Some people ARE worth melting for ….. 40 Disney days – the trip of a lifetime updated October 10

[Pinkocto]

We felt famous - and guess what, when we left San Diego on the Wonder a mother and daughter team recognized us as well. We even became friends with them and had the best time during the cruise with them.

I really hope we can do that again!

 

[Pinkocto]

What a lovely relaxing afternoon. Those desserts at B & C are huge! I've never heard of anyone trying the banana bread dessert. It looks much better than I expected.

The dessert shop in AK is cute. When they first opened they had fudge shaped like the droppings of different animals. They stopped after the first few weeks. I thought it was a cute idea but maybe not too many people agreed

 

[franandaj]

Wow! All the reports I had read had started with the snack buffet. I wonder why yours didn't. But it was really something special.

We didn't have a snack in 2010, maybe it's something they added later. Although we did stop for a snack on the Savannah, maybe they moved it to the beginning rather than during the ride.

Sounds like a great safari and dinner. Too bad they couldn't serve the entrees warm. When we did it everything was served family style.

we really like to drive in the US - part of the vacation fun.

Now thus sentence makes me think you two might be crazy!

we came across a sweets shop which really was interesting

We visited that one too, quite unique!

 

[dizneeat]

I really hope we can do that again!

Me too!!! I really hope we can meet up in the summer next year.

Those desserts at B & C are huge! I've never heard of anyone trying the banana bread dessert. It looks much better than I expected.

They ARE huge! And no one was more surprised than me when Tom ordered the banana bread dessert. He very seldom orders something sweet and he usually has a milkshake at B&C. His dessert tasted really nice.

The dessert shop in AK is cute. When they first opened they had fudge shaped like the droppings of different animals. They stopped after the first few weeks. I thought it was a cute idea but maybe not too many people agreed

I think this was the one that had the animal dropping desserts. I told Tom about it while we were looking around. When they posted photos of them on the foodblog I was kind of wondering who would buy those, but I found it pretty funny.

We didn't have a snack in 2010, maybe it's something they added later.

I did not find many reviews online, but they all had the snack buffet before the safari. But I really hope they keep the snacks as they were really yummy.

Sounds like a great safari and dinner. Too bad they couldn't serve the entrees warm. When we did it everything was served family style.

The safari was awesome. Those guides have such a wealth of knowledge and are able to explain things really understandable. I loved to have some insight into their daily routines and what goes into looking after those animals.
I did read about them serving the dinner family style in the beginning. I was happy to see that they had changed to plated food for starters and desserts. We would not have minded the family style if the serving dishes would have been warm. But they were icy cold and the marble table top helped it to stay cold. It was such a shame, as they all were pretty cold - just the temperature was not okay.

Now thus sentence makes me think you two might be crazy!

Driving in the US is very different to us. Especially at Disney it is a pleasure. I do NOT like driving in LA though. It was the only place (in over 20 years of travelling to the US) where I told Tom that I would not leave the crappy motel for a week, just so we would not have to drive on those crazy freeways any more. He then offered that we drive to the Mickey Mouse Park in 1992 and the rest is history.
But we really enjoyed being able to drive when we went down HW1 in California!

We visited that one too, quite unique!

 

[dizneeat]

Day 7, August 09

Lazy day gone busy - Part 3

When we got to Showcase Plaza we stopped by the shops and there were some really fun posters in there, that caught our eye.

We spent some time looking at the merchandise before we headed towards the Land. When we got to Journey into Imagination we saw that it was just a five minute wait, so we jumped in line and visited Figment.

And then it was time to ride Mission Space.

​

We used our Fastpass, and with orange ticket in hand walked into the ride building. We did not really need to FastPass, but it was nice not having to worry about a line. And while we had to wait I tried to look for another FastPass and we were able to pick one up for The Seas with Nemo and Friends. Soon we were divided into teams and were sent on our way to Mars. We have done this ride so many times, but it never seems to get old and we had lots of fun. Once we got off we strolled towards the exit, walked towards Mousegear and went through the shop, exploring more of the merchandise before we walked over to the Nemo ride, got into the FastPass line and discovered that the ride was completely empty,

there were no guests in either line and when we got to our ride vehicle we could choose whichever we wanted to sit in and off we went to enjoy the ride. Once we got off we walked over to the Land and walked right onto Living with the land.

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There was only one other family on our boat and we enjoyed seeing all the new ways to grow plants there. Once we got off we checked wait times and saw that Soarin only had a 10 minute wait. Hm, maybe we should hop into that line. So we quickly headed over and there was actually no one in line. We walked all the way down to where FastPass and regular line meet and were told to just walk straight ahead. About two thirds down the way we met the rest of the people in line.

We were so surprised. Tom had timed our line for Touringplans and it actually ended up a 4 minute wait.

So then we were told to get in a certain line and Tom asked for front row and we were told to go to the furthest glider to the left. There we were seated in the desired row and soon were Soarin’. I didn’t notice it at first, but once we got to the second destination I realized that being at the outer gliders the buildings “bent over”. But we did not mind too much, we really enjoyed enjoyed the new movie. When we got off we were way into the Extra Magic Hours and I was kind of disappointed as I had wanted to do Frozen Ever After right during Illuminations and we had missed that opportunity.
We checked the app again and guess what, Frozen Ever After was down. So we strolled through Mousegear again and down to Showcase Plaza. We walked into the Mexican Pavillion, but there was such a long line for the boatride and La Cava was mobbed, so we moved on and when we got to Norway, people were starting to line up for Frozen Ever After. They had not opened the ride again yet, but we quickly jumped into what seemed a pretty short line and waited and really, about 10 minutes in the line started to move.

What we had not realized was that people were waiting inside the building as well. But at least there was no 2 hour wait. So we slowly crept inside the building, loved seeing all the pictures and theming and were in awe once we got to the “town square” area.

The line snaked back and forth and moved pretty slowly, but it gave us time to enjoy the settings. Then we finally got to the part where you enter one of the houses and we loved the images provided in there as well. And finally we made it to the end of the line and were told to sit in the front row. We climbed in and even though it is the same ride it was before, it was fun seeing it transformed to a Frozen theme.
When we left, we realized that we had been queueing for over an hour and decided that it was time for us to call it a day and head back to the car. It took us a while to walk back to it, but by quarter to 12pm we had made it there and drove back to Kidani.
We arrived in our room after midnight and fell right into bed.

To be continued ....​

 

[Pinkocto]

Me too!!! I really hope we can meet up in the summer next year.

Absolutely!

 

[dizneeat]

Absolutely!

 

[Pinkocto]

You and Tom were able to squeeze a lot in that evening, what fun! I really enjoyed the new Frozen ride. I left with a huge smile on my face. That Olaf is too cute. It didn't occur to me that the normal queue is worth seeing.

 

[Tasscrapper]

I just found your report last night and caught up today. I am loving it! I guess I now have to be patient like everyone else for the next part. Can't wait till you make it to Disneyland which is the park I am familiar with.

 

[Trixie15]

Loving your review - thanks! Can't wait to read more!

 

[franandaj]

You got a lot of rides done there in the after hours. The waits were not bad at all. I had forgotten that you were switched to Kidani and I wondered why you weren't going back to the Yacht Club!

 

[KathyM2]

I'm a little late to this party, but loving your TR so far. I can't imagine doing a trip that long all over Disney...how amazing!! Looking forward to hearing about the rest of it!!

 

[rteetz]

Looks like a nice time at Epcot. I love living with the land. Only 4 minutes for Soarin Wow!

 

[TimNJ]

Krispy Kreme, KFC, and Beaches and Cream all in one day?

Please adopt me.

 

[MAGICFOR2]

Ups, seems like I worded something wrong. We had a fun time at AK.

Oh good! I guess I thought you just didn't feel much like doing anything, so you left. I'm glad it was fun!

Getting up and having the savannah to look out onto always starts your day out right.

It is amazing for sure!

I see you had a great Safari! Now back to read the rest!

ETA: HOW FUN for you to have an unexpected DISmeet! The treat shop at the park looks yummy and fun! Of course B&C is always a nice treat! Did you find the geocache? Or was it really a beer?

 

[oceanmarina]

Hi following here! Just binge-read your TR, what a great trip so far.

We were there this August and frozen ever after was down every time we had a fast pass. My daughter was so disappointed not to get to ride it.

Love your pictures. Your pictures of Kidani are bringing back memories of when we stayed there 5 years ago.

Looking foward to reading more. Marina

 

[kittymamma]

Oh Karen... where oh where is another installment of your TR ? You must realize there are numerous "report junkies" out here just waiting for more about your fabulous trip. Hope you have one in the pipeline for us soon.

 

[dizneeat]

Oh Karen... where oh where is another installment of your TR ? You must realize there are numerous "report junkies" out here just waiting for more about your fabulous trip. Hope you have one in the pipeline for us soon.

I am very sorry to keep you all waiting, especially since I have typed a few more days already, but unfortunately it is that time of year ...... exams! I thought I might be able to update today, but marking and grading one class' exams took far longer than I expected (and I am still not done) and there will be another exam tomorrow. But I'll try my best to update tomorrow. Too late today (it's already 10pm here). Keep your fingers crossed that I can fit it in tomorrow.

 

[jenseib]

Catching up! Dis is giving me grief and keeps crashing each day so it took me a while. Loving the trip so far.

I love this pillow!

 

[kid-at-heart]

I am very sorry to keep you all waiting, especially since I have typed a few more days already, but unfortunately it is that time of year ...... exams! I thought I might be able to update today, but marking and grading one class' exams took far longer than I expected (and I am still not done) and there will be another exam tomorrow. But I'll try my best to update tomorrow. Too late today (it's already 10pm here). Keep your fingers crossed that I can fit it in tomorrow.

What subject you teach? English? I remember you telling us once but it has slipped my mind. I certainly know how "grading stress" feels. I have six classes this semester. I supposed to have four but we had someone quit at the last minute. Personally I was glad the new hire quit, he was assigned a cubicle across from me and he liked to bathe in cologne. Since I have asthma, it was creating a problem. Another "oldie" and I split his load so it all worked out without it hurting the students who had signed up for his classes.

I just gave a final last week, graded it this weekend, have another final in two weeks and then four finals two weeks later. The class start dates were spread out over four weeks so my head is spinning. Our semester break starts in mid-December but break time is when I do the scheduling and staffing of classes for our program (one of the hats I wear). Good think I like my job. And during break, I can work from home. Always a bonus.

Kate