October/1st Anniversary Trip Report! - Updated! 12/18/2010

[SOUTHERNtinkerBELLE]

Great update! How sweet of your parents to send you a gift! Your meal to CR looks yummy! We ate there a couple of trips ago and haven't been back yet, but I hope to return sometime soon!

 

[Darkfirewolfe]

This is one of the rides that I really remember from my childhood, but hadn't ridden sense then, so I was looking forward to it.

The Living with the Land boatride is one of my childhood favorites too. I try to ride it once or twice every time we go.

 

[Shannon84]

I LOVE that print with the nemo seagulls!! That was so nice of your mom and dad to have the gift card waiting for you guys!!

Your meal at Coral Reef looks so yummy!! I have read mixed reviews about that restaurant, but i really do want to try that one soon!! I do highly recommend the Behind the Seeds tour if you have time on another trip, I worked on Living with the Land in 2007 for a summer job (when I was right out of college and thought moving to FL was a good idea - didnt work out )

 

[KatMark]

Hi, Theresa.

Great update. What a nice surprise for you guys from your mom and dad.

Your meal at Coral Reef looks really good (we've not been in about 12 years or so) and I may have to put it back on the list.

Great shots of the "golf" ball.

 

[arbolita]

Great update! How sweet of your parents to send you a gift! Your meal to CR looks yummy! We ate there a couple of trips ago and haven't been back yet, but I hope to return sometime soon!

They just made some updates to the menu before we went, and the dish I had was one of the new items. Definitely worth a stop.

The Living with the Land boatride is one of my childhood favorites too. I try to ride it once or twice every time we go.

It's one of those rides where you really do need to go on more than once to see everything.

I LOVE that print with the nemo seagulls!! That was so nice of your mom and dad to have the gift card waiting for you guys!!

Your meal at Coral Reef looks so yummy!! I have read mixed reviews about that restaurant, but i really do want to try that one soon!! I do highly recommend the Behind the Seeds tour if you have time on another trip, I worked on Living with the Land in 2007 for a summer job (when I was right out of college and thought moving to FL was a good idea - didnt work out )

That's awesome that you worked on it! We had so much fun on the Keys to the Kingdom tour later int he week that we decided we want to try and do a different tour on each trip we take - I definitely think they are worth the extra money.

Mr. Arb and I always joke about moving to Florida at some point - mainly during the winter, haha.

Hi, Theresa.

Great update. What a nice surprise for you guys from your mom and dad.

Your meal at Coral Reef looks really good (we've not been in about 12 years or so) and I may have to put it back on the list.

Great shots of the "golf" ball.

Thanks! It was a really nice surprise coming home at the end of the day and having a little extra magic waiting for us.

I wasn't expecting Coral Reef to be such a highlight of our trip when I booked it. There are so many places I've never eaten and still want to try that I'm not sure it'll be on our ADRs for every trip, but maybe every alternating trip.

 

[arbolita]

It Really Is a Small World After All!

After we finished lunch, we decided it was time to cash in on our Test Track FPs. On our way there, Mr. Arb spotted Chip & Dale, and said he wanted to get in line for a picture. Back when he was a kid on his first trip to Disney, one of his mom's favorite pictures was of him and his brothers with the chipmunks, and he thought she'd really enjoy having an updated picture.

I decided to get in on the action also.

When we got to Test Track, even the Fast Pass line seemed a bit slow going, but it gave me time to get some pictures in the queue area.

When we got on the ride we were seated in the backseat - just like every other time we've ridden. I think I just need to go to the World with a group of 6 so I can make sure I get to be seated in the front!

After we got off Test Track, we made our way to the World Showcase.

We briefly stopped in Karamel Kuche, but it was so crowded we just did a quick walk through, and then went right back out. Hopefully next time it won't be as crazy and we'll actually attempt to order something.

While we were in Germany, I stopped by the trains to take a look at something I'd heard about on TheDis.

During the Food & Wine Festival, it seems that they add in miniature versions of a few of the booths to the train displays. I loved all the details they included.

We continued walking around the Showcase...

... when I heard something that I absolutely wasn't expecting.

"Hey, UMBC!"

I was wearing a shirt with my alma mater's logo, but was really taken off guard when someone knew who it was! We're a relatively new school in Maryland (started in 1966), and not really well known outside of our local area. I located the person shouting at me, and turns out she was a '77 alum and extremely excited to find someone representing her school. She and her husband moved down to the Florida a couple years ago, and we spent quite a bit of time talking about the school, Disney, and ended the conversation with her suggesting that we have an alumni event at Disney. I told her I thought it was a fantastic idea!

Mr. Arb's knee was starting to bother him by this point, so we made our way back towards the entrance. As we got closer, we noticed the wait for Spaceship Earth was only 5 minutes, and figured it was as good a time as any to hop on.

Without saying anything to each other, we both decided to try and make a goofy face for the camera.

I'd say we were pretty successful, don't you think?

We made our way off the ride and walked outside...when I realized I'd left my camera case on the seat where we had been riding. Mr. Arb, bum knee and all, sprinted back indoors to talk to the cast member at the ride exit to see if she could help. She disappeared, and about two minutes later returned with the camera case! I was so relieved, since I didn't want to spend the rest of my trip worrying about my camera getting damaged in my bag. We thanked her, left the park, and hopped on the bus bound for POP Century.

When we arrived, we went to the concierge desk and spoke to someone about getting our bags transferred from POP to Port Orleans - Riverside the following day. They told us to just take our bags to the luggage people before we leave to go to the parks in the morning, and they'd take care of the rest. Content with that answer, we made our way back to the room and were greeted with another fun surprise:

We spent about an hour resting and relaxing, and around 6:00 we made our way out out of the room to walk around the other areas of the resort, then catch a bus to DHS for our Sci Fi ADR.

We boarded a bus to DHS at 6:30 PM, but that wasn't where we'd end our night...

Up Next: 3 Parks in one day? (also known as - I RODE SPACE MOUNTAIN!!!)

 

[KatMark]

Great update, Theresa. I love the photos of the train outside of Germany--typical Disney with such great detail. Love hthe pics of you and Mr. Arb with Chip and Dale.

So glad you got your camera bag back. And the pictures around Pop are terrific.

 

[SOUTHERNtinkerBELLE]

Cute pictures with Chip & Dale! And I love the little F&W booths in the train set. I feel like I know that thing so well - Miguel could spend hours staring at that thing!

 

[PrincessInOz]

That's fantastic pictures with C&D. And I had a look at the miniature train set when I was there and totally missed the detailed miniature of the booths! Boo ME!

 

[glennbo123]

Oops, I somehow missed a couple of updates. Looks like you're having a great day at Epcot. Nice pictures with Chip and Dale. I'm sure Mr. Arb's mom loved getting an update of how Chip and Dale have grown.

 

[Shannon84]

Aww love the pics with Chip and Dale!! Those came out really good!

That is too funny you ran into someone from the same school...I went to a fairly small college that is just starting to really grow so I know how exciting it is to run into someone from the same school!

 

[arbolita]

Great update, Theresa. I love the photos of the train outside of Germany--typical Disney with such great detail. Love hthe pics of you and Mr. Arb with Chip and Dale.

So glad you got your camera bag back. And the pictures around Pop are terrific.

Thanks! I think my favorite part about Disney is their attention to detail, because it means that no matter how many times you go back, there is always going to be something that you never really noticed before.

Cute pictures with Chip & Dale! And I love the little F&W booths in the train set. I feel like I know that thing so well - Miguel could spend hours staring at that thing!

I love that they even made mini Food & Wine Fest banners to hang on the light posts.

That's fantastic pictures with C&D. And I had a look at the miniature train set when I was there and totally missed the detailed miniature of the booths! Boo ME!

I think I missed some of the mini-booths also - these were the only ones I saw, but I browsed other pictures and there were definitely more than just those. Guess it just means we each have to make another trip back there!

Oops, I somehow missed a couple of updates. Looks like you're having a great day at Epcot. Nice pictures with Chip and Dale. I'm sure Mr. Arb's mom loved getting an update of how Chip and Dale have grown.

She was so excited to see the picture. I think we're going to print her out a copy and give it to her on Christmas. "Merry Christmas, have some pictures of us!!" =D

Aww love the pics with Chip and Dale!! Those came out really good!

That is too funny you ran into someone from the same school...I went to a fairly small college that is just starting to really grow so I know how exciting it is to run into someone from the same school!

Another funny part that I didn't mention in the TR is that we got to talking, and apparently she hosts the website of the woman who was my wedding coordinator - who was also an alum of the university AND was someone who used to work in the same department as me at my current job.

Baltimore isn't nicknamed Smalltimore for nothing...

 

[jenny105]

I love TT. It's one of my favorite rides. But the FP line always seems to move slow and then you get merged with the regular stand by line.

Great pictures of WS!

 

[jc040404]

Love that Chip & Dale pic! That was wild to run into someone from your school. It is a small world, right? I'm also really glad they found your camera case. I can understand the headache it would be worry about it bouncing around in your bag. Lucky that you remembered so soon after losing it!

Can't wait to read about this "three parks in one day" thing!

 

[arbolita]

I love TT. It's one of my favorite rides. But the FP line always seems to move slow and then you get merged with the regular stand by line.

Great pictures of WS!

Yeah, I'm sure it does save some time compared to the regular line, just not the day we did it. I think the ride was down, because I didn't see the regular or FP lines going anywhere.

Love that Chip & Dale pic! That was wild to run into someone from your school. It is a small world, right? I'm also really glad they found your camera case. I can understand the headache it would be worry about it bouncing around in your bag. Lucky that you remembered so soon after losing it!

Can't wait to read about this "three parks in one day" thing!

Maybe one day I'll lose my mind completely and try to visit all 4 parks in one day!

 

[arbolita]

In the last chapter, we had left Epcot and spent a bit of time going through the other decades of Pop Century, then boarded a bus to Hollywood Studios for dinner.

We wandered around a bit (including checking the wait time for TSM again - 90 minutes), and checked in for our dinner at Sci Fi around 7:15 PM.

If you remember, this was a last minute addition to our trip - Mr. Arb decided the morning we were leaving that he wanted to go back since he enjoyed the atmosphere and milkshakes so much last year on our honeymoon.

We settled in to the backseat of a car with a very nice family in front of us. As expected, Mr. Arb ordered the chocolate milkshake first.

For our meals, Mr. Arb ordered the Smoked St. Louis-style Ribs - Basted with barbecue sauce served with cole slaw and french fries

And I had the Italian Grilled Chicken Sandwich - With bruschetta topping served on a Kaiser Roll with fries.

We didn't use the dining plan for this meal, so opted not to do dessert. By the time we were finishing up, the loop of movie shorts on the drive in screen was starting to repeat, so we left and went back again to TSM to check on the time. At this point it had gone up to 90 minutes. We decided not to wait, and left the park.

After a brief trip back again to Pop Century so Mr. Arb could put on some jeans and rest his knee again, we went right back onto the busses to enjoy some EMHs at the Magic Kingdom!

We arrived just as Wishes was started, so Main Street was completely packed. We managed to scoot our way through the crowds towards Tomorrowland, and found an open spot near Space Mountain to watch the fireworks.

Seeing as how we were right next to Space Mountain and how NEITHER of us had ever gone on it before, we definitely skipped the end of Wishes so that we could get on the ride while the wait time was pretty low - 20 minutes.

I was jumping up and down the entire time we were in the queue area. I had no idea what to expect, and had the craziest grin on my face the entire ride.

See?

SO AWESOME.

We decided to follow up one awesome thing with another, and walked to Adventureland to get ourselves a Dole Whip. We passed a Photopass photographer on the way and had her take a quick picture with my camera.

As we were walking by the castle, we realized that crowds were starting to line up again. It took me about two seconds to find out that people were getting ready for the Mickey's Electrical Parade. This was my very first Disney parade back in 1990, and we both decided it was definitely worth it to find a place to sit and watch. Mr. Arb planted himself on a ledge, while I found a giant opening in what is, in my opinion, the best seat in the house.

I couldn't figure out why more people weren't flocking over here, but hey, I wasn't about to complain.

I was still retaining my Space Mountain Smile, and if you can imagine, it only got bigger when I heard that music start to play. These pictures don't need my commentary, so I'm just going to shut up and post them.

This picture below is by far my favorite of the whole trip, and is currently the background on my computer.

Once the parade ended and the crowds started to clear out, Mr. Arb and I continued on our way to Adventureland and got the first Dole Whip of our trip:

I think the picture is blurry because I just wanted to hurry up and take it so I could start shoving it in my face.

As we ate it, we walked towards Liberty Square. I was gearing myself up to accomplish one of my Magic Kingdom Must Do's: Ride the Haunted Mansion at midnight.

By the time we finished our Dole Whip and got into line, it was...

11:52 PM, with a 10 minute wait. I started getting a little nervous. Was taking time to enjoy that last spoonful of delicious pineapple softserve going to thwart my only chance this trip to be hanging with the ghosts at midnight?

 

[glennbo123]

That is a nice picture of the dragon (Pete's dragon, I think?) in front of the castle, with smoke coming out of his mouth. And you got a nice picture from the Photopass lady too.

That's great that you enjoyed Space Mountain so much....you're like a kid!

 

[Shannon84]

Great update I LOVE LOVE LOVE your picture of the castle...you are right in front and that is such a great shot...sorry but I see a lot of castle pics reading TRs...but that one really jumps out to me!

 

[SOUTHERNtinkerBELLE]

I love your Space Mountain pic! You can definitely tell that you were having a good time!

You had a great spot for the MSEP! I love how you were able to capture the floats right in front of the castle.

I hope you were able to do HM at midnight!

 

[jenny105]

Space Mountain and dole whips. This is precisely why MK is my favorite park.

Great pictures of the parade! We missed out on it during our trip