Braved the Sept humidity in WDW - We're back! (new pics added 12/2/09)

[Todd_H]

We got a pretty early start on Tuesday and arrived at AK shortly after rope drop. Our goals today were to see three things at AK that we had never seen before: Kali River Rapids, Nemo the Musical, and Mickey's Jamming Jungle Parade. As soon as we set foot in the park, Ali took Caroline and Leighton over to Dinoland while I headed for Asia to pick up FP's for Everest. Along the way, I was able to snap a few quick shots

I picked up the FP's and then met Ali and the kids back over in Dinoland where Ali proceeded to tell me she just saw Joe Rohde talking to some people on the bridge over to Dinoland. We looked for him again, but never saw him.

We then got on the Triceratops Spin

Ali and Leighton took another turn on the Triceratops Spin while Caroline and I hit the Primevil Whirl (ughh, note to self... do not EVER ride this again. I've only ridden this thing once before and it's been a while, but now I remember how badly I got beaten up by it the last time). Leighton didn't meet the height requirement for this one.

We checked times for Nemo, the Musical and decided that Caroline and I would go ahead and use our FP's (unfortunately, Leighton didn't meet the height requirement for EE either which stinks because we were pepping him up for it and he really wanted to ride it).
We saw that they still hadn't fixed the broken tracks

After that, it was off to see Nemo where I decided to put the camera down and enjoy the show with the family since it was a first for all of us. It's a very well done show and we really enjoyed it.

Once the show was over, we headed over to Flame Tree Barbeque and grabbed some lunch. We had never eaten there and found it to be very good.

After lunch, Ali and Caroline headed over to Asia to use the remaining two FP's for EE while Leighton and I rode the Triceratops Spin again (he just wanted to ride something by this point) and then played in the Boneyard. The Boneyard is a pretty neat playground and a great break away from the crowds for the little ones.

When we caught back up with Ali and Caroline, Caroline told me she was ready to try Dinosaur. We split up yet again (a familiar tune this day in AK) and headed over to Dinosaur. I think Ali and Leighton may have headed off to try to find some characters ... not sure.

While we were in line for Dinosaur, Caroline started getting really nervous and asking me lots of questions about the ride. I explained exactly what was going to happen on the ride (and that it was in almost darkness and very LOUD). I also told her that I thought it was the scariest ride on the resort. She was silent for a little while, taking in all the information I had just given her about the ride. She then looked up at me and said "Daddy, whatever I tell you, do NOT let me get off this ride." It was one of those moments that makes you really proud as a parent. I knew she was struggling with the fear of riding this ride (which I was NOT going to make her ride if she decided she didn't want to do it), but she showed heart and determination and tackled her fear with absolutely NO problems whatsoever. I was really surprised that it didn't affect her at all. I tried to take some pictures on Dinosaur, but didn't have much luck. I did come away with a couple... here's one

When we got off of Dinosaur, I gave her the little "most times what we really fear is the unknown" talk. Caroline was very proud of herself. I was too.

Walking past one of the souvenir carts, we picked up a pair of pink leopard Minnie Mouse ears for Caroline's costume that she literally did not take off of her head the rest of the week (except for rides where they might have come off). I point that out now because you will see them in most pictures I post from now on of Caroline .

By this point in the day, Leighton was a little frustrated and cranky because we had been split up so much and he couldn't ride things that Caroline was riding (I can't blame him). We weighed our options, knowing that we were doing the Hoop Dee Do that night and decided that we should probably head back to the resort. But before they left, Ali and Caroline rode Kali while Leighton and I strolled around a bit more. We would just have to miss the parade this year.

We took a long rest back at the WL and Caroline and I headed over to the pool, later joined by Ali and Leighton. Sometimes it's hard to make time to spend at your resort pool, but we usually try to do it a couple of times while we're there for a nice change of pace from the parks.

We got cleaned up and then hopped on the boat to take us from WL to Fort Wilderness for the Hoop Dee Do dinner show.

Before getting on the boat, we stopped outside the VWL for a quick pic (one of the 4 or 5 shots taken during the trip that prove I was actually there ).

On the boat

The requisite silly shots

We got to FW a little early, so we hopped on one of their buses and caught the end of the Camp Fire Singalong with Chip & Dale. We skipped out before the movie and headed back to Pioneer Hall for the show.

I hadn't seen the Hoop Dee Do show in years and Ali and the kids had never seen it. The quick review is that it was very funny and entertaining and the food was really good. I was surprised at how much of the show I remembered.

It had been another fun filled day, and it was really late when we finally made it back to the resort. We all were asleep before we hit the pillow!

Coming up in Day 4, Epcot (and more splitting up).

 

[tiggerfan6]

I love your photos you haven taken. They make me feel as those I am really there. Thank for sharing them !! Your family is beautiful!
Erica

 

[Todd_H]

I love your photos you haven taken. They make me feel as those I am really there. Thank for sharing them !! Your family is beautiful!
Erica

Thanks, Erica!

 

[Todd_H]

Day 4 at Epcot was a loooooong day for us because we didn't stick to our original plan to head back to the resort early for a midday break and then come back to Epcot for our 7:50 ADR at Teppan Edo. We were honestly having too much fun in Epcot and the kids were doing so well, so we ended up staying all day.

Waiting to board the monorail at the Contemporary

On the monorail headed to Epcot

On the monorail riding through Epcot

Once we arrived and got through the gates, the first order of business was... you probably guessed it... grabbing FPs for Soarin'. We split up and I ran to get the FP's while Ali and the kids headed over to Journey Into Imagination

I love The Land Pavillion. When I was young, I didn't like Epcot much, especially The Land. I really like everything about it now.
The season balloons of The Land

After getting the FPs, I met my family over at JII, where we introduced Leighton to Figment (Caroline already knew him from the last trip)

Even though this ride is a pale comparison to what it used to be (with the Dreamfinder), the kids really liked it.

Playing in the Imaginix area (can't remember if that's what it's called or not)

After JII, we headed over to do Mission Space. We had promised Leighton that he would be able to ride EVERYTHING in Epcot. What we didn't realize was that MS has a min height requirement of 44" . Ali and Caroline decided to tackle MS-Green and Leighton and I headed over to grab FPs for Test Track (and make 100% sure he could ride that). He was pretty upset about MS (he really wanted to go into space that day ), but his disappointment was short-lived when he heard the load roars of the cars going by at Test Track. When we got there, he hopped out of his stroller and headed straight for the height measurement thingy (which he did for every ride by now automatically... even the ones he had already ridden). He was beside himself to know he could ride the loud car ride. I think kids take it as a personal accomplishment when their heads hit the bottom of that height requirement. They become so proud... it's really funny to watch as I'm sure I was like that at one time too .

More Epcot to come!

 

[All7OfUs]

Crap! I missed like almost your entire TR!!! How could this happen!?!?!

I went back and read all of it just now; obviously you had a GREAT trip. You guys really did pack a lot into your days 1-4 already, and day 4 isn't even over! Awesome!

I LOVE your photos, esp. the ones of ToT and AK! I love that shot over the water in AK!

 

[annnewjerz]

Just got caught back up. Looks like you guys had great days at AK and Epcot. I've got to ask---what's so horrible about Primeval Whirl? I've never been on it and it looks pretty tame from the pictures I've seen but honestly have no clue what that ride even is or why there is like a 48 inch height requirement.

I totally feel you about hating the Land Pavilion. Growing up I always hated it, I swore it smelled like fertilizer (a/k/a cow pies) and the Living with the Land ride was just so...educational! Bleh, who wants educational as a kid? Not me. Now I love the Land Pavilion. Living with the Land is a guilty pleasure, we're taking the Behind the Seeds tour this December and Sunshine Seasons, mmmmmmm.

Looking forward to reading more.

 

[scoot241]

Great shot from the monorail! Weren't those balloon stickers aggravating?

I was the same way about The Land. This past trip I was bummed that I couldn't go on Living With the Land. Soarin' is great, of course.

We skipped everything in Dinoland except Nemo. Hailey couldn't ride much except for Dum... Triceratops Spin and we would be doing versions of that ride more throughout the week.

I already had my rant on Figment on my TR, so I won't go into that again, but I miss the original.

 

[oregondaddyof2]

Absolutely amazing pictures Todd... I am soooo jealous.... I wish mine had came out like those, and the creativity for those shots is out of this world... I tried to get a picture on Dinosaur, and got nothing but blur and darkness... Your camera is amazing!

 

[Todd_H]

Crap! I missed like almost your entire TR!!! How could this happen!?!?!

I went back and read all of it just now; obviously you had a GREAT trip. You guys really did pack a lot into your days 1-4 already, and day 4 isn't even over! Awesome!

I LOVE your photos, esp. the ones of ToT and AK! I love that shot over the water in AK!

Hey Leisa! Welcome back!

I've got to ask---what's so horrible about Primeval Whirl? I've never been on it and it looks pretty tame from the pictures I've seen but honestly have no clue what that ride even is or why there is like a 48 inch height requirement.

The ride itself is pretty tame. If you've ever ridden a crazy mouse roller coaster, that's all this is. My problem is with the bars that come down over you to keep you from falling out of the side of the vehicle (hence the 48" height requirement)... they're not padded very well and it seems that I get pounded into the side of the bar a couple of times every time we ride. My arms get bruised up from it.

Great shot from the monorail! Weren't those balloon stickers aggravating?

I already had my rant on Figment on my TR, so I won't go into that again, but I miss the original.

Agree about the balloon stickers. They don't look very good either, IMO.

Uggh... just don't understand why they completely refurbished JII. It was fine the way it was.

Absolutely amazing pictures Todd... I am soooo jealous.... I wish mine had came out like those, and the creativity for those shots is out of this world... I tried to get a picture on Dinosaur, and got nothing but blur and darkness... Your camera is amazing!

Thanks, Terry! I tried to be creative on a few of those so I really appreciate the comment.

Dinosaur is tricky to shoot because of the motion of the car, but the bigger problem with it is that there's not really a lot to shoot in there. Almost the entire ride is in darkness. I might try to shoot it again when I go back on business in November. I'd really like a good shot of the Carnosaur at the end that's on the right side of the car.

 

[crocko]

Your son looks to be right at the same height as my son. He did the same thing....going up to every heighth measurer to check his height. He came just above the 40" mark like your son.

Loving the pics and that it sounds like everyone's had a blast so far...

 

[Todd_H]

We picked up our FPs for Test Track and watched the cars for a few minutes waiting for Ali and Caroline to finish up with Mission Space. We then headed over to The Land to ride Soarin' and grab lunch at Sunshine Seasons.

The queue for Soarin' is pretty borin' but you've got to love those blue neon lights. More fun with the wide-angle lens

After lunch, Caroline wanted to go back to Mission Space to do the orange side. We checked the wait times on the iPhone... only 10 minutes, so we headed back that way.

Ali took Leighton into the play area of Mission Space while Caroline and I rode MS:Orange

I love the exterior of Mission Space

Once we had our stomachs pushed up into our throats, it was time for Test Track. The boy loved it. Once our car broke outside onto the track he had his tongue sticking out the entire time. I tried to get a picture, but never got one good enough to post.

Get it?

Next up, see what happens when your 4 year old boards your Spaceship Earth vehicle before you do!

 

[jordanyosh]

glad your son got to ride TT

I love the Land Pavilion. It's easily my favorite one, although I do like looking at all the new cars GM has on display at TT.

Again, your pictures are fantastic. Do you think my Point and Shoot can take the same quality of pix....?

 

[scoot241]

Get it?

Hilarious!

 

[Pollito916]

You are an awesome photographer!!

Did anyone else notice that when the clouds are reflected in the lake, they kind of appear to be in the shape of Africa (with the top cut off)? Maybe it's just me and I'm crazy, but I thought it was kind of fitting for AK.

My husband said he saw Joe Rohde in AK when we were there last December, right outside EE near the bridge - what a coincidence! Unfortunately, our 1.5 year old son lost his lovey at that moment, and by the time we found it, Joe was gone.

 

[All7OfUs]

Yeah, I got it, that was pretty fuhn-ee!

Nice observation Pollito916! You're right, Africa all the way. That was one of my favorite shots so far. AK, and yet not.

I think M:S has some great photo opps. too. The colors and patters are great! The one with the clouds and jet is great!

 

[Todd_H]

Again, your pictures are fantastic.

Thanks Jordan! Surprised you didn't comment on my "Jordan face" on the boat... (the sticking out of the tongue for the picture ).

You are an awesome photographer!!

Did anyone else notice that when the clouds are reflected in the lake, they kind of appear to be in the shape of Africa (with the top cut off)? Maybe it's just me and I'm crazy, but I thought it was kind of fitting for AK.

My husband said he saw Joe Rohde in AK when we were there last December, right outside EE near the bridge - what a coincidence! Unfortunately, our 1.5 year old son lost his lovey at that moment, and by the time we found it, Joe was gone.

Thank you! I hadn't noticed that about the clouds, but you are right!

Apparently Joe Rohde is in AK quite a bit. I read somewhere else that he had been there recently. Maybe there are some big plans in the works for AK?

 

[princess&her4princes]

Hi Todd!

I hope you don't mind someone else joining you! We were at WDW 9/14-18, so we left a day before you got there, it was very HOT but so worth the no line times, hope you found the same thing! You have a beautiful family!! Going back to read more.....

ps- my DH is Todd,too, great name!

 

[Todd_H]

Leighton was really happy that he got to ride TT and he was then ready for something else. We noticed that he had started this "thing" that he only wanted to ride the rides with me. Not quite sure where that came from as we were trying really hard to balance out the rides between the parents/kids. Oh well, the mind of a 4 year old... what are you going to do ?

We made our way over to SSE and walked right on. Ali and Caroline boarded their vehicle and Leighton boarded ours in front of me. No sooner had I sat down that I looked at our video screen and saw this

That's right, the boy chose the Japanese language selection !

We spent the next 5 minutes or so listening to SSE being narrated in Japanese

It came time to make our selections for the movie, so Leighton took over that duty as well (that's his finger making the selection, not flying the bird)

(Apparently, we live somewhere cold and like to ski on rocket-skis)

I was laughing about SSE the rest of the day

We planned to head back to the WL for an afternoon break at this point, but the kids were having such a good time and we felt pretty good, so we decided to stay in Epcot since we had an ADR at 7:50 at Teppan Edo.

I ran over and grabbed more FPs for TT and met Ali and the kids over by Nemo. We then boarded the clammobiles (Caroline with Ali, Leighton with me) and headed through Nemo and Friends

Next up was Turtle Talk with Crush. This was a really funny show because Caroline got picked to ask a question (we knew she would with her Minnie leopard ears) and Crush asked her who she was there with. She said her mom and dad and brother and he asked us to raise our hands. Ali then had a conversation with Crush (in perfect surfer dudette speak) and it became a heartfelt parent to parent bonding moment as Crush described it... well not really, but it was pretty funny.
Here is Caroline asking her question

After the Living Seas, I mean The Seas with Nemo, we went over to Innoventions where we had heard there was some Kim Possible mission thingy in the countries. Ali got Caroline hooked into that and Caroline's assignment scheduled her to be in Norway at 4pm.

We strolled past Club Cool and grabbed some Beverly (and all the other free drinks) before leaving Future World for World Showcase. Our first stop was Mexico for a churro (one of me and Ali's must do's in World Showcase). By this time, it was about 4:30 and Caroline was really anxious to start her Kim Possible mission, so Ali took her to do that while Leighton and I rode the Gran Fiesta Tour in Mexico

After that, Ali texted me and said their first mission was in Mexico. Since we were already there, we hung out in the Mexico pavillion and waited for them to finish up and find us. Mission #2 took us to Norway, which was perfect because 1) it was the next country anyway and 2) Leighton and I could ride the Maelstrom, which is exactly what we did

We hooked back up after the mission and the Maelstrom and Ali and I agreed to not split up again. The Kim Possible missions were really cool and really well done, but were taking a lot of time. Caroline was fine with that.

I looked at my watch and noticed it was drink-thirty, so we headed over to France for me and Ali's second World Showcase must-do

The Grey Goose Orange Slushy

After downing our drinks, we still had a few minutes to kill before making our ADR, so we headed over to the UK to see if we might spot Mary Poppins. They told us in one of the UK shops that we had just missed her, so we decided to go use our FP's for TT. Again, didn't get any good pictures of the boy sticking out his tongue... oh well. After TT, it was time to go to Japan for our ADR.

Teppan Edo was fantastic. Our chef (Ken) was really funny. We also made some new friends from Mississippi who sat at our table. They snapped a family picture for us

We had missed Illuminations because of our later ADR that night, but that was o.k. We still had Wishes Thursday night and Hallowishes Friday night to look forward to. We headed for the monorail and made our journey back home to the WL.

Caroline had even been sleeping in her Minnie Mouse ears

Next up, we head back to the MK!

 

[All7OfUs]

Ahhh, the grey goose orange slushie.... I keep hearing great things about it- might just have to try me one!

Isn't Crush fantastic?! Love that!

HA!! SE in Japanese! That's a crack up! Sometimes you gotta just roll with the punches (and fingerings of little ones!)


Teppan Edo looks and sounds great! Nice family shot! That was really nice of them to do that for you. I love making new friends in the parks.

 

[oregondaddyof2]

TT is one of my favorites, and I was hoping to ride a bunch this year, but my DD doesn't like it... Amazing pictures of MS... I never tried the slushee before, but that will be on my to do list for next time!