Feeling Hot Hot Hot! The Rain Curse is Broken! Two Weeks of Fun in the Sun! COMPLETE

[GeminiAngel]

That place is drop dead unbelieveable!!!!!!!!!!!!

Erich-

Why your brothers didn't go into acting is beyond me.

 

[orangecats2]

I want to stay at the Chateau at Lake Louise! Can you swim in either of the lakes? I know Marcus did but how about humans?

 

[CandleontheWater]

I guess I'm in the minority, but I like the MSEP better than spectro. Maybe because it has Elliot, and I'm all for anything with Pete's Dragon references!

I have to vote for Lake Louise, I think the Chateau makes it!

 

[shan23877]

Now that hotel is my kind of camping! Not really too outdoorsy

As always... I love your brothers.

 

[Lifelong_Dreamer]

OMG your photos are amazing. you have me wanting to check out travel sites next.

Banff is great but pricey! Especially if you want to stay at the Chateau Lake Louise or the Banff Springs in the actual township of Banff.

and I laughed out loud (mind you I am at work) at Erich the Bear. Its a wonder the staff didn't ask him to come back and "volunteer" daily, I bet he was zany.

It was really funny. Erich was "pressured" into doing it. When the presenter asked for a volunteer who was over 5ft Alek and I both looked at him and then Dad and Maria looked over at him (they were sitting in another part of the theatre). I wish I had made a video of it instead of taking the pictures but I had to preserve the camera battery.

Its hard to pick which is prettier - Lake Moraine is very serene, and it looks like Lake Louise was much busier with tourists. Why is it blue-green? is there a limestone base?

so hard to pick, so i pick them both!

The lakes are glacier fed, the sediment aka rock flour in the glacier water determines the colour. Basically the glacier is grinding against bedrock creating teeny tiny specks making the rock flour. It then flows into the lake creating the amazing colours.

Lake Louise is my pick although both are gorgeous. Love the updates. The pictures are beautiful.

Lake Louise seems to always win!

Lessa, I scrolled through and looked at your pictures and read as much as I could before I head to the airport. You got some great photos again...both at Disney and on your trip with your Dad.

We've not seen the Electrical Parade in years and are actually looking forward to it. I'll have to do a comparison myself.

I hope that you are enjoying your trip!

That place is drop dead unbelieveable!!!!!!!!!!!!

Erich-

Why your brothers didn't go into acting is beyond me.

It is never too late!

I want to stay at the Chateau at Lake Louise! Can you swim in either of the lakes? I know Marcus did but how about humans?

I don't think you would want to swim in those lakes, brrr! They are fed by glacier water. Also the temps never get all that high in Banff. For instance, while we were there the temps dropped down to nearly freezing levels at night.

You also don't want to drink the water. I was reading about it in one of my guide books. Apparently there is some sort of bacteria in the water from a certain species of animal , it can make you really sick if you ingest the water.

I guess I'm in the minority, but I like the MSEP better than spectro. Maybe because it has Elliot, and I'm all for anything with Pete's Dragon references!

I have to vote for Lake Louise, I think the Chateau makes it!

The Chateau is rather nice. It is too bad we didn't go down to the township of Banff, you would have fallen in love with the Banff Springs hotel. It looks like a fairytale castle.

Now that hotel is my kind of camping! Not really too outdoorsy

As always... I love your brothers.

Yeah, I would have liked to stay at the chateau, it is just a wee bit pricey though, I have been told that peak summer prices are right around $600.

 

[PirateKate]

Wow, I was incredibly behind. Finally caught up now.

Banff looks very beautiful. Isn't that the best name? Banff. It's even fun to type. I have to say, despite the beauty of it all, camping sounds perfectly miserable. Leaky tent, sleeping on the ground, too much food, not enough clothes...just not for me, I guess. It is lovely, though, so maybe in person, the views are enough to counteract the camping.

I think I prefer Spectromagic. I've only seen MSEP with a squirmy toddler, though, so that might not have been giving it a fair chance. It is something about the music, I think. Sometime, I'd love to get there early and wait for the perfect fireworks and parade spot. I used to love playing SNES with my brother, too, although I would never have thought of bringing it to Disney World.

 

[Lifelong_Dreamer]

Since you are all fans of the Chateau Lake Louise I thought you might enjoy seeing pictures of its equally beautiful sister hotel, the Banff Springs. It is located just 45 minutes down the road from Lake Louise in the township of Banff. While it does not have a beautiful lake at it's door it is more beautiful architecturally than the Chateau Lake Louise (in my opinion). It's physical setting isn't too shabby either.

Photos borrowed from various places on the internet since Dad said our trip was too short to make the actual trip into the town.

Not bad huh?

 

[Lifelong_Dreamer]

Wow, I was incredibly behind. Finally caught up now.

Banff looks very beautiful. Isn't that the best name? Banff. It's even fun to type. I have to say, despite the beauty of it all, camping sounds perfectly miserable. Leaky tent, sleeping on the ground, too much food, not enough clothes...just not for me, I guess. It is lovely, though, so maybe in person, the views are enough to counteract the camping.

I do love the name Banff! Camping was not a great experience for me, at least this time around. IF I ever do it again we will have a new tent, I will have a sleeping pad so I won't feel the ground and I will dump the excess food out of the car before we leave so I can pack more clothes. Dad has told me that if I go and visit him without Alek and Erich that he will take me to Banff and vacation "my way" aka we would bring the camper and camp like civilized people. The camper is pretty nice and would definitely be more comfortable. I think Dad doesn't know me that well though as vacationing MY WAY would mean staying at the Chateau or the Banff Springs! The discomfort of camping was definitely worth getting to see all the beautiful scenery.

I think I prefer Spectromagic. I've only seen MSEP with a squirmy toddler, though, so that might not have been giving it a fair chance. It is something about the music, I think. Sometime, I'd love to get there early and wait for the perfect fireworks and parade spot. I used to love playing SNES with my brother, too, although I would never have thought of bringing it to Disney World.

Alek and Erich don't go ANYWHERE without some form of portable game system whether it is their PSP or a Gameboy DS.

 

[jenbear123]

It's hard to believe there is scenery like that in Canada. I must admit I prefer Lake Louise over the other one. I can't imagine how expensive it is to stay at that hotel. What is with that pricing for the canoes?! That's like the kind of pricing you get in Disney, not Alberta

 

[Lifelong_Dreamer]

May 16th continued

After the parade rolled by we figured we better stand up otherwise we would get trampled by the crowd that was now moving around us. We weren't going to move spots though as we were already perfectly situated for "Magic, Memories and You!" and Wishes!

I had seen a video of the new show online and it looked pretty neat and it was really cool in person.

Here is a playlist of a few short clips I took of the show. You will of course get to hear Alek and Erich commenting and being really offensive by speaking in Japanese at one point. Well, Erich's Japanese friend laughed and said they were offensive. You can also hear Erich harassing me to take pictures.

Video:Magic, Memories and You

Here are Erich's pictures from the show

My photos

The show was really neat, the visual effects on the castle were amazing. If you haven't seen the show in person or don't know the concept you should look up a full video of it on youtube. Basically they are displaying photopass photos, personal family vacation photos and videos on the castle with music and cool effects. Lots of people thought it was silly when it was announced but I think it is pretty cool. If you are familiar with the Wolf Family from the disboards who make those really awesome vacation videos they have several clips that are played during the castle show, how cool for them!

Shortly after Magic, Memories and You! ended Wishes started up.

Continued in next post

 

[Lifelong_Dreamer]

Wishes was amazing as usual.

I LOVE Wishes! Erich mocks me because I will sometimes watch it on the computer at home and will sing the main theme.

After Wishes the park was closing and everybody was leaving. We were swept up in the wall of people leaving so we too made our way down Main St.

Alek and Erich made this little video as we exited the park specifically for the disboards and they will be really disappointed if you don't watch it.

Alek and Erich's Video for the Disboards

We joined the mass of people heading for the monorail. There was a monorail at the station when we arrived but it was full so we had to wait. It really wasn't that bad, I think we got on the second monorail and we got to see the Electrical Water Parade as it floated by.

Once we reached the TTA we then had to get on the tram since we were parked way back in the duck sections. Luckily we didn't have to wait too long for that either and soon enough we were in the car and on our way back to Coronado Springs.

It had been a long but relaxing day. We started off watching the shuttle launch in the morning, wandered around Animal Kingdom Lodge, shopped at Target and then had a leisurely evening soaking in the atmosphere of the Magic Kingdom.

Only regret was that we didn't get to bed until nearly midnight and we would be waking up early as we were headed to Universal in the morning. You know what that means... Harry Potter!

[post=42745023]Click here to continue[/post]

 

[ShesAPirate]

It took me all night, but I'm finally all caught up. Great pics. I'm enjoying your TR and look forward to more

 

[Lifelong_Dreamer]

It took me all night, but I'm finally all caught up. Great pics. I'm enjoying your TR and look forward to more

Wow! That is tons of reading! I'm glad to have you along as I share our trip.

 

[jenbear123]

I still haven't seen the Magic, Memories, and You show up close. I saw it from a distance on my last trip from California Grill but obviously it's not the same and you can't see the pictures like you can up close. Does this come on like right before Wishes? Half an hour before? Just want to get an idea so I don't miss it next time. Great pics of the fireworks and the water pageant. You must have a steady hand! Oh my gosh I am so excited to hear about HP!!! I've now re-read the first 4 books and starting the 5th. I never got through the 5th book. I think Professor Umbridge annoyed me too much

 

[Lifelong_Dreamer]

I still haven't seen the Magic, Memories, and You show up close. I saw it from a distance on my last trip from California Grill but obviously it's not the same and you can't see the pictures like you can up close. Does this come on like right before Wishes? Half an hour before? Just want to get an idea so I don't miss it next time. Great pics of the fireworks and the water pageant. You must have a steady hand! Oh my gosh I am so excited to hear about HP!!! I've now re-read the first 4 books and starting the 5th. I never got through the 5th book. I think Professor Umbridge annoyed me too much

I think it is 15 minutes before Wishes? It came on almost right after the parade passed through and Wishes started just a few minutes after it ended.

Nope, I have a really shaky hand, I'm just lucky to have a decent camera that makes up for it!

 

[Must C Mickey]

Well Erich would have to make fun of me too... I bought the Wishes CD and sing it out loud in the car all the time. I love that song!!!

 

[Lifelong_Dreamer]

Well Erich would have to make fun of me too... I bought the Wishes CD and sing it out loud in the car all the time. I love that song!!!

Erich hates all my singing but he especially hates when I sing Wishes.

 

[KatGarcia]

The person with the mickey ears on in your Wishes pics made them so cute! I almost didnt notice it!

 

[Lifelong_Dreamer]

The person with the mickey ears on in your Wishes pics made them so cute! I almost didnt notice it!

I didn't even notice that until last night when I was going through the pictures. An extra magical touch!

 

[lovehoney]

Alek and Erich made this little video as we exited the park specifically for the disboards and they will be really disappointed if you don't watch it.

I've been following your trip report for quite awhile, but never commented. I think the term is lurker but for some reason I hate that name.

Thanks for taking the time to do this. I love being able to get my Disney fix.

I don't normally watch videos but I didn't want to disappoint Alek and Erich. I just have one question - Did Erich step on the crying baby? Right when he says, "Oh, I stepped on something, or someone "- the baby starts crying. Just saying......