"Fine! We can go to Disney, but I'm not happy about it!" **08/21 X5** Complete

[dislover415]

Hi I read through your report and it looks like you had a good time and I look forward to reading more of it

At my graduation trip my family is going to be staying at the French Quarter and I wanted to ask how the buses were cuz you don't seem to mention that often. Was there a lot of wait time?

My family still hasn't decided if we want to rent a car or use the buses

 

[MarieLightning]

Hi I read through your report and it looks like you had a good time and I look forward to reading more of it

At my graduation trip my family is going to be staying at the French Quarter and I wanted to ask how the buses were cuz you don't seem to mention that often. Was there a lot of wait time?

My family still hasn't decided if we want to rent a car or use the buses

Hi! We definitely had an awesome time, and I'm sure you will too! POFQ is an awesome resort, we really loved it!

In regards to the transportation, from what I can remember, there generally wasn't much wait time. I also only remember two times when there was no standing room, one of which being when we left Animal Kingdom at closing time.

Generally, we left 40-30 minutes before the opening of the park we were headed to, and came back by closing time, or not very long past it on EMH evenings, so we would mostly use the buses right about peak time when they're most frequent. I don't remember waiting much more than 10 minutes at any point, maybe 15? It's a little far now in my memory XD

Then again, keep in mind that we went during what would be considered as low season, whereas a graduation trip would start being more in mid-high season, so generally buses run a bit more often when the crowd levels are higher

Also, the only inconvenient I would point out with the buses is the fact that they sometimes, though rarely, will go through Riverside as well. That only happened twice during our whole trip, once when coming back from a park (they dropped off POR people first), and once going to Epcot (it actually went through almost eeevery bus stop, and since Riverside is huge, they have a lot of those! But that's also due to the fact that the bus was pretty much empty so I guess he was looking for more people to load in)

 

[dislover415]

Hi! We definitely had an awesome time, and I'm sure you will too! POFQ is an awesome resort, we really loved it!

In regards to the transportation, from what I can remember, there generally wasn't much wait time. I also only remember two times when there was no standing room, one of which being when we left Animal Kingdom at closing time.

Generally, we left 40-30 minutes before the opening of the park we were headed to, and came back by closing time, or not very long past it on EMH evenings, so we would mostly use the buses right about peak time when they're most frequent. I don't remember waiting much more than 10 minutes at any point, maybe 15? It's a little far now in my memory XD

Then again, keep in mind that we went during what would be considered as low season, whereas a graduation trip would start being more in mid-high season, so generally buses run a bit more often when the crowd levels are higher

Also, the only inconvenient I would point out with the buses is the fact that they sometimes, though rarely, will go through Riverside as well. That only happened twice during our whole trip, once when coming back from a park (they dropped off POR people first), and once going to Epcot (it actually went through almost eeevery bus stop, and since Riverside is huge, they have a lot of those! But that's also due to the fact that the bus was pretty much empty so I guess he was looking for more people to load in)

I hope we have a good time too, we all liked how it looked. Made me feel a bit like a because of the coloring!

I think we might lean toward renting a car if thats the case. Especially since Im not always the most patient person when waiting for things and I think even more at Disney. I'll just want to get in and see everything

Thanks so much for the advice

 

[MarieLightning]

I hope we have a good time too, we all liked how it looked. Made me feel a bit like a because of the coloring!

I think we might lean toward renting a car if thats the case. Especially since Im not always the most patient person when waiting for things and I think even more at Disney. I'll just want to get in and see everything

Thanks so much for the advice

I know what you mean, that's exactly the reason why I loved the looks of POFQ so much! It made me feel royal

That's definitely a good way to go when you have the possibility of it, too! I personally hate driving so I couldn't, but I know the parking system works well (as long as you make sure to write down where you're parked!) and plus, it's free, so why not! Also makes it so much simpler if you want to do some resort dining or exploring

I'm glad I could help

 

[MarieLightning]

Real Life Update #1

Hey guys! I just wanted to update you on something that's making me super excited right now that Amber and I decided on!

We've been married for a year, but we never did have a big wedding. We did it very simple, just us and my parents as witnesses, to get immigration stuff going, telling ourselves we would have a big vows renewal ceremony later on with all our friends and loved ones.

There's been many ups and downs in that journey, trying to decide what to do, what to spend, who to invite, where to do it and so on. In the past couple of days, we've even looked at a Disney wedding, with the Escape package, trying to figure out how we could possibly do it (spoiler alert - we can't )

Today, we came to a conclusion. We're already married. We have each other, and since whatever we can afford would only give us a glimpse at our dream wedding anyway, why spend 10,000$ on one day that might end up not living up to our expectations anyway?

Why not, instead, take that money and plan Disney trip with all our closest friends?

Which is what we've decided to do!

Plans are still at a very tentative stage, especially since we're looking at August 2014 so prices aren't even out yet and I'm not able to book my vacation for 2014 until early December.

However, we've established the following basics - since there's 9 of us, and I can get maximal discount on up to two rooms at my job (and we don't sell any of the villas like at Old Key West or Saratoga Springs, etc), we're thinking of doing one standard room and one family suite at....

The Art of Animation!

I'm so excited about this, because even though it's a value resort, I love the looks of it so much! Amber loves the movie Cars, so that's definitely the section we would stay in for the family suite, and then I really love the looks of the Little Mermaid rooms so I'm eager to see those as well!

That's gonna be a lot of planning to do, bringing 7 people along who've never been to Disney World! And never in my life had I thought I would be able to pay for my friends to go on such a trip, but I prefer spending it on an unforgettable week with all my closest friends than on one single day for myself (because truth be told, Amber was letting me pick most of what it would be like).

And besides, that won't stop us from getting bridal Minnie ears, right?


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[Disneyfam4life]

Loved the pictures!!

 

[MarieLightning]

Loved the pictures!!

Thanks! I'm glad you did Lots more coming up!

 

[MarieLightning]

November 12: Part 2 - "They have seasonal cupcakes!"

We didn't have very far to go to head to our next destination: Starring Rolls! I'm a cupcakes fan myself, and when I saw the kind of cupcakes they have there... I mean, I'd be crazy to pass it over!

My aunt, uncle and Amber waited for me outside, and Amber took that opportunity to snap a couple of pictures

Now, I had fully intended to get the red velvet cupcake. It looks amaaaazing and I would just omnomnom that right up. However, I found myself faced with a dilemna when I walked in and saw they had a seasonal cupcake. And no, I did not get both

I ended up grabbing the seasonal one, figuring the red velvet cupcake should be there still when we go back!

It was pumpkin flavored with maple frosting, and it was deliiiicious. I didn't actually end up eating it then and there, because at that point there wasn't that much time left before our lunch reservation and I didn't want to fill up. Bad timing right? I did end up eating it later on as breakfast (breakfast of champions as my wife would say) and it was so good, and still moist in spite of having spent a couple of days in the mini fridge.

We closed up the box and put it away in the backpack to head over to our next activity pick!

No, not the Tower of Terror just yet

I just love the theming so much. Like, everywhere. I don't think I saw a single place out of every single park that was disappointing to me. I was probably looking at it with first timer's rose colored lenses, but I don't mind. It was awesome

Our destination was Beauty and the Beast! It was a morning full of shows!

We got there about 10 minutes or so before the next showing, so we just settled right in. In the meantime, we tried to familiarize ourselves a bit more with the layout of the park!

And I took a picture of Amber's awesome Monster Boo hair bow, because it's just adorable (you'll see a lot of similar bows during this trip - and if you don't know of them, check out Magical Ribbons, she makes such incredible bows)

I really enjoyed the show! I think it was really well made, and the actors were awesome. Seriously, I kept trying to figure out if they were just lip-syncing to it (well, some of it was recorded like Mrs Potts and Lumiere cause you know, it's hard to sing in that big a costume!) because their voices were so spot on! Especially Gaston, he was really great

I will definitely go see it again when I go back!

Once the show ended, we started making our way over for lunch time! The crowd level seems pretty big on this picture, but it really wasn't that bad. For one thing, Hollywood Studios is very compact, and for another, that's mostly the crowd that'd just exited the BatB show XD

We walked by Muppets Vision 3D on our way to food - this is something else we didn't make the time to see and we will definitely put it on our list for the next trip

I really like the Muppets area, it's such neat theming once again!

"What's the difference between puppets and Muppets?" "Well, a puppet is actually controlled by a person, whereas I am an actual talking frog" Oh Kermit

Enough of Muppets though! Anyone who knows the layout of the park should be expecting where we're headed next for lunch

Mama Melrose's Ristorante Italiano!


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[MarieLightning]

November 12: Part 3 - "I wanna marry this steak"

Finally, food pictures coming up! This is the moment we've been waiting for! (Or not, that's also cool)

We checked in maybe 10 minutes or so before our reservation times, and they gave us a spiffy beeper again! I was really ridiculously excited with beepers. I don't even know why

The lobby area was packed, partly with people waiting to be seated, but mostly with people trying to get in without a reservation. Not to say Mama Melrose is the most popular restaurant in Hollywood Studios, but being one of the three that's part of the Fantasmic package probably helps some, and the place was just full at that time, so definitely no room for the huge line outside the door hoping to get in!

It was about 15 minutes before we were brought to our table! It was a bit cramped, but that's probably mostly due to the fact that the group at the table behind us had sat an extra adult at the end of the table. If it hadn't been for that, there would have been plenty of space

I don't remember the name of our waitress, though she was very nice. I do remember she was from England, and she was veeery pregnant. Like, past the 8 months mark pregnant if I remember correctly. I hope she wasn't doing a whole day shift, because I can't imagine walking around all day, carrying trays, while I'm 8 months pregnant (but then, we're very spoiled in Quebec with our maternity leaves so maybe that's why)

Because we were on the Fantasmic dining package, we were told we could each have an appetizer along with our entree, and then the dessert was a shared platter

My aunt got the Mozzarella and Tomatoes, which she enjoyed a lot

Amber got the minestrone, which according to her was okay, but then she picked it because no other appetizer was appealing to her, so someone who actually likes all vegetables soup would probably enjoy it more

Both my uncle and I got the Caesar salad! That's pretty much the only type of salad I eat, and I really liked it. I'm very picky about my Caesar dressing and this one was really good. That crouton was also delicious

Nom, bread!

Soon, our main dishes came out!

I got the chicken parmigianna with penne pasta instead of spaghetti, and it was good. The chicken was very tasty and moist, not dry at all

My aunt got the chicken campanelle, which she also enjoyed

My uncle had the wood grilled tuna, which came with risotto and diced tomatoes. I'm pretty sure he ate all of it, and he liked it as well!

And now Amber. Amber got the strip steak with five-cheese baked macaroni. And she was *raving* about it for the rest of the trip. She actually still talks about it sometimes, and it's also one of the things she's most excited about for our next trip - going back to Mama Melrose so she can have more of this steak

I tried it myself, and it's honestly really good. I'm not a big steak person, or a red meat fan in general. But honestly, there's very good chances this is what I'll also get when we go back

Once we were filled up well enough, they brought forward the dessert platter!

It consisted of tiramisu, chocolate torte cake (that may not be the proper name for it but that's what I'm calling it), cheesecake and panna cotta with candied cherries. I tried a bit of everything, and it was all good. I was especially a fan of the cheesecake, but then I always am

Overall, we were all very satisfied with our meal! The food was good, the portion size was perfect, not too much or too little, and sharing a dessert made it a lot more reasonable.

We headed back out to the park, and we still had a bit of time to kill before our Toy Story Mania fastpasses window opened up (still!). We walked by the ABC Commissary

Castle! Honestly, until I saw all the posters around that restaurant, I never even realized that's what 'ABC' Commissary stood for. I legit thought it was like... alphabet themed. I'm not even kidding. I wish I was, but I'm not.

We took a stroll down the Streets of America on our way to Pixar Place! Again, omg theming

Amber noticed while we were walking around just how beat up and bad the pavement looked, and for a little bit she wondered why that was seeing as everywhere else looks Disney perfect. Then she realized - they are the streets of *America* (though, they might as well be the streets of Canada too, our roads look just as awful)

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[MarieLightning]

November 12: Part 4 - "Don't take a picture of our score!"

We finally got back to Pixar Place, ready to go on our first (and, we figured, probably only) ride of Toy Story Midway Mania! The green soldier man was out greeting people, but we bypassed him

I honestly didn't really know what to expect of the game. I'd seen pictures, I'd heard about it a lot, and I wasn't too sure if it would be one of those things that get hyped a lot and then are disappointing, or if it would meet expectations!

Then again, any ride that looks that awesome from the outside can't be bad, right?

We went through the fastpass lane, and I think just that took us maybe 15 minutes or so. The standby wait was maybe an hour and a half at that point though, so they probably had to be a bit better at alternating the fastpass lane and the regular lane, and then at the point where both meet there isn't really much else they can do XD

Those glasses are flattering on just anyone - especially on people who wear regular glasses under them!

The wait went by pretty quick, and soon we got on the ride. Amber enjoyed it, as did my aunt and uncle, and I loved it! There was just so much going on and the fact that you get a limited amount of time at each little game that make up the ride make it that much more exciting. Expectations: met!

(Amber wasn't happy that I took a picture of the scores, cause I beat her - especially because she killed me at Buzz Lightyear's game, but who needs picture proof anyway )

Once we got off the ride, we split up in two groups. We had stuck all four together for the beginning of the trip, but at some point, we realized we wouldn't always be wanting to do the same thing and that was okay! My aunt and uncle went their way, and Amber and I went ours... to get more fastpasses!

Tower of Terror! Can you feel the chills?

While waiting our return window to come by, we went over to Rock N Roller Coaster to see what the wait time was. Unfortunately, they'd just closed it down And for some crazy reason, I never thought of going back to it! So we didn't get to ride it at all. I have no idea if it even reopened though. Oh well - next time!

Hello, Route 66!

Pixar Pal's Countdown to Fun Parade was maybe 20 minutes from starting at this point, so we went and found ourselves a good spot to watch. While waiting, they started doing this choreography in the middle of the street and getting people to join in!

As soon as they were done, the parade started!

That song gets stuck in your head something fierce, too!

The Incredibles!

I have very faded memories of A Bug's Life. I think I've only seen it once when I was little, not long after it came out - I think I also mix it up with Antz a lot XD

I love the parade dancers' costumes so much

Maybe the reason I didn't watch this movie more than once is the whole bugs thing XD Never been a fan of bugs myself

Most of them are cute though. So probably not the reason

Emile! I love Ratatouille. I also love how it's set in France and only half the characters have a French accent. To be fair, rats probably wouldn't have accents whichever way

Then again, what is most logical - to give characters a French accent in an English movie to represent the fact that they're French? Or to just have them speak normally, because in their universe they're just speaking French anyway, and the only reason we hear them speak English is because the movie is in English.

The pointless things I ponder (I've also had that wondering about Beauty and the Beast, 'cept that one is even weirder, cause the only character with a French accent is Lumiere. Like, the chandelier? Really?)

Monster Boo! I failed to get a good picture

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[MarieLightning]

November 12: Part 5 - "We need hat pictures!"

Bunch more parade pictures coming up!

I have no idea what happened before this picture, but that guy looks reeaaally amused XD

And here comes Sully!

Mike was pretty tricky to get a picture of. This one didn't turn out fantastic, but that's the best I could do

Dug and Russell! I was really glad to see Up was part of this parade (though Wall-E is a missing component. If the next parade is still Pixar themed, hopefully they'll include my favorite robot friend)

Mr Potato Head! You look much less grumpy than usual today!

I remember watching Toy Story for the first time, and seeing the new fancy design of the Disney castle logo. It was so cool back then. Nowadays I just miss the classic logo XD

Evil bear that smells of strawberries. We got a plushie of him for one of our best friends for Christmas. He was so excited about the strawberry scent

The parade was then over, and we didn't really know what to do next. Hollywood Studios is honestly my worst planning of the trip XD I think I was a bit overwhelmed by the knowledge that I wouldn't have time to do everything and I still wasn't sure what I wanted to try and fit in

We still stopped by and took the time to get a picture with the hat!

No attempt at making it look like we're wearing it though XD

We ended up deciding on a low wait time ride for our next destination, seeing as it wouldn't be too long until we could return to ToT!

The Great Movie Ride!

We got handed this card over by a group of people who decided not to do the ride anymore XD

I really like the movie memorablia during the queue of this ride. How heavy must this dress have been?

Chronicles of Narnia! It took me forever to watch that movie, and then after I first saw it I watched it almost every day for a week

It's a Jolly Holiday with Mary Poppins

The wait went by fairly quick, and we got the gangster side? I've heard there's two sides to this ride XD I don't know the other one, but I'm assuming ours was the gangster one. The girl who hijacked us was very gangster-y

Writer's Shop has a Castle sign over it! Seems very adequate to me. Love this show (though I'm sooooo behind on it, I need to catch up very badly)

We went by the Streets of America once more, and I got a shot of San Francisco

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[MarieLightning]

November 12: Part 6 - "Why do you hate my ride?"

We ended up deciding to meet up with a few more characters, though at this point we could have headed back to ToT, but some of the characters were doing their last outing around that time, so we got in line for our favorite citizens of Monstropolis!

Again, the queue here is so awesome. They just think of everything

Good job, Mike! You're all there in the picture!

I was wearing my Sully mini bow, and Sully noticed it!

At some point he tried to eat it too, but I don't take it personal. I think he was just appreciative of it

Once we got done meeting up with Sully and Mike, we made our way over to the other side of the park to use up our fastpasses!

Now, at this point, I was getting excited, but Amber was definitely not. When we first started talking about going to Disney, she'd always been pretty set on *not* riding Tower of Terror. She's not a big fan of intense roller coasters in general, but this one is something else. She's very uncomfortable in regular elevators, because one of her biggest fears is an elevator crashing down

Little by little, as we got closer to our trip date, I managed to convince her to ride it with me, so we got in line together with our fastpasses. We walked through the queue, and while I was busy noticing the awesome theming, she was busy freaking out. She ended up having a panic attack, tears and all, and I told her she didn't have to ride it. Once we got to the front of the line, she told the cast member she didn't want to ride and asked where she could get out. She was escorted away (at which time the cast member asked her why she hated her ride, and tried to convince her to do it to no avail) and I got in place while waiting for the doors to open.

Amber also took the time to record a video while I was on the ride to confess to her chickening out (Watch Here if you want, though it's very bad quality cause filmed with my camera XD)

Now, while this ride is definitely not for my wife, it's right up my alley. Trust me, I freak out plenty, but I love it. I was feeling really tense and anxious but excited at the same time, and it didn't disappoint. I screamed like crazy and had a blast!

Not a very good picture, but I'm in the bottom right corner, freaking out.

After getting off the ride, we went back over to the other side of the park. I honestly think this has to be the day we walked the most, because we were so bad with deciding what to do next and we just ended up going from one side of the park to the other a bijillion times XD

We walked around a little and go in line to meet Phineas and Ferb by Amber's request.

At that point though, it was cutting it really close to the time we'd decided to meet back up with my aunt and uncle before going to see Fantasmic. We probably could have made it actually, but soon after we got in line, they headed in for a break. At that point there was no way we would be able to wait for them to come back out and make it to Fantasmic in time, especially since we were about at the furthest point from it, so we got out of line. I promised Amber we would meet them next time we go if they're still there.

We had to get there early since we had done the dining package, and we walked in probably 45 minutes or so before the showing time

We probably won't do it that way a next time, since we don't plan on ever really going during a high season time, so we would most likely go to the second showing and be fine sitting anywhere

It was really awesome - I know a lot of people think it's getting tired and old, but honestly, I would love to be able to go to Disney enough times that something like that would lose its magic to me. Not that I think it ever would, because it's awesome

I just look at the pictures and the music starts playing in my head. Why is my next Disney countdown so far awaaaayyyyy!

I can understand skipping this show if you go with young kids though. I'm sure I probably would have gotten scared if I had gone when I was little - I was scared by Snow White, when the evil queen turns into the old hag. I would hide behind the couch

I really liked the villains though!

You go, Mickey!

This is about as close as I got to a lot of these characters XD

Honestly loved it, as did everyone else. It made Amber cry, too (though I have to admit that's not that big an accomplishment. Sorry honey!)



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[amberg93]

The story about why I'm holding a Disney bag in the picture with the hat. I went shopping right before the Pixar Pals Parade! I'd been seeing the pictures of everyone with the Perry the Platypus hats with hats and I knew that it was the perfect present for my best friend Traci. So while there was the before parade dancing, I snuck through the shops to go and find one.

Here is a picture of me with Traci's hat (which she loves, but admits is very heavy to wear for long periods of time).

And yes, I chickened out of ToT and cried and panicked but I feel no shame! Nor do I feel shame about the tears I shed at Fantasmic, which were happy tears.

 

[wiigirl]

Love your pics!

 

[Mama Who]

Amber is not a jerk! When I need to leave the parks I need to leave *now*. (Although Amber might do better to decide she was leaving for some alone time. It's okay to split up. )

Sounds like a great trip so far!

 

[amberg93]

Amber is not a jerk! When I need to leave the parks I need to leave *now*. (Although Amber might do better to decide she was leaving for some alone time. It's okay to split up. )

Sounds like a great trip so far!

Thanks I'll definitely keep that in mind next time. With our first trip though I just didn't want to. But if it happens again, I'll just leave.

 

[MarieLightning]

Love your pics!

Thanks! I'm glad you do, and I got plenty more coming up

Amber is not a jerk! When I need to leave the parks I need to leave *now*. (Although Amber might do better to decide she was leaving for some alone time. It's okay to split up. )

Sounds like a great trip so far!

Agreed! Next time we'll probably handle it all better, beginner's mistake XD We both have our things that make us a little grumpy

We did have an awesome time though once we got past the slight first day drama

 

[1000HappyWishes]

I'm with your wife on this one, I'm ok with some rollercoasters like Space Mountain or BTMR, but Tower of Terror? Nuh-uh, nooo way. Anyway, great pictures. Can't wait to see more!

 

[MarieLightning]

I'm with your wife on this one, I'm ok with some rollercoasters like Space Mountain or BTMR, but Tower of Terror? Nuh-uh, nooo way. Anyway, great pictures. Can't wait to see more!

Yeah, she can do those type of coasters XD Anything that goes too high or that's too steep, she passes on XD I'm just crazy so I do anything Strangely enough, I'm more uncomfortable with waterslides and she's completely cool with them. Go figure XD

Thanks for the comment, I'll try to get some more posted today or tomorrow!

 

[stasijane]

I love your trip report so far, It looks like you are having a great time! I really had to laugh about how Amber wasn't too keen on the trip at first but after a few post you were talking about your next trip already. Love it!! Anyhow, Amber you don't have to explain that you were cranky and tired. It happens to alot of people. You all really had a long first day Its surprising you made it that long.