How we fell in love with WDW - Oct 1-15 2009 - Update 05/18 -Day 14 - DHS/DTD

[torsie24]

Once we had had some lunch in the Mara (I had a Turkey Ciabatta with CousCous which was very yummy!) we sun-screened up and headed out to the bus stop. We headed over to EPCOT as we were yet to see the Canada and UK pavilions in full details so those were our first stop.

Canada is a very pretty pavilion, especially the gardens:

We don’t really think the UK pavilion is amazing, but then we aren’t big fans of the UK really!

We headed out through the international gateway and over to the Boardwalk as I wanted to see the wedding cakes in the bakery.

Jack, being the cake lover he is treated himself to a vanilla cupcake and he ate that outside while we waited for the boat to take us over to DHS.

Soon enough the boat arrived (luckily after Jack was finished with the cake) and then we had a lovely journey over to the Studios. Just in case we checked if there were any Toy Story mania fastpasses left – there wasn’t! So we headed over to watch Beauty and the Beast as this was one show I really wanted to see!

We got a great seat and I loved the show! It even gave me goosebumps.

After the show we had no other option, and no more excuses(!) not to ride Tower of Terror, so we got in line!

We both loved the ride, and I’m disappointed that even though the Paris version is newer it doesn’t have the moving forward through the twilight zone bit at the top, or the randomised drops. I thought it was great! And instantly wished I hadn’t waited until this late in the trip to ride!

We still had a while until Fantasmic, so we had a walk through the studios, I just love DHS at night, it really comes alive!

One of the coolest things I saw all trip were the crowds of people outside of American Idol watching the finale on the big screen, people were singing along and it was so relaxed and fun, when would that happen in somewhere other than Disney?

It was getting close to Fantasmic time (when I say ‘close’ I mean an hour and a half before ) so we headed back on up towards the theatre, a CM was there telling people not to queue for the show yet, and that it’d be fine if we waited until 10 minutes before show time....

We decided to get some food, so we went across the street to Catalina Eddies where we shared the Hot Italian Deli Sandwich and some chips, the sandwich was really good and if the line hadn’t been so darn long we’d have probably gone and got a second one to share, but the wait was putting us off.

A crowd had started to form for Fantismic, so we joined in, and after maybe 45 minutes or so we were in the theatre. We had the perfect loction, right in the centre!

We still had a while until show time, but luckily my fiancé is an easy man to please!

Once we’d finished our frozen lemonade it was almost showtime!!

We loved Fantasmic and it’s another thing we wished we’d found time for earlier on as we’d have definitely gone back for a second viewing!

After the show it took us a while to leave the theatre and it was getting close to park closing. We decided to head over to TSM and see what the queue was doing.

It read a 45 minute wait, which for Toy Story is actually pretty good, so we hopped in line. I actually thought it was going to be way longer, as the line started outside of the building. (It ended up to be about 50 minutes) luckily for us Lumo came out to do his little dance before the queue went in the main building so we got to see him!

The long wait gave me the chance to take photos in line, and for us to see Mr Potato Head for the first time! (As you can see from the photos not all of the line area was being used so I think that’s why it was only a 50 minute wait even though it started outside.)

This time Jack beat me by quite a lot, and he got a cat prize!

After we were finished it was well past closing time, so we headed out to the bus stops. We had quite a long wait, maybe 20 minutes, but I was kept amused as Jack realised he had sat on his sunglasses at some point in the day and one of the lenses had popped out. He popped the other out too and kept me laughing. (Partly because he looked funny and partly because I was glad to say ‘goodbye’ to those glasses.....)

We got back to AKL quite late and snuggled up ready for another busy Disney day!

 

[AimKo]

Fun report! Congrats on your engagement!

We're planning on trying a waterpark on our upcoming May trip. Since you've been to both...which did you prefer? We'll only have time for one!

Thanks

Aimee

 

[torsie24]

Thanks for reading!

We actually really enjoyed both. We preferred the BB lazy river and Teamboat Springs was awesome, so if you’re going in a large group I’d say BB. But the shark swim and crush n gusher are amazing, and the wave pool is amazing at TL, so I think if we could only go to one it’d be TL.

Remember we’re too wimpy to go on Summit Plummet though, so it really depends on how brave you are! You’ll have a blast at either!

 

[torsie24]

Day 13

Today was meant to be 8am at CP. We set the alarm before going to sleep, and when I woke in the morning and I could see a glimpse of sun coming through the curtains my first thought was a word I can't post on this board!

It was 7.55am!

I woke up Jack with a rude word and then phoned Disney Dining to see if we could get an 8am tomorrow (our last day) No luck. I apologised profusely to the lady and I think she felt quite sorry for me as I was still half asleep and couldn't get my words out in the right order!

We then saw a light on our phone which meant the intercom was on, and that we had a message from a lovely lady at front desk saying our phone was engaged when stitch and mickey tried to wake us up.

Turns out when Jack set the wake up call he'd used speaker phone and it hadn't been turned off properly.

I was pretty upset but poor Jack felt guilty for hours! I knew we'd be back for the wedding soon, so it wasn't too bad, I just felt worse for not using the space when someone else might have really needed it that day!

Drama over we got up and washed and ready and headed out to the MK anyway.

We didn't arrive too late after rope drop. We checked out everything in the Emporium, and I was very amused to see the Mayor in there chatting to people, what a nice touch! I was too nervous to go say 'hi' but I wish I had!

Our first ride of the day was:

Followed by rides on Splash and BTM and then finally onto my I-must-ride-each-tripbut-Jack-isn't-a-fan ride. The paddleboat! I'm not sure why Jack doesn't like it as much as me! I find it so charming and Disney, maybe it's because my Mum likes it so much and when she took me to DLRP when I was younger we rode everyday.

It's funny, when you're used to the Disneyland Paris Phantom Manor:

The first time you see Haunted Mansion you think"that's not scary looking" but it really grew on us! (As you can tell by the amount of photos we took!)

After the boat ride we headed over to Fantasyland as I was desperate to re-ride Philharmagic. First of all we grabbed FPs for Pooh as I wanted to play with the smoke ring again! On the way over I said to Jack "we haven't got any surprise fastpasses yet" and guess what happened when we got our Pooh ones! Philharmagic FPs! I was super excited as it's my favourite ride and they are great for my scrapbook! (There wasn't a line, so we got to keep them.)

We enjoyed Philharmagic again, I could go on like 10 times a day!

Afterwards I bought a pin (each trip I buy a favourite ride pin, and a resort pin of where we stayed), we had a quick drink break, and then it was pooh time!

I was super excited as we got a hunny pot to ourselves so I could really attack that smoke ring without feeling guilty for ruing somebody elses ride enjoyment. (I know, it's weird, but for some reason I love it!) So we get to the heffalump part, I get super excited, there is the "hoof" of the ring blowy guy - but no smoke!!!! Jack found this very amusing, and although I was slight disappointed we both had a lot of fun!

On through to Discoveryland next where I was keen to see Monsters Inc but Jack wasn't convinced. There wasn't much of a wait, so I won, and we both really loved it!

Also while in line we took the "photo of Torsie by a small door" of the trip (we do this every vacation, it started in Poland where there was a tiny door in a castle we were in and Jack found it hilarious and since we've found small doors on every trip we've taken.)

A family in line with us obviously thought it was something from the movie as we were both so excited over the tiny door so they then all took turns posing by it!

Once we were done with the comedy we headed back to Main Street as it was getting close to parade time and we wanted a good spot.

When we got to the hub the Dream along with Mickey show was on, so we watched that for a while until. I don't like the blinky eyes!

We headed down Main Street looking for a space, but all the ones in the shade were taken. Luckily we found two seats up in the station, which was a great spot!

Pretty soon it was parade time!

We thought it was a great parade, and we knew the song already so we enjoyed singing along.

Sadly my camera ran out of battery so that was all the photos I had for the day!

Once the parade was over we headed out of the park and got the boat over to the Floridian. I wanted to see our reception location as we'd decided for certain that was the one, but sadly when we got there a convention was sing it, so we could only admire it a little from the outside. I also got to meet the super friendly, famous greeter man from the GF, but no photo! Drn camera!

I was so excited to see him and we had a great chat about the car outside. I wish we could have it as our wedding car!

We walked along to the wedding pavillion to have another look. When we got there I was happy to see no wedding were taking place that day and we popped in to Francs to ask if it was OK to go have another look. The lady on reception remembered us from our planning session and told us to take all the time we needed. Once again we weren't quite ready for how beautiful it is, I took a little video, and we both got a little choked up!

Afterwards we walked the path to the Poly and carried on walking to the TTC as I wanted to ride the EPCOT monorail through the park. We almost missed a train but the nice conductor held the doors for us and we got an entire carriage to ourselves as it was a really quiet time of day!

I saw a gator from the monorail, Jack was very jealous! And we both loved seeing Futureworld from above.

When we were done we headed over to the bus stop and waited for an AKL bus. (We like EPCOT as AKL is the first bus stop that you get to when walking!)

Pretty soon we were back at the resort and had time for a quick relax in the hottub and some Pibb Xtra before it was time to get all dressed up for our romantic meal of the trip - Jiko!

We checked in and had to wait for 5-10 minutes at the bar. Once we were seated we browsed the menus and were brought some really really delicious curried ginger soup to have while we decided. It was delicious and both us and the ladies next to us asked if we could order it, but we couldn't! I think it might have been amde for Boma, or sommething new the chef was trying?

We shared a BBQ flatbread to start, which was delicious!

For our main I had the Swahili Curry shrimp with coconut rice. Mmm, it was the best meal I'd had all trip! I love big prawns, and the veg was so fresh and lovely. It was the perfect meal for me!

Jack had the Halibut which he loved!

For once I has room for dessert!! I had the pistachio creme brulee! YUM! (I think Jack was sad I ate it all!) And as he can never turn down cheesecake, he had the Tanzanian chocolate cheesecake. His rating? Great as it's a cheesecake, but not as good as some of the other cheesecakes of the trip.

We really really enjoyed our meal, and had a lovely relaxing night. It was nice to have a slow down but still enjoy great food. Not having to leave the resort makes a real difference I think.

Up next: Our last full Disney day!

 

[tttessa]

mmmmmmmmmmmmm cheesecake - just having a Homer moment..... sounds like a fantastic day.....

tessa

 

[torsie24]

mmmmmmmmmmmmm cheesecake - just having a Homer moment..... sounds like a fantastic day.....

tessa

Hahaha! You sound just like Jack!!

 

[Hayley94]

Day 13
We enjoyed Philharmagic again, I could go on like 10 times a day!

oh i think we will on the 28th march next year!!!! loving the tr

(appropriate colours me thinks! )

 

[torsie24]

Heehee, Hayley!!

I think March 28th 2011 should be named "Wedding Rehearsal and Philharmagic day!"

 

[Hayley94]

haha and we get to top it off with the ultimate slumber party!!!!! oh why isn't it march 27th 2011 today?

 

[tashybea]

Thank you

If you're on a UK ticket and it's included for free, then maybe give in an hour one time when you're in DTD anyway, but we won't be back.

Jack says he'd maybe go again if it were just him and his friend and they could play on the video games while his wife and I shopped, but that wouldn't be a definite.

It just didn't feel 'Disney' to us, and put it this way - on our next trip we're getting free annual passes. They don't include DQ or the water parks. We're going to buy the water park APs for $106 as opposed to upgrading our APs to include them and DQ which would cost us around $130.

Thanks, I think we may give it a miss. I find it hard enough to drag DF away from the PS3 at home, to be wasting precious disney time!!!!

 

[torsie24]

It had finally arrived. Our last Disney day.

Our first stop was to be Animal Kingdom as we still hadn't explored the base of the tree and seen everyone who lives there, so that was what we decided to do!

We arrived around 10ish after deciding not to set an alarm or anything, and as you can see it wasn't a bad start queue wise:

We headed to our destination:

And really took our time seeing all the detail we could. There are a lot of creatures on that tree that we thought resembled Bella (we were missing her after 2 weeks!)

A cheeky Bella:

Angry Bella:

We came across this guy having a sunbathe.

Look at the size of this lizard!!! He is going to wipe out the whole of S.America!

We watched the porcupines for ages as we both love them.

Then we found 2 more Bellas:

Then we headed away from the tree, and decided to go visit the lady who sits on the little dock bit with the bug eyes (know where I mean?) as no one was with her and she looked lonely. She had some tarantulas and she taught us a bit about them. Jack hates spiders but finds them creepily interesting, and I just think any animal is amazing, so we enjoyed seeing her.

Next up we headed over to Everest slowly, stopping on the way for an iced tea and a cinnamon roll (why hadn't we had one of these before the last day?! OMG!) and to watch the monkeys on their temple.

See how the shrine is the same shape as the mountain range? (We learned that in our awesome Hidden WDW book)

The wait for EE had gotten pretty long, so we grabbed some FPs and headed over to the wildlife express train, as we hadn't been to planetwatch yet.

We didn't have long to wait for the next train and were soon onboard.

We had a walk around the conservation station and then headed outside in perfect time to see Jasper! The cutest, cleverest porcupine ever!

After we had seen everything we headed back onto the train.

And across to EE. Once we got to the ride we were put in the front row. And wow! There is litlerally nothing in front of you and it was really fun! I'd definitely recommend sitting there one time! It is a bit scary on the big drop though as you can't see the track below you!

We headed out of Asia and down to Dinoland following the huuuge Nemo line that had formed (we decided against joining it - we'll have to catch the show next time) and to Dinosaur for our last ride of the trip.

The line was pretty short, and we only had to wait through the indoor part, but there was a huge tour group who all pushed past us getting out of the little show room bit. Not very Disney of them.

We enjoyed the ride as much as ever, and Jack admired all the Dinosaur goodies in the shop before we headed back to AKL for a brief swim and some lunch from the Mara.

Next up: DHS and DTD

 

[tashybea]

Noooooooooo, not last disney day

Your animal pics are fab.

Looking forward to the next update.

 

[torsie24]

So, after some time at the Resort we decided we best head out for the last time.

All through the trip (and the weeks/months of planning) we'd assumed we'd end at the MK for Wishes, but that was a few hours away, and TGM had MK as a super busy day, we'd done everything in MK more tha once, and we were really in love with DHS, so that's where we headed!

Our first job was to buy gifts for Jack's little nephews. They love all Pixar movies so we went to the open air Pixar shop at the back over near the HISTK playground.

We had already bought the smaller one a Mr Potato Head pick'n'mix box thingy, but Laim, who's older loves Rex and we'd seen an awesome plush Rex there that we couldn't find in DTD. We picked that up for him, and also got them some of the little Pixar cars that are themed like the movie characters. We could have spent so much in there on them, we loved all the T-shirts and playsets.

Afterwards I was really keen to ride Tower of Terror again, so we headed back over via TSM (just in case there had been some miracle and there were FPs left or a line under an hour - not a chance!).

My first job was to take a photo with the haunted sign, it's really hard to get a picture in front of the paris one as people always sit in front of it.

Then we jumped in line. It was a walk on and the first time we rode I got a little bit brave, so I put my hands in the air before the end. I felt like the bravest person in the world (yes, I'm a wimp) and was so excited that we ran round again and had another go so I could do the whole thing with my hands up. Hee hee, it's like a whole different ride when you do that.

Jack didn't put his hands up as he "had to hold the bags" (it looked like the handle to me....)

During that second ride we had the false ending where the movie starts, and that was awesome. We were now both a bit addicted to the randomised drops so we had a third ride for luck.

Suitably terrorised we headed over to Muppets 3D as Jack was keen to see it, and we'd not even stepped foot in the Muppet Area yet. We had a short wait for the show and we both agreed that for an old attraction (one of the ones I can remember from my 1993 trip) it was actually not as badly dated as we were imagining.

It was getting late now so we did our normal DHS routine of getting in the TSM line close to closing time. Again we had about a 45/50 minute wait. But off all the queues I think time just seems to go fast in that building. Mr Potato Head had taken out his ear and dropped it on the floor. Can he pick it up himself? We didn't think he would be able to.

Jack really loved this wall, so we took a photo, it is pretty cool.

Soon we were riding our last ride of the whole trip, but on the up side I got my highest score and finally got into the cat prize category! Jack beat me again though.

It was after closing time by the time we were done, I needed to get gifts for my parents, they both wanted T-shirts so I stopped in one of the stores on Hollywood Blvd and bought them. I was waiting for Jack as he'd gone to a different store so I had a really long chat with the CMs as it was pretty quiet in there.

Then it was time to leave the park.

It was going to be close getting to MK in time for Wishes, and as there was no PM EMH we didn't want to cope with the post firework bus scrum. So we decided to head to DTD instead.

How to get there was the question though!

We went to the SSR bus stop and waited for ages, but no bus showed up. An Old Key West bus turned up at the stop next door, so I asked the driver if I was right in thinking that the DTD boat stopped at OKW and he said yes.

We jumped on the bus and it felt like hours before we were at OKW, and then we were even longer driving from stop to stop. We finally got to the main stop and I had a look at the resort map and could see a boat dock at all on there.

Luckily it wasn't too long until a DTD bus appeared and we were finally there.

We started in the christmas shop where I went a bit crazy buying things (i love Christmas!) and then went to World of Disney and grabbed some last minute gifts, and then finished the night, and the trip, the way it deserved it be finished!

It was getting late so we headed back to the bus stop and back home for our last sleep. We went in through the shop, as Jack wanted to take this photo:

We did some final packing and had our last Disney sleep.

 

[tttessa]

Great update - shame it is all coming to the end....... sounds like you had a great trip. Thanks for sharing it with us...

Tessa

 

[Tinkerbell1989]

Just found your TR Torsie! Nice to find another UK DISer!
Looks like you had an amazing time!

Congratualtions on your engagement as well, and I'm very jealous about your Disney wedding plans!
I keep bugging my DBF, but he's not convinced yet One day!

xxxx