Smiles, Sand and Sunstroke!! A May 2012 Beach Club Trip of a Lifetime

[HockeyMomR]

Glad you enjoyed your Dark Side Day!

Loved the storm pictures at BC......still

 

[natebenma]

I'm glad you had a nice day at Universal. The WWoHP is unbelievable and I love the Mummy!!!

I enjoyed the water rides, too.

We never rode RRR. I read that one of the songs on the secret track is Rainbow Connection. I would like to try this on our next visit.

Seussland is beautiful, but my boys wanted nothing to do with it!

Did you not try the butterbeer?

Props to you for going with the flow!

 

[Laffites Landing]

What!!!! No pictures of wizarding world!!! Shame shame!

(/sarcasm)

Sounds like a great day! We're not doing universal this time but everything I've read and seen about it is awesome. If we go again in a couple of years, we plan to actually stay a couple of days at a Universal resort. It looks like you managed to enjoy yourselves but the benefits you get for staying on site seem so nice.

Keep working on your DD. Remember, it's ok to cheat on Disney, it's not ok to leave it! Lol (kidding again!)

 

[disneyfan61]

Enjoyed hearing about your day on the Dark Side. We traveled to the Dark Side last May. It was my son's college grad trip so I figured we had better do some really good roller coasters.

We stayed at Hard Rock Hotel for 1 night before heading to Disney so we only did IOA.

We LOVED Hulk. I think my boys rode it at least 8 times & DH & I rode it at least 5 times. We also loved the Dueling Dragons. We only did Harry Potter once also but the ride did not stop like yours did.

It sounds like your kiddos really enjoyed the coasters!!

Sounds like you had some great meals at Captain's Grill. We have eaten there but only for breakfast. It was very good.

Oh Boma now that is one of my absolute favorites!!

 

[Feckless]

Thanks for the info on the taxi to the Dark Side. We are still trying to decide whether to go there or not during our trip. DH and DD really want to go for Harry Potter area but I'm on the fence. We will definitely take the taxi if we go. Great tip

Sounds like a great day for all of you. I loved the water rides at Universal but didn't like how we smelled afterwards.

And great pics of your son in the car. What a cutie!

Thanks! Our DS is a super-special kid. One in a million... (but I'm his mother, so of course I'm biased).

I didn't notice any bad smell from the water rides! But then again, it was so hot that I'm sure we weren't smelling like daisies anyway.

Glad you enjoyed your Dark Side Day!

Loved the storm pictures at BC......still

A rainy day at Disney (especially the BC) is better than a sunny day anywhere else!

I'm glad you had a nice day at Universal. The WWoHP is unbelievable and I love the Mummy!!!

I enjoyed the water rides, too.

We never rode RRR. I read that one of the songs on the secret track is Rainbow Connection. I would like to try this on our next visit.

Seussland is beautiful, but my boys wanted nothing to do with it!

Did you not try the butterbeer?

Props to you for going with the flow!

Secret track???? Do tell!

Nope, missed the Butterbeer. DD was too fixated on the thrill rides. No biggie!

What!!!! No pictures of wizarding world!!! Shame shame!

(/sarcasm)

Sounds like a great day! We're not doing universal this time but everything I've read and seen about it is awesome. If we go again in a couple of years, we plan to actually stay a couple of days at a Universal resort. It looks like you managed to enjoy yourselves but the benefits you get for staying on site seem so nice.

Keep working on your DD. Remember, it's ok to cheat on Disney, it's not ok to leave it! Lol (kidding again!)

I love that...

We are thinking about staying at a Universal Resort next time, but we also want to try AKL. And a Disney Cruise. So, I might need my head examined!!!

And look at your ticker! Less than 3 weeks!!!

Enjoyed hearing about your day on the Dark Side. We traveled to the Dark Side last May. It was my son's college grad trip so I figured we had better do some really good roller coasters.

We stayed at Hard Rock Hotel for 1 night before heading to Disney so we only did IOA.

We LOVED Hulk. I think my boys rode it at least 8 times & DH & I rode it at least 5 times. We also loved the Dueling Dragons. We only did Harry Potter once also but the ride did not stop like yours did.

It sounds like your kiddos really enjoyed the coasters!!

Sounds like you had some great meals at Captain's Grill. We have eaten there but only for breakfast. It was very good.

Oh Boma now that is one of my absolute favorites!!

Sneak peak - Boma was my favourite meal for the whole trip. We really enjoyed Universal, although leaving the Bubble was hard for me.

 

[wishinon3stars]

I think you should get one of the book frames (a double frame with a hinge - if you get what I mean ) and put one of each of those pics of your son in the car in each side. That would look great!

 

[lynn46356]

Sounds like a long/fun/exhausting day for everyone! We haven't been to the Dark Side for over 10 years. It was a thought for this next trip but we decided on Disney and a condo for a week in Gulf Shores, Alabama, instead. Someday we'll have to make the trek back over there. I sympathize with your DH. Our middle son experiences motion sickness also. I remember his first ride at Disney many many years ago was Body Wars in Epcot. He was about 6 at the time and we seen a shade of green in him also afterwards. He wasn't going on any more rides after that he said. That didn't turn out to be the case but we definitely packed the motion sickness medicine after that. Your children are definitely troopers to keep up the pace. I'm tired from reading all of this. Loving your trip report! It help me gets in the mood. 10 more days!!!!!!!!

 

[natebenma]

Secret track???? Do tell!

Unfortunately, I didn't read about this until after we got back. And we didn't ride RRR anyway, but here is the info:

There's way too many songs to choose from on RRR and didn't get to look at many...what songs did everyone pick? I want to see what's on there.

I'll start! I, having just ridden it for the first time last weekend, though it appropriate to choose "I Will Survive" It actually helped me keep my calm while on the ride.

I chose "Crocodile Rock" and "The Rainbow Connection" (with Kermit the Frog). They are both bonus tracks. They were fun to listen to because neither are roller coaster type songs.

Here's one site that has bonus tracks:

"When you sit down, instead of selecting the songs listed, hold your finger on the Hollywood Rip Ride Rockit logo at the top of the screen for about five to 10 seconds. When you lift your finger, a number keypad should appear on the screen. Enter any three digit number from 001 to 999 and touch enter". Click on the link below for the code combinations (there aren't 999 songs available. You'll have to memorise the one you want)
http://attractionsmagazine.com/blog/2009/08/20/hidden-songs-confirmed-on-rip-ride-rockit-coaster/

 

[Pinkgirl]

We are spending the first week of our three week trip over at the Dark Side

Love love love your pictures of the rain - the way you captured the raindrops is brill.

 

[Feckless]

We are spending the first week of our three week trip over at the Dark Side

Love love love your pictures of the rain - the way you captured the raindrops is brill.

Thanks so much! I'm not much of a photographer, but I liked that picture too. So glad you are following along!

 

[Feckless]

Day 7 - Part 1: Animal Kingdom

The plan for today was to hit AK mid-morning, do some touring and have lunch (I had Flame Tree BBQ on my mind), and hang out until it was time to head to Boma for our 6:30 ADR. Again, it was a really hot day, and the other mom seemed like she could only handle a couple of hours in the parks (unlike our crazy family on this trip!) so we didn’t want to overdo it.

In the morning, I checked my Facebook while I was sitting in the Club Lounge and an acquaintance of mine has posted a picture on my wall with the caption: "Look who was at your house when you were visiting Mickey and Minnie!" And YES, this is my house, and YES, that is a MOOSE.

It's sniffing my vehicle. See the wildlife officer coming towards it??? It was a bit of a shocking moment when I saw that picture! I live in a small city, and it is unusual for a moose to come into the city, let alone in my front yard.

Before we went, I HAD to meet Teena, who is the lovely part-time greeter in the BC lobby who I met on the BC/YC FAQ thread, so DD and I headed down to the lobby a tiny bit early to see if we could catch her. It was SO NICE to meet her, and I would like to say she is even nicer in real life. Teena told my DD about the pin trading book at the concierge desk and DD was thrilled about that. When the other kids came down, DD told them about it, and all the kids had a ball trading with the giant book.

We headed out for the bus, and our streak continued, with a bus arriving within seconds of hitting the bus stop. I was expecting this ride to be long, but it was fine. So, the buses from BC to the other two parks were just fine - DTD and TL were a bit horrid, but we’d do it again. Even those rides surely weren’t enough to make us want to rent a car... We didn’t want to worry about gas, and dings, and parking, and we were very happy with that choice.

We arrived at Animal Kingdom by about 11 a.m. It was another super hot day, and DS asked to buy a bigger mister fan to help us make it through the day. On both trips, we found that AK always feels hotter than other parks. He agree that if he got the fan, he would carry it. Here he is with the fan. Can anyone else guess how long him carrying his own fan lasted???

We stopped for a few Photopass pictures. I finally worked out the kinks with Photopass, so I can start including them in our TR. I will edit my earlier posts to add the other ones, when I get a chance, or else make another post with my favourites.

Darn that Stitch! He showed up again!!!! LOL

We first stopped to do some more pin trading. As some people know, we had moved in between our last two trips, and I couldn’t find the kids’ pin lanyards. DH tore up the garage for me, and ended up finding DS’s in a box in the corner. I found DD’s in a corner of her room. I was SO GLAD that we found them, because the kids had a ball trading.

DD wanted to head straight for Expedition Everest. She knew it was the highest mountain in Disney from the poolside trivia game (LOL) and was excited to ride it again. Here we are, on the way!

When we got there, we ended up in this row:

So, what was the person next to us wearing, exactly???? I don’t recall standing next to someone in purple parachute pants, but the camera doesn’t lie!!!!

We all loved it, and DD’s first comment when we got off was that she wanted to ride again. The other family wanted to try something else, so we agreed to come back later. Here is our redneck ride photo:

Next time, I am definitely getting the PP+. I wish that I had upgraded now that I realize how much fun it would be to have them all.

As we were heading for our next destination, all of a sudden we saw the characters from Up. I would have loved to find out where they were going, but the kids are all about the rides, not about the characters!

We all headed on to Kali River Rapids - the wait time was about 25 minutes posted, but we probably were on in 15. Everyone really enjoyed this ride, and when we were leaving, we all snagged FPs for later.

Next, we headed for Dinoland USA, since the last time Primeval Whirl was one of my kids’ favourite rides. We told the kids ahead of time that we would NOT be shelling out cash for the arcade games, as nobody wanted to be lugging around whatever they won. LOL By this time, DH was carrying DS’s mister bottle. What a shocker!! They headed straight for Primeval Whirl, and I told the other dad not to ride it, but he gave it a try! I rode with my kids, and I was fine, but the other dad was a bit green at the end of it. DD wanted to head for Dinosaur, but we were feeling a bit hungry and I wanted to try Flame Tree BBQ. Unfortunately, when we got there, the DS from the other family had it in his head he wanted a hamburger, so we ended up at Pizzafari. It turned out to be OK, because we really needed the break from the heat and the AC really hit the spot. When we left, I promised DD that we would head straight for Dinosaur. However, given the amount of time it took to eat, we were going to miss our Kali FP window. This was where the new FP rules impacted our day for sure. We didn’t want to separate after what happened on our MK day, so we headed back to Kali over DD’s protestations!

After the second run on the rapids (which was quite fun and refreshing - everyone enjoyed it) we headed to Dinosaur. I know people find this to be scary, but we didn’t think so at all. Everyone really enjoyed it. DS didn’t want to leave without a dinosaur of his own...

With all people satisfied, we headed off to the safari. We were delayed because we got “trapped” by the parade:

Love Brier Bear and Brier Rabbit!

And the big guy:

We were at the exit for Pizzafari, and it was a great viewing spot. Once the parade was over, we headed for the safari. Again, we pretty much walked right on. I was checking the actual wait times on my phone the whole day, so there were never any surprises. We all really enjoyed the safari. DS was disappointed that the “poacher” storyline was gone, but I didn’t miss it. I took more pictures on this than any other place!

Although the poacher storyline is gone, DS still loved it!

A family of elephants crossed the road in front of us, which was a thrill...

Rhinos!!!

Next we headed back to EE. I saw on my Touring Plans app that it was down, but we headed over there, hoping it would be up when we got there. No such luck! DD was completely disappointed, but she dealt. By this point, it was 5:00 or so, so we headed down to the Tree of Life for It’s Tough to be a Bug. We found this to be even more fun than last time.

I was disappointed that we didn’t have a chance to see Festival of the Lion King and Flights of Wonder (which was a highlight from our last trip). Oh well, more to do next time!

On the way out, we stopped for more PP pictures:

Overall, I found it a bit difficult to set aside my touring plans because of competing interests in our big group, but luckily there really were no big crowds. We just focused on riding attractions with 20 minute or less wait and getting the off FP for other attractions.

Next up: Boma and a rainy evening EMH!

 

[DrMomof3]

I'm joining in late but excited to get caught up!

Amanda

 

[JanetMom]

Another great update! Sounds like a great morning, in spite of plans going astray.

You've got some nice photopass pics.

Love the picture of your son with the dinosaur.

 

[JoshMom5]

Enjoying your report. Love the pics! Looks like you had a lot of fun.

 

[Laffites Landing]

Ok, Feckless. I'm confused. I was under the impression that all Canadians had a pet Moose? That isn't the case? Shocker!

Nice day at Animal Kingdom. My current goal at Animal Kingdom looks something like this:

After eating a pre opening breakfast at Tusker House, I'm going to try to do this before leaving around 4-4:45 or so

See Lion King, Nemo and Flights of Wonder
Ride Safari twice, Everest three times and also
Dinosaur
Kali River Rapids
probably Primeval Whirl and even Tricertops Spin
All those rides once each
Also, I'd like to do both walking trails.

Reading your post today and reading other posts, I'm not sure we're going to be able to do it. Right off the bat, I'm prioritizing in my mind. We want to do Everest, Safari and the two main shows very badly. Plus Dino of course. The walking trails, the two rides in dinoland and KRR along with the bird show will just be gravy. Still. what do you think. Can we do it in June if there are just the four of us?

 

[luvpoohandcompany]

Sounds like a really successful day at animal kingdom Didnt know that they'd emoved the poacher storyline from safari but glad they have as it looks like you got more animal time. Great pictures-love the rhinos!

Have to say you look like a happy bunch with your friends in the photopass pic
Lovely keepsake from your trip1

 

[Feckless]

Ok, Feckless. I'm confused. I was under the impression that all Canadians had a pet Moose? That isn't the case? Shocker!

Nice day at Animal Kingdom. My current goal at Animal Kingdom looks something like this:

After eating a pre opening breakfast at Tusker House, I'm going to try to do this before leaving around 4-4:45 or so

See Lion King, Nemo and Flights of Wonder
Ride Safari twice, Everest three times and also
Dinosaur
Kali River Rapids
probably Primeval Whirl and even Tricertops Spin
All those rides once each
Also, I'd like to do both walking trails.

Reading your post today and reading other posts, I'm not sure we're going to be able to do it. Right off the bat, I'm prioritizing in my mind. We want to do Everest, Safari and the two main shows very badly. Plus Dino of course. The walking trails, the two rides in dinoland and KRR along with the bird show will just be gravy. Still. what do you think. Can we do it in June if there are just the four of us?

I checked my Touring Plans app and it seems like the crowd levels for your trip go from 5 out of 10 to 8 out of 10, which aren't bad. Our levels were around 6 during our stay and there weren't big lines for anything except TSM and Soarin'. My thought to do your plan is to ride EE a couple of times in a row to start the day, then head for the safari. Don't count out Flights of Wonder! I know it isn't a headliner, but it is really enjoyable. if you are there for opening, depending on the timing of the shows, you might have to give up multiple rides, but I think you can do it all...

 

[Feckless]

I'm joining in late but excited to get caught up!

Amanda

Hey Amanda! Thanks for joining in!

Another great update! Sounds like a great morning, in spite of plans going astray.

You've got some nice photopass pics.

Love the picture of your son with the dinosaur.

I love that picture too! I hope I didn't sound too negative about the plans going astray - with the exception of the shows and the walking trails (two biggies!) we did everything we wanted. Except Flame Tree. OK, maybe there was a small reason to be negative!!!! Seriously, we had more fun having friends there, and we enjoy their company so much, that it was more than worth any interruptions and changes to my plans.

Enjoying your report. Love the pics! Looks like you had a lot of fun.

Thanks for reading along! Yes, we had a ball.

Sounds like a really successful day at animal kingdom Didnt know that they'd emoved the poacher storyline from safari but glad they have as it looks like you got more animal time. Great pictures-love the rhinos!

Have to say you look like a happy bunch with your friends in the photopass pic
Lovely keepsake from your trip1

We were a happy bunch! Can you tell that it is my DH and the mom from the other family that are related???? I think they look so much alike it that last picture. I'm sure she'd be thrilled to know I'm posting their pictures all over the internet.

 

[Laffites Landing]

I checked my Touring Plans app and it seems like the crowd levels for your trip go from 5 out of 10 to 8 out of 10, which aren't bad. Our levels were around 6 during our stay and there weren't big lines for anything except TSM and Soarin'. My thought to do your plan is to ride EE a couple of times in a row to start the day, then head for the safari. Don't count out Flights of Wonder! I know it isn't a headliner, but it is really enjoyable. if you are there for opening, depending on the timing of the shows, you might have to give up multiple rides, but I think you can do it all...

Thanks! And pet that moose for me! I will be attending the Animal Kingdom the first time (and possibly only time) of our trip on Friday, June 22. I'll tell you how it went on the Yacht/Beach Club boards at that time (rather than clutter up your awesome trip report).

I am currently on vacation so I am expecting many UPDATES... um, yeah, just kidding.... take your time (I know I am going to when I do my trip report) and enjoy retelling the story...

 

[disneyfan61]

So glad you got to meet Teena. She is the best.

Looks like you had a great day at AK.

I love your FP pics!

We have never eaten at Pizzafari but we do love Flame Tree. We also ate at Boma on our AK day.