Here is a quick over-view of what's to come in future updates:
We were out all day every day, usually from 9am or earlier until at least midnight. Our two weeks were spent:
14th: Check-in, Downtown Disney
15th: Magic Kingdom
16th: Magic Kingdom
17th: Universal Studios/TNA taping
18th: Animal Kingdom
19th: Epcot
20th: Premium Outlets, Magic Kingdom, Cinderella's Royal Table
21st: Epcot, Downtown Disney
22nd: Disney Hollywood Studios, Hooters
23rd: Islands of Adventure, TGI Friday's
24th: Kennedy Space Center, Downtown Disney
25th: Downtown Disney, Epcot
26th: Seaworld, Magic Kingdom
27th: Magic Kingdom, Disney Hollywood Studios
28th: Magic Kingdom rope-drop, airport
I took 3288 photographs altogether, not counting official Seaworld ones and Photopass. I also ended up coming home with a new camera as the one I had taken died on the second day. Fortunately we got a good deal and a great new camera!
We had the most amazing time, it was the trip I have always dreamed of taking to Disney. I could easily have just done Disney parks, and as you can see we had no time for the water parks, etc. On Monday night DH reminded me that "Disney is more than the Magic Kingdom, you know...", I'd completely forgotten that there were three more parks.
Personally I'm glad we didn't spend the extra for a Disney Resort hotel, because we were barely in the hotel at all, we didn't even use the pool there, it was literally just somewhere to crash and burn before we set off again! We got 2 weeks at the Doubletree Hilton Seaworld for the price of one week at the cheapest Disney resort. We mainly ate at whatever park we were at. At all of the Disney parks the food was delicious, though it was probably Tuesday before we saw a vegetable, and that was off-property.
We stuck to our budget all the way through, we had allowed $200/day, and for the first week we only spent between $50-100 per day (not counting Camera Day), which included $14/day parking at Disney (the only time we got our act together and took the hotel bus was when we went to Seaworld). The first week's leftover money meant that we could also do Kennedy Space Center and Seaworld on the second week. At Seaworld I also paid an extra $50 for a backstage tour with a dolphin trainer, which was AMAZING.
Anyway, on with the photographs! I've tried to group them by park.
Magic Kingdom
Meeting Tigger and Pooh:
I have a morbid fear of people in animal/mascot suits, so the character meet and greets were a HUGE deal, but I didn't want to miss out! DH decided to break me in gently with one of my favourites, he figured "...no-one could be scared of Winnie The Pooh!".
A sneaky peek at the Beast's castle in the new Fantasyland expansion (from Winnie the Pooh ride queue).
Why yes I am 28, and yes that is a light-up Tinkerbell balloon. When we were planning the trip DH would often ask me about the things I'd always wanted to do in Disney World, and one of them was that ever since there was a Disney advert on TV with a little girl running with a big bunch of Mickey balloons, I wanted a bunch of Disney World balloons! The funniest bit was all the kids trailing past pointing "But
Mommmm, she's older than me and
she's got one..." Sorry mothers, I apologise for giving your kids whining ammo!
I read online that if you ask any of the balloon sellers in any of the parks, they will let you have a photo taken holding their balloons!! I'm disappointed it didn't come out that well, but I have the memory.
Animal Kingdom
AK was the only park that we only visited once. We did the park bits, but we didn't see many of the animals as it was just too hot. That day I ended up with mild sunstroke, so that was our only early night, we were back at the hotel by just after 9pm. I enjoyed it, but not as much as the others.
Universal Studios
The only thing DH specifically said he wanted to do in Florida was get tickets for a TNA Impact Wrestling taping at Universal, so I found the email address and reserved us some free "VIP" passes before we set off. The actual show was pretty cool, but I was a bit disappointed with the whole experience of it, as the passes implied that we would be allowed early entry and we were stood around waiting for nearly two and a half hours! There were employees walking up and down the queue touting $20 wristbands for photographs with two of the female wrestlers (one of whom is also a waitress at Hooters..."where the photos with her are free" as DH pointed out!).
EPCOT
I loved Epcot. After Magic Kingdom that was our favourite park. The first day we went we did World Showcase, and then the other half-days we did we did the different areas around Spaceship Earth, etc. We were there for the Flower and Garden Festival, which had loads of cute Disney topiaries.
They had my favourite show of the holiday: Turtle Talk With Crush. I have no idea how they do it, but it is AMAZING! I loved Soarin' too, though I was less keen on the 80min queue behind a group of students on their senior graduation trip. They weren't annoying on purpose, just in an excited teen way, too loud and boisterous. We really enjoyed the World Showcase, I picked pearl in Japan, and we had amazing cookies from the Werther's shop in Germany. We ate at American Adventure Pavillion (I find it really funny that all the other countries are just "Mexico" or "China", apart from the US which is "American Adventure"), and were in time for the fife and drum corps show in the restuarant. The American Adventure show was very good, even if the history was a little sketchy, I really enjoyed it.
Amazing ceiling in China pavillion.
Picking my pearl in Japan.
Disney Hollywood Studios
We also went to see Beauty and the Beast show (I think it would be better if they had done "Festival of..." like they did with The Lion King, rather than chopping out vast chunks of the story, the show didn't make sense), and of course Fantasmic, which was awesome.
Islands of Adventure
DH decided that our first ride of Islands of Adventure should be Bluto's Bilge-Rat Barges. :doh: We got DRENCHED. There aren't many photos of Jurassic Park land, because my lasting memory will be standing in the bathroom trying to dry my knickers! I was not amused. But a new pair of trousers later (jean-shorts and water do not make for a happy day trip!) we were off to Wizarding World of Harry Potter.
WWHP was amazing, everything looks just like it does in the film. All of the shops are window-dressed, even if they are not really open, and a lot of the displays move. Inside the shops are all fitted out too (even if they are just the dummy shops, if you can see through the windows they are fitted out properly inside). The actual shops are WAY too crowded! The queue for Olivander's was over 90mins, so we didn't see the wand selection show. We ate at The Three Broomsticks, and tried the Butterbeer (it's delicious!). The Forbidden Journey ride (inside Hogwarts) is absolutely amazing, a mix of rollercoaster, simulator, and anamatronics, I've never seen anything like it. Even DH loved it and he hates Harry Potter.
Hogwarts!!
Hogsmead. The snow looked so strange in the blazing sun!
The Frog Choir. We saw this and the Tri-Wizard Spirit Rally, both were really good.
Inside the Owl Post. There is a woman outside with a mail-franking stamp, she said she once had a couple take their wedding invitations for postmarks, and she had to stamp 197 pieces of mail for them!!
NASA
My Dad was the one who encouraged us to go to the Kennedy Space Center, as he would love to go himself. If you go, book tickets online, and pay the extra $5 for the better tickets. Normal admission is $45. We paid $50 and for the extra $5/ticket we got a $10 meal voucher (when we added drinks we just had to pay an additional 89c for a main course and large drink), and a commemorative coin made from metal that had been taken into space worth $7 each. I wish we'd have gone on the first Tuesday, as that was when the Discovery set off to Washington on the back of a modified 747, and I would have loved to have seen that! But with us never been in we didn't see the news, and we missed any announcements about it (though apparently Mum and Dad watched it on TV! :lol: ).
The Vehicle Assembly Building. The American flag on the side is 20 storeys high, and each of the stars is 6ft tip to tip. The VAB has a special air-con system, because if it didn't clouds would form and it would rain indoors! The size of everything was just overwhelming.
The Rocket Garden. Apparently they all have to be securely bolted down because they are still counted as weapons of war.
Inside the Gemini escape pod. I'm only 5'2" and I felt squashed in, they said the average astronaut was 5'10", so it must be very uncomfortable when they have space suits on and are cramped up like that.
We also did the Shuttle Launch Experience which was fascinating. The sign outside the door reads "If you are carrying anything which would hit the floor if you were turned upside down and shaken, please put it in a secure place." :lol:
Seaworld
We had actually changed our minds about going to Seaworld, right up until the morning that we booked (we even set off in the car to go to Disney, and then changed our minds and went back to book tickets!). We saved $10 by booking online, but it was still $71 each. On top of that we paid an extra $50 and I did the Backstage Dolphin Tour, which involved feeding the baby dolphins with the trainers at the Nursery Pool, and then going with trainers to Dolphin Cove where we each got our own dolphin and were shown the hand signals for their tricks. It was an awesome experience and well worth the $50 even though it was only an hour. We got to pet and feed the older dolphins and that was just amazing.
Downtown Disney
We spent a lot of evenings at Downtown Disney, even if we just went to Ghiradelli's for ice creams (which were both huge and delicious!). I loved the giant
Disney Store there. If you get counter service meals at any restaurants in the parks, the bottom half of your receipt is a 20% off voucher to use on merchandise in one shop in each park, and World of Disney at DTD. We saved loads on gifts and souvenirs this way! I also managed to get a trip on Characters In Flight balloon (apparently it is a bit unreliable, getting stopped for weather, etc), which I was really excited about as I've never been on a balloon before.
Giant waffle cones!
View from Characters in Flight.
Fulton's Crab House. I loved the look of FCH, though we didn't eat there.
I am currently working on my 20-04-12 update, which will hopefully be finished this week.
The ballerina hippos!
Yup, I was rubbish at taking foodie snaps. I blame the famishment of spending all the days walking!
We did join the back of the queue that was already inside, but that was past C3PO, right through the "scanner" arch at the top of the ramp! The quoted wait time was well over an hour, so I was really happy that we got on so quickly! When we left the queues were out of the door again.
