Could the Dream Turn the Grump into a Believer? Charleston Update 10/13

[pjstevens]

Then we saw these things

The top side

The underside

Not the greatest photos, but I think you can tell that they are quite freaky looking, I hadn't ever seen anything like them. The lady there told us that they were horseshoe crabs, huh, I learned something!

Loving your TR so far! I'm so glad I'm married to a Disney Lover, he's the one who really got my obsession going.

But had to say it was funny to read your comment on the horseshoe crabs! I grew up with them. They are on the beaches of Delaware. They are also called 'Man of War' (but it's been so long since I found out why on a school trip when the kids were little). I didn't ever think that not everyone knew about these creatures.

 

[pjstevens]

Can't wait for the next update!

 

[PrincessInOz]

We pay about $80 for a family ticket to the Melbourne Aquarium per visit. The yearly membership is about $150. I think I'm happier paying the for yearly membership knowing that breakeven is 2 visits. I haven't renewed the membership this year but last year, we went about 3 or 4 times. The equation is much better that way and 2 hours is usually about the time we spend in the aquarium as well.

Nice pictures, by the way. Looking foward to Coca Cola!

 

[SoonerGirl]

Subbing! Just got through the first couple pages so far, then noticed where you went to the Georgia Aquarium in Atlanta. We live 2 hours from there, and were actually just talking today about going back there in the next few weeks (after we recover after returning from the Dream, LOL). We have been wanting to go back since they added the Dolphin stuff.

Now, going to get caught up on your TR!!

Thanks for joining in!

Hope you enjoy your visit to the aquarium! Are you writing a TR for your cruise?

Very cute Minne stuff. She is one of my favorite Disney characters - always such a sweetheart.

She is pretty sweet!

It's funny the things we take for granted. Having lived in Florida, I thought everyone knew what a horseshoe crab was.

I had heard the term horseshoe crab before, but hadn't ever seen one! I have lived in middle America my whole life.....

I'll have to go for the rest of my life not personally seeing the undersides of the sharks, as I could never go into one of those tunnels.

The tunnel was quite large and you could see the exit from the entrance, so you never really felt enclosed - I bet you could handle it

I have also been the victim of the sting of a school of jellyfish. It was like hot oil was poured onto my legs and side. I was around 10-11, I think. I don't remember, but I remember it burning. They got a little boy about five, too, and he was screaming. Poor guy!

Ouch! You know, I've heard you can remove the sting of a jellyfish by putting urine on it - hope you didn't have to resort to that

When you start adding up the prices of doing all of the individual things you do on non-Disney trips, Disney begins to look like a better and better deal. Especially with AP's.

We can always figure out a way to justify it can't we?!

All caught up. As many times as we have been to Atlanta, we still have yet to go to the Aquarium or World of Coke. We talk about going every time we go but never seem to make it. Can't wait to hear about the rest of your day & really looking forward to hearing about your dolphin experience later in the trip. I am debating shore excursions now for our October cruise. The only thing I want to do in Nassau is a dolphin encounter & I am trying to decide between Atlantis & Blue Lagoon so I am anxious to hear what you thought about yours.

Well, hopefully I'll get to the dolphin encounter before you have to book excursions! If it gets close and I'm not there yet PM me and I'll fill you in It shouldn't be an issue though, I'm usually not that slow writing these things!

Lovely pictures! I really enjoyed my photo tour of the aquarium - thanks - you just saved me $25!

Living on the east coast it is hard for me to believe that you have never seen a horse shoe crab before. Their shells litter the beachs over here. I agree - they are ugly!

I also hate when there are up charges for every little thing. That's why - as expensive as a Disney ticket is - you do get a lot of bang for the buck.

Great update. cute family picture!

Glad I could save you some cash!

Nope, never seen a horseshoe crab before. Like I told MeMom, I've heard the name but had no idea what they looked like!

I agree, Disney does give you a lot for the price of admission, and if you are on at least a 7 day pass the cost per day really is pretty reasonable.

Exactly!! Beautiful pictures and I especially liked the dolphins out front and I imagine they were free to look at!!

Love all of your nieces presents!! Cute little sippy cup too

My boss has 3 salt water tanks in his house...one of them with 3 or 4 seahorses and years ago he had a horseshoe crab Love watching the seahorses I also remember seeing the shells out in the wild on the OBX in NC.

Tracy

Yep, no charge to walk through the courtyard and look at the dolphin statues!

I've been to the Outerbanks in NC, sure don't remember seeing the remnants of horsehoe crabs though!

 

[SoonerGirl]

I'm here. I have to go and cut the grass because none of my men are here, but I will be back to read later, Michelle.

Hey Kathy, glad you made it over!! Hmmmmm, cutting the grass huh? If it was up to me to get the grass cut it would be miles high

subbing..can't wait for the rest of the TR!

Thanks for joining in!

I am too married to a resister! How come not everyone drinks the WDW kool AId? I live in Atlanta, and my resister HATES the drive down from here to WDW. I don't think I could have convinced him to do a stop-over here and continued driving. I'm contemplating booking my first cruise, so I'm joing in!

There are just far too many of those resisters out there!

You know, being that the drive from Atlanta to Orlando was only about 6 1/2 to 7 hours, I thought it would be a piece of cake - but it seemed to take forever, maybe that was because we had been in the car so much already

I hope I can give you some good information about the cruise, I will tell you that we loved it, you won't be sorry if you go on one!

Loving your TR so far! I'm so glad I'm married to a Disney Lover, he's the one who really got my obsession going.

But had to say it was funny to read your comment on the horseshoe crabs! I grew up with them. They are on the beaches of Delaware. They are also called 'Man of War' (but it's been so long since I found out why on a school trip when the kids were little). I didn't ever think that not everyone knew about these creatures.

Hi there, thanks for jumping on board!

Nope, never seen a horseshoe crab before, I'd heard the name, but I no idea what they looked like - now I know!

Can't wait for the next update!

Coming right up!

We pay about $80 for a family ticket to the Melbourne Aquarium per visit. The yearly membership is about $150. I think I'm happier paying the for yearly membership knowing that breakeven is 2 visits. I haven't renewed the membership this year but last year, we went about 3 or 4 times. The equation is much better that way and 2 hours is usually about the time we spend in the aquarium as well.

Nice pictures, by the way. Looking foward to Coca Cola!

We buy a yearly membership to our local zoo which ends up paying for itself in just a couple of visits as well. I love how the membership makes you feel like you don't have to spend a ton of time, you can always come back another day. We like to go early in the morning and leave when the crowds start rolling in or it gets really hot.

 

[SoonerGirl]

When we left the aquarium it was about noon, no one was hungry yet though since we had eaten such a big breakfast, so we decided to go to World of Coke before we ate. It was right across the street, so getting there was super easy!

We walked through the metal detectors and had our bags checked again, and of course Don had to turn in his pocket knife until we were ready to leave.

Just inside the lobby they had these huge decorated Coke bottles

I wanted to spend some time looking at them, but an orientation had just started and the lady said we could make it if we went in, otherwise it would be about 10 minutes until the next one. We decided to go ahead and go in to the orientation.

We were told some about the Coke brand, it's history, and talked about a lot of the memorabilia in the room, then we were given the run down on what there was to see and do at World of Coke. After that it was time for a short fun movie that was all about the new Coke advertising campaign.

Once the movie ended it was time for the character meet, I was hoping for the polar bear because I've always loved the Coca-Cola polar bear commercials, but unfortunately this is who we met

Who, you may ask, is that? I think her name was Wendy, she's the cheerleader from the new Happiness Factory campaign. Not the polar bear, bummer.....

Moving on.....We went into the area dedicated to the history of Coke. We learned about John Pemberton, the Atlanta pharmacist who invented the original formula for Coca-Cola, then we just wandered around and looked at all the cool memorabilia.

They had several hands on displays that the boys, both old and young had fun with

Loved all the old vending machines!

The Olympic torches that Coke helped sponsor were there too, they were fun to look at

Then we walked into the bottling area to watch the actual bottling process. I guess I didn't take any pictures in this area, but it was cool to watch!

I loved all these huge decorated bottles that they had all over the place

Here's Justin, telling me to hurry up

They had a 4D show that, get this, was included with your admission! So we decided to go check it out. We had a bit of a wait until the next show was to start, so we walked through the Pop Culture Gallery. I only took one picture in here, but it was good one

My favorite part of the Pop Culture Gallery was a video they had running on a continuous loop about the time that Coke changed it's formula to the 'New Coke'. Does anyone remember that? I remember trying that vile tasting stuff and getting so irritated that they would mess with a good thing. I am a Coke drinker, always have been, never liked Pepsi at all, and that 'New & Improved Coke, tasted like Pepsi to me

Anyway, it was funny to watch the excitement over the new formula quickly turn to 'oh crap, we're getting hate mail, and thousands of angry phone calls a day, we gotta fix this' I'm so glad they did too!

Continued in the next post

 

[SoonerGirl]

It was now about show time so we made our way to the theater. On our way I happened to look down and saw that the new group of visitors that had just came in were getting to meet the polar bear instead of that silly weird looking cheerleader girl. I was jealous!

Into the theater we went to search for Coke's secret formula. It was really a silly show, and had nothing on a Disney 3D show, but your seats moved and water sprayed out at you, so it was fun.

Now we were to the part of the tour the kids had been waiting for, the tasting room! It was awesome, like Club Cool on steroids. Over 60 flavors of Coke products to try. And we tried almost everyone of them, and yes, the Beverly was there........

I had tricked the kids into trying it a couple of years ago, but Don had never had the pleasure, and I had never been brave enough to take a sip myself either. I was a little bummed because while I was at one tasting station with Jared, Don and Justin finished and moved on to another - the Europe one.....I didn't notice they had left. Before I got over there Justin gave Don his first taste of Beverly, I got there just after and this was still the look on his face

Justin couldn't remember exactly how bad it was, so he decided to take a sip

Yeah, it's not good!

Then I figured it was about time I sucked it up and gave it a try. Justin took the camera from me so that he could document my reaction..........it wasn't pretty.............

Soon we had tasted so much Coke that our bellies hurt, it was time to go! On our way out we picked up our souvenir bottles of Coke that sported a special 125 years of Coke label. These will only be given out to visitors this summer, so the number will be limited. Don and I told the boys they couldn't open them, or drink them because one day they would be collectors items.

We walked through the store and while they had lots of cute stuff, there wasn't anything that I just had to have. I was really being stingy with my souvenir money - I wanted it all for Disney!

Just outside they had a small miniature golf course, I think it was only like 7 or 8 holes. The boys wanted to play so we asked how much it cost and the guy told us it was included in the cost of our admission - what a novel idea!

Funny how everything becomes a baseball bat in Justin's hands

And apparently Jared's too

The course was short and pretty simple but we had lots of fun with it anyway.

I came in dead last as usual.

Up next, Don lives a childhood dream

 

[uncw89]

When we left the aquarium it was about noon, no one was hungry yet though since we had eaten such a big breakfast, so we decided to go to World of Coke before we ate. It was right across the street, so getting there was super easy!


My favorite part of the Pop Culture Gallery was a video they had running on a continuous loop about the time that Coke changed it's formula to the 'New Coke'. Does anyone remember that? I remember trying that vile tasting stuff and getting so irritated that they would mess with a good thing. I am a Coke drinker, always have been, never liked Pepsi at all, and that 'New & Improved Coke, tasted like Pepsi to me

Anyway, it was funny to watch the excitement over the new formula quickly turn to 'oh crap, we're getting hate mail, and thousands of angry phone calls a day, we gotta fix this' I'm so glad they did too!

Continued in the next post

I'm a Coke person too!!! I remember new Coke and it was bad!! I was very happy when they brought 'Old Coke" back. I think I need to take another trip to Coke museum!!! DH and I went waaaaay back in 91' before we were married. I'm sure it's changed some sense I was there!

 

[ariel1025]

The Coke museum looks like tons of fun! I'm definitely adding it to our list of "must dos" whenever I finally take Candi on his dream trip to Atlanta

 

[mousetravel]

Thanks for joining in!

Hope you enjoy your visit to the aquarium! Are you writing a TR for your cruise?

Yes, it's here:
http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2744972

 

[cdotla]

Sounds like a good time was had by all at Coke. How long were you there? Did you feel a better value for your money here?

Can't wait to hear all about Don's childhood dream.

 

[Charleston Princess]

Club Cool on Steroids is the perfect description of that tasting room!!! The lips on the outside of the World of Coke are a new thing. They weren't there the last time we went! Sorry you didn't get to meet the polar bear. Great pictures of you guys trying Beverly!

 

[jenseib]

I think Wendy is going to be another Coke Flop. LOL! She's pretty freaky. I would much rather see the Polar bear too.

I have never been to Club Cool yet. I might have to give a try someday and see just how bad the Beverly is.

 

[Happy Elf]

Great pictures of trying the Beverly! Looks like a neat place to visit! Nice that everything was included in the price!

 

[k_reile]

wow...there is a lot about the coke museum that I do not remember! LOL! Now I want to go back. I am thinking about driving to WDW if I can convince DH to go next year. Maybe a night stop in alanta would be neat but I am not sure at 4yrs old...how well Caleb would react to it! Now if it was a train museum he would be all over it! Haha

What hotel did you stay at in Alanta? Was it walking distance to the aquarium and coke museum. I see that there are a combination ticket for the aquariam and coke museum to save some $ and there are other attractions too that have different atttractions you can see!

 

[TanzUnited99]

I love all the Minnie stuff you got for your niece!

Yay on Don agreeing to visit the Aquarium and World of Coke!

Love all the pics - them horseshoe crabs sure look freaky.

Just noticed you have also posted your World of Coke experience! Looks like a fun place to visit. I would be bummed at not meeting the Polar bear either! Love the Beverly faces, esp yours!

 

[PirateKate]

I love all the pictures from the Aquarium. It looks like a cool place, but it would get old having so many things not included in the price of admission. Sort of makes the Coke museum even better. I can't believe the mini golf was free.

 

[jenjolt]

WOW what a great day at the Coke museum!! I remember really enjoying myself when I went there...especially the tasting room!! How cool you guys got such awesome souvenir bottles!!!!

Loving your updates so far Michelle!! Can't wait for more!

 

[melmar136]

Just found your TR and anxiously awaiting more! We will be at AKL and then on the Dream in August, so can't wait to read more about them!
Also, I HAVE to ask, how did you go about finding/getting a TA job specializing in Disney vacations? This may be a dream job for me!

 

[Mndisneygirl]

Okay, I lost track of your TR for a bit, but I'm back and caught up!

Love the aquarium pictures! At the Mall of America we have an aquarium that has a walk through tunnel too. It's pretty cool. I love the penquins and otters!

The coke museum looks cool - but the Wendy character? Uh, a little weird looking and not nearly as marketable as the polar bear! It looks interesting though. I also remember new coke and thinking it was more like Pepsi and they should have stuck to what was just fine to begin with. Coke has a distinct taste, that's why people liked it! I'm sure the executives had a "DOH" moment or two!!

Looking forward to more and I'm going to make sure to sub so I don't miss anything!!