Never Say Never .Atleast I Thought I’d Never!

[Pikester]

Animal Kingdom Day, Part II

From there I believe we walked the Pangani Forest Exploration Trail. I felt bad for one couple who missed out on some great animals. The guy was on a scooter (I only mention this because he was able to get ahead of the woman and then back to her before she got to where he had been) and went down the trail to see a building that he thought was a store but was really the Endangered Animal Rehabilitation Centre. He told the woman that there was nothing to see so they just walked back out the entrance.

This fish was hysterical! It's little mouth was sticking up out of the water and opening and closing. It was the weirdest thing.

From this trail we headed to It’s Tough to Be A Bug. I thought the kids would be fine with this but just before the spiders and bug spray came out Nathan hit the floor. Both Brian and I reached for him to see if he was OK and we ended up holding hands with each other. Awwwww.

Once we excited we made sure to take the path on the left so that we would walk around the other side of the Tree of Life.

Now it was on to Camp Minnie & Mickey as we had never been there before and we wanted to see Festival of the Lion King. Before the show started we took a bathroom break and on our way in we saw Chip & Dale coming out of a door nearby. I told Nathan that if the line wasn’t that long when we came out maybe we could meet Chip & Dale. When we came out of the bathroom, luck was on our side as there was only 6 people in line. Whoo Hoo! As Nathan was walking up to meet his new “friends”, Chip noticed that Nathan was holding a Chip & Dale stuffy. Chip held out his hand so Nathan let him check it out. Well, Chip would not give it back! The CM who was there told Chip to give it back or Santa would not be bringing and Christmas presents for him if he did not give it back. I guess the thought of no presents was enough for Chip to give it back but then Dale decided he wanted to check the stuffy out.

Done with picture taking we set off to find Brian and Tyler and found them having a little snack before the show. While they finished up I kept myself busy taking a picture of a little lizard who was sunning itself an ornament on a nearby Christmas tree.

Finally it’s time to see Festival of the Lion King. The show was OK. The costumes were nice and the singing wasn’t bad but it was just…eh.

 

[Pikester]

Animal Kingdom Day, Part III

Once the show was finished we headed to the Maharajah Jungle Trek where Brian and Tyler had a nice discussion about bats with a CM in the bat enclosure.

We finished the trail and went to get lunch at FlameTree.. While we ate (food wasn’t bad) we watched the birds try to sucker us out of our food. Sorry birds, no food for you! After lunch Brian and Tyler hit Everest again while I drank a hot tea from one of the food carts. I think it was Anandapur something or other. Nathan checked out the EE store and then climbed around on the rocks out front. When the guys came out we decided that we wanted to see the Flights of Wonder show (this allowed me to finish my tea and rest my feet).

The last ride that we decided to do was the Kali River Rapids. Actually the boys went on this ride while I sat out as I noticed that others who were going on the ride were coming off SOAKED! I sat on a bench near the ride exit and go myself a snack. It didn’t take the guys long and wouldn’t you know, not a drop of water on them! Well, maybe a couple of drops but they weren’t soaked like everyone else was. You just know that if I had gone on that ride I would have been the only one who got wet.

With the ride done we decided that it was time to go. We started walking to the exit stopping along the way to check out the animals located in The Oasis. We saw a CM feeding the birds in one of the areas which was neat.


We walked out to the van and then back to Pop, I think. I know at some point we went to DTD to do some shopping and let the boys shop in the Lego Store so we may have done that before we went to Pop or even after we went to Pop. I know we must eaten dinner at some point too but the rest of the night is just a haze.

Next up:

Disney’s Hollywood Studios Day II​

 

[Pikester]

Animal Kingdom Day II, Bonus Pictures

 

[DL55]

Sounds like your mind went to automatic mode after AK.
Great pictures. I agree if you had gone on Kali you would have been soaked. I know I would have.

 

[ladybugmom]

Awww!! Chip and Dale are so cute in their Christmas attire!! Sounds like they were a lot of fun to interact with!! Love all of the gorgeous AK pics!!

 

[mariezp]

Poor Pikester! After all the planning you did around that Tusker House Breakfast ADR! I would have been in tears too. Glad it turned out okay and you enjoyed Boma.
You took lots of great pictures and saw way more at AK than we did on both our AK days.
So sad about the dad and the 2 stroller kids. We saw our own share of special families while they were having some NOT so wonderful magical moments.
Your story about Nathan hitting the floor during ITBB is a good reminder of why I won't be trying to convince my DD to see the show anytime soon. That is exactly where she would be through the whole show. Sweet that you and DH got to hold hands during a romantic bug show.

 

[Pikester]

Good morning my TR readers!

No I have not forgotten you! I've been working and the kids are now on school vacation so I've been a little preoccupied. I have my fingers crossed that I can post the next installment of my report tomorrow. It's all typed up and I've got the pictures loaded to photobucket so it's just a matter of taking the time to transfer it to here.

Have a good day!

 

[mickeystoontown]

I'll still be here when you get time to post the next installment. Things have been busy around our house too so I've neglected my own trip report.

 

[Pikester]

December 4, 2009

Disney's Hollywood Studios Day II, Part I

Today was the first day during our trip that we experienced bad weather and it was to be our second Disney’s Hollywood Studios Day. When I say bad weather I mean it poured! We were pretty lucky that we were able to enjoy part of our morning with only having to deal with the sprinkles but it wasn’t long before the heavens opened up and dumped on us.

We did our usual (for Disney) morning routine of getting dressed, having breakfast and getting in the van for our drive to the park.

We arrived with the other die-hards for rope drop and discovered a turnstile that had no line behind it yet. We were the first in line and happy to be there chatting up the CM from Maine. We had also discussed our touring plan for the morning and decided to get FP for Toy Story to have for later and then get in line to ride it. We didn’t have to wait too long before the park opened and we made our way to the rope that is draped across Hollywood Boulevard. We watched the opening show and then it was power walking time to get to Toy Story Mania for the FP and our first ride of the day. Well, our “plan” did not go as planned. By the time Brian got the FP the line for TS was enormous! We had made the wrong call. So we decided to head over to Tower of Terror and Rockin Rollercoaster and take care of the two big ones before touring the rest of the park.

Since there is no way in heck that I am getting on Tower of Terror and Nathan is not interested in either of those rides, Brian and Tyler split from us to do them while Nathan and I explored the shops.

Done with the big 2 we went off to wander the park, took pictures and checked out a few of the smaller rides before the Indy Stunt show.

By this time it was getting close to the Indy Stunt show time. Brian ran off to get a few more FP for rides to do later and I took the kids to get snacks before heading over to find a seat for the Indian Jones Epic Stunt Spectacular (You need to imagine that being said in a loud, announcer voice, sounds really cool). We found the very front row near the control center empty and got comfortable for a longish wait as we still had about 20 minutes or so before the show started. Brian decided right then that he needed a snack so off he went to find one. By that time it was pouring out! I can’t remember if he got one or not. I think he did. The show was good but short. Due to the rain they had to scrap the airplane scene for safety reasons. No problem for me, I’d never want to see someone get hurt trying to entertain me.

Once the show was done and with the rain still coming down pretty heavy, we decided to shake things up a bit and go to a resort QS restaurant for lunch. I had done a little reading in my Passporter of which QS restaurants were in which resort and I came up with the QS at the Contemporary Resort. I figured this would be the perfect way to scope out a resort. Since we had plans to return to DHS for the evening showing of Fantasmic, we left our car parked safely in the lot and hopped a bus to the Contemporary. Once the bus dropped us off it took as a little while to find the place but once we did the first thing I noticed was that it was packed! Ordering our food was very different to how we have been ordering all week. There were kiosks that you used to place your order(I think a little receipt printed out which you took to the cash register) and then, if you were on the dining plan, you walked around and picked out your drink and dessert. I’m sure you did the same thing whether you are on the plan or not but I’m just sharing the experience from my view. Once you gathered your items, you stand in line at the check out and the ring up your items. Then, you are given a pager for when your entrée is ready. We didn’t know about the “waiting until you are called for your food” so we were standing at the window and was told rather rudely what we were suppose to actually be doing. Well excuuuuuse me! While we waited for our food to be ready, we tried to find a place for the 4 of us to sit. The only table we could find was for two people. One side was a bench and the other side we put two chairs. Once the pager went off and Brian went to get the food, the table of 4 beside us was offered to us and we slid ourselves over to enjoy more room. My review for that restaurant was the following:

Food: Not bad
Everything else: Eh

The family has no desire to ever stay at or eat at the Contemporary in the future.

 

[mickeystoontown]

I love the close up shots you got of the Villians. So cool! Looks like ya'll did have some really good seats at the stunt show.

We ate at Chef Mickey's last August and I was in no way, shape, or form impressed with the Contemporary.

 

[Pikester]

Disney's Hollywood Studios Day II, Part II

Since it was still raining, Brian decided that now would be the perfect time to ride the Monorail to Epcot and back. Nathan loves the ride and since we really didn’t want to be in the parks yet it was THE time. I had no desire to go and told Brian that all I really wanted to do was get a nice cup of hot tea and go lounge in the room for a little while. He said that was fine with him and the kids were OK with it too. We made our way to the TTC so that they could catch the Epcot Monorail and I could find my way home. Here are some pictures that Brian took.

I have no idea what I was thinking but for some reason I thought I could get to Pop from there. DUHHHHH! Once I realized that I couldn’t, I took the Monorail to Magic Kingdom so that I could get the bus to Pop. So here I am, all by myself, getting around Disney. Am I cool or what! Please do not answer that because I was soon to find out that I was not cool. I ended up waiting for FREAKIN EVER for a Pop bus to come! Let me tell you how long I waited for that thing. By the time the bus came, we loaded up, drove to Pop, got off the bus and I had walked to the 50’s Lady building, my family was just being dropped off at Pop from their little adventure! I did get my cup of tea and a chocolate goody to help relieve my stress and then I laid on the bed to watch a little TV with the family. I didn’t realize until then how damp the bottom my pants were so I was able to get those to dry during my lounging. Took this picture when I saw ducks swimming in the bowling pin pool in the rain.

Finally rested, I think we ate at Pop before heading back to DHS for the evening. The pouring rain had stopped but it was still drizzly. (I am so glad that I had brought ponchos with me as we used them for two days. Brian was really good at getting them folded back into a small package which was great.)

Brian and Tyler tried to ride R&R while Nathan and I watched the people but the single rider line was huge so they ended up ditching so that we could get seats at Fantasmic.

I have to say that I was really looking to Fantasmic but I ended up being really disappointed. See, Fantasmic doesn’t run when it’s raining. Since the rain had picked up the show was canceled but then have to let off the fireworks that have been set up. We ended up seeing a 15 minute show that included the fireworks and a few lights. I guess that means I’ll have to go back to WDW again to see it.

On the way out of Mini-Fantasmic, Brian and Tyler decided to ride the Tower of Terror.

Brain had handed over the 4 Toy Story Mania FP that we had for the family so Nathan and I were able to ride 2 times in a row which was neat. Once that ride was done we headed over to Streets of America to see the Osborne Family Spectacle of Dancing Lights. Guess what? They were CANCELED due to the weather! Boooo! Hiss, Hiss! Boooo! I called Brian to let him know so that he wouldn’t hurry to meet us there and then Nathan and I headed over to Star Tours for one last ride and to meet Brain and Tyler. He said for us to meet him there but since I didn’t see him that was when we decided to just do the ride by ourselves. When we came out into the shop, the guys were there and Brian told me that he had tried to call me but I guess I didn’t hear my cell ringing. Oh well.

The night was pretty much done by then and it was time to say goodbye to Disney’s Hollywood Studios. I wished we had more time along with better weather.

Next up:
　

Epcot Day II​

　

 

[DL55]

Sorry that the light shows were canceled. It was a conspiracy to get you to come back. I don't remember seeing those props at TOT. I guess I'll have to return and look for them.

 

[ladybugmom]

Aww man! I'm so sorry that the rained messed things up for you. We dealt with rain our entire trip in May--everyday ALL day!! Fantasmic was cancelled for us as well so we ended up booking the dinner package for our trip in May.

 

[longing2Batdisney]

Hey there Pikester! sorry I have been MIA..I had lost your thread for a bit...but I'm all caught up!! You did a wonderful job with your photos of AK. I'm so sorry to hear about the choas of your ADR's but sounds like Boma was very good. The interaction with Chip and Dale sounds really cute...I love when the characters interact with the kids...Ashton's favoirte from last year is still Handy Manny the person just did an awesome job.

What a bummer about the rain on your DHS day! we dealt with that every day in May and I really hope we don't have to deal too much with it this coming vacay! We too only caught a mini version of Fantamisic.

Bryan has some great shots of Epcot from the monorail...
Looking forward to more when you can share!
Connie

 

[mickeystoontown]

Call me weird but I think the rainy picture you took from the monorail are cool. Goodness...it took you a while to get back to the resort. That's no so great when it's all rainy and yucky out.

Too bad Fantasmic was rained out. I would have been bummed about that too!

 

[Pikester]

Sorry that the light shows were canceled. It was a conspiracy to get you to come back. I don't remember seeing those props at TOT. I guess I'll have to return and look for them.

So that's what it is, a conspiracy.

Aww man! I'm so sorry that the rained messed things up for you. We dealt with rain our entire trip in May--everyday ALL day!! Fantasmic was cancelled for us as well so we ended up booking the dinner package for our trip in May.

It was a little upsetting but I tried to just go with the flow.

Hey there Pikester! sorry I have been MIA..I had lost your thread for a bit...but I'm all caught up!! You did a wonderful job with your photos of AK. I'm so sorry to hear about the choas of your ADR's but sounds like Boma was very good. The interaction with Chip and Dale sounds really cute...I love when the characters interact with the kids...Ashton's favoirte from last year is still Handy Manny the person just did an awesome job.

What a bummer about the rain on your DHS day! we dealt with that every day in May and I really hope we don't have to deal too much with it this coming vacay! We too only caught a mini version of Fantamisic.

Bryan has some great shots of Epcot from the monorail...
Looking forward to more when you can share!
Connie

Brian tried to take a lot of different pictures this trip. We also spent some of our time keeping an eye out for hidden Mickeys. We found quite a few.

Nathan has never been interested in one specific character but by our AK day he decided out of the blue that he was a big fan of Chip & Dale.

Call me weird but I think the rainy picture you took from the monorail are cool. Goodness...it took you a while to get back to the resort. That's no so great when it's all rainy and yucky out.

Too bad Fantasmic was rained out. I would have been bummed about that too!

I couldn't believe how long it took me to get back to the room. I did enjoy meeting and visiting with a family in line waiting for the Pop bus to come though. They were from MD and had driven down just like us and had even stayed at the same Super 8 the same night we were there. Just was a neat meet!

 

[Pikester]

December 5, 2009

Epcot Day II, Part I

Today is Epcot Day II and our final day at Disney World. Woke up to rain but we were determined to have a good time on our last day at the World. We did our usual morning stuff and then drove to Epcot making sure to bring our ponchos with us. We made it to Epcot a little after rope drop and it was raining enough to get you wet but not soaked.

We started off our day by splitting up. Brian and Nathan went to get FP for Test Track while Tyler and I went to Innovations West to check out the Storm Simulator. It is a interactive 3D movie that allows you to see what happens to a home in Hurricane force winds and then you make improvements on the home that will help it to survive in bad weather. It was OK.

We excited the movie and saw Brian and Nathan waiting for us. Walking to the exit we saw that it was still raining so we dashed over to Nemo for a ride under the sea. We finished Nemo and walked around the Sea area to check out the tanks. We were able to see fish, sea turtles, dolphins, sharks, manatees and divers feeding the fish. We even saw a hidden Mickey! We also walked around and checked out the smaller tanks where we saw the eels and seahorses. I thought there was food floating around in the seahorse tank but once I squinted my eyes and put my nose to the glass I was able to see that there were teeny tiny seahorses in there. So cute!

Oops, I just remembered that before we checked out the tanks we did Turtle Talk with Crush. We hung around in the waiting area before the show started and watched the sting rays swim around. Brian got told to sit down just as the show was starting because he was taking a picture of a supposed hidden Mickey. He is such a trouble maker! Tyler asked a question of Crush (can’t remember what it was) and it was really cool to see how Crush interacted with him. Dude!

Hidden Mickey!

It was still raining but now it was raining hard. Hard! We put our ponchos on and made a quick walk to The Land to see how busy Living with the Land was. Checking our watches we noticed that it was almost 11AM which is when they start serving lunch at Sunshine Seasons so we decided to have an early lunch and then ride Living with the Land. The food at SS is QS and is very good. Since we were there early there was plenty of seating and we were able to enjoy our food and not feel like we had to hurry so that someone else could have a seat. Finishing our food (the dessert was so good!), we joined the line for Living with the Land and it wasn’t long before we were getting into the boat for our ride. My favorite part of the ride is seeing the different ways of growing food. We even spotted a few hidden Mickeys!

We left the Land and woo hoo it had stopped raining. But, it was cold! Being the best husband in the whole world, Brian went out to the van to get me my fleece jacket while Tyler went to ride Mission Space and Nathan and I went into Mouse Gears to look around. Brian found us in the store making a few final purchases and we met up with Tyler out near the benches in front of the store. While Brian had been out getting my coat he had picked up a ticket to do the Kim Possible Mission.

We started walking toward the World Showcase to Canada so that we could see their 360 degree movie. Martin Short is one funny guy and Canada is so beautiful! Some day I’m going to visit. Being from NH we’re not that far from the boarder so you’d think I would have traveled there by now.

 

[Pikester]

Epcot Day II, Part II

From there we walked through the United Kingdom and then to the International Gateway to pick up our Kimmunicator for our mission. If there is a way to do this without the kids fighting over who gets to follow the clue next please let me know because my kids drove me nuts. We only did one mission since they were acting up but if I ever go to the World with just my husband I’d like to do it myself.

The Mission took us to France and since we just happened to be hungry for a snack we used one of our snack credits to get some yummy desserts at Boulangerie Patisseries.

Hidden Mickey!

I had a raspberry turnover, Brian had an almond crescent, Nathan had a big chocolate chip cookie and Tyler had a big piece of chocolate cake. Delish! We returned the Kimmunicator and continued our way around the world

Morocco

Japan

Germany

I can't remember where this was.

Outpost

then over to Test Track so that Brian and Tyler could use their FP that Brian had gotten earlier. I am very ashamed to admit this but on our walk to Test Track I had a melt down. Brian and I had a misunderstanding and I got huffy with him. He let me get over it and we worked it out. See, it’s not only kids that get cranky.

By this time that sun had worked it’s way out and there wasn’t a cloud in the sky. Florida weather you know. With guys done with TT we decided to check out the Universe of Energy with Ellen D but the show was longer then we wanted so we skipped it and went for one last ride on Space Ship Earth.

It was time now to leave the park so we headed to the parking lot to find our van and head back to Pop for our last night at Walt Disney World. We had dinner at Everything Pop and then went to our room to start packing for our trip home in the morning.

Next up:

Departure Day ​

 

[Mickey_Mom]

Hey Pikester I've been lurking on your report because we want to go to WDW in 2010 at the same time you did. I've really enjoyed your report so far and while I can't see your pics from today (work blocks photobucket) I look forward to seeing them once home.

My tip for the Kim Possible missions is to get more than one Kimmunicator and split into teams. My family of five got two tickets and we split up in a mini competition to finish first. No fighting!

Oh, and yes, while I haven't yet seen the Martin Short movie... Canada is very beautiful and I hope you get to visit!

 

[DL55]

Did you listen to any of the Christmas traditions of the different countries? We listened to 1 or 2, would like to back to listen to more.