Isn't 21 a Little Old For This? (4/29 - The FINALE) [Archive] - The DIS Discussion Forums

Eight

02-03-2011, 04:28 PM

If you do think 21 is a little old for generally having way too much fun at Walt Disney World, please ask contact the nearest cast member, and they'll assist you to the closest exit.

However, if you think one is never too old for Disney magic, hello and welcome aboard!

My name is Eight or Rachel, and I'll be your host on this journey. As you may have guessed, I'm 21 (now 22), and maybe just a little bit obsessed with Disney. This trip marked my 43rd trip to a Disney park, so yeah, just a little obsessed. Nothing serious or anything. ;) Most of those trips were to Disneyland, but I've also been to Tokyo Disneyland, Disneyland Paris, and of course, Walt Disney World.

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As you can see, I had a run in with some pirates at Disneyland last September. They backed off after I pulled out my cutlass and showed off my amazing skills.

My traveling partner on this trip was my mom. She'd probably tell you she's been to Disney too many times, but she's still willing to come with me and ride everything. While she may not get excited about going like I do, she more or less understands my love for all things Disney, and therefor only makes fun of me a bit when I get l excited over something little, or I know some minute detail about a ride, or I get emotional watching fireworks. :rolleyes:

The plan was to fly down to Orlando on January 24th, spend the 25th and 26th at Universal Studios to see the Wizarding World of Harry Potter, spend the 27th - the morning of February 1st at Walt Disney World, and then drive to Cape Coral to visit a family friend on the 1st, and fly home the evening of the 2nd. That's mostly how it went down. Some very last minutes changes were made, but we'll get to that later.

This trip was really wonderful, I was able to do almost everything I wanted to do, and a certain childhood dream came true! I took over 1500 pictures, and I'm excited to share this trip with you. :goodvibes

And I think I'll stop here and keep this introduction short (mainly because I'm not sure what else to write :rolleyes1).

Table of Contents

January 24
Getting There Isn't Really Half the Fun (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=39819385&postcount=2)

January 25
The Wizarding World of Harry Potter Part 1 (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=39831540&postcount=3) || Part 2 (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=39831576&postcount=4)
A Bit More of Islands of Adventure (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=39853297&postcount=7)
Universal Studios (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=39865017&postcount=9)
More Wizarding World of Harry Potter (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=40015945&postcount=10)

January 26
A Childhood Dream Comes True (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=40017648&postcount=13)
The Last Installment Of Universal Studios - Disney is Coming Soon, I Promise! (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=40271886&postcount=16)
On Disney Property, Finally! Part 1 (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=40708333&postcount=23) || Part 2 (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=40708341&postcount=24)

January 27
Expedition Expedition Everest Part 1 (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=41174064&postcount=28) || Part 2 (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=41174080&postcount=29)
Beware of Buffalo Part 1 (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=41194946&postcount=34) || Part 2 (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=41194957&postcount=35)
Indiana Jones' Less Cool Younger Sibling Part 1 (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=41340951&postcount=42) || Part 2 (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=41340965&postcount=43)

January 28th
Downtown Disney (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=41527310&postcount=47)
I'd Probably Find the Magic Kingdom More Magical if it Was Less Crowded (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=41537892&postcount=48)
I actually updated?! Wait, what? (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=42450606&postcount=53)

January 29th
A Possible Change of Plans (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=43043685&postcount=59)
Muppetational Saturday (Because Really, That's Like All I Have Pictures Of) (http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?p=43382792#post43382792)

January 30th
A Super Short Update, But There's an Owl! That's Cool, Right? (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=43397343&postcount=66)

January 31st
One Super Mega Epcot Update Part 1 (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=43525417&postcount=69) || Part 2 (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=43525419&postcount=70) || Part 3 (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=43525422&postcount=71) || Part 4 (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=43525426&postcount=72)

February 1st and 2nd
The FINALE Part 1 (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=44740561&postcount=80) || Part 2 (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=44740567&postcount=81)

June and December Trip Related Posts

We Interrupt This TR to Bring You Some Breaking News (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=40721529&postcount=25)
Yet Another Interruption: The Who, Where, When, and Why For My June Trip (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=41347033&postcount=44)
Back Home From June Trip (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=41673927&postcount=49)
Teaser for June TR (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=41715739&postcount=50)
Yay, News! (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=43390898&postcount=63)
Update on December Trip: An Excessive Use of the Word Exciting (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=43402357&postcount=67)
Back From December Trip (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=43483085&postcount=68)
June Pictures Part 1 (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=44511012&postcount=73) || Part 2 (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=44511044&postcount=74)
September/October Solo Trip Pictures (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=44708881&postcount=75)
Halloween Disneyland Trip (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=44722938&postcount=78)
March Disneyland Trip (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=44731211&postcount=79)

Eight

02-03-2011, 05:43 PM

They say getting there is half the fun.

But I have to disagree with that when getting there involves up at 5 AM for a five hour flight during which you have the middle seat. At least it was the middle seat in an exit row, so not only did I have more legroom, I would be one of the first ones out in case there was an emergency! Fortunately, there were no emergencies, so I just had the nice perk of extra legroom.

We arrived at the airport around 7:10, and we were able to get through security pretty fast. I was very amused when I saw one security officer walk over to another after searching someone's bag and say, "it was just a banana." Which made me very curious as to what they thought it was originally. I guess bananas are kind of gun shaped, but really. It was just a banana, guys. No need to worry.

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This was not our plane, but it's Alaska's Disneyland plane! How cute, right? I don't know if you can see it, but it says, "We're Going to Disneyland". I've seen this plane before, and I've always wanted to ride it, but alas, despite flying from Seattle to California many, many times, it's never been my plane.

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This was our plane. Very plain.

The flight was long. And boring. And long. And I had the middle seat between two business men. I mostly just read and watched some TV shows I had downloaded.

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In case you've forgotten, this is what the inside of an airplane looks like.

Finally, after a long, boring flight, we landed in Orlando!

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We took the mini-monorail, got our luggage, got our rental, and we were off!

To Loews Royal Pacific Resort at Universal Studios. We checked in (club level!), and I took the obligatory room photos.

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We were both starving, having only had a bagel on the plane, so we headed down to Islands Dining Room. I had the burger, which was pretty good, but not rave worthy. Despite being very nearly empty, the service was extremely slow. I was really annoyed about that at the time because I was so hungry.

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One of the employees there, I'm guessing he was a manager or something like that, was walking around, so he stopped by our table to talk to us. We told him it was our first night there, and we were headed to the Wizarding World of Harry Potter first thing in the morning. He gave us a few tips, like how it would it be faster to walk to Islands of Adventure in the morning, rather than taking the boat. I was happy to learn there was a walking path, since we had been there in 2004, and I could only remember taking the boat. If I can, I'll walk over taking a boat or a shuttle or tram any day.

So after dinner, we walked the path to Islands of Adventure to see how long it would take us in the morning.

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Detailing in the lobby of the hotel.

After we returned to the hotel, we checked out the lounge.

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Some of the only food photos you'll get on this report.

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I'd like to say that we stayed up late and explored City Walk or something, but the truth is, I was exhausted after getting up at 5 AM. I think I went to bed around 9, and I fell asleep almost instantly. Besides, I had to get to bed early since we'd be having another very early morning at the Wizarding World of Harry Potter.

Eight

02-04-2011, 04:01 PM

The next morning we woke nice and early at 6:30, because I wanted to be at the park by 8. Since we were staying at a Universal Studios resort, we would be able to get in to the Wizarding World of Harry Potter an hour before everyone else. And let me tell you, I was psyched!

I was so ready for it. Not only am I a Disney geek, I am also a Harry Potter geek. I've been a fan of the books since I was 10, I was one of those kids who desperately wanted to get their owl, I've been to all the book release parties since the fourth book (though I've only been to a midnight movie release once, and have no desire to do so again), and I've probably read each book about five times, maybe more. My copy of the fourth book has sections of pages falling out because I've read it so many times.

I'm also the sort of person who hates getting spoiled for anything. I purposely refused to read anything about the Wizarding World of Harry Potter or look at any pictures. I wanted it all to be a complete surprise when I walked in. I had gleaned a few bits of information over the past six months since it opened, but it was mostly minor details. I had no clue what Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey was, other than it was a ride, and it might involve animatronics and Dementors.

We walked to Islands of Adventure and arrived just after 8, and it was pretty empty, which surprised me. I had expected a lot more people to show up for opening, but I was not so secretly pleased at how few people there were.

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We walked through Seuss Landing and the Lost Continent.

And finally...

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We saw this!

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If you'll allow me to express my excitement in all caps for a minute, IT WAS SO COOL!

I walked in and I just felt giddy with excitement. It was perfect. This was what I had dreamed about as a kid (and well, as a teenager, and as an adult. I still want my owl, guys.) and I was walking through it. It was amazing.

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I'm pretty sure I just walked around in complete awe, exclaiming "this is so cool!!" repeatedly.

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Our first stop was Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey, and as I said, I had no clue what to expect. But I'm pretty sure if I had had expectations, they would have been blown away. It was awesome! I'm so glad I didn't spoil myself for the ride.

I got off the ride, and I remember all I could do was grin and say "that was amazing!" over and over. I was so thrilled.

So, of course, we had to ride it again. It was especially great since there was no line.

This time around, I went through the queue a lot more slowly to appreciate all the details. And take pictures.

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Continued in the next post...

Eight

02-04-2011, 04:04 PM

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The ride was just as great the second time.

Our next stop was Ollivander's. I loved it, though I must admit that I was a little disappointed I didn't get picked to be fitted.

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We spent quite a bit of time walking around the shops and admiring all the details of Hogsmeade.

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We had to try the Butterbeer. I got the cold, while my mom tried the frozen, but we both agreed that we liked the cold Butterbeer better.

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After we finished our Butterbeers, we went on Dragon Challenge on the Chinese Fireball side. I'm usually a big fan of roller coasters, but this one was a bit of a head-banger, and I had a headache by the time the ride ended. I think I'm getting old.

By that time, it was about 9, and you could tell the park had opened to everyone because there was suddenly a swarm of people coming in. We took that as our cue to leave, but we'd definitely be going again tomorrow morning. And maybe that afternoon, if we felt like it wasn't too crowded.

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Purpleblanket

02-04-2011, 10:18 PM

Eight

02-05-2011, 01:12 PM

Oh, My Goodness.... I want to go to Harry Potters Wizarding World as well!!!
We just got back from Dis from Dec. 27th to Jan 1st.
We stayed at Pop and only did Dis. But after looking at your photos we will have to go back to do harry potter. me and and (adult kids) have read all the books and love the movies!!

Looks like you had a great time! Is the butterbeer alcoholic or not?

Debbie

Hey, thanks for reading! :goodvibes
I think you'll definitely have to go back and do Harry Potter sometime. If you're a fan, you'll love it. The attention to detail in that place is fantastic!

The Butterbeer is non-alcholic, and very good, but very, very sweet. Though the frozen kind seemed a less sweet than than the cold.

How were the crowds in Disney World when you went? I've always wanted to go around then, but I think it would just be too crowded for me.

Eight

02-06-2011, 12:54 PM

(I apologize for such a short update. I'm a bit busy today, but I wanted to get an update in.)

Since the Wizarding World of Harry Potter was starting to get busier, we continued on toward the Jurassic Park area.

This part of the part was not so populated.

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Except by dinosaurs.

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I was ambushed by a T-Rex, but luckily I made it out unscathed.

We were walking through Jurassic Park when we saw the Pteranodon Flyers. "Look," I said, "that looks like a nice, relaxing ride."

But no.

Apparently you have to be accompanied by a child under 56 inches. Seriously? But it looked so relaxing, swinging above the treetops. I fail to understand why you have to be accompanied by a child, unless it's a weight issue. And if that's the case, well, Universal Studios, you fail at designing rides. Except Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey. That was pretty awesome.

This picture pretty much sums up my feelings about that non-ride.

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Anyway.

We carried on through Toon Lagoon, but declined to ride anything since getting soaked at 9 in the morning on a cool day was just not something I was up for.

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It was pretty empty, so I guess a lot of other people felt the same way.

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Alright then, what could we ride that didn't require us to steal a small child to pass off as our own and didn't involve me getting wet?

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This will do!

I am not a Spiderman fan at all, but this ride is really fun. I especially enjoy the part where it feels as though you're falling straight down, even though you know logically that you can't be. It's a great effect.

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We decided to save the Incredible Hulk Coaster for later, as I was still feeling headache-y from the Dragon Challenge. By that time, it was around 10:40, and we had done pretty much everything we wanted to do in that park, save for going back to Harry Potter. So, we headed out of Islands of Adventure and had an early lunch at Panda Express at City Walk.

Universal Studios was up next. And there was one ride I really, really wanted to do at Universal Studios. Like, so much so that if I didn't have the chance to ride it, I might have cried. Might have. I would have been pretty upset, anyway.

It was our first destination, and I was excited to see if it was still as awesome as I remembered it to be.

But you'll have to wait and find out what that ride is next time. I have quite a few things I need to get done today, and sadly, writing this TR is not one of them. I know, it should be, right?

(And I promise, for those of you who are reading (assuming there are people who are reading...), we'll get to the Walt Disney World stuff sometime... uh... in the near future. It's coming, I swear. It just might take a little while at the rate I go. But until then, I hope you can enjoy the Universal Studios portion.)

Eight

02-07-2011, 11:52 AM

double post, sorry.

Eight

02-07-2011, 11:57 AM

Alright, so there was one ride at Universal Studios that I just had to ride.

But first we had to walk through Hollywood to get there.

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After a short walk through Tinseltown, we arrived at what promised to be an exciting adventure.

Through nostalgia.

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Does this image give it away?

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Yes! E.T. Adventure!

When I was a little kid, about 4, my parents took me to Universal Studios in Hollywood, and this was my favorite ride. I made my parents take me on it over and over. It's kind of funny, as I don't recall loving any of the Disneyland rides like that, but man, I remember that E.T. Adventure was just the best thing ever. Although I hated the part at the beginning with the police. I had to close my eyes, and it probably wasn't until I went in 7th grade that I kept my eyes open all the way through.

Sadly, they have since closed E.T. Adventure in Universal Studios Hollywood and replaced it with the Mummy ride.

So I hadn't been on E.T. Adventure since I came to Orlando when I was 14.

And let me tell you.

Nothing has changed.

And I love it.

It even smells the same! Seriously, this ride has a very distinct smell, kind of like chlorine, that I remember from my childhood.

I still think it's a great ride, to be honest. Sure, it's little outdated, but uh... it's fun. I mean, who doesn't like the sensation of flying over cities? And you can't tell me you wouldn't want to spend a day on E.T.'s planet. It looks so fun and cheerful. And we can't forget the part at the end where an E.T. says your name in a weirdly computerized, yet oddly appropriate voice. This is a fantastic ride, and I shall mourn the day it closes in Orlando, because as much as I love this ride, I feel like it'll happen someday. I'll be crossing my fingers that someday does not come soon though.

After that serious nostalgia trip, we made our way to another ride involving aliens, although in this one, the aliens aren't quite so friendly. I really like Men in Black: Alien Attack, even if the aliens are no where near as cute as the ones in E.T. Adventure. I mean, come on, there's an E.T. playing drums in E.T. Adventure! And one climbing up vines! How cute is that?

But anyway.

One thing I've neglected to mention so far was that we did have an Express Pass, since we were staying on property. This allowed us unlimited use of the Express ride line by showing our hotel keys. It was great, but almost unnecessary, since most of the lines that day were under 20 minutes, usually around 10. But still, I'll take getting to walk on most rides over waiting 10 minutes any day. Um.. I really hate lines...

We used our Express Pass, skipped the 10 minute line, and boarded our vehicle to shoot some aliens. I beat my mom, but you know, I still don't quite know where I'm supposed to be aiming. I should look that up for the next time I go, huh? Which probably won't be for a while, but you never know.

We then watched the Animal Actors show which was, I don't know, kind of cute.

I tried taking some pictures, but they didn't really turn out.

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We walked around the rest of the park, since our next destination was on the other side.

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As you can see, it wasn't terribly crowded, although there were a ton of Brazilian tour groups. I've heard stories that they can be obnoxious, but we never encountered them being annoying. I guess there was one time in Epcot when they started chanting as they walked in to The Land, but it didn't last long thankfully.

Carrying on.

We then went on Revenge of the Mummy twice in a row. It was probably my second favorite ride, after Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey. Or third favorite if you factor in E.T. Adventure, which I do not, because that's in a class of its own in my mind.

When I came to Universal Studios when I was 14, Revenge of the Mummy was scheduled to open in 2 months, but they were doing test runs of it. We were walking by the building when we were approached and asked if we'd like to ride it. Of course! Not all of the effects were working, but the one thing my mom and I remember is that during the part where your car gets turned around, a fireball was blasted above your car.

If you've ridden it, then you know that all that happens when your car gets turned around is that it looks like some scarab bugs are coming out of the wall. So I'm curious, did my mom and I just make this up? Did we get confused with the part near the end where the ceiling lights on fire? Or was there an fireball effect there that was taken out at some point? I just think it's interesting that my mom and I haven't discussed that ride since we rode that first time, but when we got off the ride in this trip, we were both like, "wasn't there a fireball that shot above your head when your car went backwards?"

Weird. I don't know. :confused3

Our next, and final stop in Universal Studios was the Hollywood Rip Ride Rockit coaster. My favorite part about this coaster was the lift hill, as it was pretty much straight up, so you were on your back. The rest of the coaster was not too bad, but nothing too special. Being able to choose the song you wanted to hear while riding was a nice touch though.

Alright, now that we had seen most of what we had wanted to see, it was time to head back to Islands of Adventure, and check out the crowds in the Wizarding World of Harry Potter.

Eight

02-19-2011, 07:46 PM

I apologize for the delay, I've been working on another sort of trip report (non-Disney), and I've been spending the time I would be working on this on my other project. I know this is a Disney Trip Report board, and I promise we'll get to Disney World soon. I expect there will probably two more Universal Studios related posts after this one, so hang on until then. :)

Having seen pretty much everything I had deemed worth seeing at Universal Studios, it was time to head back Islands of Adventure to check out the Wizarding World of Harry Potter again.

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Onwards to Hogwarts!
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I can see it!
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Almost there...
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Made it!
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And once again, I was in complete awe of the place. It's truly fantastic.

I love the roofs.
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We didn't do too much. It was fairly crowded, though I'm sure not as crowded as it is during peak times. We wanted to find a small gift or two for two of my cousins who love the books as well.

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We didn't find anything that day, but I did find this Voldemort doll. A bit weird, really.
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As you can see, I felt a little unsure why anyone would want one of these.

Because I'm a dork, I ended up buying a Gryffindor sweater. It was too cute, and I figured I could wear it to the premiere of the final movie. And also because I'm a dork, I had to do a mini photoshooot in Hogsmeade.

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I also met the conductor of the Hogwarts Express, so I had to get a photo.
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At some point we also saw the Frog Choir, though I have to admit that I was not a huge fan of them. It was like beat boxing or something, which doesn't seem to fit the area at all.
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We definitely had to ride Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey again, and it said there was only a 20 minute wait, so we got in line. Much to our surprise, there was really no line at all! It seemed odd considering how many people were walking around and in the shops, but I was more than happy to have no line.

I debated riding it once more since there was no line, but I didn't want to do it too many times and then have it not seem as special.

Walking out, we noticed the The High in the Sky Seuss Trolley Train Ride, and being the huge PeopleMover/TTA fan that I am, I had to ride it to compare it.
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Great views of the park, but I didn't enjoy nearly as much as the PeopleMover/TTA. I think it was the annoying, rhyming narration. I never was a big Dr. Seuss fan.

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After that ride, we headed back to our room. It wasn't raining on our walk back or when we went inside, but by the time we got to our room, it was downpouring. Nice timing on our part.

Since we're from Seattle, neither rain nor driving in the rain deters us from doing anything. We wanted to go the Florida Mall as there was a store there that my aunt wanted us to get something from, so after resting for a bit, we ventured out in to the rain.

Despite "oh, we're from Seattle, we can handle the rain" attitude, we ended up making it about 2/3 of the way there before we turned around. It was a torrential downpour, and not knowing the roads in Florida, my mom was worried that there was a possibility of them flooding.

Well, that, and neither of us had really wanted to get out of the car if we had made it to the mall. We probably would have been soaked in mere seconds.

We agreed that we'd stop at the mall the next day, before we checked in to Kidani Village.

When we got back, we had dinner at Jake's American Bar. Which, by the way, has pretty much the same menu as Islands Dining Room.

We went to bed fairly early again, because I was tired from waking up early, and we were getting up at 6 again to go back to the Wizarding World of Harry Potter.

Up Next: A childhood dream comes true

Purpleblanket

02-19-2011, 08:52 PM

Thanks for the update!! Again , I love your photos!!
I really need to plan a trip back to go to Harry Potter World!!

Debbie

Eight

02-19-2011, 10:05 PM

Thanks for the update!! Again , I love your photos!!
I really need to plan a trip back to go to Harry Potter World!!

Debbie

I'm glad you like the photos. I took over 1500 pictures this trip, so you can expect quite a few more. :laughing:
Definitely! I feel like I keep raving about it, but I seriously think anyone who's a Harry Potter fan will love it, and anyone who's not can at least appreciate how well done it is.

Eight

02-19-2011, 11:12 PM

We woke up once again at the early (for me, at least) hour of 6. I wanted to give ourselves a little more time this morning because we had to check out and I had this crazy idea that if we were first in line for Ollivander's, I would somehow, miraculously, get chosen. Don't ask me why, but there you go.

We had breakfast in club lounge again, checked out, checked out bags at the place where they store your bags which I am totally blanking out on the word for, and we arrived at the gates of Island of Adventure at about 7:55. Since we were before 8 this morning, there were lines at the turnstiles, and we were definitely back a bit. Not to worry. I can power walk with the best of them, especially when I am determined to get somewhere, and I was determined to be the first in line at Ollivander's.

They started letting people in, and I began my power walk. My mom just kind of looked at me, and told me she'd meet me there.

I was far too focused on getting there to take any pictures, until I got to Hogsmeade, and saw that that there was no one there.

Unfortunately, it's a little blurry, but here's a view of Hogsmeade you don't see too often.

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Empty.

I made it Ollivander's but alas, I was not the first person in line. There were about five people ahead of me. A few minutes later, my mom caught up, and we only had to wait a few minutes before we were ushered in.

Needless to say, I wasn't chosen, some little kid was.

"I've probably been a fan longer than they've been alive," I thought to myself.

When we got out, it had started drizzling so we hurried up to the castle for another amazing two rides on Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey.

We were going to go back to the shops to find a present for my cousins when my mom suggested we go to Ollivander's one more time. Why not? I was here, after all, and who knows when I would get a chance to come back.

My mom and I were the second group in line, behind a father and his eight or nine year old daughter.

"Sorry, there's no way you're getting chosen," my mom whispered to me. I figured as much as well.

We had to wait a while before we were let in, but we were entertained by the one of the employees who showed us handshakes for the different houses. Soon, we entered the dark room, and Ollivander's assistant began the show.

And okay, here it comes. The whole part about the dream coming true in the title.

I was chosen.

I think it goes without saying that I was completely and utterly thrilled. I always wanted to be fitted for a wand since I was a kid reading the books, and I was the sort of kid who knew exactly what kind of wand they wanted too. Holly with phoenix feather, and not because that's the kind of wand Harry Potter had. Rather because there was a favorite character on a TV show named Holly, and I liked phoenixes better than dragons or unicorns. I remember playing around on the wand chooser game thing on the Harry Potter website trying to get that combination way back when.

It was a childhood dream come true. Even though I knew the effects that happened, having seen the show twice before, it was still, dare I say it, magical. Especially when the wand chose me, with the lights, and the music, and the wind. It was so awesome.

Even better, Ollivander's assistant informed me that my wand was made of ash with a phoenix feather. Maybe it wasn't holly, but it was still my wand. ;)

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Coming up next: The rest of our day at Universal Studios.

Purpleblanket

02-20-2011, 01:07 AM

Eight

02-20-2011, 01:39 PM

Lucky you! getting fitted for a wand! I've always wanted to be fitted for a wand too!!:wizard: ever since I started reading the books!! (And I'm not divulging my age!:rolleyes: )

I can't wait for the last movie segment to come out! I'm already re-reading the last book to be ready for it!

Debbie

I think it's so great that they have Ollivander's at the park, because really, who doesn't want to get fitted for a wand, regardless of age? :)

I'm excited for the last movie to come out too! Except I'm a little sad, with it being the last one and all. I think I'm going to try and reread all the books before it comes out, I should probably get started on that soon!

Eight

03-10-2011, 05:43 PM

We'll get to the final installment of the Universal Studios part, but first!

Once again, I sincerely apologize for my serious neglect of this trip report. And I am not so excited to tell you that this is the last update you'll be getting for several weeks. I know, I fail at this whole trip reporting thing. See, my family and I are going to Tanzania and Rwanda (the REAL Animal Kingdom ;) ) and we're leaving next week. So I've been very busy with preparations for that and it's taken up quite a chunk of time. If you're curious about that at all, you can read about the preparations and our previous trip here (http://cameraandink.wordpress.com/). I might be biased, but there's some pretty cool photos up.

Anyway, back to the report!

After that awesome adventure, I took a few more photos before we left. Once again, you could tell it was 9, because there suddenly a lot more people.

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I love the signs for the bathrooms.

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We rode the Incredible Hulk Coaster, which was fun, but gave me a headache.

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We then proceeded to walk over to Universal Studios, and did pretty much the exact same things we did yesterday, in the same order. I'm so predictable like that.

However, when we arrived at the E.T. ride, there was this huge line!

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Haha, no. There wasn't. We were the only people there for a while. Finally some more people joined up, and we rode our bikes off in to the sky.

And I took some blurry pictures.

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I love this ride so much.

We rode Men in Black: Alien Attack again. I won again.

It was pretty empty, as you can see in the next few photos.

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Except for that shark that tried to bite my head off.

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We got lunch somewhere, but apparently I failed to write down where. I think it was pizza. Apparently, it wasn't very memorable.

Then, since we were doing everything in the same order, you can probably guess that we went on Revenge of the Mummy next.

Now that you know the pattern, you can probably figure out what we did next.

Yes, back to Islands of Adventure and Harry Potter!

It was way more crowded than it had been the day before.

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The line for Ollivander's.

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Despite that, there was only a 30 minute wait for Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey, which ended up being less than that anyway. And it would have been even less if people didn't stop in the queue, completely blocking everyone from going by. Look, I understand the queue is fantastic, and you want to see it all, but I'd really appreciate if you stepped to the side or allowed people to go by you while you're looking.

When we finally got on the ride, one of the guys working the attraction recognized us.

"You're back again!?"

He had seen us ride that morning, and thought it was funny we were back again. I thought it was funny he thought that was funny, as surely they have tons of repeat riders. He just laughed when I told him that it was actually our 6th time this trip.

Then it was time for one last Butterbeer and walk around Hogsmeade. Of course, I took pictures.

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I have to admit, I was kind of sad to be leaving. I just want to live in Hogsmeade, okay? ;)

Of course, it did help that I had Disney World to look forward to!

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Purpleblanket

03-10-2011, 06:08 PM

magichusky

03-22-2011, 10:33 PM

What a fabulous TR so far! I was totally blown away by the HP pics- once I post pics from my day at HP back in December you will surely be horrified! You couldn't turn around or step backwards or forwards w/out running into someone. VERY terrible and quite the fire hazard. And SO jealous about Ollivander's! My mom and sister thought I was insane b/c I exerted quite a bit of energy to position myself right at the bottom of the stairs so as to be selected but I was ignored! :confused3 Unfortunately, since the line was around 45 min, that was my only shot.

I also hope you're having a splendid time in Rwanda/Tanzania!!!! That's entirely out of this world from my perspective- I was stoked to travel to FL! :cheer2:

BecomingObsessed

03-26-2011, 12:36 AM

cannp123165

03-26-2011, 02:02 PM

Great trip report so far - I am glad you enjoyed the WWOHP! We loved it too - the butterbeer is so yummy! Have a great time in Tanzania and Rwanda. :)

Eight

04-04-2011, 07:21 PM

Your upcoming trip sounds amazing!!
My 21 yr old son and his boyfriend went to the exact places last summer.
They climbed the "real" mt. Kilimonjaro and have photos at the top to prove it.

If you have any questions or suggestions about Rwanda and Tanzania you could PM me and I'll give you Ben's email or facebook address! He would love to share any advice he may have with you!!

Debbie

I'd love to climb Mt. Kilimanjaro the next time I go there. Where else did they go? This time, we went to the more "traditional" places, like Ngorongoro Crater, and the Serengeti, and Volcanoes National Park in Rwanda. It was great. :goodvibes

What a fabulous TR so far! I was totally blown away by the HP pics- once I post pics from my day at HP back in December you will surely be horrified! You couldn't turn around or step backwards or forwards w/out running into someone. VERY terrible and quite the fire hazard. And SO jealous about Ollivander's! My mom and sister thought I was insane b/c I exerted quite a bit of energy to position myself right at the bottom of the stairs so as to be selected but I was ignored! :confused3 Unfortunately, since the line was around 45 min, that was my only shot.

I also hope you're having a splendid time in Rwanda/Tanzania!!!! That's entirely out of this world from my perspective- I was stoked to travel to FL! :cheer2:

Since I was horrified simply reading the guide book I had about how crowded it got, I think I will be even more horrified once I see your pictures! I am sorry to hear Ollivander did not see that you clearly were in need of a wand. 45 minutes is crazy though. You're going back next December, right? Maybe you'll get another shot. ;)

Thank you, I had such a wonderful time!

Eight

04-04-2011, 07:27 PM

Holy adventuring, Rachel! Your tours through Hogwarts make me jealous. I'm a Potter nerd too. Up until I had my girls I always went to the midnight book releases and stayed up all night reading. I can't see the movies though. I can't bring myself to watch them because I know there is NO way you can put 600+ pages of detail into a 3 hour movie and I'd get mad at the creative interpretation :rotfl:

I didn't realize how much I wanted to go check this out until your trip report. You always make me want to travel! Hope you're having fun in Rwanda and Tanzania! I also hope you'll post more to this trip report when you return :goodvibes

The movies aren't my favorite, to be honest, but I think they do a fairly good job. I remember I was so annoyed about the Quidditch scene in the first movie. I was like, "they are committing so many fouls!". I've calmed down about the fact that they won't get everything right since then though.

Thank you, I had really awesome time! I do plan on continuing with this, once I get over being so tired and jetlagged.

Great trip report so far - I am glad you enjoyed the WWOHP! We loved it too - the butterbeer is so yummy! Have a great time in Tanzania and Rwanda. :)

The butterbeer is great! Kind of wishing I had some right now. Did you try the pumpkin juice? We didn't try that, and now I wish we had. And thank you, I did have a great time. :)

Eight

04-12-2011, 06:16 PM

Hello again.

I'm finally almost back on a normal sleep schedule, and I'm ready to get another installment of this TR up! And we're finally at the Disney World part, yay! So let's begin.

After we left Universal Studios (and Hogsmeade. I was so sad to leave my childhood dream), we were off to Walt Disney World! Well, first we stopped at the Florida Mall and grocery store, but that was boring, so that's the only mention they'll get

Soon we started seeing signs for the parks. I took a ton of pictures of road signs, but I'll spare you those, and present you with this instead.

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I don't think it was possible for me to be more excited. There are few things better than crossing under that gate for the first time on your trip.

And then we saw this.

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And this.

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And this.

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And apparently it was possible for me to be more excited!

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We pulled up to the lobby, and checked in, and got our keys and tickets and everything else they deem necessary to give you upon check in. Then we set off toward to our room.

When we started that journey, I don't think either one of us realized just how long of a journey it was. We had been show on the map that we in almost exactly the middle of one of the wings, and sure, it looked like a lot of rooms in between the lobby and our room, but it couldn't be too far, right?

Wrong. So wrong.

It was certainly a trek to get to our room. We'd pass a room, and be like, "surely, our room has to be next". Finally, we made it to our room, and collapsed on the couch from sheer exhaustion at the effort it had taken us to get to our room.

Okay, not really, but it is a really long hallway. I can't imagine staying at the far end of it. That's got to be a pain. One day my mom decided to walk to the end of it, just to see how long it was. She was gone for ten or fifteen minutes.

Eight

04-12-2011, 06:17 PM

We settled in to our room, and of course, I took some pictures before we got too settled and messed everything up.

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And there were some ankole cattle to greet us.

When we originally booked this trip, we had booked a two bedroom unit, because at that time, my dad was coming. Then we booked our trip to Tanzania and Rwanda, so my dad couldn't go to Florida due to work related stuff, so we opted for a one bedroom savanna view. Although we've stayed at the Animal Kingdom Lodge three times before, we've never had a savanna view and my mom has always wanted one. She's the animal watcher in our family, while my dad and I are the ones who are furiously snapping photos of them.

The room was fantastic. We enjoyed having more room to spread out, even if there was only two of us, and we also liked having two bathrooms as that saved time in the morning when we were getting ready. And my mom really did like being able to make a cup of tea in the morning and watch the animals from our deck.

However, there were thee things that we didn't like about the room. The first being that it was really dark in the room. Between the combination of not much natural light, the dark wood in the room, and the energy saver light bulbs (which I'm glad Disney uses, but they do take a long time to get to their full brightness, and even that's not very bright), the room felt very dark most of the time. We were also a bit annoyed that the WiFi was so expensive. Admittedly, I don't even remember how much it was now, but I remember thinking it was expensive. And finally, lack of TV channels. It was basically Disney and Fox News. :rolleyes: Which normally isn't a big deal for us, since we spend so much time in the parks, but on this trip, we ended up coming back early a few nights because between the combination of not fully adjusting to east coast time, and catching a cold, I was pretty exhausted.

But honestly, despite the fact that I just took a paragraph to talk about what I didn't like, there was much more to like about staying at Kidani Village than there wasn't.

That night we went to Downtown Disney for dinner at Earl of Sandwich. Which was delicious, and I generally don't like hot sandwiches. We also stopped at Tren-D, and I took the obligatory photo of the lights. Because they are really, really cool. I wish I could pull off something like that in my bedroom.

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I remember we also went to World of Disney, the pin store and the art store, though I didn't buy anything. I was mostly just plotting out what I would buy.

When we got back to Kidani Village, we went to a cultural talk on Uganda given by one of the cast members there from Uganda. At that time, we were planning our Tanzania/Rwanda trip, and we had been thinking of going to Uganda, though that ended up not working out. I think the cast member giving the presentation was impressed that my mom knew so much about the national parks there. It was very interesting, and I believe they give different talks every night at both Kidani Village and Jambo House, so I would definitely recommend going to one if you have time. My mom ended up going to a couple of them, and I kind of regret not going with her.

I think I went to bed around 10 that night, I was so tired from getting up early.
Tomorrow we were headed to Animal Kingdom, and I had a mission to ride Expedition Everest as many times as possible.

Eight

04-13-2011, 06:10 PM

I've got some big news.

And with this being a Disney forum and all, you can probably figure out what it is.

I'm going back to Disney World! :goodvibes

It was my birthday yesterday (and if it's not obvious by the title of this TR, I turned 22), and my parents sort of surprised me with a trip. I say sort of surprised, as 1) well, I did see a Disney Destinations letter in the mail, and 2) I've been kicking around this idea for a trip since last January and I had made a spreadsheet with dates and costs last month. So when I saw the letter, I was pretty sure I knew what it was.

Regardless, I was still excited when I opened up a box with the letter inside it!

Details will be coming soon, just have to work out a few things about this trip.

Rozz

04-13-2011, 06:52 PM

Happy Birthday!:cake::banana:

I'm really enjoying your trip report!

I didn't think I'd enjoy the Universal bit as much as I did. I am considering going now!

Eight

04-14-2011, 01:40 PM

Happy Birthday!:cake::banana:

I'm really enjoying your trip report!

I didn't think I'd enjoy the Universal bit as much as I did. I am considering going now!

Thank you! :goodvibes I'm glad you're enjoying it so far!

Universal Studios is pretty fun. Not as much fun as Disney, in my opinion, but it's good for a day or two.

Eight

05-19-2011, 05:21 PM

Hello hello!

I am back, and I apologize again for not being more on top of this thing. I have a really good excuse though, I swear. I got a job. So that has taken up quite a chunk of my time. Oh, how I already miss those days of doing nothing...

Anyway.

The day was January 27th, our first full, proper day at Walt Disney World. Hurray! My goal to get up at 8, but I apparently I overslept by 17 minutes. I have no clue why I was so detailed in the useless part of my notes, and lacking in detail when I could have used it. Hm. Things to work on for my next TR (still planning on going in June, yes! so excited!).

Our first park was Animal Kingdom because I was on an expedition to ride Expedition Everest as many times as possible before the line got terribly long. Expedition Everest is probably my favorite ride from any Disney Park, so I was determined to make the most of my trip to Animal Kingdom. If memory serves me, I rode it nine times when I was at Disney World in 2009, and I wanted to beat that. Would it be possible? Read on.

We headed straight back to Asia, but of course, you probably know me by now, and know that going straight somewhere also means taking lots of pictures on the way.

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Can you believe I'd never taken a picture of this before? So I had to get a picture this time.

I can never really decide if I have a favorite park at Disney World, but I guess if I were forced to choose one or I would die or something, I would go with Animal Kingdom. I think the detailing in that park is incredible, and plus, you know, Expedition Everest.

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We arrived at Expedition Everest, got some Fast Passes to ride later.

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Hurray for short wait times!

We then proceeded to take a trip to a local museum dedicated to the yeti, and then climbed up Everest to see if we could see this magnificent creature for ourselves.

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Three times in a row.

It was all thoroughly documented.

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My favorite picture of the yeti.

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Look at the detailing on this!

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Yup, gotta love the detailing.

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Finally we made to a temple. And up we went.

Eight

05-19-2011, 05:22 PM

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Such a great view.

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I swear, every time I go on this ride, the track is broken. You think they would have fixed it by now..

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The intrepid yeti pursuer.

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Had enough pictures?

Well, I'd like to end this entry on one more.

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Until next time, take care!

magichusky

05-21-2011, 03:21 AM

OMG so many great photos! I especially enjoyed the collection of EE queue pics- I've actually only been through that queue once since well, I've only been on EE twice and the first time was w/ a FP. I wished I could've hung out in the queue more since it was so awesome in there! I aspire to take a pic of the ripped up train tracks at some point, but I don't know the ride well enough to feel safe having my camera out- skills! Also, your AKL room looked so neat- I hope I get to stay there someday! We managed to quickly check out the AKL main lobby back in Dec and it was completely AMAZING.

And dude, congrats on your new job!!! :cheer2: That must be so exciting to have a real job. Even though I appreciate the flexibility of my schedule while in school, I can't wait to get a job and actually do stuff. :laughing:

CAStevens218

05-21-2011, 10:57 AM

Eight

05-21-2011, 04:32 PM

Eight

05-21-2011, 04:37 PM

I just found your trip report and it is GREAT!! :thumbsup2 I love all of your Universal experiences, especially Harry Potter!! I'm a HUGE fan as well (I can't understand why I didn't get an acceptance letter to Hogwarts on my 11th birthday??!!??) and when I got to go to WWoHP in December I had the BEST time!!!!

I feel like we are very similar because I also like to ride my favorite rides over and over again! I think we did Everest 6 or 7 times on our last trip and Tower of Terror 12 times!!

Can't wait to read more!!

Thank you for reading, and welcome! I like to comfort myself myself by saying the poor owl just couldn't make it across the Atlantic Ocean, and somewhere, lost at sea, is my acceptance letter... ;)

12 times? Nice! I love Tower of Terror too, but I was only able to ride it twice this past trip.

I have more coming up, as soon as I upload the photos.

Eight

05-21-2011, 04:47 PM

I think I'll try and attempt to finish this TR before I leave in June in case I decide to do a trip report for that trip. I'm seriously doubting that will actually happen as I leave in 33 days, and it's taken me what, 3 or 4 months to get the first two days done. I will try. But I will not promise anything.

After our multiple expeditions to Everest, it was time to hit up another continent.

Africa.

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We picked up some fast passes for Kilimanjaro Safaris, and went over to the Harambe School to see if anything interesting was going on. I'd like to say our motives were strictly educational, but there was one other reason why we went there.

On our trip in 2008, we had listened to one of the talks at the Harambe School, and at the end, the cast member asked us if we'd like to sit in the VIP section for the parade. Of course! It was pretty awesome, we were the only people in this area, and all of the characters would come over to us. I felt very important.

I would like to clarify that we didn't just go there hoping something similar would happen, both my mom and I were interested in hearing what they had to say about eco-tourism, the topic of the morning.

While we didn't get VIP seating this time, I did get a Magical Moment and the certificate to prove it. ;) My mom and I were sitting down waiting for the talk to start, and we were the only people there, so we had been talking a bit to the cast members who were hosting the talk that morning. Since we were the only people there, they asked if I'd like to be the person who got to announce that the Harambe School was open. Sure, why not, right? So I got to ring the bell and say in to the microphone, "Welcome to Harambe School. School is now in session."

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I have to admit, I felt a little silly because isn't 21 a little old for this? (although I would like to point out, this is actually not when that quote came about. that came on the last full day. but we'll get to that.) But nah, it was fun, and I got a Magical Moment certificate saying I was an honorary scholar.

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Cool, right?

I can't say the eco-tourism talk was incredibly informative, but it was cute. And look at this awesome shirt!

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I want one! For reasons you will understand in the next paragraphs.

After school, we went to the Pangani Trail for one very important reason. To get a picture with the rock that says "Beware of Buffalo!" I have gotten my picture with this rock for the past three trips, so now it's tradition, but there's a great backstory to it.

My family and I were in Rwanda in October 2007 to see the mountain gorillas. The second day we had permits, my mom got sick and couldn't make it, so it was my dad and I doing the hike to see them, plus the 6 other tourists, plus the guards, porters, and guides. Anyway, we were hiking back from seeing the gorillas, and I remember so clearly thinking, "wow, it's really peaceful in here." About a minute later, the guides and guards starting running backward and telling us to run too. I was freaked out, because I had no idea why all of the sudden I'm being told to run in the middle of a Rwandan forest. I had no clue what was up ahead. My mind went to the worst places, naturally. Soon, word is passed back that there was a lone male cape buffalo up ahead. And they can be pretty dangerous. After a bit, we starting going forward again, but it wasn't long before we were told to run backward again. I could barely breathe by this point, I was so scared.

So, this time we started walking again, but we were going off the trail. Pretty soon I could see that we were almost out of the woods (both physically and metaphorically), but we had stopped again, and I couldn't figure out why. Turns out, there was a large trench, maybe 10 feet deep, that had been built to keep animals out of the farmlands before they built a stone wall. So we had to climb down this trench and climb out again, thankfully, the guides were very helpful.

True story.

When I came to Disney World in January 2008 for the first time in four years, I saw this stone and naturally, I had to get to a picture next to it.

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2008

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2009

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2011

Anyway.

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I like the Pangani Trail, especially the gorillas. I was so wishing I had my DSLR, as this point and shoot was not cutting it. There was an adorable 11 month old baby gorilla, which you can see in my pictures, though not very well. Like I said, the point and shoot was not doing it for me.

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After exploring the Pangani Trail, we watched the Tam Tam's of Congo, and I somehow got pressured in to going up there. I've done it before, but I was not feeling like doing it that day, but I don't even know, somehow I got pulled up there. And let me just say, I can't dance. At all.

But this is what the view from there looks like.

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Look at all the people staring at you.

After that it, it was almost time for our reservation at Yak + Yeti. On the way there, we saw DeVine.

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Eight

05-21-2011, 04:48 PM

Much like I love the detail in the Expedition Everest queue, I also love the detail at Yak + Yeti. So here's some pictures.

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Lunch was pretty good. I remember I ate almost all of mine, I was very hungry for some reason.

Then it was back to Africa to take a two week safari on Kilimanjaro Safaris.

According to my pictures, we saw an owl and Terk on the way there.

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Little did I know when I took this, potholes would become my enemy on our March trip to Tanzania, after we got stuck in one more than once. Good times on safari.

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True.

Most of my pictures didn't turn out too well, but here's a few that turned out slightly okay.

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As you can see, the rhino got really close to our vehicle at one point.

I'll end on this picture. I love this view.

http://i1016.photobucket.com/albums/af283/eights/WDWTR11/IMG_0794.jpg

CAStevens218

05-21-2011, 05:12 PM

Eight

05-24-2011, 04:58 PM

I have good timing for signing into the Dis, I'm just in time for your update! Your experiences in Africa sound so interesting! (I believe you put a link to a trip report about that in an earlier post, I'm going to go back and check it out!!). Anyway, its such a coincidence because I just finished reading a book called A Change in Altitude by Anite Shreve and it was set in Kenya. The characters were climbing Mt. Kenya, and they also had to run from a buffalo!

I love that picture you got of the hippos laying out in the sun! I've never seen them out of the water at Animal Kingdom. Maybe next time!!

I think the link is on the second page. Haven't updated that in a while either, but I'm hoping to do so this week. :)

Come to think of it, I think this is the first time I've seen hippos out of the water, be it at Animal Kingdom, the zoo, or in the wild. They're awful funny looking.

CAStevens218

05-24-2011, 05:51 PM

I think the link is on the second page. Haven't updated that in a while either, but I'm hoping to do so this week. :)

Come to think of it, I think this is the first time I've seen hippos out of the water, be it at Animal Kingdom, the zoo, or in the wild. They're awful funny looking.

I read through some of your Africa blogs, it looks amazing! Your pictures are beautiful!!!

Eight

05-28-2011, 05:58 PM

I read through some of your Africa blogs, it looks amazing! Your pictures are beautiful!!!

Thank you!! :goodvibes

magichusky

05-31-2011, 01:56 AM

Eight

06-01-2011, 02:08 PM

HAHA OMG I was hyperventilating just reading about that buffalo encounter!!! :scared1: What a great story! Your parents are so adventurous- that's really so awesome that you get to travel to all of those extraordinarily special destinations. I also completely LOVE your magical moment certificate; I had no idea the Harambe school was even in there- I'll have to check it out next time. Both times I've been to AK I've been rushed so I haven't even been able to walk through the trails w/ the gorillas or tigers or anything. :sad2: Love that AK! Your hippo pic is also super great- it's so difficult to take good pics from that insane safari bus.

I'm glad you liked the story! :laughing: I think I'll have to find a way to work in the other crazy thing that happened the day before on that trip.. I'm so grateful my parents love to travel as much as I do. :goodvibes I think you need to go to AK sometime and not be rushed. I feel like there are so many little details all around the park that make it really special. And definitely go on the trails. They're pretty fun (and detailed!).

It is really hard to take good pictures from the vehicle. I always feel like, "okay, let's just stop here so I can take a non-blurry photo of this animal." I'm also used to using a DLSR for wildlife photography, and it's really frustrating to use a point and shoot. I want to take my DSLR someday, but I think it would be a pain carrying it around all day.

Eight

06-02-2011, 08:54 PM

I leave for Disney World exactly three weeks from today! Oh man, I'm so, so psyched. I'm doing a PTR for this trip, but I've been working on a side update to fill you in on some of the details. Should have that up pretty soon as well.

Anyway.

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I don't quite remember where these were taken, must be somewhere around Discovery Island, but I love the octopus.

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I had decided I wanted to ride Dinosaur. My mom kept telling me that last time I rode it, I didn't like it, but I did not remember this, so I insisted upon riding it.

Guess what.

I didn't like it.

This is probably a really unpopular opinion, but I think Dinosaur is, well, kind of terrible. And that if you love Dinosaur, then you've probably never ridden the Indiana Jones ride at Disneyland. Because the Indiana Jones ride is about a million and three times cooler. Dinosaur is like its less awesome and obnoxiously loud little sibling. Indiana Jones Adventure: Temple of the Forbidden Eye has all these great effects and details, and Dinosaur, um... well, it has some audio animatronic dinosaurs. Which sounds kind of cool in theory, right? And you know, it would be, if it weren't fact that no one bothered enough to make it feel like you're actually in the jungle. I mean, in Indiana Jones, I can believe I'm in this crazy temple and oh shoot, I really should not have just looked in to the eye of the Mara, but with Dinosaur, I feel like I'm in a box. With some audio animatronic dinosaurs. And honestly, if I really wanted to see some audio animatronic dinosaurs, I could have gone to the Pacific Science Center in Seattle.

But anyway.

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We rode Expedition Everest for the fourth time, and journeyed through the Maharajah Jungle Trek. Oh, you know what's coming by now.

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Eight

06-02-2011, 08:55 PM

We then trekked back to Africa to stake out some spots for the parade.

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I really love Mickey's Jammin' Jungle Parade. I think the floats and the costumes are so creative!

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The monkey is my favorite. :)

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Then it was time for Expedition Everest for the fifth time. Surprisingly, I didn't take any pictures that round!

To cap off our day at Animal Kingdom, we decided to catch the last showing of Finding Nemo: The Musical.

I love musicals and I love Finding Nemo, so naturally I love Finding Nemo: The Musical. Actually, I shouldn't say that, because I love acrobatics and I love the Lion King, yet I'm really not a fan of Festival of the Lion King. I'll save that discussion for another day though. But go figure.

But I really do love Finding Nemo: The Musical. I think it's very well staged, the puppets are fantastic, and while I don't think the score is quite worthy of a Tony award, it's cute and fits the show well.

When we got there, we arrived about a half hour before the show started, and we were some of the only people in the theater. As a result, we changed seats about four times before finding the perfect spot.

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That's the view from where we sat.

I felt kind of sad that by the time the show started, the theater was only half full. I thought more people should have showed up for this wonderful show.

I really wanted to take pictures, but there was an usher sitting on the stairs next to me, and for whatever reason, I was paranoid that if I tried to take pictures, he'd yell at me or something. Finally I couldn't stand it any longer, and I just had to take some pictures.

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I'm sure you're all surprised to find out that the usher did not yell at me. But most of them didn't turn out..

Since the park was closed by the time the show ended, we drove back to Kidani Village, rested for a bit, and had dinner at Boma.

Boma was just as delicious as I had remembered. The only let down was there wasn't as much stuff I wanted to try as there had been before, but everything I had was really, really good. Especially the brownie bite I had. I love Zebra Domes, but this brownie was perfect.

By the time we got back to our room for the night, I was exhausted. My mom went to another cultural talk (this time on Swaziland), but I laid on the couch and watched TV. And then I went to bed pretty early. It was very exciting, I assure you.

Eight

06-03-2011, 12:15 PM

Since I'm not doing a PTR, but I really wanted to talk about my June trip, I thought I'd do a quick update.
So here's the who, where, when, and why for this trip.

Who: Me! (Obviously.) I'll be going with a friend of mine, and I'm pretty excited as I've never gone to Disney World without family before, and she's never been at all.

Where: The Poly! We were originally going to stay at the Contemporary because for the last three trips I've been saying that my next trip I'll stay at the Contemporary. And then I always ended up staying at AKL. As thrilled as I was to stay at the Contemporary, my friend and I decided to change because we wanted to stay somewhere with more of a fun theme. The Polynesian was the obvious choice for us, and I'm pretty psyched about it.

When: Late June for five nights. I'm not too crazy about the crowds we'll encounter, but it had to be late June because, although Disney World is enough of a reason to go to Orlando, it's not the only reason...

Why: If Disney World is not the only reason we're going, then what's the other? It's not Universal Studios. It's not SeaWorld. It's not even another theme park. But it is shining, gleaming, streaming, flaxen, and waxen!

Get it?

It's Hair!

If you're not familiar with Hair, it's a musical from the 60s, and I'm terrible at summarizing things, so if you're really curious about the plot, I'd just read the Wikipedia page. There was a revival on Broadway in 2009, but sadly, it closed last June. However, there's a touring production of the show, and it'll be in Orlando at the end of June. Soo....

I've tried writing this next section about three different times, but I can't. I would like to write about Hair and why it's so important to me, and why I'm so happy to be seeing it again in June, but I really just cannot do that without it being overly long or sounding absolutely crazy.

Short version: I've seen it 14, soon to be 16 times, and in many ways, I love it just as much as I love Disney.
So you know I must love it a lot. :)

Anyway, that concludes the who, where, when, and why of this trip. 20 days until I leave, and I just cannot wait! Two of my favorite things combined for one trip? I think it'll be fantastic!

magichusky

06-05-2011, 05:09 PM

Eight

06-08-2011, 02:16 PM

What a fabulous update! I just really adore AK- can't wait to go back! I've never been down the Maharaja Trail so I particularly enjoyed those pics. And the one of you and the duckbill outside Dinosaur is so hilarious!!! :rotfl2: I'm actually terribly amused by Dinosaur: the ride, but I'm just a sucker for dinos (Jurassic Park is pretty much my fav movie of all time). My other fav movie of all time, conveniently enough, is Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, so I must say that I agree and totally prefer IJ: Temple of the Forbidden Eye. There was a WAY cleverer use of space on that ride, and all of the optical illusions really take the cake. People still don't believe me when I tell them that the car is actually stationary at the very end right before you speed down the hill underneath the massive, stone ball that's 'rolling' towards you.

SO exciting for your upcoming WDW Poly extravaganza! :wizard: I've always wanted to stay there, pretty much mainly for the reason that I REALLY need to go down the volcano pool slide at some point.

Haha, I feel like I need a disclaimer for the duckbill photo that says something like, "I kind of don't recommend attempting to do this because it really hurts!" Sadly, this is not the first time I've hurt myself posing with statues...

I think one of the things that bugs me so much about Dinosaur is that it came after Indiana Jones. So I feel like if they made this amazing ride a couple years before Dinosaur, they could have done something even better with Dinosaur. Oh well. :confused3

I'm really excited because this is the first time I'll be in Disney World when it's actually warm enough to use the pool! Only 15 days! :yay: I cannot wait!

Eight

06-18-2011, 07:17 PM

Haha, remember when I said I was going to try and finish this TR before I left for my June trip? So not going to happen. I leave on Thursday! I can hardly believe it's so soon! Time to start getting everything together...

Sorry for such a short update today. It's been a bit hectic at my house, we got another dog. Her name is Binti, and she's very cute and sweet, but it's been a lot of work.

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That's her. Although she got a haircut yesterday, so she doesn't really look quite so furry anymore.

Anyway.

Friday, January 28 2011

I had originally planned on doing the surfing lesson this morning, I ended up cancelling that because it was so cold! If you noticed, I'm wearing a sweatshirt in all the pictures from the day before. That, and I was starting to feel a little sick. So we decided to take it easy that morning, and I slept in until 9:20.

Since we hadn't had anything besides the surf lesson planned for that morning, we took the opportunity to go to Downtown Disney. Our first stop was D-Street, because they had released some Vinylmation that morning.

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Our next stop was at the magnet store as my aunt had asked us to pick up a Florida magnet for her. A classy Florida magnet, no less. Three words that really don't belong in the same sentence together. We finally found one that wasn't too tacky, but yeah, classy Florida magnets don't really exist.

We walked through the remains of Pleasure Island, which was a little depressing.

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It's so weird that they haven't done anything with the buildings, and they're just sitting there, empty.

I also find it depressing that they closed the Adventurer's Club before I turned 21. I went there once in 2008, for all of about 15 minutes, until they kicked out all the people who didn't have a wristband or something like that. I don't really remember exactly, but I remember thinking, "man, I can't until I'm 21 and can come here!"

Ha. That never happened. :(

We had lunch at Planet Hollywood, which was pretty good. I wasn't expecting it to be too great, but I ended up being pleasantly surprised by the food. Not that it was anything special, but it was tasty. And really, since I'm no food snob, that's all I can ask for.

After lunch, we went over to the other side, and looked around.

I had this great little moment in the art shop. I was walking around, and the song Just Around the Riverbend came on. I can't lie, this song is on my iPod and plays quite frequently in my car. So without even really thinking about it, I starting singing along under my breath. Then I heard another voice singing along quietly too. I looked over, and this girl about my age doing the same thing I was. So there were we, two girls in our twenties, singing Just Around the Riverbend to ourselves. I can't quite explain why this moment stands out to me so much, but it was just so Disney to me. I loved it.

Eight

06-19-2011, 08:27 PM

I didn't want to leave off on such a boring update, so get ready for another!

Having seen what we wanted to see at Downtown Disney, it was time to drive to the Magic Kingdom!

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We got to the TTC, and there was a huge line for the monorail, and a boat pulled away right as we walked up to the dock. Not so perfect timing. We decided to wait for the next boat. I'm not sure what our reasoning was, except that it seemed more fun. Of course, after waiting a while, we were pretty sure the monorail would have been faster, but at that point, it's like you don't want to change, you know? So we waited.

Finally it boarded, and we were the first ones on.

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I love this picture. It looks way better full sized though.

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Made it!

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We were surprised at how crowded it was, which was kind of disappointing as we thought it would be much less busy. I hate to say it, but that disappointment kind of set the mood for the rest of afternoon/night. It's not like we were in really bad moods or anything, but I wasn't quite feeling the magic, so to speak. I don't do well in crowds (and I'm sure you're wondering why I'm going in June. trust me, i'm a little worried myself.), so to see how busy it was when I wasn't mentally prepared to handle that, well, it was a little tough.

Plus, I was starting to feel like I was catching a cold.

Still, we were going to try and make the most of it. Our first stop was to get FPs for Space Mountain since that's one of my favorite rides (although Space Mountain at Disneyland is soo much better..). Then we rode one of my other favorite rides, the TTA!

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I have no clue what it is about the TTA, but I love it. My mom likes to make fun of me for it, but I love the TTA. I seriously wish they had one at Disneyland. It's so relaxing, and you get to see all the rides, and there's a nice breeze, and you get to sit down for a while, and what's not to love about it?

Since our FPs for Space Mountain wouldn't be good for a couple of hours, we journeyed to Fanstasyland to watch Mickey's Philharmagic, which I also seriously wish they had at Disneyland. It's so cute! It was really crowded in the area before you go in, and I was starting to get sensory overloaded. I was almost tempted to leave, but before I was serious enough to do that, we were let in.

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I don't feel a great sense of need to do most of the rides in Fantasyland, with the exception of Philharmagic, so we headed out of there, but not before getting some FPs for Peter Pan. Which is throwing me off, because I don't remember spending two hours in the park by that point, but maybe we had. I don't know. It's a minor plot point, so we can ignore it.

Because I love the Princess and the Frog (and especially Tiana's Showboat Jubilee. I'll refrain from posting pictures like I did in my Disneyland TR, just know I love it. like a lot), I really wanted to meet Tiana and Naveen on this trip, since you can't meet them together anymore at Disneyland. Which I find sad. Because yeah, even though I was 20 at the time, I met them a couple of times, and they were always fun. So that was one of my goals for this trip. After we left Fantasyland, I was determined to find out where their meet and greet was, so I could, you know, meet them. I found it, but unfortunately, the line was closed. I knew I would be back to the Magic Kingdom on Tuesday, since we were having breakfast then, so I figured I'd try and meet them then.

We were about to go on Pirates, when I noticed that the last showing of the pirate tutorial for the day was starting soon, so I insisted we watch. Even though I was 21, I still hoped that Jack Sparrow would pick me. Because come on, it's Jack Sparrow. One of my favorite Disneyland memories involves Jack Sparrow, and I'm debating whether or not I should tell that story now or save it for another time.

I think I'll save it.

It's pretty good though. ;)

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Obviously I didn't get picked (huh, i wonder why...), but I still love watching this show. Very cute, and like I said, it's Jack Sparrow. Of course it's fun.

We rode Pirates next, which, like Space Mountain, is way better at Disneyland. Just saying.

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It was then time for our FPs for Space Mountain, we headed back there. After we rode, I was getting hungry, so we got dinner at Cosmic Ray's Starlight Café, and sat there for quite some time.

Because I was really starting to feel sick.

Eight

06-30-2011, 02:24 PM

So, I'm back home. :(

I had the most amazing time, which makes it even harder to go back to real life. I think it was even better than the Jan - Feb trip. It was a ton of fun, with really no bad moments. A couple of awkward ones, sure, but nothing really bad.

I'm trying to figure out if I want to write anything about this trip. Part of me really, really wants to, since it was so much fun, but I didn't really write down any notes or take many pictures, so I'm not sure how well I'd remember everything.

Plus, I don't know how my friend feels about it either.

I'm debating working on it now, and starting a seperate thread for it when I'm done with this TR, embedding little anecdotes about that trip within this TR, or just doing a quick recap with some pictures on this TR.

Haven't really decided yet.

Do you have any thoughts? I'd appreciate them, because I'm being really indecisve.

I'm heading over to eastern WA today for the 4th, but I plan on taking my photos with me so I can do another update for this TR. So you can expect one soon. :)

Until then, take care!

-Rachel

Eight

07-04-2011, 03:56 PM

Remember how I said I was taking my photos with me so I could update?

For some reason, the disc I burned won't load on my laptop, so I don't have them. I'm going to see they'll work on my dad's laptop, and if they do, hopefully get an update up later today or tomorrow.

While you're waiting, here's a teaser for June TR.

Let's face it, traveling with another person can be an ordeal. There are a lot of things you might have differences in, from small things like food to larger things like what you want to do while traveling. Traveling with another person requires patience and flexibility.

If you know me well, you'd probably say I'm lacking in both patience and flexibility. Since you may not know me well, I'll be the first to tell you it's true.

I'll also tell you that I hate crowds, hot weather, and humidity.

Knowing that, perhaps you're wondering why I took a trip in late June to Walt Disney World with someone I had never traveled with before. A trip that would surely test my patience and flexibility with crowds, hot weather and humidity.

Honestly, in the weeks leading up to this trip, I wondered if I was setting myself up for disaster. I imagined stampeding crowds, unbearable heat, and oh yeah, how in the world was I going to get along with my traveling partner for six days, when the only times I had really hung out with her were to discuss this trip*?

I was stressed.

And slightly terrified.

And expecting the worst.

So how did it end up being quite possibly the best trip to WDW ever?

*I suppose that needs a bit of clarifying. I've acutally been around her many, many times, but mostly in group settings with other people.

I'm hoping to work on that TR, while finishing up this one, and posting the June one when this complete. As I said, I'm hoping to. It may not work out as I plan.

To those of you in the US, happy 4th of July! And to those who don't, happy Monday!

Take care!

magichusky

07-21-2011, 12:49 AM

Eight

07-22-2011, 01:51 PM

I'm absolutely dying to hear about this DL Jack Sparrow story! I love how if you don't look at someone dressed up as JS too hard they look pretty convincing, but if you inspect them even just a little bit, they look ridiculous! However, I did see a JS at DL once who genuinely appeared quite accurate.

I'm so very sorry that you were becoming ill in the world! I was horrified b/c one of my Mom's 8 yr old students passed on a cold/virus to my Mom and then she passed it to me literally days before we left for our December trip. Subsequently I was coughing during our entire stay and practically choking during most of the rides, particularly on EE! :sick:

The June trip sounds so great! I despise humidity as well and my parents absolutely refuse to travel to Florida unless it's December or something. When I went in April I found the weather disgusting- I don't know how people deal w/ it! The desert is far more appealing I think. Can't wait to hear all about it!!

Haha, I agree. This Jack Sparrow looked oddly tanned. The one I would see in June looked better.

Oh no! I didn't realize that (or maybe you mentioned in your TR, and I forgout about it). Being sick at Disney World is so frustrating, because there's so much you want to do, but at least for me, I know I needed to rest and take it easy.

Yeah, I don't think I could deal with that humidity for longer than a few weeks, let alone a whole summer of it.

Eight

08-30-2011, 06:42 PM

I don't even know where I am in this TR anymore!

Okay, I do, because I just read the last installment, but seriously, it's been forever.

So let's jump right in.

After we sat at Cosmic Ray's for quite sometime while I complained about feeling sick, we decided to do Fantasyland.

My mom and I are both immune to it's a small world, and actually, we both kind of like it, plus there was no line, so we rode that first.

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The geese were my favorite when I was a kid. I don't know why.

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Then we rode Peter Pan, where I decided the one in Disneyland was better. Why I decided that, I cannot tell you for I do not remember, but apparently I decided that. I do like that WDW's has a Fast Pass, since I rarely ride the one at Disneyland because the line is always so long. But yeah, Disneyland > WDW.

However, WDW's Haunted Mansion > Disneyland's Haunted Mansion. Yup. It's the staircase scene that puts WDW's on top. Obviously, that is what we rode next.

By that time it was around 7:15, so we got our spots right in front of the castle for Wishes which was at 8.

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To give you an idea of where we were.

And we waited. And waited.

Until the preshow!

Which I thought was really cute. I mean, it's really hard to see most of the photographs, but the animation on the castle looked awesome! It was better than I expected.

http://i1016.photobucket.com/albums/af283/eights/WDWTR15/IMG_1081.jpg

And then Wishes. Where I took like a million pictures. Yeah, a million. Like, literally.

Okay, at least one hundred.

And this picture, of all the backs of cameras.

http://i1016.photobucket.com/albums/af283/eights/WDWTR15/IMG_1090.jpg

Well, I thought it was kind of amusing.

I have to admit, I was a little disappointed by it. Maybe it was because we were right in front of the castle, but we couldn't see a lot of the fireworks. I still enjoyed it, but perhaps that is the advantage of having a smaller castle at Disneyland. You can see the fireworks better.

I think I still got some cool pictures though.

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Not too bad for a point and shoot.

I'm pretty sure the parked closed at 8 that night, which meant it was crazy getting out of there after the fireworks. It took us about an hour to get to our car. That was a little frustrating.

I went to bed early again, since I didn't want to feel even more sick the next day.

Spoiler alert! It didn't help.

Coming up next: DHS and a fairly drastic change of plans

jelloarms

09-05-2011, 03:45 AM

Dude, that backs of the cameras shot IS amusing!

slightlyvolcom

09-05-2011, 05:59 AM

This update was great! So many good photos that you don't usually see. You're so lucky you were able to stay in the Animal Kingdom lodge, that place looks amazing! I've only been to Disneyland (even though I have ben roughly 20 times), but I can't wait for my first Walt Disney World trip (hopefully after the Fantasyland expansion)!

Eight

09-05-2011, 09:57 PM

Dude, that backs of the cameras shot IS amusing!

I'm glad I'm not the only one who thinks so! :laughing: Oh, people and their cameras...

This update was great! So many good photos that you don't usually see. You're so lucky you were able to stay in the Animal Kingdom lodge, that place looks amazing! I've only been to Disneyland (even though I have ben roughly 20 times), but I can't wait for my first Walt Disney World trip (hopefully after the Fantasyland expansion)!

Thank you! Animal Kingdom Lodge is pretty amazing, I love it there. It's probably my favorite resort, although after my last trip, the Poly ranks up there too. I hope you get the chance to go to WDW! I've been to Disneyland many, many times too, and I absolutely love it, but WDW is such a different experience.

magichusky

09-17-2011, 03:34 PM

Eight

09-18-2011, 02:13 PM

I found that hilarious that we both had the same observations of the WDW Fantasy Land in comparison to DL! I also decided that the DL Peter Pan was superior (I, too, can't remember exactly what it was- I think the WDW version was missing that big island you fly around) but really like the staircase room in the WDW HM. I think what I like better about the DL HM though is that guests enter through the front door of the house however in WDW they enter on the side after passing the front door in the queue, so in DL it really feels like you're going inside the house. Plus, the windows inside the WDW HM don't have the fake thunder storm the way the DL windows do, which was always one of my favorite parts.

I also thought that the pic of all of the guests' cameras during the fireworks was really funny! It's mind boggling how many people visit WDW, and each one of those people is always looking for that "perfect shot." I see people taking pictures of the weirdest things at WDW! I wish I could get my point and shoot to behave that nicely for fireworks- those are fabulous pics!

That's it! That's why the Disneyland Peter Pan is better, WDW is missing the island! I don't know, that ten seconds of ride time somehow that makes the attraction like 100x better at Disneyland. :laughing:

I never really thought about the entering the house aspect, that's an interesting perspective. Now that I think about that, it definitely gives Disneyland some extra points in my comparison chart.

You're right, people do take pictures of the weirdest things at WDW. Somewhat related, and probably an unpopular opinion, I have to admit, I've never understood the food picture thing. Granted, I did take one at Le Cellier of my chocolate moose dessert because it was just so cute, but I guess I just don't get the mentality when it's like pictures of a QS pizza? I don't know.

Eight

10-24-2011, 01:58 PM

Hello, hello!

Remember me?

No?

Okay, that's cool.

I started college again about a month ago, and I have been overwhelmed with work! And when I do have free time, I just want to sleep...

Although, I should mention that I've manged to squeeze in two trips to Disneyland in the past month, so I guess it hasn't been all work. I may post a few pictures if I have time later..

Anyway, I'm going to get in a quick update here before my class in an hour.

If you'll recall, I had spent the previous night at the Magic Kingdom, and I was starting to feel a bit sick.

I woke up the next morning feeling pretty awful. Our original plan had been to go to Kona that morning, but I said, forget it. I just wanted to sleep. I finally got up around 8:45. I think we had been planning on going to MK this day, but my notes say we decided to go to DHS instead. I think it was because it had been kind of crowded at the Magic Kingdom the night before, and we were afraid that it would be even more crowded on a Saturday. I don't remember which day then we had planned on going to DHS, but we cancelled the lunch reservations we had for that day, and were able to get a reservation at 50s Prime Time Cafe for today. While I was at it, I made a reservation for Kona for the next day, since I still really wanted to go there.

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By the time we got to DHS around 10:30, there were long lines for everything. TSMM fast passes were for 6 that evening! We didn't anticipate staying that late, so we didn't get any.

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We were able to get fast passes for Rock n Roller Coaster, though I don't recall what time they were for.

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I'm one of those people who hates waiting more than 20 or 25 minutes for a ride, and as it were, all the lines were longer than that. Finally, my mom convinced me to wait in line for Tower of Terror, since we both love that ride, even though it had a 40 minute wait time. Thankfully, the sign was wrong, and the line was really only about 20 minutes, yes!

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We decided to go over to the Animation building since we'd never been over there, at least not that I could recall.

I found a new obsession there.

The drawing classes.

See, I've never been good at drawing. I'm pretty bad. I always hated assignments in school where I had to draw something.

But this? This where they tell you exactly where to draw the lines and how big to make them? Well, I'm not as bad at that. I'm definitely not great, but at least my Dale and Pluto looked like Dale and Pluto, not amorphous blobs.

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That was fun.

http://i1016.photobucket.com/albums/af283/eights/WDW%20Part%2016/IMG_1207.jpg

Suddenly, there was a change in the plans. As we were having lunch at 50s Prime Time Cafe, my mom had a suggestion.

So bit of backstory here. We had originally planned on leaving Tuesday morning after breakfast, and driving south to visit a family friend, and then fly home Wednesday.

Also, remember that it was crowded, and I was feeling sick, and those two things definitely don't mix well.

What if, my mom suggested, what if we went and visited our friend tomorrow instead, and came back on Monday, and then spend Tuesday here when you're hopefully feeling better.

Hm.

It sounded like a good idea, but would it even be possible?

magichusky

11-26-2011, 01:46 AM

Eight

11-30-2011, 04:05 PM

How terrible that a random illness was ruining your trip to the World! How rude that not only was the Tower still shrouded in scaffolding, but the wait time was falsely advertised! DHS is ridiculous about updating wait times; I've been on several major rides there in which the actual wait time was truly less than half of the advertised time. I went in the TSM queue in November, which was advertised as 50 min, and totally waited for 20 min. Love that you went to 50's Prime Time- I went to the Sci Fi Drive-in earlier this month (which was the first TS dining experience I'd ever had in DHS) and completely adored it, even though the food was pretty overpriced.

Really? I think that was one of the few times I've been in line where there was a noticeable difference in what the sign said, and what I actually waited.
I went to Sci-Fi Drive In later on this trip for the first time, and really liked it. It was kind of overpriced, but I feel like most Disney food is. :confused3 But if that was your first, does that mean you haven't been to 50's Prime Time? It's not my favorite, in terms of food, but I love the atmosphere.

Eight

12-01-2011, 08:08 PM

This thing just never ends, does it?

Hi!

It's been quite a while, eh? School does that. :(

When we had last left off, we were contemplating changing our changing our plans around. However, we weren't sure where we could stay an extra night or if the family friend we had planned on seeing would be around tomorrow.

After several phone calls to our hotel and our friend, we were successfully able to change everything up! The plan was now to leave tomorrow after breakfast at Kona, spend the afternoon with her, spend that night in town where our friend live, and head back in time to eat at Le Cellier for lunch.

I was a little stressed out about it at the time, but it ended up working out quite well.

After lunch, I insisted on heading over the Muppet area (I feel so stupid right now, does that area have a name?), because I adore the Muppets. Like a lot. Even if I don't feel like watching Muppet Vision 3D, I always have to make a detour over here to check it out.

Side note: Who's seen The Muppets? I saw it the day it came out, and loved it! Such a fun movie. I would definitely recommend it.

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Another one of the photos opps I have to do!

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This was one of my favorite movies when I was a kid.

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If I look sick and tired, it's because I was.

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I then insisted on going to the Animation Academy again, where I drew Dopey. For some reason I didn't take a picture of him though.

http://i1016.photobucket.com/albums/af283/eights/WDWTR17/IMG_1234.jpg
I do have this picture of me waiting for it to start though!

We wanted to ride Rock n Roller Coaster, but alas, it was down when we went over there. So, we decided we had had our fill of DHS, not to mention I was still feeling sick, so we drove back to the hotel to rest.

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And watch giraffes eat.

Of course, the problem with trying to rest at Disney World is that there's so much other stuff to be doing besides sitting in your hotel room feeling sick, so I decided we should go to Downtown Disney. I don't know that we did much, I think we just walked around a bit, killing time before our reservation at Jiko.

Which was delicious. Like I've said, I don't take food pictures, so I'm not sure what I had, I think it might been a salad and a flatbread? I just remember that it was really good. And that there weren't many kids and the restaurant was quiet! Which was definitely a nice change of pace from most other Disney restaurants.

I was pretty exhausted from being sick, so I think I went to bed shortly after we got back from dinner. Which concludes this Muppetational Saturday.

Eight

12-02-2011, 10:21 PM

Hello!
I don't have an update for you today, but I have some big news!

I will be at Disney World next week!

It was kind of a spur of the moment decision, but my parents and I decided we wanted to take a trip after I finished this quarter in school. So I suggested Walt Disney World, and much to my surprise, my parents agreed! We're going for five days, and then heading elsewhere, and I'm very, very, very excited for those five days.

I've been to Disneyland around the holidays, but never Walt Disney World, so I'm excited to see all the decorations. And the Osborne Lights. That's what I especially want to see. I've always thought those looked so cool in pictures, and I can't wait to see them in person.

I was at the mall tonight, so I had to stop at the Disney Store. In general, I'm not one for Disney clothing, but I saw this sweatshirt, thought it was cute, and decided it would be perfect for the night I'm going to Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party.
http://i1016.photobucket.com/albums/af283/eights/WDWTRmisc/sweatshirt.jpg

And then, I saw these shoes at Nordstrom. They're it's a small world Toms. Awesome, right? They were in the kids department, but I have really small feet and these fit perfectly! I don't know if I'll bring these to Disney World since I'm very particular about the shoes I wear to Disney because they have to be super comfortable if I'm going to walk around in them all day. I like how they're Disney, but it's very subtle, and to most people, it probably just looks like a cool pattern.
http://i1016.photobucket.com/albums/af283/eights/WDWTRmisc/toms.jpg

So yes, I'm very excited about everything! I'll try and get one more real update in before I leave. Until then, take care!

jelloarms

12-03-2011, 08:55 PM

I saw Muppets. It was really good! I was thinking at the very least, Piggy would annoy me because I am annoyed by her abusiveness (I often joke to people that Kermit only stays in the relationship out of fear...) but she was not abusive at all!

Eight

12-03-2011, 10:38 PM

Eight

12-03-2011, 11:06 PM

I told you I'd get another update in before I left!

(that's because this is super short. shhh....)

On the morning of Sunday the 30, we had breakfast at Kona before the three hour drive to our friend's house.

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I do remember what I had there, because I LOVE Tonga Toast. It's one of those must get food items for me at Disney World. I definitely have reservations at Kona for our next trip.

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I have a picture of me standing in front of this from my June trip. Little did I know when I took these pictures, I would be staying here five months later. Maybe I'll have to post some pictures from that trip sometime in the near future.

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Is it just me or does the sky seem super blue in Florida?

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Like, I'm pretty sure it doesn't look like this in Seattle.

Then we began the three hour journey. I don't a lot to say about this day of the trip, but I'll give you a quick rundown.

Drove there.

Had lunch with our friend.

Visited.

Drove to the beach, although we mostly just looked at it. We only got out for a few minutes.

Visited some more.

Went to bed.

So, yeah, it's not that it was a boring day, it's more that I don't have much to say about it.

I'll share with you the pictures I took though.

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I saw this car in the parking lot of the restaurant where we had lunch. I thought it was cute.

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There are these little burrowing owls near our friend's house. I think they're adorable. Can you spot it?

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Here's a closer look.

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The beach.

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And a truck full of oranges. I was very entertained by that at the time for some strange reason.

Eight

12-04-2011, 08:04 PM

If you're wondering why I've update so much (by my standards) the past week, it may or may not have something to do with the fact that I have finals this week and I need a good distraction from studying/working on final projects. :rolleyes1

That, and I'm just really excited for the trip next week!

I thought I'd do a quick rundown of my plans.

Who: Me and my parents. My parents are great because, while neither one is as big of a Disney fan as I am (though I think my mom likes it more than she'll admit to sometimes), they put up with my Disney obsession. And they let me plan everything.

I'll be like, "sooo... I'm thinking lunch at Sci-Fi and then a late dinner at 50's Prime Time, after we see the Osborne Lights, but we'll probably take a break during the day, and.."

And they'll pretend to understand what I just said, and kind of smile and nod, and say "whatever you think is best".

Nah, but really, they're great.

I really should give my dad some credit because, as I think I've mentioned before, my dad gets motion sick super easily, while my mom and I can and will ride anything and seek out thrill rides. So he doesn't love going to the parks. Most of the time, he'll find a bench near the exit and read a book. He's pretty patient, but I feel bad.

Where: Beach Club. I've never stayed there before, and to be honest, it wasn't my first choice, but you know, I'm pretty excited now. Most the reviews I've read have been positive, and it looks nice in the pictures I've seen.

The Itinerary!

Friday the 9th (only five days from today!!) - Leave for Orlando! :D Ever since I saw the Book of Mormon (the musical) I'm always like, ORLANDO, ORLANDO, I LOVE YOU, ORLANDO! Because that pretty much sums up how I feel.

Unfortunately, that takes up most of the day since I live on the opposite coast. I leave around 8:30am PST and get there around 5:30pm EST. So I probably won't have any park time. However, I think this will be the night I FINALLY try Beaches and Cream. Seriously, for like the past four trips, I've been all "I really want to eat Beaches and Cream! Let's go there!", but I never end up making it since it's always out of the way. But! Since I'm staying at the Beach Club, I think this my chance!

And I should mention that it'll just be my dad and I on Friday and most of Saturday. My mom has prior engagements (that are more important that Disney, what?!), so she's flying in on Saturday.

Speaking of Saturday...

Saturday the 10th - Epcot Day!

Not entirely sure how we'll spend the morning since my dad won't go on Test Track, Soarin', or Mission:Space (aka most of my favorite rides at Epcot), but hey there's always Spaceship Earth and the Seas. I love the Seas. And I like Spaceship Earth, until we get to the end and I start thinking of how huge the Earth is and where we're going and what the future will be like, and to be honest, it makes me kind of anxious. Haha, yes, I know. I just don't like thinking about those sort of big issues when I'm at Disney World.

Anyway though.

We're having lunch at Chefs de France, which I'm excited about because, while I've never eaten there, any restaurant that has baked macaroni and cheese is totally okay with me. Wait, more than okay. Like, awesome.

And that night we're having dinner at Teppan Edo, which I've also never eaten at, but it was one of the few restaurants I could get reservations for with the Candlelight Processional dinner package. So yes, we're seeing the Candlelight Processional that night. Which I am excited about (I'm just excited about everything, aren't I?). Mainly because Neil Patrick Harris is narrating. Though I'm actually not familiar with anything he's done at all, except Dr. Horrible's Sing a Long Blog, and really, that's all I need to know. Oh! And he was in Rent too at some point. Yeah, that's really all I care about.

Sunday the 11th - Animal Kingdom/Epcot Day!

We'll start off the day at Animal Kingdom, which basically means I'll ride Expedition Everest over and over. And have lunch at Yak & Yeti. And that's really all I have planned, though I imagine we'll get other stuff in.

That night, we'll go back to Epcot for dinner at Le Cellier. I was stalking reservations for this for like two weeks before I was able to get one. And I was so thrilled, you have no idea. What I can I say, I just really, really love pretzel bread and cheddar cheese soup. Hopefully we'll be able to see Illuminations that night since I haven't been able to see that in a few years.

Monday the 12th - Disney's Hollywood Studios Day!

AKA The Day I Finally Get to See the Osborne Lights

I'm thinking we'll get there early, ride everything, have lunch at Sci-Fi Dine-In, and then maybe go back to the resort or Downtown Disney for a while, before coming back to see the Osborne Lights.

I am so excited about the Osborne Lights. It just looks so cool! Ever since I heard about them several years ago, I've wanted to see them, and now I will! I fully intend on taking waaay too many photos.

I also have a late dinner scheduled at 50's Prime Time, but I'm kind of debating whether or not to keep that because my dad and I like to eat early. We'll see.

Tuesday the 13th - Magic Kingdom Day!

I'm excited (yes, I am super excited about this trip) because we're going to Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party. (have you ever noticed how fun it is to say Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party?) I might try and get to the Grand Floridian to see the gingerbread house during the day.

I have lunch scheduled at Liberty Tree Tavern, mainly because I want to try the toffee cake.

Wednesday the 14th - The Day We Leave :(

But I still have a breakfast at Kona scheduled.

So yes, that about sums it up.

Until next time!

Eight

12-16-2011, 04:39 PM

Hello! I'm not back from my trip yet, though we left WDW two days ago. It was a great trip, with some minor upsets, but I think that's to be expected to a certain extent. I'm looking forward to sharing some pictures with you all I do get home, I'm thinking I'll try and finish up this TR really fast and do a TR for this December trip. As for the June trip, while I had thought I might do a TR for that, that's not going to happen, but I do plan on posting some of my favorite pictures and memories on here at some point.

Anyway.

Hope you're all doing well. :goodvibes

P.S. I just noticed this thread has over 5000 views. So I'm thinking that might mean I have a few lurkers out there, and I'd really love it if you said hello. I'm pretty nice, I promise. :)

Eight

12-23-2011, 12:10 AM

As you have probably figured out, I am back home, and ready to finish up this TR so I can get on to the next one!

Let's see, we had just spent the night in the town where our friend lives, and I insisted we get up early the next day to drive the three hours bcak, because I had a reservation that I absolutely had to make it to.

Le Cellier.

What? It has cheddar cheese soup, so, yes, very important.

I had never had the cheddar cheese soup before, but it sounded pretty amazing.

Okay, so we drove for three hours, dropped off our stuff back at the room, drove to Epcot, and went straight to Le Cellier.

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(okay, so maybe we didn't go straight to Le Cellier...)

Where we were met with a twenty minute wait. Which, now that I've been there two more times, is the longest I've had to wait. At least it was a nice day sunny day out, so I took some pictures of Canada.

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Finally we were seated, and I met the other amazing thing about Canada. Pretzel bread. Oh my gosh, I LOVE pretzel bread. Especially when you dip it in cheddar cheese soup. Oh man. So delicious.

So, after gorging myself on bread and soup, we decided to walk around the world, in a cheap attempt to work off the millions of calories I had probably consumed. I asked for seconds on the pretzel bread, okay?

You know those gates between Canada and England that look like they go backstage? Well, they were open and ton of characters were just wandering about with no lines. I had to get pictures.

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Stitch was very fond of dancing. He did jazz hands at one point, sadly, I have no pictures of that.

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Continued next post... (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=43525419&postcount=70)

Eight

12-23-2011, 12:11 AM

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British candy is the best. Their Kit Kat bars are like 100x times better.

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I wanted to meet Marie in France, but she wasn't out when we were there.

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We saw Aladdin and Jasmine, but the line was pretty long so we didn't stop.

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Continued next post... (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=43525422&postcount=71)

Eight

12-23-2011, 12:12 AM

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We also stopped to watch the candy maker in Japan for the first time. It was pretty amazing to watch her.

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I don't know, there's something about Italy, Germany, and the American Adventure that make me tired. I think it's because they're sort of, almost in the middle, and by then I'm always just tired of walking around. Or something. But it seems to happen like clockwork every time I go, get to Germany, Italy, and the good ol' US and get bored and tired. But then by the time I get to China or Japan, I'm fine. Yeah, I don't know either.

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Yes, I'm that weird person who takes pictures of bathroom tiles. But it's so pretty!

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Continued next post.... (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=43525426&postcount=72)

Eight

12-23-2011, 12:13 AM

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We also rode Maelstrom for the first time in forever (okay, like three years), and I decided it was quite possibly the weirdest ride in Disney World. And because of that I've grown to love it.

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I am in love with this building for reasons I cannot fully explain. I adore it.

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According to my notes, we then rode Mission:Space (orange side, of course!), and Spaceship Earth. But apparently nothing interesting happened on those because my notes say nothing further.

So, we went back to the hotel, rested a bit, changed for dinner, and drove the Contemporary for dinner at California Grill. I had heard they served goat cheese ravioli, and I had to try it.

It was very good, though it was one giant ravioli, so it was a little hard to eat. That, or I'm not good at eating nicely prepared food. Hm, maybe both.

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I had timed the dinner so we would be able to see the fireworks. We didn't have a table by the window, but I went outside to watch them.

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To be perfectly honest, it was cool, but a little disappointing. I was surprised at how far away they seemed. I guess I thought they would be closer. And it packed out on the little balcony, so it was just like watching it in the Magic Kingdom.

So while I'm glad I was able to see them from there, it's not something I need to do again soon.

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After dinner, we admired the Mary Blair murals, then went back, and went to bed early.

You know what this means? I only have one full day left after this which means, after nearly a year, I am almost done with this!!

And then on to the December TR.

Eight

04-04-2012, 07:20 PM

Hi. Sooo.... Yeah. My winter of school was the worst. Honestly, I feel kind of done with this TR, but I also feel like I owe it to you, that is if any of you are actually reading this, to finish. So I spent today sorting out the pictures I want to post, and I'll try and post them this weekend, no promises though. It'll probably be just pictures though with very little narrative.

I actually wrote most of this entry last January, but never got around to posting it. I thought I would share my pictures from the June trip. So enjoy. :)

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Unfortunately, when we arrived at Walt Disney World that day, it was pouring down rain! It was nasty weather. Thankfully, it really only rained twice more while we were there. And thankfully, we had both brought raincoats! No silly ponchos for us. It rained the next day when we were driving to see Hair, and we got completely soaked walking to the theater (even with our raincoats!), which was only a short distance away from where we parked. It also rained when we were traveling around the World Showcase, which was kind of fun because it felt deserted.

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Our lovely room at the Polynesian. It was a big room! I was so glad we had two sinks.

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The "yay, I just arrived in Disney Word, and look awful from getting up at 5 in the morning and then spending six hours on a plane, but I don't even care because I'm here!!" photo.

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The view from our room.

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We went to Captain Cook's for dinner. It wasn't raining at that point, but the pool was still closed.

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A cool light in the lobby.

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The next morning, I insisted we get to the Magic Kingdom in time to see the opening show because I had never seen it before. I loved it! I may have cried a little bit from happiness.

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I love how the castle doesn't even look real, more like a backdrop.

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We went over to Tomorrowland to ride our first ride. Space Mountain, obviously. It was pretty empty. We also had our first character encounter with my favorite, Stitch.

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My friend demonstrating the honey wall at the Pooh ride.

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Even Fantasyland was pretty empty! Granted, we had gotten to the park at opening, but according to data on the photograph, this was taken at about 9 (the park had opened at 8). So I think that's pretty good for June. I think. I don't really know, since this was the first time I've gone in June. We got a ton of rides done in that first hour and a half. Pretty much every major attraction, except Splash Mountain since we didn't want to get wet, plus some of the Fantasyland dark rides. It was awesome!

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We also went to the Swiss Family Treehouse.

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And we saw the Trolley show.

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By coincidence, Shag was doing a signing at the Magic Kingdom that day. There was no line to see him, and I really dig his style, so I bought a set of postcards and had him sign one. And got a picture, obviously.

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It seemed like whenever we were on Main Street, this parade was always running. By the end of the trip, we pretty much had the moves done.

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Obligatory "thumbs up on the TTA!" picture.

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I was very excited to see a whole wall of Stitch!

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Obligatory funky angle of the castle picture.

Eight

04-04-2012, 07:22 PM

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The next day we went to Epcot, and spent an absurd amount of time photographing fish. And we were cracking up because like every time a little kid would come up to this tank, they would exclaim, "LOOK! BABY NEMO!". It was like clockwork.

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I have no clue where these lights are, but they're cool, yeah?

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I'm not usually the type of person who takes food photos, but my dessert at Le Cellier was just too cute.

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We found this tile while looking for my family's one. It makes me laugh for two reasons. One, I mean, come on, these people paid to let the world know of their love for Mick Jagger. And that's kind of awesome, in a slightly odd way. And two, so as I mentioned before, we didn't go on this trip just to go to Walt Disney World. We were also seeing the touring production of Hair. And in Hair, one of the characters, Woof, is infatuated with Mick Jagger. So I thought it was a funny coincidence. I don't know, maybe you had to have been there.

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Obligatory jumping photo.

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Frequently I get attacked by inanimate objects. It's a serious problem. Seriously.

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Lunch at 50's Prime Time Cafe.

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And then one afternoon, we kind of just hung out for a while at the resort. And it was really, really nice.

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Glittery sharks are a thing.

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Going to Hair on Sunday. See, I can look nice occasionally.

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If you read my TR, then you know why this photo is included.

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On Kilimanjaro Safaris, we got stopped for a while by the baby elephant. It was super cute!

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My friend spent about 15 minutes getting her camera set up just right to film the fireworks. When the fireworks started, she realized she was out of battery. I may or may not have laughed at her.

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Eight

04-26-2012, 12:35 PM

So, before I finish posting the final photos from this trip, I wanted to share the ones from the other trips I had taken while this TR was in progress.

Here we have the solo trip I took to Disneyland at the very of September, beginning of October last year.

I stayed at the Disneyland Hotel in their recently refurbished rooms. I thought they were really nice!

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The headboards light up.

I was only there for one day, so I was determined to make the most of it. I got to the park at 7, I think.

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I only rode like three rides that day. I remember riding Space Mountain Ghost Galaxy twice, and something else that I'm not recalling. It was pretty crowded. I also didn't take a lot of pictures.

The one thing I really wanted to do was to get a picture with Jack Skellington which I was able to do the next day before I left.

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It was an incredibly short, but fun trip.

Up Next: Halloween Disneyland Day Trip + March 2012 Disneyland Day Trip + (maybe) December 2011 WDW Trip

Purpleblanket

04-26-2012, 04:05 PM

Great pictures!!!
Thanks for sharing!:thumbsup2
Debbie

Eight

04-27-2012, 12:32 PM

Great pictures!!!
Thanks for sharing!:thumbsup2
Debbie

Thank you!! And thank you for commenting! I'm glad to know there are still people reading! :goodvibes

Eight

04-27-2012, 05:42 PM

Next up is the quick one day trip to Disneyland for Halloween.

I had had this trip all planned out in my head since like May of 2011, when I learned about a show going on San Diego that I wanted to see. Or maybe that was when they released the dates for Mickey's Halloween Party. Either way, it was sometime around May that I realized there was some stuff going on in California in October that I wanted to go to. And it just so happened that the dates were all aligned perfectly so that I could go to Mickey's Halloween Party on Friday, drive down to San Diego the next morning, see the show, and fly out Sunday night. Perfect.

As with so many of my Disney trips, my mom decided to come along.

So we flew to Anaheim Friday afternoon, I changed in to my costume super quick, and we headed to the park. My mom chose not to wear a costume, I don't remember why.

Can you guess who I was?

http://i1016.photobucket.com/albums/af283/eights/Halloween2011/29964610000.jpg

If you guessed Naveen from the beginning of the Princess and the Frog, then you would be correct. :)

Anyway, we go to the park before the party started, so we could watch Soundsational, aka, pretty much the best Disney parade. Ever.

Okay, so that may be a slight over exaggeration, but I really, really love it. The costumes and the music are super fun!

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You can't tell me that's not fun. You just can't.

Also, there was the cutest little kid next to me dressed as Captain EO. He was probably like 2 or 3, and so adorable. He got a lot of attention from the parade performers, Chip even attempted to moon walk for him.

After the parade, I think we did something over in Tomorrowland, but I have no clue what. I think that may have been when we were checking how long the line for Space Mountain was, but alas, it was down. Thankfully I had been able to ride Space Mountain Ghost Galaxy during the trip I had taken three weeks prior.

And then! I had my first ever DIS meet with Lauren (magichusky)! I was so excited, but also kind of nervous, to be perfectly honest. However, I shouldn't have worried, because Lauren is an incredibly nice person. It was so great being able to meet her! :goodvibes And you should go read her TR now (http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2626556), but wait until you're done with this, alright? ;)

There was one thing I really wanted to do at the party, so our next stop was the villain meet and greet.

Jafar asked me where my banjo was and was quite displeased when I said I didn't have it!

http://i1016.photobucket.com/albums/af283/eights/Halloween2011/IMG_2635.jpg

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And then....

I got to meet Dr. Facilier!

Except.

Well, it was a little disappointing because he didn't recognize my costume at all. I was hoping he would. I realize it's not as obvious as Naveen's prince outfit, but yeah, I was disappointed.

But I was still able to get a good picture.

http://i1016.photobucket.com/albums/af283/eights/Halloween2011/IMG_2641.jpg

I'm not really sure what we did after that. I think we wandered around a bit and got candy.

I also wanted to see the special Halloween fireworks. I had seen them two years earlier, but that night it had been windy, so Zero (from Nightmare Before Christmas) didn't fly.

So we staked out a spot pretty close to the castle, and waited. And waited.

Actually, it was probably only like 30 minutes, but it felt like a long time.

http://i1016.photobucket.com/albums/af283/eights/Halloween2011/IMG_2654.jpg

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Zero! He flew! I was so excited.

And I have no clue what we did after that and before we left. I'm pretty sure we rode Star Tours and got some more candy, but my memory is totally failing.

http://i1016.photobucket.com/albums/af283/eights/Halloween2011/IMG_2689.jpg

It was definitely fun, and there were some great costumes. I was impressed by the people who were dressed up as floats from the Main Street Electrical Parade. They looked like they must have been awkward to move around in, but they were pretty awesome.

Eight

04-28-2012, 06:00 PM

Aah, we've come to the last of the installments of other trips that I keep posting to delay the final post of the actual trip report.

I was in Los Angeles in March for spring break, so naturally, I took a quick trip to Disneyland. I was only there for a day, but I was able to meet with Lauren (magichusky) again!

http://i1016.photobucket.com/albums/af283/eights/DisneylandMarch2012/IMG_3386.jpg

Sully and I decided to wear matching outfits that day.

Not really.

And here some random Hipstamatic photos I took. Enjoy!

http://i1016.photobucket.com/albums/af283/eights/DisneylandMarch2012/IMG_2063-2.jpg

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Eight

04-29-2012, 06:56 PM

So.

This is it.

The final, not-so-epic conclusion to this TR. It only took a year and a quarter or so.

I know I haven't been the best about updating regularly, but I sincerely hope that if you're out there reading this, you've enjoyed it.

I know I have.

And thank you to those of you who have taken time to comment, because I truly appreciate it. You have no idea how excited I would get when I saw people had posted. Makes my day, seriously.

Alright, let's wrap this up!

On our last full day in Disney, we headed to the Magic Kingdom for breakfast at Cinderella's Royal Table. I had never eaten there before, and even though I'm not the biggest fan of princesses, I really, really wanted to eat in the castle.

Well, that, and I really wanted see what the park looked like before it opened and there were a thousand people rushing in.

But hey, as far as I'm concerned, those reasons are more than good enough.

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We parked, took the monorail, and I got my first look at an almost empty Magic Kingdom.

http://i1016.photobucket.com/albums/af283/eights/WDWTR20/IMG_1494-3.jpg

It did not disappoint.

We took our time going up Main Street, stopping take some photographs.

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I was pretty psyched to get a picture without anyone in the background!

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The castle looked gorgeous in the morning light.

http://i1016.photobucket.com/albums/af283/eights/WDWTR20/IMG_1504.jpg

They were always my favorite when I was a kid.

I got my picture with Cinderella, and we headed upstairs to eat and meet some princesses.

We were seated at a table by a window, but we couldn't see out because the curtains were closed When our server saw me trying to move the curtain to look out, she told us that the windows were fake, and you couldn't see out. Which was kind of weird, because I've definitely seen pictures where you could see out the windows, so I have no clue what that was about.

I'm going to refrain from posting the pictures with me and the princesses, as I look a little awkward in all of them, so have some pictures of other people eating!

http://i1016.photobucket.com/albums/af283/eights/WDWTR20/IMG_1520.jpg

http://i1016.photobucket.com/albums/af283/eights/WDWTR20/IMG_1521.jpg

I can't seem to find a menu, so I'm not sure exactly what I had, but I think it was like french toast? Whatever it was, I loved it!

After we left, we could see people starting to come in to the park for the day.

http://i1016.photobucket.com/albums/af283/eights/WDWTR20/IMG_1530.jpg

We wanted to get a few rides in before the lines got too long, so it was off to the wildest ride in the wilderness!

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Clearly, I was feeling a bit apprehensive about riding the wildest ride in the wilderness. I mean, it is the wildest!

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We did not ride Splash Mountain, but I really like this picture of it.

http://i1016.photobucket.com/albums/af283/eights/WDWTR20/IMG_1557.jpg

I wanted to meet Tiana and Naveen, since Naveen is no longer out at Disneyland.

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We got there, and we were the first in line! This was when I turned to my mom, and said, "isn't twenty-one a little old for this?". So there you have, that's where this TR got it's name.

I wasn't serious, of course, as you may have learned by now, I have no problems taking pictures with characters, but I did feel a little silly being the first in line for the day.

I had a very nice little chat with them. I told them I really liked Tiana's Showboat Jubilee, so Naveen suggested we take a picture with jazz hands.

http://i1016.photobucket.com/albums/af283/eights/WDWTR20/IMG_1574.jpg

My pictures suggest we went to Space Mountain after that, where I was very excited to be in charge of one of those red cards they use to see how long the line is.

http://i1016.photobucket.com/albums/af283/eights/WDWTR20/IMG_1580.jpg

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No trip to Tomorrowland is complete without a trip on the TTA, so I insisted on riding that.

http://i1016.photobucket.com/albums/af283/eights/WDWTR20/IMG_1606.jpg

On our way over to Splash Mountain, we were distracted by a parade!

http://i1016.photobucket.com/albums/af283/eights/WDWTR20/IMG_1614.jpg

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Eight

04-29-2012, 06:56 PM

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We did get stuck for a while by Brer Rabbit at the very end. It seemed like a long time, but it was probably only five minutes or so.

Since we had done pretty much everything we had wanted to do at the Magic Kingdom, it only made sense to go over to my other favorite kingdom!

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We took a leisurely boat ride over to our car.

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These guys greeted us upon our arrival to Animal Kingdom.

I don't have my notes with me, sadly, so I'm not entirely sure what we did, but I'm guessing we may have rode Expedition Everest or at least got fast passes for it.

http://i1016.photobucket.com/albums/af283/eights/WDWTR20/IMG_1650.jpg

And of course, I had to take more pictures of the details.

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We decided to see the Festival of the Lion King, which, to be perfectly honest, is not my favorite, but since we were there, and had already seen Finding Nemo, why not?

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Since Animal Kingdom closed at 5, and there was still time left in the day, we had to head to another park!

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This guy saw us out. Pretty sure he was posing for us here.

I have no idea what we did at Epcot besides get dinner and go to the Seas since I really didn't take any pictures, and you know, the whole not having notes thing.

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It's possible we did something super exciting, but... Probably not. It was the end of our trip, I was pretty exhausted, so it's more than likely that we went back to the resort to pack.

Which brings me to our final morning. We had a few hours to kill in the morning before we left, and my mom wanted to take one more spin on Toy Story Midway Mania. Probably so she could have the pleasure of beating me, because she knows I'm awful at it. ;)

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We got our Fast Passes, and while we waited to use them, we rode Tower of Terror.

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And wandered around a bit.

I don't know which came first, lunch or TSMM, but I can tell you that we had lunch at Sci-Fi Dine In for the first time and my mom beat me at TSMM.

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Shortly after lunch, it was time to take the disappointing ride back to the airport.

And that was that.

Purpleblanket

04-30-2012, 07:01 AM

Eight

05-01-2012, 12:19 PM

Ha.. your're just like me!! I'm still finishing up my TR from a year ago as well!!! :rotfl2: I hope its still there when I go to look for for it!!

I loved Splash Mountain. I think it was my favorite ride. I was hesitant to go on because I didn't want to get wet but it was worth it in the end!!

We also had dinner at Cinderella's castle!! Loved it! but DS was sick so we asked to be seated as close to bathroom as possible and he spent the dinner with his head on the table. He's 18 and didn't get to have any pictures with the pretty
princesses!! (or get to be in our photo with Cinderella) I have the exact same photo of gus gus and jaq as well!! I love them!!

I enjoyed all your photos!! Good Job :thumbsup2

Debbie.
You can go see if you can find my trip report "Lace up your sneakers if you think you can keep up"! (hopefully, it's still there!!)

Yeah, I figured I had some sort of obligation to finish this, despite being well over a year old, and I'm glad I did. :)

Splash Mountain was my absolute favorite ride as a kid, and I'd make my parents go on it over and over, but I only ride once a trip, if that, now. I really don't like getting soaked! Now my mom and I sometimes pack raincoats, and we look ridiculous, but we stay dry. It's such a fun, cute ride, and I still like it, just not the getting wet part.

I'm sorry to hear your son was sick. :( Being sick at Disney is the worst!

I'll have to go see if I can find your TR now! Thank you for reading! :goodvibes