Kick'n It at Kidani (aka Am I Becoming a Resort Snob?)Final Update 8/20 p.54

[Charleston Princess]

I DO NOT like it when people start to shreek as soon as the ride starts!~ If you have to do that, then skip the ride. The first time I ever rode this ride it was me and my older DS and this woman who screamed and cried through the whole ride. I thought she was going to have a complete nervous breakdown. Her kids jumped out of line right before we loaded and she went by herself. Seriously....close your eyes .....get a grip!

I do the opposite. I try not to scream at all. In fact, I actually laughed everytime I looked over at LJ.

Yes - you must do ToT again. I have heard that they tamed it down and I definately think that this year's and last year's ride were not bad at all. I just think its best when you have a whole group!

There are handle things beside all the seats, right? As long as there is something to hold onto, I "think" I might be okay. If they have toned it down, then I am sure I can handle it...maybe...I really want to get over my fear of thrill rides...except for RnRC -- I am okay with not doing that one.

 

[LOVEMY3KIDDOS]

OOOOOh! Love ToT!!!! I was so excited last time we went that our youngest was tall enough to go on and he loved it. That makes it so much easier when you don't have to child swap! Can't wait to see what your "uh oh" is!!!!!

 

[Lady Lallie]

There are handle things beside all the seats, right? As long as there is something to hold onto, I "think" I might be okay. If they have toned it down, then I am sure I can handle it...maybe...I really want to get over my fear of thrill rides...except for RnRC -- I am okay with not doing that one.

I feel the same way, CP! I really think my fear is irrational. Especially since I have done Space Mtn, Splash Mtn and BTMRR all before! I am trying hard to be brave.

 

[torsie24]

Hi MEK!

I've just read your whole TR so far and am loving it!!!

It makes me so happy to see LJ having such an awesome time!! And I love his on ride EE photo! Way to go him with his hands in the air first time!!

Can't wait for more updates and I hope the 'uh-oh' wasn't too traumatic!!

 

[wigdoutdismom]

I thought I had subscribed to this, (but must have forgotten to click)

I have lots of reading to do!

 

[MEK]

LJ is just the coolest kid ever. I love that he thinks everything is awesome. He seems so mellow and go with the flow! What did your brother say when you told him LJ was not frail?

Good for you braving ToT. That is one of the rides that I am trying to work myself up too. It scares me half to death. I hate the sensation of free falling. Bah. I am going to try to do Splash Mountain again this next trip and if that goes well then maybe ToT someday soon.

I'm not sure if my brother was really listening to me when I told him what a daredevil LJ really is. He is probably still in denial!

You have to do ToT in September when you are all down there together (everyone but me...boo hoo). There is safety in numbers. You are to arrange a ToT Dis meet. YOU can do this!

There are handle things beside all the seats, right? As long as there is something to hold onto, I "think" I might be okay. If they have toned it down, then I am sure I can handle it...maybe...I really want to get over my fear of thrill rides...except for RnRC -- I am okay with not doing that one.

They do have hand rails to grab hold of and that's exactly what I do. Then I try to push myself back into the seat! These people with their hands up,butt out of the seat. Forget it! If I can do it, You can do it. Seriously, I am a big chicken. I used to love thrill rides as a teen and then some ride operator left me hanging upside down in a salt and pepper shaker (that shows my age) and I just about lost my mind. I have no idea how long he left me up there, but it seemed like an eternity. That ruined thrill rides for me for a long time!

OOOOOh! Love ToT!!!! I was so excited last time we went that our youngest was tall enough to go on and he loved it. That makes it so much easier when you don't have to child swap! Can't wait to see what your "uh oh" is!!!!!

It's soooooo cool when everyone can ride together! The theming of this ride is so great. I think the wierdest part is when you are traveling through the dark and then hit that bump before you go into the shaft. Then you feel the warm air and "AHHHHHHHHHHHHHH" it's go time!

I feel the same way, CP! I really think my fear is irrational. Especially since I have done Space Mtn, Splash Mtn and BTMRR all before! I am trying hard to be brave.

OK - enough now. You CAN DO this! I am going over to your PTR right now and we are going to arrange a DIS meet for you all to ride ToT!

Hi MEK!

I've just read your whole TR so far and am loving it!!!

It makes me so happy to see LJ having such an awesome time!! And I love his on ride EE photo! Way to go him with his hands in the air first time!!

Can't wait for more updates and I hope the 'uh-oh' wasn't too traumatic!!

Hey Torsie......

Welcome to my TR. Thanks for reading! LJ is such an adorable kid. I didn't even know he had his hands up until I looked at the pic. He just got braver and braver throughout the week. I'm sure I held him back more than I had too!

I thought I had subscribed to this, (but must have forgotten to click)

I have lots of reading to do!

Hey Wigd! Thanks for stopping by. MY TR is fairly easy to follow cause I don't have 50 comments for every update, like you do! I have a slightly smaller group of loyal readers and I them all. I don't think I have the capacity to handle that volumes that you, CP, and LL get! I have to work up to that slowly!

 

[rocknspots]

My husband & I are spending a week at Kidani 10/31-11/7 this fall so I'm anxious to hear everything about your experience. Kidani is our "home". We became DVC members last year on a 4-night cruise. This year we're doing our 5th Disney cruise and then relaxing for a week Kidani... Did I say RELAXING? What am I thinking? Thanks for sharing!

 

[manntra]

Love your TR!! As LJ would say it is AWESOME!! I read the whole thing today while pretending to work.
Thank you for such praise for Kidani! I can't wait to stay there in October. Have stayed at Jambo twice....love AKV!!

 

[MEK]

My husband & I are spending a week at Kidani 10/31-11/7 this fall so I'm anxious to hear everything about your experience. Kidani is our "home". We became DVC members last year on a 4-night cruise. This year we're doing our 5th Disney cruise and then relaxing for a week Kidani... Did I say RELAXING? What am I thinking? Thanks for sharing!

Hi Rocknspots:

Welcome to my TR. I am so psyched to be your first post! Welcome to the DIS! I'm happy to have you following along. You are going to love Kidani! Plus a Disney cruise. That is so great! What a great time of year to visit.

Love your TR!! As LJ would say it is AWESOME!! I read the whole thing today while pretending to work.
Thank you for such praise for Kidani! I can't wait to stay there in October. Have stayed at Jambo twice....love AKV!!

Hi Manntra and Welcome! I can't believe you read the whole thing. Nice job! I really hope you love Kidani as much as I did. It is really such a cool resort. The thing I still miss most is the music. I would love to hear that music again!

 

[mickeysmyboy]

Great update!

I've never been on TOT and most likely will never go! We aren't rollercoaster people! Although, DS6 is a lot more of adventurous/thrill ride kinda kid so I get to go with him! So I may end up on it at some point!

 

[MEK]

I really want to get my Day 4 update completed tonight. I am in the process of reviewing several chapters for a Med/Surgical Nursing textbook. I have to get it in the mail tomorrow (Yeah I waited until the last minute), so I finished it tonight. I get $150 honorarium. That's Disney money to me!

So when I left off LJ had finished his second back to back ride on ToT! We still had a good amount of time to kill before Fantasmic. We walked to the middle of the park and looked at the GMR. Line still out the door! Maybe they changed the inside queue. I'd be curious to hear from someone who was there the same day who knows exactly how long the wait was.

Then we headed over to Star Tours. There was a bit of a wait, but pretty minimal. Star Tours moves pretty well when they open up both sides.

I had to take this mandatory shot of 3PO:

We got the back row of Star Tours again! Score!

After Star Tours there was about 5 minutes until the AI finale started. We tried to get in line, but the outside queue already reached its limit. Drat. But that was OK because we sat outside in front of the big screen. The finale was much better than the earlier show because everyone was a great singer. There were seven contestants in all. I wish I could remember what everyone sand, but I can't. The most memorable contestants for me were two women. One sang "I'm Every Woman" and the other sang "RESPECT". It may not have been those two exact songs. I just know they both did power ballads and they were spot on!

Here's the elimination:

My two favorites were the semi-finalists":

So who do you think the "ringer", I mean "winner" was of this dynamic duo? Well if you guessed the blonde, you are CORRECT! She was about 24 years olde with long, long legs, a "hot" bod, cute face, and a killer voice. I kid you not, this girl had an amazing voice. Her name was Katie Bernard. I memorized her name because I fully expect her to be in the top ten on American Idol next season. So when you see Katie Bernard in all the previews of the real show, don't forget that MEK told you so. She is definately the next Carrie Underwood.

At one point during the show I leaned over and asked LJ what his favorite ride had been so far. He wasn't sure. I said, "So why do you like better AI or ToT?" He completely blew me away when he said AI. Yeah, you heard me right. LJ liked AI better than ToT. Go figure!

By now it was close to 8pm so we walked over to get our reserved seats for Fantasmic. I had read that they start giving away the reserved seats by 8:15, so it was withing our best interest to get there on time. At 8:05 we were seated and the left hand corner of the theatre was already starting the wave. That's when I knew I could never sit still for the next 55 minutes so I decided to get up and stand in line for snacks. This was great, except for one thing....the line did not move. It was ridiculous. So finally, after what seemed like an eternity, I moved into a line in front of an ice cream cart. I think I got out of line with the goods in hand by 8:55pm!

Finally..... Let the show begin!

(Be Back soon with the Fantasmic pics)

 

[ToddyLu]

My husband & I are spending a week at Kidani 10/31-11/7 this fall so I'm anxious to hear everything about your experience. Kidani is our "home". We became DVC members last year on a 4-night cruise. This year we're doing our 5th Disney cruise and then relaxing for a week Kidani... Did I say RELAXING? What am I thinking? Thanks for sharing!

We will be there too 10/28-11/06. Have a great trip!!

 

[SunnieRN]

Grrrr, I hate it when my work life gets in the way of my dis life. I apologize for not being able to answer your question until now.

A photo pass share is pretty much what it sounds like. You get a group together that is traveling to wdw within about a 2 week time frame. An average group is 4 to 6 people. I think it's great to limit the group to 5.

One person is the "leader", pays for the photo pass, collects the money from the other participants. There is a definate start and end date by which time you need to let the leader know your photo pass card numbers.

The leader orders the cd and when it arrives either makes cd's of each family to send out, with their families pictures, or, can post the pictures on a hosting site which the pictures can be downloaded from.

All extras, like mugs, the photo books etc., that are available on the photopass site, can be ordered by anyone with the card numbers associated with the cd. They can also edit all their pictures on the disney site.

Phew...
Wow, what a wonderful afternoon and evening!! TOT is one of my favorite rides! Good going LJ!! I was telling my daughter about your AI ambitions and she said we would definately make it a point to be there to cheer you on if we are there when you compete!!

Really excited for your fantasmic photos as I have seen the show at disneyland numerous times, but never fro wdw!!

 

[MEK]

Great update!

I've never been on TOT and most likely will never go! We aren't rollercoaster people! Although, DS6 is a lot more of adventurous/thrill ride kinda kid so I get to go with him! So I may end up on it at some point!

That's how I started riding rides again. Once my kids wanted to go on rides, it was hard not to. The scariest ride that I really had to work up to was the Incredible Hulk. I fretted over that for days! I actually found I like roller coasters, especially the really smooth ones. But I can't do anything too outrageous (like those coasters that go straight up and down in 0.2 seconds). Still ToT drops always may me nervous. It's not the same as a coaster. Yet, I really do think it has gotten tamer since the first time I rode it in 2002.

We will be there too 10/28-11/06. Have a great trip!!

Have a great trip! Great time to go!

Grrrr, I hate it when my work life gets in the way of my dis life. I apologize for not being able to answer your question until now.

A photo pass share is pretty much what it sounds like. You get a group together that is traveling to wdw within about a 2 week time frame. An average group is 4 to 6 people. I think it's great to limit the group to 5.

One person is the "leader", pays for the photo pass, collects the money from the other participants. There is a definate start and end date by which time you need to let the leader know your photo pass card numbers.

The leader orders the cd and when it arrives either makes cd's of each family to send out, with their families pictures, or, can post the pictures on a hosting site which the pictures can be downloaded from.

All extras, like mugs, the photo books etc., that are available on the photopass site, can be ordered by anyone with the card numbers associated with the cd. They can also edit all their pictures on the disney site.

Phew...
Wow, what a wonderful afternoon and evening!! TOT is one of my favorite rides! Good going LJ!! I was telling my daughter about your AI ambitions and she said we would definately make it a point to be there to cheer you on if we are there when you compete!!

Really excited for your fantasmic photos as I have seen the show at disneyland numerous times, but never fro wdw!!

Thanks for the explanation. It was the card numbers that confused me. I couldn't figure out how everyone got on the same card. So you collect the card numbers after the trip and then when you order you can give as many card numbers as you want? I think this is doable if we got a few more people. I know that we won't take a ton of photopass photos, so its never been worth it for me to get the disc. But it would be nice to have some photos at a reasonable cost. OK I'm defintely leaning more towards this. You'll have to pm me with more details (like cost per person and when the $ is due).

OMG - that is so nice that you would cheer me on for AI. I have pretty much decided that we will be at HS on 9/23. I made a lunch ADR for Brown Derby. With such a short trip I doubt I will so it. I really want to do some things I missed at HS this past trip. I'm pretty torn. September would be a good time to participate in AI, but its also a good time to ride the rides. Decisions. Decisions.

 

[MEK]

I was doing my update last night and I got so tired I couldn't keep my eyes open. That's why I stopped before the Fantasmic pics. I think the book review did me in! I keep telling myself - Disney money, Disney money! Every time I get a little side job, like singing a wedding or memorial service, I think Disney money, Disney money!

So since I fell asleep so early, I am up early. And I am ready to post some Fantasmic pics!

I took this picture just to give you an idea of what the crowd watching AI from outside looked like:

I'm glad we sat down when we did because as soon as the show started there were people everywhere!

So we got to our seats in Fantasmic and they were good. Almost center, but towards the back of the theatre. In the past I has always been on the extreme right. Dead center is so much better. When I go to Fantasmic I usually do the dinner package. I think I have done the DP 3X. One time I had it scheduled, but it was some minor hurricane day so it got canceled. That was in 2006. We were also there during 2005 - same week as Hurricane Katrina - we walked right into Fantasmic at 7:59 for an 8pm show.

Here's the stage before dark:

The lighting:

LJ goin' strong:

And Finally.........

 

[MEK]

So I ended up with a few good photos, but considering the length of the show, not quite as many as I hoped for. Honestly, I was fooling with the camera through the whole show. Unfortunately, I was missing the story line with all my camera antics. LJ loved it....he kept saying, "Hey. It's My Dream!"

So Fantasmic was a success and it was worth being on hold for an hour to make the dinner reservation. We were pretty charged up after Fantasmic, so we decided to see what the RnR wait time was when we left the theatre. But, blahhhhhhh, it was still like 60 minutes. So, obviously, we left.

I snapped a few more pictures, just for good measure:

So on the way home I suddenly got this bad stomach cramp. It went away as quickly as it started. But by the time we got to the room ------- uh oh ----more stomach cramps! Not a good sign! Everyone else was fine. I decided to go into the bedroom and read. Stomach cramp every 5 minutes. Well, you know where this is going! Let's just say the end result was a complete colonic cleansing that keep me awake until after 1pm. Let's see now.....dinner at 5pm.......bathroom at 1pm! Fortunately, I had the super huge bathroom all to myself and my DH must have been so tired that I never even woke him up. Do I blame it on the food????? Probably. I sometimes have IBS when I change my diet suddenly, but I think this was a little more than a dietary change. So, I am going to blame it on the mussels, or perhaps one of the multitude of salads I ate. Would I eat at H&V again? Probably. All in all, I consider it a minor incovenience, although I was a bit wiped out the next day. I'm just glad this all happened after park hours, because I would have hated to miss Fantasmic! Will I eat at a buffet again? Sure, but I should probably stick to safer foods like no mayo and no seafood. I remember looking at the mussels before I ate them thinking....I hope these don't make me sick.

So..... up next......Day 5 friday Magic Kingdom without Space Mountain!

 

[Charleston Princess]

I had to take this mandatory shot of 3PO:

I have the exact same picture. I mean, really -- wait until you see it!

By now it was close to 8pm so we walked over to get our reserved seats for Fantasmic. I had read that they start giving away the reserved seats by 8:15, so it was withing our best interest to get there on time. At 8:05 we were seated and the left hand corner of the theatre was already starting the wave. That's when I knew I could never sit still for the next 55 minutes so I decided to get up and stand in line for snacks. This was great, except for one thing....the line did not move. It was ridiculous. So finally, after what seemed like an eternity, I moved into a line in front of an ice cream cart. I think I got out of line with the goods in hand by 8:55pm!

This is why I always shy away from Fantasmic! I am not very patient when it comes to sitting and waiting. After seeing your pictures, I am pretty sure I need to suck it up and watch it on the next summer trip!

That's a shame about your stomach!

 

[SunnieRN]

Fantastic update!! It's been three years since I've seen Fantasmic. I saw it twice during my July 05 trip during disneylands 50 birthday!! It was interesting because that is when you could watch it from what is now the apartment above POTC and on the rivers of America, by purchasing dessert buffet tickets. I got to watch from each area on that trip, on my birthday and on disneylands birthday!!

Looking forward to more and I will p.m. you.

 

[jenjolt]

Oh what a great thing to wake up to updates from MEK!!!! Don't you just love when you get to do little things that add up to Disney money LOL, than it just doesn't seem like work LOL!!!!

Glad to hear you guys had a great time and LJ was enjoying himself immensely!!!

I loved Fantastmic the one time I saw it I might have to cave and see it again sometime...although I am truly a Spectromagic type of gal LOL!!!

Sorry you weren't feeling well, but I was happy to hear it didn't last more than the night and into the rest of your trip!!!!

 

[Lady Lallie]

What a wonderful evening. I really hope to catch an AI show in the Fall, it looks like a lot of fun! Ringers or not.

Fantasmic is my second favorite nighttime show after Spectromagic. I think it's a great show, I also want to see the Disneyland version I have heard that one is even better!

Sorry about your stomach troubles! That's the worst, especially at Disney when you know you have to be going the next day!