Our Mommy & Me trip to Disney - Sept. 2007 - Pictures being added!

[pamrob]

Once again, I'm back. . . hopefully I can finish up

After napping and cleaning up we headed to DTD for dinner. It was about 4:30 and my hope was to arrive by 5 pm. We did not have any reservations and since it was free dining I was a bit concerned about getting in if we waited too long. I had a voucher for Planet Hollywood from my trip earlier in the month to use.

After checking with several CMs we finally got information about the alternate walking path to DTD. The first part of the path feels like you are headed out on the golf course. There is a bridge across the water and eventually you end up in the parking lot of Cirque de Soleil. It wasn't a bad walk but it is fairly secluded. I don't know if I would recommend it late at night but it was fine during day light.

Here's the view along the way.

We got to Planet Hollywood. Having never been there, I was surprised at the size of the place and all there was to look at. We had a fantastic server. DD ordered the shrimp alfredo and I had the beef fajitas. Both were very good and very filling.

After dinner we were headed to the Lego store when the rain started to fall. We ended up sprinting the last little bit as rain picked up into a full fledged downpour. We picked up a few Christmas presents. DD had a good time snapping pictures of the lego structures both inside the store, and eventually the outside as well. One of my younger girls loves legos and we knew she would love seeing these.

Some of the lego structures.

We hit a few more stores including the chocolate store (yum). After a bit we caught the boat back to SS.

Here is the view from the boat launch at DTD.

We enjoyed the pool and hot tub for the last time before starting to pack and hit the sack.

Marisa received a birthday balloon bouquet and card signed by Snow White.
Here's a picture.

 

[pamrob]

This is the only day I didn't jot down any notes so I am just going to shoot from my memory.

We only had a partial day since we were headed home in the afternoon. Our Magical Express pickup was around 2:30. Knowing we had to figure the worst case scenario for transportation back to the resort, we had about half a day to explore Animal Kingdom. The night before I had my daughter make a list of her top activities. She was to order them by importance so I could make sure she got to do what she wanted in case we ran out of time.

Miraculously we got up, got ready and were on the bus a bit early. We did have to wait for baggage pickup as they were running a couple of minutes behind but soon we were on the bus. I don't remember the wait this particular morning being bad at all. We had had a few mornings when it seemed the bus we needed would never come. This one was pretty quick.

We arrived at AK early and lined up. We were let through the turnstiles about 15 minutes ahead of opening and then waited in the next area for the opening ceremony.

Here's an opening ceremony pix.

Our first stop was Expedition Everest and little did I know it would be a place where we spent a good deal of our morning!
In fact, we rode it ELEVEN times that morning. These were not all consecutive. We stopped and went to other rides as well. The only things I remember are Primevil Whirl and the Safari. Oh and yes Kali River Rapids. How could I forget that??

When we were riding Kali there was no line on our return so we asked to stay on and ride again. They granted this and later I wished they had not. My DD LOVES this ride. Our first ride was relatively wet. Our second ride was the wettest ride I have ever experienced. I just kept thinking about the fact that my clothes were packed and in baggage claim and I was going to be in wet clothes for quite some time. My DD was in heaven.

My only complaint about the morning was the safari fastpass system. In addition to our regular fastpass ability, we had some DVC cards that gave us three immediate FPs per person. When we used our FP for the safari midmorning we got into the FP line. You move pretty quickly but come to a screeching halt when you hit the little hut like area. At that point you become just another person in line. It may have taken 15-20 to finally get on a truck. It seemed much longer, particularly when you have such a short day in the park.

Here's a few pictures DD snapped along the way.

Finally got a picture of a lion!

Here was what looked like a special tour or something. They were off the beaten path.

It was a great ride. I was surprised were saw quite a few animals especially since it was hitting mid to late morning and the weather was relatively warm.

 

[OhMari]

Great pictures. If you are finished I will move you to our completed board. Let me know.
Marisa
OhMari-WDW Trip Moderator

 

[pamrob]

I just have a few more pictures to add and finish up. Unfortunately with the holiday season I have gotten completely off track. Perhaps I'll get motivated this evening! I have some great shots from Expedition Everest! Stay tuned.

 

[OhMari]

Thank you. It's nice when members actually finish. It is so sad to see some really nice trip reports get buried down in the thread and never get completed.

 

[pamrob]

This morning I talked to a friend who was visiting Epcot. This prompted me to remember my long lost trip report. So here I am to finish up.

Our last day spent in AK. My notes were pretty sketchy for the last day. I think I already mentioned how few rides we rode - with the exception of 11 trips on Expedition Everest!

I absolutely love Everest. It is one of my all time favorite Disney rides. I'm not a huge fan of coasters because I hate the first hill with the chug-a-chug-a-chug. However, Everest's first hill isn't bad and the cars are pulled very smoothly up it . No chugging. Another thing I think makes this rides a bit easier on me personally is a few of the drops also include turns at the bottom. For some reason this seems to take a bit of the yikes factor out for me.

As much as I love it I still get tempted to close my eyes here and there or hold onto the bar very tightly, etc. Now when you ride 11 times in one morning, it becomes easier and easier. By our 11th ride I decided to snap pictures throughout the ride. Most of them turned out pretty good so I'll post them below.

Besides using the regular fastpass system we also had the benefit of receiving special fastpass cards from a tour of the DVC models. We were able to obtain three immediate fastpasses that morning with those. Then to my surprise my daughter also agreed to use the single rider line. I have five daughters and Marisa is my most reserved and actually is fairly shy. I guess she was having so much fun that morning she got past that and we had a great time riding using the single rider line. Using that line you are put with other parties that have an odd number or other single riders who wait in the regular line. I don't think we ever waited more than a carload or two. And each time we were on the same ride.

Here is the first "hill"

One you pass through the little enclosed space, this is the view to your left (toward the other parks/resorts). You can see the Swan & Dolphin and MGM.

This is the view to the left (toward Animal Kingdom)

Then when you reach the "top" - where the broken track is (did I mention we rode in the front car on our last ride? I had avoided this until this point but it was alot of fun and I'm glad I gave it a chance)

Here is the view toward the other parks. You can see Epcot directly ahead.

and this is the piece of track at the top

and the drop toward the end of the ride (this is the one where I am usually clinching the bar in front of me but this time I was snapping a picture)

I tried to snap a picture of the Yeti but with the darkness my camera was significantly delayed so much I thought it wasn't going to snap but oh, no I got a lovely picture of this . . .

 

[pamrob]

Sometime during the morning we were headed back toward Everest when we saw this boat boat cruising along with characters. It was playing music which was what caught my attention. I had never seen this boat on my previous trips.

When the time arrived we headed toward the buses and made our way back to SS. We had time to grab some lunch before retrieving our bags.

The trip back to the airport always seems a bit depressing to me. I did look foward to seeing everyone at home but I'm never quite ready to leave Disney!

We ate our lunch at the airport (the roast beef/blue cheese sandwich was very tasty). We also browsed at the Disney store and picked up a souvenior for my DH before heading through security to wait (again) for our plane home.

 

[pamrob]

That's it . . . finally done . . . finishing my report is also kind of sad. I guess I need to start planning another trip! Thanks for reading.

 

[Jrabbit910]

Love reading your TR! Your pics are beautiful! I also love the idea of the Mommy & me trip ideas... What a special gift & what a great mom!!!

Have a wonderful holiday!

 

[pamrob]

Love reading your TR! Your pics are beautiful! I also love the idea of the Mommy & me trip ideas... What a special gift & what a great mom!!!

Have a wonderful holiday!

Thanks for reading! We had a great vacation.

 

[OhMari]

Thank you, you did a great job.