Never Too Late For a TR - Our Disneymoon Jan 2008 (w/ lots o' pics)! *07/23 - Day 5*

[solgent]

This is a great TR!

Loved the HP photo. SpecialK or MrDanielle or whatever his name is looks amazing.

Sorry that you didn't feel well on your first morning. What a bummer! What a trouper you are to pull it together, go to the park and ride the most challenging rides! I also hate Dinosaur. Did it once & kept my eyes closed most of the way.

 

[stagemomx3]

Sorry you weren't feeling well for AK. I love giraffes too and was disappointed that we only caught a brief far away glimpse of them. Just to let you know for next time, the Earl of Sandwich line goes super fast!

 

[specialk2ca]

There's more to come on Earl of Sandwich but that'll come in time.

I wouldn't say Harry's my idol or anything...I just enjoy the stories . It just so happens that I have straight brown hair and wear glasses.

Note the Taco Bell shirt. That is an original, I'm proud to say.

 

[MrsDanielle]

I can't believe neither one of us mentioned this ... probably because in DH's trip notes (he keeps a journal of the trips he goes on and makes for a good read) it says on Day 3 that on Day 2 when we got back from AK there was a picture of Cinderella and Prince Charming signed by them with some Mardi Gras beads awaiting us in our hotel room. That really helped make our day!

 

[solgent]

Hey, what's up, you two? We want more about your happily ever after at the happiest place on earth!

 

[MrsDanielle]

Day 3 – We Don’t Need Your Fastpass!

SpecialK’s Thoughts

It’s our second morning in Orlando and we’ve already developed a routine for breakfast. I’m not sure exactly what that routine is other than eating breakfast foods that we purchased at the grocery store so we’ll leave it at that. Great food though! But note to self, bring own cutlery next time. We were determined to make the opening of MK this morning so we boogied out of our hotel probably around 8 and waited for the bus. We did make it though and saw the whole Good Morning routine with the old timey performers and characters on the train. Once we made it into the parks we headed for Frontierland. But we waited at the bridge (a bridge?) and were actually led by a crew of several CMs and weren’t allowed to pass. It was like playing Red Rover with their backs.

Morning people!

First stop on the MK World Tour was Big Thunder Mountain (WHAM! 1/2 of the Double Mountain Whammy as Splash Mountain was down while we were there…boourns!). We ended up on the first train of the morning and did the whole thing again right after. We also went on Pirates, Haunted Mansion, Philharmagic, Peter Pan, Snow White, Winnie the Pooh, Space Mountain (WHAM!), and Buzz Lightyear and grabbed some smoothies. And it was 11:30. No Fastpasses! It wasn’t like we were running around between rides; we just had no lines to go in and hit things in order as we passed them. Did we REALLY need to go on Snow White? No, but it was there and there was a 30 second wait by the time we made it through the maze of metal posts. There isn’t really much to say on the rides themselves as we enjoyed all of them (some more than others for sure though … Philharmagic, Buzz, and Pirates at the top; Space Mountain and Snow White at the bottom).

What's a pirate's favourite letter? Rrrr!

Wham!

Before lunch we were walking past the Castle and saw that there was a show starting. It was the Dreams Coming True thing with Donald and the other big names. It was really cute to watch (albeit a bit cheesy) and I admit to having a tear in my eye because my dream already came true the day I married MrsDanielle. It’s one of those relaxing things that you can do in between running around for the rides.

Der Castle!

Main Street USA!

And amidst all of the walking from ride to ride and lack of waiting in line we did take in the atmosphere of the park and the design of everything. Not so much in the queue but more the streets and buildings. And the gardens! Oh my goodness the gardens. They’re everywhere; and with nicely manicured shrubberies to boot. At some point we decided to have some lunch, and I had heard some good things about Pecos Bills. It wasn’t as good as expected. I had a burger which was dry and MrsDanielle had a wrap which was pre-made so she couldn’t get it without dressing. We agree that it was our least favourite meal. Favourite is almost misleading. It was just unpleasant. Oh well…two counter service credits down AND we were dining at Kona that evening. So no biggie.

Qu'est-ce que c'est?

Plenty more of this!

 

[stagemomx3]

Love the pictures. How come you didn't like Space Mountain?

 

[specialk2ca]

Space Mountain was just so rickety...not that there's anything wrong with that. The problem lies in the fact that you're in the dark and can't prepare for an upcoming turn to ease the shaking. I suspect it'll be alot nicer after the refurb.

It took awhile to get to this update because after we had it written, and then realized all of the details we missed, and added a bunch more the computer went down with a virus (Read: Windows Defender). So that took a week to get up. And finding the time to decide on the pics to load up.

You know, to add to my thoughts, we were looking back on the pics and it's weird cause there aren't that many from this morning. We were just looking and I think there's way more from the second visit to MK. I think we just wanted to take in everything and then worry about capturing those things later on.

 

[MrsDanielle]

One More Thought from SpecialK

Man alive. We totally forgot this but we were walking around after lunch and wouldn't you know it...Todd from Survivor: China was out and about. Dude is small. Anyways...

MrsDanielle’s Thoughts:

My chicken wrap at MK was disgusting! I’ll never understand why so many restaurants insist on smothering their food with dressings! In this case, I didn’t have a choice because it was pre-made. I got over it fairly quickly though, because well, we were in the MK!

After our disappointing lunch we boarded the MK train and took a leisurely ride around the park. We got off at Frontierland, right near a closed Splash Mountain and walked around and took photos. Just an aside, I was so disappointed when I found out that Splash would be closed during our visit. Having never been to the World before, I spent years listening to my friends brag about this amazing water flume, and I was so excited to be finally able to ride… On a bright note, every other main attraction was opened during our stay, but still SM would have been amazing!

Being tired, and let’s face it a teensy bit cranky, we decided to return to POR for a quick rest. Once we reached our room (a mere 20-25 minutes later) we flopped down on the bed, and watched television. We were unable to rest long, as we had ADRs at Kona for 5:45! We bussed to MK, and took the monorail over to the Poly.

We were both blown away by the beauty of this resort! For a moment we almost felt that were transported to this exotic paradise in the South Pacific. The waterfall outside the monorail station is breathtaking! The tranquility of the resort was blown however once we arrived on the mezzanine level due to the sheer number of people waiting to be seated for dinner. I witness a few dejected souls being turned away from both the Kona and Ohana’s. (“What do you mean there’s a 3 hour wait for supper, I want to eat now!”) At that moment I was so glad that I had made our reservations 3 months in advance…

Anyway once we were seated, we promptly ordered smoothies as well as our main courses. I ordered the filet mignon with mashed potatoes and asparagus, while DH opted for the pomegranate pork chop with roasted potatoes and swiss chard. I instantly regretted ordering the smoothie, after drinking it and consuming my meal I felt sooo sick! There were so many delicious sounding desserts that I passed on, but DH still had room in his belly and ate the chocolate fondue. Even DH (who usually has an iron cast stomach) felt a bit ill after finishing his dessert, and nearly lost his meal when our waiter presented us with an additional dessert to celebrate our honeymoon! We asked him to kindly box our treat (which we ate a day later btw) and on we went to the MK! Oh I should mention that our waiter gave us each a lei – he was by far our favourite server throughout the trip. DH was so impressed with him that after returning home, he sent a note to guest relations about our experience. DH also claims that Kona was his most favourite meal of the trip, and the only must-do TS for next time we visit the world!

Complimentary dessert!

With full tummies, and tasteful leis around our necks we headed straight for the MK! Once we passed through security, we headed straight to the washrooms on Main Street. That’s when it started to pour! A large number of people who were waiting for Wishes on Main Street ran for the exit, which in my mind was a bit silly! Once it had stopped raining, we ran around a nearly empty park and decided to ride POTC once again! It was pretty eerie riding it with only one other person in the boat. (seriously folks, get out to WDW in January if you can!) I suggested riding HM once more, but DH refused to go near it at night! Neither one of us really enjoys anything that even remotely resembles a “horror” theme, but I figured that it might be fun riding this one at night! BTW folks, I’m surprised that so many of you consider this ride to have mild thrills! Some parts of the HM are down right creepy (I quietly took off my bride ears after seeing the super scary bride) and there is no way that I would have gone on that thing as a child…never ever! Anyway, after Pirates we climbed the Swiss Family Treehouse, rode Cindy’s carrousel, tried to pull out the Sword in the Stone and watched my number one attraction, Philharmagic!

Out for a stroll after the rain!

Mosaics underneath Cindy's Castle!

Gargamel! What a man.

Another failed attempt!

Look ma! No people!

Feeling truly exhausted, and mildly wet we found our way back to the bus stop. The banjo music that plays on the POR bus is so relaxing and soothing after a long hard day of playing in WDW that I fell asleep on my hubby! I must say that it wasn’t the last time that would happen either….

Next up – Epcot and Chefs de France!

 

[stagemomx3]

Kona sounds yummy. The sword in the stone picture is funny. When I read the words banjo music it did not bring to mind soothing relaxing fall asleep thoughts.

 

[whogirl'smom]

Yay, you're back! So glad you had a great day at MK! I agree with no sauce on the wrap; I always get the snack wraps at McDonald's without sauce. I love the last picture of you two in front of the castle, very sweet.

 

[specialk2ca]

Kona sounds yummy. The sword in the stone picture is funny. When I read the words banjo music it did not bring to mind soothing relaxing fall asleep thoughts.

Yeah...it was totally yummers. The smoothies are on the dining plan and we dig the smoothies! I don't think we even included the bread that you get with the sweet macadamia nut butter. So add that on top of what we ate as well. And I think the bread was gone in about 2 minutes flat . Trust me though, when you're on a dark bus after a long day and quite possibly a full stomach you may fall asleep too.

I love the last picture of you two in front of the castle, very sweet.

I think that's one of our favs from the whole trip. My Mom used that one for the photo album we got her as a souvenir (Dad got golfballs)

 

[stagemomx3]

Love Carlton dancing.

Ok how much of a blonde am I? I just now realized, after years of watch The Fresh Prince, that Carlton is named Carlton because his dad is Carl. Talk about a DUH moment for me.

 

[specialk2ca]

Carlton's dad is (Uncle) Phil. Carl was the dad on Family Matters.

 

[stagemomx3]

Carlton's dad is (Uncle) Phil. Carl was the dad on Family Matters.

Sweet! Then I didn't "miss" that all those years I was watching that show. I never liked Family Matters.

I still think Carlton's dance is one of the funniest things ever.

 

[specialk2ca]

We slept in a bit ‘cause our plan of attack was to venture through the World Showcases which opened at 11 and leave Future World until our next time at Epcot. So we had our breakfast and went to wait to catch the bus. Unbeknown to us, the marathon was in full swing with the finish line in Epcot and this was affecting traffic heavily. There were no buses directly to Epcot and we got tired of waiting so we went on a bus to the MK and then monorailed it to Epcot.

Monoraaaail! Monoraaaail!

Immediately after getting in we got Fastpasses for Soarin’ and went on the Nemo dark ride, which was okay but nothing extraordinary. We proceeded to Club Cool where yours truly braved the Beverly. It started out alright, and I thought wow this isn’t that bad and then a microsecond later the aftertaste hit followed by the face. Ew. Several were awesome though. I can’t remember which but they were good! Basically anything else…Finally, before going back to Soarin’ we went on Honey I Shrunk the Audience which was neat cause the whole theater moved but the movie itself and some of the effects were dated.

The first morning shot of the ball. Check it out from the monorail at night.

Yummers!

Time to Soar! MrsDanielle wasn’t sure about it at first but she ended up enjoying it. I loved the Patrick Warburton appearance in the preshow. Just the feeling of flying free like that and smelling those oranges was like nothing I had ever felt before.

Then we were off to the World Showcase which turned out to be a lot of shops and photo ops with a handful of rides and movies thrown in. And lots of food. We had lunch at the bakery in France, dining on some ham and cheese croissants and chocolate mousse. After wandering through several countries exhibits (read: stores) we found ourselves at a washroom in Morocco when it started pouring. And then 10 minutes later it stopped. Weird weather in this Florida.

Further on down the line we hit up Norway and browsed through the exhibit and rode Maelstrom. It was exciting to see the Vikings back in their day with an extreme amount of trolls. I don’t know if I’d ever understand that fascination but then again I’m Canadian. I already don’t understand people’s fascinations with the Leafs. Otherwise it was a good water ride. We also went to Mexico, where the pavilion is housed within an Aztec pyramid. We tried hard to get photos wearing sombreros but alas, they all turned blurry. We did go on the Three Caballeros ride where the ‘other two’ were searching for Donald. It got annoying by the end but the atmosphere of the ride was great. You go right past the TS restaurant and can see back towards the entrance. And then we found Donald outside in his Caballero getup and got a Photopass with him. Beware though. We found it very awkward trying to stand next to him and in retrospect should’ve been kneeling or something in front.

Come sail away. Come sail away with me!

Up next: Dinner at Chefs de France AND a surprise! Stay tuned to find out what it is!

 

[MrsDanielle]

I would have liked to have seen more cultural displays throughout the WS. Every August, our city is host to a wondrous cultural extravaganza that boasts traditional dancing, exhibits, music, and best of all, heaps and heaps of glorious FOOD! Maybe because of this, we were not too impressed with the WS, and to be honest, to me the area was little more than yet another shopping opportunity. I will say however that we thoroughly enjoyed all the attractions that were there, especially the films in both Canada and China. I think the main (and fairly obvious) star of the WS is the food. We had the pleasure of sampling quite a few of the CS offerings (and two TS) and I must say that in general, the WS boasts some of the best food in all of WDW!

Kisses!

Moving along, after spending the day running around Epcot it was time for our ADR at Chefs de France. Although the service and atmosphere were both good, the food was a bit of a disappointment. DH ordered the onion soup and the duck while I had roasted chicken. As insane as this might sound, the portions were too small, and my chicken was fairly dry and smothered in a sour-tasting gravy. For dessert DH ordered a chocolate tart, and I had strawberry cake which I asked the serve to box up immediately. I really did expect better things from this TS meal, and in my book it was the worst TS meal we had throughout our entire time at the world.

After supper we headed over to Canada, and ended up speaking to a very talkative CM. He was very pleasant, and super excited to be working at Epcot. He definitely was one of those ‘super proud Canadian types’…’nuff said!

That giant golfball!

On our way out of Epcot we noticed how short the line for SE was, so we hopped on. It was actually better than I expected (based on the reviews I’ve read), although some of the dialogue seemed a bit dull. On a whole though I think it’s an excellent attraction for most tourists, with the exception of very small children! I couldn’t imagine dragging a 3 year old onto this one!

We hurried back to our resort, as we did not want to be late for our special excursion.

A day prior to this DH had booked a romantic carriage ride for the two of us, and after a few days of running around non-stop throughout WDW we were in need of a few moments of pure relaxation. We met our horse (a beautiful fellow named Prince Charming, his breed was used in the civil war) and driver at the POR docks. We rode from POR to POFQ, while the hypnotic sounds of the horse’s hooves put us both in a state of deep relaxation. From what I remember (well I was half asleep at this point) POFQ looked great! When we booked our holiday, DH requested a room at POFQ, however we ended up being placed in POR which turned out to be fine. Next time we go to the World I would like to try POFQ, but I wonder if it would be more exciting to try an entirely different resort, like perhaps CSR or even WL if the bank account permits!

Prince Charming!

On our return to the dock we paid our driver ($35 for a 25 minute ride) and posed with Prince Charming. Afterwards, we slowly walked ourselves back to our room, and crashed hard.

Happily ever after!

Up next (tomorrow even...): MGM and a Dream!

 

[MrsDanielle]

Once again we were up fairly early in hopes of arriving at Hollywood Studios for rope drop. After quickly showering and eating breakfast in our room (side note: we ordered far too much water from Garden Grocers, we really didn’t need the 3 gallon jugs of water, and a 24 pack of 500 ml bottles) we were on our way to POR’s main bus stop. Just another side note, ladies, how do you manage your hair in humid weather while in WDW? Most of the time I wore mine off my face in a ponytail, but it seemed like every other woman had theirs nicely styled! How does that work? Please share with me your WDW hair strategies!

Once again we didn’t quite make RD, which was a bit of a disappointment! We quickly forgot about the opening ceremonies however once we realized that we had a whole new park to discover! I won’t lie, while planning for our holiday this was the park I was least excited about. There was something about this park that seemed less magical than the other three, and I was under the impression that it boasted far fewer attractions and rides than the other parks. After passing through security our main mission was to secure FPs for TOT. We hadn’t quite made it halfway down the “main drag” when a friendly woman approached us. “Are the two of you planning on attending the Beauty and the Beast musical this morning?” she asked us curiously. DH and I locked eyes for a brief moment, as although we had discussed seeing the show, we had not made any firm decisions. So I answered the woman “We were thinking about it.” She went on to say, “How would the two of you like to be my VIP guests for the 10:30 show?” We promptly agreed, and were asked a few standard questions such as our names, where we live, if we were celebrating a special occasion, etc. She asked us to meet her about half an hour before the show, and waved goodbye to us.

Feeling giddy, we found our way to TOT and saw that standby was only like 10 minutes, so we decided to get in line. DH was initially hesitant about this ride, but I convinced him that it would be fun, and that’s what we did! The whole lead up to the actual “dropping sequence” is unbelievable! Disney Imagineers really out did themselves with ToTs superb theming; it is truly frightening. We were seated in the front row (!!!) and stupid me did not realize that there were safety bars to hang onto! Thus, my arms were flailing all around throughout the ride. Yes I know I know….shakes head.

Two brave kids about to face the terrror!

He came out of nowhere!

With wobbly Jell-o legs we managed to walk around the park a bit before Beauty and the Beast. We looked to see about Indiana Jones, Muppets and Star Wars, and made our way back to meet our Dream CM. This time she was with another younger CM who was exchanging small talk about DH, mostly about how we were enjoying our first experience at the World, not to mention our honeymoon. We were led into the theatre and were seated in the third row! The CMs gave us a dream certificate, and a surprise gift to commemorate our honeymoon. I opened the gift and found a Mickey and Minnie bride and groom figurine inside. BTW it is now proudly displayed in the centre of our kitchen table. Anyway the show was really cute, but I kept thinking about having to leave in a few days. I was not ready to return to reality, which was a bone chilling Winnipeg winter. Despite these persistent thoughts, I refused to let them get the better of me, because after all I still had a few days left to explore the World with my new DH.

A memorable dream!

We then went over to Indiana Jones, somehow managed to find seats. Albeit, they weren’t the greatest seats, but we could still see most of the action. Although the show was good, I will say that it sure takes a long time to get the show going! Afterwards we went to see the German mechanic (because we insisted that he looked just like the original actor), took a photo and had a pretty humorous conversation about the mechanic’s arms being bigger than my DH’s head! Here’s the proof!

From there we went to see the Muppets 3D feature film, which turned out to be extremely well-done and cute although not nearly as magical as Philharmagic. Afterwards we did the Backlot Tour which was pretty much a waste of time. Even the canyon, which I suspect is the crown jewel of this attraction, seemed a bit dull.

So silly dilly!

Proof that even Canadians can get cold in Florida! (I'm wearing two thick hoodies!)

We then left the studios for Downtown Disney. We really wanted to try Earl of Sandwich, which btw makes for an excellent CS lunch! Everything, right down to the dessert was delicious! We walked around Downtown for a bit, and did some pre-shopping. I thought it would be best to get an idea of what we wanted to purchase, so we had a good long look around.

After returning to the Studios, DH went on Star Wars (I don’t enjoy simulator rides, so I skipped this one) while I walked around and did the window shopping. Because we had enjoyed it so much the first time, we decided to see Muppets 3D once more.

Groovy, no?

Awww!

Mike Wazowski! And bad hair. (MINE!)

It was getting late, so we decided to find seats for Fantasmic. This was my second favourite Disney show, (after Wishes) and it was definitely worth the wait! Even on a cold Monday in mid-January this place was packed! I noticed that there were even some people standing way in the back. I really do hope that Disney does not cut this show to only twice a week, mostly because I feel that so many people will be turned away disappointed due high crowd levels. BTW we found our seats at least 45 minutes before the show started, and we didn’t even have the best seats!

Scary!

Disney at night

 

[specialk2ca]

Some more pictures from the day:

MrsDanielle and her young sir!

Love the gardens!

And another! I didn't realize how many there were!

INDYYYYY!

Muppet serenity!

Wakka wakka wakka!

They lost a contest and got tickets!

My hair didn’t have problems, especially since it was under a baseball cap or Mickey ears 90% of the time. And after seeing Fantasmic we caught a boat to try and find the Fantasia Gardens minigolf course. I was amazed by Fantasmic’s water projections and that’s the one thing I constantly tell people about that show. It was slowgoing cause we had to stop at all the other Epcot resorts first plus it’s a cruising boat to begin with. But we made it.

We walked around the Swan (or Dolphin…not sure which) past BlueZoo (so Dolphin then) and I think we were literally going through the whole hotel before we asked the front desk where it was. Then it was an adventure walking outside cause we weren’t sure which way exactly to go cause it was dark and a little creepy. The pool was closed at this time as well adding to this eeriness. Well, we finally made it and paid to play the Fantasia course. The theming of it was, well, Fantasia. And each hole had a little clue written poetically to tell you how to approach it. The ‘real’ course looks amazing and being a golfer at heart I would’ve enjoyed playing it. Alas, they say it’s a toughie so we didn’t even really consider it. Maybe next time!

Dancing!

And some more!

Having played minigolf a few times (read: A LOT) I can say this course is in my top 3 for sure (the other two being at West Edmonton Mall and Canada Olympic Park). I shot a -2 and after a rocky start, MrsDanielle fired a +1. And they gave us these golf balls with a logo of Donald on them as a parting gift. On our way back, MrsDanielle noticed some ducks swimming in the pool and decided to scold them. We went back to the Dolphin and got a root beer float and smoothie from there which was expensive but refreshing and very delicious. We weren’t sure which way to go now but we knew that we could go downtown and back via bus. This took forever. Like over an hour. But we made it.

Excuse me Mr Duck!

My impression of a shrubbery!

It actually wasn’t late when we did get back so we played some video games, skeeball, and air hockey before getting to bed. I really dug the card that you loaded with money to play games. And being born in the early 80s we’re the type of kids that grew up as video games did so arcades are a familiar entity. Tomorrow we’re going back to Epcot to eat at home AKA Le Cellier which was one of our most anticipated restaurants before we got there. Did it live up to our expectations? Stay tuned!

 

[MrsDanielle]

Yikes, 4 posts and not one reply? Perhaps DH and I aren't the greatest storytellers. Wondering now if we should finish our TR, as we only have 2.5 days left to discuss...