It's all about Rides and Rocks (the trip that nearly wasn't) TR starts page 6

[Aussie Wendy]

Thurs 23 Reminiscing

Our last (and first) visit to WDW had been in 2008 when we took DD as a surprise graduation gift at the end of her grade 12 studies. EPCOT had been a fave and had involved multiple visits. I knew one day was not going to cut it – but ah well. I had some ‘required’ things to do and see and was quite disappointed Maelstrom had closed so I couldn’t have one last ride.

Despite being awake so early, and breakfasting in (we had brought cereal with us) we managed to be distracted enough (the hunt for the charger etc) that we missed our bus and missed rope drop. Never mind, we still arrived around 9.15am.

First stop was Test Track, almost a walk-on (10 mins) where we got to experience the new (to us) design your own car – DH led the way here - fairly conventional as a first go but it topped the speed tests!



In the queue I thought this was nifty



'Our' car



We liked the ride - I actually preferred this to the old version and the speed test is always fun though DH kept telling me how slow we were going really and why it just seemed fast (that engineer again!)



The 2015 Chevrolet Stingray Coupe in the showroom after the ride got quite a lot of attention.



but DH preferred the truck!



A second ride (and design) would have been fun but numbers were building and we had a FP+ for Soarin’. This ride was as good as always and the scents were working well (I don't think they were our last ride at DL). We bought some fruit from Sunshine Seasons and headed back over to Mission Space (I had been unable to get FP+ times to plan this morning better - but all this walking is good for the figure – right?) We did Mission Space Green with our dodgy sensibilities, a first as we skipped this last time. It was enjoyable enough but I don’t think I would go out of my way to ride it again. Bit too claustrophobic for me.

A pic of the exterior



We detoured from here over to the Festival Centre to get our chocolate fix. The chocolate sculptures were amazing (and the free samples were good too )

Villains



Seven Dwarves Mine Train



Toy Story



Maleficent



Avatar



Disney nature: bears



It was getting hot but wait times for The Seas were skyrocketing and I had got my 3rd FP+ here (as not many others I wanted in the tier) so figured we had better use it not risk a later standby.

Hanging with some of the tank gang, Gil and Bloat, before the ride



The queue



Our ride pics are pretty blurry so will skip those. Afterwards we spent some time in the air con looking at all the fish in the aquarium.

Fish are friends not food. So are humans…





There’s Nemo



Ugly Dude (any fish lovers out there know what he is? if you google him he's called ugly fish everywhere!)



A spiky fish (I should have taken notes like a good student on a school trip!)



My favourite, a seahorse



Decided manatees are like guinea pigs – all they do is eat and poop.



Continued next post

 

[zanzibar138]

Wow you guys did well riding Mission Space! With my motion sickness issues, I wouldn't go anywhere near that one even I'd had a whole packet of Kwells

I'm looking forward to riding Test Track one day - it sounds like fun! I can't remember if you've done RSR? How does it compare?

Those chocolate sculptures are amazing! It always astounds me that there's such creative people in the world who can make a piece of artwork out of anything

 

[FlowerProwler]

Awesome Trip Report!
I would love to hear what you thought about POFQ, thats where we're staying next year

 

[PrincessInOz]

Did the Return to Epcot match up to your expectations and memory of it?

That chocolate version of Avatar makes me want to head back when the land is open!

 

[Aussie Wendy]

I'm looking forward to riding Test Track one day - it sounds like fun! I can't remember if you've done RSR? How does it compare?

No we haven't been to DCA since RSR opened. Looking forward to getting there one day. I suspect it is similar but PIO can answer that.

Awesome Trip Report!
I would love to hear what you thought about POFQ, thats where we're staying next year

Will dedicate a post to it soon with more pics but briefly yes, we really liked it. It is small and quieter than some of the bigger resorts though the pool did appear to get busier,mostly children, in the pm (but we never ended up spending time there this trip anyway). We also never got time to explore Riverside but I think with more time that would be good too and you can use all their facilities. A lot of people appeared to hire bikes and ride around both. There were quiet gardens with ponds and chairs to sit in and I am pretty sure I saw an adult spa away from the pool (we are not spa people). The boat trip to Downtown was a nice and relaxing way to travel. Buses were sufficiently frequent and the resort seemed nicely centrally located with about 20 mins to get to any park. I would definitely go back there.

Did the Return to Epcot match up to your expectations and memory of it?

That chocolate version of Avatar makes me want to head back when the land is open!

Yes it did - and as tiring and as hot as last time too-lol! But I still like it though Futureworld needs some updating I think in some areas. My ideal for EPCOT is to spend half a day there over several days then go back to a hotel or Downtown or whatever for the pm - I think visiting it in chunks would be better than trying to fit all the different locations in all in one day.

I have already said to DH that I want to return to WDW when Avatar is built as we love that movie and I think they could do some beautiful stuff with it, using the one world, symbiotic relationships ideas as a basis not slavishly copying the movie. By then Ministry of Magic and King Kong Isd will probably be built in Universal too. So I am thinking around 5 years time - before we get too old (help! please slow time down).

 

[WanderlustNZ]

I've just had a quick flick through your photos Wendy and they are great. Love the Halloween pics - Disney does Halloween so well.

I'm on track for working a 70 hour week at present, so I haven't had much time on the Dis. But I'm looking forward to sitting down one day soon and catching up with your TR properly.

 

[Aussie Wendy]

Thanks Wanderlust - it'll be here for a while and by the time you get time to check in, Universal might be up!

 

[Aussie Wendy]

Around the World in 4 Hours

We were now hungry, it was getting on for 1pm and later than I had intended to hit the Food and Wine Fest stalls. It was also getting VERY hot.

On the way






The lack of seating by the stalls was a bit off-putting but we tried a sample each (Hawaiian sliders and Venison sausages from NZ especially delish).

Failed at juggling food and cameras initially so here is an internet reminder of the Hawaiian pork sliders.



The scrumptious venison snag



By the time we reached Norway, DH wanted to have a seat and something “proper” to eat and I confess I was starting to feel a bit seedy from the heat too. So he decided to have a toasted Club sandwich from the Kringla Bakeri.



This was very nice and with some cold drinks we enjoyed the relative cool of the seating away from the crowds. Revived we pressed on. I liked this cottage garden in Norway:



Views of Italy across the lake.



I had considered going back to the hotel for a swim and rest this pm but we had a dinner ressie for 6.30 and DH rightly said that there wasn’t much point by the time we walked to the buses, got back and did it all again in reverse.

We sat in the shade in the Chinese Gardens for a while, the Beijing roast duck was delish too (oops no pic), and the non-alcoholic primavera slushie hit the spot from Italy.







Oops nearly forgot Germany



Flying through Europe – here we are in Italy.



Since we missed the show last time, we watched American Adventure in the American pavilion preceded by the entertaining Voices of Liberty Capella group (one of the few ‘regular’ groups to have survived the recent changes). DH dozed off in this show – a recurring habit over the course of the next few days whenever we were in a sit-down theatre show after lunch! But he drew a few glares from our neighbours – I guess he was being unpatriotic!!



Around the circle and a change in continents to watch the drumming and view the excellent anime display (and enjoy more cool and quiet) in Japan. I thought the Mitsukoshi store had a lot less items in it than I remembered, and dearer than what we can now buy in Aus, but I have actually been to Japan in the interim so maybe that’s the difference!











Morocco was my all-time favourite in 2008 and didn’t disappoint on a revisit – in fact, having seen Andalucia since our last visit, I think we appreciated the tiles and replica buildings even more. (Sorry for picture overload-and Universal is going to be worse).















Think it's time for another post

 

[Aussie Wendy]

Alice was meeting and greeting in the UK but we didn’t linger.



The Irish food stall was very sweet.



In Canada this time we got to see the waterfall and gorge working (but ended up with no decent pics of it). No naps here as no sitting down in this circle vision show – an oldie but still effective.





I really wanted to ride Spaceship Earth so we headed back to the front of the park with a 10 min wait. Part-way up and the ride stopped so we got to enjoy some scenes for a while. Arranged to leave our robot to look after our dog when we headed off to our next adventure… and took ourselves back to France for our dinner res.











Our dinner at Chefs de France in 2008 had been one of our stand-out meals and we wanted to revisit this time. Again it was an excellent experience and I was pleased to be seated at a window table so could enjoy the passing scenery.



My very blurry pic of duck with cherries



DH roast chicken



I saved desert as I wanted to try the caramel Crème Brulee from the France F&W stall…and I am glad I did – it was divine - so good this is it party eaten. Shame I couldn’t fit in a second helping!



We ambled around the lake deciding where to wait to view Illuminations. Perversely it had turned cold now and we hadn’t any jackets with us (as had intended to pick them up on our pm return to hotel) and there was something bitey near the France and UK shores which kept bothering me. It was warmer to walk so round we went, detouring to visit Mexico and a ride on the Gran Fiesta Tour.

Mexican pavilion outside



And inside






Next post Illuminations

 

[Aussie Wendy]

We settled on the lakeshore between Mexico and Norway, behind an American family from Indianapolis with whom I got chatting and had a great discussion about our DDs and differences in schooling as the mum was a teacher, which nicely filled in the time until the show started. Illuminations was so pretty and it was slightly different to the version we saw in 2008 which was the Christmas themed one.


















I had intended to do PIOs slow walk out but we were cold and tired so instead just headed with the masses to the front of the park and home by 10.15pm – to crash!

 

[Aussie Wendy]

Fri 24 In my happy place

Woke up feeling great for having had a decent sleep. Again just missed rope drop – it must be that long walk to the bus stop though found a short-cut via the carpark today. One day we will get to see the opening welcome performance! I didn’t wait to take a pic (and wished I had as it was relatively crowdless) but my overwhelming impression as we walked in was orange, orange everywhere.





Today was all about Fantasyland first before the crowds. 10 mins and rode Peter Pan, my favourite kids ride (til I experienced ET in Universal).





Next up was Winnie the Pooh – enjoyed the play zone in the queue while you wait, big kid that I am. For some reason the ride seemed better than the one at Disneyland not sure why (though none are as good as the Tokyo version).





It took me an embarrassing amount of time to work out how to make things work!







This is a neat reflection of us!





Next it was a walk-on to Little Mermaid in the newer Fantasyland. Really like the décor here.



And playing with the crabs was fun even though there was no queue so couldn’t linger:











We planned to be back to properly look at the new surroundings later.



For now it was over to Frontierland before it got too late for me to ride Splash and BTMR (with a FP+). DH was being super whoosy this trip and bailing on many rides…but I enjoyed myself!







I hadn’t seen Splash from this viewpoint before.



I love these views



See Rapunzel’s tower now sneaks into this view.




And we saw everyone’s favourite mischievous chipmunks



Continued next post

 

[PrincessInOz]

Wendy! What fab pictures. I see your new camera and you came to a right royal understanding quickly! Well done. Which camera was it that you got?
Your DH really did well.

Looks like you had a great time at Epcot. And I've never seen that view of Splash. Fantastic!

 

[zanzibar138]

I'm loving all your photos too Wendy! You definitely got some great ones

 

[Aussie Wendy]

Thanks guys - for us pictures are all about memory joggers so don't really mind how they come out. I just get cranky when I miss a shot particularly representative of something we saw or felt. DH bought me a Sony RX100-M3 PIO (had to go and ask him!) I am pleased with some of the canyon pics it took especially, though his bigger Sony NEX6 also took some really nice shots.

 

[Aussie Wendy]

A rose by any other name

Liberty Square entrance



I loved the decorations at the market



On the way back we called into another long-time favourite Haunted Mansion. Again I enjoyed playing along the way – love having all these interesting activities in the ride queues here.











I think it was this ride we got halted whilst going backwards into the cemetery – bit hard on the neck and back and nothing much to see but luckily only for 10 mins.

Back to new Fantasyland. We still had time before our lunch ressie for Be Our Guest for one ride so chose It’s a Small Ride as a shorter wait, just to give us a song to sing over lunch.









I had booked a FP+ for lunch for 12 noon but as we hadn’t pre-ordered we had a little wait til a CM was free to process our order and for us to pay as we weren’t using our magic bands for purchases. It was so good to skip the long queue though.

Welcoming gargoyle


Entering the Castle



We were then able to choose where ever we wanted to sit. We didn’t get given a rose-instead our magic bands must have guided the servers to our location. I led us into the Rose Gallery as with its dark lighting, it seemed quieter and more intimate than the bigger noisy ballroom. It was very entertaining listening and seeing the storm come over, the rose petals drop and the picture change from prince to beast and back again in seconds. Having looked at the other two locations, this was definitely the most interesting room, for lunch anyway.

Wish I or DH had taken the trouble to take a few pics to get a decent one, I didn’t realise that we hadn’t.



Our meals soon arrived and were very tasty.

My braised pork (coq au vin style)



DH’s vegetable quiche



DH passionfruit puff.



I was good and had the GF lemon and raspberry puff for desert – it was light and delicious. Pic shows it half eaten to show the inside (I was saving the chocolate decoration for last! DH always eats decorations like that first. What do you do?):




We wandered around after we had finished, taking pics – didn’t like to linger at the table too long as there were lots of people looking for tables.

The rose



The prince



Turns to the beast when the lightning strikes



The grand ballroom



The West Wing



Continued

 

[Aussie Wendy]

Part 3 Exploring new Fantasyland

Leaving BOG, the attention to detail, as always, is gorgeous. This tapestry captivated me.



And the mosaic.



More pics of new Fantasyland. I think this looks like a painted backdrop.



But you can see people on the bridge in this wider angle and in the previous pic, that bird is real.



Gaston’s Tavern.







The posters in the Tangled area amused me. I only just read the post about this area and all the detail to discover and so annoyed we didn’t spend longer as I love Tangled. I didn’t even check out the Tangled themed bathrooms. I have looked at my pics and other than the lanterns and flags posted in the previous post, you can just make out Flynn’s bag on the right looking at the window (in the shadow), the frying pan is on the opposite side hidden behind a lantern (zoomed in pic below). I did notice the horseshoes in the ground but not that Maximus' name is on them-needed DD, she is the one who always spots these details and snaps pics!







I so wish I knew I could have found several Pascals hidden in this mobile phone charging area.





Seven Dwarves Mine Train - we got no pics on the ride at night.





I love the vultures



While lunch digested we sat and watched Mickey’s Philharmagic – DH kept dozing off like yesterday! I am muddled now on the next hour. We may have headed over to Tomorrowland intending to check out the queue for Buzz but I got sidetracked because Carousel of Progress was open and we missed this last time. I had read it’s such a classic but that it may be closed down, so I wanted to take the opportunity to ride it. It was hilariously corny fun “It’s a great big beautiful tomorrow”. I wanted to snap a sneaky pic (not allowed) but DH wouldn’t let me.

The Castle and topiary



Dream along with Mickey show



More of that beautiful castle





Entry to Tomorrowland



Entrance towers to Fantasyland from Tomorrowland



We were at Pirates sometime between 1.45 and 2.45 for our FP+. The only disadvantage of FP+ to me, attractions that used to be short standby queues and now have FP+, have much longer queues. I thought this was probably a waste of a FP but standby was 45 mins so I was pleased I had one.



Nearby at the Tiki's, I love this little girl’s pose



Next Post-another encounter with a dragon.

 

[PrincessInOz]

That RX100 is a great camera. Your DH did well with the selection. And your pictures are rockin'.

 

[zanzibar138]

That RX100 is a great camera. Your DH did well with the selection. And your pictures are rockin'.

 

[Aussie Wendy]

Thanks guys - yes it is, but they needed to just shift some of the buttons on the back a little.

 

[zanzibar138]

Thanks guys - yes it is, but they needed to just shift some of the buttons on the back a little.

I agree! I'm used to be forever starting a video recording accidentally I found a setting to turn it off though - now that button only works if I'm already in recording mode. I have an HX series though, so may be different for yours.