Miffy2003
<font color=orange>I've got Saratoga Springs - mak
- Joined
- Aug 13, 2003
- Messages
- 12,175
Friday 17th December
Today the plan is to re-visit Future World and finish the day at MGM Fantasmic. We managed to persuade Julie & Derek to spend a day round the pool to rest while we went off. This was a blessing as we were desperately missing our family time together. Sounds naff, but its true!
We hopped on a bus to MK with the thought of catching the monorail to Epcot, as we all love the circle it does round the park before getting to the station. As we arrived at MK the Opening Ceremony was just starting; this was very cute with the characters arriving on a train, dancing, singing and Pixie Dust being thrown everywhere. We stopped to watch this before boarding the resort monorail for the TTC. As we approached the Contemporary, I thought that it would be really good fun to have breakfast at Chef Mickeys so I whispered this to Jon and told the girls we would have a look at the shop; I sneaked off to see if we could get into Chef Mickeys to avoid disappointing them if we couldnt, but luck was with us that day and they were able to seat us immediately! We told the girls and they were very pleased.
We find Chef Mickeys lots of fun. Theres lots going on and as usual we enthusiastically joined in with the napkin waving song. The food was great as usual; theres a huge selection of things and we all ate lots! We met Mickey and the gang; the girls can never get enough of character dining. I think part of the excitement today was the unplanned element of our breakfast, and it was nice to be able to not have to worry about Julie & Derek and what they did or did not want to do. We bought the photo because we had really wanted to get it last time we were here but the photographer never came to our table, and we were rushing to get on the last Monorail. So, even though the photo wasnt great we bought it! How decadent
Back on the monorail, we changed at TTC and were soon at Epcot. For some reason there were huge queues and it took over thirty minutes to get in? Ive no idea why as it was not busy in the park at all; I guess they must not have had enough turnstiles open at that particular time. It was slightly annoying but we were very relaxed and just went with the flow.
When we got in we headed straight for Ellens Energy Adventure which weve never done, and Amber was keen to see the dinosaurs. We literally missed a show (but at least were first in line for the next one). We went inside soon enough and as the first in we grabbed a bench (there arent many). When a few more people came in we let some others have it as I have been brought up to do this for people of considerably senior years to myself
but it seemed we were the only ones to do this. The pre-film started and after about 30 seconds, stopped. A CM explained that due to technical reasons they would have to ask us to leave, and to try back in an hour or so. It seemed the ride had broken down something that has never happened to me at WDW before.
We sat in the sunshine (there was a little today!) and enjoyed a drink. Next stop was Innoventions, where the girls would quite happily spend an entire two week holiday. Things they did included making a virtual robot; learning about plastics (believe me this was made very interesting although it sounds rather dull); Trapper Bob (an eco-quiz); Toon Town Tag (virtual tag); Opportunity game (Ambers role was buyer and they had to decide what to market / sell and then how much and when depending on external factors for example on a hot day they would buy more ice cream to sell to everyone). Although its only taken me a couple of minutes to write this, we were in there for several hours!
After that we headed over to Journey Into Your Imagination to do the ride and try and meet Figment. We had just missed him and he wasnt due back for a while so we decided to come back another time. We headed back to the resort to rest for an hour and collect Julie and Derek.
We left ASMo at five and a bus came straightaway for MGM. On arrival, we headed straight for the Osbourne Lights in order to catch the turning on ceremony. We could see people walking around with fluorescent drinks which at night was very effective! We managed to track down the stall selling them and procured a couple to see what they were like. Well, they were very alcoholic but pleasant, and I just got a kick out of having a glowing drink! It doesnt take much to amuse me you know!
It was really busy when we got to the Streets of America for the turn on of the lights. There was a bit of slapstick humour along the lines of Oh no, weve blown the switch, what are we going to do now? We found this amusing for the first couple of minutes but after that we just wished they would shut up and turn on the lights. Eventually they did, and what a spectacle it was! Absolutely brilliant (no pun intended). The photos dont do it justice:
The girls were being a bit miserable at this point but we then realised they hadnt eaten anything since breakfast nine hours earlier and they were much more amenable following some chicken nuggets and fries. We listened to Fantasmic which was ongoing while they had their tea; we had told Julie & Derek to go on and watch it while we waited with the girls. Jon went off to ride Tower of Terror and we waited for Julie & Derek to return from Fantasmic. They wanted to go back to ASMo but we were buoyed up, wanting to take advantage of the mild evening and decided to head to Downtown Disney; we said goodbye to the seniors and jumped on a bus to Saratoga Springs to check out the resort at last and then to walk over.
We were so excited when the bus arrived at SSR and completely wowed by the resort. We found it stunningly beautiful; perfect landscaping, fountains everywhere and a lovely atmosphere. We were so excited at the thought of actually staying here soon! We started to walk round to Downtown Disney (about five minutes from Congress Park, which are the buildings you can see from DTD). We sat on a bench and admired the view for ages as we were just so thrilled to finally be there. Having seen so many photos on the Internet we knew what to expect but were still knocked out by the beauty of the resort; I think its fair to say Jon & I were both a little overwhelmed at our luck at being DVC owners here.
We looked around lots of shops at DTD and I saw a fantastic oil painting of Cinderellas Castle. Although the exchange rate is very much in our favour at the moment, I couldnt quite justify the $30,000 price tag!
We jumped on a bus back to ASMo. What a great day!
Today the plan is to re-visit Future World and finish the day at MGM Fantasmic. We managed to persuade Julie & Derek to spend a day round the pool to rest while we went off. This was a blessing as we were desperately missing our family time together. Sounds naff, but its true!
We hopped on a bus to MK with the thought of catching the monorail to Epcot, as we all love the circle it does round the park before getting to the station. As we arrived at MK the Opening Ceremony was just starting; this was very cute with the characters arriving on a train, dancing, singing and Pixie Dust being thrown everywhere. We stopped to watch this before boarding the resort monorail for the TTC. As we approached the Contemporary, I thought that it would be really good fun to have breakfast at Chef Mickeys so I whispered this to Jon and told the girls we would have a look at the shop; I sneaked off to see if we could get into Chef Mickeys to avoid disappointing them if we couldnt, but luck was with us that day and they were able to seat us immediately! We told the girls and they were very pleased.
We find Chef Mickeys lots of fun. Theres lots going on and as usual we enthusiastically joined in with the napkin waving song. The food was great as usual; theres a huge selection of things and we all ate lots! We met Mickey and the gang; the girls can never get enough of character dining. I think part of the excitement today was the unplanned element of our breakfast, and it was nice to be able to not have to worry about Julie & Derek and what they did or did not want to do. We bought the photo because we had really wanted to get it last time we were here but the photographer never came to our table, and we were rushing to get on the last Monorail. So, even though the photo wasnt great we bought it! How decadent
Back on the monorail, we changed at TTC and were soon at Epcot. For some reason there were huge queues and it took over thirty minutes to get in? Ive no idea why as it was not busy in the park at all; I guess they must not have had enough turnstiles open at that particular time. It was slightly annoying but we were very relaxed and just went with the flow.
When we got in we headed straight for Ellens Energy Adventure which weve never done, and Amber was keen to see the dinosaurs. We literally missed a show (but at least were first in line for the next one). We went inside soon enough and as the first in we grabbed a bench (there arent many). When a few more people came in we let some others have it as I have been brought up to do this for people of considerably senior years to myself
but it seemed we were the only ones to do this. The pre-film started and after about 30 seconds, stopped. A CM explained that due to technical reasons they would have to ask us to leave, and to try back in an hour or so. It seemed the ride had broken down something that has never happened to me at WDW before.We sat in the sunshine (there was a little today!) and enjoyed a drink. Next stop was Innoventions, where the girls would quite happily spend an entire two week holiday. Things they did included making a virtual robot; learning about plastics (believe me this was made very interesting although it sounds rather dull); Trapper Bob (an eco-quiz); Toon Town Tag (virtual tag); Opportunity game (Ambers role was buyer and they had to decide what to market / sell and then how much and when depending on external factors for example on a hot day they would buy more ice cream to sell to everyone). Although its only taken me a couple of minutes to write this, we were in there for several hours!
After that we headed over to Journey Into Your Imagination to do the ride and try and meet Figment. We had just missed him and he wasnt due back for a while so we decided to come back another time. We headed back to the resort to rest for an hour and collect Julie and Derek.
We left ASMo at five and a bus came straightaway for MGM. On arrival, we headed straight for the Osbourne Lights in order to catch the turning on ceremony. We could see people walking around with fluorescent drinks which at night was very effective! We managed to track down the stall selling them and procured a couple to see what they were like. Well, they were very alcoholic but pleasant, and I just got a kick out of having a glowing drink! It doesnt take much to amuse me you know!
It was really busy when we got to the Streets of America for the turn on of the lights. There was a bit of slapstick humour along the lines of Oh no, weve blown the switch, what are we going to do now? We found this amusing for the first couple of minutes but after that we just wished they would shut up and turn on the lights. Eventually they did, and what a spectacle it was! Absolutely brilliant (no pun intended). The photos dont do it justice:
The girls were being a bit miserable at this point but we then realised they hadnt eaten anything since breakfast nine hours earlier and they were much more amenable following some chicken nuggets and fries. We listened to Fantasmic which was ongoing while they had their tea; we had told Julie & Derek to go on and watch it while we waited with the girls. Jon went off to ride Tower of Terror and we waited for Julie & Derek to return from Fantasmic. They wanted to go back to ASMo but we were buoyed up, wanting to take advantage of the mild evening and decided to head to Downtown Disney; we said goodbye to the seniors and jumped on a bus to Saratoga Springs to check out the resort at last and then to walk over.
We were so excited when the bus arrived at SSR and completely wowed by the resort. We found it stunningly beautiful; perfect landscaping, fountains everywhere and a lovely atmosphere. We were so excited at the thought of actually staying here soon! We started to walk round to Downtown Disney (about five minutes from Congress Park, which are the buildings you can see from DTD). We sat on a bench and admired the view for ages as we were just so thrilled to finally be there. Having seen so many photos on the Internet we knew what to expect but were still knocked out by the beauty of the resort; I think its fair to say Jon & I were both a little overwhelmed at our luck at being DVC owners here.
We looked around lots of shops at DTD and I saw a fantastic oil painting of Cinderellas Castle. Although the exchange rate is very much in our favour at the moment, I couldnt quite justify the $30,000 price tag!
We jumped on a bus back to ASMo. What a great day!
