Old, New & Long Lost Friends, with a Side of Frump! FINISHED! DL TR started 1.20.14!

[laurenvic1312959]

I love all your pictures of Magic kingdom at night, it's look so different when it's dark and quiet haha x

 

[__disneygirl]

WOOOOOOO!!! To you. I am almost in single digits, I CAN'T BELIEVE IT! And hopefully 2014 will finally be the year for Disneyland. We'll see! I'm so excited for you though.

For some reason Artist's Palette has always interested me. I've never even been to SSR but I want to go to every resort I haven't seen yet on my upcoming trip!

I feel you on the bag check line. I bring a very small amount of items into the parks, but I still need SOME type of bag.

I really don't even think Test Track needed an update but I am VERY curious to see what it's like now!

MONKEY PUZZLE TREE? Oh my God. Well it's decided: That's name of my first child.

That music is my favorite area music after the Tower of Terror loop! Listening to it brings instant joy!

I really don't understand how turkey meat is comparable to an eye but now I am hungry for Thanksgiving dinner. Sigh.

 

[disneyshakeygirl]

So I've finally caught up (long time lurker here!)! I love your report and can't wait to hear more.

 

[Stringbean&Wingnut]

I haven't seen the new TT redesign, but it looks pretty cool!

Monkey Puzzle Tree - that is a cool name!!

 

[DisneyKid4Life]

Yes Yes, a thousand times yes on the music!!

 

[arbolita]

Yay for Epcot! It's so much fun. Good choice on doing Test Track! I am still not sure how I feel about it... But I do like the outside part, so it still gets a thumbs up from me!

Haha fun fact: we have monkey puzzle trees here in our area! They grow to be HUGE and they are the coolest trees ever... And super sharp, too.

I came around to liking it a little more as the week went on. I had watched videos of TT2.0 as soon as they were available online, and I thought it looked SO COOL, and visually to me, it was a little less awesome in person. Maybe Marissa is on to something...

That's so awesome! Is there a Monkey Puzzle Tree Forest? Please tell me yes.

Yay Epcot! Oh love. I don't know why, but I keep forgetting about Test Track! Possibly because I haven't been able to ride it since 2010 (gasp). So yay! OH INNOVENTIONS LOOP! How I adore thee.

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I'm eager to hear your thoughts about Test Track after you get to ride it (more excited about your New Fantasyland thoughts though, natch).

I had the same impressions about the new Test Track. We took the FP lanes and encountered the same issue with the car designs. On top of that, our card failed to scan our selections when we boarded our vehicle. So really didn't get the experience of testing out our own car.

Our DS loves Living with the Land. He loves all boat rides. It's a good thing too since he's not tall enough yet for Soarin'.

That's disappointing that your car didn't show throughout the attraction. Although, to be honest, I couldn't always tell which car was mine, until the last ride when I made the design somewhat obnoxious so it would stand out to me, hahaha.

That's going to be so exciting when he's able to ride Soarin' for the first time, although I hope it doesn't damper his love for Living with the Land. =) How far off is he from the height requirement?

 

[arbolita]

No matter how many accounts of the new Test Track I read, I just can't get excited about it! And we will probably be riding through the Single Rider line since we have DS, so that really does not bode well for me liking the new attractions.

However, TT aside, it looks like you are having a fabulous morning in Epcot! And I learned something new about Lasik surgery.

I think part of the problem with new Test Track is that in comparison to some of the other new things which debuted last year (Carsland/Buena Vista Street in Disneyland, New Fantasyland at WDW), even though they made a lot of changes, it really is the least exciting update. That being said, I do think that the changes they DID make, really fit Future World much more, both visually and thematically.

Great update!

Thank you!

I love all your pictures of Magic kingdom at night, it's look so different when it's dark and quiet haha x

Thank you! And I agree - once you take out the crowds and all the movement that happens during the day, and just see the lands with their evening lighting, it adds an entirely new element. We spent quite a few nights walking around parks just after closing with no one else around and they were some of my favorite moments throughout the trip.

 

[arbolita]

WOOOOOOO!!! To you. I am almost in single digits, I CAN'T BELIEVE IT! And hopefully 2014 will finally be the year for Disneyland. We'll see! I'm so excited for you though.

For some reason Artist's Palette has always interested me. I've never even been to SSR but I want to go to every resort I haven't seen yet on my upcoming trip!

I feel you on the bag check line. I bring a very small amount of items into the parks, but I still need SOME type of bag.

I really don't even think Test Track needed an update but I am VERY curious to see what it's like now!

MONKEY PUZZLE TREE? Oh my God. Well it's decided: That's name of my first child.

That music is my favorite area music after the Tower of Terror loop! Listening to it brings instant joy!

I really don't understand how turkey meat is comparable to an eye but now I am hungry for Thanksgiving dinner. Sigh.

HEY GUESS WHAT YOU'RE LEAVING TODAY. Not that you'll see this until after you come home, but whatevs. WOOOOOOOOOOO I HOPE YOU HAVE AN AMAZING TIME!!

I didn't even realize you haven't seen new Test Track yet! And I hope you get to see SSR! AHHHH I am going to have to make sure I catch up on your tweets daily to see your thoughts on everything!

Tower of Terror loop is in my top 5, definitely, along with Hollywood Boulevard.

If you are still hungry for Thanksgiving dinner, please be sure to get the Holiday Sandwich from Earl of Sandwich, then tell me how it is.

So I've finally caught up (long time lurker here!)! I love your report and can't wait to hear more.

Welcome!! Thank you for reading and de-lurking! I'm hoping to have another update (or two) up tomorrow!

I haven't seen the new TT redesign, but it looks pretty cool!

Monkey Puzzle Tree - that is a cool name!!

It's definitely worth riding through at least once (and preferably twice if your first time is single rider or fast pass).

And right? That might be the best tree name I've ever heard. My nickname is Tree, so clearly that makes me an authority on the subject.

Yes Yes, a thousand times yes on the music!!

It's not uncommon for my husband to randomly hear me singing that loop when I'm at home, hahaha.

 

[wdwgirl03]

Yay for double digits until Disneyland! The two times I went we stayed in one of the "offsite" hotels (though it's really hard to say offsite because most of them are literally right across the street) and it worked out fine. Not the same as a Disney resort but hey, you're going to Disneyland!

I honestly wasn't too crazy about the updated Test Track but it is kind of cool how they made it a lot more interactive with your cards.

 

[arbolita]

Yay for double digits until Disneyland! The two times I went we stayed in one of the "offsite" hotels (though it's really hard to say offsite because most of them are literally right across the street) and it worked out fine. Not the same as a Disney resort but hey, you're going to Disneyland!

I honestly wasn't too crazy about the updated Test Track but it is kind of cool how they made it a lot more interactive with your cards.

That's the main reason I don't feel too badly about staying off-site - as soon as I exit the hotel, I will be able to see Disneyland and the walk to the entrance will probably be shorter than the amount of time I wind up waiting for the buses at WDW, haha.

 

[arbolita]

Chapter 16: If I look sadly at this staircase long enough, will they let me upstairs?



While Scott was trying to earn all the pins, I was busy with my phone. Jess still had one more free day before she began the training for her Disney College Program, and she had texted me asking what our park plans were for the day. I told her we were still planning to be in Epcot for a little while and she was more than welcome to join us!

After Scott finished collecting his pins, we decided to head over to Club Cool for one of our favorite Epcot traditions - watching for unsuspecting people to try Beverly!

Personally, I don't mind Beverly as long as I drink it before moving on to some of the sweeter drinks. On this day, Beverly was missing from a few of the drink stations, so we had to keep an eye out for those who had no idea what they were getting into - along with other guests who clearly DID know what Beverly was, and were trying to trick other members of their party in to trying it, heh. My kind of people.

I didn't take any pictures of random guests trying Beverly, so please enjoy this picture of Scott trying it for the first time.

We still had some time to kill before we could use our Soarin' Fast Passes, so since we were in the area, we went to an attraction that we've skipped our past few trips, Journey into Imagination.

For the most part, I try not to be one of those people who lives for Disney of the past and find ways to appreciate the updates and changes that have come into the parks over the years, but I have so much difficulty doing that with this attraction. I loved the Dreamfinder, the original script and my beloved rainbow tunnel. There are a couple scenes in this ride that I do like, such as Figment's upside down house and the scene near the end with a multitude of Figments, but not much other than that.

The real kicker came as we exited through to the postshow/gift shop area. I immediately bee-lined it over to the staircase which leads up to the old ImageWorks area. I wondered if maybe I looked longingly enough towards the second floor, one of the JII cast members would take pity on me and allow me to go take a quick peek.

Sadly, on this trip I had no such luck. A friend who is a former JII CM told me later that since the stairs were roped off, I should have just tried to go up on the elevator and acted confused if someone came to find me, hahaha. Next time!

We decided to stay in Future World West to see if we would have success finding Nemo in The Seas Pavilion.

This was actually only my second time riding this since they added the Nemo characters, and the first time not all of the visual effects were working, particularly the anglerfish - I was glad to see everything was working this time!

Once we got off The Seas with Nemo & Friends, it was time to use our Soarin' fast passes! While we were making our way back to The Land, I received another text from Jess saying she was on her way over, so we rushed to get downstairs to Soarin' so that we would hopefully be on our way out once Jess arrived to the park.

We did not have a very long wait in the fast pass line, and when we were getting queued into rows for our journey, Scott and I FINALLLLLLLY were sent to the front row!!! Every single other time I have ever been on Soarin', we've always been in the back row, so I squeeeee'd with excitement as we got into our row. I love Soarin', especially the music, and finally being able to experience it without staring at waving legs in front of me was amazing.

As we were leaving Soarin', I texted Jess to find out where she was, and our timing was perfect because she was just walking through the main gates. I told her that we would meet her over by the Fountain of Nations and we were on our way!

Continued in Next Post






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[arbolita]

Chapter 17: Frumping Around World Showcase


When we reached the Fountain of Nations, Jess was there waiting for us. I was so excited that we were actually going to have a chance to hang out after only getting to see each other for a few minutes the night before. Jess asked what we wanted to do, and I immediately responded that I wanted to go with her on the frumpiest ride in Walt Disney World.

After being told off by the trolls and sent back, back over the falls, and skipping the Norway film, we strolled over to the Mexico Pavilion to catch a ride on the Gran Fiesta Tour and sing our hearts out.

We were riding in the second row, and throughout the entire attraction, there was a small child with the family in front of us who would NOT stay seated. And I don't just mean the kid would stand up every once in awhile - they were standing/climbing all over the seats. Jess and I kept giving each other "Uhhhhhhhh is this child going to slip or fall out of the boat?" looks.

Fortunately for everyone, that didn't happen and all passengers exited safely off the boat. We decided to just wander around World Showcase, moving through the countries and spending more time catching up and chatting about everything from the start of her DCP, writing trip reports, Disney in general and our feelings on Duffy. (Fun fact - Scott and I were actually in Epcot on the exact day Duffy made his debut at Walt Disney World).

While we were walking around, we spotted a familiar face: Norman Jr!

I was starting to get hungry and was eager to finally try Tangierine Cafe, one of the places in World Showcase I had never been to, but had frequently heard great things about.

Scott wasn't interested in anything on the menu, so he went in search of another chili dog while Jess and I each ordered the combo shawarma platter.

I thought this was absolutely delicious and completely understood why everyone loves it so much! I could have eaten an entire bowl just of that hummus alone. Mmm. During lunch, we continued the conversations we had been having earlier in the day, adding conversation about our families, frump life, and our plans for the rest of our week in Disney. I'm sure you've all figured this out from her trip reports, but Jess is easily one of the most fun, hilarious and genuine people I've had the pleasure to meet. She is exactly how you imagine she would be and I am so grateful we had this afternoon to spend together in Disney!!

After we finished eating, we continued walking around the Morocco pavilion, which is one of my favorites in World Showcase.

I am sad that the Fez House does not actually feature a house made or full of fezzes.

The hanging lights throughout Morocco are some of my favorites in WDW:

Continued in next post




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[wiigirl]

Awesome pics!

 

[DaveinFallsChurch]

So happy that you got to sit in the front row for Soarin'! I've been on Soarin' 5 times (4 times at Epcot and once at DCA) and haven't had a front row viewing yet. Since I'll be a single rider in October, I wonder if I can ask the CM if she could place me in the front. Really love that ride and I think I would love it even more without dangling legs in my view!

 

[marDgreen88]

I actually have NEVER been on Journey Into Imagination (I will be changing that in a couple weeks) but I SO wish I could have ridden the old one. It sounds like it was so amazing! What used to be upstairs?

YAY for getting the front of Soarin', finally! Ya can't do it any other way, really!

AHH, an update with Maelstrom and Gran Fiesta Tour is an update I will automatically enjoy. Good thing you didn't experience any untimely deaths in Mexico.

 

[dgagnon519]

Love your report.

 

[DisneyKid4Life]

I just can't bring myself to do the Grand Fiesta Tour again. I think it's because it's too much like Small World, and I definitely can't do Small World...

Nice meet up with Madame Frump. I think Norman Jr. is becoming more popular than Mickey. I even had to get a pic on my last trip.

 

[beachphotog]

RIP original JII and Dreamfinder. I miss him so. And the rainbow room! I had forgotten about that! It's one of those buried Disney memories but I certainly remember being able to play with all the cool stuff upstairs. My favorite was the giant pin board where you could make cool shapes! I think my dad stuck his face in it! (gross to think about now, though...)

Mmm, that shwarma plate looks soooooo delicious! Can I have some? Like right now???

How fun to hang with Jess! She does seem like such a fun, genuine person!

 

[emilyindisney]

FINALLY CAUGHT UP!

I'll save you my comments on everything, but start by saying that your TR has been great so far!

Some of your 'Brickering' shots are really awesome. I'm particularly fond of the third one up from the bottom of your post.

I wish I knew about the pin collecting! I love free stuff!

Glad you got to meet up with Jess again. I've been reading her DCP TR and it sounds like she's have an amazing time. It's practically inspiring me to apply for DCP!

Can't remember if I said anything yet or not, but... WOOOOOOOOO DISNEYLANDDDDD! How exciting! No doubt you can count me in for that TR!

Can't wait to hear more!

 

[abbybeth]

I like you! I love The Pogues and Raglan Road too - you have excellent taste!

I just found you today (living under a rock, sorry!) and am now all caught up. I'll get to experience NFL for the first time this October and have been devouring everything I can find. CANNOTWAIT. I'm kinda hoping that, as a huge BaTB fanatic, prepping myself now will mean I won't disolve into a heap of happy sobbing when I go through Belle's village for the first time. I'm not looking at it as spoiling it, but as a preventative measure against the ugly cry.

Really enjoying your report and looking forward to future installments.