No Day But Today- FINAL post on page 40!

[newholidayx2]

thanks Crystal - waiting for your Magic Kingdom report

 

[tinkerbell87512]

Beautiful pictures Crystal! The Gorillas are beautiful and I have yet to see them in person. I cant wait to see them when I go to Disney World next! But you are so right we are so lucky that we can see so many things like the gorilla's just with a short treck through the park. While others travel the world, hike hundreds of miles. We are really lucky that we can be exposed to many things that we other wise may not have been able to see or experience. I think thats what i truly love about disney, its the fact that they teach us so much all in one place if you take the time to listen. haha ok off my soapbox now.

Lol anyway Thanks for the tip on the cameras with the waterfall. Ive always wondered how people did that with fireworks. I wish my digital could do that because your pics just come out beautiful!

I cant wait for the next instalment!! Have a great day!

 

[MomofCKJ]

Oh what fantastic pictures!Thank you so much for sharing. I love gorillas and was so sad on our trip when the CM told us about 15 minutes earlier a bunch of teens had been really loud and boistrous and the gorilla family went and hid. He (the CM) had no idea when they would come back out. We waited a few minutes but with younger kids they weren't into waiting much longer. I would have, I would have loved to have seen them. When we walked on we saw one waaay up the hill on the Bachelor side but that was it. So seeing your pics is the next best thing for me till I can go back! So thank you!

Allyson

 

[jess98ac]

Still reading! I love it, this report is getting me so excited for our trip in May. I'm not going solo, but with a DH who's not really into it, I'll be calling all the shots anyway!!
lol

 

[DisneyJo]

And now I present you with fifty million gorilla photos! No hiking, security, or immunizations needed!

We live quite near 2 places called Port Lymne and Howletts wildlife parks which are owned by John Aspinal (ever heard of him?) well he (dead now but his son owns them) has the largest captive group of Gorillas in the world and a really successful breading programme. It's lovely to go there and just watch these beautiful animals. A reason to visit the UK?

I really love elephants- I wish they had them in the park somewhere where you could stand and watch them (like you can the gorillas) instead of just driving quickly by them!

We also go and watch the elephants there too, one day we watched for over half an hour as a male tried to get this branch off a tree outside his enclosure, the perseverance was amazing.

Right now back to your TR.

 

[pooksma]

Excellent pics Crystal. Love the gorilla shots-fascinating!More please!

 

[arkansas mom]

when you’re in a place where you can wake up to giraffes and zebras outside your window, it can start to feel normal after a few days. While at home, I can spend hours looking through the resort photo thread, all misty-eyed over Wilderness Lodge photos, once I’m back at the World, it all starts to seem normal- yeah, there’s the Polynesian, over there’s the MK. You feel like you’re there all the time, since it is, after all, “home”.

OMG, Crystal! You hit the nail on the head!
I sometimes catch myself in the World drifting into a nonchalant attitude about where I am and what I'm seeing.
On more than one occasion I've had these moments of clarity when I actually realize I'm thinking... "Yeah. There are those names in the sidewalk in front of the MK entrance. HoHum." Or "Yeah, yeah. Now we'll round this corner and voilà (with appropriate French accent, of course) there will be the giant Sorcerer Mickey hat again." And I realize what I'm doing and it makes me sad. It makes me wonder, do I just not appreciate the magic anymore? When I'm here at home, I can't wait to get back. And when I get there, sometimes, I tend to be blase' about some of it. Anyone else? Maybe I'll go park myself in front of the gorillas and have a Disney Appreciation Intervention.

 

[WDW Poly Princess]

OMG, Crystal! You hit the nail on the head!
I sometimes catch myself in the World drifting into a nonchalant attitude about where I am and what I'm seeing.
On more than one occasion I've had these moments of clarity when I actually realize I'm thinking... "Yeah. There are those names in the sidewalk in front of the MK entrance. HoHum." Or "Yeah, yeah. Now we'll round this corner and voilà (with appropriate French accent, of course) there will be the giant Sorcerer Mickey hat again." And I realize what I'm doing and it makes me sad. It makes me wonder, do I just not appreciate the magic anymore? When I'm here at home, I can't wait to get back. And when I get there, sometimes, I tend to be blase' about some of it. Anyone else? Maybe I'll go park myself in front of the gorillas and have a Disney Appreciation Intervention.

I think WDW is one of those things that's just impossible to really appreciate while you're there! I love the Paul Theroux quote "Travel is only glamorous in retrospect"- so true! There are those moments on your trip when it all sinks in, and you can appreciate how amazing everything is, but I think that if we did that the whole trip, everyone would just spend the entire trip with their jaw on the sidewalk, not going anywhere!

I just always think it's so funny that I'll spend *hours* online looking at photos of the resorts, but then when I'm right there on the monorail, and the Grand Floridian is going by out the window, I don't even look up!

 

[WDW Poly Princess]

Yes ma'am.

Oooh, nifty! I read about the park on hedgehogswithoutborders.com, it sounded amazing! On my big ol' list of places to visit someday!

After reading a few of your trip reports -- I decided that my next trip to Disney, will be one where I switch resorts a couple of times. Any tips? I start off in the Dolphin then go to CB, and POP.

Ah, another resort hopper is born! The only problem with doing the Dolphin first is that you won't be able to use DME for getting there. I love the whole Swolphin/Boardwalk area, though! Plus on the day you switch to CB, you can have bell services pick up your bags to transfer, walk over to Epcot, and then just head over to CB when you're ready! (I want to hear about CBR, btw, I've been contemplating staying there forever!)

We live quite near 2 places called Port Lymne and Howletts wildlife parks which are owned by John Aspinal (ever heard of him?) well he (dead now but his son owns them) has the largest captive group of Gorillas in the world and a really successful breading programme. It's lovely to go there and just watch these beautiful animals. A reason to visit the UK?

I've never heard of those- thanks for the tip!

 

[Luv2trav]

I just always think it's so funny that I'll spend *hours* online looking at photos of the resorts, but then when I'm right there on the monorail, and the Grand Floridian is going by out the window, I don't even look up!

This is SOOOOO true.... I think that is why they call planning a trip is 1/2 the fun. It's almost like you are taking mini trips before your actual trip. That is why I love these boards so much. That is why I love reading trip reports like yours. It's almost like I am there with you...

You pictures are beautiful. I will admit that I don't read trip reports that do not have pictures.. I just can feel their experience as much.

 

[WDW Poly Princess]

Part 9- How do you document real life when real life’s getting more like fiction each day? (aka the end of day 2!)

(Warning- this part is LONG! Get comfy!)

When we left off, I had just done the Safari (with less than desired photo results!) I stopped in Zwadi Traders, the store in Harambe, to do a little shopping, and ended up with a nifty new Killimanjaro Safari scrapbook, and a set of “vintage” safari postcards! (I can post pictures of them if anyone’s interested!) I noticed a couple of books that looked really good, but decided to pass on them for now.

I was *starving*- forgot to eat breakfast today!- so I set off in search of something to eat. I remembered seeing on Deb’s sites menus that Flame Tree BBQ had seasoned French fries, which sounded yummy, so I went over there. I guess they’ve changed the menu, though, because they only had regular fries! I considered pizza from Pizzafari, but wasn’t in the mood. I finally decided I was in the mood for nachos. Why nachos? I never eat nachos! But it was one of those random, weird cravings. I remembered seeing nachos at Roaring Forks on past WL stays, so I left Animal Kingdom around 2pm to head back to the Wilderness Lodge for lunch and a nap.

A few pictures I took on the way out…

I saw this little guy near the Tree of Life on my way out- I’ve never noticed him before! (He’s a cotton top tamarin, and again, there was some major zoom action going on! These guys only weigh from 12-16 oz!)

The base of a lamp post near a shop. I love all of the little details in this park- EVERYTHING is themed!

Thankfully, the wait for the bus back to WL was nowhere near as long as this morning’s wait was! It was a peaceful trip back, and I went straight to Forks for FOOD! Sadly, nachos are no longer on the menu! Boo! (I’m really disappointed in general on the recent food changes at WDW- I’m guessing it’s the result of so many people taking part in the DDP. Unfortunatly, there’s been a big decline in the two things that make dining at WDW so much fun: quality and variety. People don’t *want* the same menu everywhere, with the same drinks at every bar! If anything, we’d like more variety, not less! (I also hate how the DDP has now made it mandatory to have ADRs way in advance if you want any hope of a table service meal. I really miss thinking “Hey, Le Cellier sounds good tonight!” and being able to eat there that night!) But this is all a rant that I should be sending to Disney, not you guys! (See, no hot melty cheese makes me cranky!)

After my lunch, I talked to Katie, who said she would be out later that afternoon, and then settled in for a nap, having instructed her to call me when she was half an hour away so I could wake up! Well, great minds must think alike, because Katie fell asleep too, and it was around 6pm when she called to say she was close- I had slept for like three hours! Oops! I drug myself out of bed, fixed my hair and tried to “pretty up” a little, but with not very good results! There is just no way to get back to pretty after a 3 hour nap!

Katie made it to the Lodge, I slapped on enough makeup to look somewhat human, and off we went to the bus stop!

It took us about five minutes of standing there before we remembered that Katie had a car. About fifty feet away in the parking lot. Duh!

We drove over to the TTC and parked, stopped to get a new pass for Katie, and then monorailed to the MK. (Um, we did monorail, didn’t we Katie? I have no memory of it at all! But I know we didn’t take the ferryboat- we just discussed the possibility of McDreamy being on it!)

Here is our lovely “entering the park” Photopass picture!

(Yes, it was COLD that night!)

So, what was our first order of business?”

“Let’s go ride Johnny Depp!”

“You mean Pirates?”

“Oh. That, too.”

There was no line to visit our beloved Captain Sparrow. Hooray! We don’t like being made to wait for our Jack!

(The weird thing is, the ride must be somehow forgettable. Katie and I BOTH had a moment later on where we thought “Oh, we never rode Pirates!” Very weird! And a bit damaging to Jack’s reputation!)

After the ride, we poked around in the gift shop, and discovered Pirate Mouse Ears that we simply had to have in order to continue survival. I told Katie I would buy her mouse ears if she would pick me up some frappuccino and eye makeup remover! (Did you know most of the resort gift shops don’t sell eye makeup remover? I’d brought a new eyeliner, and it ran horribly! Not pretty!)

We of course had to take photos in our new ears…

(This one was actually taken later back at the Lodge. I have no idea why I’m not looking at the camera!)

And then take photos with basically every other piece of merchandise in the store…

I demand to know why this dress doesn’t come in my size!

Katie enjoys swords!

But Crystal isn’t too sure why Disney sells handcuffs?

But Katie seems quite happy about it! Why is that, Katie?

Because she found Commodore Norrington! But Katie, what are you planning to do with the good Commodore?

Oh.

(I’m sure that Katie would love it if I shared that as this photo was being taken, some random dude walked up behind her, looked at the action figures, looked at the handcuffs, and snickered.)

This photo was taken by a lovely CM working in the gift shop. “We really ARE going to buy hats!” we told her. She didn’t seem to believe us, and said it wasn’t the first time people took pictures with the stuff. But really! We did buy hats! Here’s proof!

Our pirate adventures aside, we set off for Buzz Lightyear, to shoot stuff!

I’ve finally started getting good at Buzz, and at first, it was looking like I was going to be the clear winner!

My score…

Katie’s score.



And then we entered that room with the big video screen all around you! And then…. We got stuck there! We figured that if we just kept shooting, we’d keep getting points, and it worked! But then, after being stuck for a while, the video went off, and we could clearly see the two targets on the wall that were responsible for the points we’d been getting. Ooooooh! (They’re not target-shaped like all of the others- they blend in when the video is running!) We kept shooting them, and before long…

The coveted 999,999!

The family behind us saw our scores, and started begging us to tell them how we did it. Katie is quite the zipped lip though, apparently, because she refused to tell! They offered us increasingly large sums of money to tell them (as a joke!), and then started claiming that we had ruined their vacation by not telling (also kidding! We were stuck in there a REALLY long time- we had bonded by now!) They also started rumors down the line that we had broken the ride by hitting the top score. Hee! We just sat there celebrating our perfect scores. “We win at life!”, I proclaimed. Oh, the sense of accomplishment!

And then something TRAGIC happened- the power to the ride went out, and our scores VANISHED! This did not please us.

Our whole life’s work, gone in the blink of an eye!

So, we sat there a while longer.

“We are stuck, and starting to get bored!”

And then I noticed something. While you’re in this room, you hear the voice of Zurg taunting you. Well, it turns out that Zurg is just a big speaker and a fan!

He somehow seems a bit less threatening now. (Shhh, don’t tell BadShoe Zurg!)


We were starting to wonder if we were going to miss Wishes being stuck on Buzz! FINALLY, a CM came along, and we walked off the ride (After nifty rails came up aong the sides of the walkway- apparently so that we weren’t attacked by Fan!Zurg?) We ended up getting out at 7:55! (Wishes is at 8!) We talked the people who had been stuck behind us into snapping this photo for us, to celebrate our new status as Galactic Heroes!

(They did give us Fast Passes, good for any ride, valid until 1/24! Of course, we never got around to using them, and I gave mine to a fellow DISer later in the week.)

And then we dashed out to the castle for Wishes! That, my friends, is the beauty of Disney in January- you can still get a decent spot 5 minutes before!

I was setting up my tripod on a trash can when a man waked up and asked me about it. I was happy to get to pimp my beloved Gorillapod! (And Katie found it funny, because we’d been joking about how weird looking it is.) Yay, gorillapod!

So, then there was Wishes. I took some photos, but none of them really turned out well, so just imagine a bunch of fireworks and a castle here, ok?

And then there was The Moment. About halfway through Wishes, it hit me.

“Hey, Katie? Where did we park?”

“Where did…. OH S....!” (Insert un-theme park friendly expletive here, followed by sheepish look as Katie realizes that she’s just yelled said expletive at the Happiest Place on Earth. Oops.)

Yes, friends, we had just parked in the largest parking lot on Earth, and paid NO attention to where we had parked.

The scene: Two women standing in front of a castle, having a worried discussion. In the background, $85,000 worth of fireworks are exploding.

Crystal: So, do we know what lot we were in? Like Minnie or Goofy or…
Katie: No idea. Wasn’t it by a monorail track or something?
Fireworks: Boom!
Kids singing: Wishes!
Crystal: Yeah! There was a monorail track!
Fireworks: BOOM!
Katie: And we walked under a bridge thing!
Disney: Hey, we just spent eighty-five thousand dollars on the fireworks, could you maybe pay attention?
Crystal: Yeah! We walked under that thing! That should help!
Katie: Yeah!
Crystal: We’re never going to find the car, are we?
Katie: No, we are not.
Fireworks: BOOM! Boom! Please pay attention to us already!

On the way out of the park (and to our doom starving to death as we wandered the parking lot for 40 years, apparently), I started to tell Katie a story (which neither of us can remember now, of course). Apparently Katie was worried that said story was too risqué for the Magic Kingdom (This from the same person who just yelled four letter words during Wishes, mind you!), and in a hushed tone nodded to the little blonde girl walking in front of us and said “There’s a child!”

She had said it in a totally conversational tone, but for whatever reason, the girl most have noticed, because she turned around and gave us the funniest look! Sorry, kid!

We monorailed back to the TTC, and believe it or not, going just on the knowledge of “We came in from that direction…. It was by the monorail track… we went under a road…” we walked STRAIGHT to the car! No searching involved at ALL! Needless to say, we were a little relieved! That’s what resulted in this photo (a trip favorite!)

I have no idea what laws of science were broken in the taking of this photo. I mean, what is UP with Katie’s legs? How is she even doing that? (And yes, I really AM that pale, thanks.)

Reunited with Katie’s beloved car, and vowing to pay attention to where we parked from now on, we made the drive back over to the WL!

So, do you ever have one of those moments when you say something, but it comes out MUCH louder than you intended? As Katie tried to stick my room key in the security gate, and it was a little too far away, she Screamed/growled “I CANT REACH IT!’, which resulted in the security guard coming over and doing it for her. Oops!

Our original plan had been to go to the Adventurers Club, but as tends to happen, we got lazy, and opted for the resort bar instead. Please don’t judge us! (I believe there was also something about Katie needing to be home fairly early, too, so it isn’t all lazyness!)

Well, kids, we really should have gone to the Adv Club! (I stress this times ten, because of my even greater love for the club as of late, but that’s a story for another part of the report!) Our service at the Territory Lounge kinda sucked!

They had the new (apparently standard?) drink menus, and although I was bummed about this new generic menu, a lot of the drinks looked pretty tasty. Katie was having trouble deciding between two drinks- a raspberry one and a blueberry one, so she asked our server which was better. He recommended the raspberry, so she went with that. (I have no memory of what I ordered, and I can’t find the menu online!)

See that blue blob at the bottom of Katie’s? We didn’t! (Oooh, foreshadowing!)


A few minutes after we got our drinks, the server stopped by, and asked Katie if her drink was ok. She said it was fine, and he told her that they had screwed it up- somehow (again, laws of science were broken, I think!), instead of her raspberry drink, she had gotten an ORANGE one with BLUEBERRY syrup in it! HOW did that happen? “Does this mean it’s free?” Katie asked, but she didn’t really get an answer. Anyway, we should have taken a photo of the server or something at this point, because we would never, ever see him again. Ever.

Of course, a few sips into her drink, Katie discovered that it was not so yummy. The orange part was good- it tasted like one of those orange ice cream push-up things, but once she hit the blueberry, it was a different story! Our server was very deep in conversation with a couple across the room though, so she never had a chance to get it replaced.

Katie with the Drink of Doom. Yes, it’s yucky, but drink it anyway! There are sober kids in China!

Katie ordered the red swirly thing. I think I ordered something from the next page? Hmm, now that I think about it, I wonder if MY drink was right?

As Katie picked up the Drink of Doom to pose for this photo, the pineapple fell off. She demanded that it still be in the photo, so you get this “artistic” angle!


I was busy whining about being old, because this is the first time I have ever *not* been carded. Oh, woe! Oh, misery! Oh, it’s time to start using better moisturizer! (I think this is when we decided to go on an awesome cross-country road trip when we turn 30.)

I had a magical “stretching room” drink. No matter how much of it I drank, it didn’t seem to go anywhere! Now, I tend to drink slowly, but this was just silly! Katie’s drink was nearly gone, and there was barely a dent in mine! More laws of science being broken, methinks! What was UP with the universe tonight?

We decided that we wanted to go up to my room to look at our photos from the night, and despite the fact that we kept staring at our server, giving him that “please come here!” look, he never came over, so we finally had to flag down someone else to ask for our check! The guy we got to come over was very nice, and apologized for our server disappearing “to flirt”. He mentioned Katie’s screwed up drink, and suggested that the bar name it after her. We were a little bummed to see that it was still on the bill. If we hadn’t been so worn out at this point, we probably would have said something (We are not people who ask for free stuff, but seriously, if the drink you get is TOTALLY different from what you ordered, they should probably comp it.) about both the crappy service and icky drink, but we just paid and went upstairs. (If it helps, our tip wasn’t good. We discussed if we should even tip at all, but did it anyway.)

We got in the elevator to go upstairs, and there was a kid in there who had just inserted his room card for 7th floor (concierge) access. “Wanna switch rooms?” Katie asked him. I think this frightened him. Sorry, kid! But we hear there is free food up there! I confessed to Katie that I’d always wanted to get on the elevator with someone who was going up to the concierge floor and get off with them, just to go look around, but I’ve never had the nerve!

So, one broken ride, one lost car, two high scores, two drinks and two frightened children that day- we were doing quite well! Just imagine all of the hilarity to come!

Yup, the mention of future hilarity- that’s how you know this part of the trip report is over! Katie went home, I drank the rest of my drink (a little too quickly- whee!) and fell asleep. But there’s a great big beautiful tomorrow…. Shining at the end of every day….

 

[kristinanderic]

Sounds like you two had alot of fun!

 

[nan1217]

I loved Defying Physics day!

 

[jodistar]

And then something TRAGIC happened- the power to the ride went out, and our scores VANISHED! This did not please us.

Our whole life’s work, gone in the blink of an eye!

So, we sat there a while longer.

“We are stuck, and starting to get bored!”

And then I noticed something. While you’re in this room, you hear the voice of Zurg taunting you. Well, it turns out that Zurg is just a big speaker and a fan!

The same thing happened during my trip!

Ah, another resort hopper is born! The only problem with doing the Dolphin first is that you won't be able to use DME for getting there.

Yeah, I know, I was trying to budget really good but I guess paying for the ride to the Dolphin won’t be too bad – I’m definitely taking the DME on the way home .

I love the whole Swolphin/Boardwalk area, though!

Me too! I would love to stay at the Boardwalk – but that is way too expensive! The next trip I will probably try the Rent/Trade board, again letting a little bit of Crystal rub off on me .

(I want to hear about CBR, btw, I've been contemplating staying there forever!)

Wow, you’ve never stayed there? I will let you know how I like it – I won’t be staying until October but I will get back to you after that stay .

 

[Philadisney]

Crystal: So, do we know what lot we were in? Like Minnie or Goofy or…
Katie: No idea. Wasn’t it by a monorail track or something?
Fireworks: Boom!
Kids singing: Wishes!
Crystal: Yeah! There was a monorail track!
Fireworks: BOOM!
Katie: And we walked under a bridge thing!
Disney: Hey, we just spent eighty-five thousand dollars on the fireworks, could you maybe pay attention?
Crystal: Yeah! We walked under that thing! That should help!
Katie: Yeah!
Crystal: We’re never going to find the car, are we?
Katie: No, we are not.
Fireworks: BOOM! Boom! Please pay attention to us already!

That's definitely the funniest thing I've read all day. Marvelous!
Thanks for another great installment. Now I know to beware the WL resort bar, and maybe next trip I will *finally* check out the ADV club (no I never have, and I even worked at WDW for four months so I had plenty of chances to check it out! for shame!)

 

[Marjol]

Hi Crystal,

I'm subscribing to your tripreport

I love your writing style and can't wait to read more!

 

[__disneygirl]

More great installments! Rock on!

I wanted to say how right you are about how the things at WDW seeming ordinary after awhile. The first time I get on the monorail i'm like "THE MONORAIL!! WHOOO HOO!!!!!!!" but by like, the third day you don't even think about it, you're just on your way to the MK. On the first day, you see the castle and practically burst into tears, but by the end of your trip you just speed on by so you can get to Splash Mountain for one more ride. Now that you wrote that, i'm gonna try NOT to do it on my next trip... and appreciate everything cause after a few days, it'll be back to normal life without pixie dust.

Hilarious installment with Katie, I loved the whole Wishes fireworks converstation and all the pictures!

I have to ask, what exactly is a telephoto lens? I have an idea from what you explained but i'm not quite sure. Thanks!

 

[byoung]

Nice report

 

[momoflizandains]

Fantastic photos.

 

[WDW Poly Princess]

I have to ask, what exactly is a telephoto lens? I have an idea from what you explained but i'm not quite sure. Thanks!

What I use is actually a telephoto adapter, I think, but I just call it a lens It's a big ol' honkin lens thing that screws on to my camera, and doubles my zoom! (Ooooh, ahhh!)

Mine looks like this:

It's also really fun to hold it up to your eye and pretend you're wearing a monocle.