This elevator leads directly to THE GIFT SHOP! A Dec. 2011 TR from BWI - FINAL 8-27

[PrincessInOz]

Remind me never to go behind the scenes or in a utilidor with you.

 

[momabaarjo]

I don't like the idea of Avatarland either...poor CM!

 

[DISNEYaddict4evr]

Um... you will get your next fix before ME...

I know...

I'm sorry. I can still need it though and it won't be the same without you now. I mean my last 2 trips have involved you. What if I don't enjoy it without you there

 

[kwitcherkicken99]

Remind me never to go behind the scenes or in a utilidor with you.

I don't like the idea of Avatarland either...poor CM!

I couldn't help it!

It just came out!

 

[kwitcherkicken99]

I know...

I'm sorry. I can still need it though and it won't be the same without you now. I mean my last 2 trips have involved you. What if I don't enjoy it without you there

You'll survive!

You've got Adam with you. Time to make NEW Disney memories!

 

[kwitcherkicken99]

We had one more stop to make before the end of our day. We were off to central shops – the place where they make EVERYTHING!

We saw attraction pieces in various states of being fixed. New baby elephants for JC, TTA ride vehicles out for a paint job, etc. We got to see the bird that Walt bought Lilly that also inspired him to build AAs. They also had one of the first AAs the company ever made out on display. They also took us into the paint shop where they were working on painting one of the horses for the Regal Carousel and also the mountains of books that housed every color that has been patented for the parks.

I think this was my second favorite stop on the trip. Right behind costuming, but above the AK stop.

We were done for the day and I was sore. We did a WHOLE LOT of standing, not much walking. We’d been walking for days now and the sudden stop made my joints ache.

They drove us back to EP and gave us all a Backstage Magic pin that matched our lanyard. Stu did comment that he had a treat for us that **ahem** a few of us would be really excited about. We also got a bit of candy.

Our day wasn’t over yet. We had dinner plans for Teppan Edo. We said goodbye to our group and headed into the park towards Japan.

I guess E and MB and I split for a minute because I stopped for this shot:

It’s one of my favorites of me from the trip. I love the shot with the Eiffel Tower in the background, even if it is pretty obscured due to the setting sun. This shot is only available in the later afternoon and evening and it’s set up on the bridge between the UK and France, technically over the water that Disney refers to as the English Channel.

This was my second most anticipate meal of the trip. I’ve had Japanese before, but it has been SO LONG!

We checked in to Teppan Edo, got our pager, then roamed the Mitsukoshi Department Store below the restaurant. I didn’t realize it went as far back as it did. We got to see a lot of people picking pearls and trying on sandals. Our pager went off and we climbed the long set of stairs into the restaurant.

We met up with our second group of the day, the folks we’d be dining with. We got situated at our table and a gal came by to get our drink order. Then out came the manager to take care of our allergy concerns.

The first couple had an allergy, two of us had an allergy, the next couple had an allergy, but the last couple didn’t. Weirdos! We then named ourselves the allergy table and dinner was set to go. Our chef was great and he put on a good show. He made one of the best onion volcanoes

I’ve ever seen. He did the gluten free meals first, then made mine with the lady with the nut allergy. After he started our stuff, he did the rest of the table with ours. What I realized was that he didn’t put pepper on ANY of the meals. MB noticed too. The food was full of flavor and didn’t need the extra seasoning.

After dinner, MB was exhausted and chose to go back home. E and I walked around and rode a couple rides and traded pins to finish out the night.

We stopped back by the tree set up in the American pavilion

Stopped by the character spot - which I normally don’t like to stop at – it takes too long. And guess what? It didn’t disappoint. We did learn that we don’t have to stop at each character, you can actually skip characters. So we stopped for Mickey and then proceeded on to Donald.

We managed to make it up to SE for a spin. I love this ride but have been bummed to find out that the Rome burning scent has been shut off. It was one of my favorite Disney smells, behind the smell of ALL of the water rides. Nothing else says “I’m at Disney”!

I love being able to pick our own future!

We went up front for our last nighttime opportunity for a shot of SE illuminated

then we went home and CRASHED!

 

[catherines_mama]

Love going through your TR. The backstage tour sounds like a lot of fun!

Thank you for sharing!

 

[annmarieda]

Oh! That tour sounds amazing! I think it would definitely be something to put on my "big" anniversary trip with dh. (assuming we go in a couple years) I think he would enjoy it too... more of an adult thing.

BTW, your pictures without the tripod are soooo much better than anything I have EVER taken.

 

[kwitcherkicken99]

Love going through your TR. The backstage tour sounds like a lot of fun!

Thank you for sharing!

Thanks and !

The Backstage Magic Tour was neat (Central Shops, costuming, backstage at AK) however I was wholly planning on walking a lot more. I felt we stood around a lot and that was disappointing to me.

I'm grateful for doing it. I think I'd like to try the KTTK tour next.

 

[kwitcherkicken99]

Oh! That tour sounds amazing! I think it would definitely be something to put on my "big" anniversary trip with dh. (assuming we go in a couple years) I think he would enjoy it too... more of an adult thing.

BTW, your pictures without the tripod are soooo much better than anything I have EVER taken.

I'd maybe consider Keys to the Kingdom or the safari tour. I'm glad I did it but really wished we could've seen a bit more.

Thanks about the pictures. I know I'm overly picky. There are a lot of things I'd like to do different, but I'm pleased with what I got!

 

[kwitcherkicken99]

Sorry about the post-by-post posting. I'm trying to get over 8,000 and turn this blasted page!

I'm settling in my chair to work on wedding photos for a friend.

I agreed in principle to shooting a wedding in September, which will be a good chunk of change to put towards our "possible" May 2013 trip.

 

[usnuzuloose]

Yes, your back stage tour sounds... like you had a good time....

 

[kwitcherkicken99]

Yes, your back stage tour sounds... like you had a good time....

I did enjoy it, however I think I was expecting a bit more bang for my buck. We did do a lot of standing and the first stop at DHS was desperately underwhelming.

 

[kwitcherkicken99]

Today we were off to the park I think is the best themed on property.

We got through bag check and through the gates pretty quickly. IIRC, we missed RD by about 20 minutes.

First order of business was to secure Expedition Everest FP for later in the day. The park was really quiet this morning, so our return window was about 60 minutes away. That meant it wouldn’t take too long for another pass to open up (boy I’m going to miss these good ole days on our next trip…)

E and I took off for Asia with the intention of meeting up with MB over in Harambe (my favorite spot in all of WDW). MB waits for us patiently in the many shops in Africa. As E and I cross back across the park we notice King Louie and Baloo and it appeared that no one was back there so… we took a bit of a detour.

E had something going for her that day because King Louie was a smitten kitten with her. He put every move in the Jungle Book on her.

We got our group shot

and E had to fight for her freedom from his monkey grasp. Eventually she was freed. Whew!

We made our way to Africa and into the village.

Once in the main area, I was already desperately behind E when I was greeted by this gentleman. He transitioned from the song he was playing into “Happy Birthday” and then I hear E holler. I stopped to take his picture and I hollered back that he was singing to me and I didn’t want to be rude! He laughed at my predicament and carried on with his journey around the courtyard.

While MB was showing E something things in a nearby shop, I filled my time taking some shots of the area. This one is my favorite.

Just recently (and completely off topic) we found out that DS’s teacher used to work at AK in the shop just across from the safari, Mombasa Marketplace!

The line for safari was decent so we went through standby in order wait out the remaining minutes until our next pass was available.

After the safari, to which we saw a lot of animals (maybe they were right about riding first thing in the morning…) I ran over to the FP distribution area to grab FP for later and when I got back there I just stood there… waiting for the time to open up. There was a CM putting out a bunch of FP to up the time (I assume) and asked what I was waiting for. I told him I still had a couple of minutes before I could get another round of passes. He asked how many I needed and gave me three passes as a birthday gift. I thanked him and we set on our way.

 

[PrincessInOz]

AWW. King Louie! I love DAK simply because of the characters you get to meet and greet there.

And what a lovely amount of that CM gave you with the FP.

 

[catherines_mama]

Thanks and !

The Backstage Magic Tour was neat (Central Shops, costuming, backstage at AK) however I was wholly planning on walking a lot more. I felt we stood around a lot and that was disappointing to me.

I'm grateful for doing it. I think I'd like to try the KTTK tour next.

I did KTTK about 5 yrs ago and it was wonderful! I loved it and want to take DH on it when we take our next (kid free) trip (April 2014 i THINK).

You do walk a lot more and learn the detail, its all MK where you got to see a lot more outside MK. I would like to hear your comparison once you get to do it.

 

[kwitcherkicken99]

AWW. King Louie! I love DAK simply because of the characters you get to meet and greet there.

And what a lovely amount of that CM gave you with the FP.

Yeah, he was great!

I was the ONLY person over at the FP machines. And I just stood there, waiting.

For the most part, the CMs at AK are great. I have a few words for those in Guest Services but that's a different thread for a different day. And evidently I'm not the only person who doesn't have very many kind words for them there. (see my Mome Rath TR... for details).

I love the opportunities for characters at AK as well. However those opportunities are shrinking since they've pulled Jiminy and are supposed to be pulling Pocohontas. Heck, she was supposed to be gone by this trip but was there. The family in front of us (strange, but genuine) knew that too.

The only character I've never found there is Miss Bunny. It had been Thumper AND Miss Bunny, but you'll see soon that I saw him.

 

[kwitcherkicken99]

I did KTTK about 5 yrs ago and it was wonderful! I loved it and want to take DH on it when we take our next (kid free) trip (April 2014 i THINK).

You do walk a lot more and learn the detail, its all MK where you got to see a lot more outside MK. I would like to hear your comparison once you get to do it.

I don't think I'll be able to pull it off for our next trip.

I'd need MIL to come with us (I don't think DH would be willing to put them in the kid's clubs at WDW) and I doubt she'd want to take the kids into the park on her own even though my kids could show her around MK like it was our hometown.

IDK. I may seriously look into it as it's one of the two tours I really want to do. I'd love to do the Backstage Safari tour, but I think that one will have to wait until DH and I go without kids.

If that ever happens...

 

[mom2rtk]

Yeah, he was great!

I was the ONLY person over at the FP machines. And I just stood there, waiting.

For the most part, the CMs at AK are great. I have a few words for those in Guest Services but that's a different thread for a different day. And evidently I'm not the only person who doesn't have very many kind words for them there. (see my Mome Rath TR... for details).

I love the opportunities for characters at AK as well. However those opportunities are shrinking since they've pulled Jiminy and are supposed to be pulling Pocohontas. Heck, she was supposed to be gone by this trip but was there. The family in front of us (strange, but genuine) knew that too.

The only character I've never found there is Miss Bunny. It had been Thumper AND Miss Bunny, but you'll see soon that I saw him.

I only heard they were pulling Pocahontas at RPW, but that she was going to remain at CMM. I think I read somewhere the Up characters were coming back too.

 

[kwitcherkicken99]

I only heard they were pulling Pocahontas at RPW, but that she was going to remain at CMM. I think I read somewhere the Up characters were coming back too.

That makes sense.

The way I read it before our trip was the she was completely done at AK and being replaced by Stitch's girlfriend.

That'd be great if Carl, Russell, and Dug became permanent. DD LOVES Up and would go nuts to see them.

I felt pretty guilty for getting to meet them without her.