YourEveryDayAdam
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Jan 12, 2009
Sorry for the lack of updates! Been so busy 
I am making it up to you with a SUPER long update!
Day 3 Continued:
Before we headed off to Akershus, I called the info line from the resort phone to get some transportation info. The question: "Could we catch a bus to Downtown Disney from the Transportation and Ticket Center." The idea was that we would head from Epcot to Downtown Disney. The answer was "Yes you can get a bus to Downtown Disney from the T&TC."
Dinner at Akershus was really good! The bread was REALLY good. Lots of food. Great deal too, since you get the photo and lots of face time with all the princesses for just a dining plan table-service credit.
After dinner we got on the monorail to the T&TC. We thought that this would be faster than getting a bus to SSR and then walking, or taking another bus at SSR to Downtown. This is where things got UGLY. Got there and couldn't find a bus stop for Downtown Disney. So we asked. Told we had to go to a resort and get a bus there. A bit miffed about that, we got on the monorail and head to the Poly to catch a bus there. We waited for the bus for about 20 minutes. Got on the bus and head to downtown.
We were headed to the house of blues, which is on the west side. You're supposed to get off at the Pleasure Island stop. So the bus makes it's 1st stop at the Market Place. It switched resorts from Poly to All Stars and picks up about 1,000 people all headed to the All Stars. The bus was packed full. We then start to head towards the Pleasure Island stop. The recording comes on and announces everything to do at PI and West Side. We then watch longingly at Downtown Disney as we blow past the bus stop and start heading towards the All Stars
.
So I had to muscle my way past the 1,000 people on the bus from the back to the driver to ask what was going on. He was shocked and thought that everyone got off at the Marketplace. He said he would drop everyone off and then take us straight to the Pleasure Island stop. We stopped at each of the All Stars and then headed back to Downtown Disney. We FINALLY got to the pleasure island stop. 2 and 1/2 hours AFTER we left Akershus
Had a great time at the house of blues and stayed til they closed. Not having much faith in the bus system, I decided to walk back to the room from Downtown Disney.
Day 4:
What an AWESOME day! I woke up around 10:30 am. Slept in because of the late night at House of Blues. Earlier in the week, I decided to do the Epcot Seas Aqua Tour. Got to the tour at 12:30. W-O-W. This was AWESOME! Spent about the 1st half hour going over some basic trivia of the aquarium... For example, did you know that the Dolphins used to be a part of the general population and not segregated in the tank? They had to separate them because the dolphins would use the other inhabitants of the tank as toys. For example, they would throw the sting rays out of the water passing them back-and-forth like a Frisbee.
Another 30 minutes to go over the safety video, do's and dont's, and the whole "if you die you agree to not sue Disney" disclaimer. Another 30 minutes to change in to the wet suits, get to the aquarium, and get the equipment on. This was a scuba-assisted-snorkel setup. Basically, a wetsuit, mask, fins, tanks. But instead of a weight-belt so you can go underwater, you get a life jacket to keep you at the surface. This lets you swim without Scuba certification. If you get Scuba certified, they give you the full scuba setup and let you go underwater.
Once we got all setup, we had about 45 minutes to swim around. Wow. Oh. Wow. All of the fish, rays, and turtles come right up to you. You can watch all the tank workers do their work. I got to wave at people on the other side of the glass. Overall: AWESOME!
After the swim, got showered, changed and then we got a photo of us in our wet suits, a t-shirt, and a special pin for doing the tour. The total cost of the tour, with the DVC discount, was $119. Worth every single penny.
Just a word of warning: You have to walk through the public areas of the aquarium. In your wetsuit. Your skin-tight wetsuit. Twice.
It certainly made me a little self-conscious.
While I was swimming with the fishes, my travel partner decided to get himself a pedicure at the SSR spa. He said it was nice, but wasn't sure it was $50 worth of nice.
After the tour, I walked around Epcot: Got a counter-service burger, and enjoyed the big fountain. At about 6, I hopped on the bus to Animal Kingdom Lodge to meet up with my Travel Companion for dinner at Boma.
Boma: More W-O-W for today. This was my first time at Boma, and did some reading on it, but I wasn't prepared for how good this actually was. I didn't know what about 1/2 the things on the buffet were, but I tried most of them, and there was not ONE THING that wasn't absolutely delicious. My personal favorites were the coconut-curry salmon, the seafood stew, the rice and the mixed veggies. The whole meal was very colorful and very, VERY, VERY delicious. My new favorite restaurant at WDW, by far. For those who might be apprehensive about the unusual menu, please don't be. Everything was very mild, and nothing was intimidating to eat. Just very good food that is full of GOOD flavors you haven't tasted before.
After Boma, it was off to the Magic Kingdom. I got there just as Spectro ended. It was evening Magic Hours on a Friday. And it was PACKED. I haven't seen it so crowded for the fireworks before. Standing room only to watch the fireworks, but they were awesome!
Can you spot the hidden mickey?
After the fireworks, I sat and watched the castle changing colors for about 30 minutes, did Stich's Great Escape which was an odd show, walked around the shops for a bit, and then went to Buzz Lightyear.
Finally, back to the hotel and in to that whirlpool to nurse my poor aching feet. I was exhausted, but it was an EXCELLENT day!
Day 5:
Gay Day at the Magic Kingdom! We put on our red shirts and rainbow Mickey pins and we headed to Main Street. Thousands of red shirts create a "sea of red". There is no pride event quite like it. We did Winnie the Pooh, Big Thunder, Haunted Mansion, Philharmagic, the River boat, and the Carrousel of Progress.
Then it was off to Epcot for dinner at the Nine Dragons restaurant in China. Excellent! And there was so much. I took some General Tso's home. After dinner, it was 8:00pm, so I just parked on a bench right in front of the World Showcase Lagoon for Illuminations. Good show!
After that, I went back to the room for some relaxing before bed. Gonna hit that whirlpool again. That thing is heaven
.
Tomorrow: Down day. I will probably head to one of the water parks and float in the lazy river for 5 hours. Give my feet a rest.
Goodnight everyone!
I am making it up to you with a SUPER long update!Day 3 Continued:
Before we headed off to Akershus, I called the info line from the resort phone to get some transportation info. The question: "Could we catch a bus to Downtown Disney from the Transportation and Ticket Center." The idea was that we would head from Epcot to Downtown Disney. The answer was "Yes you can get a bus to Downtown Disney from the T&TC."
Dinner at Akershus was really good! The bread was REALLY good. Lots of food. Great deal too, since you get the photo and lots of face time with all the princesses for just a dining plan table-service credit.
After dinner we got on the monorail to the T&TC. We thought that this would be faster than getting a bus to SSR and then walking, or taking another bus at SSR to Downtown. This is where things got UGLY. Got there and couldn't find a bus stop for Downtown Disney. So we asked. Told we had to go to a resort and get a bus there. A bit miffed about that, we got on the monorail and head to the Poly to catch a bus there. We waited for the bus for about 20 minutes. Got on the bus and head to downtown.
We were headed to the house of blues, which is on the west side. You're supposed to get off at the Pleasure Island stop. So the bus makes it's 1st stop at the Market Place. It switched resorts from Poly to All Stars and picks up about 1,000 people all headed to the All Stars. The bus was packed full. We then start to head towards the Pleasure Island stop. The recording comes on and announces everything to do at PI and West Side. We then watch longingly at Downtown Disney as we blow past the bus stop and start heading towards the All Stars
. So I had to muscle my way past the 1,000 people on the bus from the back to the driver to ask what was going on. He was shocked and thought that everyone got off at the Marketplace. He said he would drop everyone off and then take us straight to the Pleasure Island stop. We stopped at each of the All Stars and then headed back to Downtown Disney. We FINALLY got to the pleasure island stop. 2 and 1/2 hours AFTER we left Akershus
Had a great time at the house of blues and stayed til they closed. Not having much faith in the bus system, I decided to walk back to the room from Downtown Disney.
Day 4:
What an AWESOME day! I woke up around 10:30 am. Slept in because of the late night at House of Blues. Earlier in the week, I decided to do the Epcot Seas Aqua Tour. Got to the tour at 12:30. W-O-W. This was AWESOME! Spent about the 1st half hour going over some basic trivia of the aquarium... For example, did you know that the Dolphins used to be a part of the general population and not segregated in the tank? They had to separate them because the dolphins would use the other inhabitants of the tank as toys. For example, they would throw the sting rays out of the water passing them back-and-forth like a Frisbee.
Another 30 minutes to go over the safety video, do's and dont's, and the whole "if you die you agree to not sue Disney" disclaimer. Another 30 minutes to change in to the wet suits, get to the aquarium, and get the equipment on. This was a scuba-assisted-snorkel setup. Basically, a wetsuit, mask, fins, tanks. But instead of a weight-belt so you can go underwater, you get a life jacket to keep you at the surface. This lets you swim without Scuba certification. If you get Scuba certified, they give you the full scuba setup and let you go underwater.
Once we got all setup, we had about 45 minutes to swim around. Wow. Oh. Wow. All of the fish, rays, and turtles come right up to you. You can watch all the tank workers do their work. I got to wave at people on the other side of the glass. Overall: AWESOME!
After the swim, got showered, changed and then we got a photo of us in our wet suits, a t-shirt, and a special pin for doing the tour. The total cost of the tour, with the DVC discount, was $119. Worth every single penny.
Just a word of warning: You have to walk through the public areas of the aquarium. In your wetsuit. Your skin-tight wetsuit. Twice.
It certainly made me a little self-conscious. While I was swimming with the fishes, my travel partner decided to get himself a pedicure at the SSR spa. He said it was nice, but wasn't sure it was $50 worth of nice.
After the tour, I walked around Epcot: Got a counter-service burger, and enjoyed the big fountain. At about 6, I hopped on the bus to Animal Kingdom Lodge to meet up with my Travel Companion for dinner at Boma.
Boma: More W-O-W for today. This was my first time at Boma, and did some reading on it, but I wasn't prepared for how good this actually was. I didn't know what about 1/2 the things on the buffet were, but I tried most of them, and there was not ONE THING that wasn't absolutely delicious. My personal favorites were the coconut-curry salmon, the seafood stew, the rice and the mixed veggies. The whole meal was very colorful and very, VERY, VERY delicious. My new favorite restaurant at WDW, by far. For those who might be apprehensive about the unusual menu, please don't be. Everything was very mild, and nothing was intimidating to eat. Just very good food that is full of GOOD flavors you haven't tasted before.
After Boma, it was off to the Magic Kingdom. I got there just as Spectro ended. It was evening Magic Hours on a Friday. And it was PACKED. I haven't seen it so crowded for the fireworks before. Standing room only to watch the fireworks, but they were awesome!
Can you spot the hidden mickey?
After the fireworks, I sat and watched the castle changing colors for about 30 minutes, did Stich's Great Escape which was an odd show, walked around the shops for a bit, and then went to Buzz Lightyear.
Finally, back to the hotel and in to that whirlpool to nurse my poor aching feet. I was exhausted, but it was an EXCELLENT day!
Day 5:
Gay Day at the Magic Kingdom! We put on our red shirts and rainbow Mickey pins and we headed to Main Street. Thousands of red shirts create a "sea of red". There is no pride event quite like it. We did Winnie the Pooh, Big Thunder, Haunted Mansion, Philharmagic, the River boat, and the Carrousel of Progress.
Then it was off to Epcot for dinner at the Nine Dragons restaurant in China. Excellent! And there was so much. I took some General Tso's home. After dinner, it was 8:00pm, so I just parked on a bench right in front of the World Showcase Lagoon for Illuminations. Good show!
After that, I went back to the room for some relaxing before bed. Gonna hit that whirlpool again. That thing is heaven
. Tomorrow: Down day. I will probably head to one of the water parks and float in the lazy river for 5 hours. Give my feet a rest.
Goodnight everyone!
Love it! Can't wait to see the SSR pics. 
So glad you enjoyed it! 
