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

[laashley]

Both of the videos are great! Your skipper did flip out a bit. I love that your dd has the video of Jasmine coming to get her, I am sure she will want to watch that atleast a few times.

You did get so much done at MK that day. Not sure that we did as much and we stayed an hour later.

Haven't done Hoop dee doo and not so sure I am that interested. It is really the 2 credits that I don't like and the fact you use the credits and still have to sit in the back. Atleast you can say you saw it.

 

[PrincessInOz]

WOW! You covered a lot at MK...and I love Splash too! Especially the getting wet part.

And thank you for taking a picture of the Cowboys. I doubt I'll ever be in the gents to see it

The food looks good at HDDR.. I've never done it myself but because it is so meat heavy, I'll never get DH to go.

Still....it gets good reviews on the boards. So, your pictures are going to be as close as I get to the review.

Thanks for sharing!

 

[skier_pete]

Both of the videos are great! Your skipper did flip out a bit. I love that your dd has the video of Jasmine coming to get her, I am sure she will want to watch that atleast a few times.

You did get so much done at MK that day. Not sure that we did as much and we stayed an hour later.

Haven't done Hoop dee doo and not so sure I am that interested. It is really the 2 credits that I don't like and the fact you use the credits and still have to sit in the back. Atleast you can say you saw it.

Personally, I'd say it's worth doing once if you like that sort of dinner theater type show, but I wouldn't blame people for not wanting to spend the money/credits. I knew DD would love it, so it was worth it for us. Sitting in the back wasn't really bad at all. The table was a high table with bar-stool type seats, so we were above the crowd.

WOW! You covered a lot at MK...and I love Splash too! Especially the getting wet part.

And thank you for taking a picture of the Cowboys. I doubt I'll ever be in the gents to see it

The food looks good at HDDR.. I've never done it myself but because it is so meat heavy, I'll never get DH to go.

Still....it gets good reviews on the boards. So, your pictures are going to be as close as I get to the review.

Thanks for sharing!

Your welcome. It is a bit meat heavy - i couldn't picture just eating the beans and potatoes. (Of course, I couldn't picture not eating meat, so there you go!)

 

[onescgirl]

Great HDDR review!

I can't believe you had your poor wife sit in the front row of Splash Mtn! She has no one to duck behind on the front row!!!

 

[skier_pete]

Great HDDR review!

I can't believe you had your poor wife sit in the front row of Splash Mtn! She has no one to duck behind on the front row!!!

See, I always sit in the front row, and I just duck down low and the water goes right over me and except for a little on the back I stay pretty dry. I told this to DW...but I don't think she ducked enough!

 

[skier_pete]

On Wednesday, October 20th, we had our one and only day at DHS. I have no problem calling this my least favorite of the theme parks. Though I like many of the individual things about the park, I think it is the most disjointedly themed and poorest designed of the parks, and of all the parks I feel a single day at DHS covers it pretty well. (In fact, you can see from DD journal what she thought the highlight of the day was:

Our day started out as any does at DHS - targeting TSM. While I wouldn't wait in long lines for it, we all find the ride insanely fun...and so we take part in the Disney dash. While we got to the turnstyles about 30 minutes before park opening, they actually opened the gates almost the moment we got there. We used our special trick (which I will not share) to get to the front of the queue, and so we were almost at the rope, with only one family in front of us. Here's a pic of the BAH with no-one around:

Unfortunately, they didn't actually open the park early, so we had to stand there for about 20 minutes. Our strategy is I make a bee-line for the FP machines, while DD and DW make their way as fast as they can and meet me by the standby entrance. (I refuse to be one of those people that push through everyone in standby to catch-up with my family...sorry, that is nasty.)

I was 2nd in line for FP - and had a return time of 9:50 AM (yeah!) then we got in stand-by and rode. Fun as usual. We were off before 9:30 AM, so we headed over to DW favorite - The Muppets 3-D. The theater was very empty this early in the morning, and DD did her usual protest at any 3-D show. However, we told her she had to sit through this if she wanted to go to the "Ant Playground"...one of her favorite things at DHS.

We spent a good hour here - in the meantime I ran back to TSM at 9:55 to get another round of FP - this time, it was obvious that I wasn't getting a third set. The return time was 2:50 PM to 3:50 PM, and so I wasn't eligible for another set until Noon.

After the HIStK playground, we were going to go see the Indiana Jones Stunt Show, a favorite of DD, though she's not too fond of the explosions. I know many think this show is stale, but we see it almost every trip, and I still enjoy it. I wouldn't mind being "In" the show again like I was for my birthday...but DD didn't want us to volunteer.

However, before we did that, we got to check out another set of characters, soon to be coming to a theater near you:

Following Indiana Jones - we decided it was time for lunch. We snuck out of the back of the stunt show, and were one of the first people to get in line at the Backlot Express. Even though we just had hamburgers, the food here was actually decent...which is a rarity at the Studios QS restaurants in our experience.

While we were finishing eating, we became eligible for more FP - so I hightailed it across the park and got two FP for Tower of Terror and one for Rock 'n Roller Coaster. Turns out later this was a waste of my time, but YNK that in advance.

Returned to Backlot Express and DW and DD were wrapping up (they eat much slower than I do, and I walked very fast, made the trek across the park and back in under 12 minutes). Their was a Jedi Training academy show starting. DD is pretty fascinated with Star Wars, particularly R2D2, so we stood and watched the show. I asked her if she would want to be in the show...and got a vehement "NO!"...

We then headed into the Star Tours store. (Ride was already down for the 2.0 Conversion) DD picked up a lightsaber as well as small toy R2D2. She still plays with the lightsaber, though it just recently broke...I have to call Disney about that!

At this point, we split up...DW took DD to see the Playhouse Disney show, I took her last time, and of all the things in all of WDW that I most want to NEVER EVER see again, it is this - even above Stich. I've seen this show 5 times now (in 2 incarnations) and I've had enough. Hopefully we only have 1 more time to see it. (I can't imagine she'll want to see it when she's 10!)

Anyways we headed our separate ways, with plans to meet up for the Character drawing session in the Art of Animation building.

To Be continued...

 

[skier_pete]

While DW and DD did the Playhouse Disney thing, I headed for ToT. Now, it was around 1:30 in the afternoon at this point, and though the park didn't feel uncrowded, I couldn't believe that there was NO wait at all for ToT. In fact, whoever was controlling the standy wait sign seemed to be having a little bit of fun.

So, I rode ToT twice in a row - I used my FP in both cases, but there was no standby line to speak of anyways. Rock and Roller Coaster had a bit more of a line, but when I got their, my FP return time wasn't due yet, so instead I went in the single rider line, which was shorter than the standby line - with the standby line being maybe 10 minutes. I rode RnRC twice as well. In fact, it was less than 45 minutes that I did all 4 rides, and after the last one I was feeling just the littlest bit queasy, and decided to head back to meet DW.

In the meantime, it turns out she was meeting some others as well...after the Playhouse Disney show, she went and met Lotso, probably one of the most purely evil characters in the Disney cannon. (I wonder if he smelled like strawberries?)

Then, she went and saw Sorcerer Mickey. Again, DD didn't want anything to do with the characters.

I caught up with them as they were waiting in line for the animation academy, we got to draw Donald Duck. I need to scan in these pictures, but for now, here's the artist, who happened to be the same one we saw back in April:

At the end of the show, the artist gives away his drawing. He asked a trivia question - I knew would probably get it before he asked it..."What Disney character appeared as Donald's Drill Sargent in the 1942 short 'Donald Gets Drafted' and is also one of the oldest cartoon characters in the Disney stable?"

I'll give all my readers a chance to get this one...but I'll just say this one was a piece of cake for me, so we took home the artists drawing as well as our own!

Before moving on, we got our pictures with Mr. Incredible and Frozen. I asked Bob where Elastigirl was, but apparently she was out fighting crime.

We also saw a photopass person out there...since we were tired of the same old photopass shots, we thought we'd try this one.....gotta wonder why you'd station someone here, though...

We next headed over to see the Beauty and the Beast show...DD didn't want to, because she doesn't like the ending where the Beast and Gaston fight, but we got a couple of frozen lemonades and all was right with the world.

We were getting close to wrapping our day up at DHS, but we still had six FP for TSM to use:

I also hooked up with one of the green army men that was out entertaining the crowds:

As a note - the green army men were the first characters DW and I ever "met" way back in 1997. They were outside the park, and were standing perfectly still. They'd wait for someone to come up and take a picture, and then move.

Lastly, I wanted to meet Mike and Sully...again DD wouldn't come. I enjoyed reading the signs while we were waiting in line:

And then we got to meet them...they seemed pretty fascinated by my videocamera:

Finally, it was time to leave DHS...we had done all we wanted to do...just one final shot...

...and we needed to catch a boat to our dinner location....to be continued.

 

[onescgirl]

Great pictures. I love your wifes dress!

 

[skier_pete]

Great pictures. I love your wifes dress!

Thanks...believe it or not, I actually bought it for her at Disneyshopping.com. It is a simple sundress, there is a small Minnie Mouse on the lower right side (you can sort of see it in sort of the pictures.) I can't say I buy her a lot of clothes, but they were having one of their bi-annual closeout sales, and it was super cheap - so I figured why not. i think it was like $8.99. (I gave it to her for her birthday last year.)

 

[laashley]

Looks like you had a very good day. We never made it over to ToT that day, but now I wish we did. I really like the balloon picture! Looks like you and DW had fun with Mike and Sully.

 

[skier_pete]

Looks like you had a very good day. We never made it over to ToT that day, but now I wish we did. I really like the balloon picture! Looks like you and DW had fun with Mike and Sully.

Yeah, we never did see you that day either. It's amazing you would think we must've crossed paths at least once...but maybe not. ToT I could've ridden a dozen times, especially with no wait...but the two rides on RnRC did me in enogh that I decided not to go back.

I liked the balloon picture a lot, the bad thing about going a lot is I get sick of the same old shots...so even though this photopass person was in front of the hat, we asked for something different. This is what we got. I think I "sold" it pretty well. I wish DD was more into the pictures - we could really have fun with it...

Mike and Sully were OK...the non-talking characters are tougher to interact with. It's so much easier with the face characters! I think we asked Mike about Roz.

SkierPete

 

[skier_pete]

Where we last left off, we had wrapped up our day at DHS. We had decided to use our AP (this is the ONLY day that we hopped the whole trip I believe) to allow us to eat dinner at Le Cellier instead of eating at DHS. So, we had a 6:15 PM ADR at that park, and we left DHS about 5 PM. If you look back to DD journal for the day, you see her highlight was....

As we were getting on the boat to Epcot, we saw this huge turtle with a long snout in the water. DD called it a "horned trunk turtle", which I don't think is exactly the right name for it, but she was very excited about it. We didn't get a picture of the actual turtle, so you will have to settle for the artist rendering above.

We got off the boat, and wouldn't you know it, DW's AP wouldn't work at the gate. These passes are awful, as we've had to get them replaced several times. They wouldn't let her through the turnstiles, so she had to go to guest services. It actually only took about 5 minutes, after which we made our way through England to Canada for dinner.

We ate at Le Cellier for the first time last trip. it seems the feelings on Le Cellier swing from "the best 1 TS credit restaurant on property" to "totally over-rated". Here's our take on the restaurant. Everything we've had there is absolutely delicious, EXCEPT the Steak, which is just sort of OK. If the steak was of better quality, I would probably rate it as "the best". As it is, I would still probably but it in third place for the trip behind Jiko and Sanna.

I started our with a beer (I forget the name of the Microbrew) and we got a bowl of the beer cheese soup to start.

This is another thing that ranges from "yummy" to "awful". To me, this is exactly what I want in a cheese soup, thick and spicy and tart. I love it. DD even enjoyed it, which sort of surprised me.

One thing I think everyone agrees on is the Pretzle bread. This is a personal favorite of mine and probably one of my favorites in all of WDW. (I love bread though.)

DW and I both got the same thing...the Filet Mignon, with substitute potato dish for the Yukon Gold Au Gratin potatos. Again, the steak itself was very good, but not really awesome as what you would pay for a $35 steak. The potato dish is just stellar. I love it.

DD had a pizza, but didn't eat very much of it...she was mostly eager for the make your own sundae. Me...I couldn't wait for the S'mores ice cream dessert. This is another of my absolute favorite things at WDW.

It was a great dinner. Again, everything besides the steak were things we just absolutely love, and the steaks weren't bad either. Overall, I can see why it gets both sets of reviews...but for us, I think it's worth the 1 TS. However, we will NOT be using 2 TS for this restaurant, and in fact have decided to skip it for the next trip.

On our way out, we got some extra Photopass shots. Note DD insisted on getting a picture with her new lightsaber! (Yeah - not a girly girl for sure, though she does like make-up and jewery.)

Edit added 1/25 @ 3 PM. I forgot to mention this...we were seated at Le Cellier at the exact same table we sat at in December 2009, and we thought our waitress was the same as well, but it turned out that it was HER TWIN SISTER! Can you believe that!

 

[onescgirl]

That soup & buttered pretzel looks sooooo yummy!
We're weired in that we don't eat steak, so we would never eat there 1 or 2 TS. I would love to have the soup & bread though!

I love your night time Epcot pic, especially with your DD holding her Light sabre. Cute!

 

[skier_pete]

That soup & buttered pretzel looks sooooo yummy!
We're weired in that we don't eat steak, so we would never eat there 1 or 2 TS. I would love to have the soup & bread though!

I love your night time Epcot pic, especially with your DD holding her Light sabre. Cute!

Though they are not known for it - they do have non-steak items there - DMIL had the broiled sea scallops last December and they were fantastic. (You can check out my Dec 2009 TR for a pic - it would've been late it the trip - 3rd to last day.)

Thanks for the comment on the pictures - I do like that shot of the ball and the fountain. And the photopass photog didn't seem to mess it up either!

 

[laashley]

You are making me hungry with all the food pictures. O love the soup, pretzels, and the filet. If the food at Jiko and Sanaa are better then I must check it out. Right now I have Boma booked for the March trip, wonder if I should switch to Sanaa?

The PP pictures at Epcot are framers for sure!

 

[skier_pete]

You are making me hungry with all the food pictures. O love the soup, pretzels, and the filet. If the food at Jiko and Sanaa are better then I must check it out. Right now I have Boma booked for the March trip, wonder if I should switch to Sanaa?

The PP pictures at Epcot are framers for sure!

We loved Sanaa and thought Boma was just OK (didn't DISLIKE it though). Now, Sanaa is definitely more "out there" with the Indian ethnic food, so you have to be in a daring mood, but I would choose that over Boma for an adults only trip any day. It's quieter, you get to look at the animals right outside the windows of the resort (assuming you eat before it is dark), and the food is delicious. Our server actually said to us when we were asking for recommendations: "I've worked at a few places on Disney property, but this is the only one I've worked that I would say there's not a bad meal on the menu. Also, if you are going OOP, Sanaa might be less expensive...I was shocked at the price of Boma for dinner - it's something like $37 per person.

 

[laashley]

We loved Sanaa and thought Boma was just OK (didn't DISLIKE it though). Now, Sanaa is definitely more "out there" with the Indian ethnic food, so you have to be in a daring mood, but I would choose that over Boma for an adults only trip any day. It's quieter, you get to look at the animals right outside the windows of the resort (assuming you eat before it is dark), and the food is delicious. Our server actually said to us when we were asking for recommendations: "I've worked at a few places on Disney property, but this is the only one I've worked that I would say there's not a bad meal on the menu. Also, if you are going OOP, Sanaa might be less expensive...I was shocked at the price of Boma for dinner - it's something like $37 per person.

We are doing the dining plan, so thankfully the credits are the only biggie. IDK if I would like Sanaa. I am not too daring with my food. I need to check the menu. Love the animals, right now I am trying to get a add on day to the end of the trip to stay studio savannah. Hope it works out, BLT MK view was my first choice and of course not available. I'm rambling...

 

[skier_pete]

We are doing the dining plan, so thankfully the credits are the only biggie. IDK if I would like Sanaa. I am not too daring with my food. I need to check the menu. Love the animals, right now I am trying to get a add on day to the end of the trip to stay studio savannah. Hope it works out, BLT MK view was my first choice and of course not available. I'm rambling...

Can't believe you are going back AGAIN so soon. If you're not daring, I wouldn't bother with Sanaa...Boma has some interesting stuff, but is not as far out there. DW and I love Indian food - we went out on Saturday for a "date" night and had Indian - so the stuff at Sanaa is right up our alley. Eating at Boma with the DDP is definitely the way to go.

 

[laashley]

Can't believe you are going back AGAIN so soon. If you're not daring, I wouldn't bother with Sanaa...Boma has some interesting stuff, but is not as far out there. DW and I love Indian food - we went out on Saturday for a "date" night and had Indian - so the stuff at Sanaa is right up our alley. Eating at Boma with the DDP is definitely the way to go.

Think I am sticking with Boma after seeing Sanaa's menu. I really want Chris to see Jambo house since we stayed at Kidani.

Have to get good use out of the AP's! Sadly, I think this will be our last trip for awhile. I think December of next year will be the earliest we will get back. I hope I can last that long!

 

[JLR]

Hey Pete,

It has been forever since I've checked your TR. I loved, loved, loved your dds experience with Jasmine and Aladdin!

Your wife looked really nice in the pictures with Lightning McQueen and again in front of SSE.

Thanks for posting the videos and the scanned in pictures from your dds journal.

Oh - I think your links on the first page are a little messed up - for example on the review of AK all 3 installment links link to part 1. I'd want to know (I'll also tell you if you spill mustard on your shirt, I'm one of THOSE people!)

Thanks for taking the time to write this entertaining TR.

I think we might venture out and try a waterpark or 2 on our June trip. I just wish my conference would release the schedule of session, so I'll kow when I'm avaiable to have some fun!

Julie