Pete the DISney nut
Official NUTcase
- Joined
- May 5, 2001
or What am I doing in this contraption? AKA - Let's Hit The Shops and Spend Loads Of Money.
6am dawned bright and sunny - and again we pray to the God of Air Conditioning. Telly goes on, we get up and shower and do the usual ablutions. Today being a DownTown Disney/Disney Quest Day, we decide to breakfast in the hotel - thereby not running the risk of having a repeat performance of yesterday, much to my chagrin - so dressed and refreshed, we headed towards the Food Court where I had the French Toast with sausage and a side of sausage and Tracy had the pancakes with Maple Syrup, and two super-size coffees, thanks to the refillable mugs. Lovely Jubbly.
Once we were suitably refreshed, we headed towards the pool where we lazed for a while and I went in for a dip in the Fantasia Pool, soaking up the atmosphere - which we did not allow ourselves time for last year so we thought we would make the time in our schedule this year. The theming in this pool is incredible - pure Disney magic - so after an hour or so we decided to head for the buses and waited for the bus to take us to our chosen destination. There were a few people for MK, MGM, Epcot and AK but not that many for Downtown so we did not have long to wait for the bus.
Once on the bus, we decide to get off at Marketplace - the furthest point - and take a slow wander around because we had arranged to eat at the House of Blues, so we get off and immediately headed for some shade. It was unbelievably hot - the weather was checked in the Hotel room before we went for breakfast and it was supposed to be 84F again - but it felt a lot hotter than yesterday.
One thing I did forget to mention was I had my lime green ribbon - which I wore with pride for the whole holiday, which I will bring up later on in this, and other, reports.
We wandered around, soaking up the sun and moseying around the various shops - and I have to recommend the World Of Disney shop located in the MarketPlace area. It is a massive shop where you can easily get lost - I know this because I did (ha, ha) - but the merchandise they sell is absolutely amazing. We spent a lot of money in there, buying a huge beach towel each (I bought a Mickey MGM one in a lovely deep, smoky-blue colour and Tracy bought a 100 year celebration one - which were christened soon afterwards (on our next day at Typhoon Lagoon, but I digress). We also bought a candle with an ornament of Cinderella's castle (which we placed on top of our PS2 console pride of place), a 100 year candle top ornament for me mum which is lovely - it has the four main icons from the four Disney parks (Cinderella's castle, the Earful tower, the Globe from Epcot and the Tree of Life from AK) on a green base, two tee shirts (Tracy bought the 100 year celebrations one and I bought a blue Vacation to Remember one which has pictures of the four main rides from the four parks - Splash, Test Track, Dinosaur and Tower of Terror on the back with Mickey, Goofy, Pluto and Donald riding them - really cute, pins and other associated memorabilia.
From there, we went to the Pleasure Island centre where we had a wonderful Ice cream from Ghirardelli's - their cones are divine and if anyone is going there, wear your lime-green ribbon because this was the first time I was asked about the Lime Green ribbon. So I took immense pleasure in saying what it was and why I was wearing it. Cones I hand, I went back out and we ate our ices sitting round a table under a parasol right on the edge of the lagoon and watching life pass us by. It was so peaceful sitting there, it was not far from where the Lego dinosaur pokes his head out the water. I thought this is the life - the love of my life sitting beside me in the glorious sunshine in what is our favourite place in the world and I could imagine myself being anything and anyone I wanted to be. It was one of those pefect moments you know, one you wish you could have bottled and take away with you.
Walking along the Pleasure Island centre, later on, we mosied along some more exploring fully what it was and what it had to offer - again, we had not seen this area properly - and from there we entered the west side and entered Disney Quest.
One of the things I wanted to do in there was CyberSpace Mountain. I wanted to do it last year but - being newbies, we thought we would have had to pay to enter DQ - and once we realised this was not the case, we were going to do this as fully as we could.
Before I did CSM, however, we had a mission with the Magic Carpets of Aladdin - good fun, if annoying: I crashed me carpet, oh any number of times and eventually I got stuck. Typical male driver, I hear you ladies say(ha ha), so from there we went to Pirates of the Carribean Buccaneer's Gold (Excellent fun this, if a little hard on the arms). Mind you we kicked some tush on it so it was worth it; From there we went on a little wander and then I made my way to CSM and was given my card to design my ultimate rollercoaster.
Now, I did not have a clue what to expect - and Tracy, as you know, is not a coaster enthusiast - so I left her in the Create Zone, playing on the games there, and designed my coaster and once I was given my pod to ride it in, I was asked if I was on my own. When I said that Tracy was elsewhere, I was asked if she wanted to watch me ride the coaster I had designed. I explained that she will not be riding it, I was told that will be fine, she can watch the monitor and watch my face from the outside.
A couple of minutes later, I entered the module and was taked through the safety tips and was told to lift my arms up for the harness to come down.
It was at this time I thought to myself, what on God's good earth am I doing in this contraption? Arms raised, the harness came down and wedged me firmly in my seat. Good, I thought, at least I cannot move anywhere. And then it began to move.
Well, it was almost as good as the real thing. Almost. The only thing that was wrong with it was I had not made it anywhere near scary enough - human error. Hmmm, I thought, when the door opened again and I emerged, I will have to do this again and increase the thrill quotient somewhat.
Mind you, Tracy was killing herself laughing because she said my face was a picture. I have to say, in my defence (I have none) I saw a quick replay and I looked a treat!!!
Anyway, we mosied some more around inside and went up to the top level where we rode the Invasion Attraction - ace, this attraction. A huge 3D shoot em up with a moving floor. Recommend this one and, quite unlike the Alien Encounter ride in MGM, no aliens to emerge from pods and scare the bejesus out of people in this attraction.
Finished moseying and I headed back towards CSM. Right Peter, I told myself, this time you are going to push everything it has to the max - no messing around - so I got me card again and designed a demon of a coaster.
I was given the same module as last time (number 4) and the same thing as last time. Unfortunately, by this time, Tracy's legs and feet were beginning to give her some problems so I said she was to sit until I came to meet her. So I went inside and lifted me arms. Then it began to move.
Well, all I can say is Wowee, that was a much better one than the last one. Awesome.
I did have a reasoning behind making it as scary as I could - we were off to Islands in a couple of days time and I said to myself one of the rides I was determined to do was the Hulk so I had to steel myself.
It worked.
We emergd from DQ and were just over the road from House Of Blues. On consulting the watch, it was about 6.45. Nice timimg, buit we had spent around 41/2 hours in there - a lot longer than we had thought. Just a nice time, lengthwise, though.
A Recommendation here - if anyone is going there some time soon, you have to try to fit in a meal here. The service was spot on, the food was amazing and the music they play is excellent - especially if you are a blues fan - that is all they play - and, well, what can I say about the food.
I had a local fish called a wha-hoo (sp?) which was grilled and served on a bed of spiced tomato and onion relish and mashed potatos. It also came with Asparagus tips and Tracy had Creole Jambalaya for our entrees - a first, and something Tracy has always wanted to try ever since she had falled in love with the film Mrs Doubtfire.
The food was plentiful (something else I really like about our holidays, their portions are what we call proper portions) and cooked to perfection, I think you get the impression that we liked this restaurant - well, you could say that.
We finally came out the restaurant at about 8.45 and waddled over to the bus stop - after seeing what was showing at the movies (nothing that took our fancy) - so we decided to make our way back to the hotel to relax in our room and watch a bit of Toon Disney.
We got back just in time to catch Pepper Ann on Toon Disney - a regular nightly occurrence for most of the holiday - which closed off the day quite nicely for us.
So draws to a close the third instalment of the NUT trip report and all it reamins for me to say is it has brought back so many happy memories writing this for you all; I only hope you have had as much enjoyment reading this as I have had writing it.
Coming next: Day 4 - Typhoon Lagoon; or Water, Water everywhere and not a drop to drink!!!
6am dawned bright and sunny - and again we pray to the God of Air Conditioning. Telly goes on, we get up and shower and do the usual ablutions. Today being a DownTown Disney/Disney Quest Day, we decide to breakfast in the hotel - thereby not running the risk of having a repeat performance of yesterday, much to my chagrin - so dressed and refreshed, we headed towards the Food Court where I had the French Toast with sausage and a side of sausage and Tracy had the pancakes with Maple Syrup, and two super-size coffees, thanks to the refillable mugs. Lovely Jubbly.
Once we were suitably refreshed, we headed towards the pool where we lazed for a while and I went in for a dip in the Fantasia Pool, soaking up the atmosphere - which we did not allow ourselves time for last year so we thought we would make the time in our schedule this year. The theming in this pool is incredible - pure Disney magic - so after an hour or so we decided to head for the buses and waited for the bus to take us to our chosen destination. There were a few people for MK, MGM, Epcot and AK but not that many for Downtown so we did not have long to wait for the bus.
Once on the bus, we decide to get off at Marketplace - the furthest point - and take a slow wander around because we had arranged to eat at the House of Blues, so we get off and immediately headed for some shade. It was unbelievably hot - the weather was checked in the Hotel room before we went for breakfast and it was supposed to be 84F again - but it felt a lot hotter than yesterday.
One thing I did forget to mention was I had my lime green ribbon - which I wore with pride for the whole holiday, which I will bring up later on in this, and other, reports.
We wandered around, soaking up the sun and moseying around the various shops - and I have to recommend the World Of Disney shop located in the MarketPlace area. It is a massive shop where you can easily get lost - I know this because I did (ha, ha) - but the merchandise they sell is absolutely amazing. We spent a lot of money in there, buying a huge beach towel each (I bought a Mickey MGM one in a lovely deep, smoky-blue colour and Tracy bought a 100 year celebration one - which were christened soon afterwards (on our next day at Typhoon Lagoon, but I digress). We also bought a candle with an ornament of Cinderella's castle (which we placed on top of our PS2 console pride of place), a 100 year candle top ornament for me mum which is lovely - it has the four main icons from the four Disney parks (Cinderella's castle, the Earful tower, the Globe from Epcot and the Tree of Life from AK) on a green base, two tee shirts (Tracy bought the 100 year celebrations one and I bought a blue Vacation to Remember one which has pictures of the four main rides from the four parks - Splash, Test Track, Dinosaur and Tower of Terror on the back with Mickey, Goofy, Pluto and Donald riding them - really cute, pins and other associated memorabilia.
From there, we went to the Pleasure Island centre where we had a wonderful Ice cream from Ghirardelli's - their cones are divine and if anyone is going there, wear your lime-green ribbon because this was the first time I was asked about the Lime Green ribbon. So I took immense pleasure in saying what it was and why I was wearing it. Cones I hand, I went back out and we ate our ices sitting round a table under a parasol right on the edge of the lagoon and watching life pass us by. It was so peaceful sitting there, it was not far from where the Lego dinosaur pokes his head out the water. I thought this is the life - the love of my life sitting beside me in the glorious sunshine in what is our favourite place in the world and I could imagine myself being anything and anyone I wanted to be. It was one of those pefect moments you know, one you wish you could have bottled and take away with you.
Walking along the Pleasure Island centre, later on, we mosied along some more exploring fully what it was and what it had to offer - again, we had not seen this area properly - and from there we entered the west side and entered Disney Quest.
One of the things I wanted to do in there was CyberSpace Mountain. I wanted to do it last year but - being newbies, we thought we would have had to pay to enter DQ - and once we realised this was not the case, we were going to do this as fully as we could.
Before I did CSM, however, we had a mission with the Magic Carpets of Aladdin - good fun, if annoying: I crashed me carpet, oh any number of times and eventually I got stuck. Typical male driver, I hear you ladies say(ha ha), so from there we went to Pirates of the Carribean Buccaneer's Gold (Excellent fun this, if a little hard on the arms). Mind you we kicked some tush on it so it was worth it; From there we went on a little wander and then I made my way to CSM and was given my card to design my ultimate rollercoaster.
Now, I did not have a clue what to expect - and Tracy, as you know, is not a coaster enthusiast - so I left her in the Create Zone, playing on the games there, and designed my coaster and once I was given my pod to ride it in, I was asked if I was on my own. When I said that Tracy was elsewhere, I was asked if she wanted to watch me ride the coaster I had designed. I explained that she will not be riding it, I was told that will be fine, she can watch the monitor and watch my face from the outside.
A couple of minutes later, I entered the module and was taked through the safety tips and was told to lift my arms up for the harness to come down.
It was at this time I thought to myself, what on God's good earth am I doing in this contraption? Arms raised, the harness came down and wedged me firmly in my seat. Good, I thought, at least I cannot move anywhere. And then it began to move.
Well, it was almost as good as the real thing. Almost. The only thing that was wrong with it was I had not made it anywhere near scary enough - human error. Hmmm, I thought, when the door opened again and I emerged, I will have to do this again and increase the thrill quotient somewhat.
Mind you, Tracy was killing herself laughing because she said my face was a picture. I have to say, in my defence (I have none) I saw a quick replay and I looked a treat!!!
Anyway, we mosied some more around inside and went up to the top level where we rode the Invasion Attraction - ace, this attraction. A huge 3D shoot em up with a moving floor. Recommend this one and, quite unlike the Alien Encounter ride in MGM, no aliens to emerge from pods and scare the bejesus out of people in this attraction.
Finished moseying and I headed back towards CSM. Right Peter, I told myself, this time you are going to push everything it has to the max - no messing around - so I got me card again and designed a demon of a coaster.
I was given the same module as last time (number 4) and the same thing as last time. Unfortunately, by this time, Tracy's legs and feet were beginning to give her some problems so I said she was to sit until I came to meet her. So I went inside and lifted me arms. Then it began to move.
Well, all I can say is Wowee, that was a much better one than the last one. Awesome.
I did have a reasoning behind making it as scary as I could - we were off to Islands in a couple of days time and I said to myself one of the rides I was determined to do was the Hulk so I had to steel myself.
It worked.
We emergd from DQ and were just over the road from House Of Blues. On consulting the watch, it was about 6.45. Nice timimg, buit we had spent around 41/2 hours in there - a lot longer than we had thought. Just a nice time, lengthwise, though.
A Recommendation here - if anyone is going there some time soon, you have to try to fit in a meal here. The service was spot on, the food was amazing and the music they play is excellent - especially if you are a blues fan - that is all they play - and, well, what can I say about the food.
I had a local fish called a wha-hoo (sp?) which was grilled and served on a bed of spiced tomato and onion relish and mashed potatos. It also came with Asparagus tips and Tracy had Creole Jambalaya for our entrees - a first, and something Tracy has always wanted to try ever since she had falled in love with the film Mrs Doubtfire.
The food was plentiful (something else I really like about our holidays, their portions are what we call proper portions) and cooked to perfection, I think you get the impression that we liked this restaurant - well, you could say that.
We finally came out the restaurant at about 8.45 and waddled over to the bus stop - after seeing what was showing at the movies (nothing that took our fancy) - so we decided to make our way back to the hotel to relax in our room and watch a bit of Toon Disney.
We got back just in time to catch Pepper Ann on Toon Disney - a regular nightly occurrence for most of the holiday - which closed off the day quite nicely for us.
So draws to a close the third instalment of the NUT trip report and all it reamins for me to say is it has brought back so many happy memories writing this for you all; I only hope you have had as much enjoyment reading this as I have had writing it.
Coming next: Day 4 - Typhoon Lagoon; or Water, Water everywhere and not a drop to drink!!!
