"Anythings possible, for a Possible!" - Oct 15-25 TR(Final thoughts 5/25-Post 249!)

[PrincessInOz]

WOW! You guys lucked out!

I nearly fell off my chair laughing over your Jungle Cruise. Fancy that! You actually got to see a REAL animal on your cruise....and the skipper probably did well to stay on-course.

And those shots of DD with Jasmine and Aladdin - priceless!

Glad that Magic Kingdom lived up to it's name for you.

ps. Happy New Year!

 

[khertz]

So Aladdin said to Jasmine - "All right, we got a mission to bring Adriana over here. You go around that way, and I'll distract her." So he started calling out to DD, while Jasmine went around the other way.

Too funny! I love that they were so determined to meet her. And what a great magical moment for DD! I love all of her little journal entries too. So cute to see how kids experience Disney and what is most important to them.

Once they brought her back, both Aladdin and Jasmine spent a good deal of time with her. (I wonder if the other people in line were steaming about all this?)

Aw, let 'em steam.

 

[skier_pete]

WOW! You guys lucked out!

I nearly fell off my chair laughing over your Jungle Cruise. Fancy that! You actually got to see a REAL animal on your cruise....and the skipper probably did well to stay on-course.

And those shots of DD with Jasmine and Aladdin - priceless!

Glad that Magic Kingdom lived up to it's name for you.

ps. Happy New Year!

Yeah, we're used to only seeing those Jungle Ducks. I'm not particularly afraid of spiders, but it was BIG, and if it had appeared on the canopy above me, I would've been moving to the other side of the boat. wish I'd gotten a picture of it. I felt bad for Skipper Erin - you could see at the end spinning through her head "They do not pay me enough for THIS!"

Too funny! I love that they were so determined to meet her. And what a great magical moment for DD! I love all of her little journal entries too. So cute to see how kids experience Disney and what is most important to them.

Aw, let 'em steam.

Truthfully, if I had seen that happening to a group in front of me, I would more be thinking "That's kinda cool!" than "C'mon hurry up!" though I might also think "Why can't that happen to MY kid!" My experience, you can't force something like that to happen though - you just need to keep an attitude of having fun, and that's when things like that will happen.

One thing about this day - we did A LOT between 9 AM and 4 PM when we left the park, and circled the whole park twice, but it never felt like we were rushing around. This whole trip felt like that - we finally found a touring pace where we can see what we want and still stop and enjoy the details. Unforunately that seems to require about 9 full days at WDW...which is a stretch for us to fit in - both timewise and financially.

More update later today perhaps?

 

[If U Had Wings]

I love both of those stories. They are both great examples of why I love Disney. That's probably why I never mind when I never mind when things like that are going on with a group in front of me. I just love that someone is getting an extra bit of magic. You never know when it will be you. My trip last December my BFF and I had one of those moments with Buzz and Woody. For at least 5 minutes Buzz kept trying to leave with my friend, while all the handlers and Woody got into the act trying to pull him back into the room. It was hysterical - Buzz kept holding my friend's hand waving goodbye to everyone. I love getting to see other people enjoy moments like that.

I'm glad your DD enjoyed Aladdin and Jasmine, but it's too bad it wasn't enough to get her to enjoy the other characters a bit more.

I love when the Jungle Boat skippers toss out the spiel, although I've never had anything as funny as that happen when I've been on the boat. I would have had tears running down my face I'd be laughing so hard.

 

[khertz]

Truthfully, if I had seen that happening to a group in front of me, I would more be thinking "That's kinda cool!" than "C'mon hurry up!" though I might also think "Why can't that happen to MY kid!" My experience, you can't force something like that to happen though - you just need to keep an attitude of having fun, and that's when things like that will happen.

That's my attitude. When we went on our quick August trip, we were behind 2 families with toddlers when waiting to get our picture with Mickey & Minnie, and I just LOVED watching them interact with the little ones, even though it took a pretty long time. I just kept thinking I hope we have that same type of experience when we take DS! And when we went in December, it was so funny watching those 2 little girls ahead of us meeting Snow White show her how they "swept" with leaves! I don't mind waiting if it means seeing a family have a magical moment with a character.

 

[norybell]

Hi Pete, happy New Year!

What a wonderful interaction with Jasmine and Aladdin! And I love your DD's trip journal.

Have you been enjoying Epic Mickey? I got it for Christmas, and I'm addicted, but it's so hard!

 

[skier_pete]

I love both of those stories. They are both great examples of why I love Disney.

I love when the Jungle Boat skippers toss out the spiel, although I've never had anything as funny as that happen when I've been on the boat. I would have had tears running down my face I'd be laughing so hard.

Yeah, funny unless you were the family sitting under the thing!

That's my attitude. When we went on our quick August trip, we were behind 2 families with toddlers when waiting to get our picture with Mickey & Minnie, and I just LOVED watching them interact with the little ones, even though it took a pretty long time. I just kept thinking I hope we have that same type of experience when we take DS! And when we went in December, it was so funny watching those 2 little girls ahead of us meeting Snow White show her how they "swept" with leaves! I don't mind waiting if it means seeing a family have a magical moment with a character.

You will have loads of great experience with your little one, even at 1 years old. They'll be some frustration, too...until you have kids you can't understand parents yelling at their kids there - but I get it now! But those great moments of pure happiness.

We got DD an MP3 player for Christmas. She never used to sing along to songs, but now she plugs it in her ears, and starts singing at the top of her lungs...yesterday she was singing to "Kim Possible" in the car, and I was just sitting there smiling. "When Danger or trouble I'm there on the double you know you can always rely - Kim Possible!"

Hi Pete, happy New Year!

What a wonderful interaction with Jasmine and Aladdin! And I love your DD's trip journal.

Have you been enjoying Epic Mickey? I got it for Christmas, and I'm addicted, but it's so hard!

Thanks. Happy New Year to you too! I have enjoyed Epic Mickey, though I wish I had more time to play it. I heard about the camera angle problems, and they are quite incredibly bad, it makes the game seem really buggy, but otherwise it's an awesome game. I am currently only at the end of the "Small World" level where I am battling the clock. I think any Disney parks fan would get a pretty huge kick out of the game. I don't really think it's that hard yet, but am not very far through it.

 

[onescgirl]

What a great experience! That was so nice of them to get your daughter. The pictures & her journal page are just priceless!

 

[laashley]

What a great Jungle Cruise with live animal! So glad your skipper didn't jump off the boat. Funny thing is your dd didn't explain that in her journal. She's not scared of spiders? Or was it that she was too enamoured with her Jasmine and Aladdin meet? The look on her face is priceless! So glad that the princess was nice enough to go up to her. Disney is just that wonderful!

 

[skier_pete]

Here's the link to the two videos on photobucket. Ya'll have to let me know if you can see them!

 

[If U Had Wings]

Those were both great!

 

[skier_pete]

What a great experience! That was so nice of them to get your daughter. The pictures & her journal page are just priceless!

Yes, it was definitely a highlight moment. Check out the link above to see it.

What a great Jungle Cruise with live animal! So glad your skipper didn't jump off the boat. Funny thing is your dd didn't explain that in her journal. She's not scared of spiders? Or was it that she was too enamoured with her Jasmine and Aladdin meet? The look on her face is priceless! So glad that the princess was nice enough to go up to her. Disney is just that wonderful!

What's funny is she has historically not been afraid of most creepy crawly things, but just the other day was afraid of a spider. When I asked her she said she doesn't like spiders now...don't know if that one on JC triggered it, though.

Those were both great!

Thanks, glad to hear they are actually veiwable. Watching it over, the poor skipper held it together really well. She didn't actually break character too much, but the jokes all pretty much vanished. Don't know if you could see the actual spider, there's a split second (about 51 second mark) where it's visible.

 

[PrincessInOz]

That really was the best jungle cruise ever....and I loved the punch line at the end --- "You really do throw the ones you don't like in the water" .

And yes, Aladdin and Jasmine really did have that magic touch. How cool for your DD to have this as a memory.

 

[skier_pete]

That really was the best jungle cruise ever....and I loved the punch line at the end --- "You really do throw the ones you don't like in the water" .

And yes, Aladdin and Jasmine really did have that magic touch. How cool for your DD to have this as a memory.

Ha! Do you think anyone was the spider's swimming instructor?

 

[skier_pete]

OK, So where was I....oh right we had just gotten off Pirates and bought a few things at the gift shop, including a sword...

So, next we headed to Frontierland. DD was not in the mood for Splash Mountain just yet, so we decided to ride BTMRR, and just FP Splash Mountain for later. The line for BTMRR was zero, so we got right on. DD and I had the very front seat, right behind the "engine":

It was quite loud in the front:

This ride is a family favorite, as DW doesn't really like coasters, but can handle this one! Here's some snaps from the "Wildest ride in the wilderness!"

Gosh, those shots remind me what awesome weather we had that week. Barely a cloud in the sky.

Once we completed that, we decided it was time for a snack break. I had for a while wanted to try and ice cream sandwhich from the Main Street Bakery, so we headed to Main Street...we got a spot on the veranda below "The Palace" and DD and I went to the Bakery to get the ICS for DW and I (DD only wanted straight-up IC.)

We sat and ate our "snacks" while listening to the Dream Along with Mickey show. (I also went and got a FP for Buzz Lightyear for a little later.) We were near the smoking spot, but it was very quiet with few people around. A snowy egret was stationed nearby - hoping to catch a fish I guess?

Continued in Next Post....

 

[skier_pete]

It gets hard to remember exact details when writing these reports months after the trip. It's both hard to beleive it's been three months since our trip and it's been ONLY three months since our trip!

Before heading into Tomorrowland, we got a photopass picture in front of the castle....

Then, DD did the tinkerbell shot...you can tell she gets so into these pictures....NOT!

After that, we headed into Tomorrowland, where we rode Buzz Lightyear, The Carousel of Progress, and also rode the TTA - in some order that I no longer can remember. According to my camera time stamp, it was about noon we were eating the ice cream, and about 1 PM we were riding the TTA.

DW was participated in a common WDW tradition and fell asleep on the TTA. I got DD to snap a picture...don't tell DW:

After this, we decided we better eat some lunch. since we were having an early dinner at HDDR, it seemed silly to be eating lunch at 1:30 PM, but that's Disney for you. We decided to go to Columbia Harbor House, or favorite TS restaurant in MK, and got a salad, which was still pretty huge (sorry, no pictures). By now it was 2 PM, and we knew we had about 2.5 hours before we had to be on the dock to Fort Wilderness. I had a fanny-pack full of Fass Passes, and now it was time to use them!

Since I haven't uploaded any more pictures, I'll have to stop here for today...to be continued

 

[PrincessInOz]

Looks like a great day at MK so far. I love the PP pictures of your DD and Tinkerbell. They are so adorable together. Did she specially wear that top for the day or was it just pure chance?

And you were brave taking shots with your camera on BTRRM!

ps. Do you know what happened to that spider in the end after the Miss Muffets toss it in the drink? If no one wanted to be its swim instructor, I wonder if someone could have trained it to do the same routine for another cruise?

 

[khertz]

Aren't those ice cream cookie sandwiches DELICIOUS!?!? I can't wait to get another one in November. To think, I have been missing out on them all these past trips!

It gets hard to remember exact details when writing these reports months after the trip. It's both hard to beleive it's been three months since our trip and it's been ONLY three months since our trip!

That's precisely why I take notes! lol My parents thought I was crazy when I started doing it on our December trip, but then they read my TR and kept calling me to say, "I didn't even remember that!" It's a lot easier to do now with the notes feature on the iPhone. I just pull it out while we are in a line every few rides or so and jot down some shorthand of what we have ridden, about our meals, how long certain things took, and any funny or special memories I don't want to forget.

I love that time of the day when you have a bunch of FPs in hand and can start zipping through attractions! Looks like a great morning in MK so far.

 

[skier_pete]

Looks like a great day at MK so far. I love the PP pictures of your DD and Tinkerbell. They are so adorable together. Did she specially wear that top for the day or was it just pure chance?

And you were brave taking shots with your camera on BTRRM!

ps. Do you know what happened to that spider in the end after the Miss Muffets toss it in the drink? If no one wanted to be its swim instructor, I wonder if someone could have trained it to do the same routine for another cruise?

It's just a Nikon coolpix POS (point and shoot or piece of s**t depending on your acronym preference). I used to be into photography with all the lens and stuff like you are (back in the days of film camera), but found that I enjoy myself more when I don't have to deal with all those things. And with the advent of digital, I just keep snapping away, and toss the lousy ones and keep the good ones. Not sure HOW I ended up with so many non-blurry snaps on a moving roller coaster.

And I don't know the final fate of "Charlotte" in the drink...we moved on pretty quickly.

Aren't those ice cream cookie sandwiches DELICIOUS!?!? I can't wait to get another one in November. To think, I have been missing out on them all these past trips!

That's precisely why I take notes! lol My parents thought I was crazy when I started doing it on our December trip, but then they read my TR and kept calling me to say, "I didn't even remember that!" It's a lot easier to do now with the notes feature on the iPhone. I just pull it out while we are in a line every few rides or so and jot down some shorthand of what we have ridden, about our meals, how long certain things took, and any funny or special memories I don't want to forget.

I love that time of the day when you have a bunch of FPs in hand and can start zipping through attractions! Looks like a great morning in MK so far.

Mmmmm, they were pretty awesome, I'm a little disappointed that they use Edy's. While very good ice cream, I'd prefer something more unique. However it was pretty good, I certainly wouldn't mind doing that again.

Good idea with the taking notes. I don't have a smart-phone only a dumb-phone. I have a little notebook I write down the food costs for my "DDP v OOP" calcs and any souvenirs. For days like this where we do a lot, I also usually write out the day in shorthand once we get home. I did it for this day, too, but it seems I deleted it, or at least can't find it. If I don't have that, I go to my pictures and videos to piece it together.

I do love having that pocket full of Fastpasses, too.

 

[skier_pete]

So, we were eating some lunch around 1:30 PM, and sorting through our FP. We decided to start out moving West to East...we did Splash Mountain first. I convince my wife that she would stay drier in the front row than in the 2nd row. Turns out she didn't think so...got really pissed off at me. Oh well, next time let the women do what she thinks is right, everyone's happier.

I probably haven't said it on this thread, but this is my #1 ride at WDW. Hits all the right buttons for me...takes a mundane amusement park ride, adds catchy songs and a story you can follow, a lengthy ride with just the right amount of thrills. Near perfect Disney magic. Thank you Micheal Eisner!

Next, we returned to our 2nd Jungle Cruise of the trip. (I think JC won for "most rides" this trip.) No spiders this time, though!

Then, we hit Peter Pan with our FP, as well as Philharmagic, which we had gotten FP for when we got the Peter Pan ones (BONUS FP!). I didn't think they would be necessary, but the CM DID let us right into the theater. We had primo seats for one of my other favorites.

Finally, we headed over to Tomorrowland for another spin on Buzz. I think we also caught the Monster laugh Floor at this point. We also tried to use our Space Mountain FP that we had gotten earlier, but the ride was down. Overall, though I lost the list, we manage to see something like 23 attractions between 9 AM and 4 PM, and never waited in a line for more than about 5 minutes. (Note that this will come into play when I start to talk about our MNSSHP experience.) We really felt we had pretty much hit everything in MK we wanted to for the week already, with the exception of HM. The other thing we noted was for all the things we did, we never felt "rushed" at any point. It was a near perfect MK day!

We headed out of the park about 4:15 PM for the 5:30 PM Hoop-Dee-Do Review. This was a new one for all of us, but we typically like these sort of dinner shows. We used the boat to get to Fort Wilderness...a fairly quick ride, as we only waited about 10 minutes for the boat.

A quick view of long-departed River Country:

When we got to FW, we had plenty of time to check-in. DD played at the playground while I waited in line:

I used the bathroom at one point before the show started, and I hadn't realized that this was the bathroom with the very (in)famous "Cowboy" portrait in it. I just HAD to get a picture of it. Got a few strange looks for my trouble:

The show started on-time, of course. We were using our 2 TS credits for the meal, so of course that meant we were stuck way in the back.

The truth was once the show started it very hardly mattered, though. Yeah, we were away from the stage, but had a great view. (It helped that we had one of the raised tables.) But, for a mini-review, I want to break it to two parts - the food and the show.

The food was mostly quite good. First came corn-bread (a personal fav) and salad:

The came the main course, consisting of chicken, ribs, potatoes, and beans:

The chicken was excellent, the potatoes and beans good, the ribs so-so. Food was plentiful, as was dessert, which was a strawberry shortcake dessert that we were too full to really enjoy. (Remember, we also ate lunch only like 4 hours before!) Overall, I thought the food was very good with what you would expect from a dinner-theatre environment. Our server was also very good and very attentive. Plus, BEER was included (even though it was something awful like Bud Light or something).

The show itself was also quite good, but I was a little disappointed as to the quantity. The characters come in and introduce themselves and do some bits. Then they leave while dinner is served, and then come out again after you've had a chance to eat. The show itself was very entertaining, and the cast does an EXCELLENT job of reeling the audience in. Even in the back of the theatre they are moving around the audience and waving and chatting.

However, I would have to guess the entire performance time couldn't have been an hour long, which would be the only thing I would say was a little disappointing considering the amount of money we paid. (Or, in our case, TS credits used.)

So, overall, I can see why lots of people love the show, we liked it quite a lot too. However, I wouldn't come back to it again and again, mostly because of the cost versus what you get.

This was the early show, so we got out about 7 PM and it was just starting to get dark. Here's the one place I would give HDDR a failing grade, there was no indication anywhere how to get out of there. We knew we would either have to take a boat back to MK, or a bus. We opted for the bus. There was a bus stop near Frontier Hall, which a bunch of people wanted down to it. There were NO signs at all about how the bus system worked, and the bus driver was rather vague. However, it appeared that FW has it's own internal buses, and you have to take one of those to the front of FW. Fortunately, this bus was going there, so we were able to hop on. I knew going in we would have to take a bus from FW to one of the parks, and then another bus to AKL, but I wasn't anticipating this third bus.

So, it took maybe 10 minutes for the bus to get to the front. DD was having fun with the light-up R2D2 she had picked up in MK earlier, while I was talking like C3PO for her. ("R2 you cause nothing but trouble!") We got to the main bus depot, and hopped off. We basically decided to take a "first bus is best" attitude, and after waiting about 2 minutes, we were on a bus to Hollywood Studios. The driver seemed annoyed at us..."You know the park is closing in 30 minutes", but we didn't care.

We got to DHS, and found the AKL bus stop - and again the wait was minimal (maybe 10 minutes) until a bus showed up. All told it took about 60 minutes to go from FW and AKL - the good bus karma continued!

By this point, we were pretty beat for the day...so we called it a night because we had a early morning appointment with the Toy Story Mania Melee.