DisneyJedi
Earning My Ears
- Joined
- Mar 16, 2001
- Messages
- 39
Hello everyone! After a short day at Universal Studios yesterday and some much-needed sleep my wife and I feel much better. It's back to Disney for us. A certain sense of comfort comes over us while contrasting Disney with Universal.
Today is a good example of making use of a hopper pass.
We started off the day around 9:15am-ish, driving over to the TTC and taking the ferry boat over to Magic Kingdom. Once at the Magic Kingdom, we immediately headed for Fantasyland hoping to tackle those attractions we missed on monday.
I know Dumbo is considered a kiddie ride, but both my wife and I wanted to go on it. Check out my post
HERE to read about the annoying people we encountered on the line with us. Also just because a posted sign says 30 minute wait, it could take close to an hour. After much waiting, we finally got to ride our Dumbo. I took a bunch of photos while flying around. Got a good shot of where 20,000 Leagues used to be.
Next we grabbed a fastpass to Pooh since the line always appeared long for that one. Our comeback time wasn't too long if I remember correctly.
We went on Snow White's scary adventures after grabbing the fastpasses. The line was about 5 minutes to get on. I have always liked this one and today was no exception.
After some random walking, we boarded our huge honeypot and off we went. This was a good attraction, but my sniffer must not have been working.. I didn;t smell any honey. I think I smelt petroleum grease at some point in the ride, but that's it. My wife said she smelled the honey smell outside the attraction, but I didn't notice. I was a bit disappointed by this. I'd of liked Mr. Toads Wild ride. I'm still scratching my head why that was removed.
Anyway the Peter Pan line was an hour long, so we had to pass it. We wanted to finally use a Plus option on our passes to visit River Country, so in haste we passed it up and did a little shopping in Cinderella's Castle. My wife found a neat crystal Mickey mouse that she liked, so she got it.
On the way out of Magic Kingdom, we snapped photos along the way, stopping at the statue of Walt and Mickey in front of the Castle. I made a deal with some guy and their family to trade cameras and we'd photograph each other in front of the statues and the castle. Before I knew it, the family handed me 3 cameras and I had me snap pictures with each one. I hope I did a good job. We had the family photograph my wife and I on my digital camera. The guy that snapped the picture did an ok job, but he could have cropped in a little better. Regardless I was happy to finally get a pic of me and my wife in front of the castle. We bought a 2001 Disney picture frame for it.
Soon we were back in our car. I think we took the ferry back since there was one waiting when we approached. It is real tricky to get to River Country by car. There is a lane all the way on the right for busses that says "busses only". Take the lane anyway. You need it to get to Fort Wilderness to park and take a bus to River Country. I drove around in circles awhile before I decided to ignore the "bus only" sign to get where I needed to go.
We only spent an hour or so at River Country, but while we were there, we were surprised that the park wasn't all that big and there wasn't a tube ride around a lazy river. I had read the literature and it said it was a laid back water park (which was true), but I somehow expected there to be a river to just sit in all day and float around in. That's what I get for not looking at a map before going there. I had read rumors that this park would close sometime in the near future, so we didn't want to miss the opportunity to try it out for the first time. We did a couple slides.. the one in the big pool slapped my belly when I hit the water. That didn't feel great. It did however feel great to finally be in the water. We had the opportunity to swim in the hotel pool everyday, but it was always crowded. We're just anti-splash advocates I guess. I liked the hook on the cable line to swing into the water. I had to try that one out, but kept thinking that if I had let go too soon, I'd of hurt myself because the water wasn't any deeper than 5 feet there and I am 6'2. Anyway, we had an enjoyable experience at River Country. We had plans to try Typhoon lagoon tomorrow (which didn't pan out).
Ok.. we head back over to the TTC to grab the monorail to Epcot to finish the attractions we missed there. We immediately went to the Land and grabbed a fastpass for the tour there. Then we ate the dryiest crunchiest chicken you can imagine from the Barbeque place. That was a mistake. My stomach didn't feel so good after, so we hurried to the nearby giftshop and found some mint candies in a little Sucrets-type tin. $6! Highway robbery, but I bought them anyway. A secret.. pepermint candies can often be used to settle an upset stomach. They worked like a charm. I was feeling great again in no time. So anyway, we jump on the Land tour and discover that our tour guide is very demeaning. See
HERE for info on that.
Regardless of what happened, I enjoyed the tour and was again amused by the growing methods. I'm from a farming family on eatern Long Island, NY and couldn;t help, but think of how we should have tried growing veggies like this.
Still in the land, we figure we should check out Food Rocks since there was a show starting in 5 minuts. Hardly anyone was in the theater with us, so it was like a private screening of sorts. Pretty cool show! I did wonder where Kitchan Carabet went though. When did they replace that?
Following the Land, we went to the Living Seas. I couldn't really remember this one from when I was a kid It was remotely familiar, but not familiar enough I guess. We had the option of watching the movie or going to our pods right away. We opted for the pods and skipped the movie. I don't think I did ever see that movie. Oh well.. there didn't seem to be much to the ride. There was someone swimming in scuba gear in the water that waved to us. We saw lots of pretty fish, but that was pretty much it. Was the attraction always this uneventful? Do the hydrolators (elevators) actually move or is it some rickity motion followed by the door just opening to outside. It just didn't feel like an elevator to me.
Well.. it is starting to head into twilight outside and we remember that we skipped the life pavilian, so we head there. We had just picked up some blue and red icy thing from a Coke refreshment stand by Test Track, so rather than entering the pavilian, we sat ona bench outside for 15 minutes and watched a bored cm at the entrance rub a twig against the cement wall. She was absolutely bored out of her mind, though some family that knew her eventually exited the pavillian and she seemed excited to see them. Once we finished our frosty thing we went inside and came to the conclusion we probably could have eaten it in that area since some food was served in there. We made our way to Body Wars for a nausiating experience (on me, not the wife). This one shook a bunch more than Star Tours at MGM. Of course my wife loved it and if I had remembered to take some Dramamene, I'd of probably enjoyed it more too. Here's hoping for a permanent cure to motion sickness!
We were definitely into twilight when we left the pavilian and Epcot was all lit brilliantly. I just love the way the neon lights and water fountains are illuminated. We stepped in Innoventions mostly observing what we saw. We mainly went to look at the little Tom Morrow robots. They are so cute, says my wife. We spent a bunch of time in some Mickey Mouse gift shop for a while after this. I bought my wife a Mickey watch exclusive to Walt Disney World. She was very happy about it and that made me feel great.
It was time to say goodbye to Epcot, for we wouldn't return for the little honeymoon time we had left. We covered what we could, which was a great taste of this park.
Back to Magic Kingdom! That's right.. we liked Spectromagic so much on thursday that we wanted to see it again (and hoped the crowds would be much smaller). We barely made it to Magic Kingdom in time. Within 5 minutes of finding a place to stand the Parade made its way past the front benches by the train station. We were packed in with strangers, front to back. It wasn't s comfortable view, but at least we could see the parade. It was as good as the other day, except not as good as sitting down for it.
The parade finished and we walked over into Tomorrowland to find something to eat. Not much choice at the place below Astro Orbiter.. just turkey legs. That's kinda weird. We wound-up getting something to drink and walking back to Main Street to find a place to stand for the fireworks. We got a lovely view with a tree blocking the way. The entire honeymoon I picked places to view fireworks behind tall buildings, trees, people, etc. Next time I know better. Still we had a watchable spot.
That rounded out our day. Sadly, one more to go...
Today is a good example of making use of a hopper pass.
We started off the day around 9:15am-ish, driving over to the TTC and taking the ferry boat over to Magic Kingdom. Once at the Magic Kingdom, we immediately headed for Fantasyland hoping to tackle those attractions we missed on monday.
I know Dumbo is considered a kiddie ride, but both my wife and I wanted to go on it. Check out my post
HERE to read about the annoying people we encountered on the line with us. Also just because a posted sign says 30 minute wait, it could take close to an hour. After much waiting, we finally got to ride our Dumbo. I took a bunch of photos while flying around. Got a good shot of where 20,000 Leagues used to be.
Next we grabbed a fastpass to Pooh since the line always appeared long for that one. Our comeback time wasn't too long if I remember correctly.
We went on Snow White's scary adventures after grabbing the fastpasses. The line was about 5 minutes to get on. I have always liked this one and today was no exception.
After some random walking, we boarded our huge honeypot and off we went. This was a good attraction, but my sniffer must not have been working.. I didn;t smell any honey. I think I smelt petroleum grease at some point in the ride, but that's it. My wife said she smelled the honey smell outside the attraction, but I didn't notice. I was a bit disappointed by this. I'd of liked Mr. Toads Wild ride. I'm still scratching my head why that was removed.
Anyway the Peter Pan line was an hour long, so we had to pass it. We wanted to finally use a Plus option on our passes to visit River Country, so in haste we passed it up and did a little shopping in Cinderella's Castle. My wife found a neat crystal Mickey mouse that she liked, so she got it.
On the way out of Magic Kingdom, we snapped photos along the way, stopping at the statue of Walt and Mickey in front of the Castle. I made a deal with some guy and their family to trade cameras and we'd photograph each other in front of the statues and the castle. Before I knew it, the family handed me 3 cameras and I had me snap pictures with each one. I hope I did a good job. We had the family photograph my wife and I on my digital camera. The guy that snapped the picture did an ok job, but he could have cropped in a little better. Regardless I was happy to finally get a pic of me and my wife in front of the castle. We bought a 2001 Disney picture frame for it.
Soon we were back in our car. I think we took the ferry back since there was one waiting when we approached. It is real tricky to get to River Country by car. There is a lane all the way on the right for busses that says "busses only". Take the lane anyway. You need it to get to Fort Wilderness to park and take a bus to River Country. I drove around in circles awhile before I decided to ignore the "bus only" sign to get where I needed to go.
We only spent an hour or so at River Country, but while we were there, we were surprised that the park wasn't all that big and there wasn't a tube ride around a lazy river. I had read the literature and it said it was a laid back water park (which was true), but I somehow expected there to be a river to just sit in all day and float around in. That's what I get for not looking at a map before going there. I had read rumors that this park would close sometime in the near future, so we didn't want to miss the opportunity to try it out for the first time. We did a couple slides.. the one in the big pool slapped my belly when I hit the water. That didn't feel great. It did however feel great to finally be in the water. We had the opportunity to swim in the hotel pool everyday, but it was always crowded. We're just anti-splash advocates I guess. I liked the hook on the cable line to swing into the water. I had to try that one out, but kept thinking that if I had let go too soon, I'd of hurt myself because the water wasn't any deeper than 5 feet there and I am 6'2. Anyway, we had an enjoyable experience at River Country. We had plans to try Typhoon lagoon tomorrow (which didn't pan out).
Ok.. we head back over to the TTC to grab the monorail to Epcot to finish the attractions we missed there. We immediately went to the Land and grabbed a fastpass for the tour there. Then we ate the dryiest crunchiest chicken you can imagine from the Barbeque place. That was a mistake. My stomach didn't feel so good after, so we hurried to the nearby giftshop and found some mint candies in a little Sucrets-type tin. $6! Highway robbery, but I bought them anyway. A secret.. pepermint candies can often be used to settle an upset stomach. They worked like a charm. I was feeling great again in no time. So anyway, we jump on the Land tour and discover that our tour guide is very demeaning. See
HERE for info on that.
Regardless of what happened, I enjoyed the tour and was again amused by the growing methods. I'm from a farming family on eatern Long Island, NY and couldn;t help, but think of how we should have tried growing veggies like this.
Still in the land, we figure we should check out Food Rocks since there was a show starting in 5 minuts. Hardly anyone was in the theater with us, so it was like a private screening of sorts. Pretty cool show! I did wonder where Kitchan Carabet went though. When did they replace that?
Following the Land, we went to the Living Seas. I couldn't really remember this one from when I was a kid It was remotely familiar, but not familiar enough I guess. We had the option of watching the movie or going to our pods right away. We opted for the pods and skipped the movie. I don't think I did ever see that movie. Oh well.. there didn't seem to be much to the ride. There was someone swimming in scuba gear in the water that waved to us. We saw lots of pretty fish, but that was pretty much it. Was the attraction always this uneventful? Do the hydrolators (elevators) actually move or is it some rickity motion followed by the door just opening to outside. It just didn't feel like an elevator to me.
Well.. it is starting to head into twilight outside and we remember that we skipped the life pavilian, so we head there. We had just picked up some blue and red icy thing from a Coke refreshment stand by Test Track, so rather than entering the pavilian, we sat ona bench outside for 15 minutes and watched a bored cm at the entrance rub a twig against the cement wall. She was absolutely bored out of her mind, though some family that knew her eventually exited the pavillian and she seemed excited to see them. Once we finished our frosty thing we went inside and came to the conclusion we probably could have eaten it in that area since some food was served in there. We made our way to Body Wars for a nausiating experience (on me, not the wife). This one shook a bunch more than Star Tours at MGM. Of course my wife loved it and if I had remembered to take some Dramamene, I'd of probably enjoyed it more too. Here's hoping for a permanent cure to motion sickness!
We were definitely into twilight when we left the pavilian and Epcot was all lit brilliantly. I just love the way the neon lights and water fountains are illuminated. We stepped in Innoventions mostly observing what we saw. We mainly went to look at the little Tom Morrow robots. They are so cute, says my wife.
We spent a bunch of time in some Mickey Mouse gift shop for a while after this. I bought my wife a Mickey watch exclusive to Walt Disney World. She was very happy about it and that made me feel great. It was time to say goodbye to Epcot, for we wouldn't return for the little honeymoon time we had left. We covered what we could, which was a great taste of this park.
Back to Magic Kingdom! That's right.. we liked Spectromagic so much on thursday that we wanted to see it again (and hoped the crowds would be much smaller). We barely made it to Magic Kingdom in time. Within 5 minutes of finding a place to stand the Parade made its way past the front benches by the train station. We were packed in with strangers, front to back. It wasn't s comfortable view, but at least we could see the parade. It was as good as the other day, except not as good as sitting down for it.
The parade finished and we walked over into Tomorrowland to find something to eat. Not much choice at the place below Astro Orbiter.. just turkey legs. That's kinda weird. We wound-up getting something to drink and walking back to Main Street to find a place to stand for the fireworks. We got a lovely view with a tree blocking the way. The entire honeymoon I picked places to view fireworks behind tall buildings, trees, people, etc. Next time I know better. Still we had a watchable spot.
That rounded out our day. Sadly, one more to go...
