didn’t happen. The line remained ridiculously long through several busses. I finally couldn’t wait any longer and went to get a spot in line without Dug. Told him he could meet me when we got close to the front. Eventually, we got on a bus and made it back to Pop Century.

When we got back, Dug decided to hop in the tub to soak his sore feet. After the wet day, I was happy to get all cozy in my nice dry jammies. This is when I had my Disney Meltdown Moment. Dug had somehow managed to overfill the tub and called to me for help. I ran into the bathroom and soaked my socks and the bottoms of my pajama pants in the flood on the floor. Then, I reached into the tub to unplug the drain and my whole pajama arm got soaked. Then, I tried to mop up all the water on the floor and just kept getting wetter. I just broke down at that point. I had been just looking forward to climbing into bed, but now I was soaked again! After throwing my little tantrum, Dug game me some of his clothes to wear to bed. Off to sleep we went.

32,500 steps taken this day!

Up next: Our DHS Day. What ride will break down on us this time? And lunch at the Sci Fi!

[Goofy442]

:worship: WOW I can't remember what we had for dinner two days ago and you are giving details from last year. Great Job! :banana:

[praisehisname]

What a great last day; you got a lot done!

Can't wait until the PTR starts!!! :yay:

[Dugette]

Just have a second here, but wanted to let you know that Dug finally wrote something. :yay::yay::yay:

Will be more to come:

http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?p=36777992#post36777992

[praisehisname]

Woo hoo! Headed over now! :yay:

[Dugette]

:worship: WOW I can't remember what we had for dinner two days ago and you are giving details from last year. Great Job! :banana:

You know, the notes really help! And the pictures. Otherwise, I usually don't know what I had for dinner two days ago either! :rotfl:

What a great last day; you got a lot done!

Can't wait until the PTR starts!!! :yay:

Thanks. It's nice to have a last day where you don't have to leave until mid-afternoon.

[Dugette]

Woke up this morning ready to hit Hollywood Studios in plenty of time for the 9am rope drop and Toy Story Mania stampede. We ate bars for breakfast in the room, as usual.

We finally remembered to take a few pictures of Pop Century. This is the view from just outside our room:

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/2009%20Day%204/1Pop.jpg

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/2009%20Day%204/2Pop.jpg

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/2009%20Day%204/3Pop.jpg

Sadly, this view and the lobby/bus stop area was all of Pop Century we saw during this trip. We intended to wander around and check out the other areas and cross the bridge at some point, but never had the energy/time for it.

The DHS bus arrived at Pop and we got on. It was pretty crowded, so we had to sit a few seats apart. I amused myself by listening to the two women next to me. :listen: They were going over their Touring Plans. Clearly, they had read the Unofficial Guide too!

We got to DHS, staked out as close of a spot as possible, and waited for rope drop. Once the rope did drop, we made our way to Toy Story Mania. Dug got in the Fast Pass line, while I got in the stand-by line. Dug obtained our Fast Passes and joined me in the stand-by line (we were right by the chain outside, so I opened it and let him in :ssst:).

After not too long, we were on the ride (for our first time!) And, about a minute later, we were stuck on the ride. Yes, another first-ride breakdown! This made 3 out of 4 days that this happened to me! As you can see, we were thrilled :) :

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/2009%20Day%204/4TSM.jpg

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/2009%20Day%204/5TSM.jpg

Then, while we were waiting, we decided to get fake action shots:

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/2009%20Day%204/6TSM.jpg

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/2009%20Day%204/7TSM.jpg

And some shots of the scenery around us:

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/2009%20Day%204/8TSM.jpg

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/2009%20Day%204/9TSM.jpg

Eventually, a CM came around and led us out of the ride. We all got re-entry passes for TSM. I don't remember when, but we did use them and go on the whole ride at some point later in the day. Loved it! :love:

Next, we headed to the Tower of Terror:

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/2009%20Day%204/10Tower.jpg

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/2009%20Day%204/11Tower.jpg

Enjoyed the ride!

Next, we grabbed a Strawberry-Banana smoothie from a booth near the Rock ‘n Roller Coaster. It was normally $4.19, but we got it for a snack credit. We enjoyed it while we waited in line for RnRC:

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/2009%20Day%204/12RnRC.jpg

We also enjoyed this ride!

Random hat picture:

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/2009%20Day%204/13Hat.jpg

Next on the Touring Plan was the Great Movie Ride:

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/2009%20Day%204/14GMR.jpg

I think this was one of the few times we followed the Touring Plan that day. Looks like we modified it quite a bit to make sure we hit the shows at the right times.

Next up, it was time for our 11:40am ADR at the Sci-Fi. We were very nervous about this ADR. We had heard a lot of bad reviews of the food. We had seriously considered cancelling this ADR. However, we decided we wanted to see the place and would stick with the “safe food.”

We checked in and were brought out to a car towards the front, right side. The server showed us the back row of the empty car. We had heard that the front row is a bit roomier, so we asked if we could sit there instead. The CM went to check. We stood awkwardly next to the car for a few minutes. :rolleyes1 During that time, another CM seated a family in the first two rows of our car. The CM came back and told us that there was no way they could move us. So, we squished into the back seat. The CM was not very friendly, so that wasn’t a great start to our meal.

We did enjoy the environment and the movie clips, though. That’s really why we were there. I think we saw the whole reel once. And the food we got was quite good. We’d stuck to our plan and both ordered cheeseburgers with fries (yum!), shakes (as our drinks), and desserts. I had a chocolate shake (best one I’ve ever had, I think) and Dug had an Oreo shake. For desserts, I had the Peanut Butter Chocolate Cake (not as good as it sounded…very hard) and Dug had the Cheesecake (covered in “treats”). We were glad we kept the ADR and we’d go back there again for burgers and shakes. This meal took 2 of our free TS credits, but would have been $52.77 OOP.

Continued in next post…

[Dugette]

After a quick bathroom break, it was time to make our way over to the Lights, Motors, Action show :car: :

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/2009%20Day%204/15LMA.jpg

Cool view behind the stage:

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/2009%20Day%204/16LMA.jpg

Stunts:

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/2009%20Day%204/17LMA.jpg

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/2009%20Day%204/18LMA.jpg

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/2009%20Day%204/19LMA.jpg

We enjoyed the show. Now, it was time for Dug to get his Star Wars fix. We went to Star Tours :yoda::chewy: :

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/2009%20Day%204/20StarTours.jpg

When we came out, the Jedi Training Academy was going on, so we stayed to watch for awhile :darth: :

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/2009%20Day%204/21JTA.jpg

The show was very cute.

Next we got in line for the Backlot Tour. I grabbed a bottle of water (snack credit, but would have been $2.79!), since we were hot and thirsty. I remembered a lot of this ride from my 1990 trip. We enjoyed our tour.

Here’s a picture of Walt’s plane that we saw:

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/2009%20Day%204/22Backlot.jpg

We walked through the Streets of America:

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/2009%20Day%204/23Streets.jpg

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/2009%20Day%204/24Streets.jpg

Next, we saw the Muppets 3D show. Enjoyed it.

We made our way over to the Indiana Jones Stunt Show next, but arrived a few minutes late. We were seated in the top, right side of the bleachers. We had missed the opening stunts, but still enjoyed the show:

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/2009%20Day%204/25Indy.jpg

After the show, we went to the Magic of Disney Animation presentation. Wasn’t that great and the CM was difficult to understand. However, when we let out of that, there were tons of characters in the greeting area (including Dug, who we didn’t meet until January). That was cool to see. We didn’t wait in any lines for them, though, just looked.

Oh, at some point in the day, we took this picture of these topiaries we really liked:

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/2009%20Day%204/26Topiaries.jpg

Now it was time for the Beauty and the Beast show. I know people seem to like this show a lot, but I didn’t get much out of it. Maybe because we were seated way high up and it was quite hot out. It was just okay for me.

Since it was so hot, it was definitely time for a Mickey Ice Cream Bar! :earsboy: It was one free snack credit, normally $3.50. Between us, it did not last long. Yum!

Time for more shows. We saw the Little Mermaid and enjoyed it. Then we saw the American Idol finale show and enjoyed it too.

We wandered over to check out One Man’s Dream. We were really enjoying the museum when the CM called out that the movie was starting. So, we missed a lot of the museum (don’t worry, we saw the rest in January). The movie was very good, though.

Now it was time to find some dinner. We ended up splitting up, as Dug wanted to try a giant turkey leg, but I didn’t. I ended up at Fairfax Fare and got a BBQ Chicken Sub, apple slices, Sprite, and chocolate cake. Used 1 CS credit, would have been $15.42 OOP. Dug came back rather upset from Toluca Legs. :mad: They didn’t have desserts there at all, so Dug asked for a bottle of water as a substitute (which should be okay and we did at other places). They refused. So, he used up 1 CS credit and only got a turkey leg, chips, and orange drink (would have been about $10 OOP).

Food was okay. Nothing too special, though.

We planned to see Fantasmic at 10pm and it was getting to be about the time we needed to head over and get seats. Dug had been enticed by the smell of Disney popcorn popcorn:: the whole trip, so we figured this was a good time to get some, as they had a booth near the entrance for Fantasmic. Well, it was burnt! Not exactly what he’d been dreaming of. Oh, well. (It was 1 snack credit, normally $3.69). We sat near the back, center area of the bleachers. The show was pretty cool. Probably would have been better a little closer, though.

After the show, we took the bus back to Pop Century. We found a mouse-bunny in our window. (I think we must have got one the previous day too). Here’s our collection of towel animals through the whole stay:

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/2009%20Day%204/27TowelAnimals.jpg

We were tired after our long day, even though it was “only” 18,500 steps, so we headed to bed for the night (our last night at Disney!)

Up next: A return to Animal Kingdom when it’s not raining! And I get “lost”! Also, will we make our Magical Express in time? All that and more, coming up!

[Dugette]

The last day of our whirlwind trip had arrived. Since we had the free CS credits to spare, we decided to actually eat breakfast at Pop for once. Because it was early, there were not many people around. I got a croissant sandwich and Dug got a breakfast platter. We both got orange juice. I also got a water and Dug got a lemonade. Total OOP would have been $24.99, but we used 2 CS credits.

We had decided to go back to Animal Kingdom for our last day. Since it had rained most of our only other day there, we wanted to experience it a little more fully. And it was a nice, sunny day.

We took a couple pictures at the bus stop:

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/2009%20Day%205/1PopBus.jpg

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/2009%20Day%205/2PopBus.jpg

Arrived at AK:

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/2009%20Day%205/3AKSign.jpg

It was pretty:

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/2009%20Day%205/4NiceSky.jpg

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/2009%20Day%205/5MoreSky.jpg

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/2009%20Day%205/6TheTree.jpg

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/2009%20Day%205/7TreeCloser.jpg

We were in time to catch the opening show again:

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/2009%20Day%205/8OpeningShow.jpg

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/2009%20Day%205/9MickeyTree.jpg

We went straight to the Safari. Unfortunately, this driver was very fast and not very good. Most photos looked like this:

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/2009%20Day%205/11Blurry.jpg

I think these two were the only non-blurry pictures from that safari:

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/2009%20Day%205/10Baobab.jpg

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/2009%20Day%205/12Rhinos.jpg

After we got off that safari, we got back in line and got right back on. With a much better driver. A few photos:

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/2009%20Day%205/13Jeep.jpg

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/2009%20Day%205/14Giraffe.jpg

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/2009%20Day%205/15MoreBaobab.jpg

Next, we grabbed Fast Passes for Everest. While we waited for our time to come up, we went on Dinosaur. At some point(s), Dug took some pictures of the cool theming at AK:

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/2009%20Day%205/16Scenery1.jpg

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/2009%20Day%205/17Scenery2.jpg

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/2009%20Day%205/18Scenery3.jpg

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/2009%20Day%205/19Scenery4.jpg

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/2009%20Day%205/20Scenery5.jpg

http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/yearofdisney2010/2009%20Day%205/21Scenery6.jpg

When we made it back to Everest, we ended up going twice (both times towards the back). It was great to ride when it was not raining! You see so much more!

It was lunchtime now, so we hit the Yak and Yeti Counter Service. When we got there, Dug realized that he couldn’t find his KTTW card. :scared1: I ran back to Everest in search of it while Dug ordered and used my KTTW card. When I got to Everest, I asked the FP CM about the card and, luckily, she had it!

I went back to enjoy our lunch. We got Honey Chicken, Chicken Fried Rice, Lemonade, and Mango Pie. We used 1 CS credit (OOP would have been $17.25) and 1 Snack credit (OOP would have been $4.25). Shared the food and it was okay. The Honey Chicken was pretty good. While we were eating, our table was surrounded by hungry ducks. We had no intention of feeding them, but Dug held out a piece of chicken to show one of the ducks and he jumped up and grabbed it out of Dug’s hand! Oops! I find it amusing that ducks like to eat chicken! :lmao:

After lunch, it was time to head out. We had to be back at Pop to catch the ME around noon (3pm flights). On the way out of the park, we stopped at the restrooms near the exit. As he was walking away, Dug said he’d meet me at the gift shop.

Well, I came out of the restroom and wasn’t sure where to go. This is Disney, there are a lot of gift shops. And I am not the map person in our party. Or maybe Dug hadn’t come out of the restroom yet? I waited a few minutes, just in case. No, he wasn’t coming out. So, where would this gift shop be? I saw a little shop across the entrance. Checked that out. Not there. There was a tiny gift display area near the restrooms. Not there either. Could there be a gift shop outside the park that he meant?

Here’s the problem: I had no idea where he went (or if he was still in the restroom) and he had both my cell phone and my KTTW card. So, I couldn’t call him. And I was afraid to leave the park, as I wouldn’t be able to get back in. I looked at the park maps, but couldn’t determine if there was a gift shop outside the park. And couldn’t see anything without leaving. So, I ended up circling around, over and over, between the restrooms and the “gift shops” that I could see. Very frustrating.

Finally, as I was coming back to the restroom area of my route again, I saw Dug. I think he was trying to ask people if I was in the restroom. I ran up to him and after simultaneous, “Where were you?!?!”s, we were both furious with each other. We had blown a ridiculous amount of time over this miscommunication. Naturally, he had been in the out-of-the-park gift shop. The one I didn’t know existed (and couldn’t ask him about, as he was walking into the men’s room while telling me he’d meet me at “the gift shop”). He couldn’t figure out where I had been. I’d been afraid to leave the park w/o a ticket or phone.

So, now we were frustrated, angry, fighting, and late! :mad:

As we were leaving the park, going through the turnstiles, we were arguing. However, the CM made sure to merrily wish us a “Happy Anniversary!” I wonder if they had any clue how angry we were at each other?! It was strange.

So, we’re speed-walking out to the busses and we see the Pop Century bus…leaving!

Since I generally take the bus to work every day, this is something I deal with on a regular basis. You walk out and the bus is pulling away. The thing about busses, though, is that there’s usually another one coming. So, my general rule is to never chase a bus. In my experience, you only end up looking like a fool, running down the street after a bus, and you still miss it. Dug didn’t know this rule.

He started running, screaming, and swearing his way after the bus. Not a proud moment. In fact, I was so embarrassed that I took off my Anniversary Button and put it in my pocket. I didn’t want to be associated with that spectacle.

So, of course, we did not get on that bus. We were first in line to wait for the next one, though. I don’t believe that we spoke to each other. Not fun.

I think we both calmed down a bit once we were on the next bus back to Pop. We had to divide and conquer. Our luggage was in our room, we had two Snack Credits left, and our ME would be leaving shortly after we got to Pop.

When we arrived at Pop, I made a run for Everything Pop and got two bottles of water for the road. Used up our last 2 free Snack credits, would have been $5.75 OOP.

Dug procured CM help with our luggage and got it all down to the ME area just in time. Hopped on the ME and headed to the airport.

If you recall, Dug had to go straight from this trip to a conference in Galveston, TX. I was going back home to MN. So, we had separate flights. We hung out for a little while in the airport, but then had to say goodbye and part ways for our flights.

Flights were uneventful and we got where we were going safely. When I got home, I was picked up at the airport by Dug’s sister and she brought me back to their place to get our car and our dog (both of which they were watching while we were gone).

Dug came home a few days later, after a good conference.

Pretty anti-climactic end to the trip, huh? (If any of you are still out there…maybe I scared everyone away with the impetigo picture earlier??) Not to worry, though. You probably already read about our January 2010 trip, just a few short months later. Great trip. And….we leave in 2 days to go back to WDW for Star Wars Weekends!!! :cool1:

So, when we get back, I’ll post a link here to that TR (also see the PTR that Dug’s doing…link in my signature).

To anyone who’s made it this far, thanks so much for reading along! I can’t wait to tell you about this next trip!

[Goofy442]

Have a great trip! :cool1: Have fun with the Star Wars weekend. :banana:

[Dugette]

Okay, so it's just barely started, but it's started. Haven't had much time lately. Here's the link (also in my signature):

http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2487638

Enjoy! Hope to see you there!