How do we love Disney? Let me count the ways... (updated & completed 5/11)

[mom2mek]

Ok, so what was weird about her posts? I must know!!! Funny how she asked your user name but then said she can never remember user names....

I was laughing at the Barbie/Pocohontas comment! I'm thinking of in the movie...the cartoon kind of holds her arms that way. I guess the powers-that-be tell them to do that, maybe? It is a bit odd looking!!

I loved Lion King when I saw it in December with some girlfriends - couldn't believe I hadn't seen it until then! Such talent!

Great update!

 

[faerieprincess]

Great update! Wow, a weird Diser? lol

Not weird.... when i looked up her posts i found that most of them are pretty much arguing (or worse) with other posters. They're combative and rude, on the whole. Which is why i'm not mentioning her by name and really hoping she doesn't remember my DIS user name.

Ok, so what was weird about her posts? I must know!!! Funny how she asked your user name but then said she can never remember user names....

I was laughing at the Barbie/Pocohontas comment! I'm thinking of in the movie...the cartoon kind of holds her arms that way. I guess the powers-that-be tell them to do that, maybe? It is a bit odd looking!!

I loved Lion King when I saw it in December with some girlfriends - couldn't believe I hadn't seen it until then! Such talent!

Great update!

That might explain it, Sara, because i don't think i've ever seen the film. And i did assume that's part of their character instruction (like Prince Caspian's annoyingly soft voice) but it just looks weird to me. And uncomfortable. She was really, really nice though. i hadn't brought my bag with me so i didn't have my autograph book i didn't know i'd be seeing characters! We seriously walked into the room and she was just standing there looking photogenic. No line or anything. Jiminy Cricket had no line, either. Raffiki did so we didn't bother.

Festival of the Lion King was AMAZING! Sooooooo good, i'm so glad we saw it first! (Set a pretty high bar though)

 

[Lady Lallie]

I could have sworn that I replied to DHS post but alas I didn't. Bad LL!

Rhino from Bolt is so adorable! I hope he is still there in May. I love the pictures of Pooh and Eeyore.

Pocahontas does hold her arms like that in the movie, I think it's because she holds her back so straight or something like that. It does look awkward but it does look like Pocahontas to me. If that makes sense.

That is too bad about the DISer, that would be awkward!

 

[faerieprincess]

I could have sworn that I replied to DHS post but alas I didn't. Bad LL!

Rhino from Bolt is so adorable! I hope he is still there in May. I love the pictures of Pooh and Eeyore.

Pocahontas does hold her arms like that in the movie, I think it's because she holds her back so straight or something like that. It does look awkward but it does look like Pocahontas to me. If that makes sense.

That is too bad about the DISer, that would be awkward!

Maybe you did and it disappeared with my post

Rhino was SO cute and he signed his name using the "O" as a hamster ball and drew himself inside it. When i first came up to him and gave the CM my camera, i told Rhino he was my favourite character in the film (which in fact he was, he got all the best lines). So after he signed my book and tried to eat my pen, his handler was chiding him for being mean to someone who was nice to him! It was funny.

i get what you mean about Pocahontas, and since my last post i googled it and she does look like that in the film, but it still looks uncomfortable to me! she did it well though

 

[Lady Lallie]

Maybe you did and it disappeared with my post

Rhino was SO cute and he signed his name using the "O" as a hamster ball and drew himself inside it. When i first came up to him and gave the CM my camera, i told Rhino he was my favourite character in the film (which in fact he was, he got all the best lines). So after he signed my book and tried to eat my pen, his handler was chiding him for being mean to someone who was nice to him! It was funny.

i get what you mean about Pocahontas, and since my last post i googled it and she does look like that in the film, but it still looks uncomfortable to me! she did it well though

That is weird. A lot of people have been talking about disappearing posts recently.

That is too cute about Rhino! Hehehe.

In regards to Pocahontas, Disney is true to it's characters at least! They don't skimp on the details.

 

[faerieprincess]

That is weird. A lot of people have been talking about disappearing posts recently.

That's odd

That is too cute about Rhino! Hehehe.

Yup he was adorable!

In regards to Pocahontas, Disney is true to it's characters at least! They don't skimp on the details.

Hehehe....indeed.

 

[faerieprincess]

Coming off the Safari we saw this:

After watching for a few minutes we decided we were hungry! i knew where i wanted to go... Yak & Yeti CS. Jess went to get us a table, and i ordered the Sweet and Sour Pork for her and the Honey Chicken for myself. Also a chocolate cake for her and the mango pie for myself.

oh.

my.

goddess.

SO YUMMY!

i tried both the pork and the chicken and loved both, but i really loved the chicken the best and Jess loved the pork the best (a reversal for us, i'm the pork fiend normally).

The mango pie was delicious as well. This was easily the best CS meal we'd had, and it was almost good enough to rival Kona for the best meal period!

Over lunch we decided to head to

and pick up my FPs. Jess had no problems with me using both of our tickets so i could ride twice. We headed over and got them:

Then we went to check out Dinoland. We got in line for...

And after a forever wait (about 50 mins, which was 30 mins longer than the posted time when we got in line, grrrrrr), Jess actually rode!

She hated every second and at one point i was sure she was going to throw up. i made her open her eyes and focus on something inside the car, which helped her a lot.

She was a little wobbly getting off and said she was glad it was time for me to use my EE FPs, so she could rest. We stopped and got her a bottle of water, and then she took this:

Then we found her a spot to sit down where she could see part of the lift hill and one of the drops.

i got in the FP line and it moved very quickly. i was seated with someone from the single rider line (there's a single rider line? darnit).

i'd love to leave a cliffhanger here but there's just not enough day left for another update! So, coming up next, would i like EE?






As it happens i LOVED Expedition Everest! It was one of my most-looked-forward-to rides and it did NOT disappoint. It was awesome!!!!

i got off and went to see Jess. i had waved to her from the lift hill and she'd waved back. She claimed she could pick out my voice among the screamers! She'd tried to take a picture when we came down the drop nearest her but hadn't caught the train. The camera battery had also died on her!

i headed straight back on and again got on very quickly. It was even BETTER the second time! SO much fun. i really loved it.

i was tempted to ride again using the single rider line but i knew we were cutting it close to get into the next show of

so we headed there instead. As it happened about another 200 people got in after us, but i had a mild headache and it's probably for the best that i skipped doing EE again.

We enjoyed the Nemo show but it wasn't as good as FOTLK to me. It was nice to sit down for a good long time. By the time the show was over my headache was gone (yay for a Tylenol pocket!)

When we came out of Nemo we were heading back around towards the Tree again when we realised we had terrible timing: they were just blocking off for the Jammin' Jungle Parade, in which we were not interested. However we were just able to duck some CMs and run across the road before they closed it off, and we went straight into the Tree for It's Tough to Be a Bug!

The show was reasonably enjoyable (although again Jess was freaking with the 3D... calm down, kid!), and when we came out the parade was mercifully over. We wandered through a few shops (i really wanted one of those Nemo seagull shirts with the "Mine Mine Mine" on them, but didn't find one) and then we headed out of the park and caught the bus back to PoP for some much-needed R and R!

 

[LaurenMic]

Great updates Sare! I definitely know what you mean about the rude people. They were really getting to me on our last trip, especially at DHS. But it looks like you guys still had a lot of fun, I'm so glad you braved ToT!!

You got so much done at AK! We are trying Yak and Yeti CS, I'm so glad to hear you liked it. Sounds yummy! I laughed at the parade part, we are not parade people and are forever dodging them as well.

Can't wait for more!!

 

[MadiMouse]

Great update!!! I love EE and It's Tough to be a Bug!! I refuse to ride Primevil Whirl b/c I cannot stand to get that dizzy! I would be messed up for the remainder of the day!!

 

[mom2mek]

Glad you were able to get two rides on Everest - what a blast that ride is!

I've never been on Primeval Hurl! Don't know if I could handle it! I'm glad Jess made it through without getting sick!


Yak and Yeti sounds great! I'd like to try that someday!

Sara

 

[faerieprincess]

Great updates Sare! I definitely know what you mean about the rude people. They were really getting to me on our last trip, especially at DHS. But it looks like you guys still had a lot of fun, I'm so glad you braved ToT!!

You got so much done at AK! We are trying Yak and Yeti CS, I'm so glad to hear you liked it. Sounds yummy! I laughed at the parade part, we are not parade people and are forever dodging them as well.

Can't wait for more!!

We did everything we wanted to do at AK, i was really impressed with us! We were pretty tired though, and the day wasn't over yet....

Yak & Yeti was one of the three top meals of the entire trip - it was SO good. Really.

Great update!!! I love EE and It's Tough to be a Bug!! I refuse to ride Primevil Whirl b/c I cannot stand to get that dizzy! I would be messed up for the remainder of the day!!

It's Tough to Be a Bug was kind of overshadowed by FOTLK and Nemo, and it was my least favourite of the three, but it was still fun. It was nice to be in the shade while we waited (i think the previous show had JUST loaded when we went into the Tree). i wish my camera had still had some battery left for some closeups of the Tree while we were down there!

Amazingly i didn't get dizzy at all on Primeval Whirl! (i did later get a headache though, as i mentioned, and i'm sure it had something to do with that).

Glad you were able to get two rides on Everest - what a blast that ride is!

I've never been on Primeval Hurl! Don't know if I could handle it! I'm glad Jess made it through without getting sick!


Yak and Yeti sounds great! I'd like to try that someday!

Sara

Jess was SO PROUD of herself for riding a roller coaster! Even though she hated every second of it, she was pretty pleased with herself.

Oh, Everest was wonderful...


i was just reading on the BBC last night about a new coaster at Thorpe Park in England called Saw: The Ride and it's got a 100 degree more-than-vertical drop! WoW! As if i needed more temptation to go to England!

 

[mickeysmyboy]

I just got caught up!! Great updates Sare!! I can't believe you got Jess on Primevil Whirl! It looks like you had a great day at AK! Can't wait to read more!

 

[faerieprincess]

i can't believe i got her on it either! i don't know what possessed her! i was so proud of her!

 

[mom2mek]

I've never been on it, but I hear that PW, for some, can be worse than Everest! Yay Jess!

 

[faerieprincess]

Yay Jess indeed

i found it similar to a ride at Canada's Wonderland called The Fly, except i seem to think that one didn't spin (been a few years since i've been on it). It's the same steel wild mouse though. i found it quite tame if a little whiplash-y, not in any kind of the same league as EE! But then, i spent most of the ride looking at and talking to Jess!

 

[faerieprincess]

Back at PoP, we had a good long rest and had a shower. Even though we had gotten back much earlier than the day before, we both felt like it had been a really long day. We debated just staying at PoP for dinner, but i really wanted to check out DTD, so off we went.

So when we first arrived at DTD, we were in pretty good moods. i stopped in the scrapbooking store and bought an album and some stickers and things that i'd been eyeing in various shops all over Disney. We browsed through the Art of Disney store. We moved on to the Winnie the Pooh store where we both oooohed and ahhhhed over many things. i took pictures of these t-shirts:

They were so cute! They made me think of my BF but they were all a little too girly, i didn't think he would wear any of them. So we left the Pooh store having not bought anything

Finally we found Goofy's! Once in there we each chose 3 treats and ordered them. i got two orders of pretzel sticks (one chocolate with caramel drizzle, the other chocolate with sprinkles and..caramel drizzle) and one marshmallow... chocolate with caramel drizzle. i'm boring, i know, but OMGosh they were DELICIOUS! i also bought a bottle of Cherry Coke for later.

Then we wandered into the area where Wolfgang Puck Express and Earl of Sandwich both are. This is where both of our moods started to deteriorate. We had eaten lunch around 1pm, and it was now about 7pm. We were both tired and hungry and quickly growing cranky. Neither of us could decide what we wanted or from where.

Finally we moved along towards World of Disney. i left Jess sitting beside a tree or a fountain or something (i honestly don't remember ) and went inside. i was particularly looking for something to bring back for my brother and my BF. i didn't find anything!

i took some pictures of the Mr Potato Heads for my BF's brother in law:

Then i left World of Disney and walked over to the LEGO store. i had HIGH hopes for the LEGO store - my brother and BF both love LEGO (we spent Christmas Eve playing LEGO Batman on PS3 and Christmas Day rooting through the LEGO box at my Dad's).

The LEGO store let me down. i didn't find anything for either of them! It was noisy and crowded and my mood was getting crappier by the minute. Finally i gave up. i checked out Basin, where i also didn't buy anything.

i went back to Jess and her tree/fountain and we headed out of DTD.

So, to sum up, we spent about $80 and 6 snack credits.

We went back to the hotel and had dinner in the PoP food court. No idea what we had. i was wishing we'd followed through on my idea to go to Beaches n' Cream. In any case we went back to our room and crashed early. we had an early morning ADR for a Supercallifragilistic breakfast...

Memories of our Fifth Day:
The weather today was... hot, muggy & sunny
The best thing today was... Expedition Everest!!! What a great experience - and i got to do it TWICE!
The worst thing today was... it was really hot and sunny, just a little too much for us northern girls. Also poor Jess' feet are killing her!
The funniest thing today was... posing for the "Simba shot". Jess had no clue what was going on.
Today we tried... going to Downtown Disney
And the result was... i'm not impressed. It seemed very commercial and lacking in Disney magic.
The most magical moment today was... the whole Festival of the Lion King show. It's spectacular.

 

[Lady Lallie]

Great updates!!

It did a lot at AK! I'm impressed. I get really overwhelmed by that park for some reason. I am going to try to ride EE so I love your review of it.

Sometimes you hit that wall on vacation, especially at Disney and you just need to rest. I did that a few times on my last trip.

I can't wait to hear about your breakfast!

 

[faerieprincess]

Great updates!!

It did a lot at AK! I'm impressed. I get really overwhelmed by that park for some reason. I am going to try to ride EE so I love your review of it.

Sometimes you hit that wall on vacation, especially at Disney and you just need to rest. I did that a few times on my last trip.

I can't wait to hear about your breakfast!

i absolutely LOVED EE and highly recommend it. It's SOOOO much fun. Really. It's fantastic! try it!

we had definitely hit the wall by this night, me even more so than Jess. i think for her it was just another evening of having sore feet and bad blisters, but i was really having a sore back, low blood sugar AND blood pressure, i'm sure, and just feeling really crappy. i was trying so hard not to be short with her when she was walking S-o-o-o-o-o-o s-l-o-w-l-y. Walking slowly like that makes my back hurt much more, so it was really a crappy night. i was relieved to get back to the hotel, crawl into bed and talk to my BF for a while, and go to sleep.

 

[faerieprincess]

On the morning of our last full day at Disney, we both woke up exhausted. When the alarm went off, i immediately shut it up, and then continued to lay there for a few minutes. We really needed to get up and at 'em this morning, as we needed to book it over to the Grand Floridian for our 9am breakfast ADR at 1900 Park Fare. Mary Poppins!

However.

As excited as i was to see Mary Poppins, and Alice and whomever else shows up for the Supercallifragilistic Breakfast, i was so

so

so

tired. And Jess wasn't stirring at all. Finally i sat up and when i did she asked me if we had to hurry. At this point, despite having kept this character meal a secret for MONTHS of agony, i fessed up.

However, even the lure of Mary Poppins wasn't going to get Jess up and moving with the kind of haste we needed to get there on time.

So i phoned the ADR number and spoke to a very nice CM who told me very kindly that i might have made some little girl's day by calling to cancel, since someone else would be let in, in our place. That made me feel better.

In our own time then we got up and dressed and had breakfast at PoP. We hopped on an Epcot bus and were there a little after 10.

At this point we made a decision that i guess i don't really regret, per se, but it pretty much led to more hassle than it was worth. In my opinion. Jess might not agree. We got this:

Well, actually we got another one first, but it wouldn't work! i couldn't budge it at all, it kept trying to dump her out! After a minute or two of that i WANTED to dump her out, since she thought it was hilarious and wouldn't stop laughing, while i was getting extremely annoyed and frustrated. Finally i went and got a different one and it was fine

So, i took a deep breath and we headed over to the Land. If ever you have occasion to push a 250lb-plus wheelchair up to the Land, don't. Trust me.

Hyperventilating, we finally got in and went down to get.....

(sorry, i forgot to rotate it. but y'all know what FPs look like).


i know, y'all are shocked that we are going to ride Soarin'. Appalled even. We don't like that ride, do we?

Nope.

We LOVE it.

So not only did we get FPs, we got in the standby line as well. In our defense it was showing only 35 minutes, and Jess would be sitting down the whole time. Why wouldn't we get in line?

Because the signs were WRONG, that's why. Twenty-five minutes wrong, at least. We were in that queue forEVER.

Or at least it seemed like it to me. It was at least an hour.

Directly behind us in line were a young couple (okay, probably about my age) with two little boys, ages 4 and 3. They were so cute! We had fun helping to entertain the lil guys during the queue, and we all played the screen games when they came up...

i also shared some tips with the parents about rides, maps, FPs, all kinds of things. Pretty much once they figured out i'm a bit of a know-it-all and didn't mind sharing my knowledge they asked every question they could think of. i felt a bit like a walking search engine for Disney, but i didn't mind. Nice to (a) be able to help someone and (b) not feel like i learned so much crap and have no one to tell about it! lol.

So finally we got to get on Soarin'. This makes our 4th time. We asked for and got front row centre seats. Score! We loved it, of course

We both used the bathroom and came out of the Land into lovely sparkling sunshine:

We headed over to see "Honey I Shrunk the Audience" but were told that the wheelchair section was full

i asked if we could park it and walk in, and he said sure but that it was pretty far. Jess decided she didn't want to see it that badly and we turned and headed through Innoventions and over to Test Track and Mission: Space. i stuck one ticket in each of their FP machines and got one for each (Jess didn't even want to try the green Mission: Space, which, having been on it, i really think she would have loved as it's similar to Star Tours. But i'd never been on it to be able to tell her what it was like and she didn't want to ride).

FPs in hand (well, in pouch), we headed slowly back through Innoventions and checked out some of the stuff inside.

i finally made the connection that the Segways i'd heard so much about, and the nifty little two-wheeled things i'd seen CMs scooting around on, were the same thing. i'm not always the sharpest tool in the drawer

Finally it was time to use our Soarin' FPs. We headed back to the Land and i nearly died pushing her back up to the entrance again. Seriously. i thought i was going to keel over. She thought it was hilarious. i should have made her get out and push me.

Anyway we sailed through the FP queue and down to the last holding area. This time we had the front row on the far right hand side, and with us in that row and the row behind us were a group of older people from Southern Florida, about 14 of them. They were super nice. Some of them were about to have their first ride on Soarin' so the others made them sit in the front row. They all planned to take their socks and shoes off.

The lady who was right behind me and therefore beside me in line was REALLY nice. i gave her gelly's tip to breathe through her nose and promised it would be worth it. They had been in line almost 90 mins before getting on with us.

Oh.

my.

goddess.

This was by far the BEST ride on Soarin' out of the five we'd had. The smells were stronger, the swoops were more pronounced, my favourite part coming up over the mountain was glorious, it was AMAZING. i fell in love with Soarin' all over again on this ride.

When we came to a stop and unbuckled and stood up, the lady beside me hugged both Jess and i (which was kind of random but nice).

Things i love about Disney #7: Soarin'. i just can't get enough.

Giddy with glee, we emerged from Soarin' wondering how we could possibly top it....

(Sorry there aren't many pictures of this morning, i was pushing the chair so not really snapping away at my usual rate! Don't worry, i more than made up for it later....)

 

[Lady Lallie]

I just love hearing about Soarin'. I plan to ride it as much as possible on my next trip, it's so much fun!

I can imagine pushing her up that hill was not fun at all, I've often thought that that hill would get the best of me even when I am not pushing anything.