Don't Mind the Blurry Pics * Finished 10/19/06

[MinnieM21]

I'm loving your trip report! Thanks sooo much for sharing all of your pictures. I'm looking forward to the rest!

 

[BeckWhy]

Sorry guys, I have to put you on hold until I get the DVD made up for the family of the pics I took. I'm sorry. I'll be back to write more soon.

 

[Uncle Remus]

64 pics of Lights, Motors, Action...
yeah, I could tell that was your fave
Lovin' your report.
And thanks for postin' all of the stunt show,
now I can say I've seen it and I won't be
there til NEXT WEEK

 

[BeckWhy]

64 pics of Lights, Motors, Action...
yeah, I could tell that was your fave
Lovin' your report.
And thanks for postin' all of the stunt show,
now I can say I've seen it and I won't be
there til NEXT WEEK

I didn't take pics of the whole show. I'm not sure if I'd say it was my favorite, but it was definately up there. I originally wanted to video it (among other shows like Indiana Jones), but I didn't think I had enough memory card space.

 

[BeckWhy]

So after lunch I decided We should head over to the Backlot Tour since I haven't been on it in God knows how long (it was closed in 2004 and I didn't ride it in 2002).

The changed the "pre-show" or whatever you want to call it a bit since I was on the ride last. There wasn't a boat there last time, I can't remember exactly was there. Anyways, the last time I rode the Backlot Tour we were in that little "pre-show," my sister, Kelly, and I. Its one of the few memories I have left of her. I couldn't believe she actually did it with me and not one of my other siblings; she was a bit on the shy side, unlike me who is a ham! If I remember, I'll try to scan the pics so you can see. Well sorta see, I mean we are kinda little and covered in rain gear.

Anyways, if that's your family up there, lol, I have lots of pics!

 

[BeckWhy]

Moving on with the tour. You walk from the "pre-show" to the tour tram and they had these like ski-doos and ATVs out. Eric was all into the ATVs. He's into that, he just started teaching me how to ride them in the wilderness. He's pretty experienced, and went through a river. I followed him not knowing completely about controling the ATV and it rolled on me. Like total slow-mo too! It took like 5 mins for the whole thing to take place. Anyways it was funnier than all get out. I fell into the river which was frozen... . Anyways at that point I was like, we have to go back to the house before I get sick. HAHAH I wish I had a video camera then! Anyways, sorry for the degression.
Wait I have another one. So the other day we were up at his parents house (100 acres mostly wooded with trails) and I wanted to ride the ATV (I think I get a pretty good workout out of it man!). So we go to the shed to get it. And there are cobwebs everywhere. And I'm not talking like baby cobwebs. Man they were like thick as priarie (sp) grass. Anyways I'm all like EWW EWW Get off me and then I feel this pinching on my leg. So I start whiping off my leg to get the cobwebs off. Well it doesn't stop. So I grab my pants where it's ichy and then Eric is like "Stop being a baby" so I let it go and I feel it again and I grab my pants again, but this time.. I felt something hard in there. I started to flip out! OMG I was screaming and going crazy. Eric's like "TAKE YOUR PANTS OFF!" You know so he can stomp on them and kill the bug. So I'm about to do it and he's like "STOP! There it is!" Dude you have know idea it was like a manthis (sp) and it was freakin like 5 inches long! OMG So I start spazzing again. How did this huge thing get up my pants. So I take the ATV and drive around and then Eric is like "Go put it back" And I'm like "ARE YOU CRAZY! I'M NEVER GOING THERE AGAIN!" HAHA So he had to put it back. OMG I get so grossed out just thinking about it. EWW! Do those things bite or sting?

Anyways, back to our regularly scheduled program!
Well these ATVs are like crazy they look like they can float in water, withstand pointblank shots or whatever. HAHA! They were pretty cool.

This was one of the longer waits we had. We probably waited 15 mins. But it appeared like they waited until they could fill the entire tram. Because it was PACKED!
These are the new Pontiac GTOs (or as I like to call them "The Poor Man's Corvette"). I guess they used them in preparing for Lights, Motors, Action.

I'm kinda disappointed they removed parts of the tour for Lights, Motors, Action. I love that show and all, but I loved see those TV houses and stuff. Oh Well.

On AllEars they have a menu for the Backlot Canteen. Which serves drinks and all that. Well we tried to find it, asked cast members, ya-di-ya-di-ya, but no one knew anything about it.

We got to Indiana Jones about 15 mins before it started. The line was curving around the Dip Site and all that. Eric wanted a beer and I had to have a Mickey Premium Ice Cream bar ($2.50) at least once on the trip, so Eric went to the Dip Site to get beer and I went to the ice cream cart that was nearby. They only had Bud Lite, which he wasn't impressed with, but he also got a frozen lemonade ($9.10). Sorry guys I forgot to take pics, my ice cream was melting like crazy. Anyways, but the time I finished my ice cream bar they were letting people in for Indie, so we just went in and watched it.

After it was over, I tried to look for the well, but couldn't find it. Anyways, we headed back to the room for naps. Eric wanted Doritos so I went and got a big bag of them for him ($3.72). He also bought 3 16 oz Budweisers from Everything Pop for $15.98.

 

[BeckWhy]

We headed back to Disney Studios for our dinner at the Sci-Fi Dine In Theater.

There were a lot of people waiting, but they were taking walk-ups. We checked in about 15 mins early and were seated at our ADR time.
I ordered the spinach-artichoke dip, BBQ chicken sandwich, and a apple crisp for dessert. Eric got onion rings, ribs, and a strawberry milkshake for dessert. He also ordered a Fosters to drink. Total came to $69.14 for the food and the beer was $7.00 with tip.

OK, prepare yourself for my review. This was the worse meal I have ever had. I mean I've gone to TGI-Fridays and found french fries in my broccoli cheese soup and green beans mixed with my french fries... whatever. My spinach-artichoke dip was good. Eric ate a lot of it. The onion rings were to thick cut and weren't cooked enough so they still had that raw onion flavor which Eric hates. Plus we were only given ketchup for a dip. I took only two or three bites out of my sandwich. The chicken had no flavor. I thought it was supposed to be BBQ? And I couldn't taste the Gouda which is one of my favorite cheeses. I ate mostly fries. Eric's ribs were undercooked. I remember the last time I had undercooked ribs (Hoop Dee Doo). EWWW! You had to wrestle with it to get any meat. Of course Eric starts feeling sick. Dessert time. I didn't really want a milkshake and none of the desserts tickled my pickle. The apples were undercooked. It was like eating a raw apple (which I love, just not in my apple crisp). The topping was good though, would have been better if there weren't nuts in it. The ice cream was good. Eric's milkshake didn't take like strawberries at all. It tasted like it was made with the strawberry drink mix you get for your milk. Which I don't like. Now if it was the chocolate kind, it'd probably be better.

We left and it was about 7:30. I had seen someone walk by with a stuffed Ewok. OMG I WAS IN LOVE! I had to have one! They were the cutest things ever. I couldn't believe I didn't see them before when we were in the store. Well we went back and bought one. He was $12.78 with tax.

So we started to head over to Sunset Bvd for Fantasmic.
We walked passed Indie and I saw the well. I walked up to it and pulled the rope and it started talking. I don't know what it said. Eric was amased! There was an old couple walking by and they turned and looked a bit confused. So Eric starts telling them some of the secrets I have told him (which he kinda second guessed me on).

We walked through the villians store and Eric had to buy the Jack Skeleton (sp) hat ($25.56).

It was like 8:00 when we got to Fantasmic. As we were walking through they started making an announcement "There is only standing left" or something. I'm like that's a bunch of crock, we can find two seats somewhere. Oh and trust me there were seats all over the place! The CMs just wouldn't let you down the stairs to sit there. They just yelled at you and told you to keep moving. Eric was getting very annoyed. I didn't mind standing, but where they told us we had to stand you couldn't see. It was pointless. So I justified leaving because I have it on video anyways. Anyways we were leaving and a CM yelled at us for walking the wrong way. We are leaving, DUH! Eric wanted somethng to drink so we got a Sprite at the little consession place there ($2.50).

Eric wasn't feeling really well, so we walked passed Tower of Terror and got out EMH bracelets by Rock 'n' Roller Coaster. We decided to ride it one last time and take a memorably picture (it's on Eric's computer) and buy it. We did rock 'n' roll faces. It's cool. We bought two 5 x 7s for $21.25.

Since Eric wasn't feeling well enough, he didn't want to ride Tower of Terror. But I wanted to walk through the grounds and take pics. The line was coming out the entrance. It said only 5 mins, but when you actually talked to the CMs they said it was 45 min. Screw that. I told Eric I would meet him at the store. I got there and he was walking the opposite direction towards where the elevators drop you off. Anyways, we left after that.

Fantasmic had gotten out by then. We went to the bus stop and the line was going past Caribbean Beach's queue. I said, let's just sit and wait the line will get lower. Well we did. Buses were coming every 2 mins. That was pretty good, but after one bus would take a bunch, the line would fill up to it's original position. We waited an hour before getting in line. It was ok though because it was nice out.



Total Expenses for the Day on Food and Drink:
Disney Dining Plan: $0
Out of Pocket: $32.08

Total Money Saved So Far: $271.83

 

[never_enough_pooh]

Great trip report!! I can't wait to read and see more!!!

 

[pumba]

thanks again for a great report.....I love Fantasmic when I can sit down.....right?......thanks again

 

[BeckWhy]

I want to thank everyone for the support and for checking it out. I feel very.. I don't know what the word is. But I feel really good that I'm bringing a lot of you joy and what not. I don't even care if you read my stories, I took a lot of pics in hopes they would tell a story of their own.


Pumba: I don't think I would have minded standing for Fantasmic, since we pretty much have to stand for the other firework shows anyways. It was the location in which we had to stand. There were people everywhere and you just couldn't see. Also Eric was not feeling well, which is how he was for most of the trip.

 

[BeckWhy]

I would just like to add something that really has nothing to do with my trip but because it happened to me today. I've heard/read a lot of reports about misbehaving children in WDW. I personally didn't witness any children behaving badly. I did notice a lot of parents pushing their kids a bit more than they should be pushed (keeping them in the parks all day with the heat, kids being hungry, tired, etc). Either way.. I went to see the new Jack&#* movie night with Eric. I'm not going to go into full detail but behind us sat an 11 year old; his dad was about 4 seats away from him. Through the whole movie the kid was talking extremely loud (to himself) and using very vulgar language (of course we were watching Jack#*& so what do I expect, ya know). And the kid continued to kick the back of my chair throughout the whole movie (which is hard to do because the isles are about 3.5 feet wide). Anyways, it really got me that his dad was right there, hearing all this and not doing anything about it. I know, I know there are bad parents out there. I swear if my kid ends up like that..... my goodness.... Well I complained and a manager came in the theater but of course the kid doesn't do anything while he is there. So once the manager leaves it starts up again. I really didn't mind the talking as long as he wasn't kicking my seat. Well I got so upset that I had to leave because I was shaking and all that. My goodness, it felt like I was being rear-ended. Anyways, my mom told me to go get my money back, so I went back and they gave me free tickets to any movie and appologized for it. They asked if I wanted him to be removed and I said it was probably pointless since the movie was going to be over in a few minutes anyways.

Sorry had to vent!

 

[Fairy_Tale_Bride]

I called the 800 number because I used my cell phone since I didn't want to run around the hotel looking for a hotel phone to use. The cast member on the other line was all confused about why I was calling. I told him that at check in the cast member told me to call the number after 3:30 to get our room number. He asked me all my information again, and all of Eric's information and still didn't give me a room number. He finally transferred me to a cast member working at the front desk of Pop and he told us our room number and what building it was in.

Our room number was 3251. Not only was it a king room, but also in the 50s where I had requested it to be! It also turned out to be a room for the disabled and had a fridge and a big shower (instead of a tub). I was excited.
Here's some pictures of our room:

Here is our view:

Hey!! That was our room at POP in June!! Too funny!! We stayed there for the last 3 nights of our Disneymoon!!

 

[BeckWhy]

Hey!! That was our room at POP in June!! Too funny!! We stayed there for the last 3 nights of our Disneymoon!!

Aww! I hope you have a wonderful time. I loved the room and the location. The only problem was the kids in the room next door trying to open the connecting door to our room every day.

 

[BeckWhy]

On my last trip I found out that doing parks day after day after day was too tiring on my feet. So this trip I planned a "relaxation" day to hang out at the hotel, go to Downtown Disney, etc. I didn't plan a water park (though maybe I should have) since originally we were going to go in December.

We woke up about a half hour later than we had been. Or I did at least. My body won't let me sleep more than 9 hours at a time (unless I've had a surgury or opporation (sp) or something of the like). We headed to Everything Pop and got breakfast there. Today we both got bagels and Eric got a bottle of Coca-Cola. I didn't think then, but I should have made him just use his refillable mug. The total came to $6.88.

We headed to Downtown Disney first since I wanted to get all the Mr. Potatohead parts. Downtown Disney and Typhoon Lagoon share the same bus, so most of the people in line were going to the water park. Eric asked when we were going and I told him we weren't and that I hadn't planned for it. I think he was a little upset (which is weird, because he never wanted to go swimming).

Be careful, this Stitch spits!

We went into the World of Disney Store. I think this is probably my favorite place to shop. I wanted to go room by room and what not, but Eric just wanted to look for a Mad Hatter's hat. Which, appearently doesn't exist. Eric was very disappointed.

Anyways, there is this huge section of Disney based games. I want all of them!

 

[BeckWhy]

The first time we walked into Everything Pop from the transportation entrance I saw these Mickey plates and I wanted them so badly. They were a bit on the expensive side for me, since they are plastic and I have like a service for 16 everyday plate stuff and a service for 12 china set.

Anyways, at the World of Disney Store they had them all stacked nicely in a display.

Before leaving, I asked Eric's sister if his nefew had any favorite Disney characters (of course she asks me, which ones are from Disney). She said "just get him a sweater, he's grown out of his old ones." Which didn't help me much, since that's what I was planning on getting him in the first place, but there are so many different ones with different characters.. oh well.

Eric bought Austin a fleece sweater for $36.21 and I got a monorail stationary pad and a cup for my brother which was $17.04. It was a blue freezable cup that had Mickey on it and said Walt Disney World. I wasn't sure what to get my brother, since he won't wear the clothes, and I just had no idea. I thought I could get him a cup since he drinks a lot (not alcohol). The one I wanted to get him, which just said Walt Disney World on it was a little out of my price range. Either way, when my brother opened it he acted like he really liked it, so I did good!

Anyways, on to the Lego store!

Eric wanted to buy some Legos so bad. He loves Legos. He debated on getting a Technique Lego set then changed his mind.

Here is a view of the Saratoga Springs resort from Downtown Disney.

We walked over to the Westside since Eric wanted to buy a Cigar.

As soon as we got there I was like, "you want to go use this voucher at Planet Hollywood since it's not busy." Eric said yes. I assumed we'd have to order another meal or at least an appitizer (sp). We were seated immediately. Our waiter came up and asked us if we had a voucher. He said we didn't need to order anything else, we could just get the one meal and that was it. We ordered a BBQ cheeseburger platter and Eric got a Fosters and I got a Sweet Death Becomes Her.

This thing was on our table, I was trying to figure out what it was. I decided it must be a vase of some weird sort.

It turns out it's actually a souvenier (sp) mug or something.

I took a bite out of my half of the burger and something was weird. I couldn't tear the cheese. ***? It was the freaking PAPER that seperates the cheese slices! OMG! We decided not to complain because we didn't pay for the meal in the first place, so what good could come from complaining. Other than that the burger was pretty good. The cheese was still cold, and I like my cheese melted. My drinks was really good. Sweet. I should get the recipes for these drinks and make them at home! HAHA! Total for the voucher was $15.66 (we didn't tip on it, complain if you want, just remember the wrapper was still attached to the cheese) and the drinks were $14 after tip.

We went and got our free keychain after lunch. Then we went into the movie store, or whatever it is called Hollywood on Location. It's a nifty store, but expensive. They have original props and things that are signed. They had a Sopranos poster (I LOVE THE SOPRANOS!) that was signed by the cast. I wanted it so badly! It was freaking like $1000. I guess that's probably not that expensive, I dunno. I'd rather just walk up to James Gandolfini (sp) at a bar and ask for his John Hancock then.

We went into the magnet store, Eric thinking it sold magnets, like real magnets, not ones you put on your fridge. Then we went to the cigar shop. Eric talked to the guy and he made some suggestions. Eric bought two cigars (I don't have the receipt) that totaled about $40 - $45.

We went to the Virgin Megastore and Eric wanted to buy all sorts of stuff. He wanted to get the lastest season of Home Improvement (3 or 4, I can't remember) and I'm like "You already have it!" And he's like, "No I don't." And I'm like, "Well buy it, and then when you get home and realize you already have it, you can't return it, and be stuck out of $40." He didn't buy it. They had a sale going on, DVDs and CDs for $10. I don't buy CDs, but I love DVDs. I didn't find anything that I wanted though. We left. We tried to go to the magic store but it looked like it was closed. Here are some pics of the Westside.

 

[BeckWhy]

We headed back to the Marketplace so I could finally get my Potatohead parts. As we walked passed you could see Ragland Road (I think) and they had a bar thing outside and had freaking so many beers on tap. It's like Eric's dream. Too bad we didn't go there.

I didn't notice before but on the one side of the Lego store they have all these cool cityscapes set up.

I just want to point this out. See the building in the NYC pic, its white with the slanted roof or whatever. Well I saw a show on it once and all the architectural details it had and stuff. I was in love with it. I thought it was the City Court Building. I went to NYC like 2 times and couldn't find it. Then my sister moved to Brooklyn and you could see it in the skyline across the river. Then one day we were shopping 5th Ave and I turned and looked up Madision Ave and there was my building! I was excited! Anyways, it's the CitiGroup building. HAHA my bad!

On to Potatohead. Eric and I just set up a bunch of boxes. I had a list of parts, but there were parts there that weren't on my list (and parts on my list that weren't there). Eventually I gave up trying to find all the pieces piece by piece. We just started filling boxes. It took 8 boxes, and then 6 parts. The damage was $157.62. If I would have thought it through more, I wouldn't have gotten all the parts, but I assumed I wouldn't be returning for a long time. (I ended up returning 4 parts that Eric got duplicates of, that was $12.78 returned to me.)

It was raining when we were done. We returned to Pop Century.

Eric wanted to smoke one of his cigars, so we walked around the hotel. I took pictures.

How come they got balloons?

 

[BeckWhy]

I believe the number on the cell phone is Pop Century's.

 

[MickeyMaz]

Very, very, very good and detailed Trip Report. We will all be hard pressed to match this kind of reporting when we get back from our trip. We can only hope.

 

[BeckWhy]

We took the bus to the Magic Kingdom where we took the ferry to the Wilderness Lodge for dinner. All the different types of transportation and all the different locations where to catch them confused poor Eric so much.

Here's what I call the water bridge. It's where the canal bridges over the road!

FYI, We were late, about 15 min late. I thought we had lost our table. I checked in and we were find. I asked the hostest how long she thought, and she said it was be at least 15 mins but probably more like 20. I asked if the beeper things worked in the lounge and she said yes, and so we headed over there.

We sat down and the waiter came over and said he would be just a moment. He didn't even take 5 steps from us when the beeper went off. Jeeze it was only like 3 mins! LOL

 

[BeckWhy]

We were sat in the back corner of the restaurant. As we walked in they were doing a ketchup call. Eric was confused at first. I explained it to him, and he's like "why would everyone bring their ketchup to you, you only need one bottle." Nevermind!

Our waiter was Jeffro. I only remember that because I believe I read someone else's exprience with him. I can't remember. Anyways we ordered the skillet, Eric got a Sierra Nevada beer (some of his friends used to only drink Sierra Nevada) and I got a chocolate shake.

The cornbread was brought out promptly. It was good, I'm not a fan of cornbread. But the butter was amazing. I don't think I tasted butter that good since I was a tike! I could have ate the butter by itself! Anyways, I like my cornbread really warm so the butter melts all into it, and the cornbread wasn't warm enough, but its ok, I just put more butter on!

Then came the salads. These were really good. Eric doesn't like onions so he gave me his.

We waited a while for our drinks. I didn't try Eric's beer, but he liked it. My shake was good, it was really thick though, hard to drink.

Then came the skillet. DIBS ON THE RIBS! I love ribs! These were really good. The sauce was nice and tangy. The meat just fell off the bone! YUM! The beans were, well not good to me. Definately not what I think of when I think of baked beans. The corn had no flavor. Maybe I'm spoiled since I live in farm country and we can get sweet corn anywhere. The chicken was good too, nice and juicy. The star of the meal though, and I was surprised since Eric and I are big rib people (we only ate like two ribs each), the pulled pork. OMG it was so amazing! Eric still can't stop talking about it. He asked Jeffro for the recipe.

Jeffro came and removed the big skillet and Eric asked for more pulled pork so we got a skillet of just pork.

We never did get the recipe. I don't know if we would have really got it in the first place or not. Eric was a bit disappointed. Anyways, we got our desserts to go. I got the Kalua (sp) chocolate cake and Eric got the Happiest Celebration on Earth cheesecake. The total was $78.24. I don't have the receipt for the beer, but I want to think it was probably around $15 (Eric got two).

Jeffro didn't do anything, of course we didn't do anything like ask for ketchup or anything. But by the end of the dinner Eric picked up on all the stuff that happened. For instance, the one guy yelled out "EVERYONE QUIET HE'S ON THE PHONE!" Eric really liked Whispering Canyon Cafe. He can't stop talking about it.

We headed back to our hotel. I took a few bites of my cake, didn't have much flavor to me (I have been noticing, that chocolate cakes have no flavor to me) and had a bite of Eric's cheesecake. The cheesecake was so good!

Total Expenses for the Day on Food and Drink:
Disney Dining Plan: $0
Out of Pocket: $29
Planet Hollywood Voucher: $0

Total Money Saved So Far: $356.95 (DDP) + $15.66 (Planet Hollywood)