PamNC
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Aug 19, 1999
- Messages
- 4,597
Day 4 Stormalong Bay, MGM, AK, and Ice Cream for Dinner
Cast of Characters: Me, 43 the wife and DH, 35, Uncle Albert
We got up around 7:00 and headed for the Dolphin to gorge ourselves @ the breakfast buffet at Fresh. The food was just as the name implies, very fresh. I had an omelet with tomatoes and cheddar cheese, french toast, fruit, juice and coffee. Poor Uncle Albert. I was wondering what was taking him so long at the grill. He had asked for a spinach, tomato, and feta cheese omelet. Apparently they had a hard time locating the feta cheese. So they left his omelet cooking on the grill while they looked for it it was if feta cheese was a weird thing to ask for. By the time they found it the omelet was overcooked. They actually attempted to serve it to my discriminating DH, but he refused. He simply told him he didnt want a dried up omelet. They made him a fresh one and he finally joined me for breakfast. This was the day that we discovered buffets are no longer for us. Let me explain. Weve both turned over a new leaf with our eating. Were eating smaller portions, less meat, and we only eat when were hungry. Buffets just dont suit our lifestyle anymore. We cant eat enough food to justify paying $40 for breakfast. Nonetheless, I dont wish to discourage anyone from eating at Fresh, it is truly delicious and like I said, it lives up to the name.
After breakfast we headed back to our room to put on our bathing suits. We were going to spend some quality time with our feet in the sand in Stormalong Bay. And that we did! It was early so it was no problem getting two chairs. We splashed, played, and giggled like two little kids for what seemed like maybe an hour. WRONG! It was nearly 11:30 before we knew it. After quick showers, we headed for Beaches & Cream for lunch before our next destination, MGM Studios. We were seated at the counter and were totally mesmerized by the efficiency of the CMs. It was really busy but we were in and out of there in no time. Now, one would think we would take the Friendship or walk to MGM given our current location. We decided to drive instead because the plan was to go to the Animal Kingdom for extra magic hours after MGM.
As we entered MGM, we didnt waste any time getting to Lights Motors Action. We were planning on grabbing a fastpass for the second show of the day which I believe was around 3:55. They only had them available for the later show but a CM told us we should have no problem getting in if we came back around 30 minutes prior to the show. We had about 2 hours to kill. We noticed that a show was about to start at Millionaire so in we went. We had no sooner got in line than the phone rang and a CM asked my DH if he would be a complete stranger. Of course he obliged. The question had to do with chromosomes and cells and, bless his heart, Uncle Albert gave the guest in the hot seat the wrong answer. Well, all was not lost. He received an I was a complete stranger button and displayed it proudly on his shirt. I told him to be careful if the person he screwed up saw his button they might be bitter and beat his #*&^. Nothing like that happened; we were at Disney after all. During our game, Uncle Albert got on the top ten list twice, once he was #2. We both enjoyed the game even though weve probably done it 10+ times. After the game we strolled over to the Animation building. I had read that they had changed it to the California Adventure version which we had done while in CA in May. Although the show segment with Mishu the dragon was kind of silly, we thoroughly enjoyed a certain interactive section. I couldnt wait to do it again. You see, Ursula takes your voice and places it into a Disney character. You can act a scene from a movie or sing a Disney song. You touch the screen to tell Ursula whether you would like to sing or act. Then you get 4 choices. There is a chance to rehearse along with the characters its kind of like karaoke where the words come up on a screen. After one rehearsal, you do it for real. Ursula counts, 1, 2, 3 and you start recording. Then, you play it back. We did a scene from Bambi. When it played back, it was all distorted it was as if all 4 of the scenes were playing back at the same time. In short, it didnt work and we were so disappointed. I hope someone out there has gotten the chance to do it and I hope it worked. Its a great attraction but the CA version is much better. The sound is better and its more private than the Florida version. And, the worst part of it was we were forced to see the silly Mishu show whereas in CA you can choose to see it or you can skip it and go straight to the interactive areas. Oh well, this was a monumental waste of time. We ran out of there and headed for the Walt One Mans Dream exhibit. We had gone through the exhibits earlier in the trip, but we didnt see the film. Im glad we did it was wonderful. Very moving but then again I like anything that tells Walts wonderful story.
At this point, we needed to head for Lights Motors Action. The CM was right; we had no problem getting in. The stadium is huge but Ill have to say it was completely full. And it was very very hot. Dont you love new attractions? Every time we do a new one Uncle Albert says the same thing, You can only do something for the first time once. About the show .it was good but if I had to be honest I would say it wasnt as good as I expected. Uncle Albert concurred. The stage is set in a French village and they explain how car stunts are done. I would go into detail, but I dont want to give it away to anyone who hasnt seen it. There is a special celebrity guest who appears at the show. That was my favorite part. There are fast cars, explosions, motorcycles, and a man who catches himself on fire. The show is very intense and exciting, but I would rather have Residential Street back. Two attractions have severely suffered as a result. First, the backstage tour. Second, and more important, the Osborne Festival of Lights is now on NY Street and it pales in comparison to the old display. I expected this attraction to be a 10, but I would give it a 7 or maybe an 8. As stunt shows go, I like Indiana Jones better.
After the show, we went to the little coffee shop/book store and got a soda and popcorn and took the opportunity to bask in the air conditioning. We almost had a heat stroke out there in the stadium. Then we headed for the car and drove to Animal Kingdom to partake in extra magic hours. We were hoping to see Lucky the Dinosaur, but we had missed his last appearance. No worries, we were planning on returning to the AK later in the trip. The CM at the information and attractions board gave us a tip. She said that the last safari tour departed at 7:30 and that the best thing to do to get maximum animal viewing was to get there around 7:15 or so because the animals would be out waiting to go in for the evening for their dinner. The first thing we did was Its Tough to Be a Bug. No wait. We sat on the 2nd row, which I dont think Ill do again. Its too close for my old eyes, the images were sometimes distorted. We enjoyed it nonetheless. The show kind of freaks me out and gives me the hibby-jibbys because Im deathly afraid of spiders. After the show, my DH was hungry so we stopped by Pizzafari and got a kids meal PB&J sandwich. I didnt really want anything so I just watched him eat and drank a soda. Although it wasnt 7:15, we decided to go ahead and do the safari anyway because the wait was about 10 minutes. After the safari, we took our time on the Pangani Forest Exploration trail and by this time it was about 7:15 so we did the safari again. There were lots of animals out; we even saw a zebra, which isnt always the case. The male lion was awake, another miracle. He was asleep on our first time through. He had his head held high looking all around. The only thing we didnt see a lot of were elephants. Only saw one and it was from quite a distance. After our second safari, we headed for Dinoland and rode Dinosaur twice. No wait either time. We then wondered around some of the trails but a lot of the animals had gone in for the evening. We went by the Expedition Everest site and took some pictures of the construction. This attraction is going to be something I predict itll be a blockbuster. Each time we visit I take pictures of the construction so I can follow the progress. We cant wait until it opens in 2006. Extra Magic Hours at the AK is wonderful it was quite empty. The Tarzan show was going on but we dont like that show so we skipped it. We enjoyed being there in the evening; it had a nice feel to it.
We decided to head out and figure out where to eat. Our feet were killing us. We usually walk to and from the car at AK versus taking the tram but we couldnt hang. In fact, my brilliant husband devised a plan to minimize the walking even more. He asked the CM on the back of the tram where we should sit that would place us the closest to our car, which was parked in the Unicorn section. He told us to sit in the back. It worked. Our section of the tram stopped right at our row and thank goodness our car was very close. This coming from two people who do step aerobics, hike, bike, weight train and take long walks. Uncle Albert kept saying, My heels hurt.
We were going to go to Kimonos and get sushi and sing karaoke, at least that was our plan. But my young husband decided that he didnt want to walk all the way from the Beach Club to the Swan. Can you imagine that? Im almost embarrassed to tell everyone what we did for dinner. But I will. We went back to Beaches and Cream and had a No Way Jose. Yes folks, us adults, we had ice cream for dinner. What the heck, its vacation, right?
Oh, did I mention that while in line for the safari, I spotted two more people with the mysterious Florida rash? Yep! It was an epidemic. At this point, mine was almost gone.
Once again, we lie down in our wonderful room at the Beach Club to sleep and dream Disney dreams. Neither of us had any trouble falling asleep the entire trip. Its especially easy when youre full of sugar from an ice cream supper. I hope my mom isnt reading this trip report. She would kill me if she knew that is all I had to eat.
Stay Tuned for Day 5!
PamNC
Cast of Characters: Me, 43 the wife and DH, 35, Uncle Albert
We got up around 7:00 and headed for the Dolphin to gorge ourselves @ the breakfast buffet at Fresh. The food was just as the name implies, very fresh. I had an omelet with tomatoes and cheddar cheese, french toast, fruit, juice and coffee. Poor Uncle Albert. I was wondering what was taking him so long at the grill. He had asked for a spinach, tomato, and feta cheese omelet. Apparently they had a hard time locating the feta cheese. So they left his omelet cooking on the grill while they looked for it it was if feta cheese was a weird thing to ask for. By the time they found it the omelet was overcooked. They actually attempted to serve it to my discriminating DH, but he refused. He simply told him he didnt want a dried up omelet. They made him a fresh one and he finally joined me for breakfast. This was the day that we discovered buffets are no longer for us. Let me explain. Weve both turned over a new leaf with our eating. Were eating smaller portions, less meat, and we only eat when were hungry. Buffets just dont suit our lifestyle anymore. We cant eat enough food to justify paying $40 for breakfast. Nonetheless, I dont wish to discourage anyone from eating at Fresh, it is truly delicious and like I said, it lives up to the name.
After breakfast we headed back to our room to put on our bathing suits. We were going to spend some quality time with our feet in the sand in Stormalong Bay. And that we did! It was early so it was no problem getting two chairs. We splashed, played, and giggled like two little kids for what seemed like maybe an hour. WRONG! It was nearly 11:30 before we knew it. After quick showers, we headed for Beaches & Cream for lunch before our next destination, MGM Studios. We were seated at the counter and were totally mesmerized by the efficiency of the CMs. It was really busy but we were in and out of there in no time. Now, one would think we would take the Friendship or walk to MGM given our current location. We decided to drive instead because the plan was to go to the Animal Kingdom for extra magic hours after MGM.
As we entered MGM, we didnt waste any time getting to Lights Motors Action. We were planning on grabbing a fastpass for the second show of the day which I believe was around 3:55. They only had them available for the later show but a CM told us we should have no problem getting in if we came back around 30 minutes prior to the show. We had about 2 hours to kill. We noticed that a show was about to start at Millionaire so in we went. We had no sooner got in line than the phone rang and a CM asked my DH if he would be a complete stranger. Of course he obliged. The question had to do with chromosomes and cells and, bless his heart, Uncle Albert gave the guest in the hot seat the wrong answer. Well, all was not lost. He received an I was a complete stranger button and displayed it proudly on his shirt. I told him to be careful if the person he screwed up saw his button they might be bitter and beat his #*&^. Nothing like that happened; we were at Disney after all. During our game, Uncle Albert got on the top ten list twice, once he was #2. We both enjoyed the game even though weve probably done it 10+ times. After the game we strolled over to the Animation building. I had read that they had changed it to the California Adventure version which we had done while in CA in May. Although the show segment with Mishu the dragon was kind of silly, we thoroughly enjoyed a certain interactive section. I couldnt wait to do it again. You see, Ursula takes your voice and places it into a Disney character. You can act a scene from a movie or sing a Disney song. You touch the screen to tell Ursula whether you would like to sing or act. Then you get 4 choices. There is a chance to rehearse along with the characters its kind of like karaoke where the words come up on a screen. After one rehearsal, you do it for real. Ursula counts, 1, 2, 3 and you start recording. Then, you play it back. We did a scene from Bambi. When it played back, it was all distorted it was as if all 4 of the scenes were playing back at the same time. In short, it didnt work and we were so disappointed. I hope someone out there has gotten the chance to do it and I hope it worked. Its a great attraction but the CA version is much better. The sound is better and its more private than the Florida version. And, the worst part of it was we were forced to see the silly Mishu show whereas in CA you can choose to see it or you can skip it and go straight to the interactive areas. Oh well, this was a monumental waste of time. We ran out of there and headed for the Walt One Mans Dream exhibit. We had gone through the exhibits earlier in the trip, but we didnt see the film. Im glad we did it was wonderful. Very moving but then again I like anything that tells Walts wonderful story.
At this point, we needed to head for Lights Motors Action. The CM was right; we had no problem getting in. The stadium is huge but Ill have to say it was completely full. And it was very very hot. Dont you love new attractions? Every time we do a new one Uncle Albert says the same thing, You can only do something for the first time once. About the show .it was good but if I had to be honest I would say it wasnt as good as I expected. Uncle Albert concurred. The stage is set in a French village and they explain how car stunts are done. I would go into detail, but I dont want to give it away to anyone who hasnt seen it. There is a special celebrity guest who appears at the show. That was my favorite part. There are fast cars, explosions, motorcycles, and a man who catches himself on fire. The show is very intense and exciting, but I would rather have Residential Street back. Two attractions have severely suffered as a result. First, the backstage tour. Second, and more important, the Osborne Festival of Lights is now on NY Street and it pales in comparison to the old display. I expected this attraction to be a 10, but I would give it a 7 or maybe an 8. As stunt shows go, I like Indiana Jones better.
After the show, we went to the little coffee shop/book store and got a soda and popcorn and took the opportunity to bask in the air conditioning. We almost had a heat stroke out there in the stadium. Then we headed for the car and drove to Animal Kingdom to partake in extra magic hours. We were hoping to see Lucky the Dinosaur, but we had missed his last appearance. No worries, we were planning on returning to the AK later in the trip. The CM at the information and attractions board gave us a tip. She said that the last safari tour departed at 7:30 and that the best thing to do to get maximum animal viewing was to get there around 7:15 or so because the animals would be out waiting to go in for the evening for their dinner. The first thing we did was Its Tough to Be a Bug. No wait. We sat on the 2nd row, which I dont think Ill do again. Its too close for my old eyes, the images were sometimes distorted. We enjoyed it nonetheless. The show kind of freaks me out and gives me the hibby-jibbys because Im deathly afraid of spiders. After the show, my DH was hungry so we stopped by Pizzafari and got a kids meal PB&J sandwich. I didnt really want anything so I just watched him eat and drank a soda. Although it wasnt 7:15, we decided to go ahead and do the safari anyway because the wait was about 10 minutes. After the safari, we took our time on the Pangani Forest Exploration trail and by this time it was about 7:15 so we did the safari again. There were lots of animals out; we even saw a zebra, which isnt always the case. The male lion was awake, another miracle. He was asleep on our first time through. He had his head held high looking all around. The only thing we didnt see a lot of were elephants. Only saw one and it was from quite a distance. After our second safari, we headed for Dinoland and rode Dinosaur twice. No wait either time. We then wondered around some of the trails but a lot of the animals had gone in for the evening. We went by the Expedition Everest site and took some pictures of the construction. This attraction is going to be something I predict itll be a blockbuster. Each time we visit I take pictures of the construction so I can follow the progress. We cant wait until it opens in 2006. Extra Magic Hours at the AK is wonderful it was quite empty. The Tarzan show was going on but we dont like that show so we skipped it. We enjoyed being there in the evening; it had a nice feel to it.
We decided to head out and figure out where to eat. Our feet were killing us. We usually walk to and from the car at AK versus taking the tram but we couldnt hang. In fact, my brilliant husband devised a plan to minimize the walking even more. He asked the CM on the back of the tram where we should sit that would place us the closest to our car, which was parked in the Unicorn section. He told us to sit in the back. It worked. Our section of the tram stopped right at our row and thank goodness our car was very close. This coming from two people who do step aerobics, hike, bike, weight train and take long walks. Uncle Albert kept saying, My heels hurt.
We were going to go to Kimonos and get sushi and sing karaoke, at least that was our plan. But my young husband decided that he didnt want to walk all the way from the Beach Club to the Swan. Can you imagine that? Im almost embarrassed to tell everyone what we did for dinner. But I will. We went back to Beaches and Cream and had a No Way Jose. Yes folks, us adults, we had ice cream for dinner. What the heck, its vacation, right?
Oh, did I mention that while in line for the safari, I spotted two more people with the mysterious Florida rash? Yep! It was an epidemic. At this point, mine was almost gone.
Once again, we lie down in our wonderful room at the Beach Club to sleep and dream Disney dreams. Neither of us had any trouble falling asleep the entire trip. Its especially easy when youre full of sugar from an ice cream supper. I hope my mom isnt reading this trip report. She would kill me if she knew that is all I had to eat.
Stay Tuned for Day 5!
PamNC
