17 Days of Disney Magic (aka Brits, Pirates & Princesses) - Lots of PICS!

[seobaina]

I know it’s not Disney but it’s part of the trip. We knew we wanted to do it so we had to do it before we lost the car. We’d both been to SW before and both really enjoyed it. So we headed off really early, with bagel in hand, to try to beat the crowds.

On the way in we met a friend, Shamu, so we posed for a quick photo before heading off to the first show of the day.

We were in the park so early that we actually saw the odd section like this:

But don’t let the photo fool you, it was busy, we were just moving through faster than many other guests. We knew we only had one day here so we were constantly prioritising and calculating to make sure we could get it all in (there’s that military op thing again).

The first show we wanted to see (and timetabled) was Clyde and Seymour. It’s a really cute & silly show where sea lions, etc, perform in a story where they ‘take on the pirates’. Why is it all bad guys have a British accent btw?

From there we did a mad dash to get our second of the three shows in. This time it was Blue Horizons, the dolphin show. I LOVE this show; it’s just so pretty with lots going on all the time. It’s based on a dream that one of the performers is having and involves acrobats, birds, beluga whales and dolphins. Stunning.

Excuse all the pics but these shows are so lovely.

 

[seobaina]

Satisfied we’d got two of the main ‘time’ issues done, we figured we could head to the other side of the park and catch the Orca show and then we wouldn’t be watching the clock. On route we went past the pearl diving.

They go down and pick an oyster for you as you watch and then you get the pearl inside. Karen really wanted to do this and it wasn't a bad price but there was a bit of a queue and it was SO hot that day that she said she’d leave it for later and see. So instead we grabbed some food at one of the counters, during which we had dinner guests

Then we went to catch the next performance (I think the first) of the ‘Believe’ killer whale show.

I love killer whales and the show was really pretty. It was extra interesting for us because when we had last visited the park (in 2006) they were doing test rehearsals for this very show. I know people prefer ‘blue horizons’ and there probably is more to that, but I still love ‘believe’. Oh, and Karen wussed out of sitting up front so we sat safely outside the ‘wet zone’.

Big Splash, Big Splash!!!

Gotta love seeing the unwary get soaked!

With the rest of the day now unconstrained by show times, we made a more casual wander around the other exhibits. On route to the polar exhibit, wild arctic, we saw some of the clyesdale horses. This made me extra happy because we knew we wouldn’t have time to go to that part of the park.

Wild artic involves both a simulator ride and exhibit. We’d done the ride before and the line for it was 40mins, whereas the walk-in exhibit had a five-minute wait. So we decided to skip the ride. It is good though and if you’ve never done it you probably should try it. Just watch for motion sickness

Inside I somehow totally lost Karen but as there is only one way in and out I wasn’t too bothered. I wandered around for a while taking photos and there weren’t that many people so I could get close to the glass. It’s sooooo hard to get photos on a normal camera though.

This is supposed to be a walrus

Reaching the shop I could see no sign of Karen, so I went back in and waited by the sign, which is where Karen found me about ten mins later. That girl can spend AGES taking photos .

Having left the exhibit we wandered back to the other side of the park. It’s a nice wander and most people who had come in later or just finished a show, were heading over to where we had been (artic and orcas), so we managed to avoid some of the crowds.

 

[seobaina]

My favourite sea creature is the shark…I love them…so I kinda left Karen behind as I ran through to the shark exhibit and through the tunnel

I just love this tunnel…but it needs to be longer!

With me as a happy bunny, it was Karen’s turn to do her favourite thing. So we went to get all smelly feeding the sea lions. It is really good fun but eeewww the stink of fish and shesh some of those birds are fast!

Then it was on to Karen’s second favourite…the penguins. Gotta love penguins but wow there are a lot of them in there. We’re quite lucky because up the road from my house is a zoo and they have a great penguin enclosure. Still, Karen wanted to see them so we went inside. It was actually really nice because it was cool and very quiet.

On our way back to the park entrance area (the bit we’d run past earlier) we figured we’d walk through the aquarium to keep cool – gotta remember we’re Brits and not used to sun! Anyway, I am SO glad that we did because the aquarium, though small, is stunning. It’s right by the Atlantis ride (which we did last time but Karen chickened out of again) but it’s kinda ignored. It’s lovely because the floor and ceiling are both glass and there is water all around.

 

[seobaina]

Next on our path to the front gates were the manatees (and gators). I think they are lovely and so peaceful. But they are also HUGE!!!! We watched the short film about their conservation and it makes me so sad to know these beautiful creatures are dying . Just look how lovely they are:

And let’s not forget the gators:

We were intending on feeding the dolphins but there was such a long line for it that they had already closed it off, so we settled for looking at them from the underwater viewing point.

It didn’t worry us too much that we’d missed it because we had Discovery Cove booked for later in the holiday. The dolphins were swimming right up to us, and we were getting great photos. Until, just after the second shot here, someone used a flash right in the dolphins face and they swam off.

With the dolphins gone, we figured we’d move on too so we headed for our last stop - the dolphin nursery. On route we passed by the turtles and rays

The dolphin nursery is fun but it was busy so we couldn’t get good shots of the fast swimming babies. There were four babies in there, one was only 2 weeks old. SO cute. Don’t have them in the photos but one of the dolphins did come pose for us.

With it getting late, we decided to leave the park and try and beat some of the hoards in the car park, so after a brief stop in the shops, we headed for the car.

This is me pointing to my favourite part of the park (please note I'm wearing a cast member clubhouse tee - gotta keep the mouse alive outside of disney LOL)

 

[Mom2Brooke]

Love your report and all the photos!

 

[seobaina]

Love your report and all the photos!

Thank you - and your daughter looks so cute in her cinderella dress!

 

[redlight]

I am loving your report. That woman was so sweet to give you more candy after yours was stolen. Looking forward to more!

 

[teedee]

Thank you Working on more as we speak. You guys will be sick of this by the time I get all 17 days done though

Nope, not me! I would love to be able to spend that long at DW. A week is about all I can manaage.

I love your pics of POFQ, I love that resort.

Terri

 

[lizet313]

WOW SEA WORLD looks beautiful we don't have one in Houston but we do in San Antonio I have been there a couple of times but Sea World in Florida looks bigger I have to put it in my must do for my next trip. It looked like you had an awesome time THANKS for sharing

 

[mickeystoontown]

Lovin' the report so far. I am looking forward to the next installment.

 

[MagicKisses2]

I love your TR, and your pictures are so fun!

 

[seobaina]

Thank you to everyone for all the nice comments. I'm glad you're enjoying it. Writing some more at the mo.

That woman was so sweet to give you more candy after yours was stolen.

She definitely was! I try to make a point of reporting to managers when cast members or staff elsewhere are lovely, so we did!

Nope, not me! I would love to be able to spend that long at DW. A week is about all I can manaage.

I love your pics of POFQ, I love that resort.

Terri

See, I have the opposite - I'm amazed that you guys get as much done as you do in a week. Impressive!

We really loved POFQ but we said we were glad to be in the FQ section. From the look around we had we think it's our fave in that catergory of hotel. Though we love the 'disneyness' of POP.

WOW SEA WORLD looks beautiful we don't have one in Houston but we do in San Antonio I have been there a couple of times but Sea World in Florida looks bigger I have to put it in my must do for my next trip. It looked like you had an awesome time THANKS for sharing

Highly recommend Sea World. So much to do and great exhibits. I also feel that they care for their animals...which is the same thing I get from my zoo back home. Our zoo is award winning and has a great conservation program. That's kinda the way Sea World comes across. The keepers know their animals!

 

[mickeystoontown]

Thanks so much for your trip report so far. I love reading about other travelers' experiences. Can't wait for the next round.

 

[seobaina]

Leaving Sea World we were kinda hungry so we went to a Golden Corral across the road. We’d actually eaten at one of these on the first night, when we’d been out getting breakfast supplies for the holiday. So, we knew what we were getting. I have to say that I…being stupid…did the same thing AGAIN in this restaurant that I had in the first one. That is, I filled my plate and then turned the corner to find all sorts of other yummy things. SO I ended up with far too much food….AGAIN.

And let’s not talk about deserts (Food Porn). Karen took a photo of me looking guilty over the dessert. But in my defence she did have as much as I did. And I didn’t managed to eat it all…but I certainly tried!

On the way out we stopped in the bathroom and Karen laughed her head off as she found religious graffiti. Yes, you did read that right, religious graffiti. Don't get me wrong, I'm religious but graffiti?

After a laugh and very full, we went to see something that Karen had wanted too on the last trip but we’d not gotten around too. Ripleys:

Don’t ya love the wonky building?

If you’ve never been then I’d recommend it. I think it’s a little expensive if you’ve been before but we loved the complete wackiness of it. You’ve kinda gotta go with the right attitude though, cause it’s all silly stuff! See:

A matchstick car

Mona Lisa made from toast (who comes up with these things?)

World’s Biggest Lock

And the one that will make you ALL laugh. Me (5ft 2) next to the world’s tallest man :

Stopped laughing yet? I know, I’m a short ****!

In the store they had this fun backwards clock, which Karen bought for her kitchen at home.

Crazy’d out for the night, we swung by the supermarket on the way home to get some supplies, while we had the car. Now, I’m sure the Americans reading this will go ‘huh?’ to my comment here but Karen and I couldn’t stop laughing about this:

I should explain that in the UK you get ‘Orange Juice’ or ‘Orange Juice with bits’. We found it hysterical that you can chose just how much pulp you have in your OJ. Cool but funny. Anyway, supplied up, we headed back to the hotel to sleep.

 

[redlight]

Speaking of religious, the desserts look divine. I also like the picture of you with the tallest man. I'm not all that much taller (5'5.5") myself.

 

[seobaina]

As this was our last full day with the car we decided that, on route to MGM/HS, we’d check out a couple more of the hotels. See Karen’s boss wants to go and we promised we’d try to take photos and pick up leaflets on the hotels. Besides, we’re nosey!!!

We started by going to PO Riverside. We mainly just wandered around the entrance areas of the hotels, and shopped the stores. Boy did we shop the stores! It tends to take quite a while to shop when you're a visiting cast member cause, if they don't have a queue, most of the cast members chat happily with you about the UK and the stores. Especially as it always causes confussion with the ID cards...ours look different and don't swipe (yet). I'm not complaining about chatting...it's nice to talk to the cast...just adds to the shopping time.

Anyway, here’s a few photos of Riverside.

Obligatory ‘spot the rabbit at Disney’ photo:

We thought the hotel was pretty but preferred FQ. Getting back into our van…which I was completely in love with btw – automatic driving in big cars, on big open roads…soooooo easy and fun! If you’ve never driven in the UK you can’t appreciate the nice, quiet, open road relaxing driving you guys have! Anyway, back in the new love of my life…the van…we headed to Coronado Springs.

Coronado is HUGE!!!! I admit we wussed out of looking around because of the sheer size of it. However, having seen other tripreps I kinda wish we’d looked around more because we missed a lot. Anyway, we had a nice walk around the entrance area and checked out the shops. Karen is very sneaky btw and during the trip she managed to sneak buy me twelve items – pins, keyrings, etc, that she gave me last Christmas. I had no clue. Impressive huh? She should be a spy or a ninja. Anyway, we also spotted someone (businessman we think) being interviewed on camera by the lake and I became geeky as I tried to secretly see what camera they were using . We all stopped though (including them) to watch the cutest mother duck:

I felt sorry for her cause she had SO many babies and this other duck and drake would NOT let her in the water with them. Poor thing. Was funny watching the ducklings going up the steps though.

This bird flew past me so fast that his wings clipped me! But at least he posed for me afterwards.

 

[seobaina]

Speaking of religious, the desserts look divine. I also like the picture of you with the tallest man. I'm not all that much taller (5'5.5") myself.

They were very yummy!!!! And yep, I like to remind people that the best things come in small packages...to which they normally add 'and the most expensive' or 'and the most deadly'

 

[seobaina]

As we were visiting some of the other hotels (either staying in or eating in) for the rest of the trip, we decided it was time to go to Hollywood Studios.

Maybe it’s cause I’m a filmmaker but I LOVE the studios! I like the shows, like the rides, like the atmosphere!

Due to the time we got there, we knew that there was a showing of B&tB very soon. It’s Karen’s favourite show so we headed straight over. We were very tempted to stop and grab a photo with this group on the way past but, perhaps luckily in hindsight, their line was very long and they had just closed it.

It worked out well in the end because we got a much better group shot another day (you’ll see).

Our favourite store

I’d still love them to do a villains section of the park!

Getting to B&tB show we went straight in and found fantastic seats. They’d only just opened the door and I think there were about 5 people in there. Four for a Dollar opened the show – if you’ve not seen them yet you HAVE too! They are just fantastic and really funny.

Then of course it was time for the show. I was lucky enough to see B&tB on Broadway 6 months after it opened and it was STUNNING. So I’m always a bit mixed about this show. But it is still really good and worth making time for. Karen adores it.

 

[seobaina]

After the show we headed across the park to one of my favourites – the Indiana Jones Stunt Show. I grew up with the movies so it has lots of fun memories…besides the fact it is an awesome show!

If you’re a movie fan you HAVE to see it. Despite being interesting seeing how the stunts are done it is also very funny and entertaining.

Oh and ladies, some of the stunt men are very nice to watch too!

From there we went to the star wars store. We didn’t do the star tours ride because Karen gets motion sickness quite easily. I’ve done it before and had actually been to Disneyland only 6 months earlier, so I wasn’t desperate to go on it…although it is fun. Instead we went shopping for our friends and brothers (both of us have SW obsessed brothers).

I loved this t-shirt and almost bought it for my nephew…but as he’s never been to Disney I wasn’t sure he’d get it. He’s only 7 now (was 6 at the time) and I’m dying to take him to Disney, along with my princess neice.

Then it was on to the movie ride. We walked straight on, which ironically made me kinda sad. I know it’s an old ride and could do with a little revamp but it’s a classic and I’m sorry to see it so underused.

 

[seobaina]

We had an ADR for Hollywood and Vine, on the Fantasmic dinner package, so we headed over there for check-in.

I like Hollywood & Vine but then I like buffets. I’m a fussy eater and being at a buffet gives me a wider choice. I also like vegetables and I find them easier to get at a buffet than on served meals. Food porn time:

This is what happens when you leave your ice cream too long

Still tasted good though.

We’d been talking to waitress when we first sat down and explained that it was my birthday at the beginning of the trip. We were talking about how we’d done the BBB experience etc. Anyway, she surprised me with this:

The card was signed by the playhouse characters LOL. It was so sweet of her. After dinner we headed straight to the Fantasmic meeting point. I’m a fantasmic obsessive…it’s my only ‘HAVE TO’ at WDW, along with meeting Mickey…so I didn’t want bad seats. I know it’s a special seating area on the dinner package but still, some seats are better than others. We got a great seat