How A Trip Goes From Relaxing To Lets Do Everything? 2 Week Pic Report From Mar '11

[skidisney]

So after the parade passed, we continued on our way to Dinoland to use the pass we had received at lunch for Nemo. I am not the biggest fan of this show frankly, but hey, I am not the target demographic for it either. But we had the pass and didn't have to wait in line so what the heck.

Before we went in, we had a few minutes, and we would take a while anyway, so I ran over and got this.

And then it was on with show

We saw this cool planter made out of license plates that we had never seen before

On to Dinosaur, the FP's weren't really necessary but we used them anyway

I believe that Dinosaur may be the only attraction that exits into two seperate gift shops

Britt had never walked through the Boneyard, so we decided to check that off her list of things to see.

View from the bridge back towards Dinoland

We started to head out of Animal Kingdom for the day

We left around 6:30 and were back to Port Orleans by 6:45. Not too bad.

Next: Is Fantasmic fantastic?

 

[skidisney]

We spent about an hour at the hotel before deciding we would head over to the Studios to see Fantasmic (another thing to check off Britt's list.) We were hungry and just wanted to pick up some counter service before the show.

The sky seemed right for picture taking that evening.

http://i1229.photobucket.com/albums/ee473

/dougfantasyleague/DisneyDays4-6235.jpg

We headed over to the Backlot Express

Closed We thought it was a little early but oh well.

So we headed to the ABC Comissary instead. It was adequate. They apparently only hae two shows on ABC they want to promote over and over and over again.

Time to head towards Fantasmic. We see this.

So on to the chaos. There has got to be a better way of loading this show in. It is like herding cattle on Sunset, then on the pathway into the theater. Children are ancy, parents are grumpy. The whole thing does not work. Brittany looked at me at one point that said "this better be worth it." I went in knowing of the disaster that was the Fantasmic line.

On top of that, apparently the camera didn't want to work well that evening. So here is what we got.

Britt said that it was worth seeing once but if they can't fix the line, it is not worth seeing it again. I know, we are crazy but we don't get that much out of Fantasmic.

We left Hollywood Studios at 11 and back to the hotel by 11:10 PM. To bed, another big day tomorrow.

Next: Starting Off The Day With Another Buffet

 

[Goofy442]

We did the dinner so we had our seats saved for us which worked out well. I don't like waiting in that line way to many people.

 

[ronnmel]

I love seeing pictures of the Boneyard. I've been curious about it and want to check it out on my next trip. It's so hard to find pictures of it though, so thanks for posting yours.

 

[skidisney]

Another early morning, well early by vacation standards when you are trying to relax. We got up at 8 AM ready to make our next breakfast ADR and where are heading this morning.

I'm guessing no one saw that one coming.

I wanted to head to Trail's End, I heard it was decent breakfast food at a decent price and in our neverending journey to check off every restaurant in the world, we had to go there sometime, right?

So you do have to park in the main lot and then bus back to the settlement where the restaurant is. Take any bus, it doesn't matter, it all ends up at the settlement.

And finally

The restaurant looking towards the buffet

Trail's End has pretty much your standard breakfast fare served on these cool metal plates.

The TIW discount on this meal was $6.40.
The total for two adult breakfasts after discount and with tip and tax was $33.01.

Time to walk around and explore the Settlement.

A look out from the landing.

Looking back at Trail's End and Crockett's Tavern.

And the Tri-Circle-D ranch

I am now a horse apparently

After that, it was back to Port Orleans to take a morning off from the parks. That doesn't mean we didn't explore a little more though.

Next: A Trip Around Port Orleans

 

[skidisney]

So we got back to the resort and decided to be a little athletic, haha. Well, not that athletic, but we rented a couple of bikes and rode around Riverside and French Quarter. Let's go take a look around, shall we.

A look at the quiet pool right outside of our building

A look over at an Alligator Bayou building

Another mansion

Sassagoula with the main car and bus bridge

Here is French Quarter

French Quarter pool

Back around to Riverside

Next: Continuing Our Bicycle Tour

 

[skidisney]

Let's finish our tour of Port Orleans with some more pictures

If you are curious about Alligator Bayou, here you go

The arcade

So there you go. All told, with a stop to walk around French Quarter and riding completely around Riverside at a leisurely pace, it only took 40 minutes. Total cost for the two bikes was a whopping 11 bucks. It was definately worth it and a nice change of pace to touring in the parks for the morning.

Next: Back To Epcot For A Very Important ADR

 

[skidisney]

As we continue on, we had a lunch ADR in Epcot so we were headed back over there. This gave us our first non-rainy opportunity in our favorite park. On our way through to our ADR, we took a little time to get our first good look at the Flower & Garden Festival.

I really tried to get into Flower & Garden but I kept finding myself asking "why don't they just make Epcot always look like this?" Oh well, a gardener I am not.

Just Lightning McQueen while we were there

The flags for the upcoming Cars 2 movie

Next: Now it really is time for lunch

 

[skidisney]

So where is this lunch taking place!!!

That's right!

The gardens heading into Le Cellier

Here are the shots I was able to salvage of the inside

The menu

A nice Labatt's

Britt started with the Canadian Cheddar Cheese Soup - Made with Moosehead Beer and Smoked Bacon

For the entree's I had the Le Cellier Mushroom Filet Mignon - with wild mushroom risotto, white truffle and herb butter sauce $26.99

It was fantastic!!!

On the side were the Cream Cheese Mashed Potatoes $5.99. These were awesome too.

Brittany had the Open-faced Canadian Cheese Steak Sandwich - with sauteed onions and peppers, and Boursin cream sauce $15.49

Time for dessert

I had the Chocolate Moose $5.99

And Brittany with the Maple Creme Brulee

And the total for this bad boy.

The TIW discount was $16.43.

The total for 2 of us after tax and tip was $84.79.

Was it worth it? Absolutely!!! Will we do it again? Unquestionably!!!

Next: Time to catch up around the world

 

[wdwgirl03]

Great updates! It sure was nice to see the blue skies after all that rain. We were also at AK that day but we were there for opening. Looks like it was a little bit busier later in the day.

That's great that TL was so empty.

 

[Goofy442]

We love Le Cellier, we were able to get in because someone canceled . It was really good food, can't wait to go back in September.

 

[ChiCat]

I just finished reading all of the parts to your trip report. It's getting me soooo excited for my trip!

 

[skidisney]

Thanks everyone for the great comments, I really appreciate the fact that you would take the time to read about our trip.

As we continue, we leave Le Cellier but we weren't going far. We were gonna try to take some time to explore some of the presentations around the World Showcase. The first one of course, was in Canada.

And down the stairs to:

O Canada was really good. You should try and check it out when you are in the Canada Pavilion.

Off Kilter was out.

And a walk through the United Kingdom Pavilion

Peter Pan

Captain Hook

Who was being chased by the croc

And off to France

Here is Marie from The Aristocats

And there is Belle

and Beast

Next: More France And Then It Happened

 

[skidisney]

Let's continue on our journey through the France Pavilion with some more topiaries from Beauty And The Beast:

Lumiere

Mrs. Potts

Chip

and Cogsworth

Down the side streets

To

A gargoyle in the lobby

And the theater

Now, someone (the guy directly behind me) decided to have a coughing fit through half the movie. Not that big a deal I guess, but it would just add to a situation that happened later. Impressions de France is old. The film looks old and scratchy, the narration is old and boring, the theater is old and beaten up, it is all just very old. This is an attraction that is in need of an update and all of the way through it, it reminded me why I had not come back to see the movie in almost 15 years.

And then it happened. What was a sunny day at Epcot turned into a downpour yet again. It rained so hard and we were stuck with no rain jackets and it did not let up. Finally, after 30 minutes, it lightened to the point where we could move around.

Marie was out again.

And we scrambled over to Morocco

To the left of this fountain, there is a nice little museum which I had never seen before. Worth a look if you have a moment.

And we were off to Japan

We spent a lot more time in these countries than the pictures would represent. However, as I am looking through the pics now, I realize that the camera would disappear every time the rain would start. Sorry about that but what can you do.

Next: Walking in a counter-clockwise direction.

 

[Goofy442]

I love the Flower and Garden Festival. You took some great pictures.

 

[skidisney]

So now we move through World Showcase as the rain starts to pick up again towards:

The Voices of Liberty singers greeting after their performance

The theater

And the sides

And close up

And on with the show

And then it happened, as if the coughing fit in Impressions wasn't bad enough, I mean, it not like that was avoidable. But to the guy, who mid-show, decided he needed to clear his nose and throat repeatedly throughout the show, I say, thank you for trying to destroy this show.

Very blurry shot of the finale scene, don't get how Ben Franklin came out but not Mark Twain

And a look across at the storm clouds still hovering

Over past Italy

And Lady And The Tramp

Rapunzel's Tower

And into Germany

Best shot of Snow White we had

Her topiary counterpart

Dopey & Grumpy

And the rest

Next: A Little More Of The World

 

[skidisney]

Let's move past Germany for now, don't worry, we'll be back and it's time to look at some more of the topiaries

Timon

And Pumbaa, of course

Rafiki with little Simba

A panoramic look at China

And the Panda Bear topiaries

A look through Norway

And up to Maelstrom, the wait was actually longer than the Fastpass return time

So we did something I thought we would never do

Did I mention we had grabbed Test Track Fastpasses earlier. We grabbed them on our way to Le Cellier earlier in the day.

Here is a Maelstrom boat peeking out

And we scooted over to Mexico, look at that sky moving in:

And onto, you guessed it:

It seems that this is the attraction we always end up next to when it starts to rain, so we have ridden it more times than I wish to remember

Didn't make it in here this trip, but we will someday

And now a far off look at some pavilions

Germany

The American Adventure

Japan

And back to Norway to use the Fastpasses for Maelstrom Makes me laugh every time I say that

The mural behind the loading station

A look across to Canada again to remind us where we had started

Next: The Future Looks Dark And Gloomy

 

[LisaIL]

I'm enjoying your trip reports! Great pictures!

 

[skidisney]

A glimpse of the swan as we leave World Showcase

And a random bird

You notice it was somewhat sunny in that bird pic. Now look at Imagination

That's right, the rain started up again. We then used our Test Track fastpasses despite the warnings coming over the loud speakers about the impending weather. And for the first time, we found out that if you ride Test Track in a rain storm it feels like, well, it feels like driving a convertible in a rain storm. Not very pleasant, I will say that.

We scooted on over and there was no wait at Spaceship Earth. So we jumped on.

I guess I'm scuba diving.

A couple last looks at a rainy Epcot before we left for the evening.

We left Epcot at about 8:15 that night and went back to the room. That is when the skys really let loose. Britt fell asleep but I decided to venture out into the rain and walk around the resort (sorry, no pics, just some quiet time.) Besides, I wanted some cheesecake. But when I got to the food court, it was packed. I should have known considering the rain and the parks closing pretty early that night with no EMH evening. Oh well, you live and you learn. I managed to get my food, just took a little longer than expected. Had to fuel up for a day that was to be a very long and wet one.

Next: A Very Rainy Day In A Far Off Land

 

[I love disney123]

How was that trip you went on? Andyour girlfriend/ wife is pretty...