More Fun Than Sitting at Home! Our Dec 2009 TR-UPDATE: 6/11 Final Thoughts & Big News

[khertz]

GREAT update!!! I LOVE LOVE LOVE the Christmas Carol window displays Thank you so much for posting them. I hope they put them back up this December!

Thanks! I loved the windows too. Glad you enjoyed the pictures. Hopefully they will put them back up because they are really incredible.

I love the days when you can just walk around and take it all in. I really want to check out that Deluxe Scrapbooking Kit. Great

You must have had the same girl doing our Jungle Cruise. We were not impressed at all!

What is the Tiki Room like? We wanted to stop last time, but never did. Do you think my kids (2&6) would like it??

I think little kids would enjoy it for the most part. It's some tiki birds that sing, and the show is "run" by Iago and Zazu. Parts of it are a little dark and loud, so it might be a little scary for the 2 year old, but otherwise, a harmless little attraction. If you never saw the original Tiki Room (without Iago & Zazu) you will probably enjoy it. Most people hate it because they messed with a classic attraction.

We did the Country Bear Jamboree though. Want to see what you thought of it! Update soon

Haha--I think I'm just not very good with any of the characters. I got a TON of character pics in 06, but I think that'll be it for a very long time. But I know our kids will want to get them someday. You really need to try CRT breakfast--we really liked it!!


Great update!! I love all of the pretty window displays. Thanks for sharing! That scrapbook kit looks incredible--have you started your scrapbook yet? I still haven't started ours...maybe this summer. All of your other purchases look great as well. And your PP pics turned out SOOO good!!

Thanks! I have NOT started my scrapbook yet, which is crazy because I'm so ready!! The problem is that I have been so focused on working on the TR when I have time that I haven't even sat down to order prints yet! But when I get on it, I think it'll be great.

We loved our PP pictures! We had fun taking them any and everywhere we could!

It looks like you had a super relaxing morning/early afternoon at the MK. The Jungle Cruise actually surprised us--we didn't think we'd like it as much as we did. Sorry your skipper wasn't very good. Aw, the Country Bears. My grandma always HAS TO see this, so we skipped it this time!

Can't wait for another update. I'm telling you, you're making me want to go in December SOOOOO bad!

You will LOVE going in December! You should set that up soon!!

Hi, more great pictures! Love the jungle cruise shots! Bet cha didn't know that spider came from the Haunted Mansion. It was re-moved in the refurb a few years ago. It moves occasionally. Scared the bejeebus out of DD!

Great shot of the savannah and the sandstone cliffs...though I hear many people take it for granite! (Bah dum bum!)

I've said this before...but you guys look soooo happy in your pictures! I don't think ours ever look that good. (I'm a lousy smiler, though.)

I did NOT know that the spider came from the HM! Good to know. I did catch it move once and it scared the bejeebus out of me even though I knew it moved! lol So I can relate to your DD.

Thanks! I usually don't like my smile in pictures, but I think something about being in Disney makes me so happy that I don't mind having my picture taken dozens of times a day!!

Nice updates! I love character meals because I feel more out of place waiting in long lines in the park to take pictures with them than I do meeting them while I'm at a meal. I mean you need to eat, right? I just think it is so easy! I've never done breakfast at Chef Mickey's but I am glad you liked it. We always did the dinner and it used to be one of my favorites but lately it has been impossible to get an ADR there.

Love all the souvenirs!

I was so worried we wouldn't get the ADR at Chef Mickey's, so I was VERY happy when I managed to score one, especially for a pretty early time so we could go before the parks. I know what you mean, I felt silly waiting in line to meet the characters a few times (especially Snow White!) and being surrounded by kids, but it was fun and we got some great pictures! The meal was definitely fun though, and it was nice for our parents to be able to get pictures with the main characters without standing in line because I know they weren't interested in doing that.

Thanks!

 

[khertz]

When I last left you, DH and I were heading to Frontierland from our ride on the Jungle Cruise to meet up with our parents. While we had been shopping, they apparently took a spin with Buzz Lightyear...

...and my mom mourned not being able to see Carousel of Progress.

If you remember, the night of MVMCP DH & I had ridden CoP with his parents while mine went back to Bonnet Creek for a nap. Well, this is one of my family's favorite attractions, so my mom was disappointed we had done it without her, and had been looking forward to doing it today on her last day in the parks. But it was closed ALL day! She was so bummed.

But moving on...

DH and I had to practically run over to Country Bear Jamboree to make it into the same show as our parents, but we just made it. We weren't sitting together, but we were still all in the same showing!

I have to say, this show is not at all my cup of tea, and 7 days of non stop park touring was starting to catch up with me. DH offered his shoulder, and I gladly accepted it for a quick nap! lol I did wake up in time for the grand finale to catch these shots.

After the show, the six of us got back together and rode Thunder Mountain using our FPs. Then we decided to head over to the Haunted Mansion, which again, only had a 10 minute wait. 10 seemed to be the lucky number that day!

Once we finished on the Haunted Mansion, we were starting to feel a touch hungry. We all decided on eating Cosmic Ray's, so we started across the park towards Tomorrowland. Along the way, we saw a PhotoPass photographer hanging out in the rose garden with no one waiting for pictures. We stopped in just intending to get some PP pictures and get to lunch, but ended up staying awhile to enjoy the quiet & get an impromptu photo session.

Literally stopping to smell the roses!

I did that border for them because they didn't take a single PP picture at the MVMCP!

Continued in next post...

 

[khertz]

DH got creative with the camera to get this shot that I just love!

By the time we finished our photo session in the Rose Garden and made our way to Cosmic Ray's it was already after 2 pm. But the place was packed beyond belief!! We all split up to order from different counters, and the fixin's bar was an absolute madhouse. There was a huge line, but everyone standing in it was only letting one person go at a time. There are 3 ketchup dispensers, but if the person at the front of the line stopped at the first one, no one was getting out of "line" to use the other two!! Eventually I got tired of that madness and just went up to get what I needed. People may have thought I was rude for that, but the system they had unofficially formed just didn't make sense to me.

DH's parents had gotten a table inside because it was pretty cool outside that day and they wanted to be inside, but my parents had gotten a table out on the porch. DH and I decided to go eat out there because it was so stuffy and crowded inside. I'm pretty sure DH & I got burgers, my dad got the BBQ pork sandwich, and my mom got a salad and the chicken noodle soup.

After lunch, we stopped to decide what we wanted to do next. But a week in the World had started to do some people in! lol DH & I were talking about going to Epcot that night to do some more wandering around the World Showcase, and my parents seemed up to joining us, but DH's parents wanted to rest before they 4 parents hit the road that night.

At first, we thought we'd all need to go back to go back to Bonnet Creek so that we could leave Kathy & Jamie in our hotel room to rest, and they could pack up all the luggage so that when my parents decided to leave from Epcot to go get them, they could just hit the road. However, they needed DH to be able to check into the new room to get the keys, and I wasn't really ready to leave the MK yet, and I didn't really feel like spending a couple of hours traveling back and forth for nothing. So, I started debating something I never would have thought I'd EVER in a million years do...Should I stay in the park by myself??

UP NEXT: To stay alone or to go?!

 

[stacikristine]

What a great update! I know what you mean about getting edgy after being there for so long. I think that next time we'll work in a strictly relaxing day. Your PP pics turned out so great--all of the different poses were really cute! And that picture of the pink rose is beautiful, but the one with the yellow/peach rose with the castle in the background is GORGEOUS!! It would be so beautiful in a frame. I'm anxious to hear if you stayed in the park by yourself or not!! I don't know if I could have that much courage...but then again, it might be fun!

 

[praisehisname]

All caught up again! I love the pictures you got in the Rose Garden. That was the day we were at Epcot and it was COLD!

 

[khertz]

What a great update! I know what you mean about getting edgy after being there for so long. I think that next time we'll work in a strictly relaxing day. Your PP pics turned out so great--all of the different poses were really cute! And that picture of the pink rose is beautiful, but the one with the yellow/peach rose with the castle in the background is GORGEOUS!! It would be so beautiful in a frame. I'm anxious to hear if you stayed in the park by yourself or not!! I don't know if I could have that much courage...but then again, it might be fun!

Thanks! Disney is an exhausting vacation!! I wish we had planned in a rest day, but there was SO MUCH to do that even 10 park days didn't feel like enough time! Although, we did end up taking it a little easier once it was just the two of us.

I love that picture too! We are starting to print our pictures (finally!) so I can start on my scrapbook. but I'm thinking about getting an 8x10 of the rose with the castle.

I will probably post an update tomorrow!

All caught up again! I love the pictures you got in the Rose Garden. That was the day we were at Epcot and it was COLD!

It WAS cold that day!! And it seemed to come out of nowhere because it had been getting pretty warm the days before.

Thanks, I love the Rose Garden pictures too. I don't think I had ever really paid attention to it before except to take Photopass pictures & move on!

 

[skier_pete]

Thanks! Disney is an exhausting vacation!! I wish we had planned in a rest day, but there was SO MUCH to do that even 10 park days didn't feel like enough time! Although, we did end up taking it a little easier once it was just the two of us.

Well, doing Disney + Universal, I would agree. Exhausting! Our first trip as a couple (in '97) we did the 3 theme parks, the 3 water parks (river country was still open), Universal and NASA in 7 days + two nights at Pleasure Island. Talk about exhausting!

One thing I find since we started going every year...since we go more frequently, it's much easier to take a laid back pace. When you know you'll be back in a year (or less), if you miss something, it doesn't seem like a big deal. In fact our upcoming *bonus* trip I think we'll be pretty busy since we only have 4.5 days, I am also not fretting about our pace...anything we miss, we will be back in 6 months!

So, just go more often! (And go just the two of you! Family is great, but a trip just the two of you would be awesome!)

 

[BippityBoo]

Ohhhh! Stay in the park alone I hope you did so I can see how it went!

I JUST updated on Country Bears. My kids loved it, but good thing we went first thing in the morning because I probably would have fallen asleep too

I have to say, I can not stand Cosmic Rays! You are right, the system makes no sense! I like simple and relaxing counter services.

Can't wait to see what you decide

 

[khertz]

Well, doing Disney + Universal, I would agree. Exhausting! Our first trip as a couple (in '97) we did the 3 theme parks, the 3 water parks (river country was still open), Universal and NASA in 7 days + two nights at Pleasure Island. Talk about exhausting!

One thing I find since we started going every year...since we go more frequently, it's much easier to take a laid back pace. When you know you'll be back in a year (or less), if you miss something, it doesn't seem like a big deal. In fact our upcoming *bonus* trip I think we'll be pretty busy since we only have 4.5 days, I am also not fretting about our pace...anything we miss, we will be back in 6 months!

So, just go more often! (And go just the two of you! Family is great, but a trip just the two of you would be awesome!)

Oh, I SO WISH my DH had this attitude!!!!!!! I can't complain though, because as much as I LOVE Disney, we haven't had a shortage of travels in the time we have been married. We've been to Disney twice, Seattle, Vegas, and Hawaii, and this summer we are planning a trip for D.C. I think once we have kids and they are a little older, DH might be more willing to go to Disney every year or at least every other because it will be so different when we take our children. Only time will tell!

Ohhhh! Stay in the park alone I hope you did so I can see how it went!

I JUST updated on Country Bears. My kids loved it, but good thing we went first thing in the morning because I probably would have fallen asleep too

I have to say, I can not stand Cosmic Rays! You are right, the system makes no sense! I like simple and relaxing counter services.

Can't wait to see what you decide

Country Bears is probably my least favorite Disney attraction. I can handle AA shows no problem, but CB is just painful! It was actually a nice & refreshing rest for me and kept me going the rest of the day.

I like the food at Cosmic Ray's (I think it's one of the only CS places that serves a single patty burger!), but the condiment station was just ridiculous. Probably because there was SO MANY people there, which was just crazy for 2 pm!

 

[khertz]

Despite all of my reservations...I decided to STAY IN THE PARK ALONE! Just to put this into perspective, I hate to do ANYTHING by myself!! When DH is gone for work, it takes a lot for me to even go to Wal-Mart by myself when my pantry & fridge are totally empty! lol I did debate over it quite a bit, but decided I wasn't ready to leave the MK yet, and no one really needed me to help move any of the luggage since I'm an admitted weakling.

So after we stopped at City Hall so DH could pick up our purchases from that morning to bring back to the room, I set off on my own with the camera and DH's iPhone so I could keep in touch with everyone since I had left my phone in the room. Since we were near City Hall, I got a couple of pictures around the area while I tried to decide what I was going to do first.

Chip & Dale were out at the Firehouse

I first considered riding Splash Mountain since it's my absolute FAVORITE Disney World ride of all time, and DH is much less enthusiastic about it. However, it was REALLY cold that day, so even though I really wanted to do it, I decided it just wasn't a good idea. But another thing DH wasn't interested in doing again that I really love is Pirates of the Caribbean, so that's where I went first!

It was a very weird experience to tell the boat loader I was alone, and even weirder to sit on a row with 3 people I didn't know. But it was nice and relaxing, and I didn't have to hear from anyone how we had already done this, etc. etc.

After the ride, I wandered through Frontierland snapping some pictures, and took the walkway on the water, which was really nice and quiet.

The Haunted Mansion from across the water

Next up, I made my way to Fantasyland and saw that the next showing of PhilharMagic was coming up quickly with no wait, so I headed into the theater.

A picture of DH's favorite Duck!

I really love this show. It's just so magical! I love the music & scenes from all of the best Disney movies and the way they incorporate the scents and everything into the 3-D show. <3

After PhilharMagic, I decided to wander over to Toontown since we had not been there yet all trip.

First, I went to Minnie's House because I couldn't even remember the last time I had walked through it.

Her adorable little Christmas tree!

Minnie's house was PACKED!! Especially the kitchen! I had to literally squeeze my way through all of the kids going crazy over the stuff in the kitchen!

Continued in next post...

 

[khertz]

After exploring Minnie's House, I went over to visit Mickey's, which was much less crowded, thankfully!

Mickey's Christmas tree! It was kind of funny because while I was in there, this crazy alarm sounding thing kept going off...I think it was because people were hopping over the railing to take pictures with the tree.

After taking my time around Toontown, I headed to Tomorrowland for a relaxing ride on the TTA.

I love those Green Aliens!

It was nice to ride around with my feet up just soaking in the atmosphere! While on the ride, the phone started ringing, and it was DH calling to say they were about to leave Bonnet Creek. My parents had apparently decided they were too wiped out to come to Epcot with us, so the 4 of them were just going to start driving home earlier than expected. So the plan was for me to take the monorail over to the TTC, where my parents would drop DH off to meet me, and we could take the monorail over to Epcot.

One more picture to share from my parents' camera...some deer they saw on the way back to Bonnet Creek.

UP NEXT: Epcot World Showcase at night

 

[praisehisname]

Yay for staying and doing some stuff you really wanted to do! You're headed to Epcot now? I wonder if we crossed paths?

 

[khertz]

Yay for staying and doing some stuff you really wanted to do! You're headed to Epcot now? I wonder if we crossed paths?

It was a really great experience!! I'm glad I decided to do it instead of chickening out and spending a couple of hours just moving luggage around. Though, I have to say, I'm not sure how people take solo trips, because by the end of those couple hours, I was starting to get a little lonely!

Yes, Epcot is next! I'm about to start working on it now. I don't think we have a lot of pictures from that night because once it got dark, it was hard to get anything to come out. I don't remember seeing you in any of the pictures, but maybe you will spot yourself somewhere!!

 

[khertz]

After getting the call from DH that he was on his way to the TTC to meet me, I made my way to the front of the park to catch the monorail to the TTC. I ended up getting there before him, but only had to wait maybe 5 or 10 minutes for him to find me so we could take the monorail to Epcot. This is something that in 7 trips to WDW, I had NEVER done! It was kind of exciting to arrive to Epcot in a new way and to circle the park on the monorail. We arrived in the park around 5:10 pm

We hadn't really gotten many PhotoPass pictures on our first Epcot day, and none in front of Spaceship Earth, so we decided to rectify that situation before going any further!

Another window display I liked!

First we checked out the Art of Disney store to see if anything struck our fancy. The only thing we saw that we liked was a small Larry Dotson painting similar to the one we bought on our honeymoon of Cinderella Castle, only this one was the Castle in icicle lights with Holiday Wishes in the background. It was so pretty!! But we figured it was little too pricey to only hang up during the holiday season.

As we walked along a little further, we saw Chip & Dale out doing meet & greets. We had seen them many times in the parks, but hadn't gotten our pictures with them yet, and their line wasn't too long, so we hopped in. A very cute little girl behind us kept saying, "Where's Theodore?!" because she thought they were Alvin & Simon, no matter how many times her grandma tried to tell her it was Chip & Dale! lol

Just when it was our turn to go up for our picture, in the distance, we heard the sounds of chanting and feet stomping! Dale took off running to hide behind a tree...

...because he was scared of THIS!!

BRAZILIAN TOUR GROUP!!!!

DH & I were dying laughing, especially when it took quite a bit of coaxing by Chip to get Dale to stop hiding, and when DH handed them our index cards for autograph and Dale's hand was shaking like crazy. It was too funny! He even kept checking over his shoulder for the group to come back.

Chip turned DH's hat sideways just before the handler snapped our pic!

After finishing up with the chipmunks, we decided to hit the only ride we had skipped in Future World before heading to World Showcase, The Seas With Nemo & Friends.

I had wanted to stay and look at the aquariums longer, but it was getting late and we were starting to feel tired, so we headed over to World Showcase. Not a lot of pictures from this night because it was so dark and they just weren't coming out great. We mostly just hit up every PhotoPass photographer we saw!

We started on the Canada side this time since we had started on the other side the first time.

No pictures in Canada, but then we went over to United Kingdom to check out the shops and saw this cute little display.

And we caught a few minutes of British Invasion playing.

There was a PP photographer on the bridge to France, so we had him take our picture.

And another one at the fountains in France.

We checked out the shops in Morocco, and saw Aladdin & Jasmine out for meet & greets, but their line was too long, so we skipped it.

We skipped over Japan, and finished off in America, where we caught the tail end of the Kwanzaa performer telling her story.

One more with the tree!

Since we had ended up where we had finished up last time, we decided to head to the front of the park in search of dinner. We ended up at Electric Umbrella for our usual, burgers and chicken nuggets. It hit the spot!

We were pretty much ready to go, but we had a little time before the next Bonnet Creek bus would be there, so we went for another ride on Spaceship Earth, which had no wait. DH decided to make a silly face for our pictures this time, which hopefully you can see in some of the pictures!

We had a bit of a hike to find the area where the Bonnet Creek bus would be arriving, but we got there not even 2 minutes before the bus showed up and it was a quick ride back to BC. We went up to our new room, now a 1 bedroom unit that we'd be living in for the next 3 nights. It was nice, and perfect size for just the two of us. I didn't get any pictures, but it was nothing spectacular. Similar in decoration to the 3 bedroom but smaller.

After quickly unpacking the stuff we had left (we had sent a lot of clothes and souvenirs home with our parents), we hit the sack early.

Continued in next post...

 

[khertz]

DAY 9: Saturday December 12th

The first order of business on Saturday morning before getting to a park was to pick up our rental car. We had arranged for a shuttle that would pick us up from Bonnet Creek and bring us to the AAA Car Care Center in the MK parking lot. The shuttle picked us up around 8:30 am. There were already two guys on the shuttle when we got on, and they warned us to hold on tight, and man they weren't kidding! Our shuttle driver gave us about the wildest ride I've ever had in Disney World!

Luckily we made it to the Car Care Center in 1 piece, and had no trouble getting our car. Unfortunately, the other two guys weren't having as much luck, because their mother in law had rented the van they were supposed to be picking up on her credit card, and she needed to be there to pick it up! I felt bad for them, because they were really nice guys. Anyway, we had a choice between a PT Cruiser and a VW Beetle. DH wanted the Beetle, but we went for the PT Cruiser at my insistence! lol

With our maps in hand, we headed straight from there to Universal Orlando for our last day there!

The snowmen seemed VERY out of place today, because it was about 80 degrees already!

We arrived just after the 9 am opening, and decided to head to the Studios first in hopes of riding Rip Ride Rockit first, but we found out upon entering that it opens later than the rest of the park for some reason. So took another (what? 5th?) ride on The Mummy, which had a 5 minute wait.

As soon as we came out and retrieved our stuff from the lockers, DH spotted someone with a clipboard, and was determined to get stopped because he had been wanting to do one of the network TV previews, but we didn't on our other days because our parents were with us. She was just the one we were "looking for," much to DH's excitement, so once she got us approved, we followed her to a little viewing center where we watched an episode of the NBC show Community. We had to hold two buttons in our hand while watching, and hold down one when we liked what we were watching, and one when we didn't like it and would turn the channel if we were watching at home. I thought it was pretty funny, and mostly pushed the good button, but DH hated it! lol I was kind of amused by this since he had wanted to do it SO BAD! After the show, we had to answer a bunch of questions about what kinds of TV shows we watch, what we liked & didn't like about the show, what we thought of the characters, etc. DH gave them TONS of feedback. lol We each got $10 for doing it, so hey, free lunch!

After finishing up there, we headed over to check on RRR, and saw it was OPEN! The wait was 90 minutes, but we decided to stick it out because it wasn't like we had a ton of things we still wanted to do so we had the time to kill. We could have gone through the Single Rider line, but chose not to since it was our first time riding, and we wanted to experience it together.

The wait was BRUTAL! It ended up being more like 105 minutes before we boarded. And we were subjected to the same video OVER AND OVER AND OVER of how to pick your song, and another one of the song choices for the different genres of music. You think Small World is bad?! Those videos were making me crazy by the end!! And I was scared because it kept saying "You WILL lose any items from your pockets, I PROMISE!" and I was freaking out because DH had left his iPhone in his pocket. He wasn't worried and kept laughing at me when I'd say, "But it's going to fall out, SHE PROMISES!" lol Just for the record, it stayed in his pocket. ;-)

DH had found an app on his phone about how to unlock a TON of hidden songs on the panel, so he was researching those to see if there was anything and how to access them. I had meanwhile decided LONG before I was going to pick the Limp Bizkit song. When it was time to board, the guy loading us was pretty funny. He saw DH's Saints hat, and when he was directing us to a lane he said, "Row 3 Go Saints" all in 1 breath. So we sit in our seats, and the lap bar was so heavy, the guy working the ride had to come help me. And in just how long that took and how long it took me to get off the screen for the country songs, the ride started moving, and I DIDN'T GET TO PICK MY SONG!!!!! I was so annoyed at being stuck listening to some terrible electronica song for the whole duration of the ride, that I barely enjoyed it! I will probably ride it the next time we go back to Universal, but I definitely won't wait that long again just to not be able to pick my song! We decided it wasn't even worth getting in the Single Riders line to ride again, so we just moved on.

By this time, our tummies were rumbling, so we headed to Richter's Burger Co. for some lunch.

With full stomachs, we decided to take a spin with the Men In Black and kick some alien butt!

I always try to get the bonus at the end of this ride, because every once in awhile it bumps up my score enough that I beat DH, but even if it doesn't, it makes my score not so pathetic. This time though, BOTH of us somehow got the bonus, so he still beat me!

At this point, it was getting even hotter, and I still had my thin long sleeved shirt on. We decided we were ready to go over to Islands of Adventure for a little bit, so DH waited for me at City Walk while I went back to the car to change into a t-shirt. That is 1 thing I hate about Universal...the parking garage is like eons away!!

The first thing we did there was get one more ride on The Hulk, since it's our favorite ride at IoA.

We thought about going to do the Dueling Dragons, but decided we'd had enough of that coaster this trip. So instead, we went into the big store to shop a little bit. We both ended up getting a t-shirt. I got this Jurassic Park one.

And DH got this one of Homer Simpson as the Vitruvian Man.

We realized there really wasn't anything else we wanted to do at IoA, so we started back towards the entrance, but found a little out of the way spot by the water and stopped to take some pictures.

Seuss Landing

Part of Toon Lagoon

Poseidon's Fury on the Lost Continent

And me!

DH had really been wanting to see the Animal Actors show at Universal, so we crossed City Walk again back to Universal Studios. But this time instead of walking all the way to the main entrance, we used the "Super Secret Entrance" we had seen while standing in line for Rip Ride Rockit!

The Super Secret Entrance!

We still had time to kill before the show at 3:45 pm, so we stopped to do the trick photo on Hollywood Blvd.

Then we found another out of the way area where we got some more nice pictures.

Continued in next post...

 

[khertz]

We headed over to the stadium for the show, but decided to stop for some snacks first. I had found $10 in my shorts pocket a couple days before and kept calling it my snack money and held onto it until the right time, and this felt like the right time!

Me & my (upside down) snack money!

DH got a picture of me finally spending my snack money. lol

I got us a soft pretzel and a Coke to share during the show.

Another random and funny thing happened while we were waiting for the show. DH & I love Family Guy, and there was an episode where Peter was obsessed with the song Surfin' Bird and drove everyone crazy singing it. We would randomly sing it to each other, and my dad an I would every once in awhile send each other texts saying, "Have you heard? The bird is the word!" The song started playing while we were waiting for the show to start, and I think I nearly choked on the pretzel laughing!

Finally the show started and they had a bunch of animals running across the stage to get to their places!

The stage

Kind of hard to see, but there's a raccoon walking up the right side of the slide.

A skunk on the left of the picture, and some ducks on the right

Came out dark, but this is one of the black dog that did some tricks

Frank the Pug from Men In Black

This skit was VERY cute! There was a basket of clothes, and the guy told the little boy he just had to think of an item of clothing and the dog would go find it in the basket. The dog comes back with the bra, and the handler is "fussing" the little boy for "thinking about that" and the kid is saying, "I was thinking of a t-shirt!" while dying laughing, and out comes the owner of the bra, the orangutan!

And then they did some cute and funny stuff with another orangutan.

A very entertaining and funny show!

The last thing we wanted to do was DH wanted to ride the Simpsons ride again. I did much better this time because we were a little further away from the screen and we hadn't ridden a coaster in awhile.

And finally, this ride is where the title of the TR comes from! In case you hadn't noticed, I was pretty obsessed with taking pictures of signs. All over WDW and Universal! We were waiting inside the little holding room where you watch a video before they load you into the cars, and DH saw his first sign that he wanted a picture of because up until that moment, he had given me a sigh every time I asked for a picture of a sign! lol

Around 5 pm, we said goodbye to Universal Studios for good and headed to Mary Queen of the Universe Shrine for church at 6 pm. After Mass, we grabbed some dinner at Chik-Fil-A, and saw the most amazing sight...a huge tour bus of Pop Warner kids LEAVING!! That meant no more PW kids for the rest of our trip!! Now I have to say, we really did not have any problems with any of the PW groups we saw during our entire week there. But it was just nice to know that a bunch of people that had been filling the parks in the evenings would be leaving!

UP NEXT: Mini-golf at Winter Summerland

 

[praisehisname]

I looked, but didn't see myself in any of your Epcot pics... I did get a photopass pic taken on the bridge to France around the same time you were there, though...

Love the Chip & Dale story!

 

[disneybarbie]

Great update!
I understand the name of your TR now!

That is sooo funny about Chip, Dale and the Brazilian tour group!! .. one time I saw C&D chasing each other around Dinoland USA in AK, it was so cute.. always fun characters!

Think your're coming up to 'our' KTTK tour soon !

Emma xx

 

[skier_pete]

Thanks for more updates...can't believe you got through 1/2 of WS so fast, we spent almost 2 days there this past trip. DW and DMIL loved the shopping. DD love the Kim Possible adventurers - and I admit to thinking they were kind of cool myself. My favorite part is the food (and drink)...too bad you can't eat and drink it all!

What I hear of Rip, Ride, Rockit leaves me underwhelmed. It's kind of sad that they plopped this roller coaster down in the middle of a backlot movie theme park. Can't say I would have stood for 90 minutes for it myself. It is kind of amazing to think that there is almost nothing left ride-wise from our first and only visit to Universal back in 1997. The Animal Actors show was there back then, though! I figure another 4-5 years before DD is ready for it. (Getting her to try "thrill" rides is like pulling teeth...though once she tries it she mostly likes them.)

Keep those updates coming.

 

[khertz]

I looked, but didn't see myself in any of your Epcot pics... I did get a photopass pic taken on the bridge to France around the same time you were there, though...

Love the Chip & Dale story!

That would be so funny if we crossed each other on the bridge & never even knew it!

The Chip & Dale story was one of my favorites from the trip. Very funny to see!!

Great update!
I understand the name of your TR now!

That is sooo funny about Chip, Dale and the Brazilian tour group!! .. one time I saw C&D chasing each other around Dinoland USA in AK, it was so cute.. always fun characters!

Think your're coming up to 'our' KTTK tour soon !

Emma xx

C&D are too funny! I was so glad we decided to stop for pictures & autographs when we did, because that ended up being one of my favorite moments from the trip! Of course, being on the Dis and knowing how much people loathe Brazilian Tour Groups made it even funnier. Maybe Dale is a Diser!

I am ALMOST to the KTTK tour...and you are in one of my pictures!

Thanks for more updates...can't believe you got through 1/2 of WS so fast, we spent almost 2 days there this past trip. DW and DMIL loved the shopping. DD love the Kim Possible adventurers - and I admit to thinking they were kind of cool myself. My favorite part is the food (and drink)...too bad you can't eat and drink it all!

What I hear of Rip, Ride, Rockit leaves me underwhelmed. It's kind of sad that they plopped this roller coaster down in the middle of a backlot movie theme park. Can't say I would have stood for 90 minutes for it myself. It is kind of amazing to think that there is almost nothing left ride-wise from our first and only visit to Universal back in 1997. The Animal Actors show was there back then, though! I figure another 4-5 years before DD is ready for it. (Getting her to try "thrill" rides is like pulling teeth...though once she tries it she mostly likes them.)

Keep those updates coming.

We are just not big on Epcot, no matter how many times I say I'm going to give it more of our time. Also, I like walking through the WS, but we don't find the need to shop there much. Although, I can say, had the week not been so packed, and we weren't so tired that night, we probably would have given it more attention. I had wanted to do a KP mission after reading people's TRs about them, but we just didn't have the time! I thought we'd get more accomplished on our first Epcot day but the CP took up SO much time, between waiting to be seated, waiting forever for our check, then having to immediately get in line for the show. I hadn't expected it to take up so many hours of our day!

The absolute only reason we waited 90 minutes for RRR was because it was our 3rd day at Universal/IoA, and there's no way you need 3 days to do everything there! So we had plenty of time to kill as we had already ridden our favorites multiple times over. The ride was fun, I was just so pissed off in the moment at not getting to pick my song that it made it less enjoyable. I would give it another chance, but not 90 minutes of my day!