My 1st PTR/TR: An unexpected trip, Disney in December 4 *Day 3 6/5 Illuminations!*

[Roxychica7]

Hi guys! Another update coming, I am determined to get Day 2 of our trip done before the end of the month

Ok, so when we left off, we were pulling into the AKL. Oh my gosh was it pretty. Here was the lobby all decked out

They had a photopass guy taking pics in front of the tree, so we got a few of those, and then I wandered around trying to find lights for LL!

From above

From below (I think this was Boma)

I liked this one

Then we ventured outside to get a few pics before the sun went down

I liked this one (the bench and the mural)

The beautiful glass front

The African craft inside the lobby

Next we stopped for a potty break and to check out the Christmas tree down by Boma
I know LL had this one posted recently on her light thread, but it's kinda from a different angle

This one is more of an art piece, but I really liked this one, reminds me of river rock

We exited the AKL, I wanted to take the AK bus back since the park hadn't closed yet, but Dbf saw the Blizzard Beach bus and decided it would be quicker. Well, we got to BB, which closed at 4:30 and we were 2 of the 6 people that were left. We had to wait about 25-30 minutes for the security lady to call the bus' to get us back to the all star resorts. I didn't hold it against him, but he knew I was right and that we should have stayed in the line for AK.

Tonight, we had plans to go back to DD. We were going to go to the new T-Rex place, but decided to just look through it instead so that we could put the $15 voucher toward food at Planet Hollywood and save a few more bucks. Good deal right?

Continued on next post...

 

[Roxychica7]

Instead of waiting for a table, we decided that we were just going to get 2 appetizers, which we had already picked out ahead of time, we asked to sit at the bar. We got the upstairs bar and got a very nice funny waitress/bartender named "T." There must have been a DJ there tonight because it was LOUD, but we were out of the way and got a nice barstool and table set up.

I decided to get another frozen drink. Hey, I was on vacation right?
I don't quite remember what this one was, but it was pretty good, although my favorite was still the one I had had at Rainforest

We got the Bruschetta and the Crispy Chicken

I really liked the chicken, it had some kind of batter on it and was served with like a creol type mustard. The Bruschetta was good, but I didn't realize until after I ate it that it was covered in butter and it gave me a splitting headache, I thought it was olive oil (I don't eat dairy at all, except for a little sour cream here and there and organic cream cheese)
After we shared, I figured we still had some money left over. We had only spent about $13 and the Turkey Club was only another $9 and we were both still quite hungry, since we didn't grab/split dinner at Animal Kingdom

Not too bad, a little dry. I'm a turkey club lover, this one was kinda mid-grade, but it satisfied our appetite. Before we left, Dbf had been bugging me to go into the women's bathroom because as it swung open, he thought he saw a shark mirror on the wall. I finally caved and walked in to take one, although someone else was taking one too

Next up..pics of the T-Rex restaurant and...what park do we go to on Day 3?

 

[Lady Lallie]

When do you NOT update? I can't ever seem to keep up with your speed DISing!

I feel like I never update!

I love all of the AKL lights. I really can't wait to go check out AKL and see that gorgeous ostrich light fixture for myself! It's so awesome.

I am cracking up that DBF had you go to the bathroom to get a picture of the shark mirror!

 

[disneydusted]

Isn't AKL so unusual? I was completely "wowed" when we went to have dinner at Boma. There was so much to take in, visual overload!
I am with you and LL, so many cool light fixtures. I like the square swirl/star ceiling light, the ostrich egg and also your river rock light. I thought it felt very relaxing in that resort... now we just need to stay there!

 

[FauntleroyFAN07]

we loved the chicken crunch strips we got ours with this sampler, it was very good.

these were also awesome.
some boneless chicken buffalo things

 

[julezdisney]

Great update again, Jess! Only I had to speed through it because a student was at work hovering over my desk!

That food looked sooooooooooooooooooooooooo yummy! OMGoodness!

 

[Roxychica7]

Isn't AKL so unusual? I was completely "wowed" when we went to have dinner at Boma. There was so much to take in, visual overload!
I am with you and LL, so many cool light fixtures. I like the square swirl/star ceiling light, the ostrich egg and also your river rock light. I thought it felt very relaxing in that resort... now we just need to stay there!

Oh it is, but I love it! I guess since I like the Lion King so much too. I wish we could have spent more time looking around and I definitely want to eat at Jiko on our next trip. At least we got to see it though!

we loved the chicken crunch strips we got ours with this sampler, it was very good.

these were also awesome.
some boneless chicken buffalo things

Oh yum! I thought that the chicken would have been like plain chicken fingers, but we really liked them too! That sampler platter looks tasty!

Great update again, Jess! Only I had to speed through it because a student was at work hovering over my desk!

That food looked sooooooooooooooooooooooooo yummy! OMGoodness!

haha, thanks for checkin in though! I definitely still have a ton to go, but I'm gettin there!

 

[Roxychica7]

OK! So after FINALLY getting the results I wanted for my sea anemone DNA AND 2 snow days, I think I'm ready for a TR update! I also finished putting a bunch more pictures on my photosite, so here we go!

After I last left off, we had just finished dinner at PH. We had already walked around DD the night before, so we decided to check out the inside of the new T-Rex Restaurant since we hadn't done that previously. First though, I had to get more yummy pretzel rods. This time though, I didn't do the make your own, just got the ones that were pre-made, but they were still good! We rounded back to T-Rex and it made me wish now that we would have eaten at the bar. Since Dbf and I are biologists, AND I have been working with salt-water fish since forever, this was a sight to behold.

Here was the ceiling.

The bar had a HUGE fish tank above it, I'm guessing 500 gallon+ and a really really cool blue octopus above it that kinda swayed. Very awesome!

And another tank in the background, but check out those lights LL! Jellyfish!

And the dino room (just like Rainforest)

And the ice room, a HUGE glacier with LCD lights, caught it when it was pink

And one last picture at DD before the day FINALLY ended!
I don't remember which store this was in, but the tree was pretty

I need to go work on my DNA for a few minutes, but I PROMISE I will be back to start on Day 3. Any guesses where we went?

 

[julezdisney]

Wow the inside of that is really cool.

 

[Lady Lallie]

OH my goodness! Those lights are freaking awesome!!!

 

[Roxychica7]

Wow the inside of that is really cool.

It was SO beautiful inside!

OH my goodness! Those lights are freaking awesome!!!

Yay! I KNEW you'd like those, I'd LOVE to have them in my house

 

[Roxychica7]

Day 3!

This morning we slept in until around 9:15. Today was our "off breakfast" day, so I used my previously purchased cereal variety pack. All we had to buy was the following:

A piece of fruit a piece, a bottle of soymilk each (which I realized we really only needed 1 total) so that cut another 2 bucks off. And I just realized, even our vitamins are in the pic!

Today it was off to....

As we got off the bus, it was probably going on 10:45, we already had in mind where and what we were having for lunch, or rather I already decided that so we wanted to kill some time around Future World, get the usuals out of the way. Upon security, I HAD to snap a picture of this little girl (if this is your little girl, she totally brightened my morning!)

I was totally trying to not be obvious, but as Dbf was re-packing our coats back in his bag again, I overheard this little girl behind us say, "But mom, are you sure?" The mother never responded but, as the little girl approached the security guard, she leans her chocolate milk bottle (which is open of course) toward him and says "Do you have to check this too?" The security man totally smiles, then puts on a pretend serious face, leans toward her to peer into her milk and says "ok, everything looks fine" and waves her through as she smiles up at her mom. Totally cute moment! So of course I had to take a picture of her so I wouldn't forget it!

First we stop in front of the topiaries, get a few photopass pictures. But here's the beautiful topiaries and the pic that I got the photopass guy to take with my camera

Donald, Pluto and Goofy

And Mickey and Minnie

Our first ride was OF COURSE going to be Spaceship Earth, since it was closed for refurbishment last year that we went

I always love the music inside this ride, but payed attention for LL and grabbed these two lights inside

Oh my gosh the new changes cracked me up. It sucked because the photo thingy didn't catch my face for some reason so I couldn't "enjoy my future" with Dbf, but it was quite amusing seeing Dbf's little head on the screen flying around. Very entertaining.

After the ride, we walked into the Innovations plaza. I love the pinwheel thingy and of course the fountain, who doesn't love that?

I always love all the sign pictures too, so had to get one

 

[Roxychica7]

Next, we decided to hit the single rider line, twice, because it took us about 10 minutes from the time we hit the wait line until we were off the ride, plus you don't have to watch that annoying intro video over and over again

We scanned our photopass picture (I REALLY wish they included more ride pics with the photopass!)
Then, we were off to...

I totally loved the Watermelon soda last year, but decided to give the others a fair try again and obviously had to trick Dbf with none other with our favorite lady

Which one did I like this year?

I totally liked the "Healthy" one from Japan, it tasted like V-8 fruit juice and Dbf agreed

We were starting to get hungry, but wanted to check out the lights during the day first. I LOVE those white puff light things

And the arch-ways, we got some AMAZING photopass pics with these

And I snapped this one as we ventured into WS. Duck butts!

So what did I have in mind for lunch?? Stay tuned!

 

[FauntleroyFAN07]

another good round of updates, thanks, do you guys ride soarin?

 

[Lady Lallie]

Of course I love the lights in Spaceship Earth. I will have to totally check those out when I go in May. That little girl sounds too cute. I like those white puffy things too, they are very pretty.

 

[disneydusted]

Hey, glad to see your updates! The T-Rex restaurant looks great, the jellyfish lights remind me a bit of the Coral Reef lights in their waiting room. The glacier with the lights looks fun too.

I am a big fan of those purple twirling things too. At first I thought they caught the wind but then on a quiet day with no wind they were still going. There's something magical about that area with the triangle awnings, the fountain, the purple things.... I like that area for some reason.

 

[Roxychica7]

another good round of updates, thanks, do you guys ride soarin?

Thanks! I was too chicken to ride Soarin cause I get vertigo sometimes, Dbf didn't seem to mind, as long as we rode Test Track a few times! But I did "ride" the ride on Youtube!

Of course I love the lights in Spaceship Earth. I will have to totally check those out when I go in May. That little girl sounds too cute. I like those white puffy things too, they are very pretty.

You will! And she was sooo cute, I loved her! Wait until the photopass pics, the puffy white lights in black and white are probably one of, if not my favorite photopass pic they took of us!

Hey, glad to see your updates! The T-Rex restaurant looks great, the jellyfish lights remind me a bit of the Coral Reef lights in their waiting room. The glacier with the lights looks fun too.

I am a big fan of those purple twirling things too. At first I thought they caught the wind but then on a quiet day with no wind they were still going. There's something magical about that area with the triangle awnings, the fountain, the purple things.... I like that area for some reason.

I'm glad to see my update too! It's been taking me a while. I've never been in the Coral Reef restaurant before, although I'm sure it's really cool inside there too! Ah! Another purple spinning things fan! There's just something about that fountain and the whole area, I definitely agree with you!

 

[Roxychica7]

I'll do another update of Day 3 this weekend, but I figured I'd post some pics of our doggie Riley since she got some new jammies this week and looks awfully darn cute! She turned a year old on Jan 2nd!
Enjoy!

Touching her tongue to her nose!

 

[disneydusted]

Riley is so tiny!! I am still amazed that she is so small! Do you keep her outfits on her in the winter? I would suspect she gets pretty cold???? Does she go out in the snow? Our lab is a spaz out in the snow, running herself into exhaustion!

 

[Roxychica7]

Riley is so tiny!! I am still amazed that she is so small! Do you keep her outfits on her in the winter? I would suspect she gets pretty cold???? Does she go out in the snow? Our lab is a spaz out in the snow, running herself into exhaustion!

Yep! We have to because she short haired and gets cold easily! Plus, I think it's kinda cute In the summer when the air condition is kicked up really high we put something on her too. She hasn't been out in the snow yet, but Dbf did bring her up a snowball the night before last and she ate it