Lost Luggage? Flat Tire? No Worries,We're at WDW Trip Report! (6/23 - FINAL UPDATE!!)

[GBShorts]

I like the first one because you can use it for a desktop on a computer.

I like the second one just because I like it.

The third one has people in it-which I realize is a reality of Disney, but given the choice of people over none I'd choose none...

the fourth one cuts off the top of the castle.

I love them all though!

 

[~Fisharefriends~]

if i had to choose one it would be number 2, its a beautiful shot.

 

[wishin' on a star]

My choice is #2 as well!

 

[Queenofallthings]

I am going to have to go with 2 as well

 

[JanetMom]

Number 2! The composition feels the best with a bit of sky above the castle and the rocks anchoring the bottom.

Great shots

 

[jeniamt]

Okay, since you asked... I like #1 but I would zoom in a little more. Cropping out a little more of the foreground. I like that the castle is a little off center. Perfect composition. Also, I think it needs to be straightened slightly. It tilts a little to the right. Sorry, I probably just gave you more than you really wanted. Geesh!

Speaking of pictures, I love the picture of the lion behind the reeds. Looks like something out of National Geographic!

I have to comment that I was sorely disappointed you guys didn't accomplish Drinks Around the World! DH and I have the same goal every trip but since we've had kids and need to keep a more level head, we split the drink at each country. Then again, we've never tried to do it after a full meal. Even splitting the drinks, I don't think we've ever finished!!! We usually give ourselves a pass in America. We LOOOOVVVE the Casa Blanca beer in Morocco and have never tried the slushies before. How are they?

 

[PrincessInOz]

My vote goes to No 2.

 

[TigerLaw]

Thursday, May 20th

Parks Visited: Magic Kingdom
Dining: Crystal Palace (brunch) and Plaza (dinner)

Thursday was our early entry morning at MK. It took FOREVER to get a bus, such that we arrived just as the welcome show was starting. Once the rope drop took place, we headed over to fantasyland, per our standard MK EMH morning practice. We started with a ride on Dumbo, which I think we were the second “flight” of the day and then rode Peter Pan, both with no wait. From there we tried to ride Pooh, but it was down, so we ended up doing Snow White and It’s a Small World instead. After IASW, we tried to get on Pooh, but it was still down, so we ended up waiting for the main park open rope drop by IASW for like 5 minutes. Turned out that other “rope droppers” got let in before us, but no major worries. I rushed ahead and got us a FP for Splash before we rode Big Thunder, which was only using one side of the platform (they were working on the other side). After riding Big Thunder twice with little lines, we headed over for Splash, which actually already had like a 15 minute line (we had to wait outside for example). Thankfully, we didn’t get hit bY the Super Soaker Water Cannons! :

The Splash line was pretty long when we got off it, so we headed over to Pirates, which was like a five minute wait. By then, it was almost time for our Crystal Palace brunch, so I got us another set of FPs and then we headed over to CP. We ended up having to wait a LONG TIME just to get in - to the point where a CM gave us two sets of anywhere FPs (that was totally unexpected!! ). By then though, they had already started the breakfast to lunch conversion, so the breakfast food was on one side of the buffet, and then THAT caused some lines for food. Add to that we had a totally inattentive waiter, and it wasn’t our greatest disney meal to say the least.

Here are some CP character pics:





Melissa had trouble getting a decent picture with me and Eyeore, so I got one as we left CP by himself.

After brunch, we headed over to watch the Hall of Presidents, but first I ran and got us another set of FPs for splash (and saw that Big Thunder was down). This was the first time I tried to take HoP pics, so take a look:



The HoP poster is probably my favorite print in all of WDW!





I still can’t get over how the President Obama character doesn’t look like him at all!

Here are some more pics of our MK morning:








I tired to get one of Melissa flying but couldn’t, so I got this instead













COMING UP - LOTS MORE FROM THE MAGIC KINGDOM!

 

[TigerLaw]

Thursday May 20th (cont.)

After we were done w. HoP, we split up, with Melissa going back to the BCV to hit the pool and take a nap. I stayed at MK, rode space and jungle cruise (had an awesome skipper!) got some more FPs and took some more pics:











Saw pirate goofy for the first time that I could recall



Our great skipper Caroline!





And finally, the Mayor of Main Street, U.S.A hangin’ with a hottie!

 

[TigerLaw]

After I finished bumming around MK, mid-afternoon, I came back to BCV. Funny story though was that in coming back, the bus driver made everyone get off the bus at YC, citing “construction”. This meant I had to walk through the YC lobby, all the way around stormalong bay, just to get to the BC lobby, where I went to the front desk to ask what happened. Basically, they said they didn’t know and sorry, but that was about it. Once I FINALLY got back to the room, I rested for a bit, before we headed back to MK where we had a 5pm ressie for the Plaza Restaurant. This was the first time for us to eat at the Plaza and we both liked it as new food option for us at MK. I got a cheeseburger and I can’t remember what Melissa got there - fast, relatively cheap and good - who knew?!?

From there, we hit the people mover, then used a FP for buzz and a FP for pooh (which was now running). We next hit the haunted mansion, which had a bit of wait, before heading over to Frontierland to ride the mountains. Unfortunately, Big Thunder was down, so we rode Splash twice in a row (again w. my saved-up FPs). BT was still down, so we hitched a ride on the MK railroad and did a lap around the park. When we got off the RR, Big Thunder must have just reopened, so we got a ride in and lined up for a second ride when it went down again. Rather than wait in line, we just left the ride. We ended up doing HM again and tried to do philharmagic, but it was DOWN w. technical issue too! (first time I ever saw that down).
We finally ended up riding the people mover one more time to kill time before heading over for the Wishes dessert party.

Here are some more MK pics:









As for the dessert party, they had changed the party a bit since last year, and the changes were for the better. We had a great front row seat (I’m guessing b/c I booked it the day it opened up might have help that). So we stuffed ourselves w. dessert, watched spectro from our seats, and then watched the fireworks.

Here are a couple party pics:













After the fireworks, we decided to make a run for it and leave with the masses (the park closed at 10pm and the fireworks were at 10 as well). We got on the first BC bus and they did actually drop us off at the beach club too, so that was a plus! .

COMING UP: ITS FINALLY TIME TO ROCK AND ROLL, AEROSMITH STYLE!

 

[TigerLaw]

Based on everyone's feedback, the winner in the photo contest is..... PICTURE 2!!!

thanks everyone for the help!

 

[TigerLaw]

Friday, May 21st

Parks Visited: MGM and Epcot
Dining: Sci Fi (lunch) and Cape May Clambake (dinner)

Friday morning, we headed over to MGM for the first day of Star Wars Weekends (SWW). We actually weren’t really focusing on SWW this day, as that would be my focus on Saturday while Melissa hung out at the pool. Our focus was RnRC, as this was the first day it was open during our trip (it had been under a brief rehab). Given it was the first day of SWW, I assumed we would need to leave early for the park, so we left maybe like at 8am. Usually, when we drive over to MGM, we park pretty close to the front, but this time, they directed us to some other part of the lot we had never been at before. We got to the line maybe 40 minutes before park open and eventually, some of the SW characters came out on the roof:



Eventually, they open the ticket machines and we ended up at a rope drop line at the turn down sunset blvd. For some reason, we didn’t get let in until like five after 9am (we could see people getting let into other parts of the park). I got FPs for RnRC before we rode it w/o much of any wait. When we came out, the stand by line was already SIXTY MINUTES LONG!! We ended up doing the single ride line, which took like 10-15 minutes. I then got a second set of FPs (with a 1pm return time!) and then we split up, with me going to get Toy Story Mania FPs w. my DVC card and riding Tower, and Melissa trying to ride the single ride line again. Unfortunately, Melissa never even got inside the ride, as they stopped taking on single riders (something we had never seen before). As for my FP trek, I had to wait in actual lines just to get FPs for TSM (and had lines for my second FP set at RnRC as well). Tower’s line was at 30 minutes, but I used another of my instant FPs, so it was no big deal wait-wise. After I finished my Tower ride, we met back up and used one of our RnRC FPs for our third ride on this very crowded day, before heading over around 11:20 for an early lunch at Sci-Fi. Here is ANOTHER EXAMPLE of the two person seating issue, as we always have to “hitchhike” with another family in one of the 6 person “cars”. Nonetheless, the food was good as always (I love their shakes).



After lunch, we rode TSM a couple times and then called it a day at MGM. The crowds were just insane between SWW and the first day RnRC was back open - so that plus the heat made us head for the pool and taking a nap before our night at Epcot.

Here are some of my MGM pics for that day:







COMING UP - CAN I CLOSE OUT EPCOT DURING AN EMH NIGHT?!?

 

[Sweet Pea UK]

Loving it all so far - you are going to several places to eat that we arei n our August trip so I love reading about your food choices.

I love that you put so many great photos in. This will be my first time at Disney with my DSLR and I am so excited! I'm sure that the point and shoot will still get a lot of use but I am really hoping to get some good ones with my better camera.

Thank you for letting me share your wonderful trip.

Sara

 

[TigerLaw]

Friday, May 21st (cont.)

Dinner that night was at the cape may clambake. They had redid some of the food choices since we had last been there (for the better) including the inclusion of crab lags (we had eaten there the year before we they had crab legs out for a two week trial run) and a second dessert station. From there, we were supposed to go to DTD together to pic up our xmas ornaments, but I ended up just going by myself while Melissa waited in the room. Once I got back, we headed over to Epcot for illuminations. First though, we went to the pastry shop in France so I could get an eclair, which I supplemented of cousrse w. a French beer called Kronenbourg. The eclair was a dissappointment however, b/c it had chocolate filing instead of (what I thought at least was the standard) bavarian cream filing. (Melissa got a apple turnover also). From there, we headed over and watched the fireworks, finding a spot on the IG bridge. I tried to take pictures, but it was difficult b/c the smoke from the fireworks was blowing in our direction. Here’s a couple:





One the show was over, Melissa headed back to the beach club while I stayed to take pictures during Epcot’s EMH night. I first walked around the world showcase, stopping for a beer and brat in Germany. I went over to ride Maelstrom but it had a 20 minute wait, so I decided I would catch it later. Our friend Donald Duck was in Mexico and had no one to see him, so I rode the Gran Fiesta Tour. I then headed over to Test Track, thinking it would be no big deal doing ths single rider line, but it took like 30 minutes just to get close to one of the cars, and then the ride went down as well! I honestly have no idea why I stayed that long for the ride. I next took pictures around Future World before heading back over into the World Showcase for some empty park pictures. I also rode Maelstrom with no wait and no one in my boat - God I forgot what a stupid ride that was! Eventally, the park closed at midnight and I finished my picture taking around 12:10 before heading back home to the Beach Club.

Here are some of my Epcot EMH night pics:



I never knew you could see the Yacht Club from Epcot before I took this





I have no reason why, I just really like these nighttime topiary shots!





Why would they do this to poor Donald?!?







COMING UP -MY BEST EPOCT NIGHTTIME PICTURES EVER!

 

[TigerLaw]

Friday, May 21st (cont.)

These are some of the slow shutter pics I took at Epcot during its EMH night. As I didn't have a tripod, I had to improvise, so if anyone saw a guy focusing his camera on top of a trashb can that night, it was probably me! Anyway, here are the pics:
























COMING UP: MUPPETS, STAR WARS WEEKENDS AND JUST WENT YOU FORGOT WHAT THIS REPORT WAS CALLED, MORE DRAMA!

 

[TigerLaw]

Saturday, May 22nd

Parks Visited: MGM and Epcot
Dining: Bistro de Paris (dinner)

Saturday was our “split day”. I went to MGM for the day for Star Wars Weekends and Melissa got to hang out by the pool. While I am working on my HUGE amount of SWW pictures, I thought I would try to hold the masses over with a couple sets of pictures I took that day - the first being all Muppets related and the second from One Man’s Dream - take a look:

Here Comes the Muppets!







Does Animal REALLY look like this?!?



I love the Statler and Waldorf shirt!




Why is Fozzie always in the trash?!?



Hang in there Gonzo!



And now some One Man's Dream Pics:









COMING UP - MORE STAR WARS WEEKENDS REPORT AND PICTURES!

 

[Queenofallthings]

Your night time pictures at Epcot are nothing short of amazing....some of the most beautiful shots I have seen!!!

 

[wendy3]

 

[TigerLaw]

Sat. May 22nd (cont.)

Here are some random pictures from my Star Wars Weekends day at MGM:







The lines for both Chewie and Leia were just WAY TOO LONG for me to even THINK ABOUT trying to get in!





I tried to get into the new location for SWW merchandise by even that had a line (and considering I just wanted to take pictures, I didn't bother)



I thought Vader's line could rival Toy Story Mania's....





... until I saw this! And as to the scary blue jedi above, I assume she is a Clone Wars bad jedi, as I never saw her before.









COMING UP - SWW PARADE PICS!

 

[cdotla]

What a wonderful TR! I am thoroughly enjoying it!

Your photos are fantastic! Great job!

Love your trip reporting...looking forward to more!