Pilgrimage to the Great Swampy Temple of the Rat.

[wizzzzzard]

OK So Im going to make my first post a huge one. And starting a new thread to boot.

First up is sort of an intro. I am a DH, married to one DisneyMomFanatic. She's been floating about the board of late becuase of our upcoming vacation in August.

I thought as a nice surprise I would post a trip report from our last time down over Christmass 2008. Yeah, I'm a procrastinator, and a bit lazy. I got it here, though, didn't I?

I'm a 40 year old man who likes Disney mainly for the inclusiveness of the place. I land, and hardly have to do a thing once I get off the plane. Plus, there is good food, and the kids really seem to like the place.

Of course, my wife takes care of most of details, leaving me to do one thing: Relax. And eat. Ok, so that's two things. But I can manage them together easily enough.

I am a techhead, working on PC's for my regular job, but I am reluctant to do this kind of work away from work. (Other thechies understand.) I am savvy to the ways of internet in ways the wife is not. However, I am lazy, and don't rely on spellcheck, or etiquette.

We took over 1300 pictures down there, and maybe a dozen or more short videos. I don't think even half of them will make it here, but we'll see.

She wanted to do Christmas this year. It had been 9 years since we last did Christmas at the World, so it was a fair request. We started budgeting for it almost immediately after returning from our 2007 journey.

Thanks to large tax refund, we were able to accomplish this, along with getting ourselves the Deluxe Dining Plan.

So, since this was a holiday trip, we decided to head down a few days early, and spend Christmas day with DW's family who live in the Kissimmee area.

As airlines were going through a hideous fuel issue, we elected to take Amtrak down. It left from center city, Philadelphia, and has a stop in Kissimmee itself. We could even take public transportation from our neightborhood to downtown. The local train has a stop only 7 blocks from our house, which takes us right downtown. What could be easier!?!? Plus, it had a novelty factor for the kids. (And at the time, it was cheaper!)

So, without further ado:

 

[wizzzzzard]

We packed up the car, and had my youngest brother drive the 7 blocks to the local rail station, where we unpacked the load onto the platform. He then took the car back to our house, to wait, where our neighbors could move it becuase of no parking zones on our street.

This was early in the afternoon, so we could make sure we had plenty of time to get down there by the local train, and get out bags from the very top of the station, to the very bottom, where the amtrak trains were located.

We departed from 30th Street Station in downtown Philadelpia. We were scheduled to leave at 5pm, but I don't think we pulled out until almost 6:30.

Here's a few shots from the train station:

Because we left late, we grabbed some fast food and ate it while waiting at the train station. The train was an interesting experience. We did not get a room suite, as that would have cost more than the plane, so we stuck with coach seats.

I did not sleep well, in the small coach seats, but I did not expect too. Plus, we were arriving on christmas eve. I could sleep in that day if I wanted to, to make up for lost sleep. I think I did.

If any one else is considering doing, this I recommend researching your options carefully and in great detail. It wasn't that I didn't like it, but it was experience that I do not need to repeat.

 

[wizzzzzard]

Traveling by train. We had breakfast and lunch on the train. Otherwise we just kept busy reading, or watching DVD's.

Here's a few snapshots from the train ride.

We had 1 more stop after this, Kissimee. We were picked up by MIL, FIL, SIL, and Niece. We headed back to the over-55 community in which my DW's parents live. It was about 30 minutes away.

We didn't really unpack, and just sorta relaxed for a while.

 

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Not much to tell here. We celebrated. Here's some pics:

 

[wizzzzzard]

So we decided to head over to the World early to get an start. We figured we'd go to PoP, check in, drop off our bags, head over to AK to kill a few hours, while our room would be ready somewhere around 3pm. We planned to head back about then, get ourselves settled in, then go back to AK for our dinner rezzie at the Y&Y.

Well, that didn't quite go as planned. We got checked in, and we were told we could go right to our room? HUH? It was only 10am! We've never got into our hotel this early before. We didn't complain, and happily went to our POP preferred room. We got settled in, unpacking a few things, and headed off to AK. We got into the park by 11:30, and were now going to stay all day.

Here's our arrival:

We went and had lunch at Flame Tree BBQ. Sorry, no food porn here. After that, we went to the bird show Here's a ton of shots from that:

We decided to hit the Kilimanjaro Safari, since we always do it twice every time we go. Our Autistic son loves it.

 

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Ignore the subject line. I didn't realize you were limited to 25 pics per post.

More Safari:

 

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After this, it was just about 2:30, so we decided to cop a squat for the 3pm AK parade. With our GAC for our son, we can park in the handicapped parade zones. So we grabbed a spot, and waited.

Parade Pics:

After the parade, we elected to go see the new (back then) Nemo musical show. We were seated way in the back a huge auditorium. My camera was still new to me, and I didn't set it to motion or far away shots, so many of them came out very blurry. Here's a few that came out OK:

After this we walked around, let the kids ride a few rides in Dinoland for a few hours. We then made our way to the new (to us anyway) Yak & Yeti restaurant. Here's a few shots before the food porn:

This was our first real meal on the deluxe plan. Were you get the appetizers included in the plan. (Don't know if that still applies to the DxDDP.) We should have realized this earlier on, that this was going to be a ton and a half of food, since the kids got appetizers as well. So, here's my first food porn shots.

Pan Fried Pot stickers: These were good!

Fried Green Beans: This was odd. Tasty, but unusual. I would eat them again.

Lettuce Cups: Very bland. They really needed that sweet chili sauce to give them some zip, and I didn't have enough. I tried two, and no one else would eat them.

Steamed dumplings. Similar to the Pot stickers, just steam cooked instead of pan-fried. They were good too.

Steak and Shrimp tempura. My dinner. Actually my wife and I got the same thing, which almost never happens! Not bad. I would eat it again.

What's left of the kids egg roll meals. My son was hungry. He got the fried rice instead of the applesauce.

Kids chicken nugget meal. I think she ate one when I took the pic.

By the time we were done, it was 7:15, so we decided to leisurely make our way out since the park was closing at 8pm. We figured we'd have a head start on the bus line. Here's a shot of the AK christmas tree, lit up.

 

[15isto2]

Great pics and report so far

 

[wizzzzzard]

Ok, the real Day 6.

We got to MK about 8:15 I think, as were inside by about 8:30. Here's a shot of the Christmas tree:

Here's a few shots as we walked up Main Street to head to our 9am rezzie at CP.

And of course the iconic shot:

Kids having breakfast with Pooh and friends:

Shots of the topiaries inside:

We decided to hit Fantasyland first this time around.

 

[wizzzzzard]

I kinda like this shot:

Waiting in line for, and riding on, Dumbo:

Scrooge McDuck, a character we don't see often. My BIL who was a CM, back in 95, said they used to only bring him out at the holidays. Not sure if that's still true or not.

We did a little Tomorrowland, but I did not take many pics here. Had lUnch at Cosmic Ray's, but no food porn from here.

We grabbed a spot for the parade in Liberty Sqaure, underneath the Liberty Tree. Shots of the christmas parade:

Some of these shots came out really good! Super close, even though I was behind the ropes.

We went and killed time in Frontierland after the parade, but again I didn't take many pics here. None worth posting at any rate.

 

[wizzzzzard]

We then headed to our one really special dining experience. The one my wife had been trying to get since forever and a day. Cinderella's Royal Table. You know why, and you know why it's so hard to get.

Here's some shots from inside.

Now, here's some food porn:

Castle Salad:

Crab & Corn Soup:

Kids Chicken Noodle soup: (Both kids liked it.)

Kids hot dog meal with green beans. (Our DD got mashed potatoes as an extra.)

The Prime Rib with Asparagus and Cabernet Sauce:

Kids Ice Cream Dessert: (They didn't like what was on the menu, so they got this instead.)

Chocolate Cream Cheese Buckle:

After Dinner, we didn't feel much like riding rides, and we wanted to walk off a little of dinner. So, we wandered over to Toontown to get siggy's and shots with Princesses.

Yes, ladies and gents, that's me.

 

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Cindy had just gone in on her break. The next room had the Fairies. The Tinkerbelle movie has just been out, so of course this line was hideously long. We used our GAC to go in the back door, with another handicapped boy.

The wife snapped the last shot AS I was putting my arm around Tink.


So now it's about 9:30pm, and spectro magic is going to start about 10:00pm. We make our way to the handicapped viewing area in the main street circle. I got some good night shots of the castle.

Our son was posing with his new sword that he got from CRT. I've been teaching him about the role-playing game Dungeons and Dragons. He was pretending he was a sneaky rogue, going to dash in and rescue the princess before the bad guys even knew he was in the castle.

 

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Spectromagic Parade:

Parade done, time to head back to sleep.

Some exit shots, and the lighted MK Christmas tree.

 

[wizzzzzard]

We only do this park for one day.

We got here later than we wanted to, but we had a sleep in day today. DHS had evening magic hours, so we knew we had the time.

THe DHS Christmas tree

We went right the the Little Mermaid show. No flash photography here people, so no pics.

After that, We'd heard about the new Toy Story ride, so we had to go see it. Buzz is one of our DS's favorites. Shots from the queue:

After this, it was nearly time for our 12:30 rezzie at 50's. Probably my wife's favorite 'theme' restaurant. She loves the kitschy art, and the experience with the waiters and waitresses. There's a little food porn here.

After lunch we hit the Indy stunt show.

 

[wizzzzzard]

After Indy, it was parade time. This was a new parade, The Block Party Bash. I'm not big on parades. Epcot is my favorite park for many reasons, and one of them is 'no parade'. However, I like this one. NOt sure why, but this one didn't bore me like the others.

Our DS got pulled into it. Our daughter got pulled in, but she ran away.

We then saw the stunt car show, but I took mostly video there. I have to figure out how to post that here yet. During the show, DD, passed out cold.

 

[wizzzzzard]

We then went and had dinner at Sci-Fi drive in. Food was only so-so here tonight. Not enough to make me want to remember it. It was dark when we emerged, so we hit the Osborne lights thing.

Then it was off to Fantasmic, and head out. Many of the shots for fantasmic did not turn out well. I was still not using landscape, since we were so far away from the action in the wheelchair areas.

That's it for now. I'll be back with more, once I write it.

 

[Backstage_Gal]

Nice report, subbing

 

[DisneyMomFanatic]

Hi all,

I am DW in this story. I never thought that this would happen. My DH writing a trip report. HMMM, guess anything is possible now. I loved this trip and it is great to look back on it through his eyes and relive those precious moments. We had a great time and we look forward to our next trip in August ( I know at least I do!!!)

And as for the DxDP, wow that is a lot of food. Good, great and wonderful food, but a WHOLE lot of it. I honestly think I was in a food coma for the second half of our trip. If we ever do the DxDP again, I would tweek it and not do soooooo many TS meals. We just had so many places we wanted to try and we did want to get the most out of the plan. But in the end the plan got the most of us Like I said, I would do the plan again, but not as many TS meals.

Can't wait to see more posts from my past.

 

[wizzzzzard]

We were acutally here for rope drop. I think for the first time ever in visiting Disney, we actually made a rope drop. We had 9:05am reservations in Akershus, and the park didn't open until 9am. So we actually made it to a rope drop. Will wonders never cease?

Here's a few pics before we could get in:

3 shots of the christmas tree.

We then quickly trotted off to our breakfast rezzie @ Akershus with the Princesses.

We then hit Figment and Living Seas.

 

[wizzzzzard]

So it was now approaching lunchtime. Well, time for our lunch rezzie in Teppan Edo. We had never tried this before, not realizing what it was for many years. After a trip to a Bennihana style restaurant in 2005, I knew what this place was, and we figured to give it a chance. Well, we loved it! So much we're going back again this year, and probably for the next several trips. The food is only part of the experience. It's the show they put on while doing it. Very fun! Here's some shots:

After dinner we mosied back to Spaceship Earth. We had not been inside since it was changed. I took a few pics of the remodel:

We killed a lot of time after this, trying to walk off our meals. I stopped with the pics until nightfall.