Ten Sleeps in Disney World!! - An Aug Trip Report *5/9 Departure Day & Final Thoughts

[Lady Lallie]

Another wonderful update! Even though you didn't get to everything you wanted in WS, it sounds like a pretty nice afternoon/evening.

I love those light up sidewalks too. They are just so cool and magical!

 

[wdwgirl03]

Ariana has good taste...I love love LOVE Soarin too!

And those lights out by Innoventions are so cool. Love them!

I had no idea about Snow White's wishing well either. The things you learn from other TRs...

 

[ZeroToHero]

(Step away from the pond Lou!)

Love the updates!!!!

You know, we actually stayed to watch the Norway movie? It was only about 5 minutes, and it really wasn't bad at all! I liked it more then I thought I would!

Good of George to pull all the strollers in, that was nice of him.
I bet a lot of people appreciated that... it's weird that the CMs don't automatically do that... have a covered canopy or something for them... or Disney could even have it up all the time, since it rains so much there.

Just wait until I post my pictures of the Wishing Well...

 

[mickeysmyboy]

I got behind on your updates

Sounds like you had a wonderful day in Epcot!! I'm glad the rain stopped!

Your lunch at Teppan Edo sounds lovely!! I'm going back and forth about booking and ADR there for our January trip! My main concern is there beign something for the kiddos! They tend to be picky!

I love the picture of Ariana standing in the lights! Very cool!! I love those lights!!

Can't wait to read more!

 

[Mickey_Mom]

Just noticed I had the same cook, Kenji, when we ate at Teppan Edo in July.

Not the best picture I had of him (I took mostly video of his cooking techniques). He was the best part of our meal (aside from the yummy food) that night. The service was fair to say the least. Our server (can't remember her name) seemed really stressed out but wanted to make sure she said and did everything perfectly. The time we were there seemed far too long but I guess anything seems longer than it actually is when you're in a rush to move on to the next thing in Disney!

Kenji was a hoot. He was a bit quieter than some of the other cooks there but I appreciated his subtle humor more. It was definately a long lunch that didn't quite work out as planned for George and Ariana, but it was great for us!

I LOVE the picture you took with the bunny and Demetri in the foreground. Can't explain why... just really like how the picture turned out. And your fireworks pics are pretty good too. I still need to figure out how to work my camera so I can take pics of fireworks. Just need to read through a few 50+ more pages in the instruction manual. And they call these cameras simply "Point and Shoot" Love everything so far. Keep the updates coming

Thanks! I found out more about my camera when I googled it. It was easier to find how to do specific things like the fireworks and continuous, etc. And of course just pushing buttons and practising with traffic going past my house!

The pictures of Illuminations are great!

I do like the shots I got of Illuminations but I just got mixed up with my settings and the rest came out blurry. Next time!!

How did I know that Ariana was going to choose Soarin'? There's nothing better than ending a long day at the park on your favorite rides.

That worked out really well for us this trip... keep it relatively early so we're not constantly tired, but end the days on our favs!

I just read through your last few updates and they're great. I'm loving your August trip report, cause we're going in August next year.!! I know it will be HOT but I can't wait.

Thanks! Hot yes, but very manageable.... don't forget the misting fans!

Glad the rain stopped for you!! It looks like your Rain, Rain Go Away worked for you. I wish it had for us.

We always enjoy The Three Caballeros ride in Mexico--so much fun!! You got some great pictures!!

Love the pictures of Illuminations!!

On this day the rain went away.... Its a cute little ride eh? I tried to take pictures of the fireworks on the ceiling but I just couldn't get it. Oh well (everyone say it with me.....) next time!

 

[Mickey_Mom]

Another wonderful update! Even though you didn't get to everything you wanted in WS, it sounds like a pretty nice afternoon/evening.

I love those light up sidewalks too. They are just so cool and magical!

It was fun for sure. I hadn't really explored the pavillions like that before and a lot of what we did was new. Next time each of us will choose one pavillion to really thoroughly explore. Not sure if I'll pick China or Japan....

Ariana has good taste...I love love LOVE Soarin too!



And those lights out by Innoventions are so cool. Love them!

The fountain came on too as we were walking thru.... beautiful!

I had no idea about Snow White's wishing well either. The things you learn from other TRs...

We thought it was always there!

Love the updates!!!!

You know, we actually stayed to watch the Norway movie? It was only about 5 minutes, and it really wasn't bad at all! I liked it more then I thought I would!

Oh, it was OK when we saw it on our first trip, but the number of times we ride Malestrom... we walk thru. What is that giant thing in their shop by the way?

Good of George to pull all the strollers in, that was nice of him.
I bet a lot of people appreciated that... it's weird that the CMs don't automatically do that... have a covered canopy or something for them... or Disney could even have it up all the time, since it rains so much there.

I've wondered that too... why not have a covered area for strollers? They wouldn't be able to do it everywhere but some areas would be nice.

Just wait until I post my pictures of the Wishing Well...

I can't even imagine......

I got behind on your updates

Sounds like you had a wonderful day in Epcot!! I'm glad the rain stopped!

Your lunch at Teppan Edo sounds lovely!! I'm going back and forth about booking and ADR there for our January trip! My main concern is there beign something for the kiddos! They tend to be picky!

I wondered if Demetri would enjoy it or not but he's pretty adventurous with food and will try almost anything. Maybe bring back up 'for sures' for the kiddies to eat?

I love the picture of Ariana standing in the lights! Very cool!! I love those lights!!

Can't wait to read more!

I love them too!

 

[Mickey_Mom]

Whoops! Forgot the Favorite and Not-so-Favorites for our Epcot day.

ALEX:
The rain! Spaceship Earth
Loooooong line at Test Track.

ARIANA:
Fireworks and Soarin
Nothing!

DEMETRI:
Test Track and fireworks
I couldn’t go on Mission Space

 

[Mickey_Mom]

Thirteen years ago today, my little girl was born. In the delivery room, George said to me... "She's here honey! Your little princess is here!" How prophetic!

I now have two teenagers in the house......

Happy birthday Ariana! You've fought so hard to get where you are today... we love you!

 

[mickeysmyboy]

Happy birthday Ariana!!!

Your sentiment was beautiful!! It brought tears to my eyes!! Today is a day for you to celebrate too!! Have a wonderful day!​

 

[ZeroToHero]

Happy Birthday Ariana!

 

[cheryterese]

Awwwww....happy birthday to your princess!!

 

[Angies1274]

Happy Birthday to Ariana!!!

I hope she has a wonderful day!!

 

[cjackearl]

Happy Birthday Ariana!!


What a great Epcot day! There never seems to be quite enough time to see everything in the WS, but you gave it a great college try! What lovely Illuminations pictures. I should probably learn a bit more about my camera, but I don't think its got a fireworks setting. It has a night portrait setting though. I love how Ariana's answer to Not-so-Favorite thing is always Nothing!

I've been meaning to tell you that your kids have the BEST cheeks!! I'd probably refrain from squeezing the teenagers, but Demetri would be in trouble. Such cuties.

 

[Lady Lallie]

Happy Birthday!!!

 

[Mickey_Mom]

Happy birthday Ariana!!!

Your sentiment was beautiful!! It brought tears to my eyes!! Today is a day for you to celebrate too!! Have a wonderful day!​

Happy Birthday Ariana!

Awwwww....happy birthday to your princess!!

Happy Birthday to Ariana!!!

I hope she has a wonderful day!!

Happy Birthday Ariana!!


What a great Epcot day! There never seems to be quite enough time to see everything in the WS, but you gave it a great college try! What lovely Illuminations pictures. I should probably learn a bit more about my camera, but I don't think its got a fireworks setting. It has a night portrait setting though. I love how Ariana's answer to Not-so-Favorite thing is always Nothing!

I've been meaning to tell you that your kids have the BEST cheeks!! I'd probably refrain from squeezing the teenagers, but Demetri would be in trouble. Such cuties.

They've inherited my chipmunk cheeks! Much cuter on them than they ever were on me!

Happy Birthday!!!

Thank you so much everyone! You all had me fanning the air in front of my eyes She loved all of your happy birthdays and smiled ear to ear! You guys are the best.... thank you!

 

[DisBride2009]

Hey,
Happy Birthday mama! I hope you had a wonderful birthday. May all your birthday wishes come true!

****PRINCESS ARIANA's BIRTHDAY 2009****

 

[PracPerfPatricia]

Happy Belated Birthday to Ariana!

I hope the day was everything you wanted it to be and that your year is full of happy days and magic!​

 

[Mickey_Mom]

Hey,
Happy Birthday mama! I hope you had a wonderful birthday. May all your birthday wishes come true!

****PRINCESS ARIANA's BIRTHDAY 2009****

Happy Belated Birthday to Ariana!

I hope the day was everything you wanted it to be and that your year is full of happy days and magic!​

Thank you both! She'll be so thrilled tonite when I show her.

We went out for dinner last night to her favorite restaurant..... they gathered the staff and sang Happy Birthday to her while presenting her with a chocolatety overflowing brownie with a candle in it. She was dancing in her seat!

**Quick note, when she was six years old, she learned to answer the question "how old are you"? Problem is, she's always answered "six"..... she just wasn't getting the connection. This summer, right before our trip, she started answering "twelve" ! And now, she answers "thirteen" !!

 

[Mickey_Mom]

“Typhoon Lagoon was created in the wake of the storm-of-storms. Surfboards were hurled into palm trees and boats were tossed through thatched roofs of beach houses and onto mountains. A hapless shrimp boat, Miss Tilly, journeying from Safen Sound, Florida, found itself swept up by the twisting tides of the fierce typhoon. The storm's force propelled the boat onto the peak of the volcanic mountain, Mount Mayday. To this day the shrimp boat still sits—impaled and precariously perched. Every half hour, the boat's whistle blows and the volcano attempts to dislodge its burden by bursting, causing an enormous geyser of water to shoot skyward. After the storm swept out to sea, Mount Mayday became the source for many waterslides, rivers, rapids: a sun-drenched Water Park.” … About.com

Today we were super excited to be going for the first time to Typhoon Lagoon!

We’d added the water parks and more option to our park tickets this trip as an extra incentive for Alex. He was bummed when he couldn’t get a friend to come with him so we’d added the option and some extra days to the trip. All of us love water parks! George likes to snooze in the sun (foreshadowing alert!), I love the lazy river, and the kids love the fast slides and wave pool. We caught the bus at a respectable 9:30am and arrived in less than 10 minutes. I was a bit rushed getting thru the front gates so I only snagged one quick picture.

As we were heading to find a spot, we were intrigued by the rental of a private cabana for the day. Can you imagine?! Two hundred and fifty dollars for the day…. whew! Private cabana quickly rejected, we moved on to snag a spot for the day and then come back for lockers, life jacket etc. We just followed the path and really had no idea what was considered a “good” spot to go so we just figured we’d find out what we’d end up with.

We kept going until we literally hit the water and found a table right beside the “Let’s Go Slurpin” drinks station. Unfortunately it was also a smoking area but we didn’t know that until later and it was too late to move. But oh well, we were planning on spending most of our time in the water anyway so…..

We rented a locker and got Demetri a life jacket, slathered up with sunscreen and went for a walk around the edges of the pool to see everything. We decided to find the Castaway Creek lazy river and just sail around the park to see what all was there. We didn’t have a map yet so we were just relying on the signs and walked straight away from the entrance to the lazy river that was right behind our chairs. We did make it on though and man, could I have just stayed on there all day! I mean, why get off?

We quickly learned how it worked, each entrance had a name (thankfully, since I always lost track of where I was!) and the tubes stay in the river… you just grab one from someone coming off. You never had to wait very long and you just hop on and go. Loved it! We did a complete circuit and then found out our closest entrance to our spot was the Seahorse one. Mental note. We went in the main pool and had a hoot battling those huge waves!

Every thirty seconds or so you’d hear what we labeled a “fwoomp!” sound and a wave would start. I was in complete awe of the size of those things! They are crazy high! Mind you, you have to be pretty far out to get the highest part of the waves, and when they reached the outer edges they were hardly more than teeny blips, but holy crap! How do they do that?!

Demetri was freaked out by the waves and we were worried it was going to be an early day for him, but George showed him something that soon had him running towards the water everytime he heard the fwoomp. He showed him how little the waves were at the edges and if he sat down in the water right when the wave hit, by the time the water came to him it would gently lift him of the bottom and carry him forwards and backwards.

We were in the vicinity of our table when we noticed someone sitting at it and another person standing beside them. I looked over at George with a raised eyebrow and he nodded back to me with hands raised telling me he was watching them. I shrugged and turned back to the kids watching them play. A little bit later I look back at the table and suddenly one of our five chairs had been shoved to another table. Well honey, watch them all you want but I’m going over there to claim back our table! I mean our stuff was all over it, our shoes were underneath each chair and the stroller was tucked into it to. There’s no misunderstandings there, they just wanted to take it.

So I casually walk back to our table, grab one of our towels and bring the fifth chair back with a smile on my face that plainly reads, “bye bye!” I seriously thought for a minute they weren’t going to leave but then they looked at one another and finally got up. Geesh!

I have no idea in what order we did anything at this park, I don’t have a whole lot of pictures to remind me. I did turn Alex lose with the waterproof camera and he came back with some pretty cool shots.

I snagged the camera back and took a few shots of Ariana too.....

Up Next: Uhhhhhh, I'm not feeling so great.....

 

[mickeysmyboy]

Sounds like a great morning at Typhoon Lagoon!

Well, except for the chair stealing people! Those are the same people who walk up next to you 2 minutes before the parade starts and expect you to move for them. Ummmm no, not going to happen!

I hope everything was ok and no one got too sick!! The foreshadowing is going to kill me until the next time you update!!