FormerLumberjill
Earning My Ears
- Joined
- Jul 27, 2010
- Messages
- 14
I'm really enjoying your report! I love the idea of eating in all of the countries.
June 2010: A Tribute To All Nations, But Mostly America - Update 8/22 MK FotD
- Thread starter MouseEarsJenny
- Start date
MouseEarsJenny
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Jan 8, 2006
- Messages
- 1,095
I realized after I posted that the next update would be Typhoon Lagoon that I actually had 13 pictures of food between EPCOT and TL. So since I can't come up with a catchy title (on my summer vacation I ate way too freaking much just doesn't sound nice...) here's a quick food break:
We headed back to our rooms after EPCOT tired and hot. We stopped briefly in the lobby because the staff was doing the Hustle.
Funny stuff. Our last trip to POP we had always had dining reservations at 6, so this was the first time we had seen the CMs dancing.
We got back to our room and found this cute towel guy:
The kids and Scott fell asleep. I was collecting receipts from various pockets and putting them in my binder and writing in my trip journal. My rash from the mango reaction was bugging me, so I headed to Century Hall and got some Benadryl. Finally, I decided that we really should eat, so I woke up the crew and we headed to the food court for dinner (around 9:30).
Scott had the fried chicken meal. I think he thought it was okay.
He had carrot cake for dessert, and I know he hated that. He thought the carrot cake was more like spice cake and the icing was way too thick and sweet.
Nick and I both had nachos. They were very tasty, although neither of us could finish them.
He grabbed grapes for later and I had chocolate cake for dessert. If you've ever been to Disney, I'm sure you know what this tasted like - I swear they serve these cakes everywhere.
Kairi had soup for dinner and tie dye cheesecake for dessert. She liked both very much. I thought the cheesecake was bland. The only taste I could discern for sure was food coloring.
Then we headed back to the room and slept.
The next morning, we got up to head to Typhoon Lagoon. We had intended to buy mini-donuts out of pocket. But since we had two extra quick service credits (from my skipped lunch and Kai's skipped breakfast) we stopped at the food court instead. No one was actually hungry. Our credits were still good for an entree, plus a pastry or fruit, plus a drink - we checked with the CM. So we got a breakfast pizza for Kai. She thought it was not quite as good as Rainforest Cafe, but still tasty.
I got her side item - a banana. That was all I could manage to eat after all the food the day before.
Nick got an omelet and homefries. He seemed to enjoy it.
Scott got Nick's side item - a blueberry muffin.
And now (this time for real) - Up Next:
On My Summer Vacation, I Went Over A Waterfall In A Tube
We headed back to our rooms after EPCOT tired and hot. We stopped briefly in the lobby because the staff was doing the Hustle.
Funny stuff. Our last trip to POP we had always had dining reservations at 6, so this was the first time we had seen the CMs dancing.
We got back to our room and found this cute towel guy:
The kids and Scott fell asleep. I was collecting receipts from various pockets and putting them in my binder and writing in my trip journal. My rash from the mango reaction was bugging me, so I headed to Century Hall and got some Benadryl. Finally, I decided that we really should eat, so I woke up the crew and we headed to the food court for dinner (around 9:30).
Scott had the fried chicken meal. I think he thought it was okay.
He had carrot cake for dessert, and I know he hated that. He thought the carrot cake was more like spice cake and the icing was way too thick and sweet.
Nick and I both had nachos. They were very tasty, although neither of us could finish them.
He grabbed grapes for later and I had chocolate cake for dessert. If you've ever been to Disney, I'm sure you know what this tasted like - I swear they serve these cakes everywhere.
Kairi had soup for dinner and tie dye cheesecake for dessert. She liked both very much. I thought the cheesecake was bland. The only taste I could discern for sure was food coloring.
Then we headed back to the room and slept.
The next morning, we got up to head to Typhoon Lagoon. We had intended to buy mini-donuts out of pocket. But since we had two extra quick service credits (from my skipped lunch and Kai's skipped breakfast) we stopped at the food court instead. No one was actually hungry. Our credits were still good for an entree, plus a pastry or fruit, plus a drink - we checked with the CM. So we got a breakfast pizza for Kai. She thought it was not quite as good as Rainforest Cafe, but still tasty.
I got her side item - a banana. That was all I could manage to eat after all the food the day before.
Nick got an omelet and homefries. He seemed to enjoy it.
Scott got Nick's side item - a blueberry muffin.
And now (this time for real) - Up Next:
On My Summer Vacation, I Went Over A Waterfall In A Tube
MouseEarsJenny
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Jan 8, 2006
- Messages
- 1,095
Based on your latest installment, it sounds like you would have had a better time in Philadelphia eating some Rita's, having a soft pretzel and seeing Independence Hall.I adore Epcot, but it's nice to see my hometown get some love.
I hope Honey is doing better!
Yeah, probably true. I apologize to the EPCOT lovers, but we just don't like it.
And Philly, we like.Honey is doing much better, thanks!
MouseEarsJenny
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Jan 8, 2006
- Messages
- 1,095
It seemed like a good idea when we thought of it - but we were all really full when it was over. Thanks for reading!
MouseEarsJenny
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Jan 8, 2006
- Messages
- 1,095
I waffled for quite some time on our Typhoon Lagoon morning about whether I should take my digital camera. I didn't want to have to rent a locker, but I didn't want it stolen. Finally, I loaded a new SD card and decided to take it along. I wanted to get at least a few pictures after I was done in the water. I'm glad I made that decision because the cheap digital I had purchased held my photos from Typhoon Lagoon - right up until the moment I plugged it into my computer at home. Then the counter (which had read 20 pictures remaining) changed to 59 pictures remaining (the number it started with) and nothing I did could retrieve the pictures it had just managed to delete. Fortunately, between photopass and my real digital, I managed to take enough pictures to remember the day. But I'm betting some of the on-ride pictures would have been great. Next time, I'm splurging for a high quality waterproof.
At any rate, we headed to Typhoon Lagoon after finishing our breakfast in the food court. The kids were really excited about this part of the trip. We had never been to a Disney water park before. I'm not really a water park person. First, I've been overweight for years, and walking around a water park makes me feel very self-concious. Sure, I had lost quite a lot of weight, but I'm still nowhere near my goal. Also, I hate elevated slides because I'm always sure I'm going to flip out of them and die (again, an overweight thing, I think). Last, I can swim. But I'm not actually a very strong swimmer, and I tend to get water in my ears. So you can see why waterpark doesn't mean fun to me. But we were here, and the kids wanted to be, and that's all there was to it.
The family ahead of us in the line for the bus was super exasperated by the long wait. Every non-Typhoon bus that pulled in, they got more annoyed and vocal. We were kind of used to it by now - the bus we needed was always the last one to pull up. When we got to Typhoon Lagoon, the turnstiles were already open, even though it was 30 minutes until opening. The family who had been in such a hurry ended up having to leave the line ahead of us because their passes didn't actually have the waterpark option.
Everyone was rushing down the path, but we stopped to take pictures and enjoy the landscaping.
We saw this sign and veered off the beaten path.
We were rewarded by great views of the park.
Scott and the kids were starting to worry about all the people passing us, but when we got to the base of the wave pool, there was still a rope in place. So we weren't going anywhere anyway. We waited at the rope for about 15 minutes until 9:00. Official opening time came and went. We waited more. Finally, the rope dropped and the masses thronged in. I watched, interested to see where they were all so anxious to be. They beelined for chairs. Chairs? We weren't planning on sitting. We headed to the left around the wave pool and headed for the back fo the park. We were following Unofficial Guide on this, but even the bus spiel on the way over had said "Start at the back of the park."
We dumped our stuff in a hut by Keelhaul Falls. I left my digital camera there, tucked into a bag. But I came back for it later, which is why you'll see some pictures here.
We were the first family on Keelhaul Falls. It was a calm, spinny ride. It was a bit slower than I had anticipated, but still fun!
Next, we tried out Mayday Falls, again with no other families anywhere in sight.
I have to say, I was REALLY starting to get into the whole water park thing at this point. These are the kind of slides I love. Rapids, dug INTO the ground (or at least designed to look like they are) so that I don't feel like I'm high in the air and about to shoot out the side of a slide. And it was deserted.
Mayday Falls was awesome. Much faster and rougher than Keelhaul Falls. We were all laughing when we hit the pool at the bottom.
Next we tried Gangplank Falls. The family raft was hard to haul up the incline, but the ride was fabulous. Hooray for spinning and dropping and getting very wet! We were laughing the whole way down. Unfortunately, I ruined the photopass shot by trying to take a picture with my lousy waterproof, but there you have it.
We then headed to Shark Reef. This turned into a fiasco. Nick is not a strong swimmer. So I was really panicked about him being able to swim without splashing across the pool. And I couldn't watch him and snorkel at the same time. Plus, when I put my head under water (I'd never snorkelled before) I got a serious panic attack from claustrophobia. Look. I should NOT be able to breathe underwater. So here I am, breathing, and I'm underwater. I knew I could breathe, intellectually, but my body just couldn't accept it. So I started hyperventilating. Meanwhile, Nick is having a hard time even getting his snorkel in his mouth so they're telling him he can just hold his breath and turn his head to take breaths. NO! He can NOT! Especially with me not watching. So I insist on taking Nick out of the pool. The CM is annoyed. She tells me "He'll be fine! We've never had anyone drown!" I say I'm sorry and leave. I will say she didn't call me on the fact that I was panicking personally - but she did think I was over reacting to take Nick out and she was very blunt about it. We walk over to the other side and meet Scott who enjoyed his snorkel trip very much. I think I might try this again, but I'd want to practice with a mask and snorkel in a non-stress situation first - where I'm not worried about Nick drowning and I'm not being rushed because of a line. I was bummed that I panicked because that's why we picked TL over BB - I wanted to try Shark Reef.
We went back to the tube rides. Gangplank Falls was just as fun the second time, but the other two were building lines at this point. We waited for Mayday Falls, but decided not to wait for Keelhaul Falls again.
Kai and Scott then headed off to Crush 'n' Gusher while Nick and I hit the lazy river. I really loved the lazy river. I took lots of pictures, which of course were deleted. When we got back to our entry point, Kai and Scott weren't there, so we decided to go around again. Turns out, they got back just a few minutes into our second trip around and had to wait some time for us to get back a second time. I think that if you don't paddle, the whole trip might be close to 20 or 30 minutes.
Here's a few pictures I took of the river later from the path:
I especially liked the misty jungle area. The waterfall above was the only place whereI definitely got very wet on the whole trip. Otherwise, I could easily just close my eyes and nap my way around. Well, on the second trip - I didn't want to miss all the great theming the first time around!
Meanwhile, Scott and Kai really liked Crush 'n' Gusher. They went on the Coconut one.
After we met up with Scott and Kai, I went back to dry off and get my camera while the rest of them headed to the Storm Slides. I'm not a body slide fan, and even though Typhoon Lagoon was eating away at my water park resistance, I hadn't come that far yet. When I found them, I discovered that Disney had even thought of people like me. They had nice bleachers for people to wait at the bottom of the slides for their party. I found Kai waiting there.
They had already gone on all three slides, and she was waiting for Scott and Nick to repeat their favorites.
The boys caught up with us and we decided that now we were actually hungry.
We headed over to lunch, and of course I kept snapping pictures. It really is a beautiful, well-designed park.
But I was starting to get antsy - our afternoon plans would FINALLY have us in the Magic Kingdom.
Up Next:
On My Summer Vacation, We Survived a Typhoon
At any rate, we headed to Typhoon Lagoon after finishing our breakfast in the food court. The kids were really excited about this part of the trip. We had never been to a Disney water park before. I'm not really a water park person. First, I've been overweight for years, and walking around a water park makes me feel very self-concious. Sure, I had lost quite a lot of weight, but I'm still nowhere near my goal. Also, I hate elevated slides because I'm always sure I'm going to flip out of them and die (again, an overweight thing, I think). Last, I can swim. But I'm not actually a very strong swimmer, and I tend to get water in my ears. So you can see why waterpark doesn't mean fun to me. But we were here, and the kids wanted to be, and that's all there was to it.
The family ahead of us in the line for the bus was super exasperated by the long wait. Every non-Typhoon bus that pulled in, they got more annoyed and vocal. We were kind of used to it by now - the bus we needed was always the last one to pull up. When we got to Typhoon Lagoon, the turnstiles were already open, even though it was 30 minutes until opening. The family who had been in such a hurry ended up having to leave the line ahead of us because their passes didn't actually have the waterpark option.
Everyone was rushing down the path, but we stopped to take pictures and enjoy the landscaping.
We saw this sign and veered off the beaten path.
We were rewarded by great views of the park.
Scott and the kids were starting to worry about all the people passing us, but when we got to the base of the wave pool, there was still a rope in place. So we weren't going anywhere anyway. We waited at the rope for about 15 minutes until 9:00. Official opening time came and went. We waited more. Finally, the rope dropped and the masses thronged in. I watched, interested to see where they were all so anxious to be. They beelined for chairs. Chairs? We weren't planning on sitting. We headed to the left around the wave pool and headed for the back fo the park. We were following Unofficial Guide on this, but even the bus spiel on the way over had said "Start at the back of the park."
We dumped our stuff in a hut by Keelhaul Falls. I left my digital camera there, tucked into a bag. But I came back for it later, which is why you'll see some pictures here.
We were the first family on Keelhaul Falls. It was a calm, spinny ride. It was a bit slower than I had anticipated, but still fun!
Next, we tried out Mayday Falls, again with no other families anywhere in sight.
I have to say, I was REALLY starting to get into the whole water park thing at this point. These are the kind of slides I love. Rapids, dug INTO the ground (or at least designed to look like they are) so that I don't feel like I'm high in the air and about to shoot out the side of a slide. And it was deserted.
Mayday Falls was awesome. Much faster and rougher than Keelhaul Falls. We were all laughing when we hit the pool at the bottom.
Next we tried Gangplank Falls. The family raft was hard to haul up the incline, but the ride was fabulous. Hooray for spinning and dropping and getting very wet! We were laughing the whole way down. Unfortunately, I ruined the photopass shot by trying to take a picture with my lousy waterproof, but there you have it.
We then headed to Shark Reef. This turned into a fiasco. Nick is not a strong swimmer. So I was really panicked about him being able to swim without splashing across the pool. And I couldn't watch him and snorkel at the same time. Plus, when I put my head under water (I'd never snorkelled before) I got a serious panic attack from claustrophobia. Look. I should NOT be able to breathe underwater. So here I am, breathing, and I'm underwater. I knew I could breathe, intellectually, but my body just couldn't accept it. So I started hyperventilating. Meanwhile, Nick is having a hard time even getting his snorkel in his mouth so they're telling him he can just hold his breath and turn his head to take breaths. NO! He can NOT! Especially with me not watching. So I insist on taking Nick out of the pool. The CM is annoyed. She tells me "He'll be fine! We've never had anyone drown!" I say I'm sorry and leave. I will say she didn't call me on the fact that I was panicking personally - but she did think I was over reacting to take Nick out and she was very blunt about it. We walk over to the other side and meet Scott who enjoyed his snorkel trip very much. I think I might try this again, but I'd want to practice with a mask and snorkel in a non-stress situation first - where I'm not worried about Nick drowning and I'm not being rushed because of a line. I was bummed that I panicked because that's why we picked TL over BB - I wanted to try Shark Reef.
We went back to the tube rides. Gangplank Falls was just as fun the second time, but the other two were building lines at this point. We waited for Mayday Falls, but decided not to wait for Keelhaul Falls again.
Kai and Scott then headed off to Crush 'n' Gusher while Nick and I hit the lazy river. I really loved the lazy river. I took lots of pictures, which of course were deleted. When we got back to our entry point, Kai and Scott weren't there, so we decided to go around again. Turns out, they got back just a few minutes into our second trip around and had to wait some time for us to get back a second time. I think that if you don't paddle, the whole trip might be close to 20 or 30 minutes.
Here's a few pictures I took of the river later from the path:
I especially liked the misty jungle area. The waterfall above was the only place whereI definitely got very wet on the whole trip. Otherwise, I could easily just close my eyes and nap my way around. Well, on the second trip - I didn't want to miss all the great theming the first time around!
Meanwhile, Scott and Kai really liked Crush 'n' Gusher. They went on the Coconut one.
After we met up with Scott and Kai, I went back to dry off and get my camera while the rest of them headed to the Storm Slides. I'm not a body slide fan, and even though Typhoon Lagoon was eating away at my water park resistance, I hadn't come that far yet. When I found them, I discovered that Disney had even thought of people like me. They had nice bleachers for people to wait at the bottom of the slides for their party. I found Kai waiting there.
They had already gone on all three slides, and she was waiting for Scott and Nick to repeat their favorites.
The boys caught up with us and we decided that now we were actually hungry.
We headed over to lunch, and of course I kept snapping pictures. It really is a beautiful, well-designed park.
But I was starting to get antsy - our afternoon plans would FINALLY have us in the Magic Kingdom.
Up Next:
On My Summer Vacation, We Survived a Typhoon
MouseEarsJenny
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Jan 8, 2006
- Messages
- 1,095
When we got to Typhoon Tilly's there was only one family in line ahead of us. It was taking them quite awhile to order because they were also on the DDP, but they had more people and were counting drinks and desserts to make sure everyone had gotten one. While we waited, we tried to organize our order to make it easy for the CM. She was very nice and asked if we could stand by the line and tell people how to order. Unfortunately, one of our sandwiches didn't ring up, so she sent it through at the end of the order and told us to tell the CM's assembling the food that we had two seperate tickets.
Well, we told them. And then waited. And we waited, and we waited. The CM gave us Scott's sandwich (which had been the missing item) and we waited more. I could see all the items of our order sitting under the heat lamp. The CMs stood around. They looked at tickets. They filled a few other orders (for people behind us). Our food sat there. Finally, they filled a tray with our order and went to hand it to some other person, who said something about wanting fries not apples. We had to jump in and say that we thought that was our order. About 15 minutes after we had ordered, we finally got the tray and sat down. By this time, there was a line around the block. And everyone in the pavillion was complaining about the service.
The food itself wasn't bad, but it wasn't great either. I got a BBQ sandwich and apples. The BBQ was just okay. I got cheesecake for dessert. I took one bite and threw it away. It was bad - it was grainy and flavorless.
Kai and Nick both got chicken nuggets and fries. They were not bad - just your basic stuff. Kai got a cheesecake which she liked. (Where did I go wrong?) Nick got a cookie. I don't remember what he thought but it doesn't look appetizing to me.
Scott got a turkey foccacia. I took a bite and didn't like the canned pesto, but I'll let him give you his review cause I have no idea what he thought. He also got the standard chocolate cake.
Typhoon Tilly's was basically really standard amusement park food with an efficiency problem. We would eat here if we were hungry, but we wouldn't go out of our way to do so.
I didn't feel like switching back to my swimsuit, but everyone else was dying to try the wave pool. So I stayed up on the top to take pictures and they headed in the pool.
This is my interpretation of what they were saying...
Scott: Are you sure there are waves in this thing?
Kairi: I don't hear any...
Nick: Oh, look! It's Mom!
All: Hi Mom! We are having so much fun! Don't you wish you were with us.
Nick: Yeah, right. I'm bored.
Scott: I can fix that.
And then. Whoosh. BOOM. And out of calm water comes this giant of a wave.
It crashes past me. It scatters people in its path. After it subsides, I look where my family had been. No family. I look back farther. Still no family. I look everywhere. Family??
Turns out the wave took them all under and toward shore. They were laughing but decided that they were done because they had only really wanted to catch one big wave. They started walking, when a second monster came crashing down. So they let that one push them out of the pool, and came up to join me.
By my calculations, it was time to get to the Magic Kingdom. Everyone agreed, and we headed back to grab our stuff from the hut. Another family asked if we were leaving and snagged our space immediately. Guess we did get a good chair after all.
We all really loved Typhoon Lagoon. I think visiting a water park will be an intregal part of future visits. We even considered coming back to Typhoon Lagoon on our departure day before we drove to the beach. (That ended up not happening because of our second-to-last day, but I don't want to get ahead of myself here.) We also considered upgrading our tickets to no-expiry so we could bring them back for the waterpark entitlements later. But we had a whole non-Disney vacation ahead of us, too, and we didn't want to regret blowing our discretionary budget too early.
The bus stop was HOT hot HOT. We headed back to Pop, showered, and got ready for the park we'd all been waiting for... the Magic Kingdom!
Up Next:
On My Summer Vacation, I Rode A Runaway Mine Train
MouseEarsJenny
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Jan 8, 2006
- Messages
- 1,095
Magic Kingdom. Finally. We usually start and end our vacation with the Magic Kingdom, but with such a short trip, we couldn't do both. So we were thrilled to be finally headed for MK when we noticed the time. Nah. Couldn't be. Two Disney veterans could NOT be headed to MK at this time. What time IS the three o'clock parade??
Fortunately, we got there in plenty of time to avoid the parade - especially since we weren't planning to walk down Main Street. That needed to be saved for an early morning, or it just wouldn't be right. So we just waved at the castle...
...and turned right back around to the train station.
We had stopped and snagged our GAD fastpasses (no problem getting them, even though it was well after 11AM) and it was time for a mountain marathon. First stop - Frontierland, and Splash Mountain.
Nick was more than a little nervous, but we convinced him that if he could handle Jurassic Park at Universal last year, he could definitely handle Splash. We felt really bad for the people waiting in the hour plus line in the sun. But on the other hand, the fastpass machines were still open, so what the heck were they doing waiting in an hour line??
Fastpass shunted us quickly through the queue and we were on the ride. Splash is a favorite of mine, and I really enjoyed that we weren't held up too often on this trip - last time we had been in Disney, the ride stopped every two minutes. "Brer Fox and Brer Bear must be makin' mischief...." over and over and over. But this was a smooth trip.
Nick was not a fan. He seemed fairly stressed all the way through. But he made it! The photo is pretty indicative of his feelings, though.
Next we headed to Big Thunder Mountain Railroad. Nick had bailed on this ride at the very moment of boarding last trip. He was definitely nervous as the ride started.
(Don't mind his sister - she's just hamming it up. She'll ride anything.) Nervous degraded into downright scared as the ride progressed.
But, wonder of wonders, the end of the ride brought this expression:
He likes it! Nicky likes it!
In fact, he said he wanted to ride again. So we grabbed regular fastpasses for later and continued on our merry way.
Well, until we got blocked by that parade. What time is it?
That's okay - time for a very important MK tradition - the Mickey bar.
Then we reboarded the train and headed for Toontown. We had planned to cut across the park, but someone put these huge crowds in the way. Really HUGE crowds. We had never ever seen the park so crowded, ever. We always come in the summer and wonder what people are complaining about because we don't usually see crowds. Then again, we don't usually spend our afternoons in the park. We bail, and head for the pool. This trip, we kept staying through the afternoon. Oh. THOSE crowds. We get it now.
Anyway, after enjoying the view of BTMRR from the train, we jumped out at Toontown Station.
The crowds were there, too. Actually, the crowds seemed to be everywhere. Wall to wall people as far as the eye could see. Scary stuff. We checked out Mickey's house, knowing full well it would be our last chance. (I swear, the Fantasyland expansion is responsible in part for this trip. We really weren't coming this year. But Toontown was going away. And Dumbo was going away - or at least being completely ruined. So we HAD to come back, see?)
We took tons of pictures in Mickey's house:
And behind Mickey's house:
And in Mickey's garage:
We'd never actually been through the houses in Toontown before, so we were determined to see it all before it was gone.
We thought to head next to Minnie's house, but there was a line out the door. When we finally got in, we realized we couldn't see anything for all the people. So we bailed, deciding to come back to Toontown during the evening parade when hopefully the crowds would die down.
Who ARE all these people, and what are they doing in MY Magic Kingdom??
Up Next:
On My Summer Vacation, We Met Haunted Pirate Space Rangers in the Hundred Acre Wood
MouseEarsJenny
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Jan 8, 2006
- Messages
- 1,095
We jumped off the train and headed for Buzz Lightyear. It's become a toss-up who will win this one over the years. All we know for sure is it won't be Nick. In fact, I don't even remember who did win. But Nick ended up in jail, as usual.
Scott wanted to ride Astro Orbiter this trip, but the line was 35 minutes long. (According to the posted time. It actually looked much longer.) So we jumped on the TTA, which we had missed last time due to the refurb. I noticed that it called itself the People Mover, but Scott apparently didn't becuase he was surprised by the name change when it was announced a week ago. I also noticed that they had put back "paging Tom Morrow", but it wasn't as cute. Oh well.
We stopped for a bathroom break, and while Nicky and I were sitting outside of the bathroom waiting for Kai and Scott, he told me that he had changed his mind about Space Mountain. Scott still thinks I unduly influenced him becasue that ride scares me. But I didn't want to leave him by himself again like we did at Everest. (And yes, that did mean I didn't have to ride Space Mountain. So what?? Are you calling me chicken? Okay, maybe a bit.) So Scott and Kai headed to Space Mountain.
Meanwhile, Nick and I used our last Donald fastpass on Winnie the Pooh.
We had to walk to Fantasyland, ride, and walk back to Cosmic Rays (our meeting point) and Scott and Kai just needed to ride and head to Cosmic Rays. We took our time, cause they had a longer ride. But when we got to Cosmic Rays, no sign of them. For twenty minutes. Finally, through texts, we determined that Space Mountain had broken down. They were still stuck in line. They did eventually get to ride, but it was just as well that Nick and I didn't - we would have panicked when it broke down.
Dinner was pretty good. Cosmic Ray's never disappoints. Except maybe the desserts - they are the same lame desserts from everywhere else.
Scott had the chicken, which I think he liked. You can see our desserts in the back. He said it wasn't as good as Wolfgang Puck's, though.
Nick and Kai had a bacon burger and a chicken sandwich, respectively.
I was the only one who made good use of the toppings bar, trying to re-create my dearly departed Figaro Fries.
It was great, but I couldn't come close to eating it all.
We tried to decide what to do next. We had accomplished everything on our touring plan for the night, but weren't ready to go back to the hotel just yet. Haunted Mansion doesn't usually get a big line, and our Verizon MobileMagic app was indicating it was about 15 minutes, so we headed that way. But when we got there, we saw a huge line snaking into Liberty Square. So we passed, heading for Pirates.
Pirates doesn't disappoint. It's just always fun. We were in the general vicinity of Frontierland, so we headed back to use our BTMRR fastpasses from earlier. These pictures came out really bad, but they show how much everyone enjoyed the second ride:
We headed back toward Fantasyland. The line at Haunted Mansion still looked long, but the sign insisted it was a fifteen minute wait. It might have been, if a group in front of us hadn't kept letting their entire family in front of us. Scott wanted to say something, but I shushed him, reminding him we could easily get ahead of them in the stretch room.
We waited an extra ten minutes after the stretch room because the doom buggy queue was really backed up. So then, we're finally on the ride. One of my favorites. And despite the really clear instructions given about flash photography, someone in the buggy next to us keeps popping one of those giant flashes. Over and over. In every room. I am sorry. I swear I'm not usually like this. But I lost it. I waited 25 minutes to ride this ride and now someone was going to ruin every lighting effect? In Madame Leota's room, I loudly called out "Oh WOW! We must be on the ride with a VIP! She's SOO special, she's allowed to take flash photos, even though you're not supposed to! Let's give her a big round of applause!"
Okay. I admit it. That was a horrible thing to do. I felt instantly ashamed of myself and blushed the rest of the ride. But I wasn't the only one who clapped. And she stopped taking flash pictures.
When we got off the ride, we headed to Fantasyland to use a Daisy fastpass on Mickey's Philharmagic. But there was no line, so we walked right on.
It was great, as always. I love the apple pie smell best.
We stopped to mug for pictures at the Sword in the Stone on our way back toward Tomorrowland.
The one problem with the GAD fastpasses is that since we had them, we didn't make a really cohesive touring plan for this afternoon and evening. So we transversed the park a lot more than we really needed to. Back and forth. Through crowds and heat. We were tired, and we really thought about tossing in the towel for the night. But Kai wanted to ride Barnstormer if possible. So we just took a smoothie break near the teacups. (Raspberry Lemonade smoothie - very delicious. We shared it four ways.)
We went into Star Traders for a bit. Kai found a hat she wanted. Nick started a pin collection of unusual Mickeys - Steamboat Willie, of course, and a BoSox Mickey. Scott wouldn't buy this hat, although we all said it was him:
Then we rode Buzz again. Not interested in a third ride, we got our final set of Daisy fastpasses and handed them to two moms with their young kids. We were thirsty again, so we grabbed some sodas (trying to use up those snack credits) and headed to Toontown.
The barnstormer was a walk-on at this point, which was great.
Also, it was dark, so Nick couldn't see the track. We never would have gotten him on in daylight - the track is too high off the ground. But he rode it. Hated it, but rode it. Everyone else thought it was cute, but short. We wouldn't wait for it, but as a walk-on, it was fun.
We finally toured Minnie's house. We loved all her artwork and especially her kitchen with all the fun interactives. My mom quilts, so I had to take this picture for her.
We had to wade through a serious crowd to get back to the bus at this point. We were tired,and it was about time for fireworks. We never should have tried to leave at this point, but we just didn't want to find other things to do.
When we got on the bus, the standard announcements came on. It got to the part where it said "no eating, drinking or smoking on the..." and just stopped. Someone in the packed bus called out "On the what?? On the WHAT?!?!" Everyone laughed, just as the recording kicked back in and said (monotone) "motorcoach". My over-tired kids thought this was HYSTERICAL and repeated it over and over through the vacation. "On the........motorcoach". What can I say? We have an odd sense of humor.
When we got back, I decided I needed to unwind, so Scott and I left the kids to go to sleep and went down to Petals for a drink. The drink was expensive and I couldn't even taste the alcohol. The pool was loud and crowded and I was really missing Coronado Springs. I don't think we'll stay at a value again, but who knows? It was just missing some of the relax factor of the higher end resorts. Still, the bed worked just fine to sleep in and that's what we really needed.
Up Next:
On My Summer Vacation, I Went Backstage with Aerosmith
theduck619
DIS Dad #188
- Joined
- Jul 19, 2007
- Messages
- 9,208
In case you are wondering, I do know that travelled is spelled with only one "l" in America. I have this issue with British spellings. I put the "u" in behaviour, too. Not even British.
Anyway, enough with the grammatical side trip. On to the real trip!
We got up early to get a good start on our second day of driving. We hurried to grab breakfast and didn't eat too much - especially after discovering a fly in the bakery case. We made very good time and soon we saw this:
The ominous clouds didn't really lend credence to the whole "Sunshine State" thing, but they cleared up by the time we hit Orlando.
Somewhere along the way, we stopped for another fast food lunch, but by 1:30ish, we were finally seeing signs for the Disney exits.
And I love that you can see the Characters in Flight balloon from the highway. Really gets you into a Disney frame of mind!
Of course, the front gates automatically remove any frustration and exhaustion from the long car ride. I think it works kind of like a metal detector, only it's a bad mood detector.
We found Pop Century with no problems at all. We prefer to ride Disney buses rather than drive our own car around the World, but with all the signs, it is pretty easy to navigate.
We had travelled 1165.4 miles when we parked in the check-in lot. It was now 1:45, so we still had most of the afternoon to play. But first we needed our Keys to the World. The online check in line was longer than the regular line. So much for that! Our room was ready, and it was really close to Classic Hall, in the 50's building.
Unfortunately, we had to get in another line to add the Water Parks, Fun and More option to our tickets. We had originally planned just to get single day waterpark passes, but we realized we'd have a free afternoon on our arrival day and decided to just upgrade our tickets instead and use two WPF&M entitlements. Once that business was dealt with, we headed to our room. We were in 1259, which was at the end of building 1 with a view of the parking lot. Since we weren't planning to stand around looking at the view, that didn't bother us overmuch. We got a great parking spot that meant we didn't have to haul our luggage very far.
The room was one of the old, non-renovated rooms.
The little table and chairs were placed near an outlet, which made them handy for stacking and charging all our electronics. Yes, that is a bounceback offer on the table. No, we didn't take advantage of it. But we wanted to...
As it turns out, we liked the non-refurbed room because we got this little entertainment center which gave us lots of room to unpack. Here's how you know we are dorks... see the middle shelf? We completely filled it with the books we had brought along to read on the trip. Who carries a portable library? (No, you don't want to know how many books we have in our house. Nicky's first grade teacher did. She sent home homework "Count all your books." I don't think she MEANT it to be a 3 hour homework assignment...)
And just to be completist, here's the bathroom:
We went outside and walked around the fifties area for a little while. We never did get any pictures of the pool, even though the kids spent quite a lot of time there. But we did get some shots of the fun decor around this area of the resort.
Nick especially liked the bowling pin stairs.
But that was enough looking, already. It was time to be DOING something. So we headed for the massive Pop bus station. It was nearly deserted at this time of day.
It was HOT, and we spent our first two snack credits on water from Everything Pop.
While waiting for the Downtown Disney bus, Scott started dancing along to the music, cause we were all in a generally good mood. Some lady waiting on the benches called out something like "yeah!" or "you go!" and embarrassed him into stopping. I want to know how she did that. I can NEVER embarrass him out of being goofy.
Meanwhile, Nick found this Hidden Mickey in the railing:
The bus finally pulled up and we headed out for adventure!
Up Next...
On My Summer Vacation, We Fought Off Pirates
How was the Pop overall? Was it a long walk to the bus stop?
MouseEarsJenny
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Jan 8, 2006
- Messages
- 1,095
We were uber-early for Hollywood Studios, but we were still about 3 groups back from the turnstiles. Since we had 45 minutes until opening, we sat down for a bit and discussed strategy. Our plan had been to run to TSM, ride standby, and get regular fastpasses. Then, we'd use our three GAD fastpasses to ride ToT, RnRC, and TSM. We'd end up with three rides on TSM (4 for the kids because they didn't want to ride RnRC). It seemed like a good plan at home, but now it was making no sense. All of these people lined up were obviously going to hightail it to TSM. What if we rode ToT and RnRC standby instead? And sent the kids to pick up TSM fastpasses while we rode RnRC? Then we could have four back to back rides on TSM using all three of our GAD fastpasses there. And we shouldn't hit big lines at ToT or RnRC first thing in the morning. So we changed our plan.
Once I realized we weren't running to TSM, I wanted to hang back out of the insane crowd at rope drop. Scott didn't like this, thinking we should still push our way to the front to get to Tower of Terror fast. When the rope finally dropped (Scott still expressing his displeasure because the opening show didn't involve Tootsie DuJour this time) it looked like he might have been right. The crowd did NOT all head for TSM. A good chunk went the same way we did.
No worries, though. We walked right on Tower of Terror. Scott and I loved this ride last time, and we had talked the kids onto it. We were looking forward to seeing the "ghost elevator" effect that had been added. The kids were basically just nervous.
Well, up we went. No effect - must have been broken. Down we went. And up. And down. And WHOOSH! Nick's beloved BoSox hat flew up and straight out the window at the top of the tower. He had been clutching it between his knees so it wouldn't come off, but when he panicked (and did he ever panic) and grabbed on to me, he let his knees relax. Goodbye, hat. He was really bummed, but I think he was too grateful to be alive to get truly upset. Look at the picture, and you'll see what I mean.
We stopped and asked a few CMs about finding the hat. They basically told us it was in the twilight zone and we were hosed. Only politely.
The kids left as fastpass runners to TSM. They were supposed to meet us at Starring Rolls after our ride. I was a bit nervous sending them off on their own, but they are very responsible and they were together. Plus, we all had our phones.
I was now in Nick and Kai's shoes. I had never ridden RnRC, and I was really, really, really nervous. But I was gonna do it. Cause Scott was still calling me a chicken for bailing on Space Mountain.
We probably waited a good 20 minutes to get on the ride by this point of the morning. The queue was fun, and I liked that I got to see several trains launch before I boarded. Once I boarded, I knew I was stuck, so I tried really hard not to hyperventilate.
The launch was scary. For about 5 seconds. I pasted on a fake smile because I knew that's where the camera was.
After that, I was smiling for real. This ride is a piece of cake. Seriously. It's so smooth, and you can see the track and predict the curves the whole way once your eyes adjust just a little. The loops and inversions are downright gentle. I've been on much scarier coasters. The only part that is remotely frightening is that launch start, and now that I know how fast it's over, that doesn't even bug me. I'm sure I'll be back on this ride.
We met up with the kids at Starring Rolls, where we were using snack credits for breakfast. Nick had already eaten, but Kai had waited for us. Nick had a cinnamon roll and orange juice, and Kai had a cinnamon roll, too, so I still have pictures.
The pastries were as good as ever. I decided to branch out and tried a strawberry parfait.
It was pretty, but I should have stuck with a pastry. The bottom layer was just that strawberry goo that bakeries use to coat their strawberries when they make pie. No actual strawberries except the one on top. Bummer.
We headed for the Great Movie Ride and encountered our longest line yet. We got the cowboy, again - in fact, the same EXACT cowboy we had gotten last trip. I really like this ride, but it could use an update.
Our next stop was the Magic of Disney Animation to go to the Animation Academy drawing class. Despite some reports I had read, we were allowed to sneak in the back way through the gift shop. We were offered the choice of drawing Dale or Mickey. Since we had been here many times before and had drawn Mickey and Minnie, we really, really wanted Dale. But we were outvoted by a large group who were sitting in the front row. Kai was so annoyed by drawing Mickey AGAIN that she used one of the posters on the wall as a guide and drew Tigger instead. When she can do that without assistance, why does it bother her what the animator chooses to draw?
Nick decided on yet another souvenir here. Last time, he had gotten a sketch of Steamboat Willie. This time, he got a sketch of Sorceror Mickey. He's really quite obsessed with odd incarnations of the mouse.
We weren't really hungry, but we knew we were going to have to eat dinner early, so we headed back to Starring Rolls for lunch. This is, hands down, the best place to get counter service in Hollywood Studios. We all got the same delicious turkey sandwich with an apple or chips.
It was wonderful. But Starring Rolls is all about the desserts!!
They were all scrumptious. I don't know why I only have three pictures. I'm absolutely sure we got four desserts. I'm guessing Scott or Kai doubled up and got the same dessert as someone else. I know the banana split layered yummy thing was mine. I've been craving that for a year. I know Nick got the uber candy coated brownie. He usually doesn't eat dessert much - but brownies are his weakness. So the cupcake (or maybe cupcakes?) must have been Scott and/or Kai.
Anyway, we were stuffed like Thanksgiving turkeys when we left for our Toy Story Midway Mania Marathon. We headed to the last open fastpass machine, where several CMs were standing looking harried, trying to explain that the machine was about to run out, and that would mean NO MORE FASTPASSES for the day. Most people were getting it, and when the fastpasses ran out, they walked off, while the CM tried to manually get fastpasses for a group that had been split by the cut-off. I had showed a CM our GAD passes and he said "Oh, not you, of course. You can get them whenever." So we got in line behind that final family. Well, a group of people whose first language wasn't English got behind us. And try as they might, the CMs could not convince them that the fastpasses were out. They kept using us as an example - we were still in line. Why could we get fastpasses? We felt bad, but we tried to explain that we had done a day of volunteering, and that our cards were different. They started searching through their paper passes, looking for one that had Donald. I don't know when they finally got it, because at that point the machine started acting up. It would take our GAD vouchers and not spit them back out. And we were putting 4 vouchers in the machine three times each. Finally, the manager tried to print us tickets from a nearby machine manually. Um, that's not gonna work - our fastpasses are for RIGHT NOW. Those are for 9:00 at night! Realizing this, he came back and they kept feeding the passes, getting jammed, opening the machine.... Eventually, we had 11 correct fastpasses and one incorrect fastpass. He told us to explain it at the fastpass entrance. We did. They took the one incorrect pass and radioed to the end of the line that there was one coming down without a fastpass.
Finally, we were in business! Even with fastpasses, it took us an hour to make four trips through the ride. It was worth the wait, though. We love this ride, and we'll never get to ride it this many times in a row again. There was only one more technical snafu - one screen Kai and I faced had a blue screen of death instead of the game. Bummer. I don't remember all the scores, but we were mostly in the 140,000 range. (Except the time the screen broke.) We need to look up more tricks and secrets before we hit Disneyland!
We headed over for one last ride on Star Tours before the refurb. It was fun, but it needs the refurb! And that little droid lies - I know that wasn't his first flight!
We left the park at this point for a nap (me) and a swim (everyone else). W stopped on the way out to get a few photopass pictures taken.
When we returned, we headed straight for Muppets. Kai is a big Muppets fan, and she would have been bummed if we missed it. This, of course, is where we got the title of our trip report. We love Sam Eagle. How could you not? He's such a great counterpoint to the rest of the zany Muppets. So when he said "It's a tribute to all nations, but mostly America" in the preshow, Kai and Scott laughed out loud. It became a buzz phrase for the rest of the trip, especially when we got to Washington, D.C.
Then we headed to grab some food before Fantasmic! We had read the menu for Fairfax Fare online, and it seemed interesting, so we gave it a try.
The service was slow, and the general consensus was that the food was just "eh". Not horrible, but not good, either. Cafeteria food.
We headed into the Hollywood Hills ampitheater for the show that's Nick's entire reason for liking Disney World. This kid ADORES Fantasmic! He would watch it every night of a trip if we let him. (Well, and if it were still on the schedule every night.) We got a bit nervous when we saw how many people were already in the theater. We usually get the reserved seating, but with the QSDP, there wasn't a restaurant we liked enough to pay for the Fantasmic! package. We were over an hour early, but nearly every section was full. Then we saw it - the section all the way to the left was empty. Right down to the front row. And that's what we got - the front row. Woo! (Although the view wasn't as good from all the way left - but Nick didn't care, and he's really the point here.)
And we waited. And waited. And waited.
And swatted clouds of gnats.
And waited.
Finally, the show started! Mickey appeared! Mickey dreamed! The villians turned up! Mickey was threatened by a giant snake!
(One thing we had never seen before that we saw from this angle - when the snake was coming after him, he ran to a wall and started shaking his head and beating on it with his fists - really funny stuff.) Mickey defeated a dragon! All was well!
And then came the part that Nick waits for. There he was! STEAMBOAT WILLIE!!
From our vantage point, we could see him almost all the way around the bend at the end - and then he ducked suddenly out of sight, just in time for the Sorceror Mickey to appear and disappear and Mickey to appear - that is one fast mouse!
Nick was bouncing when we started to leave. We detoured by ToT because Kai had decided it was her favorite ride and she wanted a t-shirt. While there, we checked on Nick's hat again - no luck. Check with Guest Services, they say. We walk out, and get distracted by the Rock 'n' Glow Dance Party.
So much fun! We're dancing a bit and the kids are resting along a fence pretending they don't know us, but smiling anyway. Mulch, Sweat, and Shears was funny and energetic.
The kids especially like the pyrotechnics in the show. When it's over, we head for the exit, detouring by Guest Services - no hat. Call this number, they say.
All in all, one of the best days we've had yet. And tomorrow is Magic Kingdom morning! So we head back for some much needed rest.
Up Next:
On My Summer Vacation, We Were Magic Kingdom Family of the Day
Once I realized we weren't running to TSM, I wanted to hang back out of the insane crowd at rope drop. Scott didn't like this, thinking we should still push our way to the front to get to Tower of Terror fast. When the rope finally dropped (Scott still expressing his displeasure because the opening show didn't involve Tootsie DuJour this time) it looked like he might have been right. The crowd did NOT all head for TSM. A good chunk went the same way we did.
No worries, though. We walked right on Tower of Terror. Scott and I loved this ride last time, and we had talked the kids onto it. We were looking forward to seeing the "ghost elevator" effect that had been added. The kids were basically just nervous.
Well, up we went. No effect - must have been broken. Down we went. And up. And down. And WHOOSH! Nick's beloved BoSox hat flew up and straight out the window at the top of the tower. He had been clutching it between his knees so it wouldn't come off, but when he panicked (and did he ever panic) and grabbed on to me, he let his knees relax. Goodbye, hat. He was really bummed, but I think he was too grateful to be alive to get truly upset. Look at the picture, and you'll see what I mean.
We stopped and asked a few CMs about finding the hat. They basically told us it was in the twilight zone and we were hosed. Only politely.
The kids left as fastpass runners to TSM. They were supposed to meet us at Starring Rolls after our ride. I was a bit nervous sending them off on their own, but they are very responsible and they were together. Plus, we all had our phones.
I was now in Nick and Kai's shoes. I had never ridden RnRC, and I was really, really, really nervous. But I was gonna do it. Cause Scott was still calling me a chicken for bailing on Space Mountain.
We probably waited a good 20 minutes to get on the ride by this point of the morning. The queue was fun, and I liked that I got to see several trains launch before I boarded. Once I boarded, I knew I was stuck, so I tried really hard not to hyperventilate.
The launch was scary. For about 5 seconds. I pasted on a fake smile because I knew that's where the camera was.
After that, I was smiling for real. This ride is a piece of cake. Seriously. It's so smooth, and you can see the track and predict the curves the whole way once your eyes adjust just a little. The loops and inversions are downright gentle. I've been on much scarier coasters. The only part that is remotely frightening is that launch start, and now that I know how fast it's over, that doesn't even bug me. I'm sure I'll be back on this ride.
We met up with the kids at Starring Rolls, where we were using snack credits for breakfast. Nick had already eaten, but Kai had waited for us. Nick had a cinnamon roll and orange juice, and Kai had a cinnamon roll, too, so I still have pictures.
The pastries were as good as ever. I decided to branch out and tried a strawberry parfait.
It was pretty, but I should have stuck with a pastry. The bottom layer was just that strawberry goo that bakeries use to coat their strawberries when they make pie. No actual strawberries except the one on top. Bummer.
We headed for the Great Movie Ride and encountered our longest line yet. We got the cowboy, again - in fact, the same EXACT cowboy we had gotten last trip. I really like this ride, but it could use an update.
Our next stop was the Magic of Disney Animation to go to the Animation Academy drawing class. Despite some reports I had read, we were allowed to sneak in the back way through the gift shop. We were offered the choice of drawing Dale or Mickey. Since we had been here many times before and had drawn Mickey and Minnie, we really, really wanted Dale. But we were outvoted by a large group who were sitting in the front row. Kai was so annoyed by drawing Mickey AGAIN that she used one of the posters on the wall as a guide and drew Tigger instead. When she can do that without assistance, why does it bother her what the animator chooses to draw?
Nick decided on yet another souvenir here. Last time, he had gotten a sketch of Steamboat Willie. This time, he got a sketch of Sorceror Mickey. He's really quite obsessed with odd incarnations of the mouse.
We weren't really hungry, but we knew we were going to have to eat dinner early, so we headed back to Starring Rolls for lunch. This is, hands down, the best place to get counter service in Hollywood Studios. We all got the same delicious turkey sandwich with an apple or chips.
It was wonderful. But Starring Rolls is all about the desserts!!
They were all scrumptious. I don't know why I only have three pictures. I'm absolutely sure we got four desserts. I'm guessing Scott or Kai doubled up and got the same dessert as someone else. I know the banana split layered yummy thing was mine. I've been craving that for a year. I know Nick got the uber candy coated brownie. He usually doesn't eat dessert much - but brownies are his weakness. So the cupcake (or maybe cupcakes?) must have been Scott and/or Kai.
Anyway, we were stuffed like Thanksgiving turkeys when we left for our Toy Story Midway Mania Marathon. We headed to the last open fastpass machine, where several CMs were standing looking harried, trying to explain that the machine was about to run out, and that would mean NO MORE FASTPASSES for the day. Most people were getting it, and when the fastpasses ran out, they walked off, while the CM tried to manually get fastpasses for a group that had been split by the cut-off. I had showed a CM our GAD passes and he said "Oh, not you, of course. You can get them whenever." So we got in line behind that final family. Well, a group of people whose first language wasn't English got behind us. And try as they might, the CMs could not convince them that the fastpasses were out. They kept using us as an example - we were still in line. Why could we get fastpasses? We felt bad, but we tried to explain that we had done a day of volunteering, and that our cards were different. They started searching through their paper passes, looking for one that had Donald. I don't know when they finally got it, because at that point the machine started acting up. It would take our GAD vouchers and not spit them back out. And we were putting 4 vouchers in the machine three times each. Finally, the manager tried to print us tickets from a nearby machine manually. Um, that's not gonna work - our fastpasses are for RIGHT NOW. Those are for 9:00 at night! Realizing this, he came back and they kept feeding the passes, getting jammed, opening the machine.... Eventually, we had 11 correct fastpasses and one incorrect fastpass. He told us to explain it at the fastpass entrance. We did. They took the one incorrect pass and radioed to the end of the line that there was one coming down without a fastpass.
Finally, we were in business! Even with fastpasses, it took us an hour to make four trips through the ride. It was worth the wait, though. We love this ride, and we'll never get to ride it this many times in a row again. There was only one more technical snafu - one screen Kai and I faced had a blue screen of death instead of the game. Bummer. I don't remember all the scores, but we were mostly in the 140,000 range. (Except the time the screen broke.) We need to look up more tricks and secrets before we hit Disneyland!
We headed over for one last ride on Star Tours before the refurb. It was fun, but it needs the refurb! And that little droid lies - I know that wasn't his first flight!
We left the park at this point for a nap (me) and a swim (everyone else). W stopped on the way out to get a few photopass pictures taken.
When we returned, we headed straight for Muppets. Kai is a big Muppets fan, and she would have been bummed if we missed it. This, of course, is where we got the title of our trip report. We love Sam Eagle. How could you not? He's such a great counterpoint to the rest of the zany Muppets. So when he said "It's a tribute to all nations, but mostly America" in the preshow, Kai and Scott laughed out loud. It became a buzz phrase for the rest of the trip, especially when we got to Washington, D.C.
Then we headed to grab some food before Fantasmic! We had read the menu for Fairfax Fare online, and it seemed interesting, so we gave it a try.
The service was slow, and the general consensus was that the food was just "eh". Not horrible, but not good, either. Cafeteria food.
We headed into the Hollywood Hills ampitheater for the show that's Nick's entire reason for liking Disney World. This kid ADORES Fantasmic! He would watch it every night of a trip if we let him. (Well, and if it were still on the schedule every night.) We got a bit nervous when we saw how many people were already in the theater. We usually get the reserved seating, but with the QSDP, there wasn't a restaurant we liked enough to pay for the Fantasmic! package. We were over an hour early, but nearly every section was full. Then we saw it - the section all the way to the left was empty. Right down to the front row. And that's what we got - the front row. Woo! (Although the view wasn't as good from all the way left - but Nick didn't care, and he's really the point here.)
And we waited. And waited. And waited.
And swatted clouds of gnats.
And waited.
Finally, the show started! Mickey appeared! Mickey dreamed! The villians turned up! Mickey was threatened by a giant snake!
(One thing we had never seen before that we saw from this angle - when the snake was coming after him, he ran to a wall and started shaking his head and beating on it with his fists - really funny stuff.) Mickey defeated a dragon! All was well!
And then came the part that Nick waits for. There he was! STEAMBOAT WILLIE!!
From our vantage point, we could see him almost all the way around the bend at the end - and then he ducked suddenly out of sight, just in time for the Sorceror Mickey to appear and disappear and Mickey to appear - that is one fast mouse!
Nick was bouncing when we started to leave. We detoured by ToT because Kai had decided it was her favorite ride and she wanted a t-shirt. While there, we checked on Nick's hat again - no luck. Check with Guest Services, they say. We walk out, and get distracted by the Rock 'n' Glow Dance Party.
So much fun! We're dancing a bit and the kids are resting along a fence pretending they don't know us, but smiling anyway. Mulch, Sweat, and Shears was funny and energetic.
The kids especially like the pyrotechnics in the show. When it's over, we head for the exit, detouring by Guest Services - no hat. Call this number, they say.
All in all, one of the best days we've had yet. And tomorrow is Magic Kingdom morning! So we head back for some much needed rest.
Up Next:
On My Summer Vacation, We Were Magic Kingdom Family of the Day
MouseEarsJenny
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Jan 8, 2006
- Messages
- 1,095
Pop was okay. We've stayed there twice now. The food court has lots of choices, the theming is fun, if a bit garish, and you get all the benefits of Disney property for a very low price. Our walk to the bus stop was not bad at all, but we were in the fifties building near the front of the complex. The last time we stayed here, we were in the sixties, and that was also not bad. I would imagine the walk to the eighties or nineties might feel very long after a day at the park, but it's not as spread out as it seems. The CMs are all very friendly, and there are pools near every room. The rooms are small, but we've never had a huge problem with noise inside the room, and mousekeeping is efficient.
However, the buses are much more crowded than the buses from the moderates. They seem to come less frequently in some cases. The beds are not nearly as comfortable as the beds at Coronado Springs. The moderate pools have waterslides. The landscaping at the moderates is lush and beautiful, and you get a much more relaxed "resort" feel at the moderate resorts. Plus, the drinks by the pool are better at CSR.
On our next trip, I imagine we'll make it a priority to stay at a moderate or higher. The values are just too crowded and noisy for us now. When we had small children, we didn't mind. Now our kids are older and quieter, it's just not as relaxing to stay at Pop.
FlightlessDuck
Y kant Donald fly?
- Joined
- Jun 20, 2006
- Messages
- 21,804
MouseEarsJenny answered most of this, but I wanted to point out something that bothered me but I didn't talk about during the trip. The outside of the buildings seem to be getting a bit run down. At least in the buildings not refurbed yet.
The painted concrete balconies leading to the rooms is stained and pockmarked and part of it was freshly painted so it was different colors. It wasn't up to the standard I expect from Disney.
I, too, think we are should try to get back to going to moderates in future trips.
FlightlessDuck
Y kant Donald fly?
- Joined
- Jun 20, 2006
- Messages
- 21,804
While I was a little antsy at the time, it was definitely a better idea than what we originally planned. Especially with how nuts the crowds were that day.
I feel really bad about losing the hat, and that he hated the ride. We did replace the hat, eventually.
Now that I rode it twice, once of the things that I noticed is that it doesn't really seem that fast. It is a great ride, though.
We always seem to end up hitting a line on this ride. And always seem to get the cowboy. The cowboy looks like someone I worked with in a local area amusement park 15 years ago.
I was disappointed about this, too. I understand people want to draw Mickey, so he will win every time. But something new would have been nice. At least it wasn't Stitch. We drew him two times in a row a few trips ago.
I think I got a banana split, too. Kai got the cupcake.
Getting the FastPasses was a bit of a fiasco, but it all worked out in the end. This was really the only time I felt guilty for getting the GAD FastPass.
You won once, Kairi won once, and I won twice.
I'm excited to see what the new one will be like in DisneyLand next year.
This show never gets old!
If I remember, the concensus was that Kai's salad was the best of the dishes we tried.
The Fantasmic! dinner package has really spoiled us. I think our seats were better when we had the package. Although it was nice to see the snow from a different angle. And the gnats were really annoying.
This wasn't what I imagined when I originally heard about the new show during Summer Nightastic. It was a lot of fun.
MouseEarsJenny
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Jan 8, 2006
- Messages
- 1,095
This next part of our trip was wonderful, yet bittersweet.
We had a wonderful time. It was magical. And amazing. And we were treated like royalty.
But we are full of guilt about it. And that puts a bad taste on what would otherwise be a wonderful experience.
You see, back in 2006, we were chosen Magic Kingdom Family of the Day. And even knowing we had a good chance to be chosen again, I hustled my family out of bed super early on our last Magic Kingdom day. And when we WERE chosen, again, Kairi especially thought we should say "No, we've already done it, pick someone else." And she was right, really. Which is why we feel guilty. But by the time they were ready to escort us back through the Magic Kingdom to start the wonderful, magical, family of the day process, there were still absolutely NO other families in sight. So we didn't say anything. Barbara, you amazing and wonderful CM, you kept telling us about the surprises in store - we couldn't bear to tell you we knew about some of them. And the further into the morning we got, the less we could bear to disappoint you all - all the CMs were so happy for us, and we were so happy to be there - we didn't want to spoil that by admitting it was our second grab at the brass ring. But we should have. And if we ever get picked again, we are going to say no. But there were so many wonderful things that were different that we WERE surprised, and enchanted, all over again. I wish we had been less selfish. But here's a retelling of the memories we made anyway.
We arrived at the MK turnstiles a good hour before they were due to open. Maybe even a bit more than that. We chatted with the CM, who asked us if we would like to open the park. We said yes, but immediately realized it was a bad idea, as Kai was sad about it. I asked her if she wanted me to tell the CM we had already done it, but seeing no other families, she said no. Probably because she was embarrassed to admit we hadn't said no right away. The first thing that surprised us was that they handed us a set of fastpasses to any attraction in the Magic Kingdom - even if the attraction usually didn't offer fastpass. We knew immediately what we would use them for - Dumbo! It was going to be our last ride on Dumbo with the Fantasyland expansion, and being FotD would make us late for that line.
The CM who had picked us took our picture in front of the train station. The MK was still deserted - we didn't even see many families headed in for ADRs. He also gave the kids autograph books.
We were escorted to Main Street, where we met Barbara, the greatest CM ever. She was so sweet and kind, and focused on making this the most special experience we could have. It really was - better even than the first time we were chosen. She told us to climb aboard the firetruck and hand over our camera so she could document the whole morning.
We went down Main Street as all the CMs waved. She told us to take special note of how Main Street looked at the time - nearly empty.
We paused on the bridge to Tomorrowland/Toontown to take some funny pictures - this is nearly my favorite shot of the whole trip:
Then it was time to explore an empty Toontown. We had been so overwhelmed by crowds the last time we were here, it was amazing to see the place so deserted. Barbara took (and had us take of each other) tons and tons of pictures.
Nicky did this one. Not bad for a ten year old!
And this was to illustrate just how deserted the place was.
The train pulled into the station. Barbara told us some facts about the train - apparently she is also a conductor in addition to driving the Main Street vehicles.
Then, while Barbara was distracting us, a huge collection of amazing characters came out of the Judges' Tent.
We were suddenly surrounded by characters, hugging, greeting us, and interacting.
We had never met so many of the characters - the White Rabbit, Tiana, Naveen, Bert and Mary Poppins, Chip and Dale in space suits - it was amazing!
We took a big picture of everyone all together. Aladdin helped organize, calling us by royal names - queen, prince, princess, etc.
We then started to board the train.
Well, except for Pluto. He had apparently taken a liking to Scott. He kept gesturing for Scott to scratch his nose. He followed him everywhere, angling for more nose scratching. The kids found this hysterical - everyone was in a great mood by this point and had mostly thrown off the guilt we were feeling. Pluto apparently wanted to commemorate Scott's nose scratching, cause he got right in Barbara's face for this picture. It's Kairi and Nick's favorite picture of the trip - if you want to see them giggle, just mention Pluto's nose.
Once abord the train, Barbara ran along the train taking pictures of the characters.
Just as the train pulled away, she handed the camera back and wished us farewell. We were sad to see her go - she was GREAT.
But we were sitting with Mickey Mouse, so how sad could we be?
Now we've been BLASTED on this board in the past for implying that some of the princesses are a bit creepy. We just have a hard time interacting with face characters I guess. This train ride changed that. Snow White was fun, and was always pointing out her "forest friends" in the surrounding woods. She even convinced a squirrel to get out of the way and off the train platform. I have no idea how, except that obviously Snow White can talk to animals, duh.
But Tiana and Naveen were hands down my favorite face characters ever. They were SOOOOOO funny. He was teasing her about not being able to dance, she said he still looked like a frog... they exchanged jokes about Philadelphia after we said where we were from, focusing on cheesesteak (Naveen loves it, Tiana says he loves anything food...) and pretzels. Mickey got pretty excited about the cheesesteak, too.
But then Dale got up and started dancing and goofing around. My kids were in stitches, but Mickey had to take charge - after all, he is the Big Cheese! He stood up and "told off" Dale, who acted cowed and then fell over the seat with his feet wiggling in the air, which prompted another "lecture" from Mickey.
All this time, we could see the buses and monorails arriving through the trees, and occasional people would glance up and point out the characters to their kids. Then the whistle blew, the music started, and we began to pull into Main Street Station. It was time to open the park.
Up Next:
On My Summer Vacation, I Was A Celebrity
We had a wonderful time. It was magical. And amazing. And we were treated like royalty.
But we are full of guilt about it. And that puts a bad taste on what would otherwise be a wonderful experience.
You see, back in 2006, we were chosen Magic Kingdom Family of the Day. And even knowing we had a good chance to be chosen again, I hustled my family out of bed super early on our last Magic Kingdom day. And when we WERE chosen, again, Kairi especially thought we should say "No, we've already done it, pick someone else." And she was right, really. Which is why we feel guilty. But by the time they were ready to escort us back through the Magic Kingdom to start the wonderful, magical, family of the day process, there were still absolutely NO other families in sight. So we didn't say anything. Barbara, you amazing and wonderful CM, you kept telling us about the surprises in store - we couldn't bear to tell you we knew about some of them. And the further into the morning we got, the less we could bear to disappoint you all - all the CMs were so happy for us, and we were so happy to be there - we didn't want to spoil that by admitting it was our second grab at the brass ring. But we should have. And if we ever get picked again, we are going to say no. But there were so many wonderful things that were different that we WERE surprised, and enchanted, all over again. I wish we had been less selfish. But here's a retelling of the memories we made anyway.
We arrived at the MK turnstiles a good hour before they were due to open. Maybe even a bit more than that. We chatted with the CM, who asked us if we would like to open the park. We said yes, but immediately realized it was a bad idea, as Kai was sad about it. I asked her if she wanted me to tell the CM we had already done it, but seeing no other families, she said no. Probably because she was embarrassed to admit we hadn't said no right away. The first thing that surprised us was that they handed us a set of fastpasses to any attraction in the Magic Kingdom - even if the attraction usually didn't offer fastpass. We knew immediately what we would use them for - Dumbo! It was going to be our last ride on Dumbo with the Fantasyland expansion, and being FotD would make us late for that line.
The CM who had picked us took our picture in front of the train station. The MK was still deserted - we didn't even see many families headed in for ADRs. He also gave the kids autograph books.
We were escorted to Main Street, where we met Barbara, the greatest CM ever. She was so sweet and kind, and focused on making this the most special experience we could have. It really was - better even than the first time we were chosen. She told us to climb aboard the firetruck and hand over our camera so she could document the whole morning.
We went down Main Street as all the CMs waved. She told us to take special note of how Main Street looked at the time - nearly empty.
We paused on the bridge to Tomorrowland/Toontown to take some funny pictures - this is nearly my favorite shot of the whole trip:
Then it was time to explore an empty Toontown. We had been so overwhelmed by crowds the last time we were here, it was amazing to see the place so deserted. Barbara took (and had us take of each other) tons and tons of pictures.
Nicky did this one. Not bad for a ten year old!
And this was to illustrate just how deserted the place was.
The train pulled into the station. Barbara told us some facts about the train - apparently she is also a conductor in addition to driving the Main Street vehicles.
Then, while Barbara was distracting us, a huge collection of amazing characters came out of the Judges' Tent.
We were suddenly surrounded by characters, hugging, greeting us, and interacting.
We had never met so many of the characters - the White Rabbit, Tiana, Naveen, Bert and Mary Poppins, Chip and Dale in space suits - it was amazing!
We took a big picture of everyone all together. Aladdin helped organize, calling us by royal names - queen, prince, princess, etc.
We then started to board the train.
Well, except for Pluto. He had apparently taken a liking to Scott. He kept gesturing for Scott to scratch his nose. He followed him everywhere, angling for more nose scratching. The kids found this hysterical - everyone was in a great mood by this point and had mostly thrown off the guilt we were feeling. Pluto apparently wanted to commemorate Scott's nose scratching, cause he got right in Barbara's face for this picture. It's Kairi and Nick's favorite picture of the trip - if you want to see them giggle, just mention Pluto's nose.
Once abord the train, Barbara ran along the train taking pictures of the characters.
Just as the train pulled away, she handed the camera back and wished us farewell. We were sad to see her go - she was GREAT.
But we were sitting with Mickey Mouse, so how sad could we be?
Now we've been BLASTED on this board in the past for implying that some of the princesses are a bit creepy. We just have a hard time interacting with face characters I guess. This train ride changed that. Snow White was fun, and was always pointing out her "forest friends" in the surrounding woods. She even convinced a squirrel to get out of the way and off the train platform. I have no idea how, except that obviously Snow White can talk to animals, duh.
But Tiana and Naveen were hands down my favorite face characters ever. They were SOOOOOO funny. He was teasing her about not being able to dance, she said he still looked like a frog... they exchanged jokes about Philadelphia after we said where we were from, focusing on cheesesteak (Naveen loves it, Tiana says he loves anything food...) and pretzels. Mickey got pretty excited about the cheesesteak, too.
But then Dale got up and started dancing and goofing around. My kids were in stitches, but Mickey had to take charge - after all, he is the Big Cheese! He stood up and "told off" Dale, who acted cowed and then fell over the seat with his feet wiggling in the air, which prompted another "lecture" from Mickey.
All this time, we could see the buses and monorails arriving through the trees, and occasional people would glance up and point out the characters to their kids. Then the whistle blew, the music started, and we began to pull into Main Street Station. It was time to open the park.
Up Next:
On My Summer Vacation, I Was A Celebrity
MouseEarsJenny
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Jan 8, 2006
- Messages
- 1,095
When last we saw our selfish but intrepid family, we were pulling into Main Street Station. Here's what it looked like from the ground:
We were escorted off the train, and instructed to wave. Honestly, for a minute it felt like we were celebrities. Everyone was taking pictures and waving, and you knew they were looking at the characters, but it felt like everyone was looking at you. It was a bit scary, actually.
We made sure Nick had his confetti ready...
Then the Mayor introduced us, and declared the Magic Kingdom open. Cue confetti!
Much cheering, much applause, and our very happy and excited family headed down the ramp into the Magic Kingdom. Stopping, of course, for more pictures.
And who should be waiting at the bottom of the ramp?? Barbara! Wow! She had brought back the firetruck to give us a second trip down Main Street.
Now that the park was open, Barbara told us to take an "after" picture of Main Street.
Still not too bad, but definitely more crowded. We passed the Dapper Dans on the trolley headed toward the train station. That was cool, but we never did get to hear them sing this trip.
Barbara knew just where to take our picture in front of the castle to make it look like we were still the only people in the park. Then she wished us a magical day and headed off to make everyone else happy. Thank you Barbara!
We decided we better get to Fantasyland while the getting was good, so we headed straight for Peter Pan, the longest line besides Dumbo.
Woohoo! It was still a walk-on.
Next, we rode Snow White's Scary Adventures because Snow White had made Nick promise he would ride on it, and he takes his promises seriously.
Then it was Winnie the Pooh again because Scott and Kai had missed it to ride Space Mountain.
Not a bad morning, especially considering it had all happened before breakfast! We were starving, so we headed back to the Main Street Bakery. We stopped behind the castle to take a few pictures.
And then had to take a picture of our misbehaving buddies from the train.
We asked the CMs what constituted breakfast at the bakery. Apparently, we got breakfast sandwiches AND pastries AND drinks. Oy!! But they were soooooooooo good.
We all got the ham and egg croissants and everyone but Kai got the huge cinnamon rolls. She opted for coffee cake.
Right after breakfast, Nick realized his autograph book (which had been signed by all the characters on the train) was missing. Oh no! We hustled around looking for it. Not at Winnie the Pooh. Not at Fantasyland central lost and found. But then we checked at Snow White and PHEW, it was there.
It was time to use those magical fastpasses and get our last ride on Dumbo. We've decided we're not going to bother with Dumbo once the Fantasyland expansion is done. The entire purpose of that elephant is rising in the air BY THE CASTLE on a Magic Kingdom morning. Without the castle, there's no point. So we had to get on Dumbo. But how?
We had a fastpass, but there's no fastpass line. So what should we do? Finally, I walked up the exit and caught the attention of a passing CM who was loading the elephants. He directed us to the handicap entrance. The CM there loaded us on the ride, no question.
So here's the official last "castle in the background Dumbo picture" for our family.
Up Next:
On My Summer Vacation, We Did NOT Buy DVC (But We Thought About It)
We were escorted off the train, and instructed to wave. Honestly, for a minute it felt like we were celebrities. Everyone was taking pictures and waving, and you knew they were looking at the characters, but it felt like everyone was looking at you. It was a bit scary, actually.
We made sure Nick had his confetti ready...
Then the Mayor introduced us, and declared the Magic Kingdom open. Cue confetti!
Much cheering, much applause, and our very happy and excited family headed down the ramp into the Magic Kingdom. Stopping, of course, for more pictures.
And who should be waiting at the bottom of the ramp?? Barbara! Wow! She had brought back the firetruck to give us a second trip down Main Street.
Now that the park was open, Barbara told us to take an "after" picture of Main Street.
Still not too bad, but definitely more crowded. We passed the Dapper Dans on the trolley headed toward the train station. That was cool, but we never did get to hear them sing this trip.
Barbara knew just where to take our picture in front of the castle to make it look like we were still the only people in the park. Then she wished us a magical day and headed off to make everyone else happy. Thank you Barbara!
We decided we better get to Fantasyland while the getting was good, so we headed straight for Peter Pan, the longest line besides Dumbo.
Woohoo! It was still a walk-on.
Next, we rode Snow White's Scary Adventures because Snow White had made Nick promise he would ride on it, and he takes his promises seriously.
Then it was Winnie the Pooh again because Scott and Kai had missed it to ride Space Mountain.
Not a bad morning, especially considering it had all happened before breakfast! We were starving, so we headed back to the Main Street Bakery. We stopped behind the castle to take a few pictures.
And then had to take a picture of our misbehaving buddies from the train.
We asked the CMs what constituted breakfast at the bakery. Apparently, we got breakfast sandwiches AND pastries AND drinks. Oy!! But they were soooooooooo good.
We all got the ham and egg croissants and everyone but Kai got the huge cinnamon rolls. She opted for coffee cake.
Right after breakfast, Nick realized his autograph book (which had been signed by all the characters on the train) was missing. Oh no! We hustled around looking for it. Not at Winnie the Pooh. Not at Fantasyland central lost and found. But then we checked at Snow White and PHEW, it was there.
It was time to use those magical fastpasses and get our last ride on Dumbo. We've decided we're not going to bother with Dumbo once the Fantasyland expansion is done. The entire purpose of that elephant is rising in the air BY THE CASTLE on a Magic Kingdom morning. Without the castle, there's no point. So we had to get on Dumbo. But how?
We had a fastpass, but there's no fastpass line. So what should we do? Finally, I walked up the exit and caught the attention of a passing CM who was loading the elephants. He directed us to the handicap entrance. The CM there loaded us on the ride, no question.
So here's the official last "castle in the background Dumbo picture" for our family.
Up Next:
On My Summer Vacation, We Did NOT Buy DVC (But We Thought About It)
MouseEarsJenny
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Jan 8, 2006
- Messages
- 1,095
You lived my dream.... TWICE!!
Congrats on a second magical day. Send me some pixiedust for December, will you????
That's why we were guilty - should have been someone else's dream.Then again, no one else got up early enough. So whatcha gonna do?
Good luck in December!
Get up EARLY!
mom2rtk
Invented the term "Characterpalooza"
- Joined
- Aug 23, 2008
- Messages
- 62,619
Then again, no one else got up early enough. So whatcha gonna do?
Good luck in December!
I say stop beating yourself up. Life's full of tough moments. Enjoy the good ones whenever they come along. I can be jealous, but I wouldn't expect you to turn it down.
And early we can do. I'm always torn though. We like those early entry ADR's. I know to have a shot at the brass ring, you can't be there for that. I've actually considered pretending NOT to be there for the ADR, then if we see another family chosen go on in for the ADR I really have already...... A girl can plot can't she????
FlightlessDuck
Y kant Donald fly?
- Joined
- Jun 20, 2006
- Messages
- 21,804
I felt guilty about being Family of the Day at the time, but I've pretty much gotten over it at this point. It was fun, and Barbara was probably the coolest CM we've met. Tiana and Naveen really change our attitude about face characters, and Snow White as well. Also, Daisy gave me a kiss, which was kinda funny.
We saw Snow White again later that day as we walked around the castle and she said 'Hi.'
In line for Winnie ther Pooh ("you know what ther means, don't you?"), somebody asked "didn't you open the park this morning?" That was pretty cool, because nobody recognized us the last time.
The Main Street Bakery breakfast was great. I think that will become a new tradition.
We saw Snow White again later that day as we walked around the castle and she said 'Hi.'
In line for Winnie ther Pooh ("you know what ther means, don't you?"), somebody asked "didn't you open the park this morning?" That was pretty cool, because nobody recognized us the last time.
The Main Street Bakery breakfast was great. I think that will become a new tradition.
-
Disney World Shares NEW Details and Muppets Concept Art For Rock 'n' Roller Coaster
-
Judy & Nick Meet & Greet Coming to Animal Kingdom at Disney World with New Looks
-
Opening Date for 'Zootopia: Better Zoogether!' at Animal Kingdom in Disney World
-
New Look at Food & Drinks From The Beak and Barrel in Disney World
-
New Award For Disney's Most Complimented Cast Member
-
FIRST LOOK at New Food Coming to the Disney Adventure Ship in Singapore
-
Disney Unveils Signage for The Beak and Barrel at Magic Kingdom
Receive up to $1,000 in Onboard Credit and a Gift Basket!
That’s right — when you book your Disney Cruise with Dreams Unlimited Travel, you’ll receive incredible shipboard credits to spend during your vacation!
CLICK HERE
That’s right — when you book your Disney Cruise with Dreams Unlimited Travel, you’ll receive incredible shipboard credits to spend during your vacation!
CLICK HERE
New Posts
