A Disney Trip of a Lifetime... A trip to TDR, WDW, UOR, SWO, DLR - COMPLETED 12 March

[RachelleBeaney]

The next morning we awoke, not completely well rested (probably a little jet lagged) but happy! The first thing we discovered was a message on the phone in our room and upon playing it we heard the very first birthday greeting of our trip. Yes, it was a birthday message from Mickey and Minnie, which was so cute! We were on the phone to our parents at the time so they got to listen in to that little piece of Disney magic!

We arrived at the Magic Kingdom shortly after opening (it was a quiet time of year and we didn't really feel like rushing to rope drop). This was the one and only time we used the bus from Disneys Port Orleans Riverside and we found it the most efficient way to get to the Magic Kingdom.

I had had a bit of a freak-out that morning as when I checked the My Disney Experience app only my FP was showing for each ride. However, all I had to do was link my account with the other 3 accounts and all four of our FPs were showing again and the freak out was over.

I was so excited to show my little sister her first Disney theme park. And here is Natalie and I arriving at the Magic Kindgom





On our way into the park we were greeted with our first taste of Christmas in the form of a performance from the Main Street Trolley Crew.





My grinchy sister simply said You planned this didn't you! to which I responded Of course not, but I couldn't help but giggle that fate would present some Christmas joy to us as we walked into the parks!

We had to wait a while for Jared to pick up our Photopass Plus card so we took a few pictures while we waited. By the way, the Photopass Plus is TOTALLY worth it. Not knowing exactly how to use it to download digital prints of my photos (you have to purchase a digital photo CD) I added each digital download to my account before having to delete them all and start again when I couldn't get the total to equal zero. In the process of doing this I was able to see that, had we purchased every single photo individually, it would have cost well over $1000 and the Photopass Plus was a mere $149! This was also not including all the ride photos we got!

Anyway, back to our fun photos









Yes that last picture is me proudly wearing my birthday button! Most of the time Natalie refused to wear hers out of embarrassment so I was the one who got all the Happy Birthdays directed my way, which was fine by me! Never have I been wished Happy Birthday so many times!

After we got our PhotoPass Plus card we decided to try it out. A lot! (much to Natalie and Ashleys disdain!)





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[RachelleBeaney]

Anyway, back to our actual trip report, we made our way down Main Street (stopping for photopass pictures obviously):













After all the Photopass craziness Jared had the BEST idea for a photo which turned out two of my favorite photos of the whole trip! This is Jared and Natalie imitating the partners statue!





Doesn't Natalie make a cute looking Mickey Mouse J



On our way to Fantasyland we took the bridge through Liberty Square  look how cute these two are walking hand in hand at a Disney park (Id dreamed about taking my sister to one for so long I was a little teary at this point  though of course, I never said anything to her as that would have been embarrassing!)







We finally made it to Fantasyland and into the New Fantasyland area























The New Fantasyland was indeed beautiful but we didn't actually spend much time there. We probably spent more time the next night when we ate at Be Our Guest but even still, we experienced everything the New Fantasyland area had to offer for people our age (we skipped Enchanted Tales with Belle which, while fun, looked a bit to kiddy to take Nat and Ash too and of course Storybook Circus) in just a few short hours (and that included dinner!). Sure its gorgeous, but its a bit flat in terms of attractions. Perhaps the opening of this one will help things along a little



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[RachelleBeaney]

We did finally make it to our first destination (sorry so many pictures to show in between!), the Little Mermaid Ride.

It was a great dark ride to start Nat and Ash off with, showing them the kind of ride Disney does really well.







The ride stopped for a minute or so in front of Ursula allowing us to get a picture of her for once!







Back out into New Fantasyland we had a quick look around before heading to our next stop





I particularly LOVED the Tangled bathrooms. So beautiful, though of course, I wish theyd used this beautiful theme for something a little more interesting than a toilet



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We stopped by the Haunted Mansion next. I love Walt Disney Worlds version of this ride, even more so because it never has the stupid Nightmare Before Christmas overlay which makes me feel nauseated somehow! We all enjoyed this creepy visit to the home of 999 grim grinning ghosts.









As you can see the wait time was only at 10 minutes. This was a pretty common wait time all day (it was really quiet) and made me a little dubious about the merits of the new FP plus system as we didn't really need the FPs we booked when we booked them and I would have much preferred to be able to simply make a reservation when we needed one on the day, but of course, with people booking 2 months in advance, I was afraid options wouldn't be available. As a quick sidebar the My Magic system, including the Magic Bands, worked fine for us while we were at the resort but it was annoying to have three more appointments (on top of lunch reservations and show times) to have to keep, and more often than not our FPs were either not needed or would have been better used at another time. I am even more worried about our next trip in 2015 as we wont be staying on property (and only doing MK and DAK) so we will only be able to make reservations on the day, and who knows what will be left! Either way we had no problems using the My Magic system, no breakdowns or issues with Magic Bands or retrieving FPs at rides, but we just found the whole thing a little pointless and annoying and would have rather used the old FP system. We were unofficially told upon check in we could use the old system with our Key to the World cards but could only obtain a FP for that after all our FP+ had been used, which usually meant we couldn't get any until late arvo or early evening and therefore didn't have much chance of obtaining one for a good ride at a reasonable time anyway,

Anyway, annoyances of the My Magic System aside, we were having a good time and not really encountering any ridiculous lines. If we had a FP when the wait was short wed just chuckle and say, well at least its a shorter walk!

This fun and wet ride was up next. Ashley was quiet irate when he discovered that yes, he would get wet, really wet. Water rides ended up being one of those things he didn't really enjoy.











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[RachelleBeaney]

The Wild West was calling and we made our way to it













Nat and Ash really enjoyed Big Thunder Mountain (as did we of course). As I soon discovered their favorite type of rides were always rollercoasters (wondrous themeing and story was a little lost on Ash I think) so they are probably more Amusement Park fans than Theme Park fans, but hey, they enjoyed themselves at Disney too!

We decided at this point to take advantage of the fact we could take photos of each other and get some nice couple shots in front of the Rivers of America

In case you hadn't worked it out yet, Ashley does not like photos. Natalie also doesn't really like photos, especially in the morning before coffee! She was a studio photographer, and still does the occasional wedding, and I think it reminds her a little too much of work which is fair enough, not sure what Ashleys excuse is! Ashley really likes pulling funny faces in all his pictures. It usually makes for a comical photo but makes it hard to get any nice serious shots of the two of them (or the four of us for that matter!)





Prepare for more Ashley funny faces plus Jared photobombing



Finally a smile!





Aww  we love each other





I have to say now that Magic Kingdoms Rivers of America really lack something for me. Not sure what it is exactly, the hidden nature of Tom Sawyers Island, the lack of New Orleans Square, the wider pathways between the water and Frontierland and Liberty Square&but it just isn't as beautiful to me as the area at Disneyland. Still we got some lovely pictures of it!











Back in Liberty Square Ashley and Jared were being naughty so they were duly punished in the stocks





This area of the park is beautiful, but somehow doesn't hold a candle to Disneylands New Orleans Square.

We headed back through the hub next towards Tommorowland.





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[RachelleBeaney]

At this point I think we got some more PhotoPass plus photos which I included above, and Jared got this cute photo of Natalie and I being photographed by a Photopass photographer!



Another few cute photos of us girls heading to Tommorowland











Since we had FP for Space Mountain after lunch and we planned to ride again that evening during Mickeys Very Merry Xmas Party we decided to hit Buzz Lightyears Astro Blasters. This ride ended up being one of Ashleys favorites at Disney World, I think because he kept beating everyone. He certainly did this time, though it wasn't hard to beat my abysmal score of 7800!!





We had our lunch reservations at Tonys Town Square next. I've heard a lot of bad reviews of this place but Jared and I love it, having eaten here on both occasions we've visited the Magic Kingdom. The spaghetti and meatballs is my favourite, and is always what I always order so I couldn't say anything much about the other food, but everyone seemed to enjoy their meal.

See smiling happy faces! We learnt that day that if you feed Natalie and Ashley regularly, they are generally happier!








Ahh pretty!



We had a FP reservation for Space Mountain next and once again, though there wasn't really much of a wait for the ride, we used it in order to walk less!







Ashley just had to take that call - not sure who his provider is but he seems to get reception in space!

After Space Mountain we had one more thing to check off our to do list before heading back to the hotel for a well deserved rest until Mickeys Very Merry Xmas Party that night.

Our quest to find this ride took us through&Adventureland





We spotted these fun characters on our way there





We then arrived at our destination





No matter how many times I do this ride I always am a little disappointed by it (the Magic Kingdom version that is). Also, by this point our poor jet lagged bodies were starting to wilt and I think everyone had a little nap to the lulling sounds of Yo Ho Yo Ho a Pirates Life for Me!

As tired as I was as we walked out towards the entrance of the park I HAD to stop and say hi to this cutie (one of my favorite Disney characters of all time)



Natalie and Ashley decided to wait on a comfortable bench while we lined to see our favorite Disney kitteh. Natalie and Ashley aren't really character people and she made it very clear that if I was going to sing Everybody Wants to be a Cat to Marie, she would be mortified (apparently she was mortified anyway, from 20 m away!)

And yes, I did sing Everybody Wants to Be a Cat as I approached Marie. There were a lot of young kids around and I wondered how many of them actually knew who she was and had seen the AristoCats (which is a wonderful movie and was one of the first Disney movies I remember seeing) so I wanted her to know I knew who she was. Plus I love that song and thought it would make our meet special. Indeed as I started to sing it she began to dance along  a cute little moment shared by just us





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[RachelleBeaney]

After embarrassing Natalie thoroughly it was finally time to leave for our afternoon nap. It was about 3:30pm by this time and wed decided to try be back at the park by 6:30 so we didn't have a huge break however it was long enough to recharge for the night ahead.
Upon re-entering the park (after discovering for the first time just how inconvenient it is to drive there Jared and I didn't have a car at Disney on our last trip to Orlando) we were greeted by long lines at the entrance turnstiles. I began to worry this would mean a busy party night, however, it was mainly just due to the fact that it was taking cast members so long to attach everyones wrist bands. It didn't take long to get through though and we were greeted by the beauty of the Magic Kingdom at night.







Because it was a party night there was cool lighting you probably wouldn't have seen at any other time. These snowflakes projected on Space Mountain were one example



We grabbed a quick dinner at Cosmic Rays and then headed over to Space Mountain which we rode with no wait.

We had decided to make rides our priority for the first portion of the night as Natalie and Ashley hadn't experienced all of them and wanted to do others again. We also knew lines would be short. Our first stop was another round on Astro Blasters where I luckily improved on my abysmal score of 7800 achieving 20000 (I say luckily because Im sure I have no skill at those laser pointer games most of the time I cant even work out where my laser is so I know it wasn't my skill that helped improve my score!). The boys scores were 92000 and 98000 this time and they were very proud of their improvement though poor Nat only got 2800 when she achieved about 19000 the previous go and of course, this left her a little downtrodden!

We rode the teacups next, as its a classic and we wanted Nat and Ash to try it. Though of course, it pales in beauty in comparison to the Disneyland version.



Love this photo though its blurry Ashley is having lots of fun!



Next up was the planned torture of its a small world. I always wonder why I do this ride everytime after I ride it, only to do it again the next time we go to the parks. I have decided it must be because Im insane! We stopped by the Tangled toilets next which were so beautiful at night with all the lanterns (Jared and I LOVE the lantern scene and song in the Tangled so we enjoyed this area immensely!)





We quickly ran over to Big Thunder Mountain to have another go on it before heading back to Main Street to find our spot for the Fireworks and Parade.

So before I show you all the pictures I have of the nightime entertainment at Mickeys Very Merry Xmas Party, a few thoughts on it. Firstly, I loved the Celebrate the Magic castle projection show! One of the things I LOVE about Disney is the amazing musical scores and songs its produced over the years. I love any show that has these great songs and musical moments melded together as they generate such an emotional response in me. To me, the use of the music along with fireworks and lights creates the most Disney magic and Celebrate the Magic certainly fulfilled those requirements. Now to the fireworks. Well as much as I love Christmas I never really felt the spirit of Christmas in the fireworks until the very end when the castle was lit (perhaps it was the absence of classic carols and good arrangements for the Christmas songs used). Also, I've seen much more majestic firework displays put on by Disney (The Hallowishes being the most amazing I've seen) and so I wasn't blown away by the Christmas fireworks. I did enjoy them I just wasn't wowed. Lastly, the parade, in my opinion, was awful. Im not really a parade person so it shouldn't really surprise me I didn't enjoy this one but after enjoying the parades at Tokyo Disney and the fact this parade was created for a paid event, I figured this one might be ok. It really wasn't. It was light on characters, big on cheese and seemed very stilted in places. Its only redeeming quality was the snow that fell on Main Street. I just didn't enjoy it at all, and I only ended up with three interesting pictures of the whole thing!

There were a few highlight to the parade though. Both Natalie and I were waving at Woody and both has kisses blown our way, perhaps because of our birthday badges. I did get a few Happy Birthday's from the dancers as well, which was impressive as I'm sure they'd have to be concentrating on their routines! Also, while we were waiting for the parade a couple of adorable cast members came and played 'Santa Says' with us, to keep us occupied while waiting. They really made my night!

Overall Im not sure I would go to Mickeys Very Merry Xmas Party again. It was great to have short lines and/or no wait for rides but a good touring plan can allow that also. Other than that I really dont feel we got the most out of or really enjoyed the entertainment provided (we didn't even have time for our free cocoa) and the entertainment I enjoyed the most was the projection show shown every other non-party night! However, it was good to have all those extra hours in the park so we could really see it at night.



































After the second parade we did some quick shopping and then followed the throngs out of the Magic Kingdom ready for bed before a day of fun at Animal Kingdom.

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[RachelleBeaney]

Subbing! Less than 24 hours, and already on the third page!

Edited to add: Ah, I see what you did! Uploaded the first 10 days' worth of the trip report, all at once... I'm more used to the standard trip reporting method, of posting an entry or two a day, with time in between for people to comment. Not that I'm complaining, or anything...

Thanks PrincePluto - yes I've been writing the report in a word document until I could get my husband to talk me through the process of creating chapter links! (I'm not hugely computer literate - or at least not as computer literate as he is!) - so yes, i finished the whole Tokyo portion of the trip before we got around to that. However, you can probably expect the next lots of updates to come in smaller bursts!

Thanks for reading

 

[jrj]

Hi I'm loving your TR... Thank you for sharing your amazing vacation

 

[RachelleBeaney]

We started the next day with our birthday badges ready. Here are a few pictures we took of them the day before. Lots more Happy Birthdays were handed out to us today!





We arrived at Animal Kingdom at 9am, just as the park was due to open.





On our way in I met De-vine!





We slowly made our way towards Expedition Everest stopping, once again, for a lot of photopass photos on the way (hey they were free well technically, Id already bought them so for all intense and purposes they were free now!). Sorry for posting so many, I just love them all, especially as Animal Kingdom is my favorite park at Walt Disney World, and the photo frame Everest shots were so cute I couldn't decide between them! (These were actually taken after we rode EE for the first time but I thought they fit better here with the other PhotoPass photos)























Brother-in-law love!



Anyway Ashley must have had his happy pills that morning because he was skipping!



We enjoyed strolling slowly through Asia stopping to chat with Brian, a friendly CM who chatted with us at length about the Gibbons. He also told us he had a twin brother performing in the Lion King show so we kept an eye out for him when we saw it later in the day.











It was really great to take the whole morning really slow and not have to rush anywhere. We arrived at Everest at 9:45am and it was still a walk on so we did it twice in a row.

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[RachelleBeaney]

I just LOVE Expedition Everest, its my favorite ride at Walt Disney World and so I couldn't resist taking a million photos of it from every angle possible (trust me, these few are a small sample!)























After Everest we decided to brave Kali River Rapids, knowing we would get soaked. Natalie and Ashley were not happy getting off this one, though I have to say I've gotten a lot wetter on water raft rides before so I was pleasantly surprised!









We took a trek through the Maharaja Jungle next. We had a few great chats with some of the animal cast members stationed around this beautiful walk. Thanks to these wonderful CMs we learned a number of interesting facts, the most excited of which was that Kimono Dragons can kill a human, with bacteria from their bite which takes 3 or 4 days to kill you! Not a good way to go! We really enjoyed taking it slow at this point, just taking in our surroundings and chatting with interesting cast members. The Maharaja Jungle Trek is one of my favorite parts of Animal Kingdom. Its just so beautiful and makes you really feel like you are somewhere in southern Asia. These pictures give a small idea of just how beautiful the walk is!

The killer Komodo Dragon





















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[RachelleBeaney]

Hi I'm loving your TR... Thank you for sharing your amazing vacation

Thanks jrj! I'm so happy people are enjoying it - I really wanted to share the joy of our really wonderful vacation as I know how much joy it brings me to read everyone else's trip reports! Thanks so much for reading, comments about people enjoying the report make me happy I put the effort in to take notes and write it - I think some people think that kind of thing is crazy but I know why I do and so do all of you

 

[RachelleBeaney]

After our relaxing trek through the Asian jungle we decided to have a break for a bit. Everyone was really tired and still hadnt quiet recovered from jetlag so we sat while we waited for Flights of Wonder to start, which we thought would be a relaxing way to spend half an hour. Our relaxing spot had a view over to the Tree of Life and, like all of Animal Kingdom, was so beautiful.











The Tree of Lifes carvings never cease to amaze me. I think we spend a good 15 mins just looking for animals on the tree!









By the time Flights of Wonder was due to start we were utterly relaxed and refreshed! Animal Kingdom just does that to me. I like its slow pace and being able to absorb myself it its beauty and intricacy.

Flights of Wonder is really an amazing show. We hadnt seen it on our previous trip to Animal Kingdom and so I was pleasantly surprised with the humour and of course the birds! Especially the parrot that knew five songs including how much is that doggy in the window. The tour guide who is afraid of birds was also a great touch!





I love owls! For some reason these tawny ones remind me of my fluffy grey cat (yes I am very strange!)



In am in LOVE with this photo! I cant believe my husband managed to capture that moment when the eagle landed with his wings out!





After flights of wonder we headed over to DINOSAUR which was only a 10 min wait (though more like 5 when we did it!). I really do love this ride. I dont think its better or worse than Indy, just different, and I think the DINOSAURS look so real (they scare the crap out of me too, see).







At this point people were starting to get grumpy and therefore food was needed. I choose to have one of these



Happy again with food in our bellies we headed over to Africa for a safari ride. Once again I love the Africa section of the park and the realism you feel in it. I have never actually been to Africa (though my sister has) so I cant compare if it looks like parts of Africa but for the most part I feel like I am really there!

Our adopted sisters husband is from South Africa so we had to take this photo for her!





Looking back toward Asia









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[wiigirl]

Great pics!

 

[DaeHyFoog]

Amazing trip! I'm only part way through the Tokyo portion, but just had to say thank you for the incredible report. I can't wait to keep reading through it all, although it may take a few days.

 

[RachelleBeaney]

We had our first FP of the day booked for the Kilimanjaro Safari at around 12pm (I think it was for 11:30am 12:30pm). Nat and Ash have been to Kruger Park in South Africa on a real safari and commented that, while that was bigger and obviously a little more involved, this one was awesome because no matter where you looked you could see animals, where as in a real safari you may have long periods of nothing before you spot something. I told Natalie the CMs at Animal Kingdom use special tricks to help entice the animals to more visible locations.

I think we saw just about every animal kept at Animal Kingdom that day, though we didn't get a photo of all of them. We saw every kind of deer like creature that I cant remember the name of now, elephants, white and black rhinos, crocodiles, hippos, ostriches, giraffes, one lion who was very camera shy and a few warthogs.




























After the safari we headed over to lunch at Rainforest Café. I dont know why, but I love the Rainforest Café, as cheesy as it is! I think though corny it is it does manage to achieve that level of immersion to somewhere else concept that Disney also does so well. As we entered the Rainforest Café through the turnstiles that take you out of the park I was wished Happy Birthday in German from a lovely German CM!









We were very hungry by this point and glad to be having food! As I mentioned in the first post about Animal Kingdom, Natalie and I had our birthday buttons with us today. While I wore mine proudly on my shirt, Nat had stuck hers to her bag, so when it was time for a birthday muffin to be presented, guess who got one and who didn't! It was really funny actually, I was on my way to the bathroom when our servers caught me and said hey, youre supposed to be at your table, back you go!

I graciously shared my birthday muffin with my sister, and Ashley decided to get in on the fun



The other highlight of the Rainforest Café was this giant Coronarita my husband ordered. Apparently hed heard of such a drink before (a corona stuck in a margarita) and had even wished for one when in New York with his work colleagues back in May. However, hed never had one though hed always wished to (Corona is his favorite type of beer) and so he took copious photos of this drink to send to all his work buddies to make them all super jealous! I think it worked to!





Natalie also enjoyed some! Good thing too as Jared would have been drunk for the rest of the afternoon otherwise the thing was HUGE!



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[RachelleBeaney]

Thanks wiigirl! That's all down to my husband - he's a great photographer, me not so much!

Your welcome, DaeHyFoog. I'm really glad your enjoying it Yes it is loongg..so I understand it may take ages to get through!

 

[RachelleBeaney]

After lunch we went and watched our favorite show at the whole Walt Disney World resort, the Festival of the Lion King. I don’t know what it is about this show, perhaps that wonderful Lion King music that chills me to my core from it’s beauty, the amazing singers who bring it life, the mix of acrobatics, firebreathers, stiltists, puppets and wire performers, but whatever it is it’s really breathtaking. I also love the fact it’s a celebration. If you want to see the story of the Lion King portrayed as a musical then you can just see the Lion King on broadway or whenever it comes to a city near you, as it always will. But this is like a parade, or what a parade should be, without the hassle of moving everything constantly which takes away some of the wonder! Anyway, that’s my little piece on why I love Festival of the Lion King. Here are some pictures of it!





The King is Here!









Remember how we met Brian earlier in the day, who told us all about the Gibbons that live in the Asian section of Animal Kingdom. And he had a twin who was a stiltist in the Lion King show, well we think this was him! They look so alike!









And grand finale! It makes me want to sing “in the circle….the circle of life…BOOM!”

After the Lion King we realized we’d missed our Everest FP but since it wasn't really a busy day we weren't too concerned by that. We were coming up to our DINOSAUR one though so we went and did that again and then went back on Everest with no wait. This time we finally got a spot in the back of the coaster and I believe Ashley’s comment was ‘Wow, why didn't we go in the back every time!” It’s so much faster!

That rounded off our day at my favorite Disney park. I was of course sad to leave but we had a really exciting night planned over at Magic Kingdom so that didn't last long. Since we had the car we had to drive to the park again so we allowed at least an hour for all the annoyingness of the monorail, people mover etc. We had to be on time as we had an appointment with a Beast at 6:50pm.

A bit of background, I had asked our Dreams Unlimited Travel agent to try book us a Be Our Guest reservation on the Monday night that we were at Magic Kingdom exactly 180 days out from our reservation date. I thought it would be easier if she did it as we have to try and stay up in order to be able to call the US as the line opens so we thought she would have a better chance. However, she came back to us to inform us she booked the one and only Be Our Guest reservation still available for the whole 6 days we were at Disney and that was on the Tuesday night. I had to shuffle our whole schedule around to accommodate the booking but I think in the end it was worth it.

We arrived a little early and were instructed to wait on the bridge. I passed the time taking photos, wishing we had come in and got some during the day (our camera doesn’t do the best night shots).







Our pager soon buzzed and we were called over by our maitre d who asked us if we’d visited the Beast’s castle before. Of course we told her we hadn't and so she showed is in through the double wooden doors while exclaiming “welcome to the Beast’s Castle’’. We were introduced to the stone gargoyles in the entrance, one of which was named Bruce. I remembered that as its Jared’s Dad’s name! Our maitre d also had the cutest three prong electric candelabra which she told us was one of Lumiere’s friends. She left Lumiere’s friend at our table while she went to enquire about something and we enjoyed getting a few pictures with him. We tried a few different types of lighting.





My first impression upon entering the Ballroom area of the restaurant where we would be dining was simply “wow”. It was as if I had walked into the movie. Everything was so grand and elegant and simply breathtaking. I wish I had been able to get better photos!



The chandeliers were so impressive!



The napkins were folded like roses, I thought this was the cutest touch



We decided to splurge and buy these souvenir castle cups, just so we could prove we’d been there





Man, they were huge (Jared was not happy, he had to make everything fit in the suitcases later!). The food itself was actually surprisingly good. I hadn't heard great things about it, every review I’d read noted something along the lines of ‘you go for the atmosphere, not the food’. However, the steak, beans and chips with aioli that I had was very good. I can see how, for someone with very fancy tastes, the food may not measure up, but as a good hearty meal it completely hit the spot. Personally I’m not hugely adventurous in what I eat so the fact the food wasn't fancy or upscale was perfectly fine by me. If that’s what you’re looking for when you go to Be Our Guest you may be disappointed. A lot of people also complained about the price (considering the food is standard) but I didn't think the meal was too much more expensive than anywhere else at Disney World. You are paying for the experience really, and since food is generally much cheap in the states it didn't really bother us! To those who complain I say come to Australia!

I’d asked our travel agent to note, when we made the reservation, that Natalie and I would be celebrating our birthdays as I wanted to try the acclaimed grey stuff, and at that point you could only get some if your reservation was for a ‘special occasion’. Since we’d made the reservation the grey stuff was actually added to the menu on a chocolate brownie type thing. However, we were bought out our own little serve of the grey stuff with a candle for our birthdays! It was the best thing I have ever tasted. The closest way to describe it would be to say it was a cookies and cream flavored mousse but that doesn't really do it justice. I could have eaten a tub of it (and probably been very sick later!). It was truly heavenly!



Of course when the gorgeous little dessert cart made its way around to us I knew what I would be having and ordered myself another helping of the grey stuff!

After dinner we explored the castle a little, including the West Wing and the Rose Room. The West Wing was indeed creepy and moodily lit, very fun to visit, though a bit dark for my liking when it comes to eating a meal. I was happy with our choice to eat in the ballroom. We did see this on our travels:



After you've finished your meal you have the option to have a meet and greet with the Beast. He also appears, to the triumphant melody from Beauty and the Beast (you know the music that plays when he turns into a human) every 30 mins or so. As luck would have it we came in to meet him just as he was on his way out to do one of his appearances so we had to wait a while for him to come back. While we waited I got a picture with his chair to show everyone just how giant it was!



We finally had our picture taken with big fluffy, as I've now decided to call him (he has so much hair!) and we exited the restaurant, taking in every detail as we went.





After dinner I wanted to do a quick bit of shopping in New Fantasyland (I had my eye on the beautiful beauty and the beast plates they sell there). When we were done with that the fireworks were starting so we quickly made our way out of the park to beat the rush. Thank goodness the cast members keep lanes ways open during the fireworks as it would be such a task to try and fight your way through all those people! With that we had finished our second, and probably my favorite, day at Disney.

Continued in next post...

 

[RachelleBeaney]

Today was our first real rest day since the beginning of our trip (other days of rest had been interrupted by travel!). We had nothing planned until our 5pm dinner at Portobello’s at Downtown Disney followed by an Illuminations Fireworks Cruise out of the Yacht Club at 8pm.

We all slept late, which was wonderful. I’d planned to take a swim that day but of course, it was one of the only days the whole trip that it was actually too cold to! Natalie and I instead lazed about the room, watching Grey’s Anatomy. I caught up on culling and posting photos to facebook as well, and the boys went to the arcade for a while and played some air hockey.

We got to Downtown Disney about an hour before dinner so we could do some shopping. We made it to World of Disney, the Arribas Crystal shop and Trend-D before running out of time. I had a very special purchase to make at the Arribas Crystal shop, a Swarovski crystal Eeyore for my Mum for Christmas. You may remember I mentioned earlier in the report that my Mum loves Eeyore. She also greatly admires my Swarovski collection (I have three small shelves now, it’s taken years to accrue that many, usually when I go to the US as they are so much cheaper over there) so I know she is really going to love her Xmas gift. I will find out if she does or not tomorrow too which reminds me, Merry Christmas everyone!.

Dinner at Portebello’s was delicious. I really love Italian food so I may be bias here. The arancini balls we had for entrée were brilliant, the pasta was pretty good but the stand out was the white chocolate crème brulee I had for dessert, so divine! Everyone else really enjoyed their meals also.

After dinner we looked around Downtown Disney for a little longer before making our way to the Yacht Club for our 8pm Illuminations Cruise. A week or so before we left for our trip I’d called the marina at the Yacht Club and requested a birthday package for the boat. This was what our boat looked like when we showed up at the Marina.





So adorable!

Of course, it was one of the coldest nights of our trip that night and being out on the water was a little chilly! Ashley and Natalie were already a little dubious about the whole thing as they were already so cold. Here we all are rugged up and waiting for our skipper!



Natalie and I hug attacked Ashley



So Ashley photobombed Jared and I



I made good use of my Marie beanie from Tokyo!



Once we got on the boat we were a little warmer thanks to these great blankets





Our skipper then took us up the EPCOT area waterway to Hollywood Studios before turning around to head towards EPCOT for Illuminations. We even caught the fireworks at the end of Fantasmic. I had never been to the EPCOT resort area before and this trip gave me a glimpse at just how beautiful the whole place is! Especially at night.



It was a little cold on the boat so everyone rugged up well.





I think Ashley was the coldest, this is Jared valiantly trying to block the wind that was making him extra cold! Ashley looks like a human burrito!



Pictures of the Boardwalk at night





Once we docked at the entrance to World Showcase Lagoon in EPCOT with a number of other pontoon boats we were given the story of Illuminations by our wonderful skipper. Then the show started.

















I’d heard some really positive feedback on Illuminations and we hadn't seen the show on our last trip to Walt Disney World in 2011, so I was really looking forward to it. However, I was a little disappointed by the show. I thought the fireworks lacked imagination a bit and the music, which was so lauded by some, was a bit ‘meh’ for lack of a better word. The LCD screen World thing was amazing but from our location it was very hard to see anything being shown on the World so all it really looked like it was doing was changing color. It was also much shorter than I thought for some reason. Perhaps the show is better from a closer vantage point (we were a little far away). That’s not to say I didn't enjoy the show, I love any type of fireworks really, I just don’t think it beats Wishes or any of the castle fireworks shows in any way. Also, we were extremely comfortable in our pontoon boat so that made it all the more enjoyable. I would highly recommend a cruise out of the Yacht Club, simply because it’s so relaxing and it’s such a beautiful area to see from the water. The fireworks was just a nice way to cap it all off.

We tried a few pictures of the Yacht Club as we got back to the EPCOT resort area but only really managed this one



Natalie and I were given our balloons to keep which we were very excited about!





We then decided to head over to the Boardwalk and have a look around before driving back to Port Orleans Riverside. Natalie and Ashley had been wanting a churro ever since we had started talking about them on our first day at the Magic Kingdom (basically I said they were a right of passage food when it came to Walt Disney World – even though we’d only ever had one and that was at Tokyo Disney!). It then became our mission to find a churro for them and we had been unsuccessful up to that point. We’d passed stands selling churro’s but were never hungry at the time, or were about to eat etc, so we’d passed the by more than once. We thought perhaps we’d find one on the boardwalk but were not so lucky and at that point we invented the churro rule, which basically stipulated the next time we saw a churro for sale we HAD to buy it.

After our lack of success with the churro we slowly made our way back to our car to end a very wonderful and relaxing day.

Continued in next post...

 

[Aussie Wendy]

I have to interrupt my reading of your TR to say what amazing pics of Fantasmic you got-we also felt it was the best version we had seen and we saw it from the wrong angle! Also wanted to say what a wonderful TR - loving all the info and detail (I love detail) and pics. I had read Kamakura was a lovely place to visit and your pics and description certainly say that-so its on the bucket list! and what a lovely guide Miwa was. Also loved your Robot show experience! How come you changed rooms each night at Mira Costa? (I know I read some of your pre-trippy a long while ago but I forget now) was it just by choice? Anyway really enjoying the read!

 

[RachelleBeaney]

I have to interrupt my reading of your TR to say what amazing pics of Fantasmic you got-we also felt it was the best version we had seen and we saw it from the wrong angle! Also wanted to say what a wonderful TR - loving all the info and detail (I love detail) and pics. I had read Kamakura was a lovely place to visit and your pics and description certainly say that-so its on the bucket list! and what a lovely guide Miwa was. Also loved your Robot show experience! How come you changed rooms each night at Mira Costa? (I know I read some of your pre-trippy a long while ago but I forget now) was it just by choice? Anyway really enjoying the read!

Thanks Aussie Wendy! Our pics if fantasmic are actually the reason we moved rooms every night. We had been told the harbour view room was perfect for viewing fantasmic and we knew it would be much morw comfortable than fighting for a position with the crowds in the park. we really wanted a harbour view room for every night of the trip but the first night we called it wasn't available only the piazza view was so we booked that (this was exactly 6 months out from our stay too) we were then told we could only book Venician side rooms for the next 3 nights as rooms on the Porto paradiso side don't because available until literally 6 months before the date u r staying that night so we had to call again every morning right upon the opening of the line and we only managed to get the harbour view one day, piazza view the next and then the last night nothing was available on the Porto paradiso side so we stuck with the Venetian room we booked
In the end though it was lovely to have a different view every evening though trying to keep everything packed each night was a little tiresome but we got used to it!

I'm so glad ur enjoying the report and the detail .. I love to write it all down so I have a record of every wonderous moment and trip report kinds of feelings like journaling for me and its so great when others enjoy hearing about my journal! Have a wonderful Xmas and new year