An Adventure with the Mouse 8/13 to 8/20, 2006

[VanniGirl]

Great photos & report - looking forward to the rest!

 

[OhMari]

Where are you going to college?

I hope you come back this weekend and finish your report. I love your food pictures.

 

[disneyfand]

Wonderful pics!!! can i ask what kind, brand, model # of camera you used.
Thanks for sharing with us.

 

[101DalmFan]

I too would love to know the make and model of your digital camera; your photographs are excellent! My family was there exactly when you were in August; we were even at the AK on the Monday, and at Epcot for dinner that night (we had Japanese though....)

While I thought my safari pix were okay, yours are absolutely amazing considering how darn bumpy the safari is.....proof positive that the image stabilizer in your camera does what it's supposed to!

I look forward to reading more, and seeing more of your excellent photos

 

[Glendamax]

No, this isn't all. I have been busy working and the day after I got back home my grad classes started. I will try to work some more on it soon.

HEY!!!! I've been to Disney World and back! Where are you?

 

[ReAnSt]

I too would love to know the make and model of your digital camera; your photographs are excellent! My family was there exactly when you were in August; we were even at the AK on the Monday, and at Epcot for dinner that night (we had Japanese though....)

While I thought my safari pix were okay, yours are absolutely amazing considering how darn bumpy the safari is.....proof positive that the image stabilizer in your camera does what it's supposed to!

I look forward to reading more, and seeing more of your excellent photos

Thanks, sorry I haven't written back my life got really crazy for awhile. I have Sony DSC-H1 camera, it has a 12x optical zoom, 5.1 mp and the previously mentioned image stabilization. The newest model of it is the Sony DSC-H5.

 

[doodnom]

Cool pics thanks for your sharing

 

[ReAnSt]

So I will try to on my trip report now that I am feeling better and my classes are over and I don't have to spend hours and hours each week reading and writing papers. You should all be happy to know I got and A and an A- in my classes. So now I can play and finish writing my trip report. Sorry to keep you waiting.

Tuesday, August 15, 2006
So today after breakfast at our resort we headed off to Disney’s MGM Studios. Can’t call it just MGM or Studios as that wouldn’t be right, sorry the former Cast member in me coming out.

We get to the park and this mouse greets us.

Walk some more towards the hat and there is like no one around so I got pictures of the hat with no one around.

We rode the Great Movie ride with no wait, always fun to ride through the movies. My name is Becky and I will be your host on your adventure through the movies. This is the perfect job me me as I the movies. Have I ridden this ride enough :haha

We stop and see Muppet Vision 3-d always a great show, the Muppets are tons of fun.

Off to see Lights, Motors, Action however when we get over there we realize that there are no shows going on or about to start anytime soon. Turns out we read the time schedule wrong and shows don't start until later in the day on Tuesday. We ran into Mater and Lighting McQueen on our way over to the Making of Narnia. I loved how you actually go to go through the Wardrobe, I also loved seeing the White Witch as I love my villains.

We then hopped right next door to One Man’s Dream exhibit. I have been inside the museum part but never got to watch the movie as everytime, I always just miss the start of the movie when I get to that part and don’t feel like waiting around. I really enjoyed the movie part and seeing the old clips, I'm glad I finally got to see this.

Next we were off to Lights, Motors, Action I really enjoy this show, last year I got to sit in the bottom section but this year we ended up sitting in the upper section. This collision of themes really sticks out at me. Disney is normally good about hiding different things but when they built this theatre you can really see the Sorcerer hat, Chinese Theater and Tower or Terror, which IMO just don’t fit with the French city theme, but whatever.

Next we were off to the Backlot Tour, which we were part of the pre-show last September,

however this year we were not selected to be the boat crew.

Somewhere in here we ate lunch at the Backlot Express. I didn’t take any pics or anything as it was so crowded and we had a heck of a time finding a seat, our food was pretty good though, despite the many bad reviews it seems to get.

We went and saw the Indiana Jones Stunt Spectacular, they kept telling us the theater was full we can’t gurantee you seats, as they had already let a bunch of people in. We ended up getting seats on the left hand side of the theater. I think they told us that so they could keep us outside of the theater so they didn’t overfill it. I hadn’t seen this show for a few years. I enjoyed it, but was afraid they were not going to be able to finish it was thundering.

 

[ReAnSt]

We next trucked our butts over to the Hollywood Tower Hotel, this is one of my favorite rides. However due to previous motion issues on this trip as a side effect of my antibiotic I was extremely leery of riding it. I did ride it and was ok, but did not feel right after getting off of it. Due to not feeling well from this ride, I never made it onto Rock and Roller Coaster on this trip.

We went to see the Beauty and the Beast show, it is one of my favorite shows at WDW. Four for a Dollar performed before the show and like always they did a fantastic job. On to a great performance of Beauty and the Beast.

At this point we had over an hour to kill before our ADR at 50’s Primetime Café. We considered riding Rock and Roller Coaster but the line would have been pushing it. Instead we pulled up some curb and watched the Disney Stars and Motor Cars Parade.

Onto our dinner at 50’s Primetime Café, which I hadn’t been at for at least 10 years, I remember being there before however my Brother did not. We tried to cause trouble such as putting a hat on, or not eating the veggies or putting our elbows on the napkin on the table. My brother drank his first drink very quickly so he ended up with 3 more at one time.

Our appetizers were Caesar Salad, Shrimp Cocktail, and Fried Herb Cheese

Our entrees were Golden Fried Chicken, Grilled Chicken, Char Grilled Pork Tenderloin, and Glazed Salmon all of which were delicious.

For dessert we all had Dad’s Sundae

After our dinner we went and did the Disney Animation thing. Mushu is another of my favorite characters so I enjoy the animation part and learning about how he was going to have 2 heads and other things. We did skip out on the drawing portion as we wanted to get to Fantasmic, although we did this later.

We sat around and waited for Fantasmic to start, the required wave was done and the show was great.

Out of the park we went and back to All Stars we went. I jumped in the pool for a bit and off to bed we went.

 

[ReAnSt]

Wednesday, August 16, 2006
We got up early to go to the Magic Kingdom, I think it was EMH for those who had young kids but we went anyways and there were no little people in our group as we are all 5'8" and taller. First we started with breakfast at the All Star Sports food court. I had mentioned before about having side effects from my meds. When I got up this morning I had a rash on my face, arms, legs and top of my feet. I think it was some sort of sun poisoning or something but really am not sure. At breakfast I also felt really nauseous and was horribly congested. I did walk around the resort as the others were eating their breakfast to see if it helped with the nausea and it did. Here are some of the pics I took.

We then hopped in our car and drove to the ticket and transportation center, from here we hopped on the monorail and off to the Magic Kingdom.

I have been to the Magic Kingdom more times than I can count and have never seen the Main Street opening show. All of the Main Street vehicles were lined up in the middle of Main Street. This was a first for me although we didn't watch the whole thing as other wanted to go ride rides.

My family always tends to head straight for Adventureland and the Jungle Cruise in the Magic Kingdom, why I really don't know but that seems to be something that we normally do. However we get to Adventureland and the Jungle Cruise isn't open neither is the Enchanted Tiki room, or Pirates of the Carribean. The only thing that is open is Aladdin's Magic Carpets, the other stuff doesn't open till 10am. This all because the EMH hours are specifically for younger kids so the other stuff isn't open. It is almost 10am but my Brother and I decide to ride Aladdin's Magic Carpets as there is hardly a line. We got on the next ride. This ride was another first for me. It was fun and I got to see some things I had never seen before due to the new perspective of being in the air.

 

[ReAnSt]

As it was now almost 10am and a line was starting at the Jungle Cruise we hopped in it. We faced the hippos, the gorillas finally got my truck to turn over, we saw the backside of water, the elephants were wearing their turnks so we could look, and we could have traded our head for Ned's and came out ahead.

After our adventure through Africa, we headed to the Enchanted Tiki Room, where we had to deal with the New Management.

From here we headed to Pirate of the Carribean, this was what I was most excited about because of the refurb. POTC is one of my favorite attractions and I loved the new additions. I love these chess guys that are stuck in a stalemate neither player can move.

Next went on Splash Mountain which is my favorite ride at WDW. This was the first time in a long time where we didn't get stopped anywhere on the ride. Everytime I ride and take a picture coming down the mountain it is always cloudy, although this picture was better than some.

We then went on Big Thunder Mountain, I only took one picture and it was pretty crappy, by this time the tops of my feet felt like they were on fire anytime we were outside, this continued throughout the trip. I was wearing Teva sandals and the heat on the tops of my feet was awful and they itched so badly, I guess due to the rash. I also felt slightly nauseous again after riding Big Thunder Mountain.

We hopped on the WDW Railroad and got off at Toon town. We just quickly walked through.

 

[ReAnSt]

We made our way to Cosmic Rays. We split two Rib and Chicken combo platters and still ended up throwing some food away as it was too much. This was definitely the best use of our counter service credits, the Rib and 1/2 chicken combo platter was about $13 apiece plus drink and dessert.

Next we did Stitch's Great Escape. Stitch is my brother favorite character so this was a requirement. I still miss Alien Encounter but I don't hate this attraction.

Onto Buzz Lightyear, one of my favorite attractions, we got stuck in here unfortunately we were already through all the targets.

Next we rode the Peoplemover. I love relaxing on this ride. I really want to go through Space mountain with the lights on but today wasn't my day.

From here we headed over to Philharmagic. I'd always wanted to take this picture and thought with the seats we were in at the back of the theatre I was going to be too close to take the picture but I wasn't.

From here we went on It's A Small World, which I like alot better since the refurb. Although getting stuck in this ride isn't fun and I had the song stuck in my head for awhile.
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As it was soon time for our ADR's at Tony's Time Square we headed off back down Main Street.

First I needed my obligatory picture with Goofy. One of the Disney Design Addict or DDA members June Legalslave had had her picture taken here on her last WDW trip. At the time of my trip she had been very sick with what they thought was pneumonia. All the DDA members had started having their picture taken their before she was sick as she had a picture of herself with the statue in her signature. Well after I returned from my trip she was diagnosed with lung caner and passed away and never made it on her planned WDW trip.

My parents waiting for their table

Hidden Mickey rolls

Our appetizers
House Salad

Spinach and Artichoke Dip

Calamari

Entrees
Seafood Diavoli

NY Strip Steak

Desert Sampler Platter, this was the dessert with the dining plan

 

[ReAnSt]

From Tony's Town Square we got the train from Main Street station to Frontierland.

Then we went to the Haunted Mansion. By the time we were finished at the haunted Mansion, the sun was starting to set. We went and rode Peter pan's flight and then saw Philharmagic again. At some point during the day we rode Pooh's great adventure and Snow White's Scary ride, but I can't recall when. thats what happens when you wait several months to do your trip report.

At this point we should have already claimed space on Main Street for Spectromagic, almost called it the Electric Light Parade. Although we did not, instead we rode the carrousel, it had been a few years since I rode the carrousel.

We now headed towards the packed Main Street to find some curb space. We have seen Spectromagic many times it wasn't a big deal if we didn't have an optimal viewing area. Although we ended up finding a pretty deccent spot, although I would have really have liked to move the empty 2 seat WDW rental stroller out of the viewing area so that we wouldn't have been so crowded.

We split up after Spectromagic, I ran for the restroom as I wasn't feeling well, my brother ran for food, and my Mom went for drinks. We found a new spot further up Main Street in the middle of the street for Wishes.

After Wishes we slowly made our way out of the park. My Dad had stayed at his original spot as his hip and leg were really starting to bother him , so we met up with him and headed back to the All Stars. I took a quick dip in the pool and off to bed.

 

[swankybeth]

Becky, you take beautiful pictures! Thanks for posting and I'm looking forward to seeing more.

 

[Disney owl]

Great report & otos

 

[ReAnSt]

Thursday, August 17, 2006

So I got up and this morning not only did I have a rash all over my body, everytime I washed my hands, they would like they were on fire. I was pretty miserable but got up anyways as I was at WDW and knew I would have a good time no matter how I was feeling. We went to the food court and my Mom and brother got in line to get food my Dad and I sat down at a table to wait till the food came. Well I didn't make it until the food came. Off I went running to the restroom. Where I the politest way to say it is I tossed my cookies. Now I was looking really pretty as I burst some of the capillaries right under my eyes so I looked like I was beat up.

I was still ready to go to the parks anyways as I was supposed to meet my Alpha Phi Omega brother Adam ath EPCOT. He works as a CM as a monorail conductor, he previously worked at Pop Century and Mission Space and Test Track. My parents really think it is best that we take it easy this morning. So I call him up and tell him I am sick and can't meet him. He is fine with that and we talk about possibly meeting up later in the day.

So off to my room I go where I watch some cartoons and take a nap. My Mom does some laundry, as we packed light only enough for a few days and not the entire trip.

I get up and we head to the food court again for food, I was feeling better and had a little bit of food to eat. We then head to Disney MGM Studios around 12:30. Like I previously mentioned they are doing special EMH and other things for small children. One of the things they are doing is having special performances of the Disney traveling shows. The one that is there while we are there is Mickey's Magic Show. You have to get tickets for the show, so we get our tickets and then we go to Who Wants to Be a Millionaire for one of the last days of shows. As always it is great, an 8 year old boy ends up in the hot seat and he and his Dad do well.

Next we are off to Mickey's Magic Show. We wait in line a bit, they give everyone in line a Playhouse Disney CDrom. I later find out it has TV show previews and things for Playhouse Disney. Since we got in line kind of early we were in the 2nd or third row from the front and in the center. I do feel bad for people who were in the back as the floor where all the temporary seats were placed was completly flat. I thought the show was pretty good, I went into it thinking at was going to be very much for little kids and it could be for all ages. All of these were taken without flash.

From here we went and saw the Little Mermaid show. We were in the second row, not by choice and we got a nice shower due to the rain they have during the show. We were pretty wet. Where was my warning you may get wet in this show?? Also all taken without flash.

We went and did the Animation studio tour again. After the tour we ran into the Incredibles and Frozone.

Also played on the machines

 

[ReAnSt]

We then attended the learn to draw portion at the animation studio. We learned to draw Pooh bear.

Next we headed to our dinner ADR at Hollywood Brown Derby.

We had a Sake Laced Crab Cake
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This is a half portion of the Char-grilled Filet Mignon as we shared entrees and they split our meal for us in the kitchen.
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Happiest Celebration on Earth Dessert; don't recall what it was called

Flourless Chocolate Cake

From here we went in the shops on Sunset Boulevard and then got in line for Fantasmic.

After Fantasmic, we headed back All Stars and I hit the pool for a bit.

 

[ReAnSt]

So we got up today and headed to the food court for breakfast. Due to the severe burning pain on the tops of my feet the day before anytime the sun hit my feet I decided to wear sneakers and socks. I hate wearing closed shoes unless I have to, but I thought this was necessary as my feet really hurt. The burning wasn't as bad but my feet still felt like they were on fire. I felt slightly nauseous this morning but not as bad as in the past so I ate some breakfast. We were off to EPCOT, our last park day.

We rode Spaceship Earth

We were off to Soaring my Mother's favorite attraction

In line we met a family whose kids hated rides. The kids ended up getting out of line and both of the parents rode the ride. The kids were probably 7 and 9. It wasn't just this ride it was any ride. They were really nice and we tried to give them suggestions of things to do that weren't rides as their kids didn't want anything to do with them. When we got off of Soaring we ran into the 2 boys, their parents rode before we did, they asked if we knew where their parents were, unfortunately we did not. We directed them to a CM. Later that evening we saw the whole family again and the boys had their World Showcase masks they thanked us for making their day at EPCOT better than their day at the Magic Kingdom as the kids wouldn't ride anything there.

From here we went and rode living with the Land, unfortunately we could not understand our CM.

I how the pumpkin is earning his ears.

Hidden Mickey

Next we went into Journey Into Imagination We rode Figment and saw Honey I shrunk the Aundience

Next we went over to the Living Seas, which was barricaded up as the refurb was still going on. We went inside and saw Turtle Talk and looked at the One of these days I will do the Divequest program I just haven't gotten a chance yet.

Next we went to Innoventions and had our picture taken at the Visa Meet and Greet

Then we joined Ellen on Universe of Energy
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[ReAnSt]

Next we were off on our trip around the world. Here are some pretrip photos before the journey around the world.

But first I needed a potty break, now why do I remember I needed a potty break at this time so many months later. As I was pottying, my family apparently had some special interaction with Koda and Kenai from Brother Bear. They came up to them and started interacting with them, of course I had the camera in the potty with me. By the time I was finished as there had been a line, what women's room doesn't have one?? The bears were at their greeting location with a line.

We didn't spend much time in the countries as we had planned on being in EPCOT of Thursday morning/afternoon which didn't happen since I got sick.
Canada

England Which was blocked off with a bunch of CM's and a truck. So we had to detour through the buildings.

We ran into Chip and Dale in the International Gateway, as our trip around the world was being interrupted with a side trip to the Boardwalk.

 

[ReAnSt]

We walked over to the Boardwalk, for our ADR at Spoodles.

We get to Spoodles and the computer system is completly down at Spoodles. So the CM's must call to dining to see if we actually have an ADR. They give us an vibrating pager and tell us they will let us know when the table is ready. I feel bad for the CM's as the have to constantly call to see who has ADR's as they don't have a list and the chefs have to get used to having things written on paper. They all are truly in the Disney spirit despite the computer issue.

While we are waiting for our table I go exploring the Boardwalk. I end up in the Wyland gallery I his artwork.

I would love to have this hanging on my wall

I head back over to Spoodles and also check on the bakery as our table is still not ready. We finally get to sit down, although it really isn't much later than our ADR time we were just early. All of our food was very good and I would to go back.

Our appetizers
Garlic Shrimp these were delicious
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Mixed Green Salad, not on the menu but they brought my Dad a plain salad instead of Greek
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Four Cheese Flatbread

Our Entrees
Oak-fired New York Strip with mashed potatoes

Oak-fired New York Strip with Sweet Potato fries like on the menu

Oak-fired Salmon with couscous instead of vegetable stew

Dessert
Build your own Sundae and built sundae

Vanilla Bean Creme Brulee

I think this was White Chocolate Orange cake but I really am not sure

Homemade Gelato