June 2010: A Tribute To All Nations, But Mostly America - Update 8/22 MK FotD

[arbolita]

We're back! Just gotta go get the dog, and get something resembling food for my house. Then I'll get to uploading and posting... although the lousy cheap waterproof digital I bought deleted all my pictures. But that's only Typhoon Lagoon - I have about 1500 pictures of everything else. We'll be moving this report from the pre-trip report board shortly. Look for it under the new title:

June 2010: A Tribute To All Nations, But Mostly America

Welcome back! Sorry to hear about your camera, but I'm glad you still have the majority of your pictures. Looking forward to reading your TR!

 

[TaraPA]

Found it!

Hi Jenn & Scott! Jenn - I have to say, you look familiar!

I'm off to bed for the night but will catch up on your trip report tomorrow. Another sweltering day in the Lehigh Valley! I'll be in Bethlehem for a haircut - small world!

 

[MouseEarsJenny]

June 24th was, without question, the most boring day of our entire vacation. If you want to, feel free to skip this section. Trust me, if I could have skipped it, I certainly would have.

The only good thing about this day was that it was FINALLY here! We got up and tossed everything into the car and took off for Scott's work because he still had half a day to go. The rest of us then headed for Target to pick up laundry soap and new shoes for Nick. (Because his Crocs from last year HAD fit until Scott decided to wash them, which was fine. And dry them. Which was NOT fine. They ended up three sizes too small.)

As we pulled into the parking lot of Target, I glanced down and noted that the Magic Kingdom still wasn't open. To which my smart-alec Disneyphile son responded, "Yeah, but even if we left now, I don't think we'd make rope drop." Ya think?

After Target, we realized we had forgotten my flip flops and the kids' stuffed animals at home, so we ran back to fetch them, and then swung by the dollar store to grab ponchos. Unfortunately, it STILL wasn't time to pick up Scott, so we headed to Sand Island, a playground near his work. Since this installment will be light on photos, here's the kids on the tire swing:

Course, the tire swing turned out to be a bad idea when Kairi spun it too fast, causing Nick to declare he was going to be sick and be grouchy for the next hour because "I TOLD her to stop spinning but she wouldn't listen to me!"

Since Nick was doing nothing but sitting on the bench next to me and whining, we decided to head over to Scott's work and wait outside. On the way, Nick started acting ill and said he was going to throw up. Just peachy. We haven't even left yet!

He was feeling better by the time Scott was due outside, thank goodness. In fact, they were both getting quite giggly.

Scott was late, as usual. We called him and hassled him until he finally got his butt to the car. When he did, we all chorused "Can we go NOW?" which had been our mantra for days. He pretended to think about it as we pulled out on the road. We turned on my iPod shuffle and the first song that came up was "Zip-A-Dee-Doo-Dah" which felt auspicious.

Then we drove. And drove. And stopped for lunch at McDonald's in Hershey. And drove. And got stuck in a viscious thunderstorm. And drove.

Around seven, we stopped for dinner. I think at Subway this time. And then, you guessed it...

...we drove.

We stayed occupied listening to music. The kids read, played DS, and maybe watched a movie on Kai's iPod. Both kids occasionally napped. We also did pretty well on the license plate game.

We were seriously dragging by the time we got over the South Carolina border. We did briefly consider just trucking straight through to Florida, but once it got dark, the driving was too unpleasant for Scott. So we stopped at the welcome center and grabbed a few of those hotel coupon books. We found a Holiday Inn Express in Florence for $80, and decided to go with that over a Hampton Inn since there were no Hampton coupons. We called ahead to check availability, and it was a good thing we did. She had one non-suite room left, which she held for us. When Scott went in to check in, the front desk was turning away the couple ahead of us because our room was on hold.

We stumbled upstairs, more than ready to crash. Scott ran down to use the computer and while he was downstairs, the toilet overflowed all over the bathroom. To be fair, they did offer to switch us to a suite or just clean up the floor and fix the toilet. But if I had realized that cleaning up the floor meant just sopping it up with towels, I probably would have taken the suite. I didn't like stepping on the bathroom floor for the rest of our thankfully brief stay. Other than that, though, the hotel was clean and comfortable.

So, if you actually read all that, as I said, one boring day of driving behind us.

Up Next:
On My Summer Vacation, We Travelled Back In Time

 

[MouseEarsJenny]

Welcome back! Sorry to hear about your camera, but I'm glad you still have the majority of your pictures. Looking forward to reading your TR!

Thanks! It's okay, the trip was great - and that camera didn't take great pictures anyway. Just reinforces that I need to get a good waterproof digital before our cruise.

Hi Jenn & Scott! Jenn - I have to say, you look familiar!

Hmm.... do you teach? I might have subbed for you. If you have kids, I might have taught them. Did you go to Moravian or Wilkes? Or maybe we've just seen each other around town. Who knows!

I'm off to bed for the night but will catch up on your trip report tomorrow. Another sweltering day in the Lehigh Valley! I'll be in Bethlehem for a haircut - small world!

It is brutally hot! I think it might be hotter here than it was in Florida. And our A/C is broken.

 

[FlightlessDuck]

June 24th was, without question, the most boring day of our entire vacation. If you want to, feel free to skip this section. Trust me, if I could have skipped it, I certainly would have.

I considered sleeping through this day, but I don't think that would have worked out so well.

Scott was late, as usual.

Scott ran down to use the computer and while he was downstairs, the toilet overflowed all over the bathroom.

This didn't bode well, but the rest of the room was fine. Just our luck, I guess.

On My Summer Vacation, We Travelled Back In Time

1 point 21 jiggawatts!

 

[MouseEarsJenny]

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. I should probably change it, but I don't feel like going back and editing my last post. Although, come to think of it, I probably could have done that faster than typing this paragraph.

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

 

[kate_wdw]

Deleted

 

[MouseEarsJenny]

We were finally on our first Disney ride - the bus! Ooohh! Ahh! Or not...

I had considered skipping Downtown Disney and Disney Quest in favor of more time at the Magic Kingdom, but I was outvoted. The kids really wanted to try Disney Quest and I'm pretty sure Scott just didn't want to miss out on Wolfgang Puck's. Still, I had no reason for complaint as we walked through Downtown Disney. The sky was blue, a band near the Characters in Flight balloon was playing "Under the Sea", and there were palm trees everywhere I looked.

Must come from my Upstate New York/Wisconsin childhood, but for some reason, palm trees make me feel like I'm on vacation more than anything else.

We headed straight for Disney Quest, eager to do as much as possible there in the limited time we had.

I was a bit nervous about our KTTW cards working. We had just added the WPF&M option, and I'd heard horror stories on the DIS about people showing up and having their upgrades not work. But we sailed through the turnstiles. Except Kai. She seemed to be having trouble deciding which finger to use for the finger scan, and I think I might have told her to hurry up. It wasn't until we got into the elevator that she explained - she had a band-aid on her right index finger, and she was afraid she'd have to leave the bandaid on on all week for it to scan right. Oops!

The elevator trip into the building was fun and funny. But once you get in, you have no idea how to get back out. You could wander around Disney Quest for hours and have no idea where you are. But since wandering around was our current plan, that wasn't so bad. We started in the Explore Zone. There was about a 10 or 15 minute wait for the virtual Jungle Cruise.

I was a bit concerned, because from the line, it frankly looked a bit lame. But once you got into the boat, you didn't notice the graphics so much because of the motion and your frantic attempts to paddle and steer the boat. It could have used a tutorial! But we almost got out of the Jungle before being annihilated by a meteor shower. And we all jumped and laughed with the T-Rex popped out at us. We did agree it could have used sprays of real water at key moments, though.

We waited in line for a chance at the Pirates game. This was the longest line, and for good reason. We LOVED this game. It was SOOO much fun. Scott was steering and he did hit a few islands, but we ran around on the pitching deck, shooting cannons at the ghostly pirate ships and kicking pirate butt. Once he got the hang of it, Scott was great at steering us toward the bigger ships. We had seen the score of the group before us, and were determined to do at least that well. We all let out a cheer as the game stopped, and were shocked to discover that the score indicator went all the way over to the right, dubbing us "Masters of the Sea"! We got 4071 points, and the CM was impressed (or faked it well) that it was our first time - he said the highest score he had seen was 5100.

We headed over to Cyber Space Mountain next. I was concerned that Nick would freak out here, because although he swore he was going to try roller coasters this trip, he really fears them. But he kept continuously assuring me that he was fine. Kai and Scott programmed a "2" coaster and we programmed a "3" - the Turbo Rocket. When we saw the simulators through the windows, I was a bit nervous - I have a fear of small spaces. But Nick was going to do it, so I was, darn it. It was actually really fun, although whenever we did inversions, I was basically hanging by my knees from the harness which wasn't nice. Kai ended up being a bit scared by it, although not much. Nick was pretty nonchalant about the whole thing. Scott liked it, but they had him at Bill Nye. Cause he's a geek.

We waited in the line for AstroBlaster next. I had a great strategy from a fellow Disney addict at my work that involved picking up the balls for the cannon on the way into the ride. But apparently they've cracked down on that, because one of the first rules the CM gave was that you couldn't pick up the asteroids. Bother!

The kids' cannon ended up not working, which was a bummmer. It was pretty hard to steer and aim the cannons, but I liked when we got hit by other cannons and spun.

We tried the Mighty Ducks Pinball Slam next. I used my annoying strategy of actually reading directions to kick serious butt on this game. (I did this on Men In Black at Universal last year, too, much to Scott's chagrin. What can I say? Compulsive reader.) I was on puck number 10, and I saw a direction on the screen about how getting into one of the chutes was worth 20,000 points. Everyone else was busy attacking the goalie, but he was only worth 2500 points. So I just kept steering into the chute over and over. And the chute spit me out right at the goalie anyway. So I racked up 2,318,500 points, which was close to the high score of the day. Nick came in second, which made him happy.

The only major simulator we hadn't done at this point was Ride the Comix. I was wrong about the Pirates line - this one was DEFINITELY longer. And we watched that introductory video so many times Kai could say it verbatim by the time we were finally getting our helmets on. The VR helmets crushed our noses and were blurry if not in the exact right place. And the controllers were much less responsive than our Wii at home. This one was a definite thumbs down all around.

We finally resorted to asking a CM how to find our way out of the maze, and left Disney Quest. A great singer outside House of Blues was joking about the required pauses in 70's music. Disney doesn't have to have outdoor entertainment in Disney Quest, or pay so much attention to all the little details like the carvings on the restaurant. But they do. Which is awesome. We took the boat to the Marketplace, which was a great way to save on walking and was cool from the water breezes to boot. All in all, DQ was a great way to spend the afternoon. I'm not sure it would be worth the $40 admisson charge on its own, but with the water park option, it only cost us $8 more than a single day at the water parks, and it was definitely worth that.

Up Next:

On My Summer Vacation, We Were Fed By A Celebrity Chef

 

[MouseEarsJenny]

Hi MouseEarsJenny & FlightlessDuck! I’m just catching up on your trip report. I really enjoyed your last TR and am looking forward to reading this one as well.

Thanks! And welcome back!

I enjoyed reading “The Hidden Magic of Walt Disney World” too - I’ll have to dig it out before my upcoming trip. (In the days and weeks before a trip, I need something to take the edge off the Disney fever.)

Don't I know it. We were going crazy. But I think we're satisfied, for the mo. We noticed the free dining extension into December, but we both said, "Nah." We're not Disney-ed out, precisely, we're just looking forward to new Disney adventures.

I also enjoyed reading your WDW playlist. It inspired me to order Disney’s Greatest Hits and an “old school” WDW/Epcot CD. (I love some of the older music from Epcot, like Magic Journeys and Kitchen Kabaret.) I was also excited to see BNL on your playlist – I love me some BNL.

It lasted us for about 11 hours before we hit a repeat on the way down. I think if I had done all Disney music I would have been seriously bored, but having it sprinkled in there was fun.

I’ve driven down to FL from the Philadelphia area many times in my life and I can relate to the boredom/anticipation it involves - your post did a really good job of recreating the excitement of arrival!

We've driven many times, too - but I think we've agreed, we're not doing it again! Flying from now on.

The Hilton Clearwater looks gorgeous – I’ll be interested to hear how you liked it. I’ll also be interested to hear your thoughts on 4th of July in DC. One of the nice things about the Smithsonians is the fact that since they’re free, you don’t need to feel guilty or like you’re wasting money if you just hit the highlights. I went to college in DC, so I spent a lot of free days at the Zoo, the American History and Natural History museums.

I don't want to give away future installments, but I'll say looks can be deceiving. And the 4th in DC.... was an experience!

Scott, I’m happy to hear that Raglan Road is your favorite WDW restaurant. I’ll be going for the first time in October and you don’t hear that much about it on the boards.

That was our ONE regret this trip - we didn't take the time for Raglan Road. We should have. It rocks. Be sure to get Ger's Bread and Butter Pudding, even if you don't think you like bread pudding!

After reading your favorite CS locations (and your past experiences at Epcot), I’m wondering if you’ve tried Sunshine Seasons? (It’s one of my favorites.)

We have, although it didn't fit in this trip because of our lunch at Le Cellier. It is great - I especially love the strawberry shortcake!

 

[TaraPA]

Hmm.... do you teach? I might have subbed for you. If you have kids, I might have taught them. Did you go to Moravian or Wilkes? Or maybe we've just seen each other around town. Who knows!

I don't teach, so I don't recognize you from there! I went to college in DE so that's not it either. I have 2 sons (5th & 8th grades) that go to Saucon Valley. I work at Yankee Candle over at The Promenade - are you ever in there? Maybe I just recognize you from The DIS! LOL!!!

Now that I've given out all of my personal identifying information, LOL, I'm off to read your new update!

 

[MouseEarsJenny]

I don't teach, so I don't recognize you from there! I went to college in DE so that's not it either. I have 2 sons (5th & 8th grades) that go to Saucon Valley. I work at Yankee Candle over at The Promenade - are you ever in there? Maybe I just recognize you from The DIS! LOL!!!

Now that I've given out all of my personal identifying information, LOL, I'm off to read your new update!

We figured it out, I think. My son and daughter go to Saucon. Going into ninth and fifth next year. And I'm at the Promenade all the time. It IS a small world!

 

[FlightlessDuck]

We've driven many times, too - but I think we've agreed, we're not doing it again! Flying from now on.

I think I'd rather have a root canal than drive again.

 

[TaraPA]

WOW. Now THAT'S a SMALL WORLD!!!!! Get the heck out! We're in the same township & school district! I've met lots of DIS-ers from the area at the store, but only one other one that lives in the same school district! Now I know 2 DIS-ers (3 if we count your DH!) from Lower Saucon! Do you ever go to the pool? We joined this year - maybe we'll see you there one day!

Is your AC fixed?

Looking forward to more trip pics!

 

[MouseEarsJenny]

Yes, I know the title is stretching. Chances are, Wolfgang Puck hasn't set foot in WPE for years. But who cares? The food is great!

We placed our order and sat in the blessedly cool dining room. Our server (Ewan? Evan?) was great, and kept us in wonderful unsweet tropical iced tea as we waited.

[Side Note: I just NOW made a connection. I am terribly allergic to poison ivy. Had an outbreak in April, and another in June, which was fortunately cleared up by the time we left. Well, someone on the DIS mentioned I should watch out for mangoes. Said that mangoes might trigger the same reaction as poison ivy. So while we are at Chef Mickey's, I realize too late that I always start vacation with the salmon at Chef Mickey's. And I always seem to get a rash which I attribute to poison ivy. But the salmon has mango! And sure enough, I get a rash at the beginning of the trip. So I think I've got it figured out, right? But as I was typing this report, I realized that my rash came back with a vengeance at the END of the Disney trip, too. It was weird. Then I typed how much I love the tropical iced tea at WPE. And we went back there on our last day. Whaddaya want to bet that delicious tea is flavored with mango somehow? *sigh*]

Anyway, at the time, all I was thinking was how great it was to get real china and flatware and drink service for a counter service credit. And thanking my lucky stars I happened to have just in case cash on me so I could tip the waiter.

Then our food arrived, and thought took a backseat.

I ordered the bacon wrapped meatloaf:

It was delicious, but it was very hard to get a bite with all of the flavors at once. Still, incredibly tasty. As I recall, Scott liked my entree more than his. (And I'm sure he'll correct me if I recall incorrectly!)

He ordered the rotisserie chicken:

I'm pretty sure he liked it. Jump in here, Scott!

The kids both went with the chicken alfredo rigatoni:

About halfway through their plates, they started complaining they were full. I told them they didn't have to keep eating, but they kept putting food in their mouths. When asked why, they said "But it's so good!!!"

For dessert, Scott and I both had the creme brulee. It was delicious, and I was glad to see they didn't use the little tin containers anymore. Still, I'd be lying if I said it stood out - it was just your basic creme brulee. Pretty, though:

The kids went for frozen yogurt. Vanilla. No toppings. Boooooring. But they seemed to like it:

I did try to keep track of my receipts, but I'll total them all up at the end. Still, it was nice to get a $92 dinner for four for free - thanks, Disney!

After dinner, we wandered into a few shops, but didn't buy anything. Kai and I wanted a picture with Pooh and friends.

So then the boys took a turn.

We were in a great mood, and even the wait at the bus stop didn't diminish it. We sang along with "Hakuna Matata" and danced to "Life is a Highway" cause it reminded us of that cute video trip report someone posted on the DIS. We met some nice Harry Potter/Marching Band fanatics on the trip and passed the time with a pleasant conversation. Back at Pop, we got our mugs and headed to the pool.

Well, we tried to head to the pool. I brought down laundry, because even though we didn't have much, I knew we'd be too busy to get to it later. Just as I came out to join the rest of the family in the pool, it was closed down because somebody thought the swim diaper rule didn't apply to their kid. So my family went over to the 60's pool, leaving me to deal with the laundry. I wanted my swimsuit dry for Kali the next day and I ran out of quarters after an incident with the wrong dryer. So I stayed out of the pool, even after the kids came back over, and waited what seemed like forever for the laundry to get dry. By this time I was getting a bit cranky, so when we realized we had forgotten Mousekeeping money, Scott ran to Classic Hall to deal with it. Finally, the clothes were more or less dry and I went to bed, thoroughly tired.

I did meet some nice people in the laundry room. One person was talking about how she found a set of keys, and later when maintenance came looking for them I was able to point them to Classic Hall, where she had returned them. The attendant came through and mopped the floor a few times. Another guest was talking about how the pool was heated, and I was surprised - I assumed it was warm from the sun. Does anyone know? Personally, I found the pools too warm for my taste, and liked the chilly hotel pool in DC better. Yet another person offered quarters when I told Scott to go to classic hall for more cash, which was sweet. Someone else forgot their detergent and borrowed mine. Why am I relating all this silly information? Before we left on the trip, I was reading a thread somewhere around here. One poster said they'd never stay at the values because of the "ilk" of people who stayed there. As I was talking and interacting with all the nice folks in the Pop laundry, that comment came back to me, and I thought it was pretty funny.

We set the clock for what we call in my house "oh-my-goodness-thirty" and conked out.

Up Next:
On My Summer Vacation, I Went To A Cheesy Roadside Attraction

 

[MouseEarsJenny]

WOW. Now THAT'S a SMALL WORLD!!!!! Get the heck out! We're in the same township & school district! I've met lots of DIS-ers from the area at the store, but only one other one that lives in the same school district! Now I know 2 DIS-ers (3 if we count your DH!) from Lower Saucon! Do you ever go to the pool? We joined this year - maybe we'll see you there one day!

Is your AC fixed?

Looking forward to more trip pics!

This is a strange coincidence!

We went to the Hellertown pool the week before we left, but the kids are leaving for three weeks at Grandma's house on Saturday, and then there's band camp, so we usually don't join. And Grandpa is supposed to take a look at the AC when he gets here to pick them up. So I'll probably be posting more trip pics the next few days as an alternative to doing anything more energetic in this heat!

 

[FlightlessDuck]

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 always do that with verbs that end with one consonant. But then, I'm just a bad speller.

We made very good time and soon we saw this:

After the travesty that was our first day of traveling (look, one "l"!), I was afraid that the second day was going to take longer than expected, too. I was pleasantly surprised when we got through Jacksonville before stopping for lunch. I think we were at POP before 2PM.

The ominous clouds didn't really lend credence to the whole "Sunshine State" thing, but they cleared up by the time we hit Orlando.

And I hear Clearwater, FL is having a Revival.

The online check in line was longer than the regular line.

Go figure. Still, I think it took less time than using the regular check-in.

The room was one of the old, non-renovated rooms.

I was a little bummed, but we weren't going to spend a lot of time in the room, anyway, so I guess it didn't matter

Nick especially liked the bowling pin stairs.

I think it was during the Typhoon Lagoon day that Kai mentioned that every single staircase in Disney smelled like stale bread. That includes the bowling pins. I agree they smell weird.

Some lady waiting on the benches called out something like "yeah!" or "you go!" and embarrassed him into stopping.

Yeah, I like to goof off, but I don't like it when people actually notice.

 

[FlightlessDuck]

The kids really wanted to try Disney Quest and I'm pretty sure Scott just didn't want to miss out on Wolfgang Puck's.

I also wanted to try DisneyQuest. I love video games, and wanted to try this at least once, even though we've heard mixed reviews.

The elevator trip into the building was fun and funny. But once you get in, you have no idea how to get back out.

I was surprised, because I didn't remember hearing anything about a themed elevator "ride". You get to see Genie and he gives a little story about the place (I forget what he says). The elevator itself doesn't actually go anywhere (like the old elevators in The Living Seas).

I was a bit concerned, because from the line, it frankly looked a bit lame. But once you got into the boat, you didn't notice the graphics so much because of the motion and your frantic attempts to paddle and steer the boat.

This was how I was feeling, too. I was trying to deny it, but while watching other peoples ride, I had a sinking suspicion the entire building was going to be lame, but once we actually got into the ride, I enjoyed it very much. It isn't the most up-to-date technology or state-of-the-art graphics, but it was fun.

We waited in line for a chance at the Pirates game. This was the longest line, and for good reason. We LOVED this game. It was SOOO much fun.

This was my favorite ride in DisneyQuest. I could have done this 5 more times and been happy. Again, it wasn't the greatest graphics. I had a little problem with double-vision with the 3D graphics, but that might be because of my eyesight. But it was still the best part of DisneyQuest.

We headed over to Cyber Space Mountain next.

Another cool one. If I rode it without Kai, I would have tried for a thrill index of 5.

We waited in the line for AstroBlaster next.

I didn't really like this one all that much. It seemed rickety and the cannon wasn't very powerful.

We tried the Mighty Ducks Pinball Slam next.

I found this game very frustrating. I often times lost my "puck", and it didn't seem to follow my movements. I'm happy Jenn won, but I didn't really like it.

The only major simulator we hadn't done at this point was Ride the Comix.

I think I was the only one who enjoyed this out of the four of us, mostly because I used to read comics. But it was still really lame. And the helmets were really uncomfortable.

 

[MouseEarsJenny]

Been spending some time with the kids before they leave for their next vacation, so just one quick update today.

When we woke up on Saturday, it was finally time to actually visit a park. We were all pretty revved and got up very early since Animal Kingdom had morning EMH. We would normally avoid parks with a morning EMH but our reservations and the Fantasmic! schedule had pretty much dictated that today be AK.

One of Scott's frequent complaints about our visits to AK is that we don't actually see that many animals. So I figured we were on the right track to correct that when we found this guy on the stairs at Pop.

Compared to the frogs we saw last year at CSR, this guy was a giant. But other than him and a couple of ducks swimming in the bowling pin pool, we didn't see much wildlife at the hotel during our stay. We paused for a cheesy photo to commemorate our room location.

And then we waited for the bus. And waited. It seemed like every time we wanted to go somewhere this week, sixteen buses for other locations would pull up before we finally got a bus for where we wanted to go. Then, we'd be waiting for say, EPCOT the next day, and there would be three AK buses in a row. Ah well.

We arrived at Animal Kingdom and were distressed to discover that even though we were among the first at the park, we couldn't line up because we needed to go to Will Call for our GAD fastpasses - and the Will Call windows weren't open! The park opened at 8, and the will call window wasn't going to open until 7:30.

But, while we were waiting, I logged on to Mobile Magic. According to the app, Primeval Whirl was open during EMH hours. Now, we had planned on wasting the EMH hour with breakfast at Rainforest Cafe so that we could go straight to Primeval Whirl at 9 when we thought it opened. If it was opening at 8 with the rest of the EMH attractions, this changed our whole plan. When the CM at Will Call finally opened (and gave us our GAD fastpasses, and thanked Kai for volunteering) we asked - sure enough, Primeval Whirl was an EMH attraction! So for that information alone, Mobile Magic was worth the cost. We joined the regular line and watched the rope drop show from afar.

We entered the park (Kai had no trouble with her finger scan, even though she had taken off her band-aid) and hustled straight to Chester and Hester's Dino-rama.

Call it a cheesy roadside attraction if you will - I love this area of the park. The sidewalk that looks like an interstate, the topiaries held in place with license plates, the cheesy painted dinosaurs... It's just plain fun. And so is the ride we hustled onto with no line - Primeval Whirl!

Well, I should say that Kairi, Scott and I hustled on to it. Nick had promised to go on roller coasters this trip, but he had always drawn the line on Primeval Whirl. He's afraid of heights, and unlike many of the Disney coasters that disguise how high up you are, Primeval Whirl is on a high open track. There's no way he was getting on this.

The rest of us were thrilled to finally be riding something, and not just virtually. The total lack of line was great. I could have ridden multiple times if Nick hadn't been waiting for us.

Scott had never been on this ride (long story from our last vacation where we were playing tour guide to 11 people - don't get him started) and he loved it.

We were going to ride Triceratop Spin, just to be completist, but it wasn't working. We did have to take the obligatory "souvenir photo" that comes with all roadside attractions, though.

We still had plenty of time before our 8:45 Rainforest Cafe ADR. So we headed back to the entrance, pausing by the Tree of Life for some picture taking.

We tried to go to the inside entrance of Rainforest Cafe and the CM told us that the entrance wouldn't open until 8:45. So we settled in for a half-hour wait.

Just then, another CM replaced the first one. She said, "If you're waiting for a reservation, why don't you go around? The outside entrance is already open." This seemed weird, but we left the park (getting some rather odd looks from people coming into the turnstiles) and sure enough, the outside entrance was open.

Kai has a thing for frogs, so before we went in, she insisted on a picture with the froggy mascot.

We were seated almost instantly, about 25 minutes before our reservation time. We were given a nice table near the waterfall.

I liked the over the top decor, from the fish in tanks to the starry sky visible through all the leaves.

It was REALLY loud, however, and it was hard to carry on a conversation, even though we were one of the few families in the restaurant at that hour. It got especially loud when the animal animatronics would start their calling and carrying on. Entertaining, but LOUD.

We ordered our breakfasts, and took in the atmosphere until they arrived. The portions were HUGE. Really, really HUGE. My "Pie of the Viper" was enough for an entire family, I am sure. It was tasty, but I only ate two slices. The bites with salsa were the best - I think the center of the pie had so much egg it got a bit bland.

Scott ordered an egg white omelet that came with yummy fresh fruit.

Nick had an omelet. He got to choose his own additions, and I think he went for bacon, ham, and cheddar.

Kai had a standard eggs and fixings kind of breakfast. Problem was, she had a stomach ache, and barely touched it.

Basically, what we learned was that we should order breakfasts to share if we ever return here. No one finished their food, and we ended up spending something like $60 after a $10 coupon we had gotten online (although they did take the coupon, which was nice). Drinks were $3.99 each, which seemed really excessive for coffee and orange juice. The kids really seemed to like the place. Me? I think it's a not-so-cheap roadside attraction.

Up Next:

On My Summer Vacation, We Went On Safari

 

[FlightlessDuck]

We placed our order and sat in the blessedly cool dining room. Our server (Ewan? Evan?) was great, and kept us in wonderful unsweet tropical iced tea as we waited.

This, by itself, is a great reason to go here. The only other counter service restaurant I know of that has servers to get you drinks and silverware is Pepper Market.

Anyway, at the time, all I was thinking was how great it was to get real china and flatware

Reason #2 why this is the best counter service on property.

As I recall, Scott liked my entree more than his. (And I'm sure he'll correct me if I recall incorrectly!)

It's hard to say whether I liked your MORE. I had the chicken, and I think it was the best rotisserie chicken I have ever ate. Your meatloaf was also the best meatloaf I ever ate. Was one better than the other? I'm not sure I can say. I think both mashed potatoes were only passable, though. Nothing wrong with them, just not phenomenal.

About halfway through their plates, they started complaining they were full.

This is going to be a recurring theme for all of us this trip.

For dessert, Scott and I both had the creme brulee. It was delicious, and I was glad to see they didn't use the little tin containers anymore. Still, I'd be lying if I said it stood out - it was just your basic creme brulee.

I don't normally eat creme brulee, but I liked this. I recall trying some of the maple creme brulee at Le Cellier, and I liked this one better.

Well, we tried to head to the pool.

Pool accidents are really annoying. And worse, the pool was warm. Ugh.

It was a decent pool, I guess, but pretty bland. The 60's pool is a little better themed, but in general I think the value resorts get shafted when it comes to pools.

 

[FlightlessDuck]

One of Scott's frequent complaints about our visits to AK is that we don't actually see that many animals.

We certainly fixed that this time.

We arrived at Animal Kingdom and were distressed to discover that even though we were among the first at the park, we couldn't line up because we needed to go to Will Call for our GAD fastpasses - and the Will Call windows weren't open! The park opened at 8, and the will call window wasn't going to open until 7:30.

Originally the CM we saw said they wouldn't open until 8, which we took as a bad sign since we were going to have a second EMH day with Epcot the next day. This was going to screw up our plans. Fortunately, they opened a little after 7:30.

But, while we were waiting, I logged on to Mobile Magic. According to the app, Primeval Whirl was open during EMH hours.

It was listed in the park documentation, too, but wasn't included on wdwinfo.com when we checked for the open rides. WHich reminded me to send an email... which I just did.

Call it a cheesy roadside attraction if you will - I love this area of the park. The sidewalk that looks like an interstate, the topiaries held in place with license plates, the cheesy painted dinosaurs... It's just plain fun. And so is the ride we hustled onto with no line - Primeval Whirl!

I didn't like the area so much during our last trip, I think mostly due to my crabby mood. This time, I really appreciated the theming. While I am not normally that great with wild-mouse type rides, I enjoyed Primeval Whirl very much. I like that it was designed to basically look like any other amusement park wild-mouse. It gives a sense of authenticity, and gives a little break from the overly-themed rides you get everywhere else. Don't get me wrong -- I love the dark rides in the Magic Kingdom, but sometimes you just want something mindless and fun.

We tried to go to the inside entrance of Rainforest Cafe and the CM told us that the entrance wouldn't open until 8:45. So we settled in for a half-hour wait.

I found it extremely odd that they wouldn't let us out this way, but we could go out around the front of the park. What was the point of this?

We were seated almost instantly, about 25 minutes before our reservation time. We were given a nice table near the waterfall.

I liked getting seated early, and enjoyed the waterfall, but I have to agree with Jenn that the place was too loud.

Scott ordered an egg white omelet that came with yummy fresh fruit.

I was underwhelmed by the omelet. It was very bland. In some ways, I tried to make an excuse that it should be bland, since it was only egg whites, but in the back of my mind I protested this. The cheese and tomatoes didn't have any flavor, either. I liked the fruit though. I also liked Jenn's Pie of the Viper better.

I also agree it was expensive. But even on the regular dining plan, in the end, I don't think I'd want to bother coming back.