A Grand Dream of a Honeymoon - June 2011

[Sweet Pea UK]

Yay Emma - I am all caught up!! I love reliving your trip with you. You had such an amazing time!! Those memories will last a lifetime!!

Sara xx

 

[ronnmel]

Hi all - thanks for explaining the water parks PP Mel!
We got a small photopass card on a wrist band after riding Gang Plank Falls, and then when we were getting out of the splash pool after Crush n Gusher, I would hold up my wrist to the PP Cast Member and they'd scan the back of the card.. one of them said to me "oh good, you know the drill!"

I wish they had done it that way for us as well. I thought it was quite a waste to keep handing out new cards, but they had already scanned it and was handing it out to us by the time we would reach the end of the splash pool.

Thanks ronnmel for answering my question

You're welcome!

 

[disneybarbie]

Thanks ronnmel for answering my question

Avatar Land?! Off to research!

P.S. hope you get better soon Emma

Thanks Lesha - I'm all better now, unfortunately Steve caught my cold and has had it 'much worse than me' this week ('man flu'!)
Avatarland seems to have created a lot of debate on the various Disney websites! I'm yet to see Avatar so don't really have an opinion on the film.. but I'm excited to see how Animal Kingdom will be expanded and potential new rides and experiences.. years to wait though

Yay Emma - I am all caught up!! I love reliving your trip with you. You had such an amazing time!! Those memories will last a lifetime!!

Sara xx

Hi Sara! Thank you for reading - it was such an incredible trip, which already feels so long ago .. I'm looking forward to reading about your holiday in August and very jealous that you are going back already next month!!

I wish they had done it that way for us as well. I thought it was quite a waste to keep handing out new cards, but they had already scanned it and was handing it out to us by the time we would reach the end of the splash pool.

Hi Mel, I think before we've ended up with 2-3 PP cards from the water parks with just one picture on each - so I was glad they were happy to scan it on my wrist this time! I do like the design of the wristband PP cards, I believe they do a similar one for Epcot Food & Wine gift cards? Good idea!



Next update coming very soon... thank you all for being patient with me, work & life keep getting in the way of my TR writing!


Emma x

 

[Leshaface]

Thanks Lesha - I'm all better now, unfortunately Steve caught my cold and has had it 'much worse than me' this week ('man flu'!)
Avatarland seems to have created a lot of debate on the various Disney websites! I'm yet to see Avatar so don't really have an opinion on the film.. but I'm excited to see how Animal Kingdom will be expanded and potential new rides and experiences.. years to wait though




Next update coming very soon... thank you all for being patient with me, work & life keep getting in the way of my TR writing!


Emma x[/FONT][/SIZE][/COLOR]

Aw poor guy. Those 'man flu's' are, for some reason, way worse than a 'lady flu' Hope he gets better soon

You're right! There's been tons of debates going around about Avatarland. The movie is alright (think Pocahontas, with blue all over the place) and i'm not quite sure how it will fit in with the rest of the 'Disney' theme. BUT, if it's going to look anything like how the movie looks, it will look TREMENDOUSLY neat! Disney knows how to design really well, and i'm sure they would be the ones to pull off Avatar definitely.

So i'm actually kind of excited to see how they are going to do this! AK needs some loving.

 

[Dream426]

Typhoon Lagoon looked like you had fun. I went once a few years ago and wasn't impressed so I never went back. Maybe I should give it another chance. You made it seem fun and relaxing. I love waterparks. Love the food pictures from Yacht Club. Looks delish. I have never been to the Yacht Club but everything looks so nice. The grounds look beautiful.

 

[disneybarbie]

Friday 1st July 2011

Around the World on a Segway, Epcot… ‘Ohana and a Wishes Fireworks Cruise


Today we needed to be in Epcot for 8.30am.. we had a Segway tour booked! I had originally suggested to Steve that we did one of the backstage tours during our honeymoon, but he said he didn’t want to ‘ruin’ the magic by seeing what happened backstage! So instead he asked if we could do a Segway tour – it wasn’t something I’d thought about doing, but my parents & sister had done the tour a few years ago and loved it, so we went ahead and booked one.

We set off from the Grand Floridian at 7.45am, we had a private monorail cabin to begin with!

Riding past the Magic Kingdom..

Second monorail of the morning..

Unfortunately we had to wait at the TTC for our monorail to Epcot so we were a little late to the park, and just missed our tour group! We got to guest relations just after 8.30am, they said we could run over to Innoventions and catch up with our group, or we could wait 20 minutes and join the 9am tour – so we did the latter.

It was nice to sit outside near Spaceship Earth in a nearly empty Epcot!

I was trying out some of the special effects with my camera..

It was extra magic hours this morning, but most people had already marched off to the attractions, so it felt very quiet.

Some pictures inside guest relations…

It was lovely to watch the cast members interact with guests, most wanted to get buttons for first trips and birthdays – I think guest relations must be a really varied job.. dealing with very happy/excited guests, but also complaints too!

Soon it was 8.50am, we signed a health & safety form and received our name tags. There were nine people in our group altogether with two guides. One person in our group was actually a CM from guest relations – I guessed she was learning what happened on the tour.

Our guide, Diane, lead us over to Innoventions to the training area… on a Segway!

We went inside the training room (it looks like a big white dome), collected a safety helmet each and sat down to watch the safety video – this was only about 10 minutes long.

Diane demonstrated how to step on and off a Segway and the common mistakes that some people can make when first riding one .. the whole safety training was very thorough but not boring at all – we both felt confident to step onto our Segways!

First we had to step on, and off, the two CMs helped each of us do this.. then we had to step onto it and keep it still/not moving… Diane started to talk to us again, and I found myself and the Segway slowly rotating around in a circle!! I knew it was my movements causing it, but I couldn’t work out how to stand completely still! Luckily, the other CM (I can’t remember his name, but he was really funny) came over to me and helped me out.. soon I got the hang of it!

We had to do some exercises in the training area, such as stopping suddenly if needed (like if a guest walked out in front of us!), changing directions, weaving through cones, going up and down hills, and how to step off the Segway and wheel it over an obstacle (such as a water hose pipe, this could happen apparently as the gardeners might be out in World Showcase while we were on our tour!).
By the end of the training session, about 30 minutes, we were already to wheel out into Future World..

Unfortunately, we were told not to take photos while riding the Segways, for safety reasons.

It was an incredible feeling to be on a Segway and cruising through Futureworld.. so many guests stopped to wave, gasp and say “Wow! I want to do that!” as 11 Segways rolled by.

We made a quick stop near the Electric Umbrella for a comfort break (quite funny when we all went into the restroom with our safety helmets on!) – and the CM demonstrated to us what would happen if we tried to make the Segway go to quickly (they were set to 6 miles an hour for the tour, but in reality they can go up to 12 mph) … then he said “and in the words of the great Optimus Prime, let’s roll out!" .. and off we went to World Showcase.

We had to keep a steady speed until we got past Norway (very cute to see all the families with little girls dressed as princesses for their breakfasts at Akershus!) – and a CM held open the rope so we could ride into the closed World Showcase.

I really wish it had been possible to take photos, because the park was so beautiful and quiet! I couldn’t stop smiling.. we glided into the China pavilion first, we came to stop in a semi circle while the CMs told us some facts about the pavilion – this was something I hadn’t realised was part of the tour and really enjoyed, being such a big Disney fan! There was a family of four in our group, parents and two twins who had just turned 16 that day (the minimum age for the tour is 16!) – the CM would ask us some trivia questions and the Mum of this family would always answer first.. her daughter got quite embarrassed by it!

We went around the gardens in China, and then off to Germany… again some trivia about the style of buildings. The CM in our group must have been on the international programme originally, as a group of German cast members walked by us and were waving and calling out to her!
Next we went to Italy and got to weave in and out of the columns – putting into practice the training we’d done around the cones! I noticed a group of CMs in a ‘Safe-D’ van in the pavilion, they were walking around taking notes and checking steps, walls, doorways etc – it was exciting to be in that part of Epcot before opening and see what went on.

We stopped in Italy for some ‘free time’ – this is where the CMs offered to take photos for us..

We rode to Japan next and got to go around the gardens – this was one of the more challenging parts of the tour and we were told we didn’t have to do it if we felt it was too much – but all of our group successfully completed the course!



Next up was Morocco, I was amazed by this point how easy it was to ride the Segway, I was happy to make it go a little faster and it was easy to turn, stop and stand still on it. In Morocco we went right through the shops, while the CMs were huddled together having a pre-opening team meeting!

The CM told us a great story about the Aladdin premier that was held in WDW in 1993, in the Morocco Pavilion! They’d had a live elephant which Aladdin & Jasmine rode in on.. I’d love to see pictures of that.

We were given two options for the end of our tour – we could either go to the France Pavilion for a look around and trivia stop, or take the ‘scenic route’ back… we pretty much all voted for the scenic route!

So we glided around France, around the gardens – over the bridge at International Gateway (which was pretty busy with people waiting for rope-drop into World Showcase!), now I felt confident enough to be able to wave back to people as we rode by.. lots of people also shouted ‘congratulations’ to us (loved wearing that Just Married button!) and one man even said “Who Dat!” to Steve, as he was in his Saints top (again hehe).

We went around the gardens in the UK pavilion, and then to Canada – it was Canadian Independence Day and there were huge flags up and lots of Canadian guests wearing patriotic tshirts! The CMs wished us a happy Canada day as we rode by… we went back through future world and into Innoventions. Unfortunately, one man in our group fell off his Segway just before we got back into the training area! We felt really bad for him because he was trying to avoid hitting a little girl who ran out in front of him – luckily neither were hurt and he managed to land on his feet and keep hold of the Segway so it didn’t run away.

We got off our Segways, collected our belongings and the CMs gathered us for a quick chat – they said they’d love to give us each a Segway, but as that was a little too expensive we each got a Segway tour pin instead!

We both had an amazing time on this tour – a definite highlight of an already amazing honeymoon! We’d like to try out the off-road Segway tour at the Wilderness Lodge, or maybe the nature tour at Epcot (where you get to go backstage at the Living Seas and the Land too).


........

 

[Self_resqing_princz]

Honestly, I've never wanted to do the Segway tour, but I'm glad you guys had fun. Liked the pictures with you guys on the Segways. I think I would have gone to France, to see if they'd let me in the bakery on a Segway... waiting in line for a pastry while everyone stared at me, up on it... I think that would be funny!

 

[ronnmel]

The Segway tour looks fun!

 

[Leshaface]

I REALLY want to do the segway tour next time! I feel though i'd mess up somehow!

Can't wait to hear about Ohana and the fireworks cruise!

 

[NikkiLovesWDW!]

Awwww! I loved reading your review of the Segway tour! We did it 4 years ago and I forgot how much I loved it! It really was so wonderful, right? Being in World Showcase before it "opened" and hearing some fun facts about each pavilion. So much fun!

 

[Dream426]

Love the segway tour. Hoping to do this next time I go. Looks like so much fun.

 

[disfan33]

Loving your TR! Thank you so much for sharing!

 

[disneybarbie]

Honestly, I've never wanted to do the Segway tour, but I'm glad you guys had fun. Liked the pictures with you guys on the Segways. I think I would have gone to France, to see if they'd let me in the bakery on a Segway... waiting in line for a pastry while everyone stared at me, up on it... I think that would be funny!

Hehe - that would be funny! Unfortunately the bakery was still closed when we rode through

The Segway tour looks fun!

Thanks Mel, we enjoyed it so much - I was really surprised how quickly we got the hang of riding them, especially as it took me years & years to learn to ride a bike !

I REALLY want to do the segway tour next time! I feel though i'd mess up somehow!

Can't wait to hear about Ohana and the fireworks cruise!

Hi Lesha - we highly recommend the Segway tour, such a unique way to see Epcot! Next updates on the way...

Awwww! I loved reading your review of the Segway tour! We did it 4 years ago and I forgot how much I loved it! It really was so wonderful, right? Being in World Showcase before it "opened" and hearing some fun facts about each pavilion. So much fun!

Hi Nikki - yes it was a fantastic tour! I've now done that one and Keys to the Kingdom... it's great that there's always something new to try at WDW, no matter how many times you've been! I think the Wild Africa trek at Animal Kingdom looks really interesting for a future trip

Love the segway tour. Hoping to do this next time I go. Looks like so much fun.

Hope you do get to do the Segway tour on a future trip! I'd definitely like to go on one again, we wondered how easy it would be to ride it now - getting used to the balance sensors was the hardest bit at the start!

Loving your TR! Thank you so much for sharing!

Hi! Thank you so much for reading... I'm really enjoying writing all about our trip, especially the further away it gets, it's fun to relive all the happy memories!



Emma x

 

[SOUTHERNtinkerBELLE]

I loved reading about your rendition of the Segway tour! It sounds like you and Steve enjoyed it just as much as Miguel and I did! I agree that the off-road tours would be fun, too. I wish we had of gotten to go across the bridge and over to Canada - we stopped right before France and then headed back to Innoventions. It is funny how unbalanced you feel at first and then by the end you feel like such a Segway pro!

 

[disneybarbie]

I loved reading about your rendition of the Segway tour! It sounds like you and Steve enjoyed it just as much as Miguel and I did! I agree that the off-road tours would be fun, too. I wish we had of gotten to go across the bridge and over to Canada - we stopped right before France and then headed back to Innoventions. It is funny how unbalanced you feel at first and then by the end you feel like such a Segway pro!

Thanks Courtney - I was so unbalanced and a bit nervous when we were first told to step on the Segways... especially when everyone was facing forward and still, but I was rotating around in a circle! Glad I got the hang of it ... when my parents did the tour, someone in their group decided it wasn't for them and left during the training!

Emma x

 

[disneybarbie]

........

We headed out to the tips board to see what the ride wait times were like. The ‘big three’ (Soarin’, Mission Space and Test Track) all had over an hour wait by this time, so we decided to head over to World Showcase as it had just opened up – it was great to take our time and enjoy all the sights around the ‘world’.

We decided to get an early lunch as we had an early ADR and not really had any breakfast – I suggested the Tangerine Café at Morocco, Steve isn’t overly keen on North African food though, so we agreed to try the Lotus Blossom at China.

I had a honey chicken salad and Steve had sweet & sour chicken with rice.

While we were eating our meal, I noticed Mulan just walking by the restaurant… I shouted out ‘Mulan!!’ without even thinking, everyone sitting around us stared at me.. but Mulan smiled and waved! (I think she’d just finished a meet & greet session and was heading backstage).

After a tasty lunch, we continued our wander around – spending some time in Germany and Italy.

We thought about seeing the American Adventure, but we just missed a show so decided not to – it was a shame because it’s one of our favourites (always makes me cry at the end when 'Golden Dream' is played!).

Next we went to Japan – this was somewhere I definitely wanted to go to this trip and pick a pearl!

I found the counter and paid for one oyster ($15) – Steve didn’t really know what I was doing at first! I picked an oyster shell in the tank, and the CM opened it up for me..

I got one! It was 7mm – I’d already bought on ebay months before our trip a Cinderella carriage necklace setting for one.. it is now my favourite necklace and so many people have commented on it! (Thanks to DISer RinkyTinkyTinky for writing about the Pick a Pearl in her TR and giving me the idea).

Steve couldn’t believe that I’d paid $15 when there was a chance the shell would be empty.. never mind!

We had a look around Morocco..

And then to France to watch the Impressions de France show.

This has been changed to an HD film and is so much clearer now! I’ve seen it so many times but noticed a lot more detail in the scenes – the music soundtrack is beautiful too.

As we exited the theatre, we realised it had suddenly started raining – very, very heavy!

We waited in the shop for a while, then put on our ponchos and made our way through the puddles to Mousegear.
We bought some more souvenirs, I had been looking for a warm cookies candle that had been part of the white & blue Mickey kitchen range, but we’d not seen it anywhere – I asked a really kind CM and he went to enquire about it for me, but it has been discontinued… never mind!

It was about 2pm by this time and still raining, so we agreed to head back to the resort – the sky was looking very dark and a storm was probably on its way.

........

 

[ronnmel]

Impressions de France has one of my favorite soundtracks of all Disney. So pretty.

Why does it always seem to rain at Epcot?

 

[disneybarbie]

Impressions de France has one of my favorite soundtracks of all Disney. So pretty.

Why does it always seem to rain at Epcot?

It's one of my favourites too - I really like the 'Aquarium' Saint-Saens piece that's used in it (the video is showing a river with weeping willow trees?)

Hehe we have said before that it always seems to rain when we are in the UK pavilion in Epcot.. so it's just like being at home!

 

[disneybarbie]

.......


We hopped on the monorail back to the TTC, and then to the Grand Floridian – we had a look around the gift shops, and actually bought a small suitcase! We realised we had more things to bring home (with the Disney Florist gifts and souvenirs!) so bought a black suitcase with the imprint of Mickey’s face on it… when I was buying it, I just thought to ask the CM if we could get an annual pass discount.. and we could! He checked my ID to my AP card.. and was surprised UK driving licences were pink – he looked at Steve and said “you gotta carry a pink one too?!”

We picked up the dvd of Ratatouille from concierge and some soda & cookies, and headed back to the room – we had thought about going to the pool for the afternoon, but the sky was still pretty dark..

From the balcony..

Instead we had a nice relaxing afternoon, Steve had discovered the Scrabble app on my phone and was happy to play that while we watched the movie!

We opened the bottle of champagne from the gift basket, and got ready for the evening.

At 5.30 ish we left our room and walked over to the boat dock – the rain had stopped now and it was a really nice evening.

We got the boat over to the Polynesian…

And made our way into the Grand Ceremonial Hall..

We’d visited this resort for the first time during our trip in December 2010 and had an amazing meal at Kona Café – Steve suggested for honeymoon that we tried “the other restaurant that was really busy” , so we were off to ‘Ohana for the first time!
I’ve heard nothing but great reviews of this restaurant and was so excited to try out a classic Disney dining experience.

We checked in and were handed a buzzer, we looked around the gift shop for about 5 minutes before it went off. The server who led us to our table was from North London and was really friendly! She asked how long we were on our honeymoon, we explained we’d been on the Dream and were now in WDW for a week.. and she said “wow, you really are Disney fans aren’t you?!” She said to us quietly, “I shouldn’t say this, but you have one of the best tables in the restaurant” .. and she was right – we were right up against the window, with views of the Magic Kingdom!

...........

 

[disneybarbie]

......

Our ‘cousin’ (server) came over to introduce himself, talked us through the food that would be coming and asked us what drinks we’d like – he must have guessed we weren’t over 21 though as he said “we’ve got Coke, Sprite, Lemonade, Root Beer, Milk, Chocolate Milk, Tea, Coffee….” – and was surprised when I asked if I could have a Lapu Lapu cocktail! So we got our drinks… I had read about the Lapu Lapu and was pleased to get to try one! (We did get our IDs checked though lol)

Soon our appetisers arrived – pork dumplings and honey chicken wings, along with the salad, and bread, then we got the noodles and vegetables.

(sorry – I was about to blink in this photo!)

Everything was really tasty – there was so much of everything! We probably ate too much of the appetisers, as we only managed one piece of each of the BBQ skewers.. chicken, shrimp, pork & beef.

There was a singer walking around the restaurant getting the children up to dance, it was quite cute

Then the came the thing I’d been really looking forward to, the banana fosters bread pudding – this tasted amazing but we were both completely stuffed… next time we go to ‘Ohana we’ll have to not eat for the whole day (I think my appetite decreases in the hot weather too!).

Luckily, when we got back home I found the ‘Ohana bread pudding recipe and we attempted to make our own.. it was pretty good!

So after a poor effort on eating our dessert, our server came over with a surprise for us.. two chocolate cupcakes!

Not just that – but he lit two candles on the cakes, and then made this huge bellowing noise to quieten all the guests around us – and he shouted “Cousins! We have two honeymooners here who are celebrating their marriage with us!” .. and everyone applauded!
Our server put the cupcakes in a plastic box for us so we could take them back to our room, and we made our way back to the Grand Floridian on the monorail – it was a memorable but very filling meal!

.......