(Insert Catchy Title Here)...Our Annual Anniversary Trip in Pictures~UPDATED LAST DAY

[Cdn Friends of Pooh]

Welcome to our latest TR, this one from our October 8th to 20th trip. Many of you already know us from our previous trip reports, but for those of you who don't, who are we?

DH – Lee - is an attorney with his own practice in the field of child protection. DW - Bonny - whose background is in Human Resources but has worked for DH since October 2007. We live in Edmonton, Alberta and have been making our annual pilgrimage to Orlando each October to celebrate our anniversary.

Because we visited both WDW and Universal Studios during our visit, we will link to the appropriate boards for the posts of the parks we visited that day.

 

[Cdn Friends of Pooh]

The first few days of our vacation were spent at Universal Studios and HHN.

Day 1 - Travel Day

Day 2 - Universal Studios Part 1, Part 2, Part 3 & Part 4

Day 2 - HHN Part 1, HHN Part 2, HHN Part 3 & HHN Part 4

Day 3 - HHN Rip Tour


Up next ... Disney's Hollywood Studios ...

 

[Cdn Friends of Pooh]

After a couple busy days at Universal Studios and HHN, we decided to sleep in a bit again before heading over to DHS. We had booked ADR’s at Sci-Fi for lunch so took our time, arriving at DHS about 11:30 am. Lee had purchased a new DSLR camera before the trip, and was anxious to take some pictures, but once we got to the park, we headed directly to Sci-Fi were we waited maybe 5 minutes for our table.

We hear a lot of negative comments about Sci-Fi, and agree their food is mediocre but thoroughly enjoy the atmosphere (and the milkshakes).

After Sci-Fi, we had a few hours to kill before our 5:30 dinner ADR at the Brown Derby. First up, we headed over to the Jedi Training Academy …

We then headed over to the Muppet shop as we absolutely love looking at the signs and décor of the shop …

We had heard that there was a new picture spot for Lightning McQueen and Tow Mater, between Muppets and Lights, Motors, Action, so headed over to find it …

We then decided to make our way over to the big hat to see which characters would be out for photos, taking these pictures along the way …

Unfortunately we found that there were no characters scheduled any time soon, so we decided to do the Great Movie Ride …

Continued in next post …

 

[Cdn Friends of Pooh]

We still had a bit of time before our 5:30 pm ADR so decided to wander around and take more pics …

… still more pics

About now we decided to make our way over to the Brown Derby … we checked in and waited only about 10 minutes to be seated.

After our tummies were full, we decided to work off our dinner by walking around the park and taking a few evening/night pics …

As we were walking by Toy Story Mania, we were approached by a CM who overheard us commenting on the wait for the stand-by line. (We had tried to ride Toy Story Mania on our previous trip in May when they had the AP preview, but unfortunately we never did get to ride as each time we were in line (or went to get in line), the ride was down with technical difficulties.) We were still wearing our anniversary buttons from dinner, so she asked us how long we were married. She then asked if we wanted to answer a few trivia questions for a prize. Of course we said yes, and once we answered all of her questions (correctly of course), she handed us fast passes for Toy Story Mania. Finally we were getting our chance to ride …

Continued in next post …

 

[Cdn Friends of Pooh]

By now we had been at the park since early and were starting to get a bit sleepy, so decided to head back to the resort – taking these pictures on our way out ….

… up next, breakfast at Boma and another night of HHN!

 

[GreatBiscuit]

LOVE the photos...will def be on the lookout for updates.

 

[LITTLEKID58]

The Pics are awesome.. .tfs

 

[cdotla]

Those pics are awesome!!! I would say that camera paid for itself in your 1st day of pics alone!

Glad to see you back! Looking forward to more!

 

[loribell]

You guys take some amazing pictures!

 

[SaskDisNut]

Great pics! What kind of camera did you get?

 

[Cdn Friends of Pooh]

LOVE the photos...will def be on the lookout for updates.

The Pics are awesome.. .tfs

Those pics are awesome!!! I would say that camera paid for itself in your 1st day of pics alone!

Glad to see you back! Looking forward to more!

You guys take some amazing pictures!

Thanks! ... and thanks for stopping by (and hopefully coming back)

Great pics! What kind of camera did you get?

I have a Rebel XTi (with an assortment of lenses - most recently the 50 mm f/1.8) while DH just bought the Sony a200 (currently he only has the kit lens)

BTW - sorry about the Riders ...

 

[MinnieTexan]

Your photos are awesome!! My DH and I are driving down from NC on Thursday...and your pics are so good I feel that I'm already there!!

 

[burly]

I'm in. Love the photo trip reports!!

 

[MinnieTexan]

Hi there,

As I'm brand-new to the DIS, I'm not familiar with posting pics. Is it a difficult process if you're not extremely computer savvy?
I just figured out how to add a signature...thankfully that worked. But, I believe I need to have 10 posts to be able to add photos.

Thanks in advance for any tips you might have to offer...

 

[loribell]

You bet I'll be back! Now waiting for more.

 

[Cdn Friends of Pooh]

We started our day fairly early as we had an 9:15 ADR at Boma for breakfast. We had eaten dinner at Boma numerous times (and loved it), but had never eaten there for breakfast. This trip, we decided to do it.

There are a lot of people who take pictures of their food … unfortunately we aren’t among those, so don’t have any pics from the buffet, but can tell you that the breakfast buffet at Boma is wonderful. There is definitely something for everyone and the Frunch juice shouldn’t be missed. There was so much to choose from (bacon, sausage, ham, potatoes, pastries, cereal, fruit, oatmeal) … the only thing missing was the Zebra Domes (we do think they should serve these at breakfast too)!! We would absolutely do it again!


Even though we had taken our time eating, it was still fairly early when we left. We did have plans to go to HHN again that evening, but didn’t want to head to Universal too early, so decided to drive over to the Spirit Halloween Store. Unfortunately we had no idea where it was. Over the past couple of years, it has always been close to the Florida Mall, however they change location each year - so headed off in that direction. Luckily we saw a sign on Sand Lake Road saying it was “across from Target in the Florida Mall” … Whoo Hoo … but where that was, we didn’t know. We continued towards the mall and pulled into the lot at the first set of lights leading to the mall … we drove around the mall … but had no luck finding Target or the Spirit Store. We then headed back out to Sand Lake Road and continued our search, finally spotting Target a few blocks up. We turned into the parking lot and finally spotted the store.


After perusing the store and buying a few Halloween “necessities”, we decided to head back over to the Mall to do a bit of browsing, finally heading over to Universal around 2:00 pm.


Up next … Harry Potter & HHN …

 

[bennythepug]

Loving your trip report, awesome pictures too

 

[Cdn Friends of Pooh]

When we last left you, our shopping was complete and we headed back over to Universal ...


Day 5 - Harry Potter & HHN


... Up next ... Epcot, rain & drinks with good friends

 

[Cdn Friends of Pooh]

Sorry for the delay in updating ... hopefully you're all still with us ... hopefully get the next installment up in the next day or two but until then we'll post this video to keep you entertained ...

... a walkthrough of the HHN scarezones

 

[Cdn Friends of Pooh]

HAPPY NEW YEAR

Sorry for the delay in updating our TR … the past month has been a busy one for us … but now that Christmas is over, on with the show …

Unfortunately today was another day we didn’t take many pictures because of the weather … rain …. sorry!!

Arriving at EPCOT, the day was grey however the rain hadn’t yet started … yet

… however, once in the park that changed … we ran for MouseGear and stayed put until the rain shower stopped

We browsed around MouseGear and since we had a lunch ADR with a friend at Le Cellier, we decided to give her a call to see if was in the park yet. Unfortunately she didn’t answer her cell, so we left her a message to give us a call back.

After the rain stopped, we headed over to Club Cool … as many times as we’ve been to EPCOT, this is always one place we have to stop.

Hmmm, we had never noticed the writing on the tables before …

Leaving Club Cool I took this picture …

As it was getting close to our ADR time, we decided to start our trek over to Le Cellier. We had eaten lunch there previously and really enjoyed it so were looking forward to eating there again. Arriving at Le Cellier, we took a seat by the doors and waited for our friend. Since we hadn’t heard back from her after leaving a message earlier, I called her again … and got her voicemail again. Thinking she may have already checked in and was waiting for us inside, I asked the CM at the podium who told me to check with the CMs inside. I approached the inside desk and explained that we were there to meet someone for lunch and gave the CM my friend’s name. As she was checking, she got an odd look on her face … and then commented to me that I might want to check with my friend as she had cancelled the ADR. I was furious!!

Of course, when I asked the CM if there was any way my DH and I could still get seated, there were no openings at all that day.

I hurried back to where my DH was waiting … and once I explained what had happened, we decided to head over to Sunshine Seasons to grab a bite to eat.

After filling our tummies, we decided to head back to the resort to rest a bit until leaving to meet our good friends from Orlando for drinks at Raglan Road …

Back at the resort, DH headed up to the room while I took our refillable mugs to fill up …

As we set out for our evening at Raglan Road, this is what the World looked like from outside our resort room …

... we were definitely glad we had changed our mind about the MNSSHP this evening (we had originally had planned to go tonight, but decided to go on the 16th instead) ... and headed off to Raglan Road for a great visit with our Orlando friends.


Up next Day 7 - Magic Kingdom