How the Other Half Lives ~ Updated 10/22: I Forgot Something!

[Dugette]

Thanks for the Gowalla information, I think! I read through the information.....well sort of and I decided that I'm going to hope that Gowalla brings the historys back!

I know, I don't get it either! One of the benefits of marrying a web guy, though! Hopefully Gowalla makes it available soon!

 

[Dugette]

After wandering AK until close at 9pm, we caught a bus over to AKL for a much-anticipated ADR: Jiko! We had reserved 9:45pm and planned to keep it cheap, just doing appetizers and dessert.

We arrived at AKL:

We were seated and ordered the Cheese Selection to start out with:

Mmmmmm, yummy cheese! Here’s the view from our table:

Dug was happy to be there:

Reprise of our Jiko napkin shot from last time:

They brought out some bread:

Dug decided to order an African glass of wine:

I ordered my beloved Kalamata Olive Flatbread, which was so delectable last time. Still super yummy:

Dug got a different flatbread. Maybe the BBQ Chicken? Not sure, but it was good too:

We finished with my highly anticipated Chocolate and Cherry dessert:

Delish! Overall, we really enjoyed Jiko again. Our waiter didn’t seem terribly friendly to me, but the food and atmosphere was great. It was also nice to have a change of scenery, being out in the main room, as we’d been in the wine room previously. Definitely recommend and we’d go back!

It was late by the time we finished. We planned to catch a bus to the MK (or Downtown Disney, if needed) so that we could get back to the Poly. We hung out at the empty bus stop for quite awhile. No buses at all showed up. We were starting to get a little worried that we were too late and going to be stranded.

Eventually, a bus pulled up. It was labeled “Zone 4”. The driver asked us where we were trying to go. He said that he had to go back to where they park the buses for the night and could drop us off at the TTC. We jumped on! Thank goodness for the Zone 4 bus! He chauffeured us to the TTC and dropped us off as close as possible to the walkway to the Poly. We thanked him, walked to Hawaii, and turned in for the night.

Up next: I guess we’re making another trailer video! Oh, and we do the TSM stampede!

 

[disneybarbie]

love the pictures of AK at night! That's on my 'to do' list for a future trip, I bet the park, particularly the Asia area, looks beautiful and very different at night time

Jiko sounded great, I went there in 2002 with my family but would love to return again!




Emma x

 

[MeMom]

These look so good!

AKL is so pretty to start with - add in a humongous, beautiful Christmas tree and it becomes an amazing place to behold during November and December. The decorations on the tree are so unique.

Your pictures continue to make me anxious for our December trip.

 

[Dugette]

love the pictures of AK at night! That's on my 'to do' list for a future trip, I bet the park, particularly the Asia area, looks beautiful and very different at night time

It really does feel like a whole different park after dark! Very pretty! And the lines aren't usually too bad either. Riding Everest at night is also quite different.

Jiko sounded great, I went there in 2002 with my family but would love to return again!

We really enjoy it! Although I'm sad that my favorite flatbread doesn't seem to be on the menu anymore.

These look so good!

Mmmmm, Ghirardelli! We are planning on going there on this upcoming trip and will probably have to order TWO sundaes because there are so many that sound so good!

AKL is so pretty to start with - add in a humongous, beautiful Christmas tree and it becomes an amazing place to behold during November and December. The decorations on the tree are so unique.

I love AKL. So beautiful! It's right up there with the Poly as one of our favorites! And the decorations are really unique on the Christmas tree!

Your pictures continue to make me anxious for our December trip.

I'm sure you will have a wonderful time. It's extra magical in many ways!

 

[jc040404]

Love the pic of you guys with Mickey & Minnie!

You are making soo hungry right now! I really need to keep a list of places to try, because this looks great.

Thank goodness for that "Zone 4" bus and how sweet that he dropped you close to the walkway. Any clue what was going on with the buses? I'm so scared to even try using those after stories like this, even though it had a happy ending!

 

[Dugette]

Well, I guess I've fallen behind on sharing the updates we received on Bailey's stay at "Wilderness Adventure Puppy Camp".

On the 14th, we sent my dad & step-mom a picture of Tigger (at our Crystal Palace breakfast) with a note, "Hope Bailey won't be jealous of our new pet!"

My dad responded, "I'll show Bailey the picture later. She may not be happy about your new pet."

My step-mom sent an update later that day, "Right now, at 5:24 pm, she is laying on my typing arm snoring away. It is rather difficult to type but it doesn't seem to bother her. Hope you are having a great time and thanks for the photos!"

The next day, the 15th, we received a couple pictures:

Bailey watching a squirrel.

Bailey and I are playing ball. This is a pause between throws.

She is eating well and doing OK. When she's awake and just keeping us company on the couch, I see her ears tuned in to find the sound of your car. Other times she's underfoot, or helping us eat, or sleeping. Just a few more days and you can come back to enjoy this winter wonderland.

Then, the morning of this day I'm just starting to cover, we received:

After an exciting morning of barking at deer, she took a short break to keep your dad warm.

Hope you are warm. We might get up to 20 today.

Okay, all up to date!

We finished yet another trailer today! Enjoy a glimpse of Day 6 (spent with friends!) Click to watch:

 

[Dugette]

Love the pic of you guys with Mickey & Minnie!

Thanks!

You are making soo hungry right now! I really need to keep a list of places to try, because this looks great.

I get hungry pretty much anytime I'm on the DIS!

Thank goodness for that "Zone 4" bus and how sweet that he dropped you close to the walkway. Any clue what was going on with the buses? I'm so scared to even try using those after stories like this, even though it had a happy ending!

You know, I think it was more of a calculation error on our part than anything. It's been so long that we can't remember, but maybe the MK had closed and we didn't realize it? Although, I would think Downtown Disney would still be open. But maybe not?

In general, we've had very good experiences with the buses. There have been a few moments like this, but Disney does a pretty good job for the most part. All part of the fun!

 

[IheartDDuck]

I attempted to read the Gowalla part of the update, and my head was completely spinning. I think this is a sign that I'm never going to work in IT and that I should stay in Accounting.....

I have never been at the Animal Kingdom at night, and now I'm mad that they don't do it anymore! I'll never get to see it myself. Wah.

Mmmm, I love Jiko. I personally think that they have some of the best food on property for sure.

 

[Dugette]

I attempted to read the Gowalla part of the update, and my head was completely spinning. I think this is a sign that I'm never going to work in IT and that I should stay in Accounting.....

Same here! It's like a foreign language!

I have never been at the Animal Kingdom at night, and now I'm mad that they don't do it anymore! I'll never get to see it myself. Wah.

They don't do it anymore? Did I miss something? Does that mean that there are no more evening EMH there? I think during our upcoming trip they're open until 7pm some nights...maybe it will be dark by then?

Mmmm, I love Jiko. I personally think that they have some of the best food on property for sure.

Agreed! AKL has such good dining options, between Jiko, Sanaa, and Boma. Yummy!

 

[Dugette]

Weather for this day: High 69 degrees and Low 35 degrees. A nice day finally! (I may have forgotten to mention, the previous day was: High 55 degrees and Low 32 degrees).

We were up bright and early this morning because we had to be at DHS by rope drop. We got ready, then stopped in the Club Lounge to grab a quick breakfast. Then, we headed on out to the bus stop and caught a bus to DHS.

We arrived at 8:45am and park opening was at 9am. We staked out our places in the crowd and watched the opening act:

The last peaceful moment:

The crowd is ready to stampede:

Soon, we were off! We split up. Since I walk faster, I went to the TSM Fast Pass line and Dug went straight to the standby line. Of course, the FP line had a wait. But this green army man made it fun:

Here’s a very brief video of a funny moment while I was in the FP line:



Some crazy crowd photos that Dug took :

I obtained FPs for us that were for 10:40am. Dug had to wait a minute by the chain before entering the building, letting people pass him, so that I could catch up. I jumped into line with him and we were inside the building by 9:10am. Some queue pics:

Had to get a picture with our home state:

Ready to win:

And some pics from the ride:

Why, what’s that? Looks like I won!

Great start to the morning!

Up next: Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster, more Fast Passes, and all of our plans for the day get completely thrown off! And we eat in a place that we did not intend to set foot in!

 

[Dugette]

After our TSM ride, it was time to hit Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster. We made our way over and jumped in line. Views from the queue:

We enjoyed the ride, as usual. Classic ride photo:

After that ride, it was getting close to time to get more TSM Fast Passes. A couple pics on our way over:

I speed-walked ahead, but turned out I didn’t need to. I ended up standing around for a few minutes, waiting for the clock to turn to 10:40am, so that I could us get more FPs.

In the meantime, Donald called to let us know that their family was in the park. They were headed to Toy Story Pizza Planet and invited us to join them for lunch. We had planned to stop at Starring Rolls, but decided to give that up. Yes, for Pizza Planet. Okay, for the friends.

Anyway, the time finally clicked to 10:40am, so I got us another set of FP. And some shots on the way over to Pizza Planet:

We sat outside and waited for a few minutes for them to arrive. Soon, they showed up. My buddy Dewey was very excited to see us:

Or maybe he was just excited to have somebody who was sucker enough to carry him. Who knows?

We all went inside to order.

So, we listen to the WDW Today Podcast. Which means that we have heard many, many times how bad Pizza Planet is. We studied the menu carefully and finally took our chances on an order. Dug got a pepperoni pizza and I got a meatball sub (which I remembered hearing was decent). They both came with a caesar side salad:

We all shared a table upstairs. I think that Donald and Daisy’s family all had pizza. The food was reasonably tasty. The sub, especially! Huey really enjoyed his Mickey rice crispy treat on a stick:

I made Dug take a picture of an alien, since I just love them:

We had fun chatting with our friends while we ate.

After we’d finished, the boys wanted to each play a video game. Including my boy (Dug)! Donald gave Huey and Dewey a dollar to play a game. We didn’t have any cash on us (we usually don’t need it at the parks). So, Donald gave Dug a dollar too! He was so excited and went straight to this game:

He did very well and Dewey ended up watching and cheering him on. For any Star Wars video game fans out there, Dug’s notes say, “Beat Hoth level. Didn’t quite make it through Endor level.”

We headed out and the boys wanted to get pictures with McQueen and Mater. After all, they were wearing Cars fleeces. We all got in the character line and waited. The boys got some pictures on their own, then we joined them so that we could have some pics with them. The Photopass person was nice enough to download the pics of the boys themselves onto both Daisy and our Photopass cards. I know this first border doesn’t make sense, but there were no Cars borders:

Dug took these two:

Most of our Photopass pics with them are silly and the boys are distracted. This was the best we could manage:

Nothing like taking a Photopass pic with other people’s kids!

Up next: More things we never thought we’d be doing today! And some cute kid stories!

 

[Dugette]

So, up next, Huey and Dewey wanted to explore the Honey I Shrunk the Kids Playset. Dug got off pretty easy on this one. His notes say: “Dug sat down at the Wall of Men Using Their Smartphones.” He also took a few pictures of the giant grass and stuff:

Daisy, being pregnant and at WDW, was exhausted. She took the time to sit on the ground in the shade and relax. Donald chased Huey around. They climbed all the way up the big spider web and Huey refused to come back down. He said he wanted to stay up there FOREVER! Somehow, Donald finally managed to get him down.

Dewey desperately wanted me to go everywhere with him. And I mean everywhere. I may not be a large adult, but I’m not a tiny kid either. There are some small places in that playground! Early on, I followed Dewey down a slide and somehow tipped and hit my head while getting up at the end. I know it’s rubbery material in that area, but it HURT! But never mind that, I had a 6-year-old to run after! We climbed through tiny spaces. We climbed up high on things. I lifted him and caught him. I climbed through the whole spider web net thing. Went down slides. Dewey had me videotape him climbing up mushrooms (next to a gigantic sniffing dog nose!) Etc.

I have to say, the hardest part of this (besides being physically exhausted) was trying to figure out how to “parent” someone else’s kid. I don’t have a 6-year-old and I was never a babysitter. And I’ve never observed kids on this playground. It was very hard to determine what to allow him to do. Because he wanted to climb as high as possible on everything. To places that I don’t think WDW intended kids to climb. And it’s hard to say no to a kid who sees you as his best buddy. So, I was terrified half the time, because I didn’t want him to get hurt under my watch. Luckily, everything turned out okay, but I nearly had a few heart attacks.

After we’d been playing for awhile, Dewey found another kid about his age that was as daring as he was (and this other kid had NO parental supervision). Dewey was instantly impressed by his new friend’s climbing skills. Balancing on top of places that I bet WDW thought kids couldn’t make it to. The new kid introduced himself (I’ll call him Zack…which may or may not have been his name, as I can’t remember 9 months later!--you can see him with Dewey in the trailer for this day) Dewey instantly forgot that I was his playground buddy and these two were joined at the hip now. Funny how quickly you can make friends as a 6-year-old. Great, so now I had two daring little boys to watch!

At some point, between my heart attacks while watching them climb, Zack cracked me up! He turned to Dewey, very seriously, and said, “Have you ever heard of a playdate? I think we should have one. My mom will set it up with your mom.” Hysterical! Of course, Dewey had to explain that I was not his mom. No matter, they would schedule it later.

Towards the end, they got in line to ride the ant. At that point, Zack’s family finally appeared. I think it was his mom and grandma. Zack was insistent on the playdate coordination, so I introduced them to Daisy, who was sitting nearby. I don’t remember what state they were from, but it was nowhere near Minnesota. They exchanged emails nonetheless. Very cute!

After they got their photo ops on the ant, they did a little more climbing-on-top-of-things-that-other-kids-were-under. Finally, thankfully, we headed out of the playground.

Whew!

Up next, we did the walk-through of Journey into Narnia: Prince Caspian. Some pics on the way over:

Dug said this was basically a spoiler of the movie, which he hadn’t yet seen. We knew from our research that this attraction wasn’t very exciting, except maybe to huge fans of the movie, so it was about what we expected. I was bored, as I expected. Donald’s family was pretty disappointed, though. Dewey said he thought it was a ride. Some pics from inside:

Dug enjoyed all the costumes at the end:

Up next: The boys want a ride, but Donald and Daisy want something relaxing…where do we go for that at DHS (there’s no TTA here)? Also ToT, Starring Rolls (we get there after all!), and another round of TSM. Plus, a mini-DIS-meet!

 

[TheThomsLuvDisney]

Great Mega Update!!! Are you trying to finish before the next trip? I feel your pain! I starting making these really fun home videos of all our trips and I just can't seem to finish the latest one and we, like you, leave in less than two weeks for the next Disney adventure.

I especially enjoyed your trailer, very cute, "Double O Trouble"!! Do you and Dug have kids on your horizon, you both seem like naturals?!?!?

 

[jc040404]

Yay for lots of updates! I loved the new trailer! Dewey sounds like a lot of fun, and how cute about the playdate offer. I've gotta say those crowd pics around TSM are wild! I know it's nuts there, but I guess I've never really looked around at just how bad. Yikes! Glad you managed the stampede with no trouble.

So loving these pics, btw. I need a Disney day!!

 

[IheartDDuck]

I know exactly what you mean about parenting some else's kid! Its hard to know what's okay to do, what's not okay to do, etc. I know your pain.

How cute are kids that they are able to make friends so quickly? Wouldn't it be nice if that could stay the same for us once we become adults?

 

[Dugette]

Great Mega Update!!! Are you trying to finish before the next trip? I feel your pain! I starting making these really fun home videos of all our trips and I just can't seem to finish the latest one and we, like you, leave in less than two weeks for the next Disney adventure.

You got it! Don't know if I'll be able to finish, but I'm making a valiant effort! More updates coming...

I especially enjoyed your trailer, very cute, "Double O Trouble"!! Do you and Dug have kids on your horizon, you both seem like naturals?!?!?

Yeah, this was a fun trailer. And thanks, but who knows...if so, they'll take plenty of Disney trips!

Yay for lots of updates! I loved the new trailer! Dewey sounds like a lot of fun, and how cute about the playdate offer.

I just got such a kick out of that. I was walking around the playground giggling.

I've gotta say those crowd pics around TSM are wild! I know it's nuts there, but I guess I've never really looked around at just how bad. Yikes! Glad you managed the stampede with no trouble.

I totally don't remember the crowds being that thick, but pictures don't lie. I guess I was so focused on the mission that I didn't notice how crazy the crowd was!

So loving these pics, btw. I need a Disney day!!

Are you doing any Disney days w/o annual passes? Or waiting for a party night?

I know exactly what you mean about parenting some else's kid! Its hard to know what's okay to do, what's not okay to do, etc. I know your pain.

Nice to have someone else who understands! I didn't expect to get left alone for so long with him!

How cute are kids that they are able to make friends so quickly? Wouldn't it be nice if that could stay the same for us once we become adults?

That would be nice! It was really quite adorable!

 

[Dugette]

After we finished the Narnia walk-through, there were a couple of requests. The boys wanted a ride. They were not into shows at all—just wanted rides. Well, that in and of itself was a challenge, as we started to realize that there are just not that many rides in the Studios! But, on top of that, Donald and Daisy wanted something where they could relax. If only there were a Peoplemover at DHS!

After some thought, we suggested The Great Movie Ride. It’s a ride and it has potential to be somewhat relaxing. We all headed over there. We found out that one of the boys (can’t remember if it was Dewey or Huey) was really into cowboys. We had always wanted to see the cowboy side of this ride, so we hoped this would be our chance. However, when we asked, they told us that they weren’t running it today. Bummer!

Not too long of a wait and we were cruising through the movies:

Dewey had a lot of commentary during this ride. Donald tried to keep him quiet, but Dewey had a lot to say! Kinda funny, but not too relaxing for Donald. Afterwards, Dewey said he thought it was scary…and not good scary!

So, why not do Tower of Terror next?

Looks like we saw some Streetmosphere on the way over:

We also had a run-in with a fellow DISer that we were planning to meet later: Gellybean. I’m sure she wondered why I was being dragged along by a 6-year-old when we tried to stop and talk… We arranged to get in touch later on.

Donald’s family had obtained four Fast Passes for ToT earlier. That would have been perfect for us, as Donald and Dewey could ride with us (Daisy couldn’t with the pregnancy and Huey wasn’t too sure if he wanted to try). However, the sign only said a 13 minute wait. And Huey was tall enough and wavering on whether or not he was brave enough. But, given the opportunity to come along in the short Standby line, he decided to give it a try.

Well, that 13 minute wait sign was a total lie. All told, it was probably closer to an hour wait! Apparently, one of the elevators wasn’t working.

Once we were on the ride, in the dark tunnel, but before the drop, Dewey decided that the rest of our elevator could use some narration as to what would be happening next. (I think maybe he was trying to calm his brother’s fears). It got to be kinda funny, but Donald told him that the rest of the elevator may want to be surprised. Well, Huey survived. But he was trembling. No more of that for him!

Our ride pic:

You can see us in the front row: I’m videotaping, Dug’s just chillin’, Dewey’s having a good ol’ time, and Donald’s holding onto poor Huey.

When we came out of the ride, the wait time said 50! The boys needed a bathroom break, so I sat on the wall with Daisy and waited. And, while I was sitting there, the ToT sign went from 50 to 70 to 20 to 40. The sign was apparently doing it’s own tower drops!

Next, the four of us who were willing to go again used the Fast Passes for another ride on ToT. Much shorter wait using those!

At this point, it was snack time for Donald’s family. We suggested Starring Rolls and they agreed. Dug got a Red Velvet Cheesecake Cupcake:

I got something I’d never even seen before, but it looked good—a Banana Split:

Both were pretty good. Donald decided to get one of the famous Butterfinger Cupcakes and share it with his boys. Daisy just tried a bit of mine. When we sat down at our table, Dewey said he needed to use the restroom (didn’t they just go?). Donald took him. Leaving Huey alone with the giant Butterfinger Cupcake…

While they were away, Huey ate quite a bit of it…including ALL of the fudge in the middle! (the best part!) Donald was quite surprised when they came back. But, Huey’s opinion on the fudge center that he’d quickly eaten all of? “And I didn’t like it!” Oh, well. Donald and Dewey cleaned up what Huey had left behind. (Later on, Huey changed his mind and said that he did like it. You think? You ate it all, kid!)

After snack time, we all made our way back to TSM. We had Fast Passes to redeem. We were all on fairly quickly. Daisy and Huey ready to play:

Oh, and what’s that? I won AGAIN against Dug!

I rarely beat him at things, so I have to brag!

At this point, I think we were going to split up from Donald’s family. They probably had somewhere to be and we wanted to see the Muppets. However, before we could, we got a voicemail from Gellybean that her family was sitting on a curb, waiting for the Osborne Lights to start, and wanted to meet up. So, we headed over there instead.

Up next: Lots of pictures of pretty lights!

 

[Dugette]

We found Gellybean’s group and chatted for awhile on that curb. It was fun to meet them (she was our first follower on our first PTR…but hasn’t been on the DIS recently). We filled them in on our crazy arrival and upgrade experience. It was fun to talk to someone who “got it”, as far as the pixie dust we’d received. We had a really enjoyable visit with her family.

Our view of the street:

It started snowing:

Soon, it was time for the lights to come on and then to dance! Ready for photo overload? Here you go:

At some point in here, we split up with Gellybean’s group and walked around to explore the lights. There were a lot of hidden Mickeys and just generally cool stuff:

Continued in next post…

 

[Dugette]

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