3 Caballeros, 11 nights, 4 parks, 1 world & lots of PICS!!!!

[seobaina]

Those of you who are still with me...apologies for the delay. I'm aiming to try and finish this (hopefully tonight). I've been held up for ages with a)Christmas and b) Flu...it's been one of those years so far. Oh well!

I did take part in a disney voluntears event last weekend where we met Chip and Dale *Happy dance* so I'm all psyched up about my trip again.

Chip and Dale helped us plant over 15,000 trees! This was my team...the bumblebees!

Ok, I'm just gonna check photos and start.

 

[seobaina]

Animal Kingdom continued...

As we'd eaten whilst waiting to see Thumper and Miss Bunny...and as we were in the area...we decided to go and see Festival of the Lion King again. Andy and Jenni had loved this show the first time and despite the fact that they felt the cast this day were not as strong (singing wise) they still really enjoyed it.

Lion King show over we headed to Dinoland and Asia. It was tricky getting over there as it was almost parade time but we made it. The others weren't keen to see the parade and I've seen it before so we went for Expedition Everest fastpasses instead.

It wasn't long to wait so we hovered around and then headed on. Yes...they got me on EE . As a three we obviously couldn't sit all together. Andy took pity on the trembling wreck that was me and sat with me putting Jenni on her own in the row behind. We were teasing her that she didn't have a friend when a 'friend' appeared A gentleman sat down and grinned at my expression. I asked him if it was scary and he laughed that I didn't believe the others. He said it was fine and I raised an eyebrow doubtfully at him, so he made a deal that if I liked it I had to buy him an icecream. I agreed and we set off.

Well...the backwards bit I did NOT like...not so much cause it was scary but because it gave me that 'forced into seat' feeling which is the same as 'lifting out of seat' feeling, which I hate! The big drop though was fine and the rest of the ride was. At the end the man behind asked if he was getting an ice cream and I said no cause I didn't hate it but I didn't like it either lol. He laughed and left. Gotta say it's not my ride but I COULD do it again if I had too...and I might be this year cause my bestmate wants to try it. So we'll see. I bought myself a Yeti cat in the gift shop as a treat for having survived ;-)

Heading back into Dinoland we went straight for Dinosaur. We cut through the gift shops on route and the others couldn't help themselves.

It was quiet and we managed to ride Dinosaur three times in a row. I think it was EMH hours by this point (just beginning) so we only had a five min wait between rides if that. We LOVED this and got sillier on each round. Our photo by the last one had us pretending to be terrified! We didn't buy any though I'm afraid :-( .

We cut through the gift shop again to ride Primevil Whirl. I'd heard it was called primeval hurl but we found it kinda fun.

We'd done everything we wanted too, we were sleepy and we had an early start so we decided to head back to the hotel for dinner and bed. We did take our time leaving though and wandered around discovery island.

I took one last photo as we left.

Apparently it also pays to beg for towel animals cause look what we had (and yes I did beg...on my mousekeeping envelope!

 

[seobaina]

A looooong day...so stick with us

The morning started early with breakfast at the Polynesian. We'd lost the booking we'd had (thanks volcano) so we ended up at with a 7:50am slot at Ohana's. I'd never been to this one before so I was looking forward to it. The 'let's get the most out of disney world' pace was hitting the others and Andy needed coffee badly at this point...

We didn't have to wait long though and they'd cheered up by the time we took the 'family' photo.

We had a nice table at the back of the restaurant by the window. The table next to us included a family with kids and they were fellow forum users (they recognised my autograph book)

The food is brought to you here and it was very yum!! We ate lots and our server was lovely!!!! The first 'person' to greet us was Stitch!! Lilo and Stitch are Jenni's favourites so she really started getting over the early start

Then came Lilo

We ate a little more and drank LOTS of the juice (yummy) and then Mickey arrived

And finally just before we left...PLUTO! He's one of my faves and I think this is my favourite photo of the entire trip.

We stayed just long enough to see the 'parade' and then we left the restaurant.

 

[seobaina]

We weren't in a hurry so we went to have a good look around the Polynesian. I've only ever really had a look at night and you just don't get a proper feel for the place that way, so it was fun to see it early morning.

I love this waterfall in the lobby.

and yes we did go in the shop too

We also wandered around the stores upstairs and spent more money LOL

then we went to have a look at the outside.

They had some inviting looking hammocks on the beach...now I know better so I didn't even attempt it but Jenni...*shakes head*. The first time she went straight over the back. The second...well this was the result...taken whilst Andy and I were doubled over in hysterics. This is now affectionately known as the 'Jenni corpse' photo.

Her third attempt he did make it.

Andy of course managed to make it look easy and sat down smuggly first time (not sure Jenni's ever forgiven him Lol).

 

[jenseib]

I'm so happy that you picked it back up!
I am finally going again. We are going on the Disney Dream on March 31st! Can't wait! Then a few days at WDW and Sea World

 

[seobaina]

Jenni had fallen in love with the hotel by now so we figured we'd take the long route to the monorail and walk through the grounds. It was a lovely day and Jenni was feeling very at home so here are some photos on route.

Then we took the monorail to EPCOT (I took this on route)

Ok, short break while I go make pancakes...it is pancake day afterall

 

[seobaina]

I'm so happy that you picked it back up!
I am finally going again. We are going on the Disney Dream on March 31st! Can't wait! Then a few days at WDW and Sea World

oooh YAY!!!!! Jealous about the dream. And you're going before me now. I want a trip rep when you get back please I'm sorry I've been so bad about writing this one...been one of those things. I'm normally much better and will be on the one this April/May. I'm hoping to finish this one tonight...just need to go have pancakes first

 

[seobaina]

This was our 'World Showcase' day so we entered the park with this purpose. Like a good little red-head Andy reapplied his suncream before we started:

And naturally we stopped for a photopass photo on route!

The Flower and Garden festival was on so I took lots of photos of shrubberies Here are a few beautiful examples:

Pocahontas is my girl so I had to take this one:

We started our world tour in Mexico. I always go this way round...no idea why, just seems to work well for me. They of course have a ride/tour inside that is themed on the Three Caballeros. So naturally we had to take photos of references.

 

[seobaina]

There was no queue for the boat ride so we were on and off it pretty fast. Next we headed to Norway (again no queue)

And then on to China where we met a friend

I was kinda sad to hear that Mushu is no longer making appearances with Mulan cause he was ace!

We weren't having to queue for anything so we figured we'd wander into the Reflections of China. I've not seen it for years so it was good to see. While waiting for the show I thought I'd take a photo of the terracota Army.

And ghost finger...or ghost Jenni made it's first appearance of the day!

After the show we moved on to Germany and met someone else.

Again I was sad to hear Dopey doesn't make appearances anymore. I'm glad I've met him before.

 

[seobaina]

Moving our way around the World we reached Morocco quickly. I have to say this was a strange day for me. I'm used to working my way around EPCOT WS with big fans. We usually take a good full day to walk around, looking at things, checking out stores, etc but these two weren't big fans of WS so we were going around REALLY quickly. It kinda threw me.

On the way to Morocco we saw a short line for Aladdin and Jasmine, so we jumped in before they cut it off.

In Japan I decided to have a go at the 'pick a pearl'. It's really fun but kinda addictive. I actually went back and did two more pearls straight after. One for me, one each for two friends and one for my mum. ADDICTIVE!

If you've not done it I recommend it. If you don't have it set then it's a cheap momento and there's a fun ceremony that goes along with it.

Next we stayed to watch the candy making (which I love). It's a shame she can't give them out any more (grr health and safety) but still fun.

This lady amazes me and you HAVE to watch if you haven't!

 

[seobaina]

Working our way around to France we passed some more beautiful toparies.

I like the Flower and Garden festival and it's been on the last three trips for me. I think it'd be a shock not to see it now. It's on for most of our trip this time too.

We were waiting for Belle and Beast to appear so we figured we'd have a look around France. We had a wait so we thought we'd see the film first as it was about to start. Then we wandered through the library.

I like the library so I'll be interested to see what they do with the Beast's castle in 2013.

Now began the great character run....

We were sat waiting so we decided to do a photopass photo (naturally).

As we were taking it, Andy said 'look Marie'. I was shocked because I didn't even know you could meet Marie. We were tight on time before Belle and Beast but we had to meet her so we dashed across. So glad we did because she was awesome.

Then we ran along to get in line for Belle. She hadn't arrived yet so there was only one person ahead of us. We actually got to watch the street performers while waiting.

Then she arrived...alone

Now we had a dilema because the photopass photographer (in France and with Marie) had told us that Marie was going in soon but Aurora would be coming out. But we also knew that the Beast was due to come out. We decided to wait for the Beast and hope we could get back for Aurora.

We just rejoined the back of the Belle queue (along with two other families) and he still hadn't appeared by the time we made it to the front again. Belle and the photographer told us to just wait and we were actually first in line when he finally arrived. He was HUUUUUGGGEEEE!!!! I'm 5ft 2 but shesh...

 

[seobaina]

We thanked Belle and the Beast and then ran to Aurora. I don't think anyone had spotted her cause she was in a quiet part of the garden with no line (one person only). So we were able to see her before we left.

People did notice her as we were leaving and her line started getting longer. The photopass photographers here all seemed to know us by now (from the previous week) so they said they'd see us tomorrow LOL and we wandered on towards the UK. I took these two photos by the bridge.

On the way over the bridge we passed a photopass photographer who took this one:

Then we made it in to the UK where we met Mary, who seemed pleased to meet some people from Britain.

We had a wander around the Pavillion and had a slightly snotty response from a cm to a comment I made. I picked up a ring and said 'oh english rings' to which he said in a strong scottish accent curtly 'actually they are Welsh and Scottish not English'. I just said 'oh I know' and bit down on my 'actually they're Celtic and I'd know cause I'm pure Celt' but I didn't. The other cm's just rolled their eyes at him but I was a little shocked that he'd be so rude to a guest in his tone. Oh well, we had a nice look around.

Then we went for a wander around Canada

Even Thumper's relatives like to chill out in WDW

At this point we decided on a change of plans. It was a late night at MK so we figured we'd head to the hotel for a couple of hours sleep and some food and then come back in. By this point it was about 4pm ish but MK was open til 2am.

Of course I had to take more photos on the route out

And naturally there were more photopass photos too LOL

 

[seobaina]

ok, this is taking longer to write up than I thought so I'm gonna quit for tonight and try to continue tomorrow night. Here's one photo from the morning that I'd forgotten.

 

[disneyshakeygirl]

YAY! I'm so glad you're posting again Amazing catch up, and the pics from the Poly are sweet/hilarious all at the same time.

 

[seobaina]

YAY! I'm so glad you're posting again Amazing catch up, and the pics from the Poly are sweet/hilarious all at the same time.

Aww thanks - Jenni corpse does still make me pee with laughter . Ok, ended up getting a phone call and a 'can you come in at 5am' so the staying up to write last night went out the window and I'm sleepy tonight so I'll do more tomorrow.

 

[seobaina]

So, the plan was to head back to the hotel, kip for a couple of hours then get up have dinner and head back to the park. Well, I don't sleep at WDW so I decided to go for a swim in the pool instead. Jenni joined me and Andy settle for a shower and chill out on the lounger.

We had dinner at POP and then headed to the park. We got back in to MK at about 9pm. First thing we do? Photopass of course ;-)

Although Wishes was on we decided to leave it that night and make the most out of the time as we wanted to see it the following night instead. So began an awesome few hours!

If anyone hasn't done the MK late, late night I highly recommend it...no wait, er...it's terrible, don't go, it's really busy, honest *whistles* ;-)

We went straight to the splash mountain. I didn't really wanna do it so I left the others and hung around in the store. I actually has a great 20mins or so while waiting for them because I got talking to two cast members - Michael and (name I can't remember but it was spanish). They were lovely and it was quiet so we exchanged cast member stories, talked about B&B (cause of my t-shirt), talked about the parks etc. I had a great time and then others enjoyed the ride. As we were there and the was no queue we decided to do Big Thunder. We had such a laugh and it was a 5 min wait so we rode it 3 times in a row. I think we could have all gone again but we thought we should check out some other stuff too.

Next was the haunted mansion...it's kinda spooky at night but fun

We thought we'd take advantage of the smaller amount of little kids and try some of the normally loooooong line rides, so we moved on to Fantasyland. I took a couple of photos of the castle on route.

 

[seobaina]

Our first ride in Fantasyland was actually the carousel. It was pretty much a walk on so we all grabbed a horse of our own. As you can see we were also a little spread out.

This was my horse

We moved on to Dumbo because although for us it was a longish wait (30-40mins) by comparrison it was a short line. We figured if we were ever gonna do it, this would be the time.

While waiting the others decided it was time for ghost finger to reappear.

By the time we got there we were able to each have our own Dumbo. It was great fun.

My Dumbo

Then we figured we might as well do all the fantasyland rides so we went on to Winnie the Pooh and Snow White.

Next in our way around was It's a Small World. We walked straight on and Jenni was so excited - she loves it.

I'm not really a fan cause in the past when you work for Disney you hear the song ALLLLLLLL the time and Andy? Well, his face says it all.

We finished off the rides with Peter Pan.

And naturally the teacups. It was quite (and this time not wet) so we were able to have our own teacup too.

 

[seobaina]

After a showing of Philharmagic (Still ace) we went on Autopia. I'm not sure I've ever been on it before...if I have it was in 1995 and hummm...I can see why kids like it but it's a bit too tame for us. It was still fun to do though...even if I wasn't allowed to bash Andy's car from behind ;-)

We were beginning to run out of time by this point - it was about 12:30am, so we went to Space Mountain. We just had time to ride it twice before they closed the rides.

We had about an hour before the park shut so we wandered slowly to the exit. Naturally taking photos ;-)

I'd never noticed this before:

We did a little last minute shopping before heading to the buses.

The line for the bus was the only negative that night...it took about an hour to get on board partly because of families coming up with a wheelchair/scooters. Don't get me wrong I have NO issues with wheelchairs being loaded on buses when they come up - I've run conventions where we've had people with all sorts of handicapabilities. What is annoying is that they always seem to have about 20+ people with them. I kinda think there should be a limit cause we were only about one bus load from getting on and were still waiting 45 mins later. It kinda got annoying at that time in the morning. Oh well, we made it and Andy ended up sat next to a Mini Daisy Duck.

I'll continue this tomorrow

 

[jenseib]

Wow, I don't think I can remember all I wanted to comment on.
I always have good luck with Aurora. Short lines everytime. It's like she is hidden away.
There is a limit of how many family members can ride with a scooter. I think it's 5 or 6. but sadly the bus drivers don't enforce it.
You guys look like so much fun. I have never been able to really explore WS. We usually go pretty fast around. I think I would have to go by myself to do it all and enjoy it.

 

[seobaina]

Wow, I don't think I can remember all I wanted to comment on.
I always have good luck with Aurora. Short lines everytime. It's like she is hidden away.
There is a limit of how many family members can ride with a scooter. I think it's 5 or 6. but sadly the bus drivers don't enforce it.
You guys look like so much fun. I have never been able to really explore WS. We usually go pretty fast around. I think I would have to go by myself to do it all and enjoy it.

LOL. Yeah, I was surprised at Aurora...just assumed her line would be huge. Was nice for us that it wasn't.
Ah, that's interesting about the scooter cause it can be soooo irritating. We've got a car this time so we may just use that on busier times.
You sooo need to have a gentle wander around WS. As I say, this time we wizzed around but my best mate, Karen, who is going this year LOVES WS so we spend an entire day there taking in the shows, looking at the stores, eating ;-) Just take our time and it's nice. Kinda wanna try the Kim Possible thing this time too.