2005 RPR/ WONDER/ AKL (Pictures, 4 videoclip on signature! END OF REPORT!)

[MICKEY'S DREAMERS]

Laura, the videoclip of AKL was great....

THANKS, Nina!

We always enjoy very much to work out these small videoclips to share with our friends. Looks like the vacation is still here.


Sooo glad your house is almost completely done; I can understand you had a lot of cleaning to do, butI am sure all the rooms look wonderful now.
Let me know when your office is finished.

I am sure your cruise aboard a Carnival ship will be a lot of fun !
I hear those ships are more oriented to young people, so I guess your DD and friends will have a very great time: you will have to tell me everything about that cruise !
Ciao
Laura

 

[MAGICinMYHEART]

Laura & Grump

I have just been catching up on your wonderful reports and DGH's Video Clips. Terry and I will be leaving for Disney in a few days but wish you and Marco could be there with us.

Marco
I should have let Terry purchase the bright yellow shorts he wanted to buy to wear with that shirt. (if only I could change the shirt to black & white with a flip of a switch)

Let’s start a little contest: WHERE this picture of DGH and Grumpy has been taken?

Is this located in the Hospitality Center next to Tony's Town Square Restaurant?

Beckie aw:

Opps, Hi Nina glad all your house is almost complete.

 

[MICKEY'S DREAMERS]

Let’s start a little contest: WHERE this picture of DGH and Grumpy has been taken?

Is this located in the Hospitality Center next to Tony's Town Square Restaurant?

Beckie aw:

right BUT GRUMP

 

[MICKEY'S DREAMERS]

We visited twice our preferred resort: the Wilderness Lodge.

The first time we went there with Beckie and Terry to celebrate my birthday.
Artist Point makes nice surprises as Birthday gifts: we got a personalized menu (Thanks, friends !!!) …

… and a birthday cake (“a birthday cobbler”, grumped DGH)

These nice additions to the world renowned Cedar Plank Roasted Wild King Salmon with wild mushroom bread salad and béarnaise sauce made the dinner an unforgettable experience.

A few days after we went back again to the Wilderness Lodge (“to re-celebrate my birthday”, grumped DGH), but this time we changed restaurant … and, as usual, it was lot of fun !!!!J Our server was FUNtastic !!!!!!

This is me at Whispering Canyon aw:

(note the logo on my sweater)

DGH usually drinks lots of Coke ... so he asked for a BIG COKE ...

It was quite an hard job ... (half a gallon of Coke!)

But DGH made it!

Still to be continued

 

[MICKEY'S DREAMERS]

Just a few highlights : new or unusual things we found at the Parks.
Let’s start with the MGM.

Of course the highlight was the stunt show.
We had already seen it in Paris, and we were quite surprised to see that the set was the same as in France … (“We were expecting a McDonald’s restaurant instead of a French café”, grumped DGH). In spite of the same setting, the show was slightly reduced, compared to DLP version, and the audience participation on stage was removed. Our understanding was that, due to the highest temperatures, (Paris is much colder than Florida), it’s more dangerous to play with fire at WDW than at DLP (“Is it?” grumped DGH), so extra safety measures were needed.
Btw, the show was still very nice !!!

In spite of our long staying we succeeded in seeing the show just once: it was the first show of the day, at 1 PM and it was VERY hot! So in the following days we tried to watch the last show of the day in the evening … but… I have to leave the ground to DGH:

DGH HERE!

THE SHOW WAS ALWAYS CANCELLED DUE TO INCLEMENT WEATHER … EVEN IF THERE WAS NO RAIN !!!! GRUMP
END OF DGH COMMENT

We saw a couple of times Fantasmic, oh …DGH wants to add something …

DGH HERE!

THE SHOW WAS NEVER CANCELLED DUE TO INCLEMENT WEATHER … EVEN IF IT WAS RAINING CATS AND DOGS AND WE WERE SOAKED!!!! GRUMP
END OF DGH COMMENT

We had a Fantasmic Dinner at Mama Melrose’s;we got a lot of VERY GOOD food including a flatbread to share … we were wondering what a flatbread was and discovered that it was an Italian pizza !!!!

Fantasmic Dinner

Fantasmic Grumpy (on the boat, at the end of the show)

AK now: when we were planning the trip we were expecting to see Lucky the Dinosaur; but she left to China before we arrived, so no real new things at AK.
We had a peek to an attraction we will never ride (we don’t like roller coaster)

Work in progress at Expedition Everest

And we could watch (most likely) one of the last Tarzan shows, that it’s supposed to be retired soon.

To be continued (don’t forget to click on my signature!)

 

[MAGICinMYHEART]

Laura

Tell DGH that all his photo's are GREAT too bad we gave him a bad time for always taking pictues...

Beckie aw:

 

[MICKEY'S DREAMERS]

Of course the highlight of our Epcot visits was Soaring.
We have had a chance to see it a few years ago in California, but we missed that opportunity. Technical problems in the new attraction and our short visit didn’t help and we left DCA without testing Soaring.
We both really enjoyed it at WDW !!!! Our first ride was together with Beckie and Terry , that added some “magic” to the awesome experience !!!!
It was really a jewel … What a pity that the movie was so short !!!
(“Too short”, grumped DGH ! )

We had two meals we never tried before: the Princesses lunch at Akershus. Princesses were very friendly, … but we missed a lot the Norwegian buffet. We heard a rumour that it is planned to come back … anybody can confirm?

Oh … DGH likes to remind the nice picture we took in the Norway shop:

A nice surprise was the Biergarten restaurant! Food was very …tasty (“German”, grumps DGH) and the Oktoberfest Musikanten were really fun!

Turtle Talk with Crush was fascinating … (“How in the hell can they do that?” grumps DGH!); unfortunately no pictures allowed inside !!!

One day, on the way home, we had the opportunity to watch the Kristos show that we never saw before … nice!!

Every year we make one or two of Disney’s Behind the Scenes Tours.
This time we got the Epcot “Hidden Treasures” tour. It was very interesting; our guide Tim was very knowledgeable (“Not so much”, grumps DGH).
He started the tour saying “Ask me everything you want”. DGH asked “Why three days passes are made of plastic while annual pass is in paper?”… Tim answered “There should be a reason … but I don’t know it!!”. While approaching Mexico DGH asked “Has this pyramid the same slope than the original one in Chichen-Itzà ?” … Tim answered “I think so … but I am not sure”.

DGH continued to grump all the tour long (“I will not make questions anymore … he doesn’t know the answer”).
Instead Tim answered all our “not grumpy” questions, told us lot of fun facts about the World Showcase, showed us lots of hidden Mickeys and… explained to us layout and mysteries of Venice, in Italy ?!

On the left we see Epcot … on the right the real Venice.
Can you see that the campanile changed side ???
We heard a rumour that this was due to a reversed picture while they were building “Italy” at Epcot … but we always thought that this rumour is really incredible!!

The true reason is, Tim explained to us , that AT EPCOT this campanile is supposed to attract people to the right side of the building, where there are the shops, the plaza with performers and Alfredo, their Italian ”ristorante”… while the left side is a dead end.
So the Imagineers decided to change side of the campanile !

One part more ...

 

[MICKEY'S DREAMERS]

When planning MK visits we were thrilled by the evening Extra magic hours: we liked very much the idea of remaining in the park in the “fresh” nights … without too many people … but I have to leave the ground to DGH who has something to say concerning evening Extra Magic Hours …

DGH HERE!

Evening Extra Magic Hours are #@*!#!!!**## GRUMP!
END OF DGH COMMENTS

In fact we did the nightly extra hours just once. It was a mess: lots of people !!! and you could go nowhere without making a queue. Hope they switch back to morning hours soon.

Cinderellebration was nice … but … the castle was … IMHO slightly ridiculous with all the gold and characters added here and there !!!

We had a quick lunch in a place where we have never eaten before, and we discovered that in the Plaza restaurant, sometimes, fun performers show up dressed in beginning of the Century costumes. (BTW, the Sorcerer Mickey Ice Cream was delicious !!!)

We saw a small parade (FrontierLand Hoedown) about which very few people know because it’s not published. It’s an interactive parade featuring dancers and the Country Bears. Guests are invited to participate in a square dance and a line dance. It takes place outside the Country Bear Jamboree, Prairie Outpost & Supply and Pecos Bill's Tall Tale Inn & Cafe.

If you want to know the scheduling I suggest you check Steve Soares pages http://pages.prodigy.net/stevesoares/

DGH made several visits to the City Hall trying to fix his Annual Pass that didn’t work properly. Every time a nice Cast Member replaced it; DGH tried to explain that the ticket was OK, but the fingers-reader didn’t work …
Once the CM’s answer was: “I can replace the ticket, but I cannot replace your finger” can you guess DGH comments?
And the last words are for the Mickey Magical Milestone Tour.
This two-hours tour is focused on Mickey and the Magic Kingdom, telling you lots of fun facts. We reached Toontown, just before 10 a.m., when this section of Magic Kingdom opens. So we had a private tour of Mickey's Country House, with a surprise visit from Mickey , who posed for photographs.

We continued our trip down Mickey's Memory Lane making several stops around Fantasyland, and the tour ended in Fantasyland where our guide pointed out several hidden Mickeys in the movie of Mickey's PhilarMagic . The tour ended with a stop in a quiet spot behind Liberty Square. A mystery guest met us there, bringing each participant a small gift (look carefully our heads ! )

A very nice experience…

Well, this is really the end …
Summer has gone since long time … time to plan our next vacations !!!!!!!!!

THANKS to everyone who made our trip WONDERFUL … and to all our FRIENDS who enjoyed our reports !!!

END OF THE REPORT

 

[diberry]

I've really enjoyed reading your trip reports!! Thank you Laura and DGH!!!

 

[lzj21428]

Laura, I so enjoyed reading your trip report. I'm sad that it is over. I will look forward to your next vacation and another great report from you and dgh.

Nina

 

[MICKEY'S DREAMERS]

...I hope !!!!

Thanks , Diana !!!! Au revoir on DLP boards !!!! LOVE SO MUCH your Secret Santa thing !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


Ciao , Nina !!!! Hope everything is OK with you and family !!!!
When are you cruising Carnival ?

Laura

 

[lzj21428]

Laura, Carnival cruise is in April, the 9th through the 16th, Western Carib. I think the ports are Grand Cayman, Cozamel, and Ocho Rios (Jamaica). Coz was hit pretty hard by hurricane Wilma and the docks were damaged. Don't know if they will be repaired by April, but ships are going there and tendering in passangers.

Still not sure of Carnival and I have until January to cancel. I flip flop between excited and nervous.

I would much prefer to do a 7 day disney cruise, but that got vetoed by all the other people going. Boy, they don't know the fun they are missing by not sailing with Mickey!!!

Have fun planning your next cruise. When is it exactly you are going? Will you be sailing w/ Becky and Terry? What fun you will all have together.

Nina

 

[MICKEY'S DREAMERS]

When is it exactly you are going? Will you be sailing w/ Becky and Terry?

Yes, the four of us are sailing on August 12 !!!!!!!



Marco and I are SOOOOOOOOOO happy about this !!! We had a really wonderful time together !!!!! They are exquisite persons and Beckie is so caring !!!!

Hope I can hear from you , Nina...from time to time ; I would love to know the news about your cruise !!!!
Well, it's NOT Disney ... but ... it's VACATION !!!!!

Laura

 

[MAGICinMYHEART]

Laura & Marco/DGH

I have loved your trip report and remembering all the great things we did and enjoyed together...(sniff-sniff)...I am also so thankful we will be making new memories next August for a longer cruise, it seems like everything just went by to fast on the 4 day cruise.

See Ya in August.
Beckie aw: