Help! DL Vets attempt WDW trip December 2012! PTR & TR.

[taaren]

I added links to the videos in previous posts, though I know not everyone wants to see them. They're all pretty short, most are less than 30 seconds. The first few are the characters dancing Gundam style in Dec 1, then there is DS dancing with Belle on Dec 2, then there's the Star Wars training on Dec 4, and on Dec 9 there's the Boardwalk performer. A few more coming up from the last four days of the trip.

 

[taaren]

This morning we woke up and had a bit of time before the 11:30a airboat ride, so DS6 asked to go to the BWV pool ... we went for an hour and a half at 8a and had a great time! That clown slide is really long and fun, and we had the pool almost to ourselves. Went back to room for a quick shower. [Forgot to mention that on our Universal day, we woke up to no hot water in the shower, only lukewarm, so we called maintenance and nobody fixed it during the day we called again in the evening and somebody came around 10p to fix it!] Headed out driving East for 45 minutes or so to meet our airboat captain. We were about 5 minutes late due to programming our phone Navigation with a slightly mixed up address. I should mention here that I forgot to take a picture of the airboat dock ... it was just a waterway adjacent to a park, I had been expecting a office building with a dock attached, but apparently Spirit of the Swamp operates elsewhere. No matter, the captain introduced himself, we got our headsets on, and were on our way. Saw lots of turtles on the way out, but really wanted gators.

First one we found was sliding into the water as we found him. Disappointing.

Next though we happened upon a bunch of baby gators! There were at least 4 that we could count as they scurried around in the brush. Cute!

Video of them moving, but they're hard to see they blend in with the swamp.

We kept driving around looking in some of the gators favorite places for them or otters, which is cool because you're in their habitat and can just bird watch, the wildlife out there is lovely and scenic.

Finally we found a mama gator (pretty far from the babies, so probably not their mama).

Yep, she was that close, no fence between us.

Finally before the tour was over he offered to take a picture of us on the airboat:

We had paid for an hour, and he ended up spending over an hour and a half with us, there was a ton of great information about the area and the flora and the fauna from the guide. It was a nice warm sunny day, and when we got back to the launch at 1p there was a couple waiting. I would definitely recommend this if you want to experience something unique and Floridian. Don't know if I feel the need to do it again, though, not addictive like the IllumiNations cruise was.

So we headed back to Disney, DH stopped for a Subway sandwich on the way since he was famished, but I wanted to eat at Wolfgang Puck Express. At WPE we ordered the bacon wrapped meatloaf lovestruc BACON!), and DS wanted a pizza so we got that which was really good, thin crust style pizza and we all chowed down. Then we headed over to DisneyQuest since we are all video game nerds. Started in the 3rd floor, where a static Wreck it Ralph is with a lot of Fix-It-Felix games.

I enjoy racing games and actually joined a group of 8 players ... btw I'm usually a terrible gamer with video games, don't practice enough (I'm much better at table-side board type games that are strategy or puzzle oriented), and won! We made our way around the 3rd and 4th level, boys played lots of things, there was a fun smashing fruit game and 4 person air hockey. Had a great time for a few hours, then it was time to go meet Kevin, my Universal friend for dinner in Celebration, the town Disney built about 15 minutes south of the World.
We met at Celebration Town Tavern, which is a bistro-like kid-friendly place, serves Bostonian-type food. Micheal got a burger, Kevin got frank and beans (he swears its exceptional, better than anything you could make at home), DH and I shared a something that was sliced bread, mashed potatoes, roasted turkey, onion rings, all stacked in a tower and covered with gravy. It was delicious. Oh, and I got spinach-artichoke dip, too, more caloric goodness though nothing special like the turkey thing-ey. Very reasonably priced for the 5 of us!
Meatloaf stacker picture

ours was the same except with Turkey.
Afterwards it was almost time for the snow in Celebration. Disney has a street where they project so many bubbles that it really feels like you're in the middle of a 65 degree blizzard, very fun. Sam had a blast running around with the other kids.

Then we headed back to the resort and dropped Michael and Sam off and changed since I had an ADR at California Grill that I hadn't cancelled and didn't want to pay the $40 penalty and wanted to see the Holiday Wishes fireworks. We were seated nowhere near the window (showed up right at 9 and everybody had been seated near the window already, oh well), but they scattered beautiful birthday decor on my table.

We ordered goat cheese ravioli, which was almost as good as the lobster ravioli at Palo, which we adore. The 5 cheese flatbread was just okay, a little too heavy for us. I really wish we had had the appetite for a dragon roll, it was so beautiful even though we didn't order one I had to take a picture:

Then we ordered dessert and were able to eat about half of it before going out to the fireworks.
DH's chocolate cake with peppermint ice cream ... it was a lot like a souffle

My Bananas and Caramel phyllo squares with burnt sugar on the bananas. Yum!

The server also boxed up for me a free extra birthday dessert of cake that we never ate, but the gesture was lovely.

The view of the fireworks from the top of the Contemporary with the music piped in was lovely, it made our quasi-date-night very special. We watched from the "back" landing, there are two of them, and got a spot right at the edge since we headed out about 5 minutes before they started.

Then we finished our desserts and went down to watch the Electrical Water Parade that I had missed every night we stayed at BLT (to be fair, one night I was waiting for them and I didn't realize we were facing the wrong side of the lake until after they had started ... I saw them setting up, then watched them float away as they turned on). Loved the 8-bit themed music, it was just so cute and nostalgic I felt like I was 11 again.

It was COLD! though, so I was glad somebody had left some resort towels on the dock that I wrapped myself up in over my jacket.

Drove back to BWV. Really loved having the car this week, it felt so convenient we decided for future trips we'll always get a car, even when staying close to a park or two.

 

[taaren]

Michael still hasn't been to Animal Kingdom, so we had to go even though we knew we wouldn't wake up early enough for the morning EMH. The crowds were pretty okay despite the EMH.

We started out at Kilimanjaro Safaris again, this time a giraffe halted our progress since s/he sauntered very slowly in front of the jeep, which was pretty fun.

We got our zebra cupcake again, no snack credit this time just wanted some delicious cake!
Pretty much the same clock-wise tour as last time, very similar non-waits for everything except EE again. Stopped by the Panjani path and aviary, then the tigers were more awake off the Asia path this time around.

I had brought panchos and rubber slippers to change into this time, so DS and I rode Kali River Rapids. Really enjoyed the ride, because its basically Grizzly River Rapids which is my 2nd favorite ride at DLR, just with a more depressing theme.
Used FP's on EE, skipped Nemo since Michael wasn't interested, we just missed Flights of Wonder, so that's on my list for next time. Rode Dinosaur (about a 15 minute wait), Primeval Whirl with switchpasses (I didn't get sick!). Ate at Flame Tree Barbeque again, got the same thing for me and DH, while Michael and DS wanted corn dogs which they got from a cart. Corn dogs were weak compared to DLR's corn dogs (I swear they put crack in them at DLR, they're amazingly addictive).
We went back to Kali River Rapids for everybody to ride, since I only had 2 panchos the guys were okay with getting wet since we were heading back to the room anyhow. They got soaked! Then DS wanted to go again, which I was alright with; I kept the pancho and he wanted to get wet.

When we left the park I realized it was almost time for Lights Motor Action! Stunt Show at DHS, so I had DH drop DS and I off there when they went back to the room (they wanted to change and figured they could catch LMA another time). Unfortunately I had him take the panchos and slippers back with him, because right after DS and I went into the front gate of DHS, it started pouring! There was nothing to do but run and get soaked on the way to LMA! Shortly after we arrived the rain slowed to a drizzle and continued drizzling throughout the performance. We were pretty impressed by the show even though we were very wet it wasn't too cold so we survived.

This evening we went back to DisneyQuest at DS's request, but everybody wanted to go ... he met a local boy his age at Wolfgang Puck Express and they chatted all through dinner. DS and I shared spaghetti and meatballs, DH got the bacon wrapped meatloaf again, and Michael went for an Earl of Sandwich turkey cranberry goodness. This time we explored the first and second floors, which had a lot of cool Virtual Reality type games. My favorite was the 3D rooms that have Pirates of the Caribbean where you shoot cannons at ships. That may have been because the VR headseats in Aladdin made me ill though. All in all, we wish we'd had a few more nights in DisneyQuest, we didn't even get to the 5th floor since they closed at 9p we left a few minutes early so we could show DS and Michael the Electrical Water Parade before bed. Parked at the Contemporary again, watched it, then went back to the villa. Another great night.

 

[taaren]

Today was Michael's last day, and he felt like we hadn't spent enough time in Epcot, so we headed there. Grabbed Test Track FP's first thing, they were for 6p. It rained on and off again, and was pretty darn cold, and I wanted to buy that black hoodie that Katie and I had seen last week which she had ended up buying at MouseGears.

Got it! Rode Mission Space, DH and I went on Green and Michael and Sam went on Orange, no wait for either of us, and played with the stuff at the end of the ride for a bit, and horsed around in the store and bought Sam's one souvenir for the trip that he had selected: his Spaceship.

And DH took a picture of DS wearing something they did not buy.

Michael, DS, and I went on the Ellen Energy ride. DH was right behind us but had stopped at the bathroom and they closed the show before we realized it was 45 minutes, so we were stuck he decided to go to his favorite, Soarin. It was enjoyable, but next time we'll all head for Soarin.

Decided to stop by the Boulangerie Patisserie on the way out for lunch, I told them I'd meet them back at the room but apparently nobody paid attention when I said this so they caught up with me which was just as well since everybody wanted pastries once they *saw* them.
Got a ham and cheese crossaint, the turkey & brie baguette, strawberry pastry, an eclair, and the millefeille. All were amazing.

DH got an e-mail that his uncle/godfather had passed the previous night in his home in Oklahoma. His parents have half a dozen siblings each, and this particular uncle, his mom's brother had married his dad's sister, so their kids were DH's double-cousins and the two families were particularly close, and his godmother/aunt had just died of cancer a few months ago. DH was tired and sad. He decided not to go back to the park that evening. We had a afternoon in the room where we watched old Disney cartoons and ate lasagna for dinner that we cooked in our own oven, plus cookies from cookie dough.

Michael, Sam and I headed back into the park, used our Test Track FPs around 7p, then wanted to check out the Agent P World Showcase Adventure. It was super cold, so the CM sent us to Mexico since it was inside the pyramid. What fun! Its a great way to explore the countries. After we completed the quest, we rode the Three Amigos non-ride that we enjoyed because we had 0 expectations of it.

Especially loved the LED fireworks.

Took a lot of Photopass passes on the way back, some of my favorite from the trip, will post when I get the download done. Michael declined to be in them but DS was actually in a good mood and smiling nicely the whole night.

Here's a non-photopass one in Canada.

 

[taaren]

DS had wanted for his "last things" to ride TSM again and do the Jedi Training again, so DH dropped us off at DHS for rope drop while he went to return the car. So DS and I made a run for the Padawan sign up, and asked for the last show of the night, the 8:00p planning on returning, then rushed to TSM to see if we could get FPs. Pulled them for 5:35-6:35p, perfect! DS wanted to walk through the Jack Sparrow attraction, which he enjoyed and I thought was just okay, but there was no line so it was perfect timing.

Met DH at the room, I had noticed while wearing my new black hoodie that it had a slice on the side that looked like it had been knicked with a box cutter when the box of hoodies was opened, so I wanted to get the receipt, and we all headed into Epcot. We grabbed Test Track FPs again (we never stood in the regular line for this the whole trip), and they were for 4:45p. Rode Mission Space, picked up some Astronaut Ice Cream as a present for my brother. Exchanged my hoodie for an un-damaged one, and DH wanted to grab some pastries for the next morning's ME ride so we did that on his way out of the park to watch the funeral webcast on the laptop in the villa at noon.

DS6 and I got our Agent P cell phone, and really enjoyed doing the London, Japan, and Germany missions on our own. They were really entertaining, I saw some adults without kids doing them. DH returned for our 2:20p Le Cellier ADR.

He got the prix fixe cheese soup, potato gnocchi, and maple creme brulee, I got the mushroom risotto and filet mignon, and we got a side of cream cheese mashed potatoes. DS opted for the cheese soup, grilled chicken, and moose dessert.

Our first DCL cruise was from Vancouver to LA on the Disney Wonder, and we really enjoyed Victoria, so it amazed us that they had captured a bit of Victoria in the WS.
The filet was very good, as filet should be, the soup and risotto we thought was a bit overly salty. The brulee was also about as good as brulee should be, but I enjoyed DS's moose more! We spent a bit of time at the Canada Kidcot, did one more Agent P mission to show DH what it was about, a different mission in Mexico this time and rode the Three Amigos again and spent some time at the Mexico Kidcot. We kind of felt that we had just figured out Epcot World Showcase on our last day, there's was so much cool stuff here. Used our Test Track FP's, then headed to DHS to use our TSM FP's. We rode TOT, then Star Tours a few more times before checking in for his Padawan training.

By the time it was done, the park was closed but we went to get a few more Photopasses of the Osboarne Lights. Some non PP ones:

Then we headed for the Photopass store to transfer DS's Padawan pictures from the special Star Wars card to our card ... we waited in line (only 5 people ahead of us) for almost an hour and a half! Other than that, it was a great finish to the trip. We found out from a CM who had a card of Wreck it Ralph that he had been a character in the park and wished we'd known sooner since DS loves Ralph, but she was kind enough to give DS the card anyways.

We bussed back to the villa, were one of two families on the bus, and right when we got back to the villa IllumiNations was playing so we watched it in the sky again. I went to clear our room charges with the concierge using our Reward cards and sign us up for ME, while DH grabbed some pizza from the window on the Boardwalk. Put DS to sleep after eating, packed. The plan was to do EMH at Epcot but it had been so crowded when we left and we still had packing to do and a 9:15a ME to catch in the morning.

 

[ksromack]

Universal looks fun! I told DH when our girls (who i can tell are already thrill seekers) are tall enough we can go. It's too much money to pay for only him to go on the rides (Disney is about as intense as I can get!) HP looks pretty awesome- I feel the same about HP, I like it, especially because it made kids (and older grown up kids!) read.

I really enjoy kouzzina and it's on our list for breakfast on our grown up trip in Oct. I really enjoy the boardwalk - DH and I spent quite a few evenings there.

The cruise looks like a lot of fun! My DH has shown an interest in DCL so I'm thinking in 2 -3 years we will do one I think I'm turning DH into a Disney junkie like me, he wants to go to DLR and Aulani... Now it's a matter of kids growing!

I think my dh is turning into a Disney lover as well! We decided to do WDW again in 2014 then figured we could handle a DL trip next December Yeah!!!!!! Of course, I've taken the ball and run with that one! Hm.....will have to check out DCL. I've been on 3 cruises, none of which have been through DCL. Dh has never been on one. Oh, and he turns 50 in 2017 so we're planning on Aulani for that celebration

We did two days at Universal and IOA (and WWoHP) this past trip and we absolutely loved it. I'm with your ds, Taaren.....Minions was my favorite ride too! I also agree that the Shrek 4D pre-show was better than the actual attraction. We really enjoyed those 2 parks and were so glad to have the opportunity to see them this time around!

 

[ksromack]

Universal is buying the rights to use Lord of the Rings theme in their parks!! I guess I should call it Middle Earth land?
Here's an article about it, but if you search there's a bunch more!

Oh, my dh is really excited to hear this! I'm going to send him the link to the article. You know, this could really be a gold mine for Universal. I can only imagine the things they'll be able to do with "Middle Earth". They seem to have the touch with technology and theme parks

 

[ksromack]

Finally before the tour was over he offered to take a picture of us on the airboat:

Great picture and a fun reminder of your day!

Then we ordered dessert and were able to eat about half of it before going out to the fireworks.
DH's chocolate cake with peppermint ice cream ... it was a lot like a souffle

My Bananas and Caramel phyllo squares with burnt sugar on the bananas. Yum!

So funny. My dh ordered the same dessert your dh did and I got the same thing you did!

The view of the fireworks from the top of the Contemporary with the music piped in was lovely, it made our quasi-date-night very special. We watched from the "back" landing, there are two of them, and got a spot right at the edge since we headed out about 5 minutes before they started..

I think this was my favorite view of Wishes, too! Narcoossee was a fun spot to see them also.

 

[taaren]

Oh, my dh is really excited to hear this! I'm going to send him the link to the article. You know, this could really be a gold mine for Universal. I can only imagine the things they'll be able to do with "Middle Earth". They seem to have the touch with technology and theme parks

They really do, and its nice for Disney to have some decent competition, because otherwise they might just let their standards slide.

So funny. My dh ordered the same dessert your dh did and I got the same thing you did!

What a funny coincidence! California Grill isn't on my list of "must-go-back-next-trip", but I do want to have that banana phyllo dessert again someday!

 

[Camonkeygirl]

November 16-22 will be our second Disney World trip, probably our last for awhile. But since we upgraded to Premium Annual Passes (for $399 each, it ended up being $20 altogether for me, Alex, and Sam to upgrade from our MYW 10-day Hoppers w/ WP&More tix), it was cheaper for us to fly back to WDW on airline miles this year and NOT buy DLR tickets than it would have been to use our VGC points at VGC. We were thinking we'd have to skip Disney this year with the move from Hawaii to California being so expensive, but I think we can swing it since we have the DVC points, the airline miles with Southwest and Alaska, and the paid-for AP's all we'll need to buy is food and rental car when there.

Got to try to talk John out of Hi. Let's talk if you make it down this way after your move.

 

[taaren]

Got to try to talk John out of Hi. Let's talk if you make it down this way after your move.

Sounds good. It would be fun to have you guys! I do need to solidify my head count before April though since that's my 7 month booking window, to know if we need to grab a 1 bedroom or two. There's also a possibility that Alex's mom might send his niece and nephew with us as her 18th birthday present, but I'm not sure how serious they are, its just an idea they've been tossing around so far.

 

[Camonkeygirl]

We can talk about it, but I think I am going to be overruled this time (john wants his Hi. trip). We will have to see.

 

[taaren]

We can talk about it, but I think I am going to be overruled this time (john wants his Hi. trip). We will have to see.

And with your military discount, its highly likely that the Big Island will be cheaper, so fiscally speaking I think John wins. Even though we'd get a 2 bedroom, so you guys wouldn't have to get a hotel at WDW the park tickets at $325 + airfare at ~$400 RT per person, its more expensive than just getting ~$400 RT airfare to Hawaii (you should be able to find rates around there on Alaska Airlines pretty easily). Either way you can eat pretty cheaply if you want to.

I think for 2014 we're tossing around either another West Coast Repositioning cruise or an Alaska cruise, more likely a Repo since they're reasonably priced and we really liked hanging in Seattle for a few nights pre-cruise then having a short flight home at the end. Now that we'll be living closer we don't have to "combine" trips airfare-wise, and can plan that separate from going back to VGC. I do miss DLR though, and will probably need my "fix" sometime this spring. They're even advertising here in Hawaii about Carsland, etc; I keep hearing ads on the radio.

 

[Camonkeygirl]

flights, even on Alaska seem to be running about $1300 round trip. to Hi. John just said IF we can figure a way to go by train at least one way, the World might be doable. need to wait for tax refund though.

 

[librarygeek]

Universal is buying the rights to use Lord of the Rings theme in their parks!! I guess I should call it Middle Earth land?
Here's an article about it, but if you search there's a bunch more!

Wow, Universal will definitely be a force to be reckoned with if this happens!! Having Middle Earth and Harry Potter would be pretty epic.


Loved reading about your next few days in Disney! I bought the same sweatshirt that you did. I'm also a bit hungry now after the reviews and pictures of California Grill and Le Cellier!