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

[RachelleBeaney]

Our fourth day at Walt Disney World started with Ashley deciding he could top the housekeeping staff’s creativity with towels by making this cutie



It was awesome and was kindly left in the room by the housekeeping staff. Ashley tried his talents with another towel animal in the next few days but more on that later.

Today was our day to visit EPCOT. We arrive right on 9am, park opening and our first stop once in the gates was a few fun poses in front of ‘the giant golf ball’ as Natalie and Ashley assumed it was called (I did correct them but they liked their name better so that’s what it got called for the rest of the day).





Look how strong we are!




Ashley is super super strong





We made our way quickly through future world to Soarin’ which we had early FP’s for. There wasn’t much of a wait and still 20 minutes or so until our FP window opened so we rode and then got back on for a second go with our FP. I love Soarin, it’s one of my favourite rides in all Disney parks (though I do think it’s better at California Adventure, not because the ride is different or altered but simply because it makes more sense to have a hang gliding experience over California in a park about California!). Unfortunately this ride was Natalie’s first motion simulator type ride and she didn’t feel great on it. This would become a bit of an unfortunate occurrence for her on motion simulators in the future!





After Soarin’ we headed over to Spaceship Earth and got on with only a 5 minute wait. I really love this classic Disney dark ride, particularly that it shows the history of communication and how it’s changed the world through the ages. I do love history. I don’t think Natalie and Ashley were impressed though, they didn’t really seem to enjoy going on the slow moving dark rides with a lot of emphasis on story.

A little sidebar, all our FP’s for EPCOT were for first thing in the morning. I was a little worried about this but it actually turned out to be a good thing. For one thing we wanted to spend the afternoon exploring World Showcase and it’s such a trek back to Future World to make a FP when your half way around the lagoon. Secondly, given how quickly the lines get crazy in the mornings, because there are so few headliner rides, it turned out that we completely needed the FP’s, even on a quietish day only half an hour after opening!

We had a little while before our Test Track FP’s and the standby lines were already 50 mins at this point so Natalie and I decided to chill while the boys conquered Mission Space. After experiencing Mission Space once in 2011 I decided to never do it again and I warned Nat that if Soarin’ made her feel ill then Mission Space was definitely not for her. While we waited I took a quick few pictures of the surrounds





After the boys went on Mission Space (it was a hit with them by the way) we headed over to Test Track to use our FP’s. I hadn’t been on the new version of the ride and enjoyed it immensely. The previous ride was fun but a little ho-hum (the premise of being inside a car testing facility made the whole thing feel a little industrial and everyday instead of fantastical and fun) and so I really enjoyed the new futuristic theme. I also really enjoyed designing our car at the beginning (it was purple and had flowers and butterfly’s on it much to Jared’s dismay!). We had two SR’s in the car with us so our design and Nat and Ash’s design competed against each other and ours won two of the tests (one of them being power) and Nat and Ash’s car won the other two (their main win being efficiency!). Lots of fun. The one downside to the new version of the ride is that each ‘testing’ area is not as obvious as it was before which takes a little away from the car ‘testing’ concept.

After we came off the ride I had my first real disappointment of the trip. I had a goal to get a ride photo on every ride with available ride photos, since it wouldn’t cost us anything. Anyway, when we went to add our Test Track ride photo to my PhotoPass plus card we were told by staff that we couldn’t have a copy because it exhibited unsafe behaviour. My silly husband had put his foot up on the edge of the car for the photo! Of course, I got very grumpy at him for a few minutes for doing stupid things at Disney but decided to move on because I didn’t want something so trivial to ruin my day. Anyway, later that week when I was finally able to access our photos on the new PhotoPass website attached to My Disney Experience I saw this photo sitting in our account!


Jared being unsafe

This was our first indication that Disney’s new My Magic Plus system can track guests just by their faces because we did not add this ride photo to our PhotoPass account (we were not able to), and though we did use our Magic Bands to use FP’s to get on the ride I don’t think that they could track photos to wrist bands. Also, the next day at Hollywood Studios we each rode Rock n Roller Coaster as Single Riders, never once scanning our Magic Bands, and never added the photos of us to my Photopass card (since we weren’t sitting together) and these photos also appeared in our account! Therefore the new system must have some kind of facial recognition that allowed those photos to be added to our account.

Our Future World must-do’s conquered we headed into World Showcase. It was around this time that Nat and Ash began craving to try a churro again so we consulted the map and couldn’t really see any place that sold them so on the way into Mexico we all stopped at a little donut place and everyone expect me got a donut (I don’t really like them!). While they ate I took some pictures of the view from the top of World Showcase!









Spot the Tower of Terror?







Of course the churro rule (see yesterday’s post for info) was still in full force and as we headed towards Mexico after finishing the donuts we saw churros for sale! Of course this meant everyone had to buy one (expect me since, once again, I don’t like them) even if everyone was full from the donuts! It was a very funny moment! Had we walked 100 more meters past the donuts we would have found what we had been looking for all along! At that point everyone was so hungry that having a double snack break wasn’t to worst thing in the world. After filling ourselves on snacks we headed into Mexico to explore.











I love the inside of the Mexico Pavilion! It’s so romantic! We enjoyed it and a quick boat ride on Gran Fiesta Tour before moving onto lunch.

Continued in next post

 

[RachelleBeaney]

On our way into Norway we stopped for some of my favorite photos at EPCOT





Our lunch was to be held at Akershus Royal Banquet Hall in Norway







I had asked Nat before we started planning the trip if she’d like to meet the Princesses in the parks and said had said yes, so I figured this would be the easiest and most time effective way to do it! I always love meeting the Princesses so I was completely up for it! I even wore my new Belle T-shirt and Belle turned out to be the Princess we had our group photo with! She really liked my T-Shirt and as I proceeded to tell her she was my favorite Princess she informed me that she wasn't used to be told things like that, though Gaston was! As we all bunched in to have a photo she said something like ‘excuse my big skirt, I wear my skirts wide to keep Gaston away!’. It was so adorable; she was totally in character and making funny quips as Belle as well!



I really enjoyed Akershus, the food was really light and good and of course, it’s always fun to meet the Princesses.







Ashley really enjoyed meeting Ariel!



We enjoyed a few fun cocktails too! And we got to keep the glow cubes!





Any special restaurant we booked I made sure to note Natalie and I were celebrating a birthday since I decided I was going to milk my ‘birthday month’ for all it was worth! This time around we score birthday muffins with these gorgeous Mickey Mouse candy flutters and a birthday card signed by all the Princesses! The card was a gorgeous touch, I was so excited!







Very well fed and happy we decided to sit for a bit and we struck up a lovely conversation with out waiter Giel about his country and culture (he was of course, like all staff in each pavilion at EPCOT, from the country displayed at that pavilion, in this case Norway). Giel was very informative and friendly and his accent was surprisingly difficult to pick (he almost sounded American!). Apparently he’d been in the states about 3 years.

We had plans to do a bit of shopping next. I had been waiting almost 2 years to get some more of the beautiful Layla perfume sold in the Norway pavilion.

Next we headed over to China. For some reason we seem to have more photos here than at any other pavilion! It is super beautiful though!



















Mulan smiled for my photo even when I didn't wait in the giant line to see her, I was super grateful!



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[fabulousfive]

Your photos are gorgeous! It's so fun to see Disney through your lens and stories!

 

[RachelleBeaney]

Germany was next







I love taking some time to look at the little details in the miniature town with it’s toy trains! While watching the comings and goings of the tiny locomotives, I discovered that Squirrelzilla had been on a rampage! Here he is!



I named him Squirrelzilla because, in comparison to the mini town, he was HUGE and also at one point he ran over one of the train bridges and he was almost as big as it! Clearly his presence caused this disastrous de-railing


Though the rest of the town appeared to have escaped his wrath!







The giant golf ball was looking beautiful in the afternoon sun



But the clouds did start to roll in not long after



Then we went to Italy, well Venice really







The bridge in front of the Italy pavilion provided some of my favorite pictures of Jared and I of the whole trip!





We decided to watch the American Adventure next

The show was good, I really liked the way sets, movies and animatronics were all used to create a stage show about American history. However, as much as I love history, the American Adventure is very patriotic and, well, a little cloying. We Aussies don’t really have a lot of history, or at least not a lot to be super proud of, and so we don’t tend to have this kind of pride in our past. I think its great America does, but personally I don’t get it completely. It’s good to celebrate where you come from but to skate over the tough stuff, it’s just a little one-sided maybe. Jared and I discussed the show afterwards and we had to admit that Australia could not pull off something as moving about its history as the show, especially since it’s colonization was only a mere 200 years ago and was started by criminals (convicts) who massacred the native Australian’s with no thought for their ownership of the land. Actually, my husbands comment was that Australia is just the “UK’s naughty corner” which doesn't lend itself to much glorious historical prose. I laughed so hard when he said that! To be fair, much of Australia was colonized by free peoples looking for a better life, or maybe just better weather, but if you ask most Aussies whose Australian ancestry goes back 150 or more years, I reckon most will have at least one convict ancestor. I certainly do (my fathers side of the family)!

And speaking of Australia, I am proud to be an Australian as evidenced by the next photo. I waited for about 5 minutes for Australia to appear on the EPCOT ball so I could take a photo of myself pointing at it!



We headed on into Japan, where I was super excited to try some of my almost already forgotten Japanese phrases again! We didn’t linger long though, having just been to the actual Japan!









I love the Moroccan Pavilion, it’s probably my favorite in World Showcase. It’s just so beautiful and detailed and really takes you to another place. Another reason why I think I loved the Arabian Coast at Disney Sea so much, because it’s so foreign and storybook like!











Continued in next post...

 

[RachelleBeaney]

Your photos are gorgeous! It's so fun to see Disney through your lens and stories!

Thanks! That's mainly due to my very talented husband! I'm glad your enjoying. Thanks for reading

 

[RachelleBeaney]

After Morocco we went into France.





Since Jared and I had romantic pictures in Italy we decided we’d force Natalie and Ashley to have romantic shots in France!



This was the best they could come up with (as I said – they aren't big fans of photos and I reckon I was lucky to get so many of them!)



We stuck around France a while to watch these guys



And then we watched Impression of France. I love this movie, it always make me feel as though I’m in the French countryside (well I assume, I've unfortunately never been to the French countryside) but it definitely makes me yearn to visit! I also think the music used is spectacular and I love the sensation of moving through the shots shown!

London was calling so we answered



The UK Pavilion is beautiful – I love old English architecture and hopefully one day I’ll actually get to see it in the UK!





This photo was taken for my mother who LOVES Twinings early grey (seriously she hardly drinks anything else!)



And these photos were just for me because I love red phone boxes!



Jared showing his English half (oh his mother is English, though he’s never been to the UK!)



By the time we got to Canada it was getting dark (seriously, why does the sun set at 4:30 everywhere in the northern hemisphere in autumn/fall! The earliest the sun will ever go down in Australia, even in Winter is like 5:30 – 6:00pm ish!)











I love the Canadian garden area but unfortunately it was a little dark so the above photos are all I have to show you of it!



We had dinner reservations quiet late (about 7:30pm I think) at Tutto Italia and it was probably only about 5:00pm at this point. We decided to see if we could bring our dinner reservation forward but apparently there was no availability so we decided to cancel the reservation and head out of Walt Disney World for dinner. On our way out of the park (though it was only 5pm) evening was descending.









And that concluded our day at EPCOT. I enjoy EPCOT, don’t get me wrong, but sometimes it can be quiet tiring and though visiting lots of countries, eating and shopping is fun we really got over it by the end of the day. I am always torn with my opinion of EPCOT because it is a BEAUTIFUL park and it’s different, but it’s also a little boring sometimes, especially if you don’t like shopping and eating a lot! Even still we had a great day and enjoyed the diversity of EPCOT’s many offerings.

Continued in next post...

 

[Volunteer]

Not sure how I missed this trip report - but i just spend all morning reading! thanks for sharing your Tokyo experiences, I'm very close to booking a trip and it's great reading your information and suggestions! Subbing!

 

[RachelleBeaney]

Not sure how I missed this trip report - but i just spend all morning reading! thanks for sharing your Tokyo experiences, I'm very close to booking a trip and it's great reading your information and suggestions! Subbing!

Awesome! I'm so happy that people can use the report to help them plan their trips! There's just so little on the web in English RE Tokyo Disney so I basically planned my trip using info from trip reports about the place (If your interested Disney Travel Babble website has a great report that was really helpful to me).

Thanks for reading and I'm glad your enjoying

 

[RachelleBeaney]

Our day started very similar to the day before, with Ashley once again proving he is a master with towels by making this guy



He may have googled how to do it, but even still, I think hes extremely talented and should have been offered a job with housekeeping just for proving his towel making skills!

After this small diversion we were on our way to Hollywood Studios getting there as it opened. A quick side note about arriving at the parks and FP pluses, I know all good touring plans suggest arriving 30  45 mins before opening however (and maybe because its been fairly quiet whenever we've been at WDW) we've never had any problems showing up as the park opens, even with lines at attractions. And aside from all the annoyances of having to guess what time you were going to ride each attraction when making FP plus bookings and even though they were sometimes pointless, it was good to know that you had the ability to skip the line at each of your top priority rides once. This benefit allowed us to experience our first ever ride on Toy Story Midway Mania, which wed never prioritised as I kind of thought it would be similar to Astro Blasters and didn't want to waste FPs or time waiting for that. Of course, I was so wrong but more on that later.

We stopped first for the obligatory Photopass shots of the four of us in front of the hat and it was at this point Natalies discontent with what she referred to as constant photos poured out and she begun to grumble! Though you wouldn't know it from the photos!





Anyway after that happened our Photopass photographer, whod heard her grumbling, suggested that that kind of behavior called for the ears of shame and she posed Natalie like this for one of my favorite shots of her the whole trip!



So adorable hey! The ears of shame turned out to be a mood lightener for Natalie, who, though she didn't get it, laughed for a while about being punished by a Photopass photographer!

Our first stop was Star Tours as we didnt have a FP for that ride  first we had to fight our way through all the people streaming into the park (it was a Friday and perhaps the busiest day in any park we had for the whole Orlando portion of the trip)



Ahh the hat (I know some people dont like it and it sucks it blocks the Chinese Theater but I really like it there!)



We made our way over to Star Wars hoping to ride a few times and get different combinations but after the first go Natalie was feeling sick again and it was at this point we had to concede that perhaps she had a slight bit of motion sickness and would not enjoy these types of rides (which was a shame because some of the hybrid motion rides are some of my favorites!).

The themeing of Star Tours at Hollywood Studios out does any other Star Tours at any other park! I mean they are usually set in Tommorowland (or similar land) so they have to look futuristic and airport hangerish where as this Star Tours takes the beauty and wonder Endor and a giant Imperial walker and takes your breath away and puts you in the mood for a galaxy far far away!

We had to kill some time before our next FP (Rock n Roller Coaster  indeed killing timing soon became the theme of the day, which was weird as the park was so busy!) so we decided on the Great Movie Ride knowing it may well put us to sleep. On our way around to the ride we noticed the sky getting dark (always an ominous sign)&


Ahh Gertie though art so tall and camouflaged







Looking back at these shots I realize there is a lot more beauty in Hollywood Studios then I sometimes give it credit for. Parts of it look a lot like California Adventure (which, since its rehab has become one of my favorite parks to visit) and perhaps thats why (I love that 1920s look). Yet, on the other hand the park is so piecemeal it doesn't really fit together. I guess I get that they were going for a backlot vibe which would account for the vast differences between the style and level of detail in each area, but this theme is a bit redundant in my view! I reckon it should really try California Adventures way if they were to ever do it up a bit, and try for a historic time period theme rather than a mish-mash one!

On our way around the giant hat (yes, it does get in the way!) we spied this



And more Gertie (I dont know why hes there  does anyone know?) but I like him



So it was over to the Great Movie Ride. What to say about this one. Well I like to start and evaluation with the positives, so firstly it does really have an amazing show building!







I love the movie montage at the end, looking at the history of great films. The scenes of the ride are well put together and interesting to look at. But of course, the whole thing is outdated (is Alien really a classic film or just popular when the ride opened?) and I dont just mean the movies they've used, but also the animatronics and use of corny actors as your driver and kidnapper. It can be fun if youre in the right mood. I really dont think we were in that mood at that moment though as we all came off a little asleep!

We still had time to kill after the Great Movie Ride (which I though astonishing as its pretty damn long!) so we ate some breakfast on sunset strip. Despite the gloomy sky it was truly the busiest day wed had!

See all the people! In fairness Hollywood Studios is much smaller than all the other WDW parks, with narrower paths, so its much easier for it to look crowded. I would not like to visit on a weekend during the busy season!



I love the Christmas stars on Sunset Boulevard and how they draw your eye to the Hollywood Tower Hotel!



We finally got to head over to Rock n Roller Coaster to use our FP. We were really glad we had them, also, because the lines for this one are always long (slow loading I guess) and we didn't have to wait long at all before we were on. Its a fun coaster, Ashley really enjoyed it, though I think it goes a bit too slow after the hair raising start! Or perhaps its because the start is so fast that the rest of the ride feels slow. Who knows, but its definitely the second most thrilling ride at WDW (the first being next door and the close third being Expedition Everest  well thats my order anyway!)





There are a lot of photos of the guitar as both my husband and brother in law are musicians and thought seeing a giant Fender was awesome! Also it was the first time Id noticed the keyboard underneath the guitar!



Ashley even agreed to pose for this photo  Rock on!



And Rock On we did&I may be doing some sort of Kiss pose!



Continued in next post...

 

[RachelleBeaney]

After Rock n Roller Coaster we were supposed to see the Indiana Jones Stunt Show, but by the time we made it there they only had standing room available and I knew my feet would not last 30 minutes of standing. I am ashamed to say it was at this point I had a small temper tantrum reminiscent of my almost 3 year old niece. I like to plan every detail to avoid stresses because I don’t deal really well with them in the heat of the moment I saw my whole day ruined simply because I couldn't see a way to fit the show in without missing something else during the day. The boys were great and calm and sat down and worked something out while I fumed and we soon had a plan of attack ready to go (though we did end up skipping Voyage of the Little Mermaid to make it work). It was the only time during our whole trip that my plans did quiet happen as planned and I know that in itself is a miracle so in hindsight it wasn't that big a thing after all, but of course in the moment my silly brain couldn't see that! As much as possible I try and adopt a ‘well I've planned everything to the last detail attitude so I've done my best and what will come will come attitude’ on holidays but sometimes the little things get the better of me!

We went to the Tower of Terror to ride with our FP, which we were going to use at the end of its window and were now using at the start leaving a small gap in our schedule afterwards!. This was us enjoying a trip into ‘the Twilight Zone’


Front row and all

The Tower is such a beautiful sight, I think the majority of my Hollywood Studios photos were of it!







I reckon this is an awesome angle,



Since we had a gap in our schedule again we discussed what we were going to do next and we decided we wanted to meet the main mouse himself. As we started off to do that we saw a Photopass photographer and couldn't resist getting some more photos (well I couldn't and I talked the others into it – perhaps they were afraid I might explode again and didn't argue!) Anyway he was an AWESOME Photopass photographer. You know how sometimes you just get a photographer who stands you on a point, snaps a close up and long shot and then says ‘ok we are done’? Well that was not this guy. He posed us so we could get a few awesome shots along with a fun birthday photo for me!

This was our attempt at being afraid of the Tower!



As you can see the fear soon disintegrated into laughter!



And then passivity – I guess the Tower lulled us into a false sense of security!





As mentioned, the photographer had a nice surprise for the birthday girl (the one actually wearing her birthday badge, yes me!). And since it was a windy day I nearly got blown away (see)



After being tamed by the Tower we made our way over to the Animation Courtyard to meet the mouse who started it all.





We had a fairly short wait for Mickey – seriously, see him at Hollywood Studios – the sorcerers costume is so fun and the line seemed quiet short with no ability to get too much longer, though perhaps they add more rope when it gets busy. While we were waiting Natalie and I, who had both cheered up considerably, discussed at length Mickey’s magical ability to be in every park in multiple places at once while Ashley and Jared wondered if you removed Mickey’s head mask if you would be banned from the parks for life. It was a silly and fun conversation that got all of our spirits back up. Here he is as we were nearing the front of the line:



It was finally our turn! I love all these photos so I couldn't choose one – I think the backdrop is really clever and of course I love my additions to the Photopass photographers shot – yes Mickey ‘signed’ it.







Our interaction with Mickey was so adorable. He hugged both us girls and Ashley (being the ‘bloke’ he is) gave him a hearty handshake so Mickey probably then assumed he should shake Jared’s hand too and Jared’s response to that was “why don’t I get a hug!” so Mickey gave him the longest hug of all! So cute. He got super excited to see my birthday button too which was adorable. Also, there is something about meeting Mickey too. Surprisingly this was Jared and my first time doing this as we don’t do many character greets normally, this trip was a bit of an exception. But meeting Mickey is like feeling the history of the Disney Company and it’s parks and Walt’s spirit and dream that made it all come together. It’s definitely on my to-do list from now on.

Wreck-it-Ralph and Venelope were meeting next to Mickey and we though the line was short (not realizing like all Disney lines the majority of it was sneakily concealed behind their meet and greet backdrop) so we decided to get a quick photo. When we realized how long the actual line was we decided to settle for these shots.





Natalie, who now thinks she’s too old for the ‘new’ Disney movies (though watches the old classics all the time) has never seen Wreck-It-Ralph and so she had no idea who these characters were but I told her our adopted ‘sister’ Sangeeta would love to see pictures of them (it’s one of her favorite movies) so Natalie took some photos and whatsapp’d them to Sangeeta who though they were wax works!

Continued in next post...

 

[RachelleBeaney]

We had lunch at Mama Melrose’s Ristorante Italian next.



I was really excited to eat at this restaurant as the last time we’d been to WDW in 2011 we’d had an ADR here but, thanks to how long it was taking for them to seat us and when Fantasmic was showing, we had to leave. This time we decided to play it safe and book the Fantasmic dining package so we would be guaranteed good seats for the show without having to wait too long. The restaurant is very beautiful with all it’s fairy lights but that was probably the best thing I can say about it. The food was nothing brilliant at all. Since I LOVE Italian food I’m perhaps a little fussy but most of the Italian at WDW stood up to my standard, bar this. The best way to describe the food was that it was that it was on par with the Italian you get from your local takeaway. The place was redeemed a little when I received my 4th (and final) birthday muffin of our WDW visit (I think Natalie only got 2 *** she never wore her badge) but the muffin was red velvet (ahh marzipan!) and so I didn't actually eat it. The gesture was nice though. Natalie decided to jump in on blowing out my birthday Muffin though and as you can see I was not happy about that!



Anyway our Toy Story FP’s were about to expire we rushed over to ride. As mentioned before this was our go on this ride having always overlooked it in the past, especially since it gets such substantial lines and FP’s sell out so quick.



Of course after riding I understand why this ride is so popular. Far from the somewhat fun laser shooting rides like Astro Blasters and Men in Black (which I’d score higher than Astro Blasters *** it seems easier to me), Toy Story is just plain fun! And addictive! And easier! Perhaps that was the key for me as I am so bad shooting with lasers (I can never tell where they are pointing) that I enjoyed actually having a shot at getting some points on Toy Story. I walked away with 91700 points which I thought was good for my first go. Nat got 89000, Ashley got 98000 and Jared got 138000 and best in vehicle (he and Ash were in a different vehicle to Nat and I). I would have gotten straight back on the ride again but of course the wait was 90 minutes!

Instead we made our way back to Rock n Roller Coaster where we rode as single riders. Then it was a whole slew of shows. First Beauty and the Beast







I always find this show a little disappointing. I can’t help but compare it to Aladdin a Musical Spectacular at California Adventure, which in my opinion, is a Broadway quality show. This however is very dummed down and lacks any wonder and spectacle. I truly wish that I’d could have seen Beauty and the Beast on Broadway (alas I only ever saw a cheap version put on by a local WA theatre company which once again did not possess the nuisances or talent of a Broadway show). I wonder if I will feel that was about Aladdin at CA once I see the Broadway version coming out this year (we will hopefully make in back to New York in 2015!).

After Beauty and the Beast we quickly made our way over to the Lights, Motors, Action – Extreme Stunt Show. Jared and I had not seen this show on our previous trip to WDW so a lot of it was a surprise to me.



I really enjoyed the way the show was both informative and entertaining. Who knew backwards chase scenes were done by a backwards car! Or that everything has to be timed perfectly so crashes don’t occur! I loved seeing Lighting McQueen and watching the car actually bob up and down on it’s suspension when he said ‘Ka-chow!’ I also loved the trick played on a young audience member who thought he was controlling a remote control stunt car, when in reality a driver was driving the car from a cage area on the side of the car you can’t see!









Not sure I would be brave enough to drive a car like this!





Our last show of the day was the much anticipated Indiana Jones Stunt Spectacular. Unfortunately, due to bad weather rolling in, many of the acrobatic and falling stunts were cancelled and Ashley stated decidedly after, ‘well that wasn't that wonderful so it wouldn't have mattered if we’d missed it’.





And these were the only decent pictures we got. As we were leaving the show the clouds finally did what they been threatened to all day, opened up and poured rain! Jared and I still had our ponchos packed in our bag from Tokyo but Natalie and Ashley had to make a quick and essential purchase! It was at this point Fantasmic was due to start in about 30 mins and I was quiet worried about it getting cancelled due to the rain (especially since this would be the only chance for Nat and Ash to see it). Did we get to watch my favorite night-time show at WDW. The answer coming up next…

Continued in next post...

 

[RachelleBeaney]

We waited in suspense for about 20 minutes in our seats at the Fantasmic stadium wondering if we’d soon hear an announcement about the show being cancelled. It was still raining, though not as heavy as when we left the stunt show, and we were bundled up in our poncho’s trying not to get wet. After 30 minutes the show began as scheduled and we breathed again. While the Disneyland version may be slightly better I do enjoy the seating available at Hollywood Studios!

The show was wonderful, as always, though to me doesn't hold a candle to World of Colour. I love the Fantasmic score so much though. It makes me feel brave! Jared wasn't going to take any pictures, due to the rain, but it eased off somewhat and we got a few good shots.







You can just see the dragon dying away in the corner of this one!









Getting to the big finish



After Fantasmic we made our way over to the Osborne Family Spectacle of Dancing Lights. Wow was it amazing! It even put my sister in a Christmassy mood! I really can’t describe it so here are the pictures we took:







I was in my happy place and therefore too excited to take a good photo!





It was pretty packed at that time of night. I knew we hadn't really planned that well but I didn't care. It didn't really matter if there were people all around you, the lights were so high and grand you felt they needed that kind of audience.





We attempted some panorama’s but they don’t really give you the scope of the thing





I loved the covered street!





Everywhere you looked there were little details







I’ve showed you our Christmas Card photo already and this one is very similar but I think it’s a better one of me some I thought I’d include it



It was the perfect way to end our park days at the WDW Resort!

Continued in next post...

 

[RachelleBeaney]

Today was our final day at WDW and we were indeed sad to be leaving the magic but VERY excited to be able to have our own space again as today we’d be transferring to Floriday’s Resort Orlando, where we had booked a 2 bedroom, 2 bathroom apartment!

We all slept in to catch up and then we wandered a bit around Port Orleans before we checking out.

Our room number



I understand now why Port Orleans Riverside is one of the most popular moderate resorts on property. The place is simply beautiful. I wish we had had more time to just wander and explore. In our quick stroll this is what we saw.







I love how the buildings have been made to look like Southern style mansions! It adds charm and class to what would otherwise simply be a motel style block of rooms.





It was another wet day in Orlando











Unfortunately we only got a quick look at the main pool (every time we thought of swimming it was too cold!)














The Sassagoula River







After exploring we said goodbye to the most magical place on earth and took off in Jared’s Magical Express. If you are wondering what Jared’s Magical Express looks like here it is!





Continued in next post...

 

[RachelleBeaney]

Our next stop was the Premium Orlando Outlets on Vineland Avenue. Natalie had been dying to do some shopping (especially since everything was so cheap in the US!) I myself had some Christmas shopping to do (see I was being prepared) and after the 2.5 hours we had to shop I had accomplished quiet a bit. Natalie on the other hand came back annoyed that she hadn't got much of her shopping done (she and Ashley took a few more trips on various other days). I really think this is simply because she is the kind of person who cannot for the life of her make up her mind about things. Either way it was hot and sticky (a truly horrid humid Orlando day) making everyone a little grumpy so we decided to give up and move on.

We were then on a mission to find a good DSLR camera for our Dad for Christmas and his birthday. We’d given him a ‘voucher’ on his birthday before we left and told him we’d buy the camera in the US. The camera we ended up getting cost us about $750 with 2 lenses and all the accessories and the camera with one lens retails for around $1200 here with an additional lens probably around $500 so we were very happy with our score! Natalie and Jared, who know a bit about photography (Natalie because she trained as a photographer and Jared because he has researched a lot about it to learn more) ummed and ahhed over the purchase for a long while but in the end it was the best choice in our price range. By the time all that was done it was check in time at Floriday’s so we headed on over. Ironically the Vineland Avenue Outlets are literally around the corner from Floriday’s yet we’d driven forever away to find a Best Buy to get the camera so it took us a while to get to the resort.

Here are a few pictures of our unit and the view.

The master bedroom (one King bed)









Yay spa bath!



The second bedroom (2 doubles)



The living area







Our view







Floriday’s was a great place for the four of us to stay. We had the ability to cook food if need be (there was an IGA around the corner, yes who knew they have those in the US too, so we could always get food) and we had plenty of space to be out of each other’s faces which, after 6 nights in one room together, was pretty necessary! The resort is nothing special, one of the pools is nice (and heated) while the other is freezing and quiet. The place is basically 7 or so apartment blocks but for our purposes it worked really well. It’s also a Universal Partner Hotel and because we booked a package with Universal Tickets through Dreams Unlimited Travel to stay there we were allowed early access into the Wizarding World of Harry Potter. This turned out to be wonderful as I have quiet a few pictures of the place with little or no people around and who’d ever have thought that was possible! The only thing I didn't really like about Floriday’s was it’s location. It’s very close to SeaWorld and on International Drive, which should suggest it’s right in the hub of all that Orlando’s got going on, and it is close to all that Orlando has got going on, but the area itself seems very quiet. It has a lot of apartment type hotels and seems a little out of the way. There is not a lot of food options within walking distance (and it took us about 10 minutes to get to most of the food places we ate at by car) and while this tranquility may suit some, when I stay off property in Orlando I like to be close to the action as such (which is why I really enjoyed staying at the Radisson Celebration on our last trip). Still, it’s a great resort and reasonably priced for what you get and I would recommend it for families or adults travelling together.

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[RachelleBeaney]

It was our first day at a non-Disney park today and we were all very excited to see beautiful sea creatures at, you guess it, SeaWorld. We arrived at SeaWorld just before it opened and went straight onto the Manta Coaster. With our quick queue’s we were on the ride almost immediately and it’s probably a good thing too, as after that first ride we went to go again but the coaster broke down and it remained down for most of the rest of the day. We were disappointed we didn't get a second go on it but glad we had the opportunity to ride at least once!







As we were walking from the Manta coaster towards the Kraken coaster we saw a very curious sight indeed. Flamingo’s being taken for a walk!





The animal attendant simply walked behind them and it seemed as though they knew exactly where they were going! I couldn't believe they didn't just make a run for it somewhere, but they all just walked orderly along the path doing as they were told! It was so gorgeous!

Speaking of beautiful we soon came to one of the beautifully manicured parts of the park. SeaWorld is not as well designed as Universal or Disney but there are still many beautiful spots around the park. It’s certainly much more beautiful than it’s sister park in San Diego which was a little like a concrete park!



I was determined to get as many photos as I could of Jared and I on this trip so we had these couple





We walked straight past Journey to Atlantis as I remembered I didn't really enjoy it last time and Natalie and Ashley really didn't want to get wet! The building is pretty though and it was fun to watch the few people who dared to brave the splash down at that time of day for a bit!





We then made our way onto Kraken! I love this coaster, it’s so smooth and thrilling! Tip though, don’t ride in the morning when the sun is in your eyes and the wind is blowing as you will basically have your eyes shut the whole time! Of course, if you always shut your eyes on coasters then it probably won’t be an issue! With our quick queue pass we rode this one twice without even having to exit the loading station and got the front row each time. Natalie even managed to spot a Floridian alligator lounging in the sun on the distant bank of a lake next to the coaster!








We braved the cold of Antarctica next.





The area is certainly well done (though not quiet up with Disney and Universal’s standards of themeing) but the ride is truly awful! Of course I’d heard reviews about it’s awfulness but I’d decided to reserve judgement until after I’d ridden. I've heard many complaints about the ‘disco’ dance first room in the ride however I felt this to be the high point of the whole experience (it was fun twirling around for a while). As we got to each new ride room with the projection screen showing the journey of the little Gentoo Penguin Puck, I became more and more disappointed. Perhaps it was the position of our car but we didn't seem to even get into each room properly, and though we could see the action on the screen we were watching from an awful angle! The motion also didn't seem to match what was going on on the screens, so basically it was like watching a movie while sitting in a bumpy moving car! Then of course there was the ride rooms themselves, completely void of any real themeing with screens stuck into what looked like ice on one wall and a black backdrop on the other! Then to add insult to injury the ride was over before it felt like it had even began! It’s probably the worst use of such awesome technology I have ever come across and perhaps one of the worst themed rides I've ever been on! The penguin exhibit at the end was awesome so I think if you consider the ride transportation to the exhibit rather than a stand alone experience it raises the experience a little but with so much hype aimed at this brand new technologically advanced ride you couldn't help be disappointed in it!

We stayed for a while looking at the penguins, or as long as we could in the freezing cold in only t-shirts and shorts. It was a lovely change from the hot muggy weather outside though!

The penguins were great! I think the point of SeaWorld is it’s animals and that’s what we really enjoyed seeing! I believe they had King, Gentoo, Adeile and Rockhopper penguins. I get so confused when I see King penguins as to me they look just like Emperor penguins though apparently they aren't quiet as big!









The four of us in Antarctica, unfortunately a little dark











Another interesting tid-bit, after our trip into Antarctica with it’s frigid temperatures our camera fogged up and took about 10 minutes to un-fog!

Continued in next post...

 

[RachelleBeaney]

After we’d finished all the rides we had wanted to experience we moved onto the best part of SeaWorld, it’s animal shows and exhibits. First up was Clyde and Seamore take Pirate Island, the Sea Lion show. I love Sea Lions and have even been swimming with them once here in WA so I always enjoy watching them. The show is a bit too corny for me sometimes though and I wish you got to see more of the Sea Lions natural behaviors demonstrated in an educational way. Still the show is fun and the Sea Lions do some amazing tricks, plus they had a giant Walrus!





















Walrus!









After the show we visited Pacific Point, the Sea Lion Exhibit. Sea Lions are such good posers! It also doesn't surprise me that they are related to dogs as this Sea Lion was doing a very good job at puppy eyes while she waited for someone to feed her!











Oh I forgot to mention that while we waited for the Sea Lion show to start Natalie purchased a Shamu bubble blower for our niece (who is obsessed with bubbles), however, I really think it was actually for her. She certainly got lots of enjoyment out of it!



It was time for our lunch reservation and so we made our way to Shark’s Underwater Grill. The last time I ate here I loved the atmosphere and the blue lemonades but thought the food left something to be desired. I am happy to report the food was much better this time (or perhaps my choice was) and the bread we had to start was sooo delicious, as were the blue lemonades!



There is something very peaceful about watching Shark’s in a giant aquarium while you eat, not sure why though!







Continued in next post...

 

[RachelleBeaney]

After lunch we headed next door to Allure, Call of the Ocean. It’s a Cirque du Soleil type show and its story centers on a sailor who drowns and finds himself in a magical kingdom at the bottom of the ocean. He falls in love with the rightful queen of the realm who has been overturned by an evil lion-fish queen. The show was ok. There were definitely some great acrobatics, ribbon performers and dancers but the whole thing was maybe a little simple compared to something like Cirque du Soleil. It definitely did not beat Tokyo Disney’s Mystic Rhythms which was a much better presented show.

After the show we visited dolphins, stingrays, manatees and turtles. Natalie had some more fun with her bubbles too and we found pots and pots of poinsettia which are my mother’s favorite Christmas flower.

















Our next show was Blue Horizons. This is my favorite show at SeaWorld. The music, animals and acrobatics all come together so well and make this a really moving story told though performance. When I hear the music swell to sing ‘tomorrow begins on the horizon’ and the birds are flying everywhere I always feel a little teary! I love the ocean and have felt an affinity for it ever since I was a child (I wanted to be a marine biologist until I realized I wasn't good at science!) and this show always brings out that childlike wonder in me. Unfortunately the afternoon sun and the canopy over the stadium made it very hard to get any decent photos (the back of the set was bright and the front in shadow) but here a few ok ones





























Continued in next post...

 

[RachelleBeaney]

On our way over to the Wild Arctic we walked past SeaWorlds sea of trees on their main lagoon. It was really beautiful.







We found this beautiful topiary too!







And Natalie found this little guy and fell in love



Due to the fact we had to be at dinner at 4:30pm (the unfortunate seating time for Dine with Shamu that evening) we didn't have much time to see Wild Arctic. I also got a little annoyed as we asked a cast member how we could view the exhibit without having to do the simulator ride (which was showing the polar express as it was Christmas) and they told me to wait in the normal quick queue line and we could go through to the exhibit. Once we were in the doors we had to sit through a 5 min long pre-show before we started to be ushered towards the ride. We asked and were shown the way to the attraction without riding but we had just wasted more time. I later discovered that where you exit the exhibit (in the gift shop) you can also walk into it so we should have done it that way! I love the Wild Arctic exhibit and really wish we had gotten to spend more time there. All the animals are so beautiful and majestic.



My particular favorites though are the Beluga Whales. I think I could watch them all day, they are so peaceful. I had the cutest experience when, after waving at the whale, he came right over to the glass to say hello. I thought it was a fluke but I waved twice more with to the same effect with this same whale!





We were running a little late by that point and hadn't had a chance to watch the creatures in the exhibit enough but we left to make our Dine with Shamu appointment. The show was much better when we saw it in San Diego I think, much more discussion about what they do with the whales and why, whereas this seemed to be more tricks and less discussion about the whales. The food is ok, for a buffet its pretty good though. We had the two male whales at SeaWorld Orlando in the tank, one being Tilikum the 5,400 kg orca who I believe is the largest and oldest in captivity.











Continued in next post...

 

[RachelleBeaney]

After Dine with Shamu it was straight over to One Ocean, our final show of the day. It was interesting to see the show at night, with it’s lighting design and I think it added a lot to the show! I never enjoy this show as much as Blue Horizon’s, despite the majestic Orca’s being on display, but it’s still a good show.































After the show we made our way out of the park as it was closing at 6.

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[Volunteer]

Awesome! I'm so happy that people can use the report to help them plan their trips! There's just so little on the web in English RE Tokyo Disney so I basically planned my trip using info from trip reports about the place (If your interested Disney Travel Babble website has a great report that was really helpful to me).

Thanks for reading and I'm glad your enjoying

Thanks for the suggestion - I'll check it out!