Sit down! Buckle up! & Hang On! Mickeystoontown's Gang is going to Walley World! 5/15

[mickeystoontown]

I think you've had some answers to this but I'll toss in my two cents.

My cousin and her family and myself and DH went at the same time last year. She and I were going to share the Photopass, but she decided to upgrade to the Photopass+. Since she payed for the upgrade, she got the only + card (I'm sure you know this, but you only get one, and that's the only card that works on the rides/dinner photos), but we had no problem adding our additional cards to her + card and her regular PP cards and put everything together on one disc. And whenever we rode rides together, they would put our whole party's pics on the card.

Also, love the DTD plans. I also love riding on Disney busses!

Thank you so much! I ended up telling my sis-in-law that they'd have to buy any ride photos that they wanted. We aren't going to the same theme parks every day and are only meeting up for dinner at the luau and Boma so our paths aren't crossing a whole lot. I figured it would be easy to get pictures at the luau if we meet up at the same time. They'll just have to fend for themselves on the ride pictures.

Lisa, if you are interested in photopass plus you can add it to your package for a cheaper price.

I had no idea that you could do that. I think that I paid $149 since I pre-purchased it.

 

[mickeystoontown]

I remember you saying how much you liked House of Blues last year. We've still not tried it...one of these days.

Window shopping is always fun.

I'm not so sure I agree with you on the buses, though.

Kathy, there are so many restaurants around Disney World aren't there? It's hard to stray away from a place that you really enjoy. Kinda like our favorite resorts.

After seeing those pictures, I really think I need to try House of Blues next time I go. That dessert with the chocolate and the raspberries is calling my name! I am so glad Mama decided to go this year - more memories to cherish, and I know she will love being there with all the kids, too. Otherwise she wouldn't get to see Lacey and Jessie for much longer.

Ya'll should add House of Blues to your restaurant list. I'm betting that ya'll would like it.

I'm happy that Mama finally decided to go with us. It's probably going to be tiring for her and we'll definitely have to pace ourselves but it's well worth it.

I am still here and needed to say so! As you know, HOB holds a special place in my heart! Ask them when Rachel B is opening the show again! We can start a grass roots effort to get her back! Seriously though, unless they have revamped their menu since September...the VooDoo shrimp is NO MORE! Which is a horrible shame because when we were there, Pete and I spilt an order because I was so nervous and I only ate two bites of the delicious concoction! NOw I may never have it again.

Thanks for popping in Judy! I know that you have a ton on your hands right now (and every day). I thought about Rachel's show when I was writing about House of Blues.

 

[mickeystoontown]

Splish! Splash! We’re taking an offsite salt water bath!

As I said in an earlier post, John and I added a day to our regularly scheduled vacation figuring if the bosses had survived without us for an extra day last trip, they could survive an extra day without us this year. If they didn’t, they could just fire us. Yeah right...like they’d ever do that. Not trying to ring our own bells or toot our own whistles but I, basically, run this law office and John is just a step down from being his own boss. They ain’t gonna get rid of us. Both bosses have both said.....go on vacation just come back, please.

So far, our vacation includes an evening and almost a full day of driving , checking out a new resort, French Quarter , and then checking into our home away from home, Caribbean Beach. Our park days weren’t scheduled to start until Friday, the 24th. So, what were we to do on Thursday, the 23rd? Hum? That’s a darn good question.

Up until our drive over to Port Canaveral to board the Disney Dream, it had been 8 or 9 years since we had ventured offsite. Well, actually, we had gone to the grocery store, Walmart (at 1:00 in the morning I might add ‘cause my camera broke mid-trip) and Old Town in Kissimmee but that’s it so I don’t figure that really counts as “venturing”.

I chatted up the family and we all decided that it was time for some real “venturing”. But what venturing would we do? How ‘bout a swamp tour? Yeah, that sounds good. Wait, do we really want to do a swamp tour when that’s something we can do in the swamps of Louisiana? Nah! How ‘bout Gatorland? Wait, do we really want to go to pay to see gators and snakes when we have ‘em in Louisiana? Nah! How ‘bout we go to Universal Studios? Hey, that doesn’t sound half bad. Let’s look into that.

Mama came over and we looked at the Universal Studios site, which, by the way, sucks when it comes to trying to watch their short attraction videos. We knew that due to the sheer size of the two Universal parks that there was no way that we’d be able to see them both in just one day. We also knew that we didn’t want to pay the price for two park admissions even if there was a discount for both. That meant, we’d have to choose one of the parks. Did we want to do Universal Studios:

Home of E.T., Shrek and the Simpsons. Home of the Revenge of the Mummy, Twister and Men in Black. While E.T., Shrek and The Simpsons, and even Twister, would probably be something that Mama would enjoy, I couldn’t see her enjoying Hollywood Rip Rocket:

Disaster:

Revenge of the Mummy:

Okay, so let’s look at the other Universal Park, Islands of Adventure:

Um, yeah, look at all those coasters. That’s not going to work for Mama either.

Check Universal Studios off the “maybe we want to go venturing there” list.

**Continued in next post

 

[mickeystoontown]

Well, what else could we do? How ‘bout we look at Sea World. It’s pretty tame if we skip the coasters and we haven’t been there for years and years and years. I’m talking since Hunter was 3. What’s that make it? 13 years ago! Yeah, maybe it’s time to go back to Sea World. Clickedy click on the laptop and up came their logo and I remembered why we loved Sea World so many years ago.

It didn’t take much clicking around on the site until it was decided, we were going to Sea World! (Thanks to the handy dandy internet, I can share a few pictures of what we hope to see.)

The new penguin attraction isn’t scheduled to open until May 24th but we are keeping our fingers crossed that there may be some soft openings and we’ll get to see it. If not, then we’ll have a reason to go back and check it out. Even though we can’t see the new exhibit, we’ll still be able to see Wild Arctic and I’m super de duper excited about it for some reason.

There are a few rides That we could do like Kraken and Journey to Atlantis, which, by the way, after watching a You Tube video of, Mama said that she might like. If we do them, that’s good, if we don’t, that’s okay too.

I must admit that I’m a bit worried about the drive to Sea World. I know that it’s not a long way there but we’d be in Orlando traffic and I can’t stand heavy traffic. It scares the daylights out of me. I used to not be so skittish in traffic but, after we saw a head-on fatal accident a few years ago on our way to Disney, I worry a lot when I drive. I swear I have post-traumatic stress disorder. You see, the accident that we witnessed could have been us had we been just a few seconds ahead of where we were. It was horrific. I shudder and get teary just thinking about it. Anyway, let’s not think about that any more.

Let’s think about cute funny stuff like the sea lion show:

and the A’lure, The Call of the Ocean show:

And, possibly taking a sea water bath courtesy of the killer whales:

Okay, so I’m pretty sure that we’ll skip the salt water bath. I’m not a fan of having fishy salty water splashed all over me. Go figure?

The park hours for May 23rd are 9:00 to 6:00 p.m. and we’re going in knowing that we’ll probably miss out on seeing some things but we’re fine with it. The plan it to take it at a leisurely pace and do what we can.

If any of you have any Sea World tips or navigating the roadways between Walt Disney World and Sea World, please please share!

**Up next: Grill me something Mister!

 

[jenseib]

I am so excited you are going to Universal. It's so much fun. You will see a difference, but it still is great to do. We enjoyed our time there. Be sure to ride the simpsons!!!!!!

 

[jenseib]

OOOOH! You tricked me and I posted before the next one came. Sea World is fun too and I do want to go back there as well.

 

[mickeystoontown]

I am so excited you are going to Universal. It's so much fun. You will see a difference, but it still is great to do. We enjoyed our time there. Be sure to ride the simpsons!!!!!!

OOOOH! You tricked me and I posted before the next one came. Sea World is fun too and I do want to go back there as well.

Sorry! Didn't mean to trick you Jen! If Mama weren't with us, we would have chosen Universal. We've been before but it's been a really really long time ago. I know that we'd like it now.

Sea World seemed to be a better fit for Mama. She's never seen a whale. Can you believe that? She's 79 years old and has never seen one.

 

[KatMark]

I'm with momma...Universal don't cut it for me with all those coasters!

We've not been to Sea World since Markie was probably 6 years old (so 19 years ago ). We are doing the Discovery Cove "Encounter with the Dolphins" in August and will spend part of the time at Sea World and are looking forward to it. So I will be anxiously reading your reviews when you get back.

We've driven in Orlando rush hour traffic. It's not so bad...just stay in the right lane since you'll be exiting right eventually.

 

[mickeystoontown]

I'm with momma...Universal don't cut it for me with all those coasters!

We've not been to Sea World since Markie was probably 6 years old (so 19 years ago ). We are doing the Discovery Cove "Encounter with the Dolphins" in August and will spend part of the time at Sea World and are looking forward to it. So I will be anxiously reading your reviews when you get back.

We've driven in Orlando rush hour traffic. It's not so bad...just stay in the right lane since you'll be exiting right eventually.

There were just too many "no I wouldn't do that" s in Universal for us to justify paying for a day trip there. At least when Mama's with us. If it were just John, Hunter and I, we'd have plenty to do.

I wish that I could talk John into doing the dolphin encounter. Ain't no talking him into that though.

You are a braver woman than I. I hate busy traffic.

 

[KatMark]

You are a braver woman than I. I hate busy traffic.

Lisa, that's what comes with having lived in Chicago all of my life.

 

[Chrissi Khris]

Oh I love seaworld. I highly recommend wild artic it one of my favourites. All the shows are amazing and so different from each other. I personally like the sea lions, dolphins and of course shamu. If you don't want to get wet sit quite high up it surpassing how high the water can get. Family and me usually sit right at the top in the nose bleed section that actually gave me a nose bleed. I think seaworld one of the parks you can take it slow and still get loads done.

 

[jenseib]

Sorry! Didn't mean to trick you Jen! If Mama weren't with us, we would have chosen Universal. We've been before but it's been a really really long time ago. I know that we'd like it now.

Sea World seemed to be a better fit for Mama. She's never seen a whale. Can you believe that? She's 79 years old and has never seen one.

I see one everyday when I look in the mirror!

 

[PhoenixStrength]

Yay for doing Sea World! I was last there in April 2010. Let's see, what can I give for advice...

Journey to Atlantis is A LOT like Splash Mountain. I cannot remember if Mama has done that before but if she has than she can definitely do JtA. It is a bit tamer than SM. Kracken is a great roller coaster. Didn't do Manta as it had just opened when I went and the lines were never less than 2 hours long. Wasn't worth it to spend almost a 1/4 of my day on one attraction. Wild Arctic Ride is just a motion-simulator and is kind of older. Not bad, but nothing special really either. The Sky Tower is cool, you can see quite a bit from up there!

Their shows are good. Be sure to check out all of the animal exhibits. Some are small, but very nice still. They used to have Clydesdales there too (they are owned by Anhauser-Busch) but I don't see them on the website anymore.

 

[mickeystoontown]

I see one everyday when I look in the mirror!

Girl, please! You are such a goofball!

Yay for doing Sea World! I was last there in April 2010. Let's see, what can I give for advice...

Journey to Atlantis is A LOT like Splash Mountain. I cannot remember if Mama has done that before but if she has than she can definitely do JtA. It is a bit tamer than SM. Kracken is a great roller coaster. Didn't do Manta as it had just opened when I went and the lines were never less than 2 hours long. Wasn't worth it to spend almost a 1/4 of my day on one attraction. Wild Arctic Ride is just a motion-simulator and is kind of older. Not bad, but nothing special really either. The Sky Tower is cool, you can see quite a bit from up there!

Their shows are good. Be sure to check out all of the animal exhibits. Some are small, but very nice still. They used to have Clydesdales there too (they are owned by Anhauser-Busch) but I don't see them on the website anymore.

Mama has ridden Splash Mountain and says that she is doing it again this trip. John and Hunter may ride Kraken and Manta if we have the time. I'm definitely not going on either of those.

We had to skip the motion simulator in Wild Arctic because Hunter was really young back then and we weren't sure if he could handle it so we did the one where we sat still.

I watched a youtube video of Sky Tower and wondered if I would freak out because of the heights but it didn't look too bad. Is the space very big? Mama's claustrophobic to the max.

I wondered if they had the Clydesdales there any more. We loved seeing them when we went.

 

[mickeystoontown]

Oh I love seaworld. I highly recommend wild artic it one of my favourites. All the shows are amazing and so different from each other. I personally like the sea lions, dolphins and of course shamu. If you don't want to get wet sit quite high up it surpassing how high the water can get. Family and me usually sit right at the top in the nose bleed section that actually gave me a nose bleed. I think seaworld one of the parks you can take it slow and still get loads done.

Mama's excited about the shows. John and I still, to this day, talk about the show where they played a trick on the audience and we thought that a lady had fallen in with the "fake" whales. Scared us to death!

I wonder just how high Mama is going to be able to climb in the Shamu stadium. That's one of my worries. I'd like to sit in nosebleed section (minus your nosebleed ) but I don't know if Mama can make it up that high.

Lisa, that's what comes with having lived in Chicago all of my life.

Better you than me! I hate traffic!

 

[PhoenixStrength]

I watched a youtube video of Sky Tower and wondered if I would freak out because of the heights but it didn't look too bad. Is the space very big? Mama's claustrophobic to the max.

If I remember right (because there is a similar one at Hershey Park that I'm afraid I may be mixing this one up with!) there is a bench that runs along the inside and it's basically a walkway all the way around of a few feet in front of it. It feels very safe so I wouldn't worry too much about the height issue, and it's not cramped so claustrophobia shouldn't be an issue either. However, I suffer from neither fear so I can't say 100%.

 

[mickeystoontown]

If I remember right (because there is a similar one at Hershey Park that I'm afraid I may be mixing this one up with!) there is a bench that runs along the inside and it's basically a walkway all the way around of a few feet in front of it. It feels very safe so I wouldn't worry too much about the height issue, and it's not cramped so claustrophobia shouldn't be an issue either. However, I suffer from neither fear so I can't say 100%.

Thanks Stephanie! Mama has "issues" in the Haunted Mansion stretching room but I think that's mostly because there are no windows and it's dark. She is very claustrophobic though and can't even wear constricting clothes. Her claustrophobia is as bad as my fear of heights. Probably worse.

 

[HiHoOffWeGo]

Lisa, KatMark is not being honest with you. If you can drive in Chicago you can drive anywhere. You have to be insane. I have done it many times and if you are not prepared to drive 80 and throw on the brakes at any time and stop???? don't let to much space between you and the guy in front of you cause some nut job will cross 4 lanes for that spot. Most of all you better know where you are going cause you will never get over in time. AND the Gapers. Oh! look ahead, a four mile parking lot. LOL Just a normal drive on the Dan Ryan.

 

[maryj11]

We went to Universal & IOA about 10 or more years ago and I really thought it was great back then. We went this past year and I really did not think it was all that great anymore. I dont know why for sure. I do know that US & IOA is not as organized as Disney, I mean the way the park rides are mapped out and the workers were not as friendly and helpful. Disney has them beat big time ! I just was a little disappointed because it wasn't as thrilling as it was when we went years ago.
I would also go to Sea World , that's a good choice

 

[mickeystoontown]

Lisa, KatMark is not being honest with you. If you can drive in Chicago you can drive anywhere. You have to be insane. I have done it many times and if you are not prepared to drive 80 and throw on the brakes at any time and stop???? don't let to much space between you and the guy in front of you cause some nut job will cross 4 lanes for that spot. Most of all you better know where you are going cause you will never get over in time. AND the Gapers. Oh! look ahead, a four mile parking lot. LOL Just a normal drive on the Dan Ryan.

Oh Lordy! That's what the traffic was like when we drove in and around Atlanta when Lacey was in Master's Commission. I was driving at least 80 and people were passing me like I was sitting still. They'd swoop in and cut in front of me even though there was barely enough room to squeeze into.

When we drove to Port Canaveral, we left after rush hour traffic so we missed it. If we want to get to Sea World when they open, there's no avoiding it. I wonder how much a cab would cost?