I saw Mickey's face...now I'm a Believer! UPDATED: Final Thoughts/directions to PTR!

[shellywalker]

Can you please keep writing!?!?!? I'm enjoying your report SO much!

 

[WDWRocksMySocks]

Yay, so glad you started your TR. It looks like you guys had a great time (so far, anyway). Glad to hear John enjoyed it. Maybe there is hope for my grumpy DH. Look forward to hearing more!

 

[Vallie]

loooks like DBF might have fallen for Disney after all! unless something darastic happens after this! hehe

this gives me so much hope!

 

[MickeyisBeast]

We also ate at 'Ohana my past trip when we stayed at the Poly :]

Love the update!

 

[shordiebecka]

Hey everyone! Thanks for your comments so far. It seems like Jon likes it..but will it continue?

Monday, July 27

The plan for today was to sleep in, take the boat to the international gateway from DHS, and do the WS. We had lunch reservations for Germany and Dinner reservations at Rose & Crown to watch the fireworks!

**WARNING... RANT AHEAD!***

Before we left for the day, I made it a point to call and get my confirmation number for my Rose & Crown Illuminations reservation. I didn't have the confirmation number on me, and that little voice in my head was telling me to call. I knew it was in my email, but I didn't feel like paying for internet. I called, and got to an operator right away. I gave her my info, and she went about looking up my reservation.

"I'm searching...I don't see it here"
"Actually, I only have two reservations popping up for you. Are you sure you made it?"

At this point, I'm in full panic mode. YES I'M SURE I MADE IT, ALONG WITH TONS OF OTHERS

So, I had her look it up using my cell phone number. To my relief all my reservations popped up. ***- why in the heck do they pop up under my cell number but not my confirmation number for my trip This was a problem i encountered all throughout my trip.

"Ahh..here they all are...still none for Rose and Crown.."

At this point, I didn't give a you know what about paying 10:00 for my internet for the day. I grabbed DBF's computer, and logged into my email to get the darn confirmation number so I could figure out where my reservation was! I should mention- Rose and Crown is one of my favorite meals and it was my #1 reservation to make because I wanted it so bad!

So, I got my confirmation number and gave it to her. She plugged it in, and said "Oh, here it is. It's here."



"Let me try to find out why it didn't come up. Oh, it's because it was for last night at 7:45. You didn't show up to it."

Um okay, yeah, because I wouldn't show up to that reservation. I double checked and sure enough, in my email it had it for the correct day- Monday, the 27th. I told her this, and she was all "that's odd..hmm..well sorry.." and I was all *** IS GOING ON!

Anyways, long story short, I ended up not getting my illuminations at Rose and Crown which made me very very very angry and upset, to the point of tears. Only other disers will understand how upsetting it is, as I did all the planning right and something malfunctioned for some reason in Disney's system. Anyways, I ended up getting reservations for Japan.

**RANT OVER***

We woke up around 8:30, grabbed some breakfast and were on our way to DHS by 10:00. I was still upset about the reservation change and that they told me "I didn't show up". We were both starting to get a bit tired, but the weather had turned sunny and no more rain! I just have to say, I love love love the boat ride from DHS to Epcot. I love to see all the other resorts, and it's just so relaxing. Today we caught the boat right as it was about to leave, so no wait either! plus there was no one there, as it was going BACK to the hotels.

As we rode along, I relaxed and prepared myself for the day. It was our first day without a break, and I was nervous about it! Here is a picture as we are pulling into the WS/International gateway:

Sorry that alot of my pictures are blurry/slanted. I took alot while we were on the move, and I also have a crappy camera.

After the boat ride, I calmed down a bit, and realized multiple things:

1. We were eating at Raglan Road, which was basically the same thing as the Rose and Crown. Who wants two of the same type meal?
2. I actually love the Hibachi in Japan.
3. Jon told me he would actually rather eat in Japan anyways, as the food was lighter and not as heavy as the Rose and Crown.
4. The viewing of illuminations is 9876789 times easier to find a spot for than wishes.

Anyways, so I went along my merry way, determined not to let this set me back.

Continued in next post...

 

[shordiebecka]

Right as we entered the ticket line (which was none), and I got my little camera case checked (you can see it on me in some pictures..seriously..I had to wait in those super long lines to get that thing checked..), they dropped the WS rope. There was virtually no one there! It was like having the whole showcase to ourselves.

Love this

WS at 11:05 AM

We headed straight into France as our first country. We aren't big on French culture, so we didn't spend long in there.

Next, we went into Morroco. This is the point where Jon realized that he had only done the WS previously up to America- they never had time for the rest- and he was so excited that Morocco was this little outdoor marketplace. We looked around there for awhile.

Me posing in front of the fountain at Morroco...notice the size of my camera case that had to be searched...

We continued to do the countries counter clockwise. We went into Japan, and did Pick a pearl. I didn't take any pictures because I was too excited, but we got 2 pearls, each one 7.5 mm... which is really big! I still haven't decided what to do with mine. At this point, it was getting close to our Germany reservation for 12:00. We hurried through Japan, browsed Italy then headed to Germany. We looked around, and checked in for Biergarten.

This beer made Jon really happy...at first...

We enjoyed Germany. I'm not a huge German food fan. We sat next to a family that was very nice, but had very very misbehaved children. They had never been here before, and started asking me questions about the world and what not. Some people just aren't as aware as we all are!

We left Germany, and hit the rest of the WS. This is the crowd at 1:00 PM in the WS

It was so empty!

At this point, my camera started to die. Crap....I hadn't charged it! So I avoided taking any pictures. We headed over to mission space, test track and soarin to see what the wait times were like. No luck- all were over 60 minutes! We did however grab fast passes for Mission Space, Orange team, for a return time of 4:20. it was about 1:45 at this point, so we had time to kill.

This is where Jon started to feel sick. German food & a liter of German beer is not a good combination in 95 degree weather. He said he was okay though, and we headed to check out soarin'. The line was way to long (180 minutes), so we decided to pay the 20$ and do the behind the seeds tour. Again, no pictures, but it was SO worth it and we learned so much!

After we left, we headed back to Mission Space. Jon loved this ride, as did I (like always!). We safely got to Mars. Jon started to feel really sick, and I was getting tired. We decided to look for a place to sit and have a snack and some water. We walked all the way from Mission space to Morroco at the WS..and by that time..we were both starting to get really grumpy towards each other and just all around annoyed. We got a snack and some water and a soda, and just sat and cooled off.

Verdict: no afternoon breaks suck!

So we were starting to feel better now. We wandered around Japan some more until it was time for us to check in for dinner. We sat with a very nice family from Pittsburgh, PA. We are from CT, so not so bad...except they were Steelers fans, and we were Patriots fans. A little tension there, but nothing too bad! The food was great. Jon had eel as an appetizer... because on the Behind the Seeds tour they had told us that the Eel you eat there is from the Eel tanks on the tour...yuck..

Anyways, we both ate and we both thought it was really good. It was 8:30 by this time, and I was getting nervous for Illuminations and not getting a spot. Yeah..well..we walked outside and it was completely empty. We got a spot right outside of Japan, and had a wonderful view of the show. After, we walked out with the masses, and crashed into bed. No more full days for us!

Up next-- DHS! More pictures, I promise!

 

[shellywalker]

YAY! I'm glad DBF started feeling better It's so crummy to feel icky on vacation! Especially in Disney World! I feel his pain! I love to spend so much time walking around WS...I think it's my favorite part of Epcot!! We also took the boat through the International Gateway...but from Epcot to DHS! Beautiful ride...and anything to avoid taking a bus

 

[DisneyFaeriePrincess]

Oh I'm so glad Jon is liking Disney World!! I doubt it'll change too much during the rest of the trip! Oh I love AK too, it's one of my favorites!! I agree no afternoon breaks or very late afternoon breaks really suck! I'm glad Jon felt better though. Can't wait to hear more!

 

[DisBride2009]

I love you TR so far. You have taken great pics. When I saw the crowd waiting for RD man I was shocked lol. But can't complain its the Summer. Best time to go is January (well thats when I mostly go and its cooler, no long lines, and less crowded.) You went to Epcot the day after my B-Day lol. I was at the MK that time. Anyway keep on posting

 

[shordiebecka]

Hey everyone! Sorry for the delay in the update...and the story goes on!

Tuesday, July 28

Plan for the day: Sci Fi lunch at 11:10, Brown Derby Dinner at 7:05 (ish).

After our exhausting day at Epcot, we were still able to wake up bright and early to make it to DHS ropedrop. We made our way through the shops on the side to get closer to the front, and watched the little show that they have. It was pretty cute! They dropped the ropes and we joined the masses. We had decided to get fastpasses for Tower of Terror and Ride RnR. By the time we got our FP for Tower of Terror, RnR was about half an hour wait, so we jumped in line. We got the front row..woohoo! It was so fun, we just love that ride! At this point, I felt like it was starting to get so crowded. Is it just me, or is the area of the park with RnR, ToT and TSM always super crowded? We decided to see how much we could get done in the morning, so we could take our time in the afternoon.

After, we went to use our FP for ToT. They said the ride was currently down, so we decided to head towards the Great Movie Ride. We waited about 10 minutes for that, and jumped on. Jon loved this ride, and so did I! We got the cowboy!

After the Great Movie Ride, we still had time for a few more things. We went down to ride Star Tours, walked right on. The park was empty on this side, no one was around! Either way, we think Star Tours needs serious updating..it could be so much better!

After Star Tours, we thought we might have enough time to do the backlot tour. No such luck..it was about a 20 minute wait, and I was worried about cutting it close to our reservation. Instead, we did One Man's Dream. I had really wanted to do this, we didn't get a chance to watch the movie though. I loved it! After we did that, we walked to Sci Fi to eat lunch.

We thought Sci-Fi was okay. Jon really didn't care for it much...the cars were a little too small for us, and we don't like sitting side by side when we eat, we like to sit across from each other. The food was okay. Anyways, we finished eating and then headed to the bus stops to go back to the hotel and rest. The bus took FOREVER to come, but we finally made it back to AKL about 1:00

I was excited to be back early, I had really been wanting to just lay out in the sun. Jon stayed in the room, and relaxed a bit while I went down to the pool. I also took some pictures around the hotel during our afternoon rest.

It was this day that I really fell in love with AKL. I love it there so much, it's so beautiful!

After our break, we headed back out to DHS to finish our day there. Jon really wanted to catch the Indiana Jones show, and we had to use our ToT Fast Passes.

This was the crowd at around 4:30 pm

First, we used our ToT faspassed, and enjoyed it as always! Then we trekked to the back of the park to do the Backlot Tour.

We walked right up to the front of the line, and then we were asked to be in the show! It was awesome! We put on the smelly rain gear and got to be the audience participants that act out a movie and they record it. I didn't take any pictures (didnt want a wet broken camera), but it was awesome. I wish they would give you like a mini dvd of the movie you made!

The backlot tour was okay. I was dissapointed, because they used to have someone narrate the entire tour, and it was a live human. Now it's just all audio, and a computer is narrating it. I didn't like it as much.

Next, we hit up Indiana Jones. This was Jon's favorite moment of the entire trip! He just loves Indiana Jones, and he had never seen the stunt show before. It was very cool!

After the show, we had time to kill before we had our reservations. We decided to go to the Prince Caspian exhibit, because we are both huge fans of it.

Verdict: Rooms with 3 screens make me sick and dizzy! ughh..it was not fun for me, we thought it was a waste of time!

Anyways, we headed towards Hollywood Brown Derby. We enjoyed our meal and each others company there. This was the point where Jon informed me that we had not done the voyage of the little mermaid, and that he thought we should check it out I said OK..we will! And after our dinner we went to it. It was so fun! This had been our best day so far!

After we did voyage of the little mermaid, we checked out the shops and then got in the ridiculous line for Fantasmic. The line was almost to the end of the road where the villans store was, and it wasn't even 9:30 yet! Yikes! We waited in line, and finally around 10:00 they let us in. It really is like hoarding cattle getting into the theater. We got great seats for F!, and thoroughly enjoyed the show.

After, we got on the bus home, which was THE LONGEST bus ride ever. There was someone with an ECV, which is fine, except it just took forever to get on and off, and there was such a full bus. I don't have anything against people who use them, it was just late and it took a real long time (the bus driver didn't know what he was doing). DHS had been (suprisingly!) our favorite day and Jon's favorite park so far. We just enjoyed the atmosphere so much!

So far: Jon loves Disney World, and is having a great time. Hopefully it continues...though I think it's pretty obvious that it does....

Up Next: Seaworld & Raglan Road!

 

[Vallie]

Hihi! Glad u guys enjoyed dhs so much!! And so glad dbf was having such a great time too! Its soo cute that he wanted to see the little mermaid! Lol

Just curious how come u guys didn't try out tsm?!

Can't wait to hear about seaworlddd! Try to update before sat cause I really wanna read about it before I go! Hehe (sorry I'm sucha demanding TR reader haha)

 

[shordiebecka]

Hihi! Glad u guys enjoyed dhs so much!! And so glad dbf was having such a great time too! Its soo cute that he wanted to see the little mermaid! Lol

Just curious how come u guys didn't try out tsm?!

Can't wait to hear about seaworlddd! Try to update before sat cause I really wanna read about it before I go! Hehe (sorry I'm sucha demanding TR reader haha)

I'll do seaworld tonight or tommorow! It's so hot here (almost 100 with humidity) so the more i keep my computer off, the cooler I am. However, I am about to make an important announcement...

 

[shordiebecka]

Well, I was going to save this for the END of my trip report...

BUT...as you can see in my signature, I got a bounceback offer on my trip, and I am having a girls only trip to WDW Dec 14-18, at the Beach club, with my mom, friend and aunt! I am too excited!

And..

So i was doing some research today. You know, just playing around with the different rates and discounts disney has. Jon's mom and husband have wanted to go to Disney really bad since they saw the pictures from our trip. I got a quote of about 1800 for the 4 of us, including park tickets and dining and the hotel room, at Coronado Springs. That's about 450$ per person, not including airfare..

So i talked to Jon, and he really wants to go..but the question is.. can I afford it!!!?!?! I have to pay about 500 plus airfare for my trip in the fall, I only make 350$ a week..maybe if I save and live modestly?

If Jon's parents agree.. what do you think? We would go the weekend before thanksgiving..so we would still get to see xmas stuff and crowds would be low! We would have to share a room with them, but atleast at Coronado they have Queen beds..

Thoughts? Opinions? I really want to go! I can't get a second job..but I can pay my mom back for the trip in pieces AFTER the trip and just focus on the November trip! AHHH so much to think about!!!

 

[Vallie]

I'll do seaworld tonight or tommorow! It's so hot here (almost 100 with humidity) so the more i keep my computer off, the cooler I am. However, I am about to make an important announcement...

ooo sounds exciting?!

what is itt!!

 

[Vallie]

omg yayyy thats SOOOO exciting! i say if you can afford it DO IT!!!

 

[DisneyFaeriePrincess]

I'm glad you guys liked HS!! Isn't AKL just so beautiful!! The line for Fantasmic was exactly like that for us too!! I think it was because they didn't let people actually into the walkway up to the theater they were all just standing outside. That's what the CM told us. I think if you can afford it do it!!! I'm so jealous that you get to go back!! I sitting here debating and trying to figure out when I can go again!!

 

[shordiebecka]

I'm glad you guys liked HS!! Isn't AKL just so beautiful!! The line for Fantasmic was exactly like that for us too!! I think it was because they didn't let people actually into the walkway up to the theater they were all just standing outside. That's what the CM told us. I think if you can afford it do it!!! I'm so jealous that you get to go back!! I sitting here debating and trying to figure out when I can go again!!

I bet you can figure out a way to go! The addiction never stops..pooor dbfs not knowing what they got themselves into..

omg yayyy thats SOOOO exciting! i say if you can afford it DO IT!!!

I say that too!

Well, it looks like we will be going to Disney with Jon, His mom and stepdad..November 13-17, staying at Coronado Springs (my first time there ever...) plus we found tickets for 203$! We will have to share a room with his parents, that's the only way this was affordable..though i'm thinking of looking into a family suite just to make life easier for us!

So that makes trip in November and then December for me! WOO HOO!!!!

 

[shordiebecka]

So we left off with our awesome day at DHS..now for some seaworld!

Mears was coming at 8:50 to pick us up. The plan was to go to Seaworld, do as much as possible, and be picked up at 3:30. We weren't planning on doing the rides, we are way more into the sea creatures than waiting in lines for the rides.

Wednesday, July 29

We woke up bright and early, grabbed some breakfast to bring with us on the mears bus, and waited outside. At 8:45 the mears bus pulled up. The only reason why I knew it was them is because the guys outside told me. When we got on, I gave him my name and he looked at me like I had 5 heads..he just said to pay him and thats all he needed. What in the hell is the point of going through all the trouble of calling mears and giving them my name and pick up time then???? Well, either way, we gave him 40 and let him keep the change. 40 bucks round trip for 2 people isn't bad at all (it was actually only 36$, we were feeling generous).

We got to seaworld at 9:30. We had bought tickets online, so we went right in, and started our day. We decided to attack the park counter clockwise, starting with the dolphins. FYI- the map is NOT to scale, at all. it's a really awful map! But it's super cute!

On our way to the dolphins, we saw the Flamingos..which I have an obsession with! I love them- they are just too funny!

We loved watching the dolphin feeding- we didn't pay to feed them- but we went around to the underwater viewing area. These were such glorious creatures..there were 5-6 of them at any given time at the windows, and even a baby!!

After we hung out with the dolphins, we headed to the manatees and the alligators. Boy they were smelly!

After we looked at these, we headed to the aqarium at the end of Journey to Atlantis. We had no desire to go on the ride, just wanted to see the fish. it was small, but we loved the see through floor.

After we did that, we headed to the Penguins. I couldn't get any good pictures of them, because of the lighting. They were so gosh darn cute. I wanted to take them home with me!

We wanted to catch the Clyde and Seamore show at 11:30, then catch the 12:30 Believe show. I had read that this was impossible to do, but we were going to try anyways. We headed to Clyde and Seamore, but they weren't letting people in yet, so we walked around to the Shark Encounter. It was pretty interesting- our favorite was the point where you go through the massive shark tank!

After the sharks, we headed to the clyde and seamore show. It was pretty cute. The sealions and otters are super cute! After the show, we made a beeline for the Believe Stadium. We grabbed a Pretzel and something to drink for while we waited, then watched the show. It was AMAZING. We LOVED it. We recorded a lot of it. It was possible to get from the 11:30 Clyde and Seamore to the 12:30 Believe. Believe is amazing! It brought us to tears!

After believe, we needed to eat. We stopped at a counter service place which was expensive and only okay tasting. It had a long line. At that point, I was hot and tired. Okay, and a bit cranky. After we ate, I was starting to feel a lot better. It was around 2:00, and we had an hour and half before we were getting picked up, so we decided to go to the Wild Artic. This was cool- again- no pictures because it was so dark!
After Wild Artic, we went to the sealions. Jon decided to feed the sealions and we took a video. It was so cute! There were so many seal and sealion babies hanging out!

After we did that, we wandered around and took some pictures.

We were picked up promptly at 3:30. We felt we had enough time here, but we were sad we couldn't see more of the shows. Given another chance, we would go later and stay later- their nightime entertainment looked really cool!

After we got back around 4:30, we relaxed then went to downtown disney. It was pouring sooooo bad!!! I couldn't take pictures because of the rain getting my camera wet. We went to the christmas store first, and decided to get an ornament custom made for us- I have a picture of it later

We wandered through the stores until it was time for our Raglan Road Reservation. This was such a good meal! We loved every part of it, Jon took one bite of his fish and chip and quickly proclaimed that it was the best fish and chips he had ever had So far, that's the best shrimp and fish and chips in one trip! After Raglan Road, we were exhausted. We also decided at this point to change our remaining plans for the rest of the week- we had now decided we wanted to see all the rest of the park openings ( we had only seen AK and Epcot), so we decided to go to Epcot the next day (it was originally AK day) then hop to AK. We decided to do MK on Friday, and then hop to Epcot for Le Cellier.

What a great time so far.

 

[LOVEMY3KIDDOS]

OK! Read it all the waay through! Ready for more! Are you going to do a PTR for Dec. also? Can't wait to see what those plans will look like!

 

[shordiebecka]

OK! Read it all the waay through! Ready for more! Are you going to do a PTR for Dec. also? Can't wait to see what those plans will look like!

Yep, I am going to do one for December...and probably my (soon to be) November trip also! I just can't multi-task..so I'll start those after my trip report!! Thanks for joining in!