I just got back!! Pictures & Answering ?'s

[Lisa_Loves_Disney]

I just got back on the 22nd from a 10 day trip to the World with 10, yes 10! other people. We all stayed in the Swan (which was still going under renovation). We unfortunately had no balcony, but a good view. Our rooms (a pair of ajoining and one seperate) faced DHS, so we could watch Fantasmic from our rooms, and Epcot the other way so we could watch Illuminations. I had posted a thread "ToT -Yikes!" back in June, if any of your recall. About me asking for motivation to go on ToT. I explained how I do everything else, likes EE and RnRC, but was terrified to do ToT. Well.....I DID IT!! (twice actually!!) And like you all said, I had nothing to worry about - it was awesome!!

Anways, I'm not going to write a full trip report, but I will gladly answer any and all questions you may have. Questions about crowds, temps, FP return times, and anything else. FYI - I did the Aqua Seas Tour, went to Aquatica (Sea World's new waterpark), saw Cirque du Soleil, made Mr. Potato Head, and went to over 10 restaurants that I will gladly tell you about if you ask.

Here's some of my many pictures. Enjoy, and ask away!!

Rainforest Cafe (AK) bar stools

Rhinos on the Safari (one of the best I've ever been on)

My Boyfriend & I on top of the Contemporary (what an amazing view)

Cinderella's float during SpectroMagic

My Pirate Mr. Potato Head

My Disney Traveler Mr. Potato Head

Backlot Tour (nice way to cool off on a hot day)

Wishes (we had a great spot, and only arrived 10 minutes early )

Wishes was the last thing we did. We saw it at 10pm on our last night there, it was the perfect way to end the trip!!

 

[Mickeyfaniam]

Hi Lisa, glad you had a great trip cuz i did too !!!!

Hi to everyone else.... I'm Mom to Lisa's boyfriend up in that picture! And told her about the DIS Boards. Now she'll have to show me how to post pictures lke that!

 

[Lisa_Loves_Disney]

Hi Lisa, glad you had a great trip cuz i did too !!!!

Hi to everyone else.... I'm Mom to Lisa's boyfriend up in that picture! And told her about the DIS Boards. Now she'll have to show me how to post pictures lke that!

Hi Debbie! I did have a good trip! Thanks for taking me!
I'll return the favor by showing you how to upload pics!

 

[RachelNinja]

Love the pictures! I really like those Rainforest Cafe stools! I've never seen anyone photograph them before. Do you have more Mr. Potato Head pictures? I think I just want to collect the little Disney items for it!

 

[Lisa_Loves_Disney]

Love the pictures! I really like those Rainforest Cafe stools! I've never seen anyone photograph them before. Do you have more Mr. Potato Head pictures? I think I just want to collect the little Disney items for it!

Thanks! I thought they were cool as well.
I don't have any at the moment, but I'm still dressing him up everyday, so I'll take some more. lol. I also have a princess, minnie, and mickey outfits. There was so many more that I wanted, but the box was too small!

 

[Mickey & Minnie Mom]

What was the schedule for the daily rain?

We were there last July and it seemed to last from 2:00-4:00 pm each day.

Glad to hear you had a great time.

 

[Diane D]

I love your castle and Wishes pictures! What kind of camera did you use? And what setting? I just can never get good nighttime pictures like that!

 

[Lisa_Loves_Disney]

What was the schedule for the daily rain?

We were there last July and it seemed to last from 2:00-4:00 pm each day.

Glad to hear you had a great time.

Yeah it sure did rain. I've been in July before as well, and it more rain.

We went to Aquatica and they closed all of the slides down for about an hour because of the rain, and also a few days later the Swan pools got closed down because of the storms coming. Both times were about 2pm.

A few other days it rained during our supper for an hour or so.

 

[Lisa_Loves_Disney]

I love your castle and Wishes pictures! What kind of camera did you use? And what setting? I just can never get good nighttime pictures like that!

Thank you Diane! It's actually a funny story. It's a Kodak Easyshare C330 (which is so old it's discontinued) , and I have a bunch of settings on it (even a firework setting), but none of them work. The only setting that does work nowadays is the "close-up" setting, which is for objects that are closer than 28 inches to you. So I guess it pays to have a crappy camera? lol

 

[jessily]

Your pictures are great! What did you think of Aquatica? We're considering going there on a Sunday in September... debating between that and the Disney water parks (we've already been to those). Do you think it's worth the cab ride over there?

 

[Lisa_Loves_Disney]

Your pictures are great! What did you think of Aquatica? We're considering going there on a Sunday in September... debating between that and the Disney water parks (we've already been to those). Do you think it's worth the cab ride over there?

Thank you!
Aquatica is good to do once, but I personally won't be doing it again if I ever go back. Most people think the highlight is the dolphin slide where you go through a clear tube under water with dolphins in it. Reality is, the tube is only clear for 15 feet, and that 15 feet it's completely foggy. There's only 2 dolphins and the pool is huge, so they're not close to you. And you're going to fast to even see anything. I found that MY personal highlight was the family waterslides, that fits 4 people. You choose between a mild version and intense version. If you buy your tickets in advance you get to enter the park an hour before everyone else, so in that hour we did those slides 4 or 5 times. Later in the day, the line was over an hour long. If you decide to go and want to make it worth it, buy your tickets early, so you can go in at 8 rather than 9. and do the family slide.

 

[Evan&Kimberly]

Lisa I am so glad that you will answer questions ,cause boy do I have them, I will be going for the first time in September and Do I have questions !hopefully you will be able to answer them.

1.First where do I need to stand to get a good view of Wishes like you did?

2. Where do I need to stand to have a good view of spectromagic?& how soon do I need to line up before these activities began?

3. How long is the average wait to ride rides especially like Kilimijaro Safari? and shows like finding Nemo Musical,Turtle Talk With Crush

4.On one day I am going to need to do Turtle Talk,Living Seas Pavillion,Finding Nemo Ride,and Honey I shrunk the Audience all in the same area in Epcot,How long should I allow to do all these things,without any breaks?
5. Were did you guys eat,and what really stood out for you and your family?

Well I am not going to overload you but if you could Please Help

 

[Lisa_Loves_Disney]

Lisa I am so glad that you will answer questions ,cause boy do I have them, I will be going for the first time in September and Do I have questions !hopefully you will be able to answer them.

1.First where do I need to stand to get a good view of Wishes like you did?

2. Where do I need to stand to have a good view of spectromagic?& how soon do I need to line up before these activities began?

3. How long is the average wait to ride rides especially like Kilimijaro Safari? and shows like finding Nemo Musical,Turtle Talk With Crush

4.On one day I am going to need to do Turtle Talk,Living Seas Pavillion,Finding Nemo Ride,and Honey I shrunk the Audience all in the same area in Epcot,How long should I allow to do all these things,without any breaks?
5. Were did you guys eat,and what really stood out for you and your family?

Well I am not going to overload you but if you could Please Help

I'm very excited for you! First trips are the best, and I will try my best to make yours extra special!

1. The night I saw Wishes and took those pictures, I was only with one other person, so luckily we could squeeze in anywhere. If you have a bigger party you might have to wait longer, but my boyfriend and I made our way right up to the castle without a problem just 10 minutes before Wishes started. so right in front of the castle, closer up if you don't want any heads in your way, and farther back if you don't feel like looking up the whole time.

2. Spectro magic is a long parade so you can catch it anywhere on the main streets. They set up ropes about half an hour before it starts, and it's a good idea to be right up on the rope so no one is in your way. So about half an hour to an hour. Here's some pictures from my spot (over by the Presidents ride).

Cinderella & Prince Charming's float.

A fish from the Little Mermaid.

A Peacock.


3. The safari line can get up to 2 hours mid-day. If you make it to the park at ropedrop and go to that ride first, the standby line will only be 10-15 minutes. I would ride standby first thing and get a fastpass for later in the day, because if you feel like going later, you'll cut your wait time by over and hour, and if you don't end up going you can always hand out the fastpasses (seeing the looks on the lucky people's faces is very rewarding ) The musical line luckily has many shows during the day and the auditorium seats many many people so you will have no problem catching a show. Line up only about 15 minutes before and you'll be fine.

4. Luckily Turtle Talk, Finding Nemo, and the Living Seas is all one. So you should be able to do those 3 in about an hour. There's a lot to do in the pavillion.

5. Every day we had at least one sit down reserved meal. But for lunch we would sometimes go to the hotel for sandwiches we bought at a local store or get some food at a small restaraunt. In Animal Kingdom we ate at Pizzafari which has Pizza, salads, breadsticks, burgers, chicken parm sandwiches, and was air conditioned which was the best part! In Epcot we ate at the Electric Umbrella which was in the middle of the two innoventions. That was also air conditioned and had mainly chicken, burgers, and dogs. In Magic Kingdom there's not as much of a selection for fast-food, but Pecos Bill seems to be popular. It has the usual burgers, dogs, chicken, etc. I'm not exactly sure if you meant sit-down reserved meals or fastfood. lol So I'll tell you about some of my favorite ADR meals we did. I loved Chef Mickey's in the Contemporary. There's Mickey, Goofy, Donald, and Pluto. It's an all you can eat buffet. It's on the pricey side, but in my opinion 100% worth it. especially the dessert!

^That's my personal dessert plate, plus I went for seconds.

The Rose & Crown Pub in Epcot was also really good. It's an Illuminations package if you choose, so you go right before Illuminations and can eat and watch the show (which I recommend, because it's an amazing show!) here's some pics I took right from the Rose and Crown.

The last restaurant that stood out for my party was the Rainforest Cafe. There are two locations, one if Downtown Disney and one in Animal Kingdom. My party went to the one in Animal Kingdom. (it's gotten better reviews.) The atmosphere was great and so was the food. The prices are also good. If you go, bring your camera, it's beautiful inside!


And don't worry about it, I'm very happy to help! and I'm happy for you to be going. It's such an amazing experience and I only have one more piece of advice. Stop and smell the roses while you're there. My trip was 10 days long, which may seem very long to anyone reading this, but it really did fly by. I wanted to go back the day I got home.
I hope you have an amazing trip! I want to hear all about it when you get home. And if you have any more questions, don't hesitate to ask!