Alice28
DIS Veteran<br><font color=blue>I'm Doombah Fricki
- Joined
- Jun 6, 2002
- Messages
- 9,583
)Cast:
Robin/Me- 31- 3rd trip to WDW, DL vet
Judy/Mom- 56, 2nd trip to WDW, DL vet
Contemporary Resort
We threw Seaworld in this trip because I was able to get in free and get Mom a discounted ticket because of their military salute. Why not, although we felt a little guilty leaving our beloved Disney behind. Right off the bat I start thinking SeaWorld is on the tacky side cause gee, for an extra $3, making it $10, you can park in "preferred parking" and park close to the entrance. I thought that was extra cheezy- any way to make a buck I guess. We chose not to give in, and paid our $7 to park and hoofed it to the gate. We got our passes and went in, got a show schedule. First stop was to pet the dolphins, which we did and it was cool- neat to interact up close. Then we saw the dolphin show- the intro act sings a song where you're supposed to cheer when he says your state or country. I was the only one who yelled for Oregon and about 200 yelled for the UK. He said "Thank God for the Brits or we couldn't operate this week!" And those cheery Brits cheered again!
The dolphin show was good enough, and then we checked out the manatees which were very interesting. We went on our Journey to Atlantis, which was a walk-on but so incredibly LAME. The ride itself it good, but the theming is basically this- oh a mermaid, oh screaming, more screaming, and another serving of screaming please, get wet, some spooky stuff but you can't tell exactly what, more women's scream, wooo another dip and it's done. Lame lame lame. Disney puts their "imagineers" to shame. No Kraken for Mom so we made a lllooonnnggg trip to Shamu stadium, getting some nachoes on the way- the poor girl fixing our nachoes was by herself in her kiosk and knocked over a whole bucket of chili while she was getting the olives for our nachoes. I felt bad for her! We settle in our Shamu seats, NOT in the splash zone, and play along with the trivia, getting most but not all of the questions correct. The Shamu show was pretty awesome. At the end they had one of the female orcas come up on that platform that is closest to the stadium and I guess too many people were around for her liking cause she kinda started freaking out and thrashing about, going back in the water, coming back up and thrashing and making her orca noises- it was intimidating! Her trainers started yelling at the crowds to move back and stop taking pictures with the flash- I wanted to stop and watch her behavior (we were pretty far away- not part of the crowd around her) but Mom kept walking so I did too. I wonder if that is common or not. We went on Wild Arctic- not the simulator just the movie and walk through and it was so-so. One poor lady in her ECV was having a terrible time manuevering it and no CM was in sight to help her- quite a difference from Disney where there always seems to be someone to lend a hand. Saw the Clydesdale horses (where one lady yelled out in her heavy NE accent- LOOK IT'S THOSE HORSES IN THE BEER COMMERCIALS!). For some reason I found that to be completely funny and I was laughing and laughing. I find the strangest things funny! We went to some pizza place for lunch which was yet another lame experience- one HUGE line you have to wait in, cafeteria style, even if you just want something at the end of the line- you know, like a $8 slice of veggie pizza. Geez! And, the pizza came with fries- not a salad or a breadstick, fries. It was cardboardy and yucky- Seaworld food, in a word, sucks. We then went and saw the sharks (all I could think of was that classic dumb movie Jaws 3-D which I believe was filmed at this Seaworld where the ultra fake Jaws breaks the glass viewing tunnel and the people are stuck in the tunnel forever...I was amused the whole time I was on the conveyor belt thinking of that..
). Onto the last show of the day, the Clyde and Seamore show! I gotta say, the pirate mime 
was very funny and normally I'm not a fan of that kind of humor and the show itself was very funny cause the performers were very tongue in cheek and making fun of the lame jokes. It ended our somewhat disappointing day at Seaworld on a good note. I bought a couple of cheap souveniers and film at the gift shop and we left.
We decided to go back to the Wilderness Lodge to get the items we saw the night before and we had deemed we couldn't live without them...on the way in the lodge, right by the big arch was a real deer! It was magical in every way- at first it looked like an animatronic cause it was still, and then it darted off. Very cool and so perfect for the lodge setting! I bought a nightshirt and mom got a tshirt and a drink and we sat in the lobby awhile and soaked up the atmosphere of that wonderful resort. A TON of people were checking in- a HUGE press event was going on due to Philharmagic, Mission Space, Wishes and the new Magical Gatherings...when we got back to the Contemporary we noticed it even more as the travel agents convention was there, plus press was just EVERYWHERE! We got some soda and some more chips at the food and fun center and rested at the room for awhile. We decided we liked Kona Cafe so much the first night, we would go back on our last night. We had a very nice server yet again and I ordered the veggie spring rolls and mom ordered the chicken stir fry. We talked about our 'Ohana visit on our last trip and how great it was and watched people going in and out of that restaurant. The bread was delish yet again and then our food came. Wow- the spring rolls are AWESOME- light and crispy and crunchy- I wish I had one right now! It comes with a slaw/salad that had a bit too much dressing for my taste, but still good. Mom loved her stir fry as well and we were pleased with our dinner choice. Dinner was about $38 with tip and we got back on the monorail for the GF to shop. Shop we did although we didn't buy anything- a guy from the NY Times was on our monorail going to the press event- the big time baby! Ya know, even the Kleenex is nicer at the GF- my Mom pulled out some she had in her pocket from the CR and made me compare it to the tissue in the GF bathroom and sure enough, the GF tissue IS softer! You pay the big bucks and you get the soft tissue! We decided we didn't want to sit in our hotel room our last night so we caught the bus from GF to DtD and shopped at World of Disney and Once Upon a Toy. We had already shopped earlier in the week at these stores and bought some ornaments at the Christmas shop, so we didn't spend much $$. We got a free chocolate at Gharadellis (nice touch) and then made our way back to our bus stop. Our bus pulls up and this lady from the Wilderness Lodge area comes over and SCREAMS at our driver to get on the radio and call for a Fort Wilderness bus cause she has been waiting for 40 minutes and she has a show to get to- she was so rude it alarmed me. Her body language was just scary. I had JUST seen a Wilderness Lodge bus leave, so I don't get it cause I think the two resorts share a bus and there wasn't a HUGE mob waiting for the bus, like not everyone could get on the bus. Very weird. We got a softserve at the food and fun center, packed and went to bed.
Next up- our final day at the MK, MCO exploits.
Robin/Me- 31- 3rd trip to WDW, DL vet
Judy/Mom- 56, 2nd trip to WDW, DL vet
Contemporary Resort
We threw Seaworld in this trip because I was able to get in free and get Mom a discounted ticket because of their military salute. Why not, although we felt a little guilty leaving our beloved Disney behind. Right off the bat I start thinking SeaWorld is on the tacky side cause gee, for an extra $3, making it $10, you can park in "preferred parking" and park close to the entrance. I thought that was extra cheezy- any way to make a buck I guess. We chose not to give in, and paid our $7 to park and hoofed it to the gate. We got our passes and went in, got a show schedule. First stop was to pet the dolphins, which we did and it was cool- neat to interact up close. Then we saw the dolphin show- the intro act sings a song where you're supposed to cheer when he says your state or country. I was the only one who yelled for Oregon and about 200 yelled for the UK. He said "Thank God for the Brits or we couldn't operate this week!" And those cheery Brits cheered again!
The dolphin show was good enough, and then we checked out the manatees which were very interesting. We went on our Journey to Atlantis, which was a walk-on but so incredibly LAME. The ride itself it good, but the theming is basically this- oh a mermaid, oh screaming, more screaming, and another serving of screaming please, get wet, some spooky stuff but you can't tell exactly what, more women's scream, wooo another dip and it's done. Lame lame lame. Disney puts their "imagineers" to shame. No Kraken for Mom so we made a lllooonnnggg trip to Shamu stadium, getting some nachoes on the way- the poor girl fixing our nachoes was by herself in her kiosk and knocked over a whole bucket of chili while she was getting the olives for our nachoes. I felt bad for her! We settle in our Shamu seats, NOT in the splash zone, and play along with the trivia, getting most but not all of the questions correct. The Shamu show was pretty awesome. At the end they had one of the female orcas come up on that platform that is closest to the stadium and I guess too many people were around for her liking cause she kinda started freaking out and thrashing about, going back in the water, coming back up and thrashing and making her orca noises- it was intimidating! Her trainers started yelling at the crowds to move back and stop taking pictures with the flash- I wanted to stop and watch her behavior (we were pretty far away- not part of the crowd around her) but Mom kept walking so I did too. I wonder if that is common or not. We went on Wild Arctic- not the simulator just the movie and walk through and it was so-so. One poor lady in her ECV was having a terrible time manuevering it and no CM was in sight to help her- quite a difference from Disney where there always seems to be someone to lend a hand. Saw the Clydesdale horses (where one lady yelled out in her heavy NE accent- LOOK IT'S THOSE HORSES IN THE BEER COMMERCIALS!). For some reason I found that to be completely funny and I was laughing and laughing. I find the strangest things funny! We went to some pizza place for lunch which was yet another lame experience- one HUGE line you have to wait in, cafeteria style, even if you just want something at the end of the line- you know, like a $8 slice of veggie pizza. Geez! And, the pizza came with fries- not a salad or a breadstick, fries. It was cardboardy and yucky- Seaworld food, in a word, sucks. We then went and saw the sharks (all I could think of was that classic dumb movie Jaws 3-D which I believe was filmed at this Seaworld where the ultra fake Jaws breaks the glass viewing tunnel and the people are stuck in the tunnel forever...I was amused the whole time I was on the conveyor belt thinking of that.. ). Onto the last show of the day, the Clyde and Seamore show! I gotta say, the pirate mime was very funny and normally I'm not a fan of that kind of humor and the show itself was very funny cause the performers were very tongue in cheek and making fun of the lame jokes. It ended our somewhat disappointing day at Seaworld on a good note. I bought a couple of cheap souveniers and film at the gift shop and we left. We decided to go back to the Wilderness Lodge to get the items we saw the night before and we had deemed we couldn't live without them...on the way in the lodge, right by the big arch was a real deer! It was magical in every way- at first it looked like an animatronic cause it was still, and then it darted off. Very cool and so perfect for the lodge setting! I bought a nightshirt and mom got a tshirt and a drink and we sat in the lobby awhile and soaked up the atmosphere of that wonderful resort. A TON of people were checking in- a HUGE press event was going on due to Philharmagic, Mission Space, Wishes and the new Magical Gatherings...when we got back to the Contemporary we noticed it even more as the travel agents convention was there, plus press was just EVERYWHERE! We got some soda and some more chips at the food and fun center and rested at the room for awhile. We decided we liked Kona Cafe so much the first night, we would go back on our last night. We had a very nice server yet again and I ordered the veggie spring rolls and mom ordered the chicken stir fry. We talked about our 'Ohana visit on our last trip and how great it was and watched people going in and out of that restaurant. The bread was delish yet again and then our food came. Wow- the spring rolls are AWESOME- light and crispy and crunchy- I wish I had one right now! It comes with a slaw/salad that had a bit too much dressing for my taste, but still good. Mom loved her stir fry as well and we were pleased with our dinner choice. Dinner was about $38 with tip and we got back on the monorail for the GF to shop. Shop we did although we didn't buy anything- a guy from the NY Times was on our monorail going to the press event- the big time baby! Ya know, even the Kleenex is nicer at the GF- my Mom pulled out some she had in her pocket from the CR and made me compare it to the tissue in the GF bathroom and sure enough, the GF tissue IS softer! You pay the big bucks and you get the soft tissue! We decided we didn't want to sit in our hotel room our last night so we caught the bus from GF to DtD and shopped at World of Disney and Once Upon a Toy. We had already shopped earlier in the week at these stores and bought some ornaments at the Christmas shop, so we didn't spend much $$. We got a free chocolate at Gharadellis (nice touch) and then made our way back to our bus stop. Our bus pulls up and this lady from the Wilderness Lodge area comes over and SCREAMS at our driver to get on the radio and call for a Fort Wilderness bus cause she has been waiting for 40 minutes and she has a show to get to- she was so rude it alarmed me. Her body language was just scary. I had JUST seen a Wilderness Lodge bus leave, so I don't get it cause I think the two resorts share a bus and there wasn't a HUGE mob waiting for the bus, like not everyone could get on the bus. Very weird. We got a softserve at the food and fun center, packed and went to bed.
Next up- our final day at the MK, MCO exploits.
I would of cracked up at the ladies comment about the "beer horses" too..that's funny!
