I Told You Driving Was Bad For Your Health! *2/2* NEW TRIP REPORT LINK P102

[tinacaplan]

Hello! Merry Christmas and Happy New Year and all that...

I've been so off the map... looks like you had a lovely trip and very nice accommodations off-site. How far were you from the parks again?

Max loved the new Test Track and I don't think I ever rode the old one enough times to really compare the two.

Interested to hear what your surprise favorite meal was, though.

 

[dizneeat]

I just love your new updates. Your villa looks really nice and is so large.

Love all the rides you were able to fit in. We did the Captain Sparrow thing at the studios too and it was really a nice change from the Narnia thing that was in there before.
Plus we went to One Man's Dream next too!

Now I am intrigued on where you had that nice meal. Can't wait for another update.

 

[annmarieda]

So I am a little behind... and the more I hope to get caught up the further behind I get. So rather than allow myself to get further behind... let me comment on what you posted so long ago...

The pictures you took of your balloon ride are AMAZING!!! Now, I am terrified of being up that high... but I must say those shots are awe inspiring!

Love the pictures of Typhoon Lagoon too!. Looks like a fun day... sorry it ended with your skin on fire so to speak. It is good to know though, so thanks for sharing that. My oldest dd has a hard time with chlorinated water...so I bet this would totally set her off too...and she was considering going there.

AND!!!! Congrats on your purchase!!! Seems like you should have got a tad more than fast passes as a perk for your purchase...but then again, I imagine just the purchase alone gave you quite the high. The rooms look B A Utiful there!!!

And I have a question on the pool hopping. I have read of other dvc owners hoping to pools when they are staying on property...but not on points. Is that not allowed?

 

[annmarieda]

Ok, so I surprised myself. I WAS able to finish getting caught up.

Your DHS day looked fun. Mama Melrose use to be a place we went to each and every trip. (for the fantasmic package) Between the menu changing slightly and the food not being as great, we skipped it the last two trips and have no plans for our next.

Your condo was quite nice! It almost makes you not want to stay on property when you can stay somewhere like that.


Great use of 4 of your fast passes. I too like what was done with the new TT.

I literally at the picture of hook and the kids...and your comment. I am glad you take those pics... I always want to take those types of pictures too...but my family members don't approve.

I hope you had a very wonderful Christmas and that the new year brings peace and comfort!

 

[emmysmommy]

I love that you gave Bo love Mary Ellen! I'm glad he's not being neglected when you are in town.

Your condo is very spacious! Your own bathroom - that's truly vacationing n style! What a great looking unit. Oh, and I love your red polka dot 'Minnie' bag. I'm into a Minnie phase that continued tonight with my new cell phone case from Disney.

Very good choices to use your FPs on those E-ticket rides. You are a pro!

Congratulations on gaining some of your life back with not having to put in OT starting next month. That's great news!

 

[englishrose47]

Great Updates !! If I had 6 FP's I would have used them all on Soarin'Can't wait to hear how you used the last 2 or where your favorite meal was !!

 

[natebenma]

Loved your last few moments at HS!

I think your pictures are the only ones I have seen of the Jack Sparrow exhibit. Really interesting photos! Thanks for sharing. Sound like the attraction is at least an improvement from the Narnia thing (which my family did, but I managed to miss)

The pictures of the buildings at night are great! Somehow the details seem a lot sharper than during the day.

Bye Bye Bo!

The condo looks really nice. You must have loved having all that space.

for another trip into the bubble.

DVC FP at EPCOT is an excellent way to end a Disney trip!

Like you said, there are very mixed reactions to the new Test Track. I liked it too. I thought the black lights in the ride were pretty cool.

for a couple of rides on Soarin!

OK, don't know what you are going to do with those last couple of FPs. Living with the Land? Maelstrom?

And even more intrigued to hear about your surprise meal! Mmmmmm!!!!

Wishing you and your family a wonderful 2014

 

[scottny]

Nice pics in the Pirate attraction.
I like the ride of TT but hate the building of the car.
Glad you were able to squeeze in some rides.
Yeah you will more free time

 

[MEK]

Great pictures, as usual! Your condo was very nice, if I didn't love staying on property so much I would definitely stay there.

It's nice to know that there is an inexpensive alternative when you really can't afford to stay on site. There were some advantages to staying off site. It put some interesting factors into the trip. Of course, I was really happy to return to property in October.

I have sat in many of those school desk & they are not that cool! Kids would always push the seat up when a student had to stand up. When said student went to sit down, plop they hit the floor! That was always good for a laugh. The tops of those old desks were usually carved with names,etc.

OK, you make a good point. Maybe those desks aren't so functional, but they are so retro cool. Never really considered they might be a safety hazard. I wonder if Walt ended up on his butt a few times? g

Merry Christmas, Mary Ellen!
I'm so glad to hear that your new job will be settling down a little on the OT and night shifts! Fantastic news indeed.

Thank you!

The OT money was nice, but its definitely not worth the stress of working so much. I am glad I will have a more relaxed work schedule this month.

I didn't do The Legend of Jack Sparrow thing. I guess I was expecting something like Narnia that was there and I just wasn't all that interested. It looks better than I expected though.
Your resort looks so pretty, what a great suite.

The Legend attraction was pretty cool. I'm glad we went in. There was no wait and the special effects were pretty cool.

Our suite really was lovely. I enjoyed it there and would go back again if the need arose.

I totally agree with you on the new Test Track! I really liked it, I think they kept the best parts and got rid of the things I didn't like. I'm a fan.

Exactly! It's hard to retool a ride, so I think they did a great job keeping the old and upgrading it to the new.

Soarin!

I totally agree!

Happy New Year if I don't get another chance to say it!

Thanks. Same to you. I wish you a wonderful 2014!

 

[IheartDDuck]

Yay, no more OT starting January! That's awesome. :good vibes

I haven't done the Legend of Jack Sparrow yet. I keep meaning to check it out just out of curiosity, but we never make it inside.

I wanted to sit at one of those desk's when I was a kid too! But then when I got to third grade, and I got one of the nifty ones with the top that lifts up, I was satisfied.

Yo Bo!

I like the new TT. I just find the queue unbearable, but the queue has always been unbearable there, so I guess it's nothing new. LOL.

 

[DaveinFallsChurch]

One of these days I'm going to have to enter Test Track through the regular standby queue and experience the whole design process. So far I've only gone through the condensed version of the vehicle design available for single rider and FP lines. That whole design process in the standby queue looks a whole lot more interesting!

 

[ljcrochet]

How exciting that you added vgf points. I can't wait to see your pictures when you stay there.

 

[afwdwfan]

I do have some good news. As most of you know, I started a new job six months ago. I am finally settling in and I no longer have to work OT starting in January. How great is THAT? I also will only be doing two overnight shifts a month. I am thrilled. I feel like I am finally getting my free time back. Woo Hoo!

That is certainly some good news. Welcome back to a somewhat normal life!

The Legend of Jack Sparrow.

I think your pictures might be the first that I've seen of the inside of that attraction. It looks really neat. Might be worth checking out, but I'm going to guess that it would likely freak the kids out.

It appears we had some stiff competition. Clearly Denny is a chemical engineer, not an aeronautical engineer. He's got some work to do!

I'm sure he could have passed it on the next try.

Once outside I couldn't help but take a picture of someone else's kids. I really need to stop doing that.

Hook and Smee are big boys... Oh... you mean those kids...

With two rides under our belt in a short period of time and two more FP's to use, where would we go next?

Let's see... it is EPCOT and you have FP's. I'm going to guess another ride on Soarin' and Test Track. Cause what else are you going to do with them?

Oh - and Happy New Year's everyone!

Happy New Year!

 

[marDgreen88]

That looks like a really nice room! Very pretty.

I never got a chance to ride the new Test Track on my last trip... it's nice to hear a positive review on it for a change! Most people don't seem to like it very much. Looks fun to me!

 

[KatMark]

Great news on no more overtime in January.

When we did the Jack Sparrow thing last December for Mark's 60th, we were told NO PICTURES ALLOWED. I am guessing they eased up on that.

I want one of those caramel apples right now, please.

Beautiful evening pictures at the Studios.

Your "secret hideaway" looks really nice and spacious for the two of you.

Fastpasses for three rides for going to a DVC event. Score!

I am not a fan of the new Test Track, but I know a lot of people like it. We will get in line if a short wait, but I won't use FP+ on it.

Love Soarin'.

In case I don't get back here,

​

 

[mickeystoontown]

We didn't go into the Jack Sparrow attraction when we were in Hollywood Studios so I really enjoyed your pictures. It reminds me of the time they had the Narnia attraction in the same building.

I'm sure that you are more than happy that your work is letting up a little.

 

[MEK]

Your condo looks great. I may have missed it but is it part of another time you own?

No, I just found it on priceline for a ridiculously low price of less than $100 a night. I think we paid about $430 for 5 nights (taxes included). It was so ridiculously low I booked it. That and it got really good trip advisor reviews. We were out of points and Denny didn't want to borrow any more, so this was a great alternative.

David Puddy! I love him. We always take a pic of him too.

I love him too! I love his voice!

Can't wait to ride the new TT. It was down during our last visit.

Denny doesn't do single rider? He wuvs you. .

Uhm - No - he just has this weird thing about not doing single rider. It annoys me sometimes. In fact, there have been time where I have done single rider by myself.

Packing up and heading out seems a little less painful when I'm not leaving DVC.

I have to agree with you on that one! Love my DVC!

I haven't even heard of the Legend of Jack Sparrow. Where in DHS is it?

It's right next to One Man's Dream. I can't remember what was in that building before. I'm drawing a blank.

One Man's Dream.

I love it too! Such a great attraction!

Happy almost 2014!

Same to you!

The amount of space in your resort makes it so appealing. To have little things like a computer alcove must've been nice. Plus, I was digging those pineapple carvings in the dining chairs and chandelier.

It really was so spacious for the two of us. It was really the perfect off site resort for us. It was a great alternative since we couldn't stay on site.

TI'm happy that you like the new Test Track and were able to go on it using the FPs. It seems that attraction takes much longer in standby now that you have to build your vehicle.

I enjoyed the building queue. Every time we have done it I keep wishing we had more time to "fine tune" our vehicle. So the queue moves really quickly. I really did enjoy it.

Oooh, I think I know where your lunch was at, and if so, I can't wait to read about your experience there!

You do? My lunch was really yummy. A surprise winner because its a place that often gets bad reviews.

Hello! Merry Christmas and Happy New Year and all that...

Tina!!!!!!!!!! So good to see you on the boards!

I've been so off the map... looks like you had a lovely trip and very nice accommodations off-site. How far were you from the parks again?

OUr accommodations were excellent for having to stay off site. And, honestly, the drive never seemed far. I would say we were 10 minutes from HS, Epcot, and AK and 15 minutes from MK. There was never a lot of traffic and driving everywhere was a breeze.

Max loved the new Test Track and I don't think I ever rode the old one enough times to really compare the two.

Did he? That's awesome. It really is cool inside. I enjoyed it a lot and I have some pictures to post of the inside of the ride. Next update.

Interested to hear what your surprise favorite meal was, though.

That will be in my next update. It really was a surprise. I booked the ADR because we hadn't eaten there in a long, long time. In fact, I don't think Denny had ever been there before.

 

[MEK]

I just love your new updates. Your villa looks really nice and is so large.

I really enjoyed that villa. Since we could't stay on property I really think it was the next best alternative. It was quiet and comfortable and close to everything.

Love all the rides you were able to fit in. We did the Captain Sparrow thing at the studios too and it was really a nice change from the Narnia thing that was in there before.

Narnia! That's what was there before. I totally blanked on that. I thought the Captain Sparrow effects were really cool. I enjoyed it given that its just a very minor ride.

Plus we went to One Man's Dream next too!

Great minds!

Now I am intrigued on where you had that nice meal. Can't wait for another update.

You'll probably be in DLP when I post, so make sure you stop back when you get home!

So I am a little behind... and the more I hope to get caught up the further behind I get. So rather than allow myself to get further behind... let me comment on what you posted so long ago...

Well, I know that feeling. I am in a constant state of trying to catch up and when I finally do I am really behind on my own TR. I just don't have the same DIS time that I used to have. It's a bummer.

The pictures you took of your balloon ride are AMAZING!!! Now, I am terrified of being up that high... but I must say those shots are awe inspiring!

I'm not a big fan of heights, but being up there really wasn't intimidating. I was so focused on all the landmarks that I didn't really have time to be scared. It was a great experience. I highly recommend it.

Love the pictures of Typhoon Lagoon too!. Looks like a fun day... sorry it ended with your skin on fire so to speak. It is good to know though, so thanks for sharing that. My oldest dd has a hard time with chlorinated water...so I bet this would totally set her off too...and she was considering going there.

TL was really cool. I didn't expect the skin burn, but we probably shouldn't have stayed in the lazy river as long as we did. It was just a bit much. I am sure the chlorine was cranked up for the hot weather and that ended up being the culprit. It didn't happen again in October.

AND!!!! Congrats on your purchase!!! Seems like you should have got a tad more than fast passes as a perk for your purchase...but then again, I imagine just the purchase alone gave you quite the high. The rooms look B A Utiful there!!!

The models rooms were lovely and it sounds like the real rooms are even better. And you're not kidding about the high. It was crazy. I was still in disbelief for several days. Reality didn't sink in right away.

And I have a question on the pool hopping. I have read of other dvc owners hoping to pools when they are staying on property...but not on points. Is that not allowed?

I think you are supposed to be staying in a DVC resort. Maybe you don't necessary have to be staying on points ( like if you did the member rate), but you have to be staying in some capacity as a member in a member resort.

 

[caralyn817]

I just found your report. I'm going to catch up with all of it. I just finished HHI. We are hoping to stay there this summer. We are also DVC members. We stayed at Vero Beach this past summer two times. We want to try HHI this year. It all depends on my husband's schedule. He is thinking of changing careers and if he does he will be taking classes during the summer (if they are offered). I'm going to be starting a Pre-Trip Report soon for our upcoming trip in March. I hope you can stop by.

 

[annmarieda]

I think you are supposed to be staying in a DVC resort. Maybe you don't necessary have to be staying on points ( like if you did the member rate), but you have to be staying in some capacity as a member in a member resort.

Ohhh... the tr I read had the person stay at pop and hopping... I think. Maybe I am wrong. I do know what I read led me to believe that I would be able to hop when staying at CBR in October. It never ended up happening... glad cause I hate breaking rules.