"I think I'm in love, and her name is Polynesia..." an Aug/Sept '15 TR (NEW TR link @ end!)

[rteetz]

I fight with having MK and AK as my favorite parks. Depending on what Avatar looks like it very well could take my top spot.

I find the stroller parking set up at the safari to be weird, and it does always seem to clog up the line.

Glad you finally got your daughter to experience Everest. My younger sister went on but my middle sister wouldn't. That picture is priceless.

 

[skier_pete]

I LOVE that Everest picture! Frameable, I think!
Great job to DD for mustering up the courage and riding it! That's awesome!
Maybe it comes with age- my former ride-chicken (Becca) has conquered her fear of them & is riding the wildest of the wild. Kurt even got her to Fright Fest this year at Six Flags!

Well if Becca can finally get over her fears - maybe DD will someday. Not holding my breath!

Framable - except Disney took it. I suppose I bought the "rights" to it, but IDK I really want it.

Glad DD finally got on Everest! The Harry Potter rides at Universal are great, but they make me motion sick - they have those screens where things are always moving and you are moving at the same time. Make sure she is good with that style of ride before you go over there!

As for your camera....It's a bit outdated now (about 3 years old), but you can probably find something similar. I have the Nikon J1 camera. It is the size of a point and shoot camera, but it has lenses that are interchangeable similar to the DSLR. I love this camera. It isn't too big and bulky to carry around with you all day, but you get quality photos because of the use of lenses. Hope this helps a bit!

I did end up buying the Sony A5100. I really like how small it is, yet you can still interchange the lenses. I was tempted to the A6000 which was another $100, cause it had a viewfinder and a flash mount, but it was also bigger. I think I will be happy with it. I am taking it to the hockey game tonight to see what kind of action shots I can get. I can't actually use my old lenses on it without buying a $200 adapter, but I was able to get a package with a second lens. While the camera isn't quite small enough to be considered a "pocket" camera, without the telephoto lens it is remarkably small.

One neat feature that kind of blew me away is that it has it's own Wi-Fi, and you can actually control the camera remotely with your smart phone! In other words, you can place the camera someplace that you might not be able to sit/stand, and then use your phone to see the image on your camera and even run the zoom and take pictures/video. I thought this could be great as I have a couple of gorilla-pod mounts that I can use to mount the camera to lightpoles and such. You could mount the camera up in the air above the crowds for firework shots. Very nifty.

 

[skier_pete]

I fight with having MK and AK as my favorite parks. Depending on what Avatar looks like it very well could take my top spot.

I find the stroller parking set up at the safari to be weird, and it does always seem to clog up the line.

Glad you finally got your daughter to experience Everest. My younger sister went on but my middle sister wouldn't. That picture is priceless.

MK will probably always have a special place in my heart for sheer nostalgia, as my childhood memories revolve around that single park. DAK if it wasn't for that might be able to take over my favorite, I love all the detail involved in that park - it is just awesome. I don't see Pandora making it pass MK for me, even though I am extremely enthused for Pandora and have been from the beginning.

IT is really goofy (pardon the pun) how they have the stroller parking in the middle of the queue, parents end up having to go through this big routine and basically hold up the entire line. I really wish they'd fix it, as it DOES affect wait times.

 

[PrincessInOz]

YAY! DD got on Everest; with eyes closed. I hope she keeps them opened for the HP rides!

 

[Vernie822]

LMAO, poor DD with her eyes closed the entire time!!! Ahhhh. Hey, at least she went for it! I'm a total ride chicken too! The things she'll do to get to go to Universal.

I always have an appreciation for the standby line of Everest - hardly ever get to see it but it's fun to explore on the rare occasion we don't have a FP!

 

[franandaj]

I'm glad your DD went on Everest without too much struggle, but if she's going to close her eyes for the whole ride on Forbidden Journey, she is going to miss most of the action! I'm sad we're skipping DAK on this next trip, I'm curious about the new Lion King area, but the trip is just too short to pack in too much park time.

I didn't know that the music for the Nemo show wasn't the same music as the movie. I guess I wasn't paying very good attention when we saw it five years ago. Perhaps I should add it to the list for the April/May trip next year! Thanks for making the TR educational and fun. Interesting you wrote that, I'm working on my cruise TR introduction and I just wrote the line, "but you’re not here for a history lesson" in the report!

 

[LindseyJo22]

Your Via Napoli dinner looks fabulous - out of curiosity, do you remember what size pizza you guys ordered? I'm planning a trip for my husband, my mom, and me and we are considering splitting something here, but I can't decide what size pizza to go for!

Love the Everest picture - your daughter is adorable, and it looks like you all are having a great time

 

[buzzrelly]

Good for your DD for getting on EE! I JUST rode it myself this past April, and my picture looks a LOT like yours but I am the one with my eyes closed! I ended up loving it and going 2 more times though!

We also just went to Universal for the first time and LOVED it! The Harry Potter rides are not as "Thrill Ride-y" as EE so your DD will be just fine! I steered clear of Rip Ride Rocket and The Hulk, though my kids both loved those. Everything else there was rideable for me. And Jurassic Park is similar to Splash, just a bit of a bigger drop.

My Universal Trip Report is in my signature if you wanted to check it out before you go. I have a LOT of pictures.

Thanks for sharing your TR!

 

[ash901]

Which of the 2 water parks do you prefer? So hard to choose. They both look great.

 

[skier_pete]

YAY! DD got on Everest; with eyes closed. I hope she keeps them opened for the HP rides!

Ha ha. I hope so! Mom and Dad just might enjoy them more than her.

LMAO, poor DD with her eyes closed the entire time!!! Ahhhh. Hey, at least she went for it! I'm a total ride chicken too! The things she'll do to get to go to Universal.

I always have an appreciation for the standby line of Everest - hardly ever get to see it but it's fun to explore on the rare occasion we don't have a FP!

Yup - she didn't shy away from riding it. She actually ALMOST rode it two years ago and chickened out at the last minute. She was VERY brave this day.

I'm glad your DD went on Everest without too much struggle, but if she's going to close her eyes for the whole ride on Forbidden Journey, she is going to miss most of the action! I'm sad we're skipping DAK on this next trip, I'm curious about the new Lion King area, but the trip is just too short to pack in too much park time.

Yeah - we skipped DAK last fall when it was just DW and I for 5 days. That trip was mostly about Food and Wine, so we had to ditch either DAK or DHS - and DW loves TSMM.

The new lion king area is well incorporated into the rest of Harambe. More impressive was the new Harambe marketplace - at least in themeing. (More on that later in the TR.)

I didn't know that the music for the Nemo show wasn't the same music as the movie. I guess I wasn't paying very good attention when we saw it five years ago. Perhaps I should add it to the list for the April/May trip next year! Thanks for making the TR educational and fun. Interesting you wrote that, I'm working on my cruise TR introduction and I just wrote the line, "but you’re not here for a history lesson" in the report!

Yeah - the movie doesn't have any songs. The music was all written specifically for this show.

I throw in the occasional trivia / history lesson because I can't imagine people not getting bored with listen to me talk about me.

Your Via Napoli dinner looks fabulous - out of curiosity, do you remember what size pizza you guys ordered? I'm planning a trip for my husband, my mom, and me and we are considering splitting something here, but I can't decide what size pizza to go for!

There's 3 size pizzas - I think they are the Individual, Large and Metro Mezzo. We got the Large - which is the middle size. Really it was maybe a little too much for two people - though I think we would've been fine if we had skipped the appetizer. You might be able to share it with 3 people if at least one is a light eater, or if you get an appetizer or two. Not sure the Metro Mezzo would have fit on our table!

Good for your DD for getting on EE! I JUST rode it myself this past April, and my picture looks a LOT like yours but I am the one with my eyes closed! I ended up loving it and going 2 more times though!

We also just went to Universal for the first time and LOVED it! The Harry Potter rides are not as "Thrill Ride-y" as EE so your DD will be just fine! I steered clear of Rip Ride Rocket and The Hulk, though my kids both loved those. Everything else there was rideable for me. And Jurassic Park is similar to Splash, just a bit of a bigger drop.

My Universal Trip Report is in my signature if you wanted to check it out before you go. I have a LOT of pictures.

Thanks for sharing your TR!

That's good to know - that Harry Potter isn't as "thrill ridey". I did look through some of your TR. Looks like you had a great time there and got grandma to ride as well! (Looks like the kids also closed their eyes!) I am not going to be surprised if she completely avoids the coasters. She is really looking forward to the Jurassic Park ride, but she will NOT be thrilled to know that is has a bigger drop than Splash Mountain. She only rides Splash Mountain under protest because she hates the big hill.

Which of the 2 water parks do you prefer? So hard to choose. They both look great.

Whoa! That is a tricky question. This is what I would say: Blizzard Beach is the better park for slides. If you and your family are into the thrills of water slides, Blizzard Beach is where they are the fastest, longest, and most variety.

That said - I would probably pick Typhoon Lagoon as the best park if you've never been to either. It's got more things that are unique - the crazy pounding wave pool, the shark reef, Crush N Gusher. Not a lot of slides though - the three raft style, the three standard body slides, and then Humunga Kowabunga (power slide). The slides here are still better than most water parks I've ever seen - just not as long or varied as BB. Plus the slides are so long at BB - it can tire you out walking up to them. So really it's what you are looking for.

Hope that helps you out.

 

[skier_pete]

Finally you'll notice I started taking a lot more pictures today...when we last left you off, we'd just sat through the Finding Nemo show....

Moving on to Dinosaur!






Another photopass photographer! What isn’t captured in this picture is that a family of squirrels had apparently made their home in this dinosaur skeleton. You can see them in the second picture below.






Off to the ride:



This is such an odd ride to me. First of all, it’s tied into a movie that I barely remember yet have no desire to see.



Second – they decided for whatever reason that T-Rex’s were overdone in Jurassic park, so they made the “bad guy” Dinosaur some weird Dinosaur you never heard of let’s just call it a “Not-A-T-Rex-A-suar”










Then, the ride itself is wayyy too dark to be really interesting. The dinosaurs aren’t really that scary either, except they rely on the “if we fling it at you fast enough it’ll scare you” method of making you jump. It doesn’t help to have gone out to California to ride the vastly superior Indiana Jones Temple of the Forbidden Eye, which is 10 times better than this. Even the ending - where you supposedly bring a dinosaur back to the present with you – doesn’t make any sense since you NEVER SEE THIS DINOSAUR. (It’s from shoehorning the ill-remembered movie into the existing ride.)

Truthfully – none of that mattered to DD – because she kept her eyes closed for the ENTIRE ride and didn’t see any of the dinosaurs.



Usually it’s fun to look at ride photos and see other people reacting, in this case, most of our car looked bored. I reacted on purpose for the camera.


I asked DD if she wanted to ride it again considering that she didn’t see any of it. She said “No Way!”. Yeah, she’s ready for Universal.


Now it was time for us to grad some lunch. We headed to one of our favorite QS places in all of Disney – Flame Tree BBQ. They had re-done the place to give it a little more shade, and had changed the menu slightly and somewhat expanded the seating. Unfortunately, the seating is still outside, so while we were in the shade, we were still sweating like crazy.




I've pointed this out before - but one of the neat things about Flame Tree BBQ is that all the seating areas are themed around predator and prey pairings. Obviously they've extended this to the menu board - with the mongoose looking at the gecko - and if you look at the area directly above the serving area - there's a lizard chasing a bunch of mice.

DW always liked the BBQ Chicken salad here. They changed the recipe slightly it doesn’t have the same dressing, but overall she enjoyed it very much.




I got the BBQ ribs. I tend to be a rib-snob and like my ribs very tender / fall off the bone, but in the past I found the ribs here to be very very good. Today this was not quite the case. The meat wasn’t as good as in the past. However, I still like the flavor of the ribs, and the corn bread and beans were tasty as well.



DD wanted the kid’s hot dog.


Because her portion was small, we let her order an onion ring platter that we all split. These were really good as well.



Overall – it was slightly disappointing as the ribs were a bit tough and DW salad was a step down as well– but the rest of the meal was still mostly top notch and while I might order something else next time, Flame Tree will continue to be our go to QS place when we are at Disney AK.

Just if you go – please don’t feed the birds!


I don’t always manage to pull off the perfect timing on things, but today we got done EXACTLY the things I wanted to get done this morning. (3 of the 4 rides in the park, and 1 of the shows). Beyond that, it was time to meet the class for the Animal Behavior YES class.

To be continued in the next post.

 

[skier_pete]

Since I am the one writing this – I cannot tell you a lot about this class. I will tell you this, when I left DW and DD, it was 12:30 PM, and it was meltingly hot. DD biggest comment about the class was “It was boring, we didn’t do anything I hadn’t already seen.” From what DW told me, there was zero backstage element to this class either, and zero indoors. The class was based around observing animal behavior. The instructor said that she was the “alpha” and that there “job” was too learn from her by observing her behavior. Then they went around the park and observed different animals. The did the Maharajah Jungle Trek, and also rode on the Safari ride again, but didn’t have the instructor along with them for that. My wife thought it was OK, but said “Mostly we couldn’t wait for it to end because it was so hot.”




The age range on this one was a little lower – I think 7 – 12, and DD was on the upper end. Being already very into animals, she is probably right that she knew everything that they said. My feeling is I would only recommend this one if you (a) had a child a bit younger than ours – say 7-10 and (b) were doing this when it wasn’t a bazillion degrees out.

So – what did I do while the girls were taking their class? Well, I had a couple of rides to ride over at DHS that I was the only one that would go on them. So – instead of heading back to the room – I went out and hopped on a bus. I just remember from this walking out to the bus stop and standing there in the stage and the sweat was just pouring down my face. OMG I so hate it here in the summer!

Bus Karma was in my favor, as I figure that a mid-day Park-to-Park transfer might take a while, but I only waited about 10 minutes for the bus. Hopping on it took us right to DHS.



Just as I was walking in, they had the “Frozen celebration” parade was coming out from backstage – so I took a few snaps with my phone. (I had left the camera with DW – she only took the 2 shots above.)






Elsa waved at me. This didn’t actually cool me off though – so I tried to walk through the stores to avoid the parade. On my way to my second favorite ride in WDW.




There was ZERO wait, and when I got into the boiler room for the split (you can either go straight which goes around a boiler, or go to the right) no one was going on the straight branch, and so I walked up and basically got on the ride without waiting in line. They actually had to wait to get enough people to fill the car.

I enjoy this ride so much. So much so that I forgot to do something for the camera. Much of the rest of the cabin was pretty excited.


Love this girl next to me blowing a kiss. And the asian woman behind me sobbing! And the black guy looking like he is just having an awesome time! (oh, and in the shot above the little girl on the far right looking sooooo excited.)


The newest thing with Photopass is the ride video. So far they are only producing ones for the 7DMT and for ToT. This is the one for here – I think it’s pretty cool, but I wish they could get more than half a second of footage to use. Click on the little black square below for a link over to photobucket and you should be able to watch it. It’s worth a look if you haven’t seen it. (The 7DMT is even better.)



Once I’d survived the tower I debated going again, but decided to head over to RnRC and use the single rider line. Again, zero wait. I think standby was listed at about 30 minutes – not too bad.




I was just enjoying the sounds of Aerosmith….



I think the other folks I was riding with were a little more “thrilled” by the ride.



I again thought about doing ToT again, but actually I was pretty run down from the day by this point. I went and got a frozen lemonade – this time in drink form. Then on the way out, I had a photopass guy take my pictures.




I started chatting with the photographer about something or other, but then realized the boat was there, so I rushed off to catch the ride back to the hotel. I don’t remember much, except I was pretty whipped. I had an assignment to do a couple loads of laundry. One minor benefit of DVC is that you get access to free laundry machines. We specifically packed somewhat light on this trip, because we knew we would get free laundry. I had to wait a bit as there were only 2 washers and 2 driers in the DVC wing. True to the story, they were indeed free. So I threw stuff in the wash, and then headed back down. Just sat and enjoyed the quiet.
DW and DD eventually got back to the room, they were really beat at this point. We had earlier decided that we were going to have a very mellow night because of the day plans – and we kept to that plan. I seem to remember we were thinking of going to the pool, but then it started pouring rain so we didn’t.

What's left? Just dinner. That will have to wait until another day!

 

[rteetz]

Looks like another fantastic day.

I love dinosaur and yes it's tied to a movie I don't think many people actually know that. They do a good job so you don't have to know about the movie.

Great photopass pictures at DHS. Those ride photos on ToT and RnRc are hilarious.

 

[Dentam]

I'm enjoying your report! Those ride photos are so funny - I love all the varied reactions of the people around you on ToT. That's also one of my favorite rides in WDW! And I agree that Indiana Jones in DL is much better than Dinosaur.

 

[buzzrelly]

Awesome update! I LOVE the look on the face of the lady on RnRC, the one on the front left seat, diagonal to you. Hysterical!

My daughter is trying to get us to go in July 2017 with her dance school. I went once in June and once in August and don't wish to repeat either experience! That heat is no joke! It sucks all the energy out of you!

 

[mlegerto]

Those photopass photos are priceless! Love seeing the reactions of those around you. Thanks for sharing.

 

[PrincessInOz]

Great work ticking off the must-do list at DAK. What a shame the YES program wasn't more engaging for the kids.

Yeah. I can totally see your DD being ready for UO. Maybe in a couple of years?
Fantastic PP and ride pictures.

 

[skier_pete]

Looks like another fantastic day.

I love dinosaur and yes it's tied to a movie I don't think many people actually know that. They do a good job so you don't have to know about the movie.

Great photopass pictures at DHS. Those ride photos on ToT and RnRc are hilarious.

Well, it was a rare situation where the ride opened in 1998 - and then they sort of ret-conned the ride in 2000 to try and relate to the movie, when in fact they didn't actually make any changes to the ride. (Only the dialog and signage were changed - though I guess from what Wikipedia says the ride was also made "less intense". But appartently not less intense enough to not scare my 12-year old!

I wished I could be as excited about rides as some people appear to be in their ride photos!

I'm enjoying your report! Those ride photos are so funny - I love all the varied reactions of the people around you on ToT. That's also one of my favorite rides in WDW! And I agree that Indiana Jones in DL is much better than Dinosaur.

All KINDS of reactions on ToT. I wish the ride video was a little longer - it's barely a second or two and it's the same as the photo. I totally love ToT. Dinosaur - not so much.

Awesome update! I LOVE the look on the face of the lady on RnRC, the one on the front left seat, diagonal to you. Hysterical!

My daughter is trying to get us to go in July 2017 with her dance school. I went once in June and once in August and don't wish to repeat either experience! That heat is no joke! It sucks all the energy out of you!

Yeah, do you get the feeling that is her first time riding it! It was definitely an authentic reaction!

I couldn't imagine going in July. It's bad enough when it's that hot and the crowds are low. I can't say we will never go again at that time of year because as DD goes through school it is a good time to go, but gosh I don't like it very much. It definitely makes for a different type of touring!

Those photopass photos are priceless! Love seeing the reactions of those around you. Thanks for sharing.

Hopefully none of those people send me nasty-grams about posting their pictures. I wonder if anyone's ever read a TR and seen their pictures in there.

Great work ticking off the must-do list at DAK. What a shame the YES program wasn't more engaging for the kids.

Yeah. I can totally see your DD being ready for UO. Maybe in a couple of years?
Fantastic PP and ride pictures.

We were quite disappointed that the classes we chose did not provide a more exciting experience. I think if we had done them when she was 10 instead they probably would've gone over better.

We are hoping to do a trip next fall to Universal - but she has to keep her grades up for us to take her out of school. So far it's somewhat working.

 

[Dentam]

Hopefully none of those people send me nasty-grams about posting their pictures. I wonder if anyone's ever read a TR and seen their pictures in there.

I'm pretty sure I read a TR months ago where this happened - but they just found themselves in the crowd photos, not ride pics, and they weren't upset about it at all.

 

[skier_pete]

Kind of a slow week - so here's another update - second one this week!

We had had a long day at Animal Kingdom, and we were back at the room and doing laundry. It was a tiring day so we weren't up for much for the evening.

However, we still needed to eat some dinner. We had decided we wanted to go into Epcot to get something for dinner. DD wasn’t that enthused, but came along. We decided to go to the Les Halles Boulangerie Patisserie. (Rough translation: The Bakery / Pastry Hall.) The weather was still drippy, and everyone was sick of the wet – so we picked somewhere fairly close to our hotel. (Pretty nice when you pick the closest restaurant as being IN the park.)



DD said she was not very hungry, so she had the “Roulé Lard et Fromage” or Bacon and Cheese Roll.



I had the “Jambon Beurre” - Ham and Cheese, Dijon Mustard Butter on a Demi Baguette



DW had a bowl of “Bisque de Homard” - Lobster Bisque along with a “Poulet au Pistou” - Chicken Breast with Cheese, Tomato, Red Onion and Pesto



Everyone was very happy with their selections no doubt. But of course who can resist going to a pastry shop in France without getting this:



The cookie was obviously DDs, while DW had the Chocolate meringue while I tried the Duo - White and Dark Chocolate Mousse Cake. Both of ours were quite delicious, though I was the only one that ate my desert there in the shop – the others took it back to the room. Once we were done with that, we called it a night.

I want to point out that I did something today that no-one in our family had ever done before – entered three of the four theme parks in a single day! Don’t want to rub it in, but it was just me…hee hee.

Up next – day 6 – our last full day at the Beach Club!