Around the 'World in THREE?! days... Completed 9/18

[shordiebecka]

Streetsmophere is great!!!! They always make me laugh so hard... To bad about TSM. I didn't do it last time either, but it's on my "to do" list for my next trip.

 

[KELLY]

Thanks for the great report so far. Also for the QSDP review. I was very intrested in that. We are trying yek and yeti now. Looks great. We are staying at a vaule for the first time. So we got the QSDP. I'm really excited about staying at the All Star Music Suites. I'm trying to stay positive about the values. Also for the QSDP no more ADR's. Well we have one for CP breakfest and we are doing t-rex one day. But not 8 days worth. Also excited football is here!

 

[onelilspark]

Streetsmophere is great!!!! They always make me laugh so hard... To bad about TSM. I didn't do it last time either, but it's on my "to do" list for my next trip.

I've already got it set up so we can do it in October. I need to beat my geeky boyfriend

Thanks for the great report so far. Also for the QSDP review. I was very intrested in that. We are trying yek and yeti now. Looks great. We are staying at a vaule for the first time. So we got the QSDP. I'm really excited about staying at the All Star Music Suites. I'm trying to stay positive about the values. Also for the QSDP no more ADR's. Well we have one for CP breakfest and we are doing t-rex one day. But not 8 days worth. Also excited football is here!

I have to say, I love the moderates, but for whatever reason, I'm super excited about the stay at Pop. I stayed at ASMusic back in 2003 and loved the oversized icons. It's just so "Disney" to me. I hope you do a TR, I'd love to hear your take on the Suites!! I hope you like the QSDP as much as I did! It worked well in that we still did a TS, but it was more like a "bonus."

Writing my next section now! (I'm breaking this up a lot so I have more segments to post, but I'm a little impatient about posting it all!!)

 

[onelilspark]

When we not-so-gracefully bowed out from the Streetmosphere performance, it was about 2:10. Our ADR at Chefs de France was at 2:30 My brother and I were moving his car, my parents were taking the boat across. Well, here goes nothing! We ran through Epcot once we got parked. I was melting by the time we got to the hostess stand (2:31 btw...not bad. My parents were there a minute later, looking a little more refreshed than my brother and I!) While walking, I was managing the heat fine...and by fine, I mean whining about it...but when power walking and not having the chance to duck into a store for some a/c? I literally almost died. Not really. But it was 63 degrees when my boyfriend dropped me at the airport that morning...now it was like, 93. I hadn't adjusted yet. The restaurant was empty which made me a little bummed...why had I rushed all this way then!! But once we were shown our table, I ducked to the ladies room to splash some water on my face and cool myself down.

We had a lovely meal with great service. I can recommend Chefs without hesitation. Part of the reason I booked Chefs during this time was because I knew we weren't heading back to the hotel for a rest, I figured a nice leisurely lunch would give us a good break for the day. I was right, I really needed it (everyone else in my family, not so much...but I needed it!!) I'll leave the food details out, but during our entrees, we had a little friend come visit us at the table.

Remy! ...side note: I was cracking up how many people called him "Ratatouille" and his handler had to correct them! People... So he spent some time visiting us, and I snapped these:

...then, I had read on here somewhere that Remy could dance. And I mentioned that. Well next thing I know, the maitre 'd is saying, "Mademoiselle would like to dance with Remy?" And I'm sitting there horrified (I don't like attention drawn to myself!) No! No, I did not say that...but what the heck, it's Disney and the restaurant is empty, so I gave it a whirl.

I got up and danced:

My parents snapped that picture. They were loving it...and won't let me live it down. Honestly, it was pretty funny. Where else besides WDW can you dance with a rat?

While sitting at lunch, I pulled out the times guide and checked when the Voices of Liberty were singing. It's one of my favorites at WS as well as my Dad's, so I knew it'd be a winner. We had about an hour to kill before the next show, so we started wandering...

Look! Mickey!

We stopped and listened to the drummers for a bit. Then went into the store. I think in October I'm going to do a Pick-a-Pearl. I did one about 10 years ago and had a pretty necklace made.

We made it around to the American Pavilion. We know they tell you to sit on the floor, but we like the benches. None of the benches were available though, so we popped a squat in the middle of the room. We know what's up

We had about 15 minutes to kill, so I did what any normal person would do...I busted out my camera!

Soon enough, they came out and we knew we were in for a treat

As they started to sing "O Susanna" I looked around at the circle and noticed my Mom was the *ahem*oldest*ahem* lady sitting there. I knew she'd be "Susanna!" Sure enough, the guy got down and sang to her...turnabout is fair play, so I tease her about that when she gets on me about Remy We loved it as usual. Talked about going in to see the show, but we've seen it so many times now that we can recite it. So we all decided to pass. My parents were off to HS to use their TSM fast pass, and my brother and I were continuing around the WS...

 

[teruterubouzu]

Hi! I finally made it back to The Dis and am happy to find that you started your trip report. It's especially fun to read because we went so close to the same time.

I really enjoyed Chefs too, but I thought my brother was going to crawl under the table when Remy was rolled up to our table. I asked Remy's helper about the dancing thing too (here's a video clip). Luckily, they didn't make me dance because my brother would have died.

I'm looking forward to the rest of your updates!

 

[DisneyFaeriePrincess]

Those fastpasses for TSM go like crazy!! Oh well like you said, there's always next time! I'm glad you got to do TOT and RNRC!! I love both of them! I would have been completely mortified if I had to get up and dance with Remy!! I sooo don't do that! Oh the Voices of Liberty are so wonderful!! I recently found a cd of theirs and it's now on my mp3 player!! Ugh the heat was like that for us too. Since it was so cool at home we didn't get the summer to get used to the warm weather so it seemed hotter than it probably was!

 

[onelilspark]

Hi! I finally made it back to The Dis and am happy to find that you started your trip report. It's especially fun to read because we went so close to the same time.

I really enjoyed Chefs too, but I thought my brother was going to crawl under the table when Remy was rolled up to our table. I asked Remy's helper about the dancing thing too (here's a video clip). Luckily, they didn't make me dance because my brother would have died.

I'm looking forward to the rest of your updates!

Lucky duck! I think perhaps because you had the female maitre 'd? I don't know...he was pretty adamant that I get up and dance too

Those fastpasses for TSM go like crazy!! Oh well like you said, there's always next time! I'm glad you got to do TOT and RNRC!! I love both of them! I would have been completely mortified if I had to get up and dance with Remy!! I sooo don't do that! Oh the Voices of Liberty are so wonderful!! I recently found a cd of theirs and it's now on my mp3 player!! Ugh the heat was like that for us too. Since it was so cool at home we didn't get the summer to get used to the warm weather so it seemed hotter than it probably was!

My Dad loves the Voices and he's super patriotic, so I sent him one of their iTunes albums. He loved it. I've listened to it when I visit, it's really good!

I'm glad I did ToT & RnR too because I'm not sure I'll get a chance in October...death machines

 

[LaniesMom]

Hi!
Followed you over here after seeing your posts on the CSR thread (we're staying there in November)....
thanks for the report, now I've got to go read your QSDP report

Good to know there's another football fanatic on here--however, my teams are Da Bears & Colts. Love me some Donovan, though--he's my hometown boy

Thanks for sharing!

 

[that's nice]

Still reading...

Love your update and I thought that was what Streetmosphere was. They are so funny!

 

[onelilspark]

Hi!
Followed you over here after seeing your posts on the CSR thread (we're staying there in November)....
thanks for the report, now I've got to go read your QSDP report

Good to know there's another football fanatic on here--however, my teams are Da Bears & Colts. Love me some Donovan, though--he's my hometown boy

Thanks for sharing!

I have mixed feelings about Donovan (I told you I was an Eagles fan )
Thanks for joining!

Still reading...

Love your update and I thought that was what Streetmosphere was. They are so funny!

I love Streetmosphere. Make me giggle

Alright, I'm gonna try to finish up the first day...

 

[onelilspark]

After we broke free from our parents, we headed over to Nor-vay.

Not a very long wait for Maelstrom, plus it meant air conditioning in line So we hopped in line and waited. It seemed like the air was stifling. I don't think Disney has their a/c turned up as much as they have in year's past. My brother and I love this ride. I don't know why. I think it's the trolls. And have you noticed that Norway's history jumps from trolls & vikings then nothing for a few hundred years until OIL! I shouldn't laugh...

We didn't really meander the countries. It surprised me a bit. I mean, I'm all for meandering, I love the World Showcase, but it was so hot, and there were so many people in the stores trying to escape the heat, that it just wasn't enjoyable. We decided to head to Future World. I stopped into Mexico to see if the Tequilla Bar opened yet, but it wasn't

Next up was Spaceship Earth. While we were walking up, I asked my brother if he had ever listened to it in a different language...he hadn't And he's fluent in French, so we picked French and settled in. I let him answer the questions since he could actually understand what they were asking...and then our beautiful picture turned up:

Then it was time for one of my favorites!

Yes! Figment! Granted it's not as good as it used to be, I keep hoping the Dreamfinder will come back to us, but I'm losing hope

My brother decided he wanted this in his dorm:

More pictures of the line:

After we were off...time to follow his footsteps!

I looked in the giftstore for a bit. I always want to buy up all the Figment stuff, then talk myself out of it. Sometimes I feel good leaving the store, other times lousy.

We headed over to Nemo & the Living Seas. It was a little after 630 at this point (no, I have no idea where the time went either.)

After the ride, we weren't quite hungry yet as we had a large lunch, so we hit Living with the Land...this was right about 7pm on 8/1. On 8/2 it went down for a refurb. I told my brother he broke the ride. What was interesting is that we didn't see anything earning their ears. Guess it was planned after all...

We had decided to grab dinner at Sunshine Seasons. The initial plan for the evening was to grab dinner somewhere around the World Showcase, but it was just too hot. The selection of items at Sunshine Seasons combined with the lovely a/c won out...

Inside the Land:

Little Brother

Me (can you tell how hot it was? I look so tired in this picture!)

 

[onelilspark]

After dinner, we wanted to hit up the countries for a drink. My brother wanted a beer from the UK, so we went into the Pub and he got a black & tan.

I decided while there that I would rather have my Pomegranate Kir from France than something from here, so we walked over to France...

(not France)

...And I promptly changed my mind when I saw the icey goodness of the Grey Goose Slushie. So I grabbed one of them instead! It melted so fast though, I wasn't able to grab a picture of it...just drink it...darn.

We stopped and people watched for a bit and discussed our plans. The original plan was to either watch Illuminations and then head back to the resort for a drink, or head over to Jellyrolls for some drinks. Or to Beaches & Cream for some ice cream. ...we ditched all those ideas and decided that when we finished our drinks we would head out, go back to the room, change into our swim suits and take a dip in the pool...ahhhhhh.

Practicing with my Gorillapod:

Probably thrilled that I posted this picture

We made our way back to the resort. We probably left Epcot around 8:15 or so. It was a little confusing as we never quite figured out what resort area Coronado Springs was in. We kept having to turn on his GPS and plug in the resort instead. We got back just fine, but usually I can just use the Disney road signs. When we got back, my bag was there It's official: I love Magical Express! So easy. So I quick unpacked my stuff and he changed, I found my swim suit and I changed. We weren't sure if there'd be towels down there or not, so we grabbed 2 from the room (note: there are towels at the pool! No need to bring them from your room!)

I don't think we could have made a better choice. We were in the pool as I heard Illuminations going off. Awesome. We didn't see any, we didn't particularly care to get out of the pool! But it was a great ending to the night.

When we got tired of being in the water, we got out and made our way to El Centro to explore a bit.

For all the coffee lovers...not NesCafe:

We called it a night and headed back to our room. While I got ready for bed, I heard my brother turn on Stacy. When I opened the doors back up he said to me, "I don't know what it is, but every time I'm here, I just wind up watching this." How true. I set the wake-up call for the next morning (I like Stitch! ) And drifted off to dreamland. It was a good day!

 

[heaven2dc]

Loved your Spaceship pic I did this for the first time by myself in December 2008 (first time riding since 1997) and didn't know where to look for the pic and mine came out ridiculous! Loved both of yours tho!

The new rooms are absolutely beautiful! The sliding door for the sink area is better (I think) than having a curtain. And the colors of the bedspreads are gorgeous

 

[DisneyFaeriePrincess]

What a lovely day! Oh everytime I go to Disney I just hope and hope that Dreamfinder will appear in Imagination! Yes it's not as good as the original but at least Figment's in it more! Ooo remember really really liking those grey goose slushies! I agree, swimming instead of seeing Illumintations that night was probably a good idea! Too hot and tired I'm assuming!

 

[that's nice]

I don't see anyone in your CSR pics... was it dead? There doesn't seem to be too many people in the pool either.

I need to hit the PUB next time we are in EP. Saw somewhere that you can get a car bomb there!

 

[wdwgirl03]

That little Remy is so cute!

I hear ya on Journey Into Imagination...the old one was so good! Atleast they put Figment back in but nothing compares to the original.

 

[Angies1274]

Joining in!! I followed you over from my TR. Love all your handy-dandy links!! Great pictures of your room at CSR and such cute pictures of Remy!!! Figment is one of my favorites as well. It sounds like had a relaxing end to a great day!
Can't wait for more....

 

[onelilspark]

Loved your Spaceship pic I did this for the first time by myself in December 2008 (first time riding since 1997) and didn't know where to look for the pic and mine came out ridiculous! Loved both of yours tho!

The new rooms are absolutely beautiful! The sliding door for the sink area is better (I think) than having a curtain. And the colors of the bedspreads are gorgeous

I always make a ridiculous face for Spaceship Earth now It makes it so much more fun!

What a lovely day! Oh everytime I go to Disney I just hope and hope that Dreamfinder will appear in Imagination! Yes it's not as good as the original but at least Figment's in it more! Ooo remember really really liking those grey goose slushies! I agree, swimming instead of seeing Illumintations that night was probably a good idea! Too hot and tired I'm assuming!

It was entirely too hot to stick around for Illuminations. And I'm so glad I got to see the pool area at night, it was gorgeous!

I don't see anyone in your CSR pics... was it dead? There doesn't seem to be too many people in the pool either.

I need to hit the PUB next time we are in EP. Saw somewhere that you can get a car bomb there!

I think it was just the time of day we were there. Since it was right after the parks were closing, there just wasn't anyone hanging around. The pool was more crowded than it looked in the picture, but not overly so.

And a car bomb has Guineas right? They had Guinness at the Pub (wow. I've been out of college too long )

That little Remy is so cute!

I hear ya on Journey Into Imagination...the old one was so good! Atleast they put Figment back in but nothing compares to the original.

My brother was apparently too young to remember the original. I had to explain to him who the Dreamfinder is.

Joining in!! I followed you over from my TR. Love all your handy-dandy links!! Great pictures of your room at CSR and such cute pictures of Remy!!! Figment is one of my favorites as well. It sounds like had a relaxing end to a great day!
Can't wait for more....

Thanks for joining me! It was very relaxing!

 

[that's nice]

And a car bomb has Guineas right? They had Guinness at the Pub (wow. I've been out of college too long )

Taken from Wikipedia:

An Irish Car Bomb is a beer cocktail which is a variation of the boilermaker. It is made with stout (e.g., Guinness), Irish Cream (e.g., Baileys), and Irish whiskey (e.g., Jameson).
The name refers the drink's Irish ingredients and to the car bombings notoriously used by the Provisional Irish Republican Army (PIRA) during the Troubles. The Jameson whiskey is floated on top of the Baileys in a shot glass, and the shot glass is then dropped into the stout. Once mixed, the drink must be consumed quickly because it will curdle.

According to most sources, the Irish Car Bomb was created in 1979 by Charles Burke Cronin Oat, current instructor at the Connecticut School of Bartending, and former owner and bartender of Wilson's Saloon, both in Norwich, CT. The drink evolved from several earlier versions dating back to 1977. The Grandfather, the original idea behind a Car Bomb, was a mixed shot of Bailey's and Kahlúa coffee liqueur. Though Guinness was also being consumed at the same time, the Grandfather was not mixed with the Guinness at the time of its creation. Shortly thereafter, Oat was inspired to add Jameson Irish Whiskey to the shot, which made the shot bubble up vigorously like an explosion, causing him to remark that "the IRA just showed up!" Hence, the newly designed shot was known as the IRA (named after the Provisional Irish Republican Army, and their use of explosions during The Troubles). Two years later while drinking IRAs and Guinness, Oat got the idea to drop the shot into his half-finished pint of Guinness, with the words "Bombs away!", and the Irish Car Bomb was born.
The drink later spread beyond the city of Norwich due to increased advertising by Guinness beginning in the late-1980s. While Kahlúa was part of the original recipe, it is often dropped from the drink today. Some refer to that original recipe as a Belfast Car Bomb.

INVENTED IN CT!! LOL

 

[onelilspark]

My brother wasn't with the rest of the family when we first did rope drop at the Magic Kingdom back in February, so that was our goal for the morning. I was ready before my brother and went outside our room to take a few pictures of our "view." My camera was a little angry because we had kept the room nice and cool, but outside it was hot & humid (at 8am!) So some of these pictures are a little foggy because my camera kept fogging up, then I would wipe it off, then it would fog up again...then I gave up on the pictures

So now I present...the Ranchos section at Coronado Springs...

And our room:

(note: I know it's bad to leave your door propped open like that, but I was only standing 2 feet away, I would have seen anyone try to enter...)

The initial plan was for me to grab breakfast while my brother finished getting ready, but neither of us was that hungry...really, I was still full from the day before. So that plan was scrapped.

We grabbed our things and headed off to the Magic Kingdom!

On our way...

We made coffee in the room for him. It was really the only way he was going to get up before 10.

Can't you tell he's just thrilled to be awake?

Seriously...he's thrilled:

As we waited for the next monorail to come in, I snapped this picture, and my brother promptly made fun of me...

Oh, and doesn't Monorail Black remind you of Darth Vader? We saw it leave the the Resort Station and I commented how I anticipated Storm Troopers to start coming out of it. No? Just me then?

Still not quite awake, but getting there:

We made it into the Magic Kingdom around 8:45! Not bad, not bad at all!

I was really excited for the opening. My brother was like, "Soooo, what's so special about this?" And of course I had to explain it all...honestly, some days I think he was adopted It was funny, when they started, the Mayor's mic wasn't working, so he was shouting. I thought it was super neat because I'm a dork and thought "that means it's real!" (you know, and not pre-recorded.) My brother just shook his head at me. Oh well...

Instead of taking a million pictures, I took a few videos (the last one is the longest because it's got the bulk of the "action!")




(you can hear the Mayor's mic not working here.)



Here comes Mickey!!!


I took one picture at the end for good measure

We let the crowds disperse and started walking down Main Street...
I asked if I could grab his picture

Obviously he said yes! I love opening on Main Street, it's so magical. And yes, I'm a dork and realized that!!

We didn't really have a plan for the day, so we were trying to decide what to do, peaked in the Main Street Bakery, but still, neither of us were very hungry, so we skipped that. Hmmm...where did we go??