A step back in time becuse I don't know when my next WDW trip will be

[EastYorkDisneyFan]

Disney Wonder by Land and by Sea August 23 - September 5 2006

This trip was my second solo WDW trip and also my first cruise on the Disney Wonder or any cruise ship for that mater. As you can see from the dates it was fairly long trip I had four days before the cruise four days on the Disney Wonder and 3 days afterwards at WDW. In between this trip and the last one there were some changes to WDW mostly in the MK. First Pirates had gotten a refurb to have it be inspired by the movie, second a "new" parade was in the magic kingdom, the snow globes were gone from the floats and there was anew sound track (of the three versions I've seen of the last parade in the MK this one was my favorite). During this trip I stayed at Port Orleans French Quarter for the first part of the trip and Port Orleans Riverside after the cruise.

So with out further ado lets get on with the show.

Day 1 - Arrival day
I left home in the morning and by the early Afternoon I was back in Florida and at Orlando international airport and boarding a magical express bus for Port Orleans French Quarter. I took a picture of the bus next to us out the window of mine.

And a picture of the interior.

After checking in and dropping my carry on bags in my room I grabbed something to eat in the food court before heading out to the bus stop and headed off to Disney's Animal Kingdom. My first stop was the Safri. I took some pictures as I made my way through the line.

Continued next post.....

 

[EastYorkDisneyFan]

Day 1 Arrival day continued

After the safari I went for a walk on the Pangani Forest trail.

After that I took another trip on the safri.

 

[EastYorkDisneyFan]

this time in the rain and a lot of the animals were very active and not just because they were finding cover they seemed to be enjoying it as well.

Looks like that was the only pic I took on that safri but there was another one during a future trip were I have some more pics of it in the rain. During the rain I headed indoors to see the festival of the Lin King. After leaving it I go this picture.

The sun was coming out but ings were still wet from the rain as well.

Up next was a journey across the park to Dinoland USA.

after a trip though time on dinosaur I took some pics in asia of everest.

and it looks like I ended up in EPCOT that evening for Illuminations.

 

[EastYorkDisneyFan]

Day 2 - Disney Wonder by Land and Sea - August 24th 2006

Today bargain at the MK journey with me now and see where I ended up today.

It looks like I headed over to Adventureland for a ride on pirates.

I probably rode pirates and when I came out they were just setting up for a show outside of the attraction off to the side.

Then I headed over to the world famous jungle cruise.

Inspiration Falls it inspires us to go....

Deeper into the jungle

It looks like there having fun breaking camp, at least they got the Jeep to turn over.

Ah look at the lions protecting the sleeping zebra.

Anyone want a head apparently he has a deal tow of his for one of yours either way you come out ahead.

A little while later I found engine number 4 the Roy O. Disney parked at toontown station. Fun fact this engine was the last to be completed for the WDW fleet and arrived shortly after Roy O. Disney had passed away, originally he had forbidden then to name an engine for him but after he died they decided to do it anyway. This engine is also the smallest of the three that run in regular service, the lilly Belle only runs for the opening show, it's a 4-4-0 american type engine (for those that don't know what the numbers mean it refers to the number of wheels 4 front wheels, 4 driving wheels and no trailing wheels. Both the Walter E. Disney and Roger E. Broggie are 4-6-0 engines or ten wheelers and the Lilly Belle is a mogul type with a wheel arrangement of 2-6-0). Because of it''s wheel arrangement it has slightly less power which is why it usually only gets pulled out when the park is busy as the third engine it has a tough time climbing the hill from toontown to Main Street they were actually worried it might not make it when they first put the stop there because the stop is on part of the hill.

 

[EastYorkDisneyFan]

Up next I walked the path to Tomorowland to go and see the carousel of progress.

After that I took some pictures around tomorrowland.

Then it was Parde time for the Disney Dreams Come True Parade this is actually my favorite version of it.

Beginning with an artist drawing that looks like Walt.

And the mouse himself, Mickey Mouse.

and my favorite Role Mickey plays the sorcerer's apprentice. In April I''m going to get to see the Toronto Symphony play the music of Fantasia well they show it on a big screen.

Pinocchio and Gepetto along with Jiminy Cricket with an umbrella up.

and Snow white and the seven dwarfs on the back.

The Flying charters float with Dumbo, Winnie the Pooh and Jasmine, Aladdin and the Gennie

The backside with Marry Poppins.

The pirates before the Villains float.

and here come the villains. I really like what they did with this one with the arch to support Chernabog's hands instead of the snow globe.

and of course the sea witch ursula on the back.

Perter Pan and Wendy. Interesting fact this was the only float the didn't do anything to during the transition between parades.

It looks like the big princess ubit was out of service this may have been after the accident that happened backstage with it.

 

[EastYorkDisneyFan]

After the parade I took the Monorail over to EPCOT. Where I got some pictures of the Land Pavilion.

Presumably taking in a ride on Soran' before heading to the world showcase.

Inside the Mexico Pavilion.

After that I caught Illuminations again, which is a running therm for me It's my Disney Fireworks show sorry to the poel who like Wishes It's not really that high on my list of favorites.

 

[EastYorkDisneyFan]

Day 3 - Disney Wonder by Land and by Sea - August 25th 2006

This morning began with a breakfast at a resort that may look familiar but has gone through some changes that people love or hate.

After some Tonga toast I headed out to the bus stop and took the bus to Disney MGM Studios as it was called back then.

the outside of the muppets dump shop. I love how they made it look like the muppets decorated it.

The exit for Muppets hopefully no one is like poor Beker and wears there 3d glasses outside the theatre.

Concrete news papers on the streets of america.

I really like this sign unfortunately I think it's gone now.

Walt explaining EPCOT in the one mans dream exhibit.

Mickey and Leo the lion up on the arch by the animation court yard.

 

[EastYorkDisneyFan]

I then decided to take a little cruise.

Well I was on it I took some pictures of the Resorts in the Crescent lake area.

One of my least favorites it just doesn't fit in with any other resorts in the area I have the same thought with the Dolphin too.

The Boardwalk.

I then continued on the boat to EPCOT.

A stitched together Panorama I took of the world showcase lagoon.

 

[EastYorkDisneyFan]

and now the torches are lit once again and it's time for Illuminations.

It was an EMH night and I stayed around the world showcase area and caught this happening.

The drawbridge was lifting up to let something through.

A little while later I saw it open again for another barge to go through it.

Incase your not familiar with this one it's the inferno barge and is usually seen with large balls of fire in the middle of the lagoon. The CM by the bridge told us how when they first started using it it was stainless steel and now it's black from all the fire over the years of use.

After that I made my way back to the resort as I had an early day the next day at the Magic Kingdom for the Magic behind our steam trains tour.

 

[EastYorkDisneyFan]

Day 4 -Disney Wonder By Land and Sea - August 26, 2006

Today began early as I was taking the Magic Behind our Steam trains tour. It starts before the MK opens on non EMH mornings. To get there I had asked at the concierge desk the night before when I could get a bus to the MK for the time I needed to be there. They told me that there were buses earlier to the MK for the charter breakfasts and to just look for that one.

The Next morning I was out at the bus stop I was actually the only one there and ended up being the only one on the bus but the driver had to do a loop of POR as well just incase someone from there was waiting for abus.

Once I got to the MK there were a few groups of poel some had erly charter breakfast and then there was another there for the Steam Train tour. Well I was waiting I got a picture of the train station empty.

After our tour guide arrived the Lilly Belle arrived on an inspection lap of the MK. Since the Lilly Belle is used as the show train for the opening of the MK the first few cars don't have side panels ion them so the charters can walk through it during the opening show, it's also the first train out of the day and does a lp of the Magic Kingdom to test the block signals. On Steam train mornings it stops at the main Street station with the engine dead centre on the station so the guest on that tour can get an picture that is otherwise impossible.

The Lilly Belle that heads out on it's lap around the MK. Incidentally she is named for Walt Disney's wife Lillian Bounds Disney and is the same age as Mickey mouse she was built in 1928 by the baldwin Locomotive works and as I said earlier she is a mogul type engine with a wheel arrangement of 2 -6- 0

As she made her lap around we were let into the Magic Kingdom. We stopped by city hall where they had some free water and coffee for anyone who wanted it also if anyone needed the restroom that was the opportunity to use it.

 

[EastYorkDisneyFan]

Once she returned we boarded the back coach and headed around the park to Mickey's toontown.Once we arrived there the conductor had one of the guest help throw the switch for us to back up to the round house.

The light you see in the trees at the rear of the train turns on when the switch has been throw to show the conductor that it's safe to back up as most of the time when they do it it will be late at night. Typically they will also throw it back for the next train if there is still a train behind the one backing out. However since the Lilly belle would be going back out after dropping us at the roundhouse it was left switched.

Here are a couple of pictures inside the roundhouse the Steam Trains are on the bottom and the monorails are on the top they only have space for 10 of the 12 monorails in the shop so two will be stored at the TTC or in the contemporary over night.

After backing into the shop to see the inside we pulled out again where they had one of the engines parked so we could look in the cab before we rode behind it into the park.

Engine number 3 the Roger E. Broggie. I got some close up pictures of her that would be hard during park opperations like ones of her builders plate and of her head lamp details.

Each engine is typically coupled to the same set of coaches each day and usaalyssty coupled to them unless they have to do maintenance on them or the Engine is being sent out for inspection and or repairs. When they do send one out they remove all of the WDW Logos and the names from them so they can't be identified as being Disney property when they are in less then show worth conditions.

Our tour guide was one of the engineers on the railroad and he showed us in smaller groups the different parts of the engine inside the cab.

Well I was looking in the cab Engine number 2 the Walter E Disney pulled out of it's stall getting ready to head into the park as well. Each engine sits over an inspection pit and they slowly roll out over them well the undersides are checked to make sure everything is connected and running as it should.

I then got a really neat picture of the twins together one there tracks waiting to roll.

The Walter E Disney then made it's way into the park to be the first train of the day.

The fireman for our train them showed us how they light them with a piece of cloth they then trow into the firebox. The trains in the Magic kingdom burn a mixture of diesel fuel and used cooking oil to boil water to make steam. However the trains in DAk are diesel engines made to look like team engines.

We then boarded the train and took it back to Main Street on they way the performed some safety checks to make sure the various safety equipment on them was running properly. The first one they did was to check the safety valve and it intional blew it off to stop the train. After that they performed an emergency break test by crossing into the zone that another train was in. Each section of the Railroad is divided into blocks when they have two trains running thee is more space between them and trains can proceed to the next block on a yellow light when there are three in operation they have to wait in a block until they get a green in the one in front of them.

Once we arrived at main street we got off and sat in a corner of the station where our guide gave us the history of the railroad and of Walt's lobe of trains.

After that I continued my day in The Magic Kingdom.

I caught part of the trolley show as it was making it's way down Main Street.

 

[EastYorkDisneyFan]

I then made my way to the world famous jungle cruise and took some pictures of the signs in and around the que.

It makes me wonder what happened that they had to post this sign.

wow that's cool free kittens I wonder why the shirt is ripped?

Can we really be sure it's chicken on Friday also what do they eat on the weekend?

And of course you can't forget the missing persons and the missing boats list (remember no one gets lost at disney they just go missing)

Later on that evening I headed back to the Adventures club as the next day I was off on a new Adventure cruising on the Disney Wonder.

 

[EastYorkDisneyFan]

Day 5 - Disney wonder by land and Sea - Disney Wonder bordering day - August 27 2006

Today was the day I was going on my first cruise. A couple day before I had checked in at the cruise line desk in the lobby and they told me what time the bus would come to pick me up and also when to expect bell services to cloet my bags for transport to the cruise ship. I grabbed some breakfast and then explored the resort for a bit.

Once the bus arrived I was on my way to the cruise terminal.

that was my first view of the Disney Wonder.

and another as I got closer to the terminal.

Inside the terminal I got some pictures of the model of the Disney Magic, at the time both ships were still identical.

Once I boarded and had my name announced they were also announcing that the staterooms were ready so I headed off to find my stateroom. I was in room #2584 incase anyone is curious, I don't know what it's classed as now back then it was just the category numbers and no letters it was a category 9 with a porthole on deck two.

I took some pictures after dropping my carry on stuff in the room.

After the safety drill (sorry no pic of me in a life jacket didn't think of it at the time) i was time for the sail way party. During the safety drill our section supervisor told us that she was part of the Cruise entertainment staff and they had originally planed to time the of it around a shuttle lunch by Nassa. Unfortunately that wasn't to be as the tower had gotten struck by lightning a few days before and they were still doing inspections of it so they couldn't lunch it.

 

[EastYorkDisneyFan]

After that I took some more pictures of the ship well we sailed out of port.

This evenings dinner was a little odd as I travel sol for some reason I had gotten seated at a table with an extended family there wasn't really much or any conversion between any of us and they ended up changing tables the next day. I don't really remember much about the meal and din't take any pictures of the food.

When I got back to my stateroom later in the evening I found this sitting there a towel animal of a swan and the next days Navigator.

 

[EastYorkDisneyFan]

I did a little bit more exploring and took some more pictures.

The next day I would be in Nassau and taking a tour of the Atlantis resort.

 

[EastYorkDisneyFan]

Day 6 - Disney Wonder by Land and by Sea - Nassau Day - August 28th 2006

On that day I woke up on the ship in Nassau. The previous day I had coped my pictures to my laptop but well I was taking pictures I discovered I hadn't deleted them all from my SD card and when I went to delete them I accidently deleted some pics from earlier in the day. It wasn't a big deal I just retraced a few steps to take them again. Ever since I had first herd of the Atlantis resort I wanted to visit it and saw that one of the Port Adventures was tour of the resort and the aquariums around it I thought that was perfect to me it didn't mater I couldn't visit the water parks or some of the other areas that wasn't what I was there for I just wanted to see the resort itself. What follows is some pictures from the tour of the dig site aquariums.

This was supposed to be some sort of ancient atlantean diving equipment.

an ancient atlantean diving suit

This is hercules he was a very large sting ray they had in the tank there and were actually returning him back to the ocean a couple days after I visited there as he was getting to big for the tank he was in.

from part of the aquarium it's supposed to look like the resort is rising from the depths of the ocean.

 

[EastYorkDisneyFan]

this is a view of one of the polls where you can swim with some of the fish i think

A view of the resort as it was in 2006 the bridge containing the two towers together is actually a two level suite and is one of the most expensive rooms in the world to book it comes with a buttler just for the suite.

This is a view of an underwater tunnel and the bridges over the shark pool.

I actually took a lot more picture then I posted and you can view all of them and many more on my flickr page. If your on Flickr feel free to follow me and to comment and favorite on any pictures you see. My Flickr Album for Atlantis

 

[EastYorkDisneyFan]

Up next I went back and took some picture I had accidently deleted. The three crystal things are by the same artist who did the chandeliers that used to hang on the Magic and still hangs on the wonder.

Up next is statue of some Sea Bulls.

Followed by the throne of poseidon

Next are some pictures of the details around the main lobby of the hotel

 

[EastYorkDisneyFan]

After that I went out to a little sort of marketplace village area by the harbour and grabbed a sandwich and a drink before heading back to the Disney Wonder.
I also got a picture in that area before boarding the bus back to the port area.

Next I took some pics of the Disney wonder in the port area.

I then returned to my room and tooks some more pictures. I had actually meant to explore some more of Nassau on my own but discovered a new show called the Suite Life of Zack and Cody on the tv and ended up watching a few episodes instead.

I went up on deck and took a few more shots of the area as well

later that evening I found this in my room.

I also took a couple of pictures inside of the Walt Disney Theatre.

That's it for todays pictures the next day is Castaway Cay and day 3 of the 4 day cruise.

 

[EastYorkDisneyFan]

Day 7 - Disney Wonder by Land and by Sea - Castaway Cay - August 29th 2006

Today's cruise stop was Castaway Cay Disney's private island in the bahamas.

no it wasn't misty or fogy out just the humidity and condensation on my camera lens from coming out of the air conditioning on the ship.

I took this picture of her builders plaque before heading out to Castaway Cay.

In the morning before lunch i did one of the sea doo tours it was kind of fun but I don't think I would do it again. Also during it something just so odd I can't really figure out what happened but I ended up being showered in water from something and lost a hat I was wearing in the water.

After that I went back to my room to change as I was soaked I then made my way back out again to mail a postcard and also to get some lunch. Ia laos picked up a new hat well I was there as well. The pics that follow were taken well I wondered around a bit as I'm not much of beach person.

that's a better picture of the flying dutchman alass she is no longer there hurricanes and storms took there toll on her and DCL had to scarp her.

The landing strip on the island that connects the family beach to the adult beach and also serves as a bike trail.

I'm not sure if anything ever lands on this runway except maybe a helicopter in an emergency.

an old Disney World parking lot tram repurposed for use on castaway Cay at the time they had two of them one that went to the family beach from the dock and one that went from the family beach to the adult beach. Since then I think they have added a third and they all serve all stops.

Another look at the wonder docked at castaway cay this was my background on my computer at one point.