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

[ReAnSt]

Cast of Characters
Becky: Me- 24
Stephen- My brother 22
Linda- My Mom 48
David- My Dad 60

Pre-trip information: Before the trip for almost a month I had a sinus and ear infection. I was on antibiotics 3 weeks by the time this trip happened, that were causing various side effects. We also spent two hours the Friday before we left at Circuit City getting new Verizon cell phones for my parents.

My father also was wheel chair bound for 6 weeks in the past and has a hip problem that constantly bothers him. He has a handicap placard for this reason, which we used occasionally throughout the trip as the excessive walking bothers him.

All of us have been to WDW on several occasions. I lived in Orlando for 4 years and worked as a cast member in merchantanmnet.

Dates: Sunday, August 13th to Sunday August 20th staying at the All Star Sports

Day 1: Sunday August 13th 2006

We packed up the car and left for the Allentown Airport around 10am. We got to the airport around 11am. We ate lunch and headed for security. We were through security in less than 10 minutes. No line. They checked photo ID’s and boarding passes before security. Through security it was, the standard shoes off, laptops out of bags, etc. Just no liquids or gels in carry ons which they had messages playing in the airport and everyone kept informing us of the current situation.

We sat in the terminal and waited for about 45 minutes and then we got on the plane for our flight at 1:30pm. We were quickly in the air and on our way to the Orlando/ Sanford airport. We flew on Allegiant air. It was cheap, efficient but no frills. Everything you had to pay for: sodas, water, snacks, etc. Nothing was included sodas and water were $2 for a 12 ounce can. They had a menu they handed out that included playing cards, airplane model and other items.

I used the Ear Planes because of the current sinus and ear problems, but I wonder if they actually caused me more pain than they prevented as as soon as I removed them my ears felt so much better. We had a good smooth flight it was an awesome day for flying clear blue skies with a few clouds.

We landed and were off to claim our luggage. On the way we saw the table covered in collected liquids of those who were uninformed before they got to the airpot. We had not witnessed this in Allentown. There was an employee there who was sorting and packing up the liquids.

My bag arrived with the first load but everyone else’s took a longer period of time to get there. My brother and Dad went to get the rental car while we waited for the rest of the luggage.

The second car was the one they chose as the first when they started it the oil light came on, as did the low windshield wiper fluid and the check engine light. Therefore they chose another car. We are from New Mexico for the week. LOL as that is what our license plate is from.

As soon as we got outside we could see that it was about to storm. We got the royal Florida thunderstorm, lighting, thunder, hail, rain, flooding across the roads. We drove through water above our tires at one point and the brakes stopped working briefly.

We finally got to All Star Sports Resort. We checked in with a nice cast member named Jenna who was earning her ears. Although she worked for Disney for 5 years already she was new to the front desk. She was very enthusiastic and informative. My only complaint was she told us to go all the way around to the back to park to get to our room at Hoops room 3210. It was not a big deal except we ended up carrying our luggage twice as far as if we had parked on the other side. We decided it was more efficient to turn right as soon as you enter and drive all the way to the back of the lot. This was my initial thought but I thought perhaps she knew something I was missing.

We chilled in the room for a bit and then we headed to the Grand Floridan for our dinner at the Grand Floridian Café. On the way it started to storm again especially as we were entering the Magic Kingdom area and it looked like night despite being about 6pm.

My father dropped us off at the Grand Floridian as it was pouring. He went to park the car as we forgot the handicap placard which would have gotten us .. We forgot the handicap placard which would have gotten us valet parking for free with a tip. This was a mistake, as we forgot the placard and the parking at Grand Floridian for regular parking is across the street. Luckily the rain slowed down but he still had a rainy walk.

As we waited for him to arrive I took some pictures.

Once we went to the Grand Floridian Cafe were promptly seated near the entrance area to the restaurant. We got the Crab Cakes, Land and Sea, and Key Lime Pie, Tiramisu and Lemon Cheesecake. All was good.

We shared the meals on the free dining plan and paid out of pocket for the extra drinks and extra tip.

While we were at the restaurant about 10 parties were turned away who wanted to eat there. Restaurants are definitely full due to the free dining. If you are headed any time soon make sure to make your ADR’s as early as possible.

After dinner we rode the monorail around and transferred to the EPCOT express monorail and than back to the resort line and back to the Grand Floridian to get our car. There was a band that was playing Disney music in the Grand Floridian which was a nice touch.

We explored the All Stars some and headed to bed early as we have an early day at AK tomorrow for early entry.

 

[OK GRUMPY]

Good report so far GReat Pictures!!

 

[PoohGal05]

Awesome pictures and great report.

 

[Mic_n_Min]

Great TR! Love the pics! Can't wait to read more!

 

[rosiejo]

Wow - that's a lot of confiscated liquids... I can't believe airlines can charge so much for drinks when you are no longer allowed to carry your own... it stinks!

Can't wait to read more Becky

 

[ReAnSt]

So Monday arrived bright and early with a wake up call from Stitch in the Tiki room at I think 6:30am. All I know is it was too early to be dragging my butt out of bed on vacation.

We ate breakfast in the Endzone food court at the All Star Sports. I had a breakfast platter and soda. Let’s just say I drank too much of it on this trip.

After breakfast we loaded up the car and were off to Animal Kingdom for 8am entry. As soon as we entered the park my brother and I headed to guest services to get our free Expedition Everest picture certificates. Our parents on the other hand did not listen to what we told them in the car on the way over or they listened to the second part but the missed the first thing.

They entered the park and headed straight for Africa. They forgot that we were heading to guest services and we were all supposed to head to Africa together for the Safari. We see them walk by guest services and keep walking. We try to call them on their new cell phones that we got when we had to spend 2 hours at Circuit City the Friday before we left for WDW. They couldn’t figure out how to properly answer the phones. Eventually they call us back and after we wait in the guest services line and get our picture certificates we are off to Africa.

We wait in line for the safari for about 10 minutes. We are right at the front of the line and the safari vehicles keep passing us as they having check out for the day yet. Also since it was Early entry the Grand gathering private tours head out as well while we are waiting. It is all good though as we are soon on our way. I did find out that my TBS sister/friend Nicole is not working at Safaris that day, I later found out from another friend she is out of town.

We saw lots of animals on our safari.

We saw Rhinos

We couldn’t seem to identify this critter as he wasn’t on our Safari animal identification guide.

We saw Giraffes this one was right next to our safari vehicle

The elephants were enjoying their breakfast

The lion was sleeping

We were than off to Expedition Everest.
I took this picture as I love how the altar is the exact same shape as the mountain.

I was very excited to ride this ride as I had heard lots about how good it was, although the cast member I talked to at the Safari said she would never ride it again. That was just what my Mother needed to hear, as she doesn’t like things that go backwards. She did get in line which as always in Disney style was very decorated with relics and other ride related things. We were in line about 15 minutes and it was our turn to ride. We could have gotten on quicker if we would have went as single riders but since we had the free photos coupons and wanted to see the line decorations we took the stand by line.

I enjoyed Expedition Everest but my body didn’t. I felt very nauseous after I got off this ride. I normally do not have problems with any rides but EE did it to me. However I think it was side effects from the antibiotic I was on. It did say it can cause dizziness and nausea both of which I got, I also think the fact the meds made me feel hotter than normal also didn’t help. The fact that it wasn’t 10 o’clock yet and I felt very sick did not make me a happy camper. I was afraid that most of my favorite rides were going to make me sick, luckily that turned out to not be the case.

Even standing in the AC waiting in line for my picture did not help that much. Eventually the cast member figured it out that our free pictures could be sent to our room. It wouldn’t work the first time because she was trying to put both certificates on the same transaction. Our pictures were set to arrive at our rest the next afternoon and I was off to get a drink hoping it would make me feel better. Everyone in my family did enjoy EE although I only ended up riding it once I really enjoyed it and hope to ride it again in the future.

Next on the list was Kali River Rapids I was hoping getting wet would cool me down enough so I was no longer feeling sick. In the end it did make me feel a little better.

We headed to Birds of Wonder which was about 2 minutes into the show when we arrived. It is a neat show that talks about birds and how the are endangered and things. My favorite part is the birds flying over your head, despite my normal fear of being pooped on by birds. There are hawks, eagles, parrots and other types of birds.

We were off to Dinosaur. I like looking at the fossils and things while in line for this ride.

My brother decided to have fun with this Dino.

I was very concerned about getting sick on this ride as I still felt nauseous from EE earlier in the day. Luckily it didn’t make me feel any worse and I enjoyed the ride. Besides the nausea, I was feeling pretty good as my sinuses and ears only hurt a little.

After Dinosaur we were heading towards Tree of Life and Flame Tree BBQ. On the way there we stopped and watch G- Force perform for a few minutes, they are a trampoline acrobatic group which performs by Triceratops Spin. We had considered riding this and Primieval Whirl but the lines were about a half an hour or longer and we didn’t feel like waiting out in the sun.

We went to Flame tree BBQ for lunch, we had ribs and chicken and baked beans and chocolate cake. It was very yummy.

I took my favorite pic of EE from the eating areas at Flame Tree.

We had to watch out for the ants so they didn’t steal our food.

I'm not happy with the picture size in this post, the first one the pictures are all the same size. This one they were huge and I reduced them and now they are a whole bunch of different sizes. I'm not sure why though anybody have any ideas.

 

[ReAnSt]

Off into the depths of the Tree of Life for It’s Tough to be a Bug. While waiting for the show to start we started playing with the camera and the 3-d glasses and this is what results if you shoot the camera lens through another pair of 3-d glasses the one lens becomes clear.

After Bugs Life we headed to camp Minnie Mickey.

Once over there we had some time to kill before the Festival of the Lion King Show. We ran into Koda and Kenai while we relaxed with a drink.

Than we stood in line and waited until they left us into the theater for the Festival of the Lion King show. It is one of my favorites and as always it didn’t disappoint.

We went straight from FOTLK to Pocahontas and her Friends show. It was very well done and Pocahontas did a good job.

After Pocahontas we had to say good by to the “not a zoo” as we needed to head over towards EPCOT so we were there in time for our 6:50 pm ADR.

Once we got to EPCOT we had some time to use so we headed to the Land, we had about an hour until our dinner but Soarin’ wait time was 75 minutes and the boat tour was 45 minutes so we opted out of both of those and decided to check in at the Coral Reef Restaurant.

They were running behind but told us to stop back in at our correct ADR time and they might be able to squeeze us in depending on when others show up. So we go over and do Turtle Talk with Crush. I had done this before in March of 2005 but nobody else did we waited about 25 minutes for it. They changed it a little since the first time I saw it. We take some pictures at the Nemo garden and then head back to the Coral Reef to see if they can take us.

They now tell us they are running about 45 minutes behind and tell us to come back then. So we head over to the Imagination Station. We check the time for HISTA and it had just started so we get in line for, Figment. Yes there actually was a short line for Figment about 5 to 10 minutes but a line none the less. It is the first time since it is redone that I have seen a line for it. We ride Figment play a little bit in the Imagination Station and head back to Coral Reef.

This time they tell us to stay as they should have a table soon. About 10 minutes later our table is ready. We are seated by the Manager. Normally you might see the manager a little bit. She was cleaning tables, carrying dinners to tables, taking clean dishes from dishwasher to wherever they must go. She was on the move and busy. As were all the other staff as well they were all very busy but still happy and smiling. You could tell they were trying to make up since they were behind.

I didn’t mind that they were behind I was just happy I had a seat waiting at some point for me at a table service restaurant as we saw several people not find table service at like any location when the staff looked it up on the computer.

We ordered our drinks they brought us our bread and than we ordered the rest of our food. I had fried scallop Caesar salad it was very yummy I could not believe how many scallops were on it. The Grilled Mahi Mahi with coucous was good. For desert I had the chocolate wave which was great.

As it was nearing 9pm after we left our dinner we headed over to the World Showcase for Illuminations. We knew we weren’t going to get a great spot that close to 9pm but it was decent and I didn’t care as I have seen it many, many times and it is not my favorite of the nighttime events at WDW.

Illuminations seemed like the fireworks were not all there. Not sure why but for some reason it seemed like there were times there were supposed to be fireworks or more of them and there were not. Nothing major just an observation and perhaps completely just my opinion. We joined the pack on the way out of EPCOT.

I never have understood why everyone rushes out of the park. It’s not like someone is forcing you to get out. You can stay and wander and shop if you would like but for the most part to me it seems like a race to get out of the park.

Back to the hotel, where I hopped in the pool for a bit and head to bed as tomorrow will come way too soon.

As you can still tell I am having photo issues but at least it is here.

 

[ReAnSt]

Wow - that's a lot of confiscated liquids... I can't believe airlines can charge so much for drinks when you are no longer allowed to carry your own... it stinks!

Can't wait to read more Becky

This airline has been operating without including drinks and stuff for awhile, so they have continued to do so despite now you can't bring your own on the plane. Although I did see people sneak it on the plane since you were not put through security again before you got on the plane and in the secure area they sold stuff. How they can prevent this without a second round of security right as the plane is boarding I don't know. Although they were conducting random searches of people.

 

[rosiejo]

Sounds like you had a fun second day too Becky - I really want to ride EE but I keep reading how it is messing with people and making them feel sick... I don't usually get motion sickness but you never know! I still have a little while to work up the courage though!

Your pictures are really good BTW - are you cropping them or is that how they came off the camera? You have some really good closeups of the birds and the animals.

 

[Glendamax]

I am REALLY enjoying your report so far. If you did not mention that you were having photo problems, I wouldn't have known. Unfortunantly, I can't be of any help, because I'm still trying to figure that out.

Glad you mentioned how you felt after getting off of Everest. Now I know that I will get a fast pass as soon as the park opens, and ride this last. So if I do feel bad, as least I'll be on the bus on the way back to the room. I was going to try to be brave and ride it at park open, but it's not worth it. Losing 2hours from being sick on Mission Space last year taught me a lesson!

Can't wait to hear (and see) more!

 

[ReAnSt]

Sounds like you had a fun second day too Becky - I really want to ride EE but I keep reading how it is messing with people and making them feel sick... I don't usually get motion sickness but you never know! I still have a little while to work up the courage though!

Your pictures are really good BTW - are you cropping them or is that how they came off the camera? You have some really good closeups of the birds and the animals.

All the safari are straight off the camera. The best tip for the safari is to go early in the morning as soon as the park opens. The animals are very active and close to the vehicle in my giraffe picture I probably could have touched the animal it was so close. Some of the birds I cropped some. Let's say I my 12x optical zoom with image stabilization.

Here are some of the birds pre and post crop.
Owl Before Crop

Owl After

Eagle Before

Eagle After

As for EE I truly feel it only bothered me because of the side effects from the medicine I was on. But I felt slightly dizzy and nauseous before I rode it.

 

[ReAnSt]

This guy was on a tree as we were walking by

This is a boat in Animal Kingdom they used to be used for guests right when Animal Kingdom opened, they now move characters or the characters just float around with characters on them

 

[Glendamax]

Great Pics! I'm certaintly going to try to take better ones than I normally do when I go this time!

 

[tinknme]

Great trip report & pictures Becky Look forward to reading/seeing more!

 

[OK GRUMPY]

MORE PLEASE!!

 

[Glendamax]

Hey! Is this It? Did I pop this for nothing . . .

 

[ReAnSt]

Hey! Is this It? Did I pop this for nothing . . .

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.

 

[bear74]

good trip report Becky

 

[bethbuchall]

Becky, great report so far! I can't wait to continue reading. I want to see if we were ever in the same park at the same time. It is so neat to think of you being there when we were.

 

[lovesdumbo]

Great report! LOVE your photos!!!

Can't wait to read more.