ADP Live From Disney World & Universal Too!

[DisneyKevin]

but the DIS Saturday alligator rassle/amoeba snort/chicken&waffle supper is a definite!!

I told you that in CONFIDENCE.

You cant be trusted with a secret.

 

[alebisi]

aaron you are so lucky! I wish I could be that often to Walt Disney World, I love your trip reports, have a magical trip
P.s. Why the cast members were all in line???

 

[tinkbutt]

MAN I wanna ride on toy story mania!!!!

 

[Launchpad11B]

Yup. Susan and I will be there Dec 5-14, so the night of the 13th will be our last. Haven't registered for MF yet. This trip is about getting my Mom back to WDW for the 1st time in about 30 years, so we may/may not do a lot of MF events, but the DIS Saturday alligator rassle/amoeba snort/chicken&waffle supper is a definite!!

Good. Hope to see you at the Dis meet.

 

[alaskanmommy]

Glad to hear you guys got there in one piece! Loving your report so far, can't wait for more. Soooo jealous of Toy Story Mania, must hear what you guys think. Have fun!!

 

[ADP]

Sunday, Oct. 19th

Hi Everyone,

We made a stop back to our room after we finished eating around the World Showcase at the Food & Wine festival. We are still planning on heading back to Hollywood Studios tonight for evening extra magic hours. We may get lucky enough to catch another ride on Toy Story Mania.

Our day started at the Everything Pop food court this morning. This is a great food court; however, it can get a bit chaotic with people going in 6 different directions to try and get what they need. I do love the decor. We had breakfast a little after 8:00AM and the food court wasn't too terribly busy.

Here are a few photos from the food court this morning.

Main food court area with crowd

Gift shop area attached to the food court

After we finished breakfast we took the bus over to Hollywood Studios. We arrived just as the park opened and I dashed to Toy Story Mania to get fastpasses. When I arrived the wait time was already 30 minutes. Since Kim and Anna were still on Hollywood Blvd I got fastpasses. The fastpass lines were already long and our return time ended up being 11:00AM.

Here are some photos from our entrance into Hollywood Studios this morning. I managed to snap a couple photos as I was briskly walking down the street.

The crowd on Hollywood Blvd heading into Hollywood Studios

Citizens of Hollywood greeting guests as they arrived

Attractions we experienced this morning were Muppets 3-D, The Great Movie Ride, Star Tours twice, and Toy Story Mania.

Here are some photos from Pixar Place and Toy Story Mania.

The crowd at Pixar Place this morning. Pretty thin.

Scrabble pieces in the cement on Pixar Place. Could be cowboy or howdy depending on how you look at it. Both would reference Woody of Toy Story.

The wait time at Toy Story Mania at 11:00AM

After purchasing a Wheezy Breezy Freezy over at Pixar Place we decided it was time to head over to EPCOT. We hopped on the boat which takes guests between Hollywood Studios, the Boardwalk resort area and EPCOT. We arrived at EPCOT at 12:30 and walked through the back entrance. We decided to go through the United Kingdom and Canada first because we had a few things we needed to do in Future World a bit later.

This started our Food & Wine Festival adventure. My first food booth was Greece. I had a Greek Salad which I will say was the best of the food items I experienced today. The salad had goat cheese and an olive mixture which complimented the dressing. I really enjoyed it.

Here's a shot of the salad.

My next stop was at a beer garden where I ordered a Tiger beer. I've never heard of it, but it did taste pretty good.

Next we headed into Future World. Anna and Kim rode Journey into your Imagination with Figment. I ran to get fastpasses at Test Track. We met at the Electric Umbrella where Anna had some lunch. She doesn't have the type of pallet for the Food & Wine Festival. After we left the Electric Umbrella we headed over to Innoventions West so we could experience some attractions there and rest. Innoventions is a great spot to take it easy for a while. We also took advantage of the free character photo opportunity for Disney Visa cardmembers. Today Mickey and Pluto took family photos with us. Each family gets a free 5 X 7 photo to pick-up at the Kodak shop later in the day. A great freebie!

We left Innoventions and headed back towards World Showcase. We started at Mexico. Kim and Anna went on the Three Cabilleros boat ride while I walked down to Norway for some Goulosh and potato cakes. We continued our journey around World Showcase and stopped at other food and drink booths.

Food & Wine signage

Here are a few more shots of the food we tasted.

Pot Stickers and Chicken Sha Cha from China

Baked Ziti from Bologna, Italy. A generous portion.

We also caught some entertainment along the way; specifically the Chinese Acrobats and Sergio in Italy.

Chinese Acrobats....These girls are amazing!

We made our way around World Showcase (I'm full)! It was now time for our fastpass at Test Track. We rode Test Track and had to pick-up our free Disney Visa photo from the Kodak shop next to Spaceship Earth. We lleft EPCOT and jupmed a bus back to Pop Century.

The weather today was wonderful. The high was 80 degrees and their was a nice breeze blowing through the parks. The sun was out all day. The crowd at Hollywood Studios was not to bad, but the crowd at EPCOT was thick. The wait times at attractions were not too bad though. I think most of the folks who were at EPCOT were more interested in the Food & Wine Festival than riding attractions. It was pretty evident at World Showcase as it was packed and the lines for food were long. By the way, how come people can't have their money out and ready, and know what they are going to order before they get to the cash register? What's up with that! It holds up the line for everybody.

One observation about this year's Food & Wine Festival. There doesn't appear to be as many booths as there were last year. I'm not sure why, but it seemed like it to me. All in all though it was still a lot of fun walking around and sampling the different foods and drinks.

We are headed back to Hollywood Studios a little later for evening EMH. I plan on running into another DISer for what I hope to be a spin on Toy Story Mania. If the line is too long we may need to find another attraction we can all enjoy.

I'll post tonight's experiences during our update for tomorrow.

In the meantime here are more photos from today you might be interested in.

New recyclable bottle trash cans at EPCOT. Pretty neat and easy to understand

The crowd at World Showcase for the Food & Wine Festival. "Excuse me, pardon me.....Hey! Can you get out of my way!"

The Osborne Spectacle of Dancing Lights are up along the Streets of America.

Constuction continues on the new American Idol attraction at Hollywood Studios

Up Next:
Downtown Disney
Lunch at T-Rex Cafe
Check-In to the Hard Rock Hotel
Universal Studios
Blue Man Group

 

[IWISHFORDISNEY]

Sounds like the Food and Wine is in full swing. The weather is amazing and crowds dont look to bad. Thanks for all the pictures. We wish we were there too!!! I can not wait to hear about TRex.

 

[crazydisneyman]

So, we were there about three weeks ago and there was virtually no wait anywhere. I think the longest wait time we had was 15 minutes. The CMs were shocked, and said that they hadn't seen this in a long time.

ADP, can you find out if the rumor that House of Blues is closing in Jan 2009 is true?

Could you also take pics of the cool Disney art around Pop? We saw Mr Potato Head and a Twister Board and an 8-Track tape three stories high, etc. What other images can you find?

 

[ADP]

I told you that in CONFIDENCE.

You cant be trusted with a secret.

Ok...So I hear this maybe the week the Mousefest event maybe announced on the podcast. Hmmm...Should we believe you? I guess I have no choice but to listen on Wednesday poolside at the Hard Rock Hotel.

aaron you are so lucky! I wish I could be that often to Walt Disney World, I love your trip reports, have a magical trip
P.s. Why the cast members were all in line???

Apparently, they were having a flag ceremony. Part of the procedure was lining up the Cast Members so the flag could come down.

Glad to hear you guys got there in one piece! Loving your report so far, can't wait for more. Soooo jealous of Toy Story Mania, must hear what you guys think. Have fun!!

Toy Story Mania has a lot of rerideability. You can ride it several times and discover new tricks. Plus, you always want to try and top your high score. It fits the Studios very well and gives the park something its needed for quite some time; a family ride attraction.

So, we were there about three weeks ago and there was virtually no wait anywhere. I think the longest wait time we had was 15 minutes. The CMs were shocked, and said that they hadn't seen this in a long time.

ADP, can you find out if the rumor that House of Blues is closing in Jan 2009 is true?

Could you also take pics of the cool Disney art around Pop? We saw Mr Potato Head and a Twister Board and an 8-Track tape three stories high, etc. What other images can you find?

I'll certainly try tomorrow Chris. We'll be at DTD and I'll ask around and see what kind of response I get about the House of Blues.

As for the pictures of the "larger than life icons" there are so many at this resort it may take all day to photograph them.

Color me SUBSCRIBED!!! Love the ADP TR. It's so unselfish of you, Aaron, to take time WHILE ON VACATION (and late at night) to share a glimpse of WDW with those of us currently stuck in flyover country (or overseas).

46 days till our next first-hand look....

Thanks J/K. It's no problem. Christmas merchandise and even Christmas decorations are here so you know December can't be too far away. You guys have to be getting excited for your trip.

 

[disneyholic family]

i'm loving your reports Aaron...
thanks so much for taking the time to write them out for us..

and the pictures are great..

greek salad...yummmmmmmmmmmm....
i can't believe you like it too....usually i get pictures here of dead cows on plates (i'm a vegetarian - can you tell?)..
anyway, i love greek salad so i finally got some food porn too...

thanks for the picture of pixar place...it looks really cool...i'd seen pictures of toy story mania itself but not pixar place...


sounds like you're having a great time!!

 

[ADP]

Hey Everyone,

We are headed out the door for the day. Our first stop will be at the food court for breakfast and then we are headed to Downtown Disney for shopping and food. We plan on dining at the new T-Rex Cafe. I'll post some pictures later.

After we leave Downtown Disney we are headed for Universal. We will check-in to the Hard Rock Hotel. Once checked-in we plan on going over to Universal Studios for a few rides. One thing we need to do before we can enter the park is pick-up our theme park tickets. Universal has ticket kiosks located at the front of both parks for convenient pick-up. Later this evening we plan on attending Blue Man Group.

The weather looks wonderful this morning. Hopefully it stays that way today.

I'll post a report later today or tonight.

 

[Sooze]

On Good Morning America this morning, they said Orlando was going to be "Just BEEEEAAAAUUUTTTIIFFFULLL"... I got so jealous! Then I remembered you were going to be there, and I felt so happy for you guys!

Have a blast at Universal. If you can, find out info on the Harry Potter Wizarding World, could ya?

 

[chickie]

Thanks for the great reports, Aaron! I'm a little jealous, too, as we usually head down the first week of November. But, we're waiting 'till 2nd week of March this time, so we can bring some friends down with us for ur spring break(they won't let their girls miss any school). I can't wait to see some pics of the T-Rex Restaurant!
Looking forward to meeting you on the podcast cruise! I think Anna and our dd would get along great! Millie will be 9 on the cruise, though, so I'm afraid they would be separated in the kids clubs.
Have a great time at Universal! Be sure and ride the dueling dragons coaster for me!!!!!

 

[exwdwcm]

have a great day, thanks for sharing your adventure with us. i can't wait to hear about your t-rex dining experience!

 

[jennz]

If you can, find out info on the Harry Potter Wizarding World, could ya?

I want to know the same thing!! And about T-Rex as well...glad you're there to fill us in on everything Aaron!

 

[ADP]

Monday, Oct 20th

Hi Everyone,

We are back from our morning/afternoon at Downtown Disney. We've checked into the Hard Rock Hotel. I was offered and incredible opportunity at check-in to upgrade to Club Level here at the Hard Rock Hotel. I couldn't turn it down. We were offered the upgrade for an additional $50 per night. Considering the great AP rate I got and the $50 per night I couldn't turn it down. So, I'll be able to give you the scoop on our Hard Rock Club Level experience.

We stayed at Hollywood Studios until 11:00PM last night and experienced Muppets and Toy Story Mania. We missed our meet with our fellow DISer, but I'm sure there was a good reason.

Here's a shot of Mr. Potato Head in the queue of Toy Story Mania. Hey! What are you looking at?

We left Pop Century this morning after having breakfast in our room. As we left Pop Century I snapped a few picutres of the larger than life icons on some of the buildings for you Chris.

45 records

Bowling pins

We arrived at Downtown Disney at around 9:30AM to find a small crowd. I really enjoyed the light crowd in the World of Disney. As the morning went along the crowd did build.

Here is a shot of the princess room all decked out for High School Musical 3

While Kim and Anna were in the World of Disney I stepped outside and grabbed a photo of the construction progress on the new dockside stage.

Here's a picture of what it will look like when it is completed.

After we left the World of Disney we walked over to the Christmas Store to purchase some Christmas ornaments.

After we left the Christmas shop we decided it was time for lunch so we headed over to the new T-Rex Cafe. We checked-in and were seated immediately.

Restaurant signage

Ok gang...Here is my overall opinion of this place. It's a Rain Forest Cafe on steroids with a prehistoric theme. I honestly don't understand why this place is here; 100 yards away is a Rain Forest Cafe with a similar look, and unfortunately, the food is very much the same.

I will give credit where credit is due. The look of the inside of this place is "over-the-top". Landry's must have spent a lot of money (I heard 128 million dollars) on constructing this restaurant. There are some neat elements to the inside of the restaurant. We sat in the ice cave which gives you the impression of eating inside a forzen cave with stalamtites on the ceiling. The restaurant is very, very noisy. The place was half full and I had to shout across the table so Kim and Anna could here me.

Here is a shots of the ice cave while it was pink. It also turns blue.

As I mentioned to you previously the food is very similar in taste and look to the food at the Rain Forest Cafe. I had a Bronto Burger with waffle fries. Kim had the cheese tortolini pasta with alfredo sauce while Anna had the kids pizza. We all agreed our food was mediocre at best. Total cost of our bill was $80 including tip. There are no discounts available until January 2009 according to our server. Here are some shots of our food.

Onion ring appitizer

Cheeseburger with Fries

Kim's pasta dish...Tortolini with alfredo sauce. By the way Kim said the bread must have been prehistoric as well since it was hard as a rock....

Anna got a frozen slush in a souvenier cup for $3.00 extra

In the back of the gift shop is a place where you can build-a-dino from the folks who brought you Build-A-Bear. Neat concept for the people who own Landry restaurants but I don't think its anything special for the guest.

Here's a shot of the entrance to Build-A-Dino

I should also note the service was rather slow. Our meal lasted over 75 minutes and in my opinion is too long for lunch. I did order an appetizer of Onion Rings, but it was still too long.

I guess my opinion is to try this place for yourself and see if you like it, but we won't be running back. I should also say; Kevin,.....You are going to LOVE this place! (Insert sarcasm here)...

So, for now we are at the Hard Rock and getting ready to head down to the pool. I need to walk over to Universal Studios and pick-up our park tickets. We may possibly skip the parks today and just enjoy the pool, the lounge and get ready for Blue Man Group later on.

I'll give you a report on Blue Man Group and the Hard Rock pool tonight.

Thanks for following along!

 

[simonkodousek]

Thanks for the great installment Aaron!

 

[ADP]

Thanks for the great reports, Aaron! I'm a little jealous, too, as we usually head down the first week of November. But, we're waiting 'till 2nd week of March this time, so we can bring some friends down with us for ur spring break(they won't let their girls miss any school). I can't wait to see some pics of the T-Rex Restaurant!
Looking forward to meeting you on the podcast cruise! I think Anna and our dd would get along great! Millie will be 9 on the cruise, though, so I'm afraid they would be separated in the kids clubs.
Have a great time at Universal! Be sure and ride the dueling dragons coaster for me!!!!!

Thanks! Actually Anna will be 9 when we go on the Podcast cruise. She was 7 when we signed up for the cruise.

On Good Morning America this morning, they said Orlando was going to be "Just BEEEEAAAAUUUTTTIIFFFULLL"... I got so jealous! Then I remembered you were going to be there, and I felt so happy for you guys!

Have a blast at Universal. If you can, find out info on the Harry Potter Wizarding World, could ya?

The weather has been fantabulous today. I'll get some photos of the construction of Harry Potter. I'm anxious to see it myself.

I want to know the same thing!! And about T-Rex as well...glad you're there to fill us in on everything Aaron!

You got it!

 

[ADP]

Yeah Aaron! Have a wonderful and safe trip. It's nice to see you in a picture or two.

Question: Does your wife think you are nuts after touring the parks all day and posting trip reports at night?

Hey Jen! Yea, pretty much, but she leaves it up to me. She also finds it funny so many people are interested in reading it... I keep telling her and I quote...."Oh! You have no idea and just wait, WAIT until the podcast cruise'!

 

[annie1995]

Oohhhh, I just found this!! I loved your last report, can't wait for this one!!! Glad you arrived safely!!!