The Most Magical Time of Year in the Most Magical Place on Earth! Nov. 2010 NEW 4/5!

[klacey1]

Sounds like you guys had a fun breakfast! It's so hard for me to convince DBF to go to any character meals-- I think I might show him this so he can see there are guys around his age who love the princesses!

 

[Purpleblanket]

quote: " Thanks so much for joining in! How exciting that you have a trip coming up so soon!

I've read about people transferring their photos each night, but I never thought it would be necessary - I could just do that once I got home. Never again! I will definitely be more cautious this time around. And you're right, there are so many tips to be learned here!
__________________



Hey we're back!!! We had a great time! I will have to start my own TR soon!
In the meantime, I'm still enjoying your photos!!
We had a great time and rode everything we wanted!! We were up early every morning!


Debbie

 

[Tnkrbelle565]

Love all the pics of empty Epcot. I actually laughed that nobody is in the pics until you get to the huge crowd in front of Akershus! Really pretty pic of you with the Mickey and Minnie. Aisling want to go to Akershus again this trip. I'm hoping that we get Ariel this time (last time we had Mary Poppins and Mulan).

 

[SOUTHERNtinkerBELLE]

Sounds like you guys had a fun breakfast! It's so hard for me to convince DBF to go to any character meals-- I think I might show him this so he can see there are guys around his age who love the princesses!

You definitely should! As you can probably tell, Miguel loves the breakfast at Akershus!

quote: " Thanks so much for joining in! How exciting that you have a trip coming up so soon!

I've read about people transferring their photos each night, but I never thought it would be necessary - I could just do that once I got home. Never again! I will definitely be more cautious this time around. And you're right, there are so many tips to be learned here!
__________________



Hey we're back!!! We had a great time! I will have to start my own TR soon!
In the meantime, I'm still enjoying your photos!!
We had a great time and rode everything we wanted!! We were up early every morning!


Debbie

I'm so glad to hear you had a great time! Let me know when you start your TR - I would love to follow along!

Love all the pics of empty Epcot. I actually laughed that nobody is in the pics until you get to the huge crowd in front of Akershus! Really pretty pic of you with the Mickey and Minnie. Aisling want to go to Akershus again this trip. I'm hoping that we get Ariel this time (last time we had Mary Poppins and Mulan).

Thanks! Yeah, I was wondering where all the people were. Clearly they were all in line for breakfast! Each time we've went to Akershus we've seen Aurora, Cinderella, Snow White and Ariel. They must be the typical bunch right now.

 

[Belle1107]

Your TR is the first that I have read and I am really enjoying it. I have been to WDW so many times and never thought to do one. But you just got me hooked. Im headed down in three weeks and am going to try doing my own TR. Love it! Looking forward to hearing about the rest of your trip!

 

[SOUTHERNtinkerBELLE]

Your TR is the first that I have read and I am really enjoying it. I have been to WDW so many times and never thought to do one. But you just got me hooked. Im headed down in three weeks and am going to try doing my own TR. Love it! Looking forward to hearing about the rest of your trip!

Thank you so much for joining in! It is so much fun to do these reports. I hope you decide to do one for your upcoming trip! Let me know - I'll definitely follow along!

 

[Princess_K]

Breakfast looks so good! I think I may have to do that on our next trip. Besides, I doubt DBF will be upset about eating with the princesses

 

[redlight]

I loved this series of pictures. Ariel and you do have similar (and beautiful) hair. I keep contemplating going red. Your breakfast looked delicious.

 

[Mrs T 2009]

so, i have been contemplating which 6 TS or character meals to go to while in Disney in Sept..... and I have never been to Akershus (my aunt has and said it was good) but other oppintions are always welcome.... and you both seem to enjoy it well... is it worth it? I love the princesses, and belle is my favorite, so if we went I would want to make sure we saw Belle..... is she there all the time?

 

[pjennings]

I am looking forward to hearing what you thought of La Hacendia, we are eating there in May.

 

[SOUTHERNtinkerBELLE]

Breakfast looks so good! I think I may have to do that on our next trip. Besides, I doubt DBF will be upset about eating with the princesses

The Akershus breakfast is one of the best, in my opinion! I certainly don't have to twist Miguel's arm to go there!

I loved this series of pictures. Ariel and you do have similar (and beautiful) hair. I keep contemplating going red. Your breakfast looked delicious.

Thank you! The breakfast was so good. Those potatoes are what suck me in - I've to to figure out how to make them at home!

so, i have been contemplating which 6 TS or character meals to go to while in Disney in Sept..... and I have never been to Akershus (my aunt has and said it was good) but other oppintions are always welcome.... and you both seem to enjoy it well... is it worth it? I love the princesses, and belle is my favorite, so if we went I would want to make sure we saw Belle..... is she there all the time?

It is absolutely worth it! In my opinion, it is the best character breakfast. The food is always wonderful, the CM's who work at the restaurant are some of the nicest in Disney, and it is organized! I think the organization is really the key. It is just so much less hectic than some of the other meals. And yes, Belle is always there! She is at the front and you get your picture taken with her before you are seated. The picture package is included in the price of the meal, too. I believe you get one 8x10 and two 4x6 pictures.

I am looking forward to hearing what you thought of La Hacendia, we are eating there in May.

I am so jealous! La Hacienda got two big thumbs up from us!

 

[SOUTHERNtinkerBELLE]

DAY 3 – PT.2

I left off with us finishing up another wonderful breakfast at Akershus and Miguel and I preparing to have some fun in Future World. As soon as we left the restauraunt though, I remembered that I had forgotten my TiW discount! I was so mad at myself. Our bill was over $90 so we could have saved a pretty penny had I remembered! I promptly set myself an alarm to go off during our meal at ‘Ohana that evening and told Miguel he better not dare left me forget!

After realizing my mistake, I sent Miguel off to The Land for Soarin’ fastpasses while I walked over to Test Track. This is always how we start off our Epcot mornings – it’s a pretty good strategy if I do say so myself!

This morning though, it was taking Miguel a long time to make it over to TT. I waited for what seemed like forever, and watched the wait time slowly increase to 30 minutes! Finally Miguel appeared and we hurried in line!

Thankfully, the wait wasn’t truly 30 minutes. I would guess it was about 15, so not too bad. We of course had a great time of this one – it’s a definite favorite of ours!

Next, we walked over to Mission:Space. This is one that Miguel loves. We normally do a ride of the green side together, and then he goes back in for the orange side (which I will NOT do). This time, though, he opted just for one ride on the green side.

After our flight to Mars, we browsed the gift shop for a minute.

I was hoping to grab TT FP’s for later in the day before we headed over to The Land for Soarin’ and Living with the Land, but we still had about 45 minutes before our window opened up. I remembered the Ellen’s Energy Adventure was a 45 minute show, and since we had never seen it before, I suggested we try it out to pass the time.

We waited for maybe five minutes in the pre-show area before being let into the theatre. It was nice to get off of our feet for a while!

We actually really enjoyed this! It’s a little outdated for sure, but we always find it fun to experience something new. We enjoyed the moving aspect and the show really didn’t seem that long at all.

Will we do it again? Probably not – I think it’s one of those, see it once, don’t need to see it again things, but we were glad to see it once.

And, we were glad it was time for more Fastpasses!

Finally, it was time to head to The Land!

 

[Nermel9]

Great update!

I always have to start my Epcot mornings with Soarin FP's too, but usually we will just get in the stand by line and ride it right after we get our FP's, if it's early enough in the morning, the line is short enough! I can't get enough Soarin!

LOL you guys are just like Brandon and I with Mission Space now! Except I'm not sure if I can go on the orange side alone, I might be too nervous!

I always want to do Ellen's Energy Adventure, but I never want to commit 45 minutes to it, so we end up skipping it! Someday I hope we will have time to fit it in! I have a feeling I will have the same reaction as you, glad to see it once, but don't really have to do it again!

 

[IheartDDuck]

You started your Epcot morning the same way that I start mine too! It's such a good way to get a bunch of things done early.

I like Universe of Energy when I need to relax for a while. It's a great way to escape heat/cold, etc.

 

[klacey1]

Great update. Was Akershus really $90 for two for breakfast?? We always use the DDP, so I'm blind to prices, but that seems excessive, even by Disney standards!!
Universe of Energy is great! Different and a nice break off your feet! I personally love the pre-show-- still laugh every time.

 

[SOUTHERNtinkerBELLE]

Great update!

I always have to start my Epcot mornings with Soarin FP's too, but usually we will just get in the stand by line and ride it right after we get our FP's, if it's early enough in the morning, the line is short enough! I can't get enough Soarin!

LOL you guys are just like Brandon and I with Mission Space now! Except I'm not sure if I can go on the orange side alone, I might be too nervous!

I always want to do Ellen's Energy Adventure, but I never want to commit 45 minutes to it, so we end up skipping it! Someday I hope we will have time to fit it in! I have a feeling I will have the same reaction as you, glad to see it once, but don't really have to do it again!

I might have to try a first of the morning ride on Soarin' - that seems like the perfect way to start off the day. Hopefully if we did that TT wouldn't be too crowded be the time we made it over there.

I think EEA is the perfect thing to do when you're waiting for the FP window to open up. I never want to head over to the Land before it's time because it's such a hike over there. The 45 minutes goes by really quickly, though!

You started your Epcot morning the same way that I start mine too! It's such a good way to get a bunch of things done early.

I like Universe of Energy when I need to relax for a while. It's a great way to escape heat/cold, etc.

Our strategy works every time! Sometimes I think it would be nice to mix it up a bit and try something different, but then I worry that we'll end up regretting it if we have to wait in long lines.

Great update. Was Akershus really $90 for two for breakfast?? We always use the DDP, so I'm blind to prices, but that seems excessive, even by Disney standards!!
Universe of Energy is great! Different and a nice break off your feet! I personally love the pre-show-- still laugh every time.

Yeah, it ended up being about $90 with taxes and tip added in. I think just the price of the meal is a little over $30/person. I'm not sure if we had holiday pricing since it was right after Thanksgiving. It's definitely a better deal on the DDP, though!

 

[DisneyCrafter]

Oh how I love Soarin'! I wish DH and I lived driving distance away from WDW. Well-maybe I don't, I would give in to temptation way too much!

I'm not sure how I feel about character meals anymore. With children, I would hands down book them. However, I'm always worried that the characters are thinking "what are two adults doing in WDW alone?" haha

 

[SOUTHERNtinkerBELLE]

Oh how I love Soarin'! I wish DH and I lived driving distance away from WDW. Well-maybe I don't, I would give in to temptation way too much!

I'm not sure how I feel about character meals anymore. With children, I would hands down book them. However, I'm always worried that the characters are thinking "what are two adults doing in WDW alone?" haha

I think they like the adult interaction! At least the one's who can actually talk to you! We always have a great time with the princesses. If I had to recommend one character meal for adults that would be it.

 

[SOUTHERNtinkerBELLE]

DAY 3 – Pt. 3

After scoring our two TT Fastpasses for later in the day, it was finally time to make our way over to our favorite part of Epcot: The Land!

On the way there, these guys were performing! We had never seen them before, so of course we had to stop and watch.

They were so energetic and fun! I’m really glad that we stopped.

As I mentioned, there is just something special about the Land! It might be the bright, cheerful atmosphere and that certain smell that it has that makes me so happy.

It also has two of our favorite attractions: Soarin and Living with the Land! First up was Soarin’ of course! It was finally time to use our FP’s that Miguel had gotten earlier that morning and we were so excited. We just can’t get enough of the ride!

Our flight was wonderful as always. It was a little sad to know that that would be our only flight though – normally we like to do Soarin’ at least twice on each Epcot day.

Another thing we love about The Land is Sunshine Seasons! I think it is because of how we schedule getting the FP’s for Soarin’ in the morning, but we always end up eating lunch at SS. I love that there is tons of seating and a wide variety of choices that at least seem to be healthier than at some of the other CS places.

Miguel went with his usual roasted chicken. He gets this every time we go to SS and it is always good! This time, we were a little disappointed to find that you only get one side with the chicken now, since you used to get two. They also dumped some strange bean salsa on top of the chicken before Miguel could even tell them not too. He wasn’t crazy about it, but he still enjoyed the dish as a whole.

I decided to go with the Ruben panini with potato salad. This had a great flavor, but unfortunately the meat was pretty tough, so it was almost impossible to eat it as a sandwich because, for lack of a better term, my teeth couldn’t “cut” the meat. I probably wouldn’t order this again, but I wasn’t necessarily disappointed in it, either.

After lunch, we walked around the corner for Living with the Land! No matter how many times we go on this, it never gets old! I think we would really enjoy the Behind the Seeds tour.

Finally, it was time to explore World Showcase! Now if you have read along with my previous TR and my current PTR, then you know that we always tend to bypass WS in favor of FW. I hate this, because I really think we would love WS. We’ve explored some, but not near enough! Unfortuantley, this trip was no different!

We did, however, make it to Mexico! We always spend some time here since it’s the first country and it’s Miguel’s “home”! We had fun exploring the new shop that they had outside. Miguel found a lot of things that we wanted to buy (mostly soccer stuff) but the prices were ridiculous, so we left empty handed.

Next up was Norway, were we decided to experience yet another first and try out Maelstrom.

Believe it or not, but this was one of the longest waits we had during our trip! I would say we waited about 20 minutes before boarding our boat. We enjoyed Maelstrom, but not as much as I thought we would since it is a FP attraction. We would probably ride again if the line was short and we were in the area.

After our Norweigean adventure, we decided to stop in at the bakery for a sweet snack! I wanted to continue my trend of trying famous DIS things, so we decided to get both a school bread and a cloudberry horn to share.

Surprisingly, I liked the school bread much better than the cloudberry horn. I know the school bread is adored here, but I don’t like coconut so I thought I wouldn’t enjoy it. It was so tasty though! I couldn’t finish it – it’s definitely a large snack!

Miguel preferred the cloudberry horn, which I liked as well, but probably not enough to have another.

By this point, it was getting close to 3:00 and we wanted to get back to POR to rest up for our evening. On the way back to the resort, I started to get a crazy idea…

 

[Nermel9]

Great update! I love the whole Land area too, Soarin is one of my favorites, and Living with the Land is so much fun! I don't know why we never seem to eat at Sunshine Seasons, they have so much variety and we always skip it!

I love Maelstrom, it's another favorite, but I do think it's weird it's an FP attraction...you would think it would be a little more thrilling than that! And whenever I'm there, the FP machines are always closed, so do they even use them?

That school bread looks so good, I have to try it one trip, I always want to but whenever I'm around Norway, I'm just not hungry!