More Adventures in WDW: June, November and December Trip Reports

Welcome! Glad you're enjoying the trip report so far. There's not a whole bunch more photos from Coronado to come, but there'll be plenty of Downtown Disney, Magic Kingdom and Hollywood Studios if you're interested.

I am very interested. Your photos are fantastic!

I only just noticed Geppetto's mural recently. Its fun to look at and pick out all the familiar characters. :goodvibes
 
Love the photos of DTD! We'll more than likely be spending quite a bit of time there in October as we'll be just a short boat ride from it! :thumbsup2

We heard today - we got the upgrade to the 1 bed villa at OKW! Will still have to take a wee trip to POFQ for the biegnets once....or twice...or...:cloud9:

Di x
 
You get such great details in your photos, details that I sometimes don't even notice!

Love the little bugs from the Silly Symphonies.

Thanks LL. I love finding all the different details to take pictures of- especially in gift shops (since I'm not much of a shopper :laughing: ). Gives me something to do at Downtown Disney.


Your TRs always have the best pictures! :thumbsup2 You seem to notice things the rest of us miss!

Nice update and it makes me eager to get to DTD next month!

Aww thanks Dawn. :blush: Hope you have a blast at Downtown Disney.


I am very interested. Your photos are fantastic!

I only just noticed Geppetto's mural recently. Its fun to look at and pick out all the familiar characters. :goodvibes

Thanks Jennifer. Isn't that Geppetto mural fun? Just goes to show you how much the little things add to the experience.


Love the photos of DTD! We'll more than likely be spending quite a bit of time there in October as we'll be just a short boat ride from it! :thumbsup2

We heard today - we got the upgrade to the 1 bed villa at OKW! Will still have to take a wee trip to POFQ for the biegnets once....or twice...or...:cloud9:

Di x

Glad you like them Di. Congrats on getting Old Key West! I've never been there, so I'll be interested in hearing all about it.
 
I just love your pictures. I can't remember if I asked before, but do you use a SLR? I have one, but even after a few years of using it, I'm always learning more on it. (actually bought a new one last year) I love th pics form it so muc hmore than my Point and shoot though.
 

I just love your pictures. I can't remember if I asked before, but do you use a SLR? I have one, but even after a few years of using it, I'm always learning more on it. (actually bought a new one last year) I love th pics form it so muc hmore than my Point and shoot though.

Thanks so much. I actually don't use an SLR. I used a point and shoot for all of these pics. Photos from SLRs do have such a high quality that I would love to be able to take one to Disney, but I couldn't imagine having to carry it around the parks.
 
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After a last look at the Marketplace, Buzz and I headed to Pleasure Island.


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In all our years of going to Disney, we’ve never been to Fulton’s/ The Empress Lilly. It does look pretty cool on the outside though.


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I couldn’t remember if we’ve ever been down to the Waterfront area of Pleasure Island, so I thought that we’d check it out. It wasn’t too exciting- just a little lake and a stage that wasn’t in use.


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We didn’t spend too much time in Pleasure Island and continued on to West Side. I don’t know if I’d ever want to go up in that balloon, but I do appreciate the photo opportunity it adds to Downtown Disney. Even if we wanted to take a ride though, it was down due to winds.


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Mary Poppins! I had seen the stage version of Mary Poppins not long before the trip when it was in Florida. I enjoyed it, but I still think I prefer the film. The show was extremely exciting to see though- especially since Gavin Lee, the original Bert from Broadway and the West End, was in the show. He was fantastic as was the rest of the cast. And, of course, all of the special effects (including a number of flying effects) were top notch.


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Buzz and I looked through a couple of shops, perhaps most notably D-Street, which was new since the last time we had visited. It’s mostly a Vinylmation store which didn’t really interest us (we still don’t get the appeal), but the décor inside was pretty cool.


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I recognized this large prop in the center of the shop (which I think is the eyes and nose of the Witch from Snow White, but I’m not exactly sure about that) from some picture I had seen on Disney site or someplace. Turns out it was at the World of Disney in New York City until it closed recently.


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This sign struck us both as very MuppetVision-ish.


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The walls were decorated with murals of Disney characters (most of them Villains like Pete here).


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Even Foulfellow was included.


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One thing we noticed at Downtown Disney this time around was that there seemed to be even more entertainment around than usual- especially at West Side up and down the main walkway. This little band was outside Bongos.


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While we were watching the band, we get a phone call from our friend Goofy saying that he was done with his conference for the evening and was going to be leaving to meet us soon. Since Goofy wasn’t very familiar with Downtown Disney, I suggested that he get off at the Pleasure Island bus stop and meet us outside Planet Hollywood it was someplace that was close and fairly hard to miss. He said that he would be there in 20 minutes which, knowing Disney bus transportation, was fairly impossible, but figured that we’d be there just in case.


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Before heading towards Planet Hollywood, we browsed a little more of West Side. We had talked about maybe eating at House of Blues back when we were planning the trip, so I figured just in case we ended up eating there, I’d get some photos of it beforehand.


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Next, Buzz and I headed over to Planet Hollywood to wait for Goofy. While we waited, we took a peak in the small Planet Hollywood shop outside (you know, the one with the giant dinosaur or gator or whatever it’s supposed to be) and checked out some of the movie props outside like Forest Gump’s fishing boat.


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A topiary from Edward Scissorhands. My and Buzz’s dad (who wasn’t long for this June trip, but had been in past trip reports) is into Tim Burton movies, so it made me think of him.


After a while, Buzz and I grabbed a table near Planet Hollywood and waited… and waited. Later, we got another call from Goofy who, jokingly, told us when we said 20 minutes, he really meant an hour. :laughing: He was on the bus though and it wasn’t too long before he did make it. We talked about some of the options for dinner and Goofy suggested that we see if we could get a table at…



Next chapter: Dinner and the end of Day One
 
Great pictures of all the shops. I am usually too hung up on the merchandise than looking at the details. :rolleyes1

I really want to try the Characters in Flight balloon sometime. I might freak out once I actually got up there but I bet it's cool!
 
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Nice update :)

We love Fulton's. It is pricey but the food is very good and the service is among the best in WDW :thumbsup2

Caitlin and her dad loved the balloon ride but you'd never catch me up in that thing! :laughing:

I really like the pictures of D Street! We're looking forward to checking that out!

Looking forward to hearing where you ended up eating!
 
Love your pictures as always. I have never been to the Planet Hollywood side. Someday I would like to jsut spend a whole day looking around there. I don't get the vinylmations either. But I have read alot of TR's where people jsut love them. I'm not a pin person either. I guess I'm pretty boring. LOL!

How dare you leave us with a cliffhanger! :confused:
 
Do you know that if it wasn't for your TR and those pictures I would have no clue there were such cute details and murals at WOD, I just get tunnel vision and must shop shop shop. Not this next time, I'm going to stop and look around!!!!

Love the picture of the Forrest Gump boat, you do know that Jenny is the most beautiful name in the whole world LOL :rotfl2:

Loved the updates!
 
Great pictures of all the shops. I am usually too hung up on the merchandise than looking at the details. :rolleyes1

I really want to try the Characters in Flight balloon sometime. I might freak out once I actually got up there but I bet it's cool!

Thanks. Since Buzz and I don't tend to be big shoppers (maybe a pin here or there, but that's about it), the details tend to be our favorite parts of the shops.

I'm on the fence on the balloon. I'm not sure if it's the height or price that's keeping me away though.


Nice update :)

We love Fulton's. It is pricey but the food is very good and the service is among the best in WDW :thumbsup2

Caitlin and her dad loved the balloon ride but you'd never catch me up in that thing! :laughing:

I really like the pictures of D Street! We're looking forward to checking that out!

Looking forward to hearing where you ended up eating!

Fulton's sounds good. I never hear anything about it so I just figured it wasn't anything to write homw about. I suppose it might be something to consider adding to that never-ending list of restaurants to try at WDW.

Love your pictures as always. I have never been to the Planet Hollywood side. Someday I would like to jsut spend a whole day looking around there. I don't get the vinylmations either. But I have read alot of TR's where people jsut love them. I'm not a pin person either. I guess I'm pretty boring. LOL!

How dare you leave us with a cliffhanger! :confused:

Thanks and sorry for the cliffhanger. I just couldn't help myself. West Side's pretty nice. It's a whole different feel than the Marketplace side. I really liked it in the evening with all of the street entertainment throughout the area. I didn't get pictures of all of them, but there were at least four different musical acts going on at different places throughout the evening. It was pretty cool.


Do you know that if it wasn't for your TR and those pictures I would have no clue there were such cute details and murals at WOD, I just get tunnel vision and must shop shop shop. Not this next time, I'm going to stop and look around!!!!

Love the picture of the Forrest Gump boat, you do know that Jenny is the most beautiful name in the whole world LOL :rotfl2:

Loved the updates!

:laughing: It's amazing how much detail Disney puts into places where most people never seem to notice them. World of Disney is a prime example. Hope you have fun exploring and finding all the murals and displays for yourself.
 
Love the pictures from Downtown Disney.

Had to laugh a little at the 20 minutes to get there by bus. :lmao:
 
Great pics, as usual.

I don't understand Vinylmation either. Oh well. :confused3
 
Love the pictures from Downtown Disney.

Had to laugh a little at the 20 minutes to get there by bus. :lmao:

Thanks LL.

Yeah, I think that Goofy just didn't understand the Disney bus system quite yet. I think he read that the busses arrive every 20 minutes and though that was how long it takes to get somewhere. If I remember correctly, he said he was calling from the hotel room too, so I really knew that there was no way he would be at Downtown Disney that soon.


Great pics, as usual.

I don't understand Vinylmation either. Oh well. :confused3

Thank you. :)

Glad to know that we're not the only ones who don't get it. Somebody out there must find them appealing though since they seemed pretty popular at D-Street.
 
As we were trying to figure out where to have dinner, Goofy suggested that we see how long the wait at Planet Hollywood was. After all, we were already right there. Turns out we would be able to get in right away, so in we went. Buzz and I had eaten at Planet Hollywood with our parents about 15 years earlier shortly after it opened. I I really don’t remember a thing about the food there, but Mom and Dad were less than impressed. We never went back aftet that. I figured it was one of those “one and done” restaurants that wasn’t worth revisiting. Still, Goofy hadn’t been there before, and I thought it could be fun.


One change from last time Buzz and I were here was that they now take your picture in front of a “Hollywood” backdrop before you go inside to your table. Of course, later in the evening, you can buy the photo for a (fairly high) price. The picture didn’t turn out very well, and none of us wanted to pay for it, so we passed.


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The three of us were seated on the first floor not far from one of the Dorothy dresses worn by Judy Garland in The Wizard of Oz. For those who may wonder, there were no ruby slippers in sight. You'll have to go to the Smithsonian to see them. I’m a sucker for those old MGM musicals and Oz is one of my favorites.


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The dress was flanked on its right and left by a pair of jackets worn in the same film by a couple of the Munchkins.


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Our server said we were free to look around the restaurant and take as many pictures as we wanted, so I did. Nearby the Oz display was a costume for the character Mark from Rent. I assumed it was the original from Broadway or maybe the one from the movie, but it was actually the costume that Joey Fatone of NSYNC wore when he did the show. It seemed a little random until I realized that it was part of a display that featured local celebrities and that he was originally from Florida.


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One of Gene Kelly’s costumes from one of the few Gene Kelly movies I haven’t seen- The Pirate. I’ve heard it’s not one of the best and that’s why it’s not shown or released very often, but hey, with Gene Kelly, Judy Garland and songs by Cole Porter, it can’t be all bad.


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A magic book from Sabrina the Teenage Witch. Anybody else remember that show?


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Of course, since this is the Downtown Disney Planet Hollywood, there are plenty of props from Disney movies scattered around as well. One of the bars has the mermaid tail from Splash hanging over it.


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I think one of the staircases up to the upper floors must be dedicated to parts of Disney movies that freaked me out as a kid. Remember when Judge Doom got run over in Who Framed Roger Rabbit?


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Bette Midler’s Winifred from Hocus Pocus turned to stone before turning to dust was also slightly traumatizing.


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Little Shop of Horrors! This was one of Audrey’s dressed- I believe she wore it while singing Somewhere That’s Green.


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More Little Shop costumes.


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There really was a ton of stuff from Roger Rabbit around. This was one of the dresses worn by Eddie’s girlfriend Dolores.


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Nearby, a stand-in weasel prop from the film stands holding a bomb.


After looking around, our food was ready. I went with the hamburger, and I have to say, it was pretty good. It wasn’t anything too out of the ordinary, but I really enjoyed it. Buzz had the BBQ Turkey Burger while Goofy got the Philly Cheese steak- both of which I think they enjoyed. I was honestly expecting the food here to be a dud, but it was actually a good meal. True, we didn’t get too adventurous and stuck with burgers and sandwiches (for all I know, the rest of the menu could have been lousy), but what we had was pretty tasty.


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As we’re eating, I noticed this costume from the “Jolly Holiday” scene in Mary Poppins right across the way. The place was so packed with movie props, costumes and memorabilia that it seems like every time you looked around, you saw something new!


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After dinner, I took another look around to see what I missed.


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Only 333 days until Halloween! The City Hall set from Nightmare Before Christmas was a lot bigger than I would have thought.


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A miniature model of Rex Harrison used in some effects scenes in the original Dr. Dolittle.


I really wasn’t sure about Planet Hollywood, but it honestly exceeded by expectations. The food was good and getting to look around and see all the props was a lot of fun. All in all, it was a fun evening.


After dinner, we decided to look around Downtown Disney some and headed towards Pleasure Island. Goofy wanted to check out the Harley Davidson store, so we looked around there.


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Near Fulton’s, we spotted a familiar group from Disney past- Nova Era! Years ago they use to play in the Italy pavilion at EPCOT and they were one of our family’s favorite music groups. I don’t know quite how to explain their style of music. I suppose you could call them modern classical. We stopped to hear the end of one song and the beginning of another, but Goofy wasn’t all that interested and we moved on. It was nice to get to see then at Disney again though.


By the time we made it to the Marketplace, Goofy was about ready to head back to the Coronado, and since Buzz and I had an early morning trying to get to the Magic Kingdom for rope drop the next day, we decided to head back with him. Once again, we were the only people on the bus.


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Goofy took the bus back to the stop by the room, but Buzz and I got off at the lobby. We had bought our tickets from AAA before we left and needed to exchange our AAA vouchers for actual tickets. We had done this at the concierge desk at Riverside last year and thought we would be able to do the same. Turns out that they don’t seem to be doing that at the resorts anymore, and we were told that we would have to do it at one of the parks. No problem. We would just head to Magic Kingdom a little earlier than planned and take care of the tickets then.


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Another shot of the Coronado’s dome – now lit up for the evening.


As we were walking back to the room, we could hear some loud explosions and looked over to see some of the Magic Kingdom’s fireworks up in the sky. From where we were, it looked like they were exploding right over the Coronado’s pyramid, as if it was a special show just for the resort and meant to be seen over the pyramid instead of over the Castle. Words really can’t explain just how cool it looked, and I’m sure a picture couldn’t have captured it either. It was just a beautiful sight, and a great ending to the day.


Next chapter: Our first ride on the newly-refurbished Space Mountain.
 
I can't tell you how excited I am to see the coat from Mary Poppins. :rotfl2:

I had to giggle a little about the floor dedicated to props that freaked you out as a child. :laughing: Roger Rabbit in general just freaked me out, I don't know why either it's not overly scary. :confused3
 
Gad you enjoyed your dinner at Plant Hollywood! We haven't been there in many, many years so it was nice to see some of the props/costumes. Mary Poppins and Wizard of Oz are among my all time favorites so I really enjoyed those!
 
I wonder if they've added things because I have never seen any of those movie costumes before and I've been there a few times. I especially love Bert's jacket! :thumbsup2
 
I have never been to a Planet Hollywood. It looks really cool. I might have to take a peak someday.
 
I can't tell you how excited I am to see the coat from Mary Poppins. :rotfl2:

I had to giggle a little about the floor dedicated to props that freaked you out as a child. :laughing: Roger Rabbit in general just freaked me out, I don't know why either it's not overly scary. :confused3

I can only imagine how excited you are. I think I let out an audible gasp when I realized it was from Poppins.

You know, Roger Rabbit was a little on the creepy side when I saw it as a kid. Not so much anymore. To this day though, I still have not re-watched Hocus Pocus.


Gad you enjoyed your dinner at Plant Hollywood! We haven't been there in many, many years so it was nice to see some of the props/costumes. Mary Poppins and Wizard of Oz are among my all time favorites so I really enjoyed those!

Mary Poppins and Oz are two of my favorites too. They just don't make them like that anymore.


I wonder if they've added things because I have never seen any of those movie costumes before and I've been there a few times. I especially love Bert's jacket! :thumbsup2

I know some of those costumes have been around for a while since I remember them or we have photos of video of them from the first time we ate there. Out of the ones pictureed, I don't remember the book from Sabrina (obviously since the TV show didn't come out until a number of years after we went) and the costumes from Wizard of Oz, Rent, The Pirate and Mary Poppins. There were also some other things I didn't get photos of that I knew were added later as well (some stuff from Titanic comes to mind).

And actually, the jacket from Mary Poppins was actually the one worn by Michael, not Bert. Bert's jacket is hidden away in, of all places, Sid Cahuenga's at Hollywood Studios. And it's for sale too! I'll be posting a picture of it later in the report.


I have never been to a Planet Hollywood. It looks really cool. I might have to take a peak someday.

I would say it's worth it to try Planet Hollywood at least once. Don't expect the most exotic or gourmet food, but if you're looking for some good food and a visit to a Hollywood museum included with the price of your meal, you'll get it here.
 













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