How A Trip Goes From Relaxing To Lets Do Everything? 2 Week Pic Report From Mar '11

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We left Blizzard Beach where there was a line for the lazy river and went back to the main pool at Old Key West. Here are a few shots of that.

The pool is nice and the slide in the giant sand castle is fun (so fun I did it 3 times .)

So would our luck change around, well some nice gentleman handed us this as we approached the gates for Animal Kingdom.

:

That's nice, right! The last trip that we came down on, we gave two away to a family that was entering. Guess the good vibes were passed along.

Let's get to cleaning up some attractions in Animal Kingdom, shall we?

Into Africa to pick up some Safaris FP's

Cool light

The Fastpass area for Kilimanjaro Safari's

And whataya know, it printed out and extra one!!!

Another shot of the tree from the back side

We went over to catch a showing of Flights of Wonder, and it was hot and while we were waiting, Britt started to have a little meltdown and we all know how to treat a meltdown, right?

Next: Flights of Delights​

 

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Well here we go!! For all of you Flights of Wonder fans, which happens to be a pretty decent little bird show, here are some of the picture highlights.

So that's Flights of Wonder. In reviewing it, the humans are ok but the birds are fantastic and do some pretty cool things and that's the way the trainers would prefer it, I think. If you haven't seen this show, you are missing out and you have not completed a full tour of Animal Kingdom.

Next: Time to enter the palace of the Maharajah​

 

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After the show, we realized we hadn't done the Maharajah Jungle Trek yet this trip, so it's time for a tour through the Maharajah's palace.

This guy's not from Asia

Ah, but these guy's are

On to the Tigers

Next: Finally Back to Everest​

 

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Well, we are working our way through Asia and on our way to use the Fastpasses we were handed for Everest.

My timing was right on the Safaris FP's and it was time to pick up two more. So why not 2 more for Expedition Everest? I apparently was trying to be the Fastpass king of Animal Kingdom .

Alright, so here are some shots while actually on Everest. We figured, with 3 rides in our future, we could ride through the camera one time just to have some cool shots.

Looking out over the park from the top of Everest

Uh-oh, broken track!!!

A look back at Everest, oh we will be back we have 4 more Fastpasses to use .

We stopped by Flame Tree BBQ, one of our favorite Counter Service restaurants on the way to Festival Of The Lion King. I forgot the we could use our Tables in Wonderland discount here :. Too bad, another discount missed.

Here are some pictures of sandwiches from Flame Tree.

And then on to Camp Mickey-Minnie

On with the show

Good show still after all these years. You have got to see it for the tumble monkeys alone.

We saw Flik on the way out.

Next: Time For Another Safari​

 

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Now I have to admit. The Kilimanjaro Safari's is not my favorite attraction at Animal Kingdom (I would almost rather walk through a zoo.) I find the story line to be lacking and transparent and the animals are very predictable (you start to notice these things when you ride it a lot.) Just my opinion and hey, Brittany loves it and would ride it all day if possible.

So, as expected, here are more photos with animals, haha.

Next: Some final Animal Kingdom housekeeping​

 

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Just two attractions to go before our list is complete for Animal Kingdom and just enough time left in the day to get them done.

The first one:

It's Tough To Be A Bug! I am suprised we don't do this one more often. This is a really fun show, if only to see the reactions of people who haven't experienced it before.

And onto our final attraction in Animal Kingdom. The wettest ride in the World .

KALI RIVER RAPIDS!!!

I got wet

Britt got wet

The family we rode with got wet, but the kid loved every second of it and made me laugh the entire way as he rooted for the water like it was his favorite college football team .

Next: A Fantastic Disney Event​

 

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Not enough can be said about the greatness of this next event. We had to pay a deposit for it and plan for it like an ADR and we didn't think it would be worth it, but boy, were our issues laid to rest when we went to it. What was it?

It is awesome. Such an enjoyable way to enjoy the parade, Magic, Memories & You show, and fireworks. Worth every penny!!!

We loved the fact that Disney did not oversell this event. It did not take long to get the desserts and it seemed like the views from all of the tables were great and nobody was really jamming up the rail in front. It was a very fun time.

And here are some of the views that we enjoyed from our location.

Once again, as a wrap up, the cast members were great, the views were very good and the desserts, we thought, were fantastic. If you have the moment and you don't feel like you need to be on crowded Main Street for everything, this is way to go!!!

Next:A Morning In The MK And The Return Of The Rain​

 

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We left the Magic Kingdom after the fireworks party, well, to be honest, we snuck in a ride on the Peoplemover, then walked around and left. Why? Because we knew we had an early morning. Where at?

Right back to the Magic Kingdom

Why, you might ask. Because we had a breakfast ADR of course, why else?

So let's jump on Monorail Orange and try to get over there for the opening ceremony.

We barely made it for the end of the opening ceremony. The crowds were very light this morning. This may have had something to do with the park hours being extended to open at 8 AM every day.

Crowds were light and we had time so in order to try and check off everything, what did we do?

Of course, we jumped on the trolley for a ride to the end of Main Street. It had been forever since I had done that. Possibly since I was a kid. Here are some sights from the trolley.

Our trusty steed

Nice place to unload

Looking back

I was nice to walk around the hub with virtually no one else there to take these photos of the characters.

And my favorite character

Next: A breakfast ADR, thank goodness it's inside​

 

[SevenDwarfDiva]

I am loving your trip report ... like many have mentioned previously ... it is one of the best I have read in a while! Keep it coming!

 

[skidisney]

I am loving your trip report ... like many have mentioned previously ... it is one of the best I have read in a while! Keep it coming!

Thank you so much for keeping with us and reading. We have so many photos from a two week trip and editing and posting is taking longer than I would have thought . And of course, work constantly gets in the way. But I am sticking with it and trying to post as often as possible.

 

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Well, another day has started great. The weather was a little cloudy so we brought our rain gear just in case. We headed down through Adventureland.

Past the Treehouse

And over to the Jungle Cruise where our plan was to get Fastpasses for later since we had breakfast ADR's. Needless, to say, with a wait time of zero, we got a lot of weird looks from Cast Member's who were wondering why we just didn't get on the ride.

Had to take this pic of an empty Adventureland!!!

Onto Breakfast

The Entry Way

The waitress came up and took our drinks and told us that we were welcome to go to the buffet. The buffet has your average breakfast foods. Nothing special. You are not coming here for the food after all. You are here for this:

Winnie the Pooh liked Britt, looks like he just tolerated me

And then the party/dance/parade/whatever you wanna call it happened right before Eyeore came to our table. And what heppened, Eyeore never came back, just skipped right by us. Britt was not having this for the price we were paying, so she went and asked a Cast Member and wouldn't you know it, look who came back.

Piglet stopped by after that

And finally my man Tigger

The character interaction was pretty good (for two adults.) The kids at the table over from us loved it. The food was mediocre. Our TIW discount was $9.20. Total bill after tip and tax for Crystal Palace $47.46.

Not running back to eat there but a good start to the day. And then it happened again.

Next: The Week 2 Deluge Begins​

 

[saintstickets]

Quote:
Originally Posted by SevenDwarfDiva
I am loving your trip report ... like many have mentioned previously ... it is one of the best I have read in a while! Keep it coming!

Thank you so much for keeping with us and reading. We have so many photos from a two week trip and editing and posting is taking longer than I would have thought . And of course, work constantly gets in the way. But I am sticking with it and trying to post as often as possible.

Doing a TR is definately a labor of love! I found out doing mine that it is very time consuming and as you said, other factors get in the way! Thanks for doing your TR. Loving it!

 

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We had gotten lucky in the new week. The rain hadn't come like it had in the first week. And then, while we were inside the Crystal Palace, the heaven's opened up. We waited it out for a bit and then ducked out into it to try and clean up some attractions in Frontierland.

It was empty and very wet.

We decided to jump into the Jamboree.

Right after we took that last pic, they announced that the bears were having some technical difficulties. But it was inside, haha. So we braved the storm to see what was open.

Splash and Big Thunder, closed.

Tom Sawyer Island, closed.

The ponchos were out in Frontierland.

The Riverboat, closed.

The Hall of Presidents, open. Finally

Into the theater

One of my favorite hidden spots in Disney World. The back porch on Hall of Presidents has some rocking chairs on it prefect for sittin' and watching the crowds roll by.

Next: Back To Frontierland​

 

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After the Hall, we ran back through the rain to the Country Bears to see whether up to performing again. Turned out that they were so we went in for the show.

We then went back over to the Jungle Cruise and used our Fastpasses in a line that was non-existent. Our reward for getting FP's early, I got to sit in the gap where everybody was getting in and out of the boat with their wet shoes on. It was lovely.

It was a very wet Jungle Cruise, but hey check it off of our list in our journey to do everything. So far, we had checked off 3 of the attractions we still needed to hit in the MK.

Next: A Journey On The Riverboat​

 

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Next, we went over to the Liberty Belle. It had been a while since I had ridden this attraction. There weren't many people on it with us so we were able to move around a lot and take a lot of pictures of the views around the Rivers of America.

A look at the Mansion

Aunt Polly's

The Paddlewheel

Inside the boat

The River

A look at Big Thunder

Next: Continuing Around The River​

 

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So here are a few more pictures as you look from out from the Liberty Belle Riverboat.

After the Riverboat, we moved over to the island and Fort Langhorn to cross it off our list.

Into the fort

The horses don't want anything to do with us

These guys too. Proves that the boy screaming at the wall in Spaceship Earth is not the only rude AA in Disney World.

Next: The Mansion And We Move It, Shake It And Celebrate It​

 

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We had some time still before our lunch ADR and since crowds were so light, we decided to go by the Haunted Mansion and take our time in the new queue.

The new queue is really cool and deserves some exploration time.

We were moving to our lunch destination and ran into the Move It, Shake, Celebrate It show/parade. So we decided to catch the show for a bit and check it off our list.

He Want's You

Next: An Overlooked Magic Kingdom Restaurant​

 

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After moving, shaking and celebrating, we headed on over to the Plaza Restaurant. I had heard that this was a pretty good value restaurant and boy did we need one of those after our large spending spree so far this trip. I once again made the mistake of scheduling ADR's too close together, but hey, what are you gonna do? Miss one? Nah. Let's head in!

A look at the inside

And the menu

Britt had the Plaza Club - smoked ham, turkey, bacon, lettuce, tomato and mayonnaise layered on toasted multi-grain bread $11.49

While I had the Cheese Steak Sandwich - shaved beef, grilled with onions, mushrooms, red peppers, and white American cheese served on a hoagie roll $11.99

A Coke and a Sprite with that at $2.69 each.

And for dessert, the Brownie Sundae - vanilla ice cream and a fudge brownie topped with hot fudge, whipped cream and a cherry $5.99.

Britt said the Club was average, I thought the Cheesesteak was great and the Brownie Sundae was really good too even though Britt was a little stuffed from the too close breakfast and lunch ADR's. The TIW discount on the meal was $6.97. Total after tax and gratuity was $35.97. It was a bargain compared to what we felt we got earlier at the Crystal Palace, but then again, there wasn't a Tigger with this meal.

Next: Beginning Our Grand Circle Tour​

 

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After the Plaza Restaurant, we head up into the Main Street train station and had some time to check out the details around the station.

The view from the balcony

A look down on the Mayor, Pluto and Daisy greeting guests

Let's head into the station

Here comes the train!

Then we decided to get off the train in Frontierland to get a spot along the parade route to check that off our list.

And we found our spot across from the Liberty Bell and Liberty Tree.

Before the parade, they had a few high school marching bands and the Main Street Philharmonic band march through

Next: Let The Parade Begin!!!​

 

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The reason why we got off the train even though, in our minds, we had to make the grand circle tour to cross it off our list. We thought cutting the tour in two pieces was OK as long as we were checking another thing off our list. So we parked ourselves just over the bridge in Liberty Square and made sure we got a good photo spot. Hopefully, these photos paid off.

Before the parade, there was this elegant Grand Marshall Car

Alright, let's get on with the Celebrate A Dream Come True parade!!!

Donald and Chip were partying down

As was my main man Goofy in his purple suit

Which do you like better, the purple suit or his bathing suit?

Here is Woody and Jessie

Just Jessie

Pluto

And Stitch

The main man himself

Here is the Pinocchio float

Love the Figaro on the back of this float

And on the bottom

On to Snow White

And Dopey

Next: More Of The Parade​