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

[kwitcherkicken99]

Oy! 15 posts to go to make it to 8K...

 

[kwitcherkicken99]

Please join me...

May the Force be with who?

 

[PrincessInOz]

Please join me...

May the Force be with who?

 

[LegoMom3]

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”!

WHAT????!!!!!!




Ok seriously between the "new" Fastpass system, Avitarland (blech), and ever-increasing ticket prices, you may have just killed the last little atom of Disney love for me.....Never mind that I hate, hate, HATE the Judy Dench version of the narration.

R.I.P. Spaceship Earth......yeah verily we barely knew thee.


.

 

[DISNEYaddict4evr]

I have to say, we had the best Safaris ever that day, SOOOOO many animals close to the ride vehicle

oh and...



YEAH FOR STAR WARS WEEKENDS!!!!!!!!!!!




Can I expect my invitation in the mail soon

 

[kwitcherkicken99]

WHAT????!!!!!!

It wasn't on last May either....

I promised DS that we would ride “the golf ball” after seeing Beast, so off we set for FW. I will have to say, I was really bummed out that Rome was no longer burning on our trip. I sniffed and sniffed but the smell was gone. It cracks me up as I review the pictures from the trip. DS tells everyone this is our future.

Ok seriously between the "new" Fastpass system, Avitarland (blech), and ever-increasing ticket prices, you may have just killed the last little atom of Disney love for me.....Never mind that I hate, hate, HATE the Judy Dench version of the narration.

R.I.P. Spaceship Earth......yeah verily we barely knew thee.


.

I tried my best to make my opinion known about Avatar... my mouth to Disney Institute's ears!

The ticket increases kill me as well. In 1998, we got 6 day park hoppers for dirt cheap. Now we need a second mortgage.

 

[kwitcherkicken99]

I have to say, we had the best Safaris ever that day, SOOOOO many animals close to the ride vehicle

oh and...

It was the best safari I've ever been on by far. I'd never seen the lions from a decent distance and ever other time I've ridden the giraffes were way in the back.

I did miss the hippos this time though...

YEAH FOR STAR WARS WEEKENDS!!!!!!!!!!!




Can I expect my invitation in the mail soon

Um... it's in the mail? Besides, you get to go back to DLR and I don't! I think that makes us even!

 

[momabaarjo]

Luvin the new ticker...

 

[kwitcherkicken99]

Thanks!

I'm still pinching myself that it's almost real. I had completely resigned myself to waiting until late 2014.

 

[kwitcherkicken99]

Our next stop was a trip out to Rafiki’s Planet Watch.

I like this area a lot, I like what it’s about, but I can say that it’s not a priority for me. The train ride cracks me up since you can only look out one direction to hide the backstage area. Once back there, the pathway had a few CMs talking about the mini pit stops along the way but we didn’t stop. It was a bit chilly (and I needed the bathroom!) so we went straight for the building.

We got to see one of the veterinary procedures that morning as well. One of the animals ingested something small and hard and the vets had to get it out. We saw the end of the procedure and everyone cheered when the removal was successful.

We toured the building a little longer and E and I stopped to meet up with Rafiki.

E and I lost MB at this point. We walked around a bit and figured she may have been in one of the little booths. E and I popped in the booth to see what it was all about. To our surprise, it was super relaxing even if the message was a bit harsh. True, but harsh. The only grating part was the chainsaws, but it was easy to get over. It’s a great little place to get a moment just to yourself!

Shortly after we climbed out of the booth, so did MB! We headed back to town after E unsuccessfully tried to hunt down a frozen banana.

It was getting close to lunch and I already knew what I wanted to eat. Due to E’s diet restrictions, Flame Tree was her best choice but I couldn’t eat there due to the high amount of black pepper that is used in barbeque and the fact most of the meat is cooked low and slow – and covered in pepper. My target was Restaurantosaurus so we headed off to Dinoland.

As we headed out of Africa, we passed Devine.

After we got to Dinoland, we stopped by the Dino Institute and rode Dinosaur. I ran over to Restaurantosaurus to get my shrimp po boy and the girls headed towards Flame Tree for their lunch. I had a bit of an adult meltdown when I got to the restaurant, I’ll admit. I was tired. I was hungry. And I had to wait. And wait… and wait on several super slow lines. They finally brought someone else out to open up another queue and I slipped over. The CM took the people that just walked in the door on the other side of the register. I couldn’t believe it! Then the gal gave me a bit of a hard time about my order and finally it was being fixed. I proceeded onto the back counter and the gal handing out the food noticed I was a bit tense. Trying to break the ice (because my order was taking forever) she asked how my day was going. I told her it was going good, but I wanted my sandwich! I realized I snapped at her and immediately fixed my tone. It wasn’t her fault afterall. I told her that I’d been waiting for that sandwich since we booked. Partially because it’s the only meal on property that I can have without it being specially made and partially because it’s

“A good sandwich! I know… it’s my favorite, too” she responded. “I hear that a lot.”

I finally got my tray and headed towards Discovery Island to find E and MB. They were tucked behind Flame Tree on the terrace. It was another nice quiet spot. We saw Russell and Dug from Up from our seats. We ate and headed over to the line, hoping to catch both characters. Shortly before we were up, Russell had to go to a “scout” meeting and was off for the next hour or so. We met Dug anyway, just to make sure we saw one of them. Dug was overwhelmed with my pen – he played with it a lot – like it was a stick. He also took E’s water bottle and “buried” it near his wagon of stuff. He liked our Grape Soda pins, too. We snapped our pictures and went on our way.

 

[kwitcherkicken99]

Hey, I just realized the dang monkey isn't looking at the camera!

 

[DISNEYaddict4evr]

Hey, I just realized the dang monkey isn't looking at the camera!

Well shoot... that just ruined my whole day, let alone all of our vacation photos. We have to go back now and fix it

 

[usnuzuloose]

Sandwich sounds good, I get irritated when I wait to long to eat. Star wars weekend sounds like alot of fun!

 

[annmarieda]

First, congrats on hitting 8k!!! Thats a whoooole lotta posting m'dear.

Second, looks like you had a good time at AK...even if you did end up waiting for your sandwich. I know if it were me... I would also have been a bit frustrated just at the fact that the rest of my group was not with me... which to me would raise thoughts like "was their line short?" "maybe they got their food already and are done" or "maybe they are going to have to wait on me" I would have been tense too.

 

[PrincessInOz]

I get all feral and snarly when I don't get food in time. Sorry you had a long wait for the sandwich.

 

[kwitcherkicken99]

Well shoot... that just ruined my whole day, let alone all of our vacation photos. We have to go back now and fix it

I whole-heartedly concur.

You have to convince DH.

First, congrats on hitting 8k!!! Thats a whoooole lotta posting m'dear.

So whatterya sayin'? That I got a big mouth???

Second, looks like you had a good time at AK...even if you did end up waiting for your sandwich. I know if it were me... I would also have been a bit frustrated just at the fact that the rest of my group was not with me... which to me would raise thoughts like "was their line short?" "maybe they got their food already and are done" or "maybe they are going to have to wait on me" I would have been tense too.

I didn't mind. I told E early on that I didn't care if they came with me or not, I was getting my sandwich! I'd meet up with her somewhere else. I had to get my po'boy!

 

[kwitcherkicken99]

Sandwich sounds good, I get irritated when I wait to long to eat. Star wars weekend sounds like alot of fun!

I was so angry. The CM looked and me and then waived others on.

Of course the people in FRONT OF ME couldn't A) figure out what they wanted BEFORE they got in line and B) didn't know how to use their KTTW card to pay for it...

I get all feral and snarly when I don't get food in time.

That should be a TAG!!!!

I had an ongoing dialogue with my 5th graders that I there were several days I didn't get lunch because of them. They finally got to the point of saying, "We know! We know! You get crabby when you don't eat!"

 

[kwitcherkicken99]

We decided we’d head over to FOTLK since E and I missed it on our last trip together. Off to Camp Minnie-Mickey and the first major unpleasantness of the trip. I understand that smokers have the right to have somewhere to go, but there is NO REASON, whatsoever that they put one of the FEW designated smoking areas on the skinny path to CM-M, especially since the area is geared towards kids with the character trails. It was awful to walk through all the smoke and almost made us want to turn around. I’ve never had an experience so awful that it warranted a letter to the company.

We got past the cloud and over the bridge to find the dragon waterfall. As we turned into CM-M we saw Pocohontas and Meeko. We chatted with the family in front of us and swapped character hunting tips. I even gave the eldest daughter a pin. I can’t exactly remember which pin it was, but it was one that she liked. It was fun to chat with someone as interested in character hunting as me.

We checked on the start time (and queue) for FOTLK and realized we had some time to use up. E and I ran over to meet Santa Goofy while MB found a bench to rest.

After seeing Goofy, Thumper popped out on the path across all the character greeting trails. E wasn’t too keen on meeting Thumper so I went solo.

Thumper was a character I’d never seen in person, so it was another notch in my “first-time” headboard.

We met up at MB’s bench where she was chatting with a lovely couple, we made a potty stop, then got in the queue for FOTLK. I have never seen the show here, but have seen the Broadway version of the Lion King twice. I was hopeful that it’d live up to what I had seen previously. The Broadway show is just so… so… AWESOME that nothing else compares to it.

To my pleasure, the show was greatly different. The AA characters of Pumbaa and Simba were interesting to see. I can’t imagine seeing them in a parade, but they fit well inside the theater here.

Silly acrobatic monkeys!

The ensemble

Remember a few posts ago, me saying that I thought I saw someone who could be Cousin Jed from WCC?? Look to the right of the photo I just posted. Here’s a closer view:

For comparison:

Am I crazy?

 

[momabaarjo]

No...not crazy I see it too!

I love all your character greets...Camp M&M was so busy the day we were there that I just forgo any attempts for meets and greets...and headed directly in and out for FOTL!

 

[annmarieda]

So whatterya sayin'? That I got a big mouth???

And... ya know... I do kinda see it. Are they the same cm? Playing different roles? ..hmmm