It's alright, I'm still alive! a TR -- Day 11: Aquatica-- Updated 27/4

[disneyhockeymad]

We woke up very late today (well late for us) and began our drive towards Hollywood Studios. On the way I saw an aeroplane writing the words 'Love God' in the sky which I thought was pretty cool, I didn't manage to get that good of a picture, it's only half complete as just as he was finishing it was time to pay the carkpark and then follow the stewards to our spot.

We arrived in HS at 12:30 and began to walk around just soaking up the atmosphere. As we were walking towards to hat HSM2 was just coming into view, and indeed earshot (!), so we stayed and watched that for a while. It's only me that loves it in our family (my brother thinks he's too "manly" for it!!) so we didn't stay too long, I think it may have been partly because I was dancing along too!!

After that we came across TSM and grabbed a FP for that, the queue time was around 200minutes and the FP time was 9pm, but seeing as we were going to stay for Fantasmic again tonight it fitted in quite well!!

After some more wandering (starting to get the theme of our day yet?!) we found ourselves on Sunset Boulevard and standing next to the icecream shop, we of course had to get some. Unfortunately I didn't get to take pictures as we were all concentrating on the icecream not melting, it was so hot!! The icecream's were delicious though!

Beauty and the Beast was due to start so we followed the crowd up to the theatre and sat down, we managed to catch the last bit of the janitors doing their stuff, which was a little disappointing as I really loved them from what I can remember, even more disappointing now that they've been axed

The show was really good, just as I remembered it, I loved it! Mum had to stop me from singing along!!

I love the bit when the beast turns back into the prince

When that was over we noticed that a LMA show was about to start, so we missioned it over to the otherside of the park to watch that. Although I've seen this show too many times to count in Paris it was so good to watch it the whole of the way through in English and not wait for the French translations. I knew what was going to happen but it still took my breath away when it did, cars were not made for jumping!! They need to be grounded!!

I loved the fact that from the top of the stands you could see all the peaks in HS, it looked so pretty! I wish I could have done a panoramic but my camera doesn't have that option

From there we went to the ABC cafe to pick up a drink but no food as our ressies were almost up for Sci Fi

It appears that I took a picture of my notebook, I'm not entirely sure why but here it is to show you what I was writing in!

I snapped a photo of the hat somewhere along the line too!

To kill a bit more time before checking in I went to watch Streetmosphere, I love them so much, they make me laugh everytime, today was no exception, they had me in hysterics... which FYI looks a little odd when you're sat on your own!!

Finally it was time for us to check in for SciFi. I was super excited about this as I had read amazing reviews, it looked fab and it was the very first table-service restaraunt we had even eaten at at WDW (mum thought we were too young to have a rigid plan on our other trips)

From the minute we walked into it the theming was amazing, I loved the fact it looked like the backstage of a set

We checked in and sat down to wait....

About 10minutes later we were called through to our seats. We were sat at the very back right next to the kitchen on a table that was a 4 seater facing each other, if you get me, with another family of 4 sat infront of us, not one of the 'traditional' car seats we had asked for. We couldn't see the main screen for the other family, I had to lean out to take this shot

We decided to put up with it as we knew we couldn't really be moved but as we ordered our drinks the combination of the waitresses going in and out of the door to the kitchen, the noise from the kitchen, the chefs yelling to each other and the light blazing away we decided to ask to be moved, it was all totally ruining the atmosphere. The waitress was very helpful and immediately got her supervisor who explained to us that she would move us as soon as she could, we felt sort of guilty about it but seeing as we were paying for it we ought to have a meal we can enjoy.

We were soon moved into a traditional car seat away from the kitchen with a much better view... thanks Disney

Soon after our food arrived, my brother and I had ordered the same, The Smoked Baby Back Ribs :

and Mum and Dad had ordered the same, the Beef and Blue Salad:

 

[wicket2005]

I enjoyed reading your update Laura and especially liked the sci fi restaurant photos as I have never been in there.

 

[disneyhockeymad]

They were so tasty! We finished our entree's off and ordered pudding, there was no way I was leaving without desert! As we waited for desert I took some more photos, these messages made me laugh...

Finally desert arrived, it looked exquisit! I ordered the Chocolate Tarte:

Mum the cheesecake:

and my brother the sundae:

They were all fantastic, my brother and I were too full to finish ours but mum refused to let her cheesecake go to waste, she adores proper America cheesecakes!

Overall the SciFi was fantastic, despite the slight hiccup with where we were seated to start off with, which we wouldnt have minded so much if it wasn't for the noise. The food was fantastic, the service faultless and the atmosphere was amazing. It was definately a firm favourite of ours and a great way to start off our Disney dining experience with!!

After we emerged into the sunlight again (which was a very strange experience after spending a good hour anda half in darkness) we began to wander again, I saw the opportunity to to make my best friend back at home jealous (she's a serious star wars geek!) so I lapped it up!!!

We decided to brave Sounds Dangerous, I remembered vaguely not liking this ride last time but I went on it none the less, Dad on the other hand sat out as he definately didn't like. It was interesting to say the least. I wasn't a big fan of it, and definately didn't like the getting wet part. My faces must have been hilarious to the CM who's job it was to watch the tapes of the audience, I made so many!!

When we had finished my brother was starting to feel ill (why is it on every disney trip someone in your family always gets ill?!) so we headed for the Backlot Tour as a calm ride around. This time the pre-show special effects bit was working so as I casually avoided being picked we took up our places and began to laugh!!

Why they put themselves up to it I will never know!!!

It was soon time for our FP's for TSM so we headed over to join the queue and it wasn't too long before we were on the ride. I was next to my brother this time, who was beginning to feel better, he still beat me despite being ill!

The RnR Coaster had a relatively little queue when we had finished TSM so we jumped on that, we took the gamble that it would either make my brother worse or better (it made him better!).

As we came off the sky had suddenly turned very very grey and there was some serious lightening, as we had planned to stay for Fantasmic this didn't bode well and sure enough an announcement came round that Fantasmic was cancelled for the night.

The lightening (and then rain) storm continued for most of the night so we headed back to the condel. On the balcony the lightening storm was even more spectacular, it's hard to describe but it was phenominal!!

Stay tuned for AK & Tusker House brekkie!

 

[wicket2005]

Thanks Laura and I am glad your brother recovered quickly.

 

[wickesy]

I'm so glad you enjoyed Sci-Fi Diner Laura. We are trying it for the first time in April and I'm really hoping to get one of the 'cars'.

My Dad volunteered for the Backlot Tour pre-show on our first trip back in '92. Well when I say volunteered - he was asked if he wanted to take part and agreed to, but neither of us knew what he was letting himslef in for.

 

[dtm316]

Can't see any dates for when you travelled but it looks like you were in DHS the same time as us as we were there when the sky writer was out and about. We also ate at the sci fi that day as well, we were in the front car second row from the left

Scrap that I was being an idiot the dates are very obvious indeed

 

[Snowy-girls]

Thanks for the update Laura .
So glad you managed to change 'car's' and the food looks really delicious.
My girls are sooo looking forward to the HSM3 pep rally,(so am i ).Did you notice any 'unusual' HSM merchandise in the park-or was it pretty much the norm you get in our Disney stores?.
I love the Beauty+The Beast Show+i am truly gutted that Four For A Dollar are no longer performing-such a shame.
Great pics again .x.

 

[disneyhockeymad]

I enjoyed reading your update Laura and especially liked the sci fi restaurant photos as I have never been in there.

Thanks Laura and I am glad your brother recovered quickly.

Thanks The Sci Fi is fantastic we loved it... so much so that we went back again about 4 days later!!

I'm so glad you enjoyed Sci-Fi Diner Laura. We are trying it for the first time in April and I'm really hoping to get one of the 'cars'.

My Dad volunteered for the Backlot Tour pre-show on our first trip back in '92. Well when I say volunteered - he was asked if he wanted to take part and agreed to, but neither of us knew what he was letting himslef in for.

You'll love the sci fi! The atmosphere is amazing, apparently my mum and dad's meal was perfection as well so if you're stuck for something to eat get one of those!! They looked so tasty too!! I hope your dad had fun! I love seeing people who have no idea what they're letting themselves in for, their faces are fantastic!!

Can't see any dates for when you travelled but it looks like you were in DHS the same time as us as we were there when the sky writer was out and about. We also ate at the sci fi that day as well, we were in the front car second row from the left

We were there on the 5th July and ate at about 4:55 I think. That's really cool if you were there at the same time!

Thanks for the update Laura .
So glad you managed to change 'car's' and the food looks really delicious.
My girls are sooo looking forward to the HSM3 pep rally,(so am i ).Did you notice any 'unusual' HSM merchandise in the park-or was it pretty much the norm you get in our Disney stores?.
I love the Beauty+The Beast Show+i am truly gutted that Four For A Dollar are no longer performing-such a shame.
Great pics again .x.

Four for a Dollar... that's what they're called! Thankyou! It's been bugging me for ages!! As for unusual HSM merchandise I did notice a fair bit more than is in the shops back at home but I couldn't tell you what specifically, I wasn't allowed to look at it!! Everytime I did I got dragged away!! But there is definately a much greater choice!!

 

[Pegasus928]

Well having just spent pretty much the last hour reading your trip report I had better pull my finger out and get on with some work

I have enjoyed reading it, however, and you have made it very entertaining.

Looking forward to the next parts. (I'm surprised you can remember what you did 6 months ago - I struggle to remember what I did yesterday)

 

[darthtatty]

great reports, just read it all.xxx

 

[disneyhockeymad]

Well having just spent pretty much the last hour reading your trip report I had better pull my finger out and get on with some work

I have enjoyed reading it, however, and you have made it very entertaining.

Looking forward to the next parts. (I'm surprised you can remember what you did 6 months ago - I struggle to remember what I did yesterday)

I wrote it all down in a little book that I took everywhere with me (I think I posted a picture of it!) My parents thought I was mad writing everything down! Glad you've enjoyed it though

great reports, just read it all.xxx

Thanks

 

[Snowy-girls]

Four for a Dollar... that's what they're called! Thankyou! It's been bugging me for ages!! As for unusual HSM merchandise I did notice a fair bit more than is in the shops back at home but I couldn't tell you what specifically, I wasn't allowed to look at it!! Everytime I did I got dragged away!! But there is definately a much greater choice!!

Thanks Laura-i am hoping to find a Minnie+Mickey dressed in the HSM cheerleading clothes ,-Dd4 wants them(amongst other things as well no doubt).x.

 

[disneyhockeymad]

The day started off bright and early again as we awoke knowing that today would start off in such a fantastic way, a breakfast with Donald and friends at Tusker House! The sun was shining and the weather was good so it was definately a good day! We hopped into the car and off we drove to AK for our 8:05am ressie

It was eerie being some of the only people in the park, so nice to have it to yourself though, as we wandered through you could really take in some of the views, without the obstruction of other people, it was beautiful!

We arrived at Tusker House with plenty of time to spare we were greeted by a big old 'Jambo' and told to wait for a short while. We were soon called through and paused for the obligitory family photo by the sign, why this is I will never know, it's hardly an interesting spot! We were seated in the main part of the restaurant, and quickly made acquaintences with the buffet whilst our waitress bought us some amazing juice. It tasted good!!

The buffet was fantastic and we kept going back for more and more!

the must eat...

I think disney is the only place on earth I would even contemplate having both a donut and a muffin for breakfast, got to love it!! Soon the characters made their way to our table, I loved it! I was some of the first proper character interactions I had had since we arrived so I was floating!!

Daisy Duck:

Goofy:

and the Mouse himself:

Funny story, Mickey saw my brother and my hair colour and immediately put his finger to it pulling it away as if it had burnt him. We were rolling around laughing, I wish we had filmed it, was one of the funniest moments. The Mickey grabbed my hand and tried to run off with me, he took me to the other side of the restaurant and tried to hide me. A CM eventually came and rescued me!

I didn't upload the pictures with Donald and Minnie which is kind of annoying but they were there and equally as lovely! We finished up breakfast at about 8:55 and made our way round the corner to Kilimanjaro Safari's. We were hoping that the fact it was early morning meant that more animals would be out. We loved this the last time we were at WDW and couldn't wait to go out and see the animals!

We were put in the back row of the car which although I was initially disappointed about is definately a great place to be, we could look out the back without anybody getting in our way. It was fab!

Our first visitor was a rhino

Don't get me wrong, I absolutely love seeing the animals, it feels so real, but they definately need to update the story, Little Red is getting so old now!! We followed the natural progression and took the Pangani Trial

I love the Gorilla's!

We just made it to the station in time to catch the train for Rafikki's planet watch so off we went. I always find it bazar how you travel sideways, I can't get used to the fact I can't look out both window's! As we arrived we were lucky enough to catch the beginning's of an operation in the vet theatre, they were removing a bit of metal from a crane who had injested it. It was quite interesting to watch!

Rafikki and Jiminy Cricket were just coming out so seeing as Dad and I had lost mum and my brother we decided to get photos with them

As we were leaving people were arriving with dream FP's around their necks to we hurried on over to see if they were still giving them out, as we notice them the CM's packed up and walked away, I was pleased to have seen them but mighty annoyed to have missed them!!!

 

[Tink2312]

Hi Laura been a bit of a luker, but thought I'd check in...lol!
Great report BTW! We loved Sci-Fi too - very kitsch How lucky were you getting to see backstage!! Next time I think i'll try to sneak into the utilidors - I keep telling everyone that Kingdom Keepers is a true story

 

[Pegasus928]

Enjoyed reading the new bit.
Have you been to Chef Mickeys Laura - and if so how would it compare, queues wise, to Tusker House. We had lunch at Tuskers and loved it and was planning on doing Chef Mickey for our nephew when we go in October. Which would you recommend??

And I loved the photo of Jiminy - my Mum would love that .

The only one I am interested in getting now is Grumpy, but I have never seen him in all the times I have been there.

 

[disneyhockeymad]

Thanks Laura-i am hoping to find a Minnie+Mickey dressed in the HSM cheerleading clothes ,-Dd4 wants them(amongst other things as well no doubt).x.

don't hold me to this but I'm pretty sure I saw at least minnie in a cheerleading outfit and I'm pretty sure it was HSM... I hope I'm right!

Hi Laura been a bit of a luker, but thought I'd check in...lol!
Great report BTW! We loved Sci-Fi too - very kitsch How lucky were you getting to see backstage!! Next time I think i'll try to sneak into the utilidors - I keep telling everyone that Kingdom Keepers is a true story

Hey!! The sci-fi is indeed amazing!! If you ever do sneak into the utilidors I want pictures and lots of them!! and what do you mean, ofc the story is true!!!

Enjoyed reading the new bit.
Have you been to Chef Mickeys Laura - and if so how would it compare, queues wise, to Tusker House. We had lunch at Tuskers and loved it and was planning on doing Chef Mickey for our nephew when we go in October. Which would you recommend??

And I loved the photo of Jiminy - my Mum would love that .

The only one I am interested in getting now is Grumpy, but I have never seen him in all the times I have been there.

I haven't been to Chef Mickey's unfortunately, we wanted to go this time but we never got round to it. From what I've read though I think Tusker House has more of a character friendly atmosphere if you get me, especially if you go early, it's much more spread out and doesn't fill up as quickly so the characters take more time. At Tusker House they spread the sittings out between 2 rooms, so people that arrive between say 8 and 8:30 get put into one room and those from 8:30 to 9 in another, this gives the characters a better chance of seeing everyone and means the wait for the characters isn't too long, we saw them all within half an hour. Compared with Chef Mickey's which is all in one room and fairly crowded and stays fairly crowded for a long long time. I hope that sort of helps. Sorry I can't be of more use to you.

I really want to see Grumpy too next trip, it's my mum's favourite character so to see him + Dopey properly would be fantastic!!

 

[disneyhockeymad]

(sorry for the slow update I've been really ill... had no energy to get out of bed at all so everything has seemed like an effort! I'm all good now though so on with the show!)

After missing out on a dream we decided that for the time being we had had enough of AK so headed on over to try our luck again at BB, crossing our fingers extra hard that there would be no school buses there this time, and there weren't I left my camera in the car again because I am a nightmare when it comes to technology/sand/water, it's best if I dont ever make the three meet! I'll whizz through BB coz I know it's a little boring without pictures!

We arrived and staked out a spot somewhere near the Warming Hut because everything was so busy, it was good though, we were so near our favourite ride, Castaway Creek. After impatiently waiting to slop on the suntan cream we made our way into the Castaway creek grabbing rings as we went for my parents and finally for my brother and I. We played the game we always did, pushing each other under the sneezing house, my mum goes ape at me everytime I try! It's hilarious! Mum can't understand it, I'm so willing to get wet and absolutely adore water when I'm in a suitable attire, but when it comes to water rides when I'm in clothes, definately a no no!!

Anyways after a few round trips my brother and I got bored and headed over, dragging my dad with us as Mum wanted to sunbathe, to the Taboggan Racers, love them! I won, just, but that's coz I made my dad and brother give me a head start! We hit the Snow Riders after that and then jumped on the lift up to Team Boat Springs, this is a must, we have such a laugh everytime, we were put in a raft with a lovely America family who loved it just as much as we do, we couldn't stop laughing!!

We had had enough of riding rides for the time being so we headed back down to our towels and mum, but she was no where to be seen until we finally spotted her in the pool cooling herself down, she had a bit of a headache so we decided that we'd stayed long enough and headed over to get changed. Once we got changed we drove back to AK and in an attempt to get some drinks and food which we were desperate for. Apparently though everywhere was closed, even though it was boiling hot and mum was really suffering from the heat, 'no drinks 5 minutes before the parade' so we had to wait, we found some shade for mum and sat and waited for the parade to pass...

More photos!!

I love these giant animals, they're so cleverly done, reminds me of the old parade before Illuminations. I loved that too!!

This is the first time I've seen Brier Rabbit too, how exciting!

Good old parade

We grabbed our drinks eventually and headed to the FotLK, more photos again!!

We were in the elephant section, loved making the sounds!!

As we headed out we decided to check out EE but it was broken down I started talking to a nice English CM, I felt quite bad for him he was obviously new and was following the CM rules on what to say to the letter, did make me laugh but he was getting quite flustered when people were asking him questions that he couldnt answer using the answers he had been taught!!

We took one last ride on Primeval Whirl and ran into Pluto and Goofy (it was a good day for characters!!) before checking in at the Rainforest Cafe where we had made ressies as we entered the park, I couldn't wait!!

We decided to try something completely different this time and we all loved what we chose again,

I had the Tuscan chicken which was amazing, just looking at it makes me crave it! It had this amazing cucumber salad with it too which was delish

My brother had the Chicken fried chicken... odd I know but still! He said it was ace!

Mum had the Planet Earth Pasta, also very good!

Finally dad had the Blue Mountain Sandwich

We were too full for pudding but were still so awake so we decided to drive round to HS and watch Fantasmic, we made it with 10minutes to spar, I didn't think we'd get a seat or indeed a place at all, and I was right in a certain aspect but we were offered the standing at the back and that was great! I didn't take any pictures this time but it was as great as normal!

After it had finished being standing we made it out of the arena quickly and with still 10minutes left until the park closed decided to head to TSM to try and wangle a ride, I fluttered my eyelids at the CM and we joined the queue for one last ride!

It was a great day, started and ended well! We were knackered by the end of it but were on such high spirits despite the long day. We love days like that, everything seemed to go right!!

 

[wicket2005]

Appreciate the time you have spent writing your trip report and uploading photos. I enjoyed reading it and seeing the things that you saw. I am glad you had a lovely day.

Sorry to hear you have been poorly.

 

[Pegasus928]

Glad you are feeling better.
Excellent trip report and photo's as usual.
Keep up the good work.

 

[Snowy-girls]

don't hold me to this but I'm pretty sure I saw at least minnie in a cheerleading outfit and I'm pretty sure it was HSM... I hope I'm right!

Ooh i hope so the girls will be VERY happy .x.

Sorry to hear you was'nt well+glad you are now better .
Great update,we love the Lion King show-it is amazing.You got quite a bit done today.Food looks yummy,we have a ressie for TRex Cafe so hoping that this is also nice .The main reason we are going is the girls,especially Dd4 LOVE dinosaurs.x.