arbolita
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Sep 17, 2008
- Messages
- 1,735
This Chapter is Open Seasonally
As I was saying, while we were riding on the Backlot Tour I saw something I had never noticed before. As soon as we got off the ride, I went to inspect further...
I've never been to Disney in the winter, so having a chance to see all of the Christmas light decorations being put up was a real treat. I also had no idea they started putting them up this early into the Fall. Do they start their holiday season before or after Thanksgiving? Either way, Mr. Arb and I agreed that when we get to plan our next trip to Disney World, it would definitely be at a time when we can see the lights in action.
Since we were in the area, I got a picture at an old classic:
Mr. Arb's knee was starting to bug him, so we grabbed a bottle of water and sat for a few minutes outside of Pizza Planet. Since we were nearby Muppet Vision 3-D, we decided it would be a nice break out of the heat and were able to walk directly into the theatre.
After the show, we went into the Star Tours gift shop, and I saw some Star Wars themed Potato Heads that I had never seen before:
There was also a mini Storm Trooper figurine wearing Mickey ears that I meant to buy later, but completely forgot.
Since the theme of the afternoon seemed to be things that I had never seen in Disney before, I don't know why I was so surprised by this one. Guess what was actually open:
The show itself wasn't that great, but we did have a lot of fun in Sound Works, the area after you exit the theatre, but before you go outside. They had machines where you could provide your own voiceovers to different Disney films (the two I saw were Snow White and Mickey & the Beanstalk), as well as creating your own sound effects.
When it's open, I believe you can just walk right into the Sound Works portion, so I'd recommend to skip the movie part and spend a little time in there.
After we left, I saw my absolute favorite thing in all of Disney and got my number 1 Must Take picture:
NOW it felt like a Disney vacation!
It was now time to use our Tower of Terror fast passes, so I snapped some pictures along the way.
The Streetsmosphere people were performing, so we stopped to watch them for a few minutes
And then, it was time!
(Woohoo nostalgia setting! I couldn't resist!)
I mentioned in my PTR that one of my goals was to get a picture when the doors open at the top of the tower and you can see the park. I definitely chickened out, and this was our only ToT stop during the trip. At least I still have some goals for next time!
By now, we were both getting incredibly hungry, so we decided to hop on a bus to the Poly and see if they would seat us early for our reservation at Kona. We checked in with the hostess around 7:15 PM, and went to the bar by 'Ohana while we waited. Mr. Arb noticed that has a variety of beer he had never tried before, so he ordered one of them (I do not for the life of me remember what it was). I'm not much of a drinker, and all the stools at the bar were occupied, so I decided to head to the Poly gift shop and have my first adventure in Vinylmation trading.
As I was waiting in line to trade, I started chatting with another couple in the gift shop and explained the process to them. And I will do so here for those of you who have no idea what I'm talking about!
You can go up to the counter in any resort gift shop, as well as D Street in Downtown Disney (it may also be available at other DtD stores, and in the parks, but I don't know exactly where). Basically, if you see a box that looks like this, you can do it:
You give the attendant your Vinylmation figure that you want to trade in (in my case, the one that looked like a set of teeth), and pick a number between 1 and 24. They swap your figure for the one in that slot. You can only trade at the box once during each transaction. If you are not thrilled with your selection however, you do have one other option. The attendant will have a small display case showing 3 Vinylmation figures, and you can trade the figure you received with one in the display case. Apologies for not getting pictures of that.
I didn't see any in the display case that I liked, so I was content (for now) with what I had received.
I definitely prefer Easter Bunnies to teeth!
I went back to Mr. Arb, and around 7:45 our buzzer went off. In addition to their normal selections, people on the dining plan can select their food from a prix fixe menu where in addition to the entree and dessert, you also can get an appetizer. I decided to select from that, and Mr. Arb ordered off the regular menu.
Pot Stickers - wok-seared duck dumplings with creamy ginger soy sauce
They were delicious, and I'm really happy I ordered them, because we wound up waiting about half an hour for our entrees, and I am not exaggerating. The tables on both sides of us received and finished eating their entrees before we even got ours. We never got an explanation for the wait either, but I was definitely annoyed for the rest of the meal.
Teriyaki-style New York Strip - sirloin strip grilled with pineapple teriyaki glaze (on the side) served with rice and stir-fried broccolini
Pan Asian Noodles - Asian egg noodles with sliced chicken, pineapple, seasonal vegetables, and a housemade sweet and sour sauce
Fortunately, our deserts did not take as long:
Kilauea Torte
Pineapple Upside Down Cake
And they brought us out some anniversary cupcakes, which we barely ate because we were stuffed by this point.
After we were finished dinner, we took the monorail to the Magic Kingdom to catch a bus to POP, and were able to see some of Wishes from our window. We arrived back around 9:45 PM, where we had one last surprise waiting for us...
Next Chapter:...I don't have a creative name for it yet.
Also, for those of you who have your own TR's and PTR's going, I apologize for being behind on them! I have my final for the class I'm taking on November 19, and then we're moving on November 20. Between studying and packing, I haven't had much free time to keep up. Once my class is over I won't have another until January, so I'll definitely have much more time to catch up with everyone!
As I was saying, while we were riding on the Backlot Tour I saw something I had never noticed before. As soon as we got off the ride, I went to inspect further...
I've never been to Disney in the winter, so having a chance to see all of the Christmas light decorations being put up was a real treat. I also had no idea they started putting them up this early into the Fall. Do they start their holiday season before or after Thanksgiving? Either way, Mr. Arb and I agreed that when we get to plan our next trip to Disney World, it would definitely be at a time when we can see the lights in action.
Since we were in the area, I got a picture at an old classic:
Mr. Arb's knee was starting to bug him, so we grabbed a bottle of water and sat for a few minutes outside of Pizza Planet. Since we were nearby Muppet Vision 3-D, we decided it would be a nice break out of the heat and were able to walk directly into the theatre.
After the show, we went into the Star Tours gift shop, and I saw some Star Wars themed Potato Heads that I had never seen before:
There was also a mini Storm Trooper figurine wearing Mickey ears that I meant to buy later, but completely forgot.
Since the theme of the afternoon seemed to be things that I had never seen in Disney before, I don't know why I was so surprised by this one. Guess what was actually open:
The show itself wasn't that great, but we did have a lot of fun in Sound Works, the area after you exit the theatre, but before you go outside. They had machines where you could provide your own voiceovers to different Disney films (the two I saw were Snow White and Mickey & the Beanstalk), as well as creating your own sound effects.
When it's open, I believe you can just walk right into the Sound Works portion, so I'd recommend to skip the movie part and spend a little time in there.
After we left, I saw my absolute favorite thing in all of Disney and got my number 1 Must Take picture:
NOW it felt like a Disney vacation!
It was now time to use our Tower of Terror fast passes, so I snapped some pictures along the way.
The Streetsmosphere people were performing, so we stopped to watch them for a few minutes
And then, it was time!
(Woohoo nostalgia setting! I couldn't resist!)
I mentioned in my PTR that one of my goals was to get a picture when the doors open at the top of the tower and you can see the park. I definitely chickened out, and this was our only ToT stop during the trip. At least I still have some goals for next time!
By now, we were both getting incredibly hungry, so we decided to hop on a bus to the Poly and see if they would seat us early for our reservation at Kona. We checked in with the hostess around 7:15 PM, and went to the bar by 'Ohana while we waited. Mr. Arb noticed that has a variety of beer he had never tried before, so he ordered one of them (I do not for the life of me remember what it was). I'm not much of a drinker, and all the stools at the bar were occupied, so I decided to head to the Poly gift shop and have my first adventure in Vinylmation trading.
As I was waiting in line to trade, I started chatting with another couple in the gift shop and explained the process to them. And I will do so here for those of you who have no idea what I'm talking about!
You can go up to the counter in any resort gift shop, as well as D Street in Downtown Disney (it may also be available at other DtD stores, and in the parks, but I don't know exactly where). Basically, if you see a box that looks like this, you can do it:
You give the attendant your Vinylmation figure that you want to trade in (in my case, the one that looked like a set of teeth), and pick a number between 1 and 24. They swap your figure for the one in that slot. You can only trade at the box once during each transaction. If you are not thrilled with your selection however, you do have one other option. The attendant will have a small display case showing 3 Vinylmation figures, and you can trade the figure you received with one in the display case. Apologies for not getting pictures of that.
I didn't see any in the display case that I liked, so I was content (for now) with what I had received.
I definitely prefer Easter Bunnies to teeth!
I went back to Mr. Arb, and around 7:45 our buzzer went off. In addition to their normal selections, people on the dining plan can select their food from a prix fixe menu where in addition to the entree and dessert, you also can get an appetizer. I decided to select from that, and Mr. Arb ordered off the regular menu.
Pot Stickers - wok-seared duck dumplings with creamy ginger soy sauce
They were delicious, and I'm really happy I ordered them, because we wound up waiting about half an hour for our entrees, and I am not exaggerating. The tables on both sides of us received and finished eating their entrees before we even got ours. We never got an explanation for the wait either, but I was definitely annoyed for the rest of the meal.
Teriyaki-style New York Strip - sirloin strip grilled with pineapple teriyaki glaze (on the side) served with rice and stir-fried broccolini
Pan Asian Noodles - Asian egg noodles with sliced chicken, pineapple, seasonal vegetables, and a housemade sweet and sour sauce
Fortunately, our deserts did not take as long:
Kilauea Torte
Pineapple Upside Down Cake
And they brought us out some anniversary cupcakes, which we barely ate because we were stuffed by this point.
After we were finished dinner, we took the monorail to the Magic Kingdom to catch a bus to POP, and were able to see some of Wishes from our window. We arrived back around 9:45 PM, where we had one last surprise waiting for us...
Next Chapter:...I don't have a creative name for it yet.
Also, for those of you who have your own TR's and PTR's going, I apologize for being behind on them! I have my final for the class I'm taking on November 19, and then we're moving on November 20. Between studying and packing, I haven't had much free time to keep up. Once my class is over I won't have another until January, so I'll definitely have much more time to catch up with everyone!
Hope you guys have a great Halloween 
DBF is working today...so I am on here 
So sorry!!
And the keurig coffee machine! Those things are awesome. We had one in our office but none of the older people could figure out how to use it! 
It's hard to believe that it's coming up to a month since she's been gone. I keep seeing/hearing things that remind me of stories she used to tell, so it's nice to know that even if she's not here, her memory isn't going anywhere. 
