Why Not Just Queue Up Another Disney Trip? Link to New TR 6/24 p136!

[manntra]

Have a groovy weekend!!

Tracy

[mickeystoontown]

I hope you have a ton of groovy fun at Woodstock!

[MEK]

Woodstock was a lot of fun tonight! It was so cool to watch the kids really pull it together (and the adults, too). Lots of great music and it was definitely bonding experience. Show 2 and 3 tomorrow.

Thanks for the well wishes. Comments tomorrow. I am going to bed.

Oh - and you'll love this - I am so freaking old I think I hurt my neck dancing to one of the songs.

[MEK]

Originally Posted by Queenofallthings

Hands down, best pictures of DHS I have ever seen! They tell a story all on their own and that one of you of ToT...:

Thanks! I'm pretty pleased with my ToT pictures. I would have liked to have a few more minutes in there, but that's being picky.

Originally Posted by Queenofallthings

bored is exactly how you look, but how did you really feel

Scared! I hide it well, don't I?

Originally Posted by Poolrat

Mary Ellen,
Good luck at Woodstock.

Thanks Pat. The first show was really fun! The kids in the show are amazing. Pretty fearless. Why wasn't I like that as a kid?

Originally Posted by Poolrat

Love the new Avatar.

Thanks! It occurred to me that it was definitely time for a change. I'm going to try to do better with switching it up more.

Originally Posted by Pinkocto

Just found my notes for that trip. The Sunrise Safari was $65 each person, from 7am-9am which is about 60 people I would guess. You do have to be club level to go on that one. They take you to Animal Kingdom and you have an early morning ride on Kilamanjaro Safari. They stop every time there is a good photo opportunity which was really nice. Afterwards there was this huge absolutely magnificent buffet breakfast. You have to have park tickets because they leave you in the park after breakfast and you have to get back on your own.

This sounds so great and I think the price is pretty reasonable. I hope I get a chance to do this some day. Maybe I'll get lucky enough to get a club level room waitlisting thtough DVC. You never know - it COULD happen!

Originally Posted by Pinkocto

The Sunset/Wanyama Safari was $180 each person from 4pm-7pm or when you're done with dinner. It is a very small group, I think they only allow maximum 12 and there were only 8 of us in ours. Like I said that one is available to all guests at AKL but I think you have to be 8 so no small kids. You tour all the savannahs from Kidani and Jambo House. They show you all the animals and talk about them at great length. They are open to any and all questions you have. At one point one of the giraffes stuck her head in the truck. It took all my self control not to pet her. I think the savannah tour took about an hour and a half. Then you go to Jiko for dinner. It was a huge spread. The unfortunate part is they choose what comes out, but they had three different appetizers and three different entrees and everyone got their own dessert. At each course they had a different wine. I don't want to say it's a once in a lifetime experience because I really want to go again, but it was really really wonderful. The price is up there, but I'd willingly pay that much just for the savannah tour it was so nice to see the animals up close.

Oh, I booked this trip five months in advance and they still had plenty of spots. They do the Sunset Safari every night, we actually had to change ours because my mom got a migraine and there was no problem changing it to the next night which was a Saturday. The Sunrise Safari only goes Thursday and Sunday so there's more demand, but it was no problem getting in. Both are back on our lists to do again.

Sorry this was long winded

This sounds wonderful too! It also sounds like a perfect activity if I ever do a non-park trip. I can't imagine being that close to a giraffe. How fascinating! I've eaten at Jiko, so I know how delish the food is there.

I honestly did not know this existed so I really appreciated all the information. Not long winded at all. Very informative. This would be such a fun thing to surprise Denny with when we do our next solo trip. Not sure when that's gonna be, but this is so cool!

Originally Posted by Pinkocto

I hope this weekend goes perfectly

Thank you! I'll be glad when tonight is over just because there is a lot of down time and there are two shows. But its still a lot of fun with the adrenaline pumping throughout the cast.

Originally Posted by manntra

Have a groovy weekend!!

Tracy

Thanks! Can I tell you how bad I wanted to wear a headband, but decided against it.

Originally Posted by mickeystoontown

I hope you have a ton of groovy fun at Woodstock!

Thanks! Never made it to the original, so this is a good substitute. Much cleaner!

[tinacaplan]

Originally Posted by MEK

[COLOR="Green"][SIZE="4"]



We were also thrilled to learn that Nick is the coach's choice for captain next fall. He was so happy and I know he will do a great job.

Congratulations to Nick. That's great.

Originally Posted by MEK

Space Mountain – check
Big Thunder mountain – check
Splash mountain – check
Haunted Mansion – check
Buzz Lightyear – check x 2
People Mover – check x 2
Carousel of Progress – check
Lunch at LTT
Dis meet with Roxychica7
Dinner at La Hacienda
Drinks at the Ditch
Grand Fiesta Tour
Maelstrom
And finally – touring the Christmas Decorations at the BC.
Not a bad talley for Day 1.

I'd say that's pretty impressive.

Originally Posted by MEK

In fact, this was a major reason why I opted to take a park trip over a non-park trip. Let me back up. You probably don’t know this, but I actually considered NOT purchasing a park ticket for this trip. I considered just doing the Christmas party, resort dining and exploration, DTD, mini golf, a trip to Sea world or the dark side, a tour of Celebration, and possibly other miscellaneous Orlando attractions.

I could see doing this, actually. Maybe not any other Orlando attractions, but just hanging out at the resorts, I'd be cool with that. One of my dream trips, actually, is Christmas week at AKL, possibly without park tickets. There's so much to do at that resort and the parks are crazy.

Originally Posted by MEK

I considered this for all of about 5 days and then I decided I NEEDED to experience the new Star Tours. While not a Star Wars freak, I love anything that has a simulator involved. I can do this type of rides over and over again.

Mark did this in July, I didn't. I hope I can in February. He said it was awesome. If not, I can always go in April.

That's terrible about the TSM FP line. Why, oh why, are the lines for the ride so crazy? I love that ride, but still...

I really hope I get to do ToT at some point. The queue looks so cool, although it looks like a ride that would make me ill. I can get sick riding in regular elevators, so... But RnRC..that's a different story. I'd love to see that track, too.

Good luck this weekend!

[Charleston Princess]

Fun DIS meet! Looks like everyone was having a great time!

Love all the Disney touches in your new office!

Great pictures from DHS! You have such a knack for finding cool angles!

Congrats to Nick for being named captain for next year! That's awesome! We named our two captains for this season, and one of the girls burst into tears because she was so surprised to be named. Made me teary-eyed, too.

Have fun this weekend! Don't injure yourself any worse.

[MEK]

I wasn't going to update until tomorrow, but I was up at the crack of dawn because I really did mess up my neck last night. I must have given myself self-induced whip lash. Perhaps people my age have no business being in a Woodstock show or at least should not try to dance in one of them. I seriously thought I was going to have to go to the ER. Then I downgraded myself to the medical aide unit. Now I have just decided to suck it up. If I take a muscle relaxant I won't be able to be in the show today and we have two shows - one at 3pm and one at 8pm. I guess I'll eat Motrin and continue the warm soaks. At least I can turn my head to the side now (a little). Sucks to be old. Since I can't go running and probably shouldn't even be lifting laundry, I have to stick to super sedentary things like the DIS board.

So, how about if I pick up where I left off. That was after a fun morning in DHS - Star Tours, RnR, ToT, and TSM plus a side trip to the Animation Station. Even though it wasn't quite 11:30 am I was starving already (which seemed to be the case all week). Much earlier in the morning I canceled an ADR at Sci Fi Dine In. Why? Simply because I didn't feel like spending 90 minutes at a sit down meal. So what does Nick tell me he wants for lunch????? Yup - you guessed it! A burger. Doh! Right about now a burger and some amazing onion rings sounded pretty good.

Was I sorry I canceled the ADR? Maybe a little, but not really because there were still a few things I wanted to do at HS and I was hoping to swing over to Epcot around 2pm to meet with Kara (who I missed the night before). Time was awasting.

Nicholas requested the Backlot Express which seems to be our counter service of choice when visiting HS. Remember I wanted to try Starring Rolls. But I guess since Nick eats turkey, ham, or peanut butter and jelly every day at school, he deserved a burger.

First we cruised by the Studio Catering Company, but they showed no signs of life, so we headed up the streets of America to the Backlot express.





Past the Muppets



This could have been a cool picture if it wasn't so blurry. (consequence of walking and photographing)



I noticed that the wait time for Star Tours was only 10 minutes. Better get a FP just in case!

I decided it would be nice to eat outside since the weather was perfect (not like those hot summer trips)





Cool chair back



The long awaited, heart attack inducing, cheeseburger......



Denny and I decided to share the veggie sandwich and the turkey sandwich.



It was a good choice. And it was here that I was actually glad that we didn't do the dining plan. If we had I would have been compelled to eat dessert and none of the desserts looked all the great. It would have been waster calories, plus I didn't feel stuffed after our meal.

Next stop -



It was a smart move to get the FP's because the wait time was now 30 minutes!

Somebody looks like they got a shiny new exterior



And the grease stains on this little fellow are gone



Are you guys hiding from me?



oooooohh.....Is this new?



there's plenty of room in the Star Speeder 1000



Another super fun ride on Star Tours and before I knew it we were back out on the streets of America.



What a fun balcony!








I was really starting to long for the Osbourne lights!

I love this nativity scene and I love that Disney is not afraid to put it up.






This is seriously nicer than the one at my church and only one of my churches even puts it up.

So any guesses on what we did next?

Well, since its taking me forever to write a post because I have to keep changing my position, let me make my page break here..........TBC...........

[MEK]

Continued.......

Even if you read my May TR you probably won't recall that I had tried to do the Backlot tour but baled out of the line when I found out it was running at half capacity. The choice at the time? Backlot tour or be on time for Hollywood Brown Derby lunch. Pretty much a no brainer.

Well, today there were no technical difficulties and a very short wait in the queue until we saw this



Look familiar? Caitlin / Dawn? Didn't someone in your family get picked to be in this skit?



Our Announcer - an old guy - Just proves that you are never too old to be in show business. He was great!





One of our victims....er, I mean actors....



I think most of you know what's about to happen next.



Watch out fool!



I hope that was gortex rain gear!



This picture reminds me of my SIL. She could be in a flood and still not let go of that phone.



And just when you thought the deluge was over. WRONG!



Even the em-cee is ducking under the podium for cover.



The rest of the crew (and I might add that these gentlemen were fairly easy on the eyes. Thank you Disney casting!



I bet their wives can't get them to do this at home.



Look...It's a bird. It's a plane. It's.........



........an underwater explosion?







Love my camera. Just like being in the front row without any of the hazards.



Applause Applause. With the marvels of movie making behind us, it was time to tour the backlot complete with Hannah Montana's house. Did this movie actually make money?



Nice. I wonder what Miley Cyrus has to say about this house now?



On our way to the tram we passed through rows of eclectic props and what not





What the heck is this? One of Miss Piggie's old costumes?



I was seriously just aiming the camera in all directions. I have no idea what half this stuff is..



or what movie it came from



Continued.........

[MEK]

Continued.......

Now THIS is cool.....





Eye balls anyone?



There really seems to be enough to go around.



Are these devices of torture?



What movie is THIS from?



I almost expected to see Mary Poppins here.



Props from the Adventurers Club.



And right outside as we boarded the tram was this....



Once on the tram we passed this





Oh Look - Here's the picture that became my new avatar.



I thought it was cool to drive past the cast members that were actually working on costumes and props.





What tour is complete without Herby?



This was right before we entered Catastrophe Canyon



The canyon awaits









Remember what happens next?

Well, it starts with a little rain.



Which gets heavier



Add something combustible



And.....wah lah........



A catastrophe!

Continued.........

[MEK]

Thank goodness its in the 70's today and not the 90's



This doesn't look too good.



Holy mother of flood water.....



Now that's close





Watch out Nick - you're going to get SOAKED!





Is it slowing down yet?



Why - yes - yes I think it is



I forget how much water they said got recycled every time this ride sequence was activated, but it was A LOT! I tried to google it, but couldn't find it.



CC was actually pretty fun. I don't remember being all that impressed the first time I saw it (which had to be on one of our first trips to the world), but I really enjoyed it this time. Impressive.

Here we are now finishing up the tour.



I know you all know where these props go.



Why here, of course.





It would have been pretty cool if a show was going on.

I actually took this picture from the ride



Last stop. There is another display area at the end of the ride which leads directly to a dump shop. There were some cool exhibits.









I am singing White Rabbit in the Woodstock show. I conjure up this picture when I sing, "And the red queen is Off with her head"?



There was a cool display of the top 50 villains of all time.

Nurse Ratched



Mommy "bipolar" Dearest



Was this movie really released in 1987? Yikes. time flies.....



Moving on.......



Continued in next post

[MEK]

Continued......

This was something I had been looking forward to seeing. It's so freaking cool









The dump shop. I'm so glad Nick hasn't outgrown his love of trying hats on.





Isn't this little boy adorable?



This shirt cracks me up.





At this point it was already about 1:30pm and time to head to the front of the park to catch the boat over to Epcot. Denny and I Nick were sort of undecided if they wanted to head over to Epcot or go back the resort. I knew if they came with me we would have to come back to HS to get the car. Decisions Decisions.

So - Up Next.....Do All Three of Us Make it to Epcot for a DIS meet. Stay tuned!

[dawnbu40]

Wow! What an update!

I feel like I got a tour of the streets of NY and the backlot which was a wonderful diversion from this cold,snowy morning

You have a good memory! Caitlin and I both did the movie scene 2 years ago (she was on the phone and I was the skipper) Caitlin also did it again last August and this time she was on the boat and let someone else get wet FYI-if anyone wants to do this all you have to do is volunteer with the CM working the queue. It's a lot of fun and a great memory!


Your tour pics are great and how cute is Nick in those ears!

I'm guessing the boys didn't join you for the DisMeet.

[Mndisneygirl]

What a fun update! I think the backlot tour was closed the last time we were at DHS.
Nick looks cute in the hats!

Sorry your neck is hurting - I know how you feel! I have a lot of tight muscles in my neck and shoulder area and if I do stuff like dance it can really be a problem! I should have more frequent massages but sadly, insurance won't pay! I might have to try chiro.

I am glad you're enjoying the show though! Maybe you just need to stretch out before dancing!

[Stringbean&Wingnut]

I hope your neck is feeling better soon!!!

I always wish that we could skip that whole "pre-show" for the Backlot Tour...I mean, it's entertaining, but it's something we've seen SO many times!

I know that on Catastrophe Canyon, it's 70,000 gallons. (Thank you youtube!!) (Around 3:14)

[IheartDDuck]

I'm sorry that your neck is hurt. That's never any good. Just make sure you take good care of yourself.

Doesn't it always figure that you cancel a reservation and then the day of, you would want that reservation? My life always seems to work that way.

Every time I go on the backlot tour and we reach catastrophe canyon, I slide to the other side of the tram because I don't want to get soaked! It's so crazy the amount of water that flows through there.

Can't wait to hear about the DIS meet!