October 2012 - Spooky, Wild, Exotic and a lot of food!

[wiigirl]

Loving your TR

 

[MissPrice]

Yay!! I love Magic Kingdom. I always want to go there on my first day. Your pictures are great. The food from Jiko looks really delicious. -Amanda

 

[NeverlandClub23]

I always love your TR's!! We're eating at Jiko for our wedding night dinner so I hope we get just as great service as you did!

Looking forward to following along!

 

[Aussiesalad]

I love that you played bus lottery! although my inner obsessive planner may not like that idea.

so then the skipper said “Sir, don't be a hero... duck!

That is hilarious! I love having a great skipper!

Ahhh I always try and exhaust myself on arrival day and stay up to a reasonable hour just to avoid that annoying 3am wake up call from our good friend mr jetlag

 

[khertz]

What a great first day! You guys got a LOT done in MK! It's so nice to just be able to hop from one attraction to the next without long waits.

I too enjoyed the "Don't be a hero" line from your Skipper. Your Skipper can make or break your Jungle Cruise experience! We have gotten lucky with good ones our last few trips, but we have had some duds in the past.

You dinner pics are great too.

 

[monica23535]

I love MK first thing in the morning, it's always to struggle to get DH and DS out of bed and into the parks so early, but it is so worthwhile as you get tons done

 

[Isthatyoutiger]

I am In Great Trip Report! I really enjoy seeing the opening Ceremonies at each park. Next year we plan on staying at the Boardwalk villa's. You had a great view of the Boardwalk! Can't wait to read and see more.

 

[Leshaface]

You had such a busy, but fun day!

Has there always been a toy at the end of the trolley?! That is so cute.

You mentioned that the first bus stop on the way to the Boardwalk in Swan and Dolphin. Should we get off at that stop or wait for the Boardwalk stop? Is the walk pretty long?

 

[Dugette]

Wow, you really got a ton done that morning in MK!

On your comment about the Space Mountain sides, we were once walking through the queue talking about which side we liked better and a CM overheard and told us that both sides are exactly the same, but mirror images of each other. I still think they feel different, though.

Mmmm, great way to end the day with Jiko. Love that place!

 

[cindianne320]

What a great morning at Magic Kingdom- my kind of day!

I've never eaten at the AKL- but it looks very tasty!

 

[disneybarbie]

Wow, you really got a lot done at MK that morning! I too get choked up with the opening show and walking down main Street for the first time.

Too bad you didn't get to try the Sorcerer game. I have read some good and some so-so reviews, but I still want to try it.

I'm not surprised you were tired by 10pm.

Hi Mel, good to hear it's not just me that gets teary when arriving at the Magic Kingdom!

great read

Loving your TR

Thank you both for reading!

Yay!! I love Magic Kingdom. I always want to go there on my first day. Your pictures are great. The food from Jiko looks really delicious. -Amanda

Hi! I do quite like making MK our first park of a trip, either there or Epcot Jiko was delicious, I would definitely recommend it!

I always love your TR's!! We're eating at Jiko for our wedding night dinner so I hope we get just as great service as you did!

Looking forward to following along!

Thank you for reading along! I hope you enjoy Jiko, great choice for your wedding night dinner

I love that you played bus lottery! although my inner obsessive planner may not like that idea.



That is hilarious! I love having a great skipper!

Ahhh I always try and exhaust myself on arrival day and stay up to a reasonable hour just to avoid that annoying 3am wake up call from our good friend mr jetlag

Hi! I have got caught up with your TR this week ... a few years ago I used to plan our Disney trips day-by-day, but since honeymoon last year I've 'chilled out' a bit... I still subscribe to Touring Plans and double check all the park hours , but it's quite nice now just to go with the flow... which was much easier to do in a quieter time like October!

That Skipper was so good!!

What a great first day! You guys got a LOT done in MK! It's so nice to just be able to hop from one attraction to the next without long waits.

I too enjoyed the "Don't be a hero" line from your Skipper. Your Skipper can make or break your Jungle Cruise experience! We have gotten lucky with good ones our last few trips, but we have had some duds in the past.

You dinner pics are great too.

Thank you! We were so lucky that morning in MK, as EMH was at Animal Kingdom - maybe most resort guests went there? It was good for us though!

The Skipper was excellent, I made notes of all the great CMs during our trip and emailed WDW guest services when we got home - they sent me a lovely email back and said all the CMs would be commended!

I love MK first thing in the morning, it's always to struggle to get DH and DS out of bed and into the parks so early, but it is so worthwhile as you get tons done

I love mornings in the parks, the first few days are easy for us to get up (due to jetlag) but it got a little harder as the week went on!

I am In Great Trip Report! I really enjoy seeing the opening Ceremonies at each park. Next year we plan on staying at the Boardwalk villa's. You had a great view of the Boardwalk! Can't wait to read and see more.

Thanks for reading! I hope you enjoy the Boardwalk next year - it has such a great theme and location.
We did notice this trip that only really MK has a morning ceremony now.. maybe the others are more seasonal, but we didn't see them at AK or DHS this trip.. it really was just a 'rope drop'

You had such a busy, but fun day!

Has there always been a toy at the end of the trolley?! That is so cute.

You mentioned that the first bus stop on the way to the Boardwalk in Swan and Dolphin. Should we get off at that stop or wait for the Boardwalk stop? Is the walk pretty long?

Hi Lesha! We had a busy day, but I think the break by the pool in the afternoon made it seem quite relaxed too

I hadn't ever seen that little toy before! It reminded me seeing that photo, that DH thought I was taking a picture of the man pushing the horse's 'bin' !!

So with the Boardwalk buses... the ones back from DTD and AK stop at Swan, Dolphin, Yacht, Beach and then Boardwalk - so we find it quicker to get off at the Swan, and there's a walk way right behind the bus stop that takes you over the bridge and back to the Boardwalk, it's about 3-4 minutes ... although as you guys will have a stroller for Calvin, it might be easier to stay on the bus if you don't mind the wait
The MK buses are split, so there is one for the Y&B, then another from Swan/Dolphin/Boardwalk.
There's no buses for Epcot or DHS as there is the boat or walkway

Wow, you really got a ton done that morning in MK!

On your comment about the Space Mountain sides, we were once walking through the queue talking about which side we liked better and a CM overheard and told us that both sides are exactly the same, but mirror images of each other. I still think they feel different, though.

Mmmm, great way to end the day with Jiko. Love that place!

Hi! I guess both sides are the same on SM, but we did both in August and I'm sure the right-side one seemed to have more dramatic drops!

I really want to go to Jiko again... and Sanaa... and Boma... such great restaurants at AKL!

What a great morning at Magic Kingdom- my kind of day!

I've never eaten at the AKL- but it looks very tasty!

It was a lovely first day! Thanks for reading



I'm busy studying this week but hope to get going with updates in the near future, exam will be over and done with this time next week!




Emma xx

 

[disneykiwi]

Hi there

I have come over from Ronmel's report.

Really enjoying your report - you sure got a lot done at MK - wonderful pictures as well and you sound so happy - it shines through your writing.

Looking forward to the rest.

Take care

 

[scottny]

What a great day at MK. Loved the pics.

I love AKL. We stayed there last year and it was so great.

Can't wait for more.

 

[disneybarbie]

Hi there

I have come over from Ronmel's report.

Really enjoying your report - you sure got a lot done at MK - wonderful pictures as well and you sound so happy - it shines through your writing.

Looking forward to the rest.

Take care

Hi! Thanks for reading, and for your lovely comments more updates to come soon

What a great day at MK. Loved the pics.

I love AKL. We stayed there last year and it was so great.

Can't wait for more.

Hi! Thanks for commenting - we love AKL, I'd like to stay there again in the future.



Hope everyone has had a good weekend, I took my final accounting exam on Thursday so I'm enjoying being free from studying! Results aren't until January so I can forget about it for now and look forward to Christmas.


New update coming soon...



Emma x

 

[disneybarbie]

Tuesday 9th October 2012

Today we planned to go to Epcot for Extra Magic Hours – another early start, but it was easy to get up... especially as Epcot is so close to the Boardwalk!

We got ready and left the room about 7.40am, and walked around the lake to the International Gateway.

We had to wait there until the park opened at 8am, sometimes we've been allowed into the park and there's a rope drop nearer Future World.
Soon we were walking through an empty World Showcase and towards our first ride of the day... Soarin'!

We walked straight onto Soarin' and got the front row, as we exited we got a Fast Pass for a second ride later in the day.

We stopped at Sunshine Seasons for some breakfast – I was tempted by the lovely looking cakes and treats, but we decided just to get bagels and orange juice!

After a quick breakfast, we rode Living with the Land which also had no line at all.

It was fun to ride this as we'd done the Behind the Seeds Tour in August.

We decided we weren't too worried about doing Mission Space (we'd ridden it twice in August!), and Test Track was still under refurbishment – so we went to the Living Seas pavilion next. We'd hoped to see the dolphins, but they weren't in the tank at that time; nor were the manatees as they were having their tank cleaned!

So we had a look at some of the other sea creatures...

.............

 

[disneybarbie]

......

Next we went into Innoventions, the first attraction we saw was the Great Piggy Bank Adventure and there was no one there – so we went in!

The Cast Member there was lovely, she seemed a bit surprise when we walked up – even checked that we'd been to Soarin' first

She explained how the game worked, and then we got our piggy bank – we had to carry him around with us to each game station.

Each game was really fun, touch screen computer games to teach you about savings, diversifying money and reaching financial goals.
We got a really high score at the end of the game – which is quite good as both of us work in finance!

We wandered through the pavilion and saw a Segway training session taking place, we'd done one of those tours on honeymoon... I wonder if I'd still be able to ride on one, or if I'd have to learn all over again!


Next we went to the Festival Center – this was the Wonders of Life pavilion before and I was excited to go back in there, the last time I'd been was December 2004 – when Body Wars and Making of Me were still around!

The Festival Center was really quiet at that time of day, areas were being set up for cooking demonstrations, there was lots of fun merchandise and a huge wine shop...

At the back of the pavilion was a Ghiradelli chocolate area – with some beautiful sculptures made by the Disney resort chefs.

We headed back to the Land for our second ride on Soarin'

We had planned to ride on Spaceship Earth, but it was almost 11am by that time so we agreed it was time to head over to World Showcase for.... the food and wine festival!
I saw Snow White doing a meet & greet in Future World, seemed quite unusual...

We stopped to look at the cranberry bog for a while, I'd never seen or heard about these before so found it quite interesting!

At 11am we heard a clock bell chiming, and a steady stream of guests started to head for the lagoon

......

 

[lilwitch646]

Hi Emma!! Welcome back! I loved reading your honeymoon TR and I'm so excited that you both came back for the food and wine festival.

I can't believe how much you got down at MK that morning! It always seems like early mornings at MK are better than late evenings. And oh my gosh! Those cinnamon rolls! They always look and smell so delicious!

It's really neat that you sat at the same table in Jiko as you did during your honeymoon. I think it's a good omen

Looking forward to reading more and seeing more pictures!

Oh! And I love it when Boardwalk performs some magic and your standard view is somehow magically a garden view Gorgeous location!

 

[Sweet Pea UK]

Another great update and we are only a little way through Day 3!!!

Sara xx

 

[Missyrose]

Hi Emma, I lurked on your honeymoon TR and just stumbled on this one! Sounds like a wonderful trip so far, and it looks like you guys were there around the same time as us. Our October trip was the 3-12. Can't wait to read more!

 

[Disney9.9.10]

Hi Emma, I remember you from the wedding boards, so I thought I'd pop in! I love those little pumpkins with sharpies in MK, so cute! I have Sorcerer's of MK on my to do list as well, but have yet to do it… Looking forward to reading more