++Cheerleaders! Blisters! Oversized Water Bottles! ...It Must Be Disney++ Feb 2011 TR

[PlutosRHM55]

Again-awesomeness! Soarin and Test Track are my favorites at Epcot. I could do them over and over if I wanted to. Sounds great so far, and I'm eagerly awaiting your next update!

Haha, thanks Hannah! Yeah, they are so much fun. I may like Spaceship Earth more than Soarin' but I'm not sure I did them a day apart hehe I do think EPCOT needs more rides though. I will update as soon as I can, hopefully not over a week.

 

[Monorail Fan:)]

Great update!

 

[PlutosRHM55]

Thanks Drew!

 

[Vwdiva93]

Wow that is a lot of drama in one day! I could never travel with a group of kids my age, I get along better with adults lol. Guess that's why I always stick with my parents!
Soarin is truly an amazing ride, it became one of my favorites too on my past trip. That must've been hard seeing the little kids experiencing Disney so young, I was lucky to experience it young a couple times even though I have an anti Disney dad too. But the great thing about Disney is we can still have a ton of fun and be kid again even though we're much older
Can't wait to hear about EMH at DHS!

 

[wdwgirl03]

Glad you enjoyed Soarin. It is one of my all-time favorites. And it's so neat how it's the only attraction where people clap at the end. haha

Love all the pictures from The Seas too. Some of the creatures they have there are interesting to say the least!

 

[MickeyisBeast]

great update timmy

 

[disfreak24]

Test Track and Soarin' are amazing! I love extra magic hours because if im lucky i can get on the more popular rides without a very long wait
Great Update!
btw i dont think i ever introduced myself Im Hannah!

 

[Jazzabelle508]

Great job so far! I can't wait to read more. Sorry you had to deal with all that drama with your friends.

 

[PlutosRHM55]

Wow that is a lot of drama in one day! I could never travel with a group of kids my age, I get along better with adults lol. Guess that's why I always stick with my parents!
Soarin is truly an amazing ride, it became one of my favorites too on my past trip. That must've been hard seeing the little kids experiencing Disney so young, I was lucky to experience it young a couple times even though I have an anti Disney dad too. But the great thing about Disney is we can still have a ton of fun and be kid again even though we're much older
Can't wait to hear about EMH at DHS!

Yeah... well it still was fun. I definitely would like to go back with friends, though I think Disney is more for family (especially when family is a lot smarter than this group of girls )

Soarin' was awesome. I just am amazed at how simple it is and how great the ride is. I've done Omnitheater and Imax but this still was better. It was very hard, but I feel because I did it when I was older I have a whole different love for the place. I can be a kid again and now worry about the drama of growing up and other things in life.

Glad you enjoyed Soarin. It is one of my all-time favorites. And it's so neat how it's the only attraction where people clap at the end. haha

Love all the pictures from The Seas too. Some of the creatures they have there are interesting to say the least!

Yeah... I don't think its the only one where people clap but you can really hear it because its like a movie or a show, but still a ride.

Oh my gosh! Yes! I don't think I got all of them. It is SOOO BIG in there! Definitely will need to look around there more.

great update timmy

Thanks Sarah!

Test Track and Soarin' are amazing! I love extra magic hours because if im lucky i can get on the more popular rides without a very long wait
Great Update!
btw i dont think i ever introduced myself Im Hannah!

They are awesome rides. Yeah... but I definitely think morning is a ton better than night. The crowds went up at Epcot, it befuddled me as I said.

And thanks!

Hmm... I don't think so. Well, hi Hannah, I'm Timmy! Nice to meet you!

Great job so far! I can't wait to read more. Sorry you had to deal with all that drama with your friends.

Thanks! Yeah... but nothing could ruin a Disney trip unless something REALLY bad happens, that magic works wonders

 

[disfreak24]

They are awesome rides. Yeah... but I definitely think morning is a ton better than night. The crowds went up at Epcot, it befuddled me as I said.

And thanks!

Hmm... I don't think so. Well, hi Hannah, I'm Timmy! Nice to meet you!

Yea the mornings tend to be less crowded...probably because a lot of people aren't morning people (like me! ) But in disney i get up because...well its disney

And Hello Timmy! Glad to meet you too

 

[BrerColby]

Nice update, Timmy! I haven't really introduced myself on the boards but my name's Colby and I'm pretty sure I'm in the same grade you're in. Sorry your family wasn't a "Disney" family. I've been blessed and go once a year since I was a toddler. It helps that my mom's a Disney travel Agent. Anyways, I'm excited to hear more on your trip.

 

[PlutosRHM55]

Yea the mornings tend to be less crowded...probably because a lot of people aren't morning people (like me! ) But in disney i get up because...well its disney

And Hello Timmy! Glad to meet you too

Yeah, definitely. I'm so happy to be a morning person that I'm okay with getting up in the mornings (unless it is school ), especially in Disney.

Nice update, Timmy! I haven't really introduced myself on the boards but my name's Colby and I'm pretty sure I'm in the same grade you're in. Sorry your family wasn't a "Disney" family. I've been blessed and go once a year since I was a toddler. It helps that my mom's a Disney travel Agent. Anyways, I'm excited to hear more on your trip.

Thanks Colby! Nice to meet you! Wow, you're lucky! If only I was that lucky to be born into a Disney-loving family, but only one really appreciates Disney that much to bring me back and she doesn't have a ton of say I'll update as soon I can.

 

[PlutosRHM55]

So spring break has started and I'm sick I, of course updated my TR for everyone, but its a bit shorter since I'm really not feeling too good. I will update with more of this chapter and get through the day later. For now, you can enjoy what I've concocted Hope everyone else is feeling better than me!

CHAPTER 6: A FULFILLED PROMISE, ANOTHER MIRACLE AND CATASTROPHE! (Part 1)

There was definitely not a ton of sleep from the night before, but seriously, Disney and Sleep... you can live without the other So, I was immediately up that morning before any of my roommates. The room was very dark so it was hard moving around and not making sounds since stuff was everywhere! I'm starting to realize what a value resort is now. So, I got up, took a shower, got changed, packed up my stuff and then sat to text Jocelyn and ask if they were up and where to meet. She texted me back and said she would meet me out in front of the boots like usual in a few minutes. I lounged about in the room for a bit and then finally got up to leave.

When I got to the boots, she still wasn't there so I ended up waiting a bit longer and checked my clock, making sure we were still on track. Soon, Tina and her came out, Taylor nowhere behind them. They told me she was taking awhile to straighten her hair again, but she was almost done so we walked out to breakfast.

When we got to the Food Court, I got right in line to order my new favorite breakfast, Mickey waffles with strawberries (Yum!) again. I'm pretty sure I mention this too much, but I just love it so much. Huge recommendation for it! So right after we got our meals, Taylor arrives her hair still wet. She got her food and sat down with us. I made sure we all had told our chaperones we were in Hollywood Studios so it was all good for our Extra Magic Hours adventure.

Once we finished our food, we headed right out to the buses. Taylor didn't finish all of her food so she kept her fruit salad and brought outside before we got on the bus. We were the first in line since it was only Extra Magic Hours and not many people were up. She finished her fruit salad almost 5 minutes before the bus arrived. We happily got on the bus and was headed straight off to Hollywood Studios.

When we got there, it seemed we were coming at the exact same time as others. I checked my phone clock and saw we made it just as Extra Magic Hours was opening. We went swiftly through the gates straight into the parks. It seemed we had just gotten behind the huge mob that forms before the park opens. I decided to take a picture of the Sorcerer Mickey Hat as we walked down the street:

I told them we should probably go grab some tickets at Toy Story Mania, but first we ran into the first shop we saw since we were still looking for some more souvenirs. I was desperately in search of one for DOS and seemed to not find her one anywhere I looked. Then a miracle happened, as we entered this little shop on the corner of Sunset Boulevard, I found a tiny little necklace with her first initial on it. I immediately turned to Jocelyn and asked her if DOS would like it. She said it looked nice enough and said yes. I was so excited, I finally found something for her! So I texted her with a picture of the necklace and then left the shop after Taylor bought some souvenirs she found and headed on towards the Sorcerer Mickey Hat. There we noticed some familiar faces surrounding it and lines forming on various sides... THE CHARACTERS!!!!!! We hadn't seen such short lines for characters yet and better yet as we walked up there was nobody lining up for Minnie Mouse. So we got a picture (My friends are in this picture, but since it is only one it won't hurt too much):

I sadly never got a hug. I actually kinda waved her off because I'm trying to give the CM my camera. I think the best part about fuzzies is hugging them. Yeah sounds strange coming from me, but yes hugging fuzzies is much better than hugging face characters. Moving on... so after all that we headed around the Sorcerer Mickey Hat and went straight towards Toy Story Mania. It seemed a lot of people had the same ideas as us so they were all around. We luckily found one Fastpass machine and got us all fastpasses for the ride at 11:30. Not bad for TSM, and we turned around to go back to the Sorcerer Mickey Hat since there were more souvenirs inside there.

In the shop, I found some really good pins. They had a nice selection of them in there. They had a whole section dedicated to Tower of Terror pins. I promised my DOS that I would go on the ride, so why not get the pin? They had a whole wall with some really cool ones, like this one that if you tilted it the picture would change, I though decided on another one. It was a Stitch pin, where the doors to the elevator opened and there was Stitch hanging onto the elevator cord, part of it chopped off. Everyone was aweing over it, so I decided to buy it. I immediately added it to my lanyard as we went out the back of the store.

We decided that they would go to Rock n' Roller Coaster since Tina and I rather not go on that ride, while we on some other ride. Of course, Jocelyn and Taylor had no clue where to find it, so I had to direct them to Sunset Boulevard, where it was. After that, Tina and I went over to the Great Movie Ride. I took some time to take pictures of the autographs in the ground:

After taking some pictures of those, we went inside and I took some more pictures of the real props from the actual movie that lined the queue:

It was strangely wet in this area, though I don't recall any rain. It must've happened while I was asleep since it was very dreary that morning. We walked right through the queue, into the pre-show and were soon on the ride. I just love how this ride always has short waits and its such a great ride. I think I went on it twice my last trip.

The ride was great as always, though I practically new every thing that happens during the ride, like the Indiana Jones part, where Bugsy decides to try and steal the stone, no matter if its cursed or not and our tour guide "magically" appears. AND WE SAT UP FRONT THIS TIME, which was pretty cool! Overall it was still the fun little ride I remembered. Tina definitely enjoyed it though the Alien scene scared her a little.

During the ride, since it is a good long ride, Jocelyn texted Tina and me. She told me they just got off Rock n' Roller Coaster and were headed to Tower of Terror so we should meet them there. They were so anxious to get on the ride, they even called me and I had to calm them down that I would be there soon. So, off we went to Sunset Boulevard and Tower of Terror.

I was dreading the moment I would go on, but I heard many good things and that I should try it so I went. Luckily, I tried my best not to just turn around and do it and made it all the way up to the ride. It looked as if they were doing some work on the exterior, but the ride was still open. Tina and I both a little iffy about this went up and waited for Jocelyn and Taylor as we were getting ready to brave the Twilight Zone Tower of Terror *lightning strikes*...

CONTINUED IN NEXT POST (just to let people know, this means update, not the post right after...

 

[disfreak24]

Great Update, Timmy! I love the pictures of the autographs! They always fascinate me

I hope you feel better soon!!

 

[PlutosRHM55]

Great Update, Timmy! I love the pictures of the autographs! They always fascinate me

I hope you feel better soon!!

Thanks Hannah! I'm actually feeling a lot better than yesterday, but I'm not entirely sure if the virus or whatever it was is gone. And I KNOW! I actually saw some I didn't see my first time and I was out there awhile. I wish the CM who was out there my first trip was there, she was wicked nice. I'll update again ASAP

 

[disfreak24]

Thanks Hannah! I'm actually feeling a lot better than yesterday, but I'm not entirely sure if the virus or whatever it was is gone. And I KNOW! I actually saw some I didn't see my first time and I was out there awhile. I wish the CM who was out there my first trip was there, she was wicked nice. I'll update again ASAP

I'm glad your feeling better! viruses are so horrible!

I always love seeing stuff in Disney that i missed the first time Im like that with movies too! Ill be like "oh my gosh i never noticed that the first time i watched this!"

Yay i love updates!

 

[Jazzabelle508]

Feel Better!!!!!!! where i live there is defintely something going around. My cousin was sick on easter today so i'm crossing my fingers I don't get sick!!!!!!!

 

[PlutosRHM55]

Feel Better!!!!!!! where i live there is defintely something going around. My cousin was sick on easter today so i'm crossing my fingers I don't get sick!!!!!!!

Thanks! Oh, I hope you don't catch anything. Keep crossing those fingers

 

[PlutosRHM55]

CHAPTER 6: A FULFILLED PROMISE, ANOTHER MIRACLE AND CATASTROPHE! (Part 2)

We got up to the entrance to the ride and Jocelyn or Taylor wasn't there. We were a bit confused. Tina and I walked around a bit trying to find where they were when they came out from the gift shop end of the ride. I asked where they were and they said they already went on it because we took so long to get over. They both were raving about it and said how short the line was, so we popped right into the queue.

I was getting pretty nervous now, especially in the preshow. The CM had the whole creepy, mysterious persona down pat. When we leave the room and they say "See you next fall" He had the infliction down just right. Gosh, why did we seriously have the creepy guy. After that, we basically got through the boiler room fairly quickly and were on to the ride. We luckily got seated in the back which I hear is the seats where it's not as scary. I put my bag around my ankles, the doors shut and we were off...

I'm just going to stop really building on this moment and get to the end of the ride. Well... IT WAS AWESOME! I mean why did I not do this last time? It was so much fun. Yeah I think my heart dropped a few times but that was the best part! LOL I actually went on again since there still wasn't a ton of people there, but Tina didn't want to go on again so we left our stuff with her. The second time was even better than the first, the ride would just not end and we were UP FRONT! Oh... I love this ride so much. I was so happy I'd got that pin, it was a beautiful addition to my lanyard.

After that, we got a text from our chaperones to meet them at Rock n' Roller Coaster at 12. It was 9 by now, so the park had just opened for everyone. Our plans were kinda lost here, but I wanted to go buy my DOS the necklace. So, we went over there. I gave Jocelyn the money since it would've looked so awkward if I was buying it. On our way, I saw Maleficent in the window of the Scary Apothecary and just had to get a picture before we continued to get my sister her gift:

After getting the gift and all the walking we took it was just about time for our fastpasses at Toy Story Mania, though now knowing what time we had to meet our chaperones, we may not be able to use them, but I assured my friends we would be fine. So, we hopped into the Fastpass line for the ride. The wait was a bit longer than I expected, so I took some pictures while we waited:

Well, I took more, but they were of friends and I'm trying to keep the face shots to a minimal. Moving on... after these pictures the wait moved a lot quicker and we were on the ride soon enough. Everyone enjoyed the ride, I actually beat my best friend, Jocelyn, who was next to me at the last game, but Taylor beat both our scores on the other side. So much for that! And just as the ride was getting to the unloading zone, Jocelyn told me it was 12 right then. We were late and needed to get off. So, as soon as we unloaded we basically zoomed across DHS to get down to Sunset Boulevard. Jocelyn texted them telling we were lost since we really didn't know we wouldn't make it. We made it there only about 5 minutes after.

Our chaperones were right on the ledge that split Rock n' Roller Coaster and Tower of Terror. My chaperone was very silent, but my friends chaperone, Liz, just jumped right in asking us how we were doing. She told us all to make sure to put on sunscreen and was on me about my legs, which were only red because of this weird genetic circulation thing I got from my mom (thanks mom) and they usually can get really red sometimes, but it wasn't a sunburn, I don't burn easily at all. I obliged though and put it on. They asked where we were gonna be and we told them, we would be at Hollywood Studios a bit longer and were going to head to Downtown Disney after. They saw we were doing well and let us go on our way, but before giving us a little tip about the single rider for Rock n' Roller Coaster, which Tina and I had no interest in . So, they left and we just stood around the little cart in front of RnRC. We just sat there, when Taylor continuely got these texts from her cousin that they she was at Magic Kingdom right now and wanted to go see her and Jocelyn from her family who had arrived in Disney the same time as us. They were at the concert the day before and wanted to meet up. Wow, I couldn't believe how much was actually going on within our group.

I kept to myself for a bit until we had to start getting everything in order and just layed back for a bit. We all bought waters from the stand and so I sat down drinking that for a bit. While I sat there, a lady came up to the CM running the stand and they began talking about pin trading. I'm not sure what about this conversation intrigued me, but it just did. I like collecting and trading pins already and this CM seemed truly enthusiastic about the whole thing, hmm... I'm not sure, it may be the enthusiasm piece. A few texts and phone calls from the group, Taylor and Jocelyn decided they would go on Rock n' Roller Coaster again, since they liked it so much.

Tina and I would rather not sit around so we made a snap decision and check out Villains In Vogue and the Scary Apothecary since it looked like there may be some cool stuff in there. They luckily knew where they were so I didn't have to give directions again and soon Taylor and Jocelyn were in line and Tina and I were on our way to check out the shop. We got inside and noticing all the Villain decorations, I couldn't help, but take some pictures:

We were in there a bit just hanging around. They had a little candy shop and then the clothing section in Villains In Vogue (which doesn't have any villains merchandise and I'm pretty sure Jack Skellington isn't a villain). Tina even bought a few boxes of tea. We kinda looked a bit awkward in there just looking around and so proceeded to leave. Before we went back to them, we took some pictures of the Tower of Terror from out in front of the Scary Apothecary:

Jocelyn and Taylor weren't off the ride when we got back so we had some time to spare, but they came right out and almost missed us. I luckily caught up, yelled out to them and they stopped. They were kinda upset we hadn't stayed at the shop, but we said we didn't have a ton to do so we came back. They complained they were hungry so our next mission was to find a counter service to eat at.

We started to walk away from Sunset Boulevard, took a quick bathroom break and then were headed straight to the opposite end of the park. We all had a times map and park map out to look for a good CS, well except me. They kept on asking if a certain restaurant was a place we could eat and they kept on pointing out table services! I'm not exactly sure how we continuely passed table services there and there are only four in Hollywood Studios. We finally came up to the Indiana Jones stunt show and were at a standstill again. We checked the times map and saw there was a show soon, which we all wanted to see, especially after the texts from Jocelyn's parents about seeing it. All-in-all we were still very hungry and needed some food.

We began to look around and scavenge out a place nearby to eat and found the Backlot Express! All of us were happy to find out there was a place nearby to eat. We went over, Tina and I found a table, while Jocelyn and Taylor went to go get food then we would swap. Both of the girls who went to get food came back with nothing, they told us it wasn't opened (Insert Facepalm here), thus hitting another roadblock, but we bypassed it and just decided to go to the show. I kinda had some stuff to pack up that I took out while waiting, so some running right there.

We got into the show and found seats pretty close to the front since the show didn't start for a little bit. We noticed that some of the other chaperones were there and decided to sit right behind us. Jocelyn said her family would probably meet us here. We sat there for about ten minutes when Jocelyn decided because she was so hungry that we should just skip the show and meet her dad and brother somewhere else. We all got up and left.

They asked me where the nearest counter service was as we walked towards Star Tours (not opened because of the rehab, of course). I pulled out the map I grabbed at the entrance and scanned. I figured out where we were and looked around to find the nearest one was Pizza Planet, coincidentally, one counter service I had never been to.

We walked over there, and it was actually a lot harder to find than I suspected, but we finally got there. Jocelyn's dad and brother were already there (her mom with her other brother getting some M&G time with Pooh). We didn't see them at first, but we found them inside and they already grabbed seats, so we went up to order.

The whole theming of the place was definitely spot on, almost exactly what I would picture the Pizza Planet to look like in real life, an galactic-flavored Chuck E. Cheese. The only exception were the prices. Everything here cost a ton! I mean for a counter service, the other counter services I've been to so far on this trip were much less and this didn't even look that good (kinda gross, but that may just be my affliction to the theming). I decided on the only item that wasn't pizza since it was the cheapest and got a meatball sub. I got it as second to last, when Jocelyn and Taylor had already found seats, so Tina and I were lost. We made the right decision about going upstairs and found them there.

We ate there, talking to Jocelyn's dad and brother about what they were going to do and what they've done. They had been wanting to go around and check out some stuff with us, the reason why we met up (and my mom had sent like twenty babysitters on me to make sure I was doing okay, sheesh). They told us they planned to see the Lights! Motors! Action! Stunt show. We missed the Indiana Jones so we agreed on going, but I brought up about seeing the American Idol show and see that before the next show, since it is a great show. They all agreed and that was our plan from then on for DHS.

We all ate up our food. I didn't finish my whole meatball sub (no bread for me) and I got through most of the salad they gave me with the sub. Everyone else didn't really eat a ton. Pizza Planet is definitely not one of my favorite counter services, there wasn't any good food there. Maybe it was just because I wasn't very hungry at the time, but it just wasn't great there, nothing memorable.

After we finished and threw away the excess food, we went back towards Echo Lake and the Sorcerer Mickey Hat to get to the American Idol show. Jocelyn and her dad both texted Jocelyn's mom to tell her where we were going. Jocelyn's dad and her little brother weren't interested in the American Idol show and said they would get seats for us in the Lights! Motors! Action! show. They were a bit iffy about the AI show, thought I told them it is a great show and definitely not just about singing, its an experience (American Idol Experience )

We got to the show, got right inside and got some nice seats, fifth from the front, but a bit off to the side. The show started only like two minutes or so after we got. The MC or pre-host, whatever he is was awesome and so funny. They are always great, I wish these guys would play the main host though that guy was great as well. We had some great performances and one of the girls was our age which was pretty cool since the last time I saw the show, they were all way older than me but this time one was the same age as us so that was cool, though she wasn't our favorite, but our favorite moved on! Woot, woot! And my friends liked the show! I think that just made up for our several roadblocks.

We got out of the show and started heading towards Streets of America to the Lights! Motors! Action! show. I took out my water now since I hadn't touched it since the Indiana Jones show and it was hot. Today was turning into quite a hot day. Hopefully, we'll survive for the show and who knows what will happen after...

CONTINUED IN NEXT POST...

 

[BrerColby]

Good update. I can't wait to do the American Idol Experience this year. I tried out last time i went but they had every spot filled but one at that point (because I had came late in the day) and they were looking for a rocker, which Im not I love the TOT pin you have; Its one of my dads fav in my collection. Hes a big TOT fan lol. Anyways, excted to hear more!