CriminyCrafft
Mouseketeer
- Joined
- Sep 11, 2006
- Messages
- 331
After the parade we went over to One Man's Dream. I'd never seen this attraction before so I was very excited. I find Walt Disney fascinating. We walked through the little musuem and I loved seeing all the old Disney artifacts. It was very cool.
I was excited to see the Tokyo DisneySea display. I hope to go back there in summer 2008! Here's a picture of the model they had of Fortress Explorations at Tokyo DisneySea, which you can read all about in my Tokyo Disney TR!
After we perused the museum we watched the short film about Walt Disney. It was pretty good, but I'd seen some longer, better ones about him. After the film it was about time to head over to Epcot. We had a reservation at Nine Dragons and I wanted to see Illuminations. We hopped on the Friendship Launch to Epcot and entered the park. We walked down to Future World to see if we could possibly ride Soarin', but the wait was 90 minutes and of course all the FPs were gone. We road Test Track in single rider and then headed over to World Showcase. WS was PACKED. It was almost hard to move! Here's me in WS.
We went over to Nine Dragons and checked in. The place was jammed full of people and the line for the bathroom was seemingly endless. We were quickly seated. I was very impressed with the decor and ambience. Behold another bad picture!
For some unknown reason I didn't take any pictures of my food. Whatta numbskull. I got the stir fried vegetables and ginger cake for dessert. Both were good, but again, not mind-blowing. Really no better than I would expect of my neighborhood Raleigh, North Carolina chinese (but better than, say, PF Chang's). I loved the ambience and of course all the wait staff from China and Hong Kong!
After eating we headed over to the China Pavilion to watch Reflections of China. I hadn't seen this in years and it was so much better than I remembered. As we were waiting we were entertained by a Chinese acrobatic troupe. They were astounding. Yes, I have another bad picture! You can hardly make out the acrobats but I just had to include it.
Then we spent some time walking around the shops in Italy, France, and Germany. Apparently the Village People were playing in WS that night. I caught a bit of Off Kilter in the UK. There were about twenty extremely drunk fifty-ish women in tube tops who were having a grand ole time listening to them.
Then it was off to get a spot for Illuminations. We got a great spot at the bridge between France and the UK, and of course soon people were trying to muscle us out. Sigh. I just kept shoving back and soon the show started. Here are some less-crummy pics of it.
After the show we hopped on the Friendship Launch to go back to the Dolphin. One big perk of this ride was that we got to stop at the Boardwalk. It was really cool to see all the sights of the Boardwalk at night. When we got back we went to the Fountain restaurant in the hotel and got a second dinner. I think I had fries and cheescake! YUM!
The next day was just our travel day. I basically just woke up, packed, and went to the airport. I was sad to be leaving Disney but glad to be going home. I missed DH and our two dogs, and honestly the trip had been a bit tainted by my traveling companion's strange behavior. Here's me at the airport saying goodbye!
Finally, I have to include a picture of me with my dog Lola taken right after I got home. I was so happy to be back with my family!
A few conclusions about my trip.
1) I will never again travel to Disney with a friend who isn't really "into" Disney. I'll just go solo!!! I'm doing to Disneyland with another friend in March, but she grew up in San Diego and loved going to Disneyland. So I think I'll be safe.
2) The Dolphin has a great location but I would not have paid normal rates to stay there. It's full of convention-goers and the rooms are NOT deluxe quality. The bathrooms don't have fans, which was pretty annoying.
3) Next year I will definitely do HHN at least two nights with the Stay and Scream pass!
Thanks to any remaining readers still sticking with me. I will definitely do a TR for my upcoming Disneyland trip!
Happy New Year, everyone!
I was excited to see the Tokyo DisneySea display. I hope to go back there in summer 2008! Here's a picture of the model they had of Fortress Explorations at Tokyo DisneySea, which you can read all about in my Tokyo Disney TR!
After we perused the museum we watched the short film about Walt Disney. It was pretty good, but I'd seen some longer, better ones about him. After the film it was about time to head over to Epcot. We had a reservation at Nine Dragons and I wanted to see Illuminations. We hopped on the Friendship Launch to Epcot and entered the park. We walked down to Future World to see if we could possibly ride Soarin', but the wait was 90 minutes and of course all the FPs were gone. We road Test Track in single rider and then headed over to World Showcase. WS was PACKED. It was almost hard to move! Here's me in WS.
We went over to Nine Dragons and checked in. The place was jammed full of people and the line for the bathroom was seemingly endless. We were quickly seated. I was very impressed with the decor and ambience. Behold another bad picture!
For some unknown reason I didn't take any pictures of my food. Whatta numbskull. I got the stir fried vegetables and ginger cake for dessert. Both were good, but again, not mind-blowing. Really no better than I would expect of my neighborhood Raleigh, North Carolina chinese (but better than, say, PF Chang's). I loved the ambience and of course all the wait staff from China and Hong Kong!
After eating we headed over to the China Pavilion to watch Reflections of China. I hadn't seen this in years and it was so much better than I remembered. As we were waiting we were entertained by a Chinese acrobatic troupe. They were astounding. Yes, I have another bad picture! You can hardly make out the acrobats but I just had to include it.
Then we spent some time walking around the shops in Italy, France, and Germany. Apparently the Village People were playing in WS that night. I caught a bit of Off Kilter in the UK. There were about twenty extremely drunk fifty-ish women in tube tops who were having a grand ole time listening to them.
Then it was off to get a spot for Illuminations. We got a great spot at the bridge between France and the UK, and of course soon people were trying to muscle us out. Sigh. I just kept shoving back and soon the show started. Here are some less-crummy pics of it.
After the show we hopped on the Friendship Launch to go back to the Dolphin. One big perk of this ride was that we got to stop at the Boardwalk. It was really cool to see all the sights of the Boardwalk at night. When we got back we went to the Fountain restaurant in the hotel and got a second dinner. I think I had fries and cheescake! YUM!
The next day was just our travel day. I basically just woke up, packed, and went to the airport. I was sad to be leaving Disney but glad to be going home. I missed DH and our two dogs, and honestly the trip had been a bit tainted by my traveling companion's strange behavior. Here's me at the airport saying goodbye!
Finally, I have to include a picture of me with my dog Lola taken right after I got home. I was so happy to be back with my family!
A few conclusions about my trip.
1) I will never again travel to Disney with a friend who isn't really "into" Disney. I'll just go solo!!! I'm doing to Disneyland with another friend in March, but she grew up in San Diego and loved going to Disneyland. So I think I'll be safe.
2) The Dolphin has a great location but I would not have paid normal rates to stay there. It's full of convention-goers and the rooms are NOT deluxe quality. The bathrooms don't have fans, which was pretty annoying.
3) Next year I will definitely do HHN at least two nights with the Stay and Scream pass!
Thanks to any remaining readers still sticking with me. I will definitely do a TR for my upcoming Disneyland trip!
Happy New Year, everyone!
<----- That is my head exploding from the heat. 
I am indeed nutz, but the August trip would be a result of available time, not a desire to bask in the nightmare heat. My job here ends on August 8, and my new job wont start for at least a month and half after that. I may go in September, not that it will be too much better then! Plus, I want to take advantage of free dining. Perhaps that could get you to change your mind and meet me there? 
