Is 7 Days Enough to Make a First Timer Fall in Love??--Aug'11 TR-- FINAL UPDATE 8/26

[okw19]

Whew, I'm all caught up! Sounds like the perfect HS day. (Minus the rain, but in all honesty I don't mind rain in WDW.)

 

[FosterA]

I'm back and of course am trying to read through everything I missed the last couple of days. Naturally, I just had to see if you posted any updates
seeing your photos makes me sad and now I want to go back! lol
my kids did TOT 2 or 3 x they loved it so much!

 

[heathsf]

Whew, I'm all caught up! Sounds like the perfect HS day. (Minus the rain, but in all honesty I don't mind rain in WDW.)

It was a great day. I'd rather be in the rain in WDW than in the sun at home! And it's even better when lots of people decide to leave the park because of the rain.

I'm back and of course am trying to read through everything I missed the last couple of days. Naturally, I just had to see if you posted any updates
seeing your photos makes me sad and now I want to go back! lol
my kids did TOT 2 or 3 x they loved it so much!

I know. Every time I do an update I want to go back!

 

[heathsf]

Tuesday, August 23 - Part 4

We had just used our ToT FP and were now entering the nearby Hollywood Hills Amphitheater for Fantasmic.

We had originally planned to see the later show after taking a break back at the hotel for a little while since that one is usually less crowded. But since we didn't take a break and we'd been at HS since rope drop we were starting to feel a bit tired. Plus, the weather was still pretty iffy and we figured if the first show was cancelled then we could try for the second one.

It was 7:45, forty five minutes before the 8:30 show was scheduled to start. We were directed to the left side of the theater although we were still pretty close to the center. We took seats in about the 5th row and I was very happy with where we were sitting. The people kept pouring in though and it didn't take long before all seats were filled. And there was still plenty of time before the show started.

It was drizzling when we sat down so there were announcements being made every few minutes that "due to inclement weather, Fantasmic could be delayed or cancelled." Well, every time I heard that announcement I thought for sure it was cancelled. Especially when the drizzle turned into more of a steady light rain. BF put his poncho on. I held out as long as I could. Maybe I thought if I didn't wear my poncho I could trick the CMs into deciding that the rain wasn't that bad and Fantasmic could go on as scheduled...

Since we had some time to pass, I wanted to buy cotton candy. BF insisted it was a waste of money but that cotton candy was actually quite huge! And for being a waste of money, he certainly enjoyed a lot of it!

I did eventually give in and put on my poncho and lo and behold... Fantasmic still went on right on time! Apparently whether or not I wear my poncho has no effect on Disney World's Nighttime Spectaculars...

The show was outstanding, as always. The very end always brings a tear to my eye. Okay, two tears. I tried not to let BF see. He may not have shed any tears but he really enjoyed the show. I might even go so far as to say that he loved it. I had warned him ahead of time that the storyline is a little strange but that he should just enjoy the music, special effects, and theatrics. And he did! And so did I! Oh, did I mention that already?

Since we had seen the earlier show, the park will still open after we exited the show. Apparently we still had RnRc FP to use. Hmm, I think we may have picked up another set at some point during the day and I left it out of one of my earlier updates. Anyway, we had a FP and asked for the 1st row and it was spectacular! It's so pretty here at night.

We didn't ride again but here's a bad picture of ToT at night:

After riding RnRc we decided to end the night with some ice cream. We both got mint chocolate chip cones (but for some reason mine came in a cup) and it was a LOT of ice cream! It was a great value for two snack credits IMO.

BF had already been enjoying his cone before I snapped this picture. The evidence is all over his face...literally

We slowly walked down Sunset Blvd as we enjoyed our ice cream and it was a great ending to a fabulous day. When we got to the intersection of Hollywood Blvd and Sunset Blvd we stopped for a few pictures. This picture was taken with my camera by the photopass photographer:

And this one was taken by the photographer with his camera:

After the photos (which BF really wasn't in the mood to take but he still did a good job of plastering a smile on his face ) we were ready to call it a night. We exited and hopped right on a bus to go back to Pop and get some sleep.

Up Next: Changing some plans at the last minute

 

[FosterA]

great update as usual!
OMG, Fantasmic about made me have a nervous breakdown. We were there at a slow time and once it started there were still lots of seats on the sides left and I still felt like the crowding was insane! I'm lucky my kids are older because if I had little ones that I had to worry about hanging on to, I would have had a heart attack getting into the place.

I love mint choc chip ice cream and want some now for breakfast! Thanks a lot

 

[heathsf]

great update as usual!
OMG, Fantasmic about made me have a nervous breakdown. We were there at a slow time and once it started there were still lots of seats on the sides left and I still felt like the crowding was insane! I'm lucky my kids are older because if I had little ones that I had to worry about hanging on to, I would have had a heart attack getting into the place.

I love mint choc chip ice cream and want some now for breakfast! Thanks a lot

I just read your update about Fantasmic. It is definitely a crazy crowd situation and I never imagined having to do it with children! I'm sorry you didn't enjoy it more. The storyline is a little strange but I really love the music and all the clips from classic movies they show on the water screen thingy. And the very beginning and very end give me goosebumps. I'm a little (or a lot) corny, I know...
I assume you ended up not having mint choc chip ice cream for breakfast, but did you maybe have some for lunch or dinner instead?

 

[Leshaface]

Just got caught up. Have been busy and sick lately. Blahh.

Anyways, you both drew some excellent Mickey's! Don't you love the drawing academy? It's so fun! I've been to 5 different sessions, each one drawing something different. The last one we did for our Thanksgiving trip was Dale and mine turned out looking like a hobo for some reason!

You scored some excellent seats for Fantasmic! I love that show. I especially love the music. I listen to that song allll the time!

 

[BMC423]

All caught up... first you BF looks really happy in those pictures! It's always great when they love it... or like it at least you know you have something else you share. My husband went for the 1st time for our 1st wedding anniversary and I was holding my breath hoping he would love it.
Love your pics thanks for all the food porn . Your WC pics and review are really making me want to go there on our next trip.
BTW as a die-hard Yankee fan I can't say I was too thrilled about your Red Sox/ Boston review, but it did look like a lot of fun. And how cool was the Garciaparra meet!!! Also don't worry I have learned to like Red Sox fans... ex. Donnie Walhberg ha ha.
Back to Disney... I can't wait to hear/read/see more!

 

[heathsf]

Just got caught up. Have been busy and sick lately. Blahh.

Anyways, you both drew some excellent Mickey's! Don't you love the drawing academy? It's so fun! I've been to 5 different sessions, each one drawing something different. The last one we did for our Thanksgiving trip was Dale and mine turned out looking like a hobo for some reason!

You scored some excellent seats for Fantasmic! I love that show. I especially love the music. I listen to that song allll the time!

I've been busy too and am currently sick. It stinks! But I just finished catching up on your TR and just saw your drawing of Dale. I thought it was great! To be honest, I didn't see the resemblance to a hobo I listen to the song from Fantasmic all the time too. BF thinks I'm a nut.

All caught up... first you BF looks really happy in those pictures! It's always great when they love it... or like it at least you know you have something else you share. My husband went for the 1st time for our 1st wedding anniversary and I was holding my breath hoping he would love it.
Love your pics thanks for all the food porn . Your WC pics and review are really making me want to go there on our next trip.
BTW as a die-hard Yankee fan I can't say I was too thrilled about your Red Sox/ Boston review, but it did look like a lot of fun. And how cool was the Garciaparra meet!!! Also don't worry I have learned to like Red Sox fans... ex. Donnie Walhberg ha ha.
Back to Disney... I can't wait to hear/read/see more!

Hey Bickiana! I'm so glad you're here. I haven't seen you on here in a while! Do you have another trip planned?
BF was a champ when it came to taking pictures (and I took A LOT!). He loves hamming it up. He's also the reason that I'm a Red Sox fan - so blame him!

 

[jenneth79]

I love the update! The cotton candy was awesome, looks like he may have found another use for it while waiting for Fantasmic (pillow!!!)

Such a cute picture of you both from the Photopass photog.

 

[heathsf]

Wednesday, August 24 - Part 1

Once again I was awake before my alarm went off, at 6:50 am. I guess I'm just too excited to sleep even when I'm already in WDW! Our original plans were to visit Epcot today and Animal Kingdom tomorrow, however since we went to AK on Monday in case our trip was cut short due to Hurricane Irene, we were now planning for MK tomorrow. That said, when I woke up early I was looking at the crowd calendar on Touring Plans and Easy WDW and they were projecting tomorrow to be a better day at Epcot so we decided to do MK today and Epcot tomorrow. The change wouldn't disrupt any major plans since we had tickets for La Nouba tonight and dinner at DTD anyway. And speaking of Irene...at this point in our trip the weather forecast had changed to predict a miss for Florida. Whew! However, it was now projected to hit further north up the coast, which we now know that it did. I'm jumping forward into the future here but we landed late on Friday night and went directly to Shop Rite from the airport to stock up since we had no food. Well, it was midnight when we got there and Shop Rite was absolutely packed and completely out of bottled water, D batteries, and plenty of other necessities. The store was an absolute mess. We got some snack foods and decided to spend Saturday night at my parents awaiting the storm since they were fully stocked and had a generator. And we made it through the storm okay, were very lucky. I know people who had their homes totally destroyed by this storm. People who live just minutes from where I do. But I digress... My point was that I was finally able to stop stressing about the trip being ruined! So now, back to the TR!

So we were off to MK. We hadn't been there since our first (half) day of the trip and still had plenty to do! We had been waiting on line at Pop for a few minutes when a bus pulled up at 8:25. The bus emptied yet no one was boarding. The line was getting longer and longer by the minute and it was 10 minutes before they let anyone on. I have no idea why.

We arrived at MK at 9:00, we must have missed the end of the Welcome Show by just a minute or two which I was disappointed by but I'm sure it was fine with BF.

After heading down Main Street, the first thing we did (at BF's request) was get FP for Space Mountain. It was 9:10 when we got the FP for a return time of 10:05. Not bad at all. I of course snapped some pictures along the way. I love the [relative] emptiness of the parks in the early morning.

We continued on our way to Fantasyland since we hadn't done very much there on our first day.

When we entered Fantasyland from the Tomorrowland side our first stop was The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh but it wasn't running yet so we continued on to Snow White which had a small line I didn't think was worth waiting on. I didn't write down what the wait time actually was but I knew it was longer than it should have been. I figured lots of people had done what we did: When they saw Pooh was closed they got on line for the next ride they saw which would be Snow White. So we passed on Snow White and instead got on line for Peter Pan's Flight. The posted wait time was 20 minutes but the actual wait was only 11. BF wasn't all too impressed but it's something I like to ride at least once on each trip. I guess I feel the same about Snow White and Winnie the Pooh as well.

Empty walkway in front of It's a Small World:

We walked back to check on the status of Snow White and Pooh but on the way BF just had to find out if he had what it takes to pull the sword from the stone. He really is such a kid inside, I really thought he would fall head over heels in love with WDW. I know he was having a great time on this trip but I wasn't getting any vibes from him that he would want to be doing this again anytime soon. Maybe if he had come even once as a child he would feel totally different. But anyway, I am digressing again... He was unable to pull the sword from the stone.

When we got back to Snow White, the posted wait time was 10 minutes. The actual wait was 5 minutes or less.

BF felt the same way about Snow White as he did about Peter Pan. I'm not a huge fan of Snow White but it made me a little sad to know that this would be the last time I ever rode it...

Here are a few so-so pictures I took over the wall to get a peek at the progress on the Fantasyland Expansion.

Up Next: An extensive look at the Winnie the Pooh queue

 

[heathsf]

I love the update! The cotton candy was awesome, looks like he may have found another use for it while waiting for Fantasmic (pillow!!!)

Such a cute picture of you both from the Photopass photog.

Thanks! He thought I was ridiculous for wanting to buy the cotton candy but you're right! He got more use out of it than I did

 

[Leshaface]

I completely forgot that they're taking out Snow White! When are they doing this or have they already done it?

I love the shots of virtually no people in MK. It looks so relaxing.

 

[FosterA]

nice photos!!
You are right about your BF not being in love with MK probably since he didn't go as a child. David and I sort of feel that way about MK. I think we both actually like it the least out of all 4 parks and it's probably because some of the attractions are old and nostalgic and harder to "get" if you didn't go as a child??

Are you planning a return trip once Fantasyland is done?? Will BF go back you think?

 

[heathsf]

I completely forgot that they're taking out Snow White! When are they doing this or have they already done it?

I love the shots of virtually no people in MK. It looks so relaxing.

I'm not sure when exactly Snow White is going, I just know that I won't be back before it happens

nice photos!!
You are right about your BF not being in love with MK probably since he didn't go as a child. David and I sort of feel that way about MK. I think we both actually like it the least out of all 4 parks and it's probably because some of the attractions are old and nostalgic and harder to "get" if you didn't go as a child??

Are you planning a return trip once Fantasyland is done?? Will BF go back you think?

I would *love* to plan a return trip but I don't think that will be happening for quite some time. I think I kind of knew that going into this. BF and I actually talk about this on our next day in Epcot and I'll include that convo in the TR. I have been lucky to go quite a few times in the past 8 years though. I'll have to live vicariously through other people's TRs for a while. So I need you to do me a huge favor and plan another trip with your family so I can read all about it!

 

[BMC423]

Hey Bickiana! I'm so glad you're here. I haven't seen you on here in a while! Do you have another trip planned?
BF was a champ when it came to taking pictures (and I took A LOT!). He loves hamming it up. He's also the reason that I'm a Red Sox fan - so blame him!

Yes, I've been away for awhile, this semester has been very busy for me. We just decided on taking a trip next May. I'll let you know when I start my PTR.

I really liked your "empty" MK pictures... there is something so serene about them.

Glad to hear you guys were ok after Irene, we were too... it was a pretty scary night for us since people kept losing power all over.

I agree with you on the falling in love with MK thing as well, I really do think when you go there as a child it holds a special place. When my husband went for the 1st time he liked it but thought a lot of it was cheesy... but seeing it through my son's perspective this year changed his mind.

 

[heathsf]

Wednesday, August 24 - Part 2

After short waits for Peter Pan and Snow White we walked back to Winnie the Pooh to see if it was running yet and it was, with a posted wait time of 5 minutes.

But before we got on line, my chi-, ahem, my BF wanted to play

Well, as it turned out, that 5 minute wait time was off by about 15 minutes. I used that time to take a lot of pictures of the interactive queue. I had seen it in February but there was zero line whatsoever then and my mom really wasn't interested in exploring the queue so we just zipped through to the ride.

As a child, I totally did not get the "Trespassers Will" joke but at this point in my life I can fully appreciate it

Eeyore's House

Now BF really didn't want to stand on the grownups line and would much rather have been in the kids play area, however I quietly convinced him that the happy kids who were already playing there would enjoy themselves much more without him there, as would their parents I'm sure.

The line wasn't that long so this portion of the queue wasn't being used.

BF had a ton of fun playing with the honey wall. In fact, he played SO much, he discovered something totally awesome that I had no idea about: There are images hidden underneath the honey!

And then it was finally time to climb into our honey pot!

I think out of Peter Pan, Snow White, and Winnie the Pooh, this one is my favorite. I can't even say how many times I watched Winnie the Pooh and the Blustery Day on VHS when I was little. I just love it. I think BF thought the three rides were all about equal in terms of how much he enjoyed them. I wasn't going to make him go on these rides over and over, but I was very glad we did them once together.

We started on our way back to Tomorrowland but BF noticed this and insisted (yes he insisted) that we ride. In fact, you can see that he was ready to get on line without me (look just to the right of the sign).

When I was little I loved rides that made me dizzy (even just spinning in circles was a good time). But something has changed in me because I really don't like it anymore. I get dizzy very easily and it's not fun! I don't get sick from it, it's just an uncomfortable feeling. But BF loves to spin these things out of control and I hadn't been on the teacups in a seriously long time so I agreed since there was zero wait. Ah, the things I was willing to sacrifice to ensure that BF fell in love with WDW... Well, we walked up as they were loading but we just missed getting on the next ride. It took a min or two to get everyone in and ready to go and then just after the ride had started, a woman stood up and the ride was immediately stopped and had to be reset. It took a few extra minutes before the ride started again. I was slightly annoyed but I got over it. And then it was our turn. Hooray.

Geez, you would think it was ME forcing HIM on this ride!! He was taking his mission to spin me out of my mind very seriously.

I somehow managed to take a movie during the ride, so I am going to share with you just one frame that pretty much sums it all up:

And here he is, totally exhausted after the ride (gee I wonder why).

Up Next: Off to Tomorrowland for something new and something blue!

 

[heathsf]

Yes, I've been away for awhile, this semester has been very busy for me. We just decided on taking a trip next May. I'll let you know when I start my PTR.

I really liked your "empty" MK pictures... there is something so serene about them.

Glad to hear you guys were ok after Irene, we were too... it was a pretty scary night for us since people kept losing power all over.

I agree with you on the falling in love with MK thing as well, I really do think when you go there as a child it holds a special place. When my husband went for the 1st time he liked it but thought a lot of it was cheesy... but seeing it through my son's perspective this year changed his mind.

Yay! Another trip! Michael must be so excited! Definitely post a link to your PTR here so I can join in!

 

[Leshaface]

......

I am.....soooooo....embarrassed..


I just NOW got the Trespassers Will sign I never understood it either until now. Sigh, i'm so lame.

The Winnie the Pooh ride queue looks super fun! I'm wondering why did they choose to make this an interactive queue versus something busier like Peter Pan? Are they trying to update all queues eventually to be interactive? That would be neat if this was the case.

I like the Teacups, but I don't need to ride them every time i'm at DL. It's probably like 1 out of 15 times we'll ride it and that's if there is virtually no wait.

 

[heathsf]

......

I am.....soooooo....embarrassed..


I just NOW got the Trespassers Will sign I never understood it either until now. Sigh, i'm so lame.

The Winnie the Pooh ride queue looks super fun! I'm wondering why did they choose to make this an interactive queue versus something busier like Peter Pan? Are they trying to update all queues eventually to be interactive? That would be neat if this was the case.

I like the Teacups, but I don't need to ride them every time i'm at DL. It's probably like 1 out of 15 times we'll ride it and that's if there is virtually no wait.

I think when you hear something a lot when you're little you just accept it without wondering what it means...and then when you're older you just continue to accept it! I can't think of an example right now but there have been plenty of times in my my adult life where I've had the realization "oooooooohhh....that's what that means?? I never realized...." and then present company will roll their eyes at me!

My only guess for why they would give Pooh the interactive queue instead of Peter Pan would be the limited space at PP. But I'm totally guessing. I'm pretty sure the new Dumbo is going to have an interactive queue as well. Although I just read that the Pooh queue was closed for refurb (even though it's only been open for a year) last month because it was already showing lots of wear and tear.