-38 degrees again?? Goodbye Alaska Hello Disney! January 2009 (Updated 4/17)

[wonderlanne]

 

[Family Fun Mom]

Great TR! I love the pictures. Keep 'em coming!

 

[debbieandroo]

Yeah, what she just did....

fabulous photos, as usual...beautiful colors, inside and out.

I'm still not sure about those safari pics, though...

 

[blestmom]

Day 7: “Mom…please…stop!”

A very relaxed, unplanned, unhurried day at Epcot.

We got there early enough for the the opening. On the way in, we got to see our favorites...Chip and Dale!

We did all the usual “Futureworld” rides…Test Track, Spaceship Earth, Soarin’ and Test Track…again. The kids did a "Make Your Own" video game at Innoventions.

We then headed over to World Showcase for lunch. We had fantastic ham and cheese croissants. Mmmm…and they were pretty inexpensive, too.

It was pretty uncrowded again.

After we milled around for awhile, we decided we were just wanting to relax a bit, after all the walking the past few days. So we hopped a bus back to Pop Century and got some soda refills with our mugs. Then we hopped on another bus and headed to Downtown Disney to watch a movie. We saw “Mall Cop,” which was just a nice relaxing diversion on a quiet day.
We hopped back to the hotel, grabbed some more soda and just relaxed a bit, then headed back to Epcot.

It was my first time seeing “Beatlemania.” They were pretty cool, but the kids were bored, and we left after two songs.

We watched “Off Kilter” in Canada. They are fantastic! Love those guys…

We had a great dinner at the Mexican counter service restaurant. Very good food, and very big portions.

Then we watched Illuminations. I would have loved to have a tripod, but I don’t want to lug one around, so I tried my best to steady my camera on a stone fence.

After the fireworks, we slowly walked around World Showcase. It’s so beautiful at night there.

Japan...

Morocco...

England...

France...

I stopped at every garbage can to use as a tripod. “Princess” was begging me to please stop leaning over the garbage cans…it was embarrassing. (Ah, the things we do to get a good picture!)

A very nice day. We went back to the hotel, the kids swam awhile, got a little lemonade and Diet Coke, watched a little “Zack and Cody,” I uploaded my photos, and we had a great night’s sleep.

Tomorrow: “Super Bowl Sunday…was it crowded?”

 

[onelilspark]

Your night pictures are great! (Hmmm...trashcans...I'll have to remember that!)

 

[MagicShell]

I just found your report and I am really enjoying it. Your pictures are beautiful. Alaska?! How do you stand the cold? Mississippi is too cold for me in the winter. Have you lived in Alaska a long time? I bet it is beautiful there. I can't wait to read more about your trip. 17 days at WDW sounds like a dream come true.

 

[blestmom]

I just found your report and I am really enjoying it. Your pictures are beautiful. Alaska?! How do you stand the cold? Mississippi is too cold for me in the winter. Have you lived in Alaska a long time? I bet it is beautiful there. I can't wait to read more about your trip. 17 days at WDW sounds like a dream come true.

Thanks for the kind words.

I love Alaska. I grew up in Minnesota, so I'm used to the cold. I've lived here 15 years. I don't really like heat...that's why I like Disney in January!

 

[wonderlanne]

these are the very most beauteous photos i've ever seen of epcot. disney should put 'em on postcards. brilliant!

 

[TeresaNJ]

Really beautiful night shots blestmom!

 

[debbieandroo]

Those are absolutely gorgeous! Quite frameable, in fact.

I will definitely try the trash can thing. Did you take these shots with your manual mode, no flash, and 2 second timer?

 

[blestmom]

Those are absolutely gorgeous! Quite frameable, in fact.

I will definitely try the trash can thing. Did you take these shots with your manual mode, no flash, and 2 second timer?

Yep, that's how I took them.

 

[that's nice]

I love your pictures of the tree at AK! They show tons of detail. I think i need a DSLR but I'm sure my DW won't go for it!

Tim

 

[blestmom]

I love your pictures of the tree at AK! They show tons of detail. I think i need a DSLR but I'm sure my DW won't go for it!

Tim

Thank you Actually, I don't have a true DSLR (interchangeable lenses and all that) I have a 'bridge' camera...a Fuji s6000. I wanted a little something more than a point-and-shoot, to learn more about photography. But I really don't know enough 'yet' to justify the cost of a DSLR. Plus, I like that this camera is small enough (relatively speaking) to carry in my bag at all times. I don't want to lug around a lot of camera equipment.

Anyway, thanks again for your kind words. I'm still just beginning to learn about photography.

 

[jonas_brothers_luv]

Love the trip report so far!

 

[studentmom]

Your trip report and pictures are wonderful! Can't wait to read the rest.

 

[blestmom]

Day 8: “Super Bowl Sunday…was it crowded?”

I had heard about how crowded it was going to be around Super Bowl time, being that it was held in Tampa this year. The only day we really noticed it more crowded was at Animal Kingdom today. But it wasn’t real bad, just a bit more crowded in the afternoon. We did run into a lot of Brazilian tour groups, which contributed, I’m sure. Really, it was not bad at all.

We spent another day at Animal Kingdom. I really love this park! (Have I mentioned that before? ) We rode Everest first thing. When we were walking in, we saw multiple Brazilian tour groups. Bummer. We knew they were going to head first thing to Everest. That’s where we were headed, too. I knew there were two ways to get to Everest…through Asia, or through the Dinosaur area. We watched where they were headed, and we went the other way. They went through the Dinosaur area, so we walked quickly through Asia. As soon as we crossed over the bridge heading to Everest, we saw the tour groups on the other bridge, by the “Finding Nemo” show. There were at least 60 kids in the group, so we almost ran to try to beat them to the ride entrance. We literally ran the last few yards, and got there “just” in the nick of time before the entire group descended on the ride.

So that meant they were directly behind us in the line. Now, I’ve been reading the DIS for a long time, and I’ve actually encountered Brazilian tour groups on earlier trips. But I had not heard the chanting before. They started chanting right behind us in line. It was loud. It was obnoxious. The most annoying thing is, the leader, who was not much older than the kids himself, was leading the chanting. The people in line were getting pretty annoyed. Finally, a cast member came over and told them they had to stop chanting. Other people in line actually clapped.

Here's a link to a video of them chanting...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uhAtKHn88Xw

The ride was great, as usual. I forget how many times we rode it. I love that ride!

We then headed back over to the Safari. I love that ride, too! My kids are very nice and let me go on the Safari over and over.

We also did the walking trails. They were virtually empty, even with more people at Animal Kingdom today. I guess Brazilian teenagers aren’t interested in looking at the animals!

I do have to say, there were also a lot of dance team competition girls there as well. But they were perfectly behaved, and quite pleasant. They did have smaller groups and more chaperones. No problems with them at all.

We had lunch at the Yak and Yeti counter service place. We really liked this lunch. We went there a few times on the trip.

We saw the Worlds of Flight again, and then headed over to the “Festival of the Lion King.” I really enjoy this show. It is so lively and upbeat, and colorful.

We also found a new place to get mochas, and frozen mocha frappuccinos…at the Royal Anandapur Tea Company. We went there several times this trip. Very, very good if you’re looking for ‘real’ coffee.

We stayed to watch the parade. I like this one a lot, because I like the music.

Since it was more crowded and the park closed early, we just headed back to the hotel. We rested, ate dinner (I got the Chicken Penne Pasta again!), let the kids swim, watched the end of the Super Bowl, and went to bed early.

Day 9: “Man, we need a day off…”

 

[blestmom]

Double post

 

[torsie24]

Love your TR!! Beautiful photos, I love the one of the Tiger!!

 

[chicagoshannon]

Glad to hear you like the parade. It's the one parade we're going to try to see so hopefully Madeline will like it.

 

[NotSoEvilStepmother]

Gosh, don't even get me started about the chanting of the Brazilian tour groups. Ack!

In July, we were in line for Kali (two groups were right behind us) while they were chanting and a CM, curious as to what this noise was, did a little shriek when she saw all of the singing teenagers.

Your pictures are absolutely amazing. Really. I'm really enjoying this TR so far!