The best/worst trip to WDW ever--New and Improved!!

[Temair]

I'm eager to hear about the rest of your trip. Keep posting

 

[harleyquinn]

Day 4, Part 1
Alright, here we go again!

I gave up on trying to get out of the resort early for the rest of the trip. But today is EPCOT day, and I get to ride Soarin!

We wade through Everything Pop! (Exclamation point is totally necessary). Every time we’ve been here after the first night the place is a zoo and the morning is no exception. I was pretty happy with everything we ate here even the tye-dye cheese cake. The best thing about the DDP is getting desert all the time. It was heaven. So we grab a quick breakfast and head to the buses. DH and T’s favorite park, so we plan to come back the next day.

We get off the bus and I say, "We’re going straight to Soarin for fastpasses, hurry up!”
DH (the poor unfortunate soul…no not those wormy things with Ursula... never mind)says, “why should we hurry, we just got here?”
“Exactly! It’s almost noon! The FPs will run out with how crowded everything’s been the last couple of days! Walk faster!”

So we finally get there and sure enough it’s 12:20 and our FPs are for 12:50!!!?! Wait, what? The Line says its 50 minutes…I start to scream, “NO!!! Don’t get in the regular line, getta a FP you morons!!!” But I stop myself just in time…Um…pay no attention to the overwrought gal with the schedule, lets go do Living with the Land.

Of course that line looks longer than the one for Soarin, but too bad. We get in line and the CM at the front hands me one of those scanner card things that check the line time(currently 20 minutes, PERFECT!). I grab it like a pro (cuz I’m so smart ) and she starts to tell me to give it to the CM at the end of the line, and I’m all “I know, I have been the Chosen One before.” DH’s eyes will someday permanently stay it the upward rolled position. Luckily the CM was very sweet.

As were waiting we see a couple kids with Game boys in line. T and DH look at each other. We all now have to lug our Nintendo DSs with us on the next trip (yes, even C and I have one each and we play ours more than the boys do. We’re gamer gals).

Anyway the line moves really fast, and I hand off my super special badge of honor to the lucky CM. I really think ride is cool, because it’s different on every visit. They had WAY more stuff in January than they did in August when we rode. Now it’s almost Halloween, perfect time for those Mickey shaped pumpkins. Do they use them for MNSSHP? The ride was really fun and T & C were happy.

We got off the ride and walk back to Soarin. It’s exactly 12:50! Pretty great planning there, huh? I am just too smart! So we walk the long line passing by the pathetic people who are very tired of waiting. As we go to get in the preboard line there is a little group of people standing by the back wall. I think "hmmm what are those weirdos doing? What’s up with that?" Then we board, IN THE MIDDLE ROW!!! NOOOOOO!!! I forgot to hang back for the front row!!! THAT’S what those incredibly intelligent weirdo-people were doing! Maybe we should follow them around!

So I was really worried about Soarin, because as I alluded to before the rest of my group is a bunch of non-roller coaster thrill ride wussies. They don’t like spinning in circles or those big IMAX movie things that make you feel like you're flying…you see my dilemma. I had been assured by numerous DISers that they would be ok…

Did we survive??? Well obviously I did, but did those ride wussies make it through????
Tune in next time to find out!

 

[harleyquinn]

Okay people are supposed to post now to keep the suspense going!!!

I can't just post the next installment!

 

[harleyquinn]

Fine, no suspense then...I'll just post the next installment.

Day 4, Part 2

So…did they survive? Yes! And they even liked it! I really wish we had held out for the front row, but it was still very cool from the middle. Loved the piped in scents!

So we (I) decided to head over to HISTA since T & C had never seen a 4D movie. We waited about 10 minutes in the first line and then got to see the best Kodak commercial ever. It always makes me cry. Boy, I am such a dork! So we load in and hit the inescapable people NOT moving to the end of the row. I mentioned there were a ton of non-Users at WDW and they were always the ones who wouldn’t move. Some groups you just rolled your eyes and kept going, but here there was the worst of the bunch. There was a group in front of us and the dad was trying to get the people to move. They were speaking Spanish to each other and so the guy in front of us explained in Spanish that they needed to move down. I don’t understand Spanish, but DH recognized a few swear words. The father of the Spanish-speaking family was very nasty, so the other guy gave up and and had his family step over the other family…or maybe I should say step ON. I think nearly every person who walked past the family (who wouldn’t stand up to let us by them) stepped on the guy’s feet. He kept making ouch type noises.

So we watched the show…well, they watched and I watched T & C for their reactions. It was fun for all!

We then went to Figment…I have no idea what the actual ride name is, but I DO know every word to the song…"With just one spark of inspiration"… anyway, it was awesome as always. I love this ride, cuz the line is almost never long at all and it’s very relaxing. We land in the dump shop/activity area. The guy at the Kodak booth grabs our group and a few others and tells us to make funny faces. He takes the pictures and rattles on about something. Then he puts the picture up on this big screen and everyone laughs. There was a lady behind us that made the best face. I’ll try scanning the pic so you can see it.

FIL loves Figment so we tried to find something for him. We got him a Figment bobble belly. It’s sweet. I wanted to keep it for myself! I think T and C bought something too.

After Figment we (I) decided it was time to ride my favorite EPCOT ride…Universe of Energy!!! I’m not kidding, I LOVE this ride. Bill Nye was my idol growing up. I have this thing for nerdy guys (sorry DH). I never liked Ellen until I went on this ride. Now I watch her show just to be reminded of WDW. I think the ride is just so awesomely conceived. I remember my virgin voyage. I was like Holy Crap! When the theatre opened and the boats start moving. I also love that it’s a long cool relaxing ride. (no spins or other wussie rider worries). T & C had actually rode this ride on their first trip. The rode that, Test Track (which was closed for this trip), and El Rio de Tiempo. That’s it. Amateurs!

It was about this time that I realized we had missed Club Cool in my mad dash for Soarin. I remember saying something like, “Pay no attention to Innoventions, keep moving. We can waste time looking at educational type stuff tomorrow.” But I completely forgot Club Cool. On our August trip, DH and I practically lived in Ice Station Cool, because it was August and it was not cool outside. But on our June trip the next year, it was closed for refrib. I thought it was going to be closed forever and was very upset.

So enough about the place we didn’t even visit today!

Since Test Track was closed and there was no way I was dragging any of the wussie riders on Mission:Space, there was nothing left for us but to head to WS. I was very excited about going there this year, because it was January, not August/June. I haven’t brought up the weather too much (besides the butt freezing CG firework viewing). I was so happy to wear Jeans and a sweatshirt around WDW, but I didn’t pack warmly enough for the evenings. I really needed a hoodie, but I either had a light sweater or my winter coat that was only brought since I was flying into/out of Cleveland in January.

But right now as we walked through WS it was beautiful, about 75 and sunny. In the summer I’ve had a hard time making it thru WS without dying. Both times I’ve ended up in the Church for its Blessed a/c. I burn super easy and also get sun stroke very easy so hydrating is super important. But there were none of those worries today. We started in Mexico to ride Ts second favorite ride, Del Rio de Tiempo, which had a line wrapped around the building as usual, but you all know it’s worth the wait so we all do it, right? You all know I’m kidding right? I bet if EPCOT was ever filled to capacity, you would still be able to walk right onto Del Rio.

Up next: Yup we’re still at EPCOT, but we get to eat at Le Cellier!!

 

[cyjmhill]

More, more, more!!!

I love your TR!

 

[dolphinrescuegirl]

Please keep going! I love the trip report! Did ya go to the aquarium? Thats my favorite part of Epcot!! Especially those dolphins!

 

[harleyquinn]

Please keep going! I love the trip report! Did ya go to the aquarium? Thats my favorite part of Epcot!! Especially those dolphins!

No we skipped it!! I can't even remember why. I still haven't seen Crush!

I forgot to talk about Food Rocks too.

One of my favorite things from the first trip was seeing Food Rocks. I love Tone Loc (I have no idea how to spell that). I thought it was so cool!! That it needed updating a bit, but I really enjoyed it. Me and all the other toddlers and young children had a great time!

So I was apprehensive about the stupid new ride that they already HAVE at DL that made my precious Food Rocks go away. I still sorta feel that way. They should have found a way to keep Food Rocks. 3 rides would have managed the hoards of people in that pavillion much better!

 

[Dreaming of Disney]

Keep it comin'! I just found your report and I'm enjoying it very much! Thanks for continuing it.

 

[harleyquinn]

Day 4, Part 3

So we rode the amazingly awesome Del Rio and T had now “ridden” 2 of his top 3. You remember the tree house ride right? Anyway the amazing video quality on the ride is wonderful. Who knew video obviously from the 70s could hold up so well?

We browsed the shops and then headed back out into the WS. At Norway we got a FP for the Malstrom. T & C hadn’t ridden it before, but they did manage to buy one of the trolls from the dump shop. I had planned to buy one on this trip. I really wanted to get one on our last trip, but they’re so dang expensive! I LOVE gnomes. I know very strange, but it’s true. I think it’s a D & D thing. And trolls are close cousins to gnomes right? So I want a troll.

So we hung out in my favorite place to be--the church--for a bit. They had a really cool display this time around, knights or pirates or something like that. It was really cool; I really should remember what was actually there. We took some pictures of our pirates on the ship outside and then it was time to ride.

For some reason I love this ride. I just hate the end when you have to wait to walk through the stupid movie at the end. They really need to let you walk on through whenever you want to. I always end up sitting there for what seems like forever. It is funny to watch the newbies sit down and then get back up when they see everyone else just walk on though.

So we hit the dump shop and I go try to pick out my very own troll. And for some reason they are all ugly. Yes the trolls are ugly, what a shocker! They are the same ones I almost bought before, but I just don’t want any of them. Now if they were gnomes, I’m there! Think I can convince Norway to drop the troll heritage and pick up some gnomes? Maybe just shove some gnomes in the old folktales. No one will notice…then they can make ugly gnomes for me to buy! Yay!

So we proceed around WS stopping in shops and such. Nothing real exciting happens until we get to see the World Showcase Players present “Romeo and Edna.” I swear it was in Italy, but that doesn’t make sense does it? I’ll post some pics…Whatever, it was hilarious. LOVED it. As an English major and a HUGE Shakespeare nut, I was in heaven. As a children’s librarian, I loved the audience participation. I really wanted to be in the cast, but alas, I wasn’t chosen. Don’t worry, I’ll get my 15 minutes later in the trip.

We get our pics with Aladdin and Jasmine. And we eat a late CS lunch in Morocco. It was pretty good. I think we all had saphron chicken. The baklava was very good. I was the only one who’d ever had baklava so that was an experience for everyone else. For some reason, I was kinda uncomfortable in the restaurant…maybe it was too small? This was probably my least favorite meal the whole trip. We’ll stick with Orange chicken in Japan from now on.

Speaking of Japan, we spent a long time in the shop. DH and I have a thing for Japanese culture, Anime, Manga, video games, toys. The little museum/display area had a history of metal toys! It was really cool, but I remember being really crabby here again. I wanted to just push through; I knew we weren’t going to buy anything at any of the shops, so I wanted to keep moving. But T & C like to browse A LOT. So I had a crabby attack. The sad thing is we had a TON of time to waste in WS, cuz our dinner at Le Cellier wasn’t until 7:00.

Up next: Le Cellier, I mean it this time!!

 

[harleyquinn]

Day 4, Part 4

After Morocco we spent a long time in France waiting for Le Belle et la Bette. They had Beast down by the water, so I got a great pick with him. Last time I caught Belle and Beast in the perfume shop, but my flash didn’t go off and Beast was pretty much a big black blob. It would have been an amazing picture. I think it’s a great place for a photo op.

I don’t remember anything about the UK, but maybe Romeo and Edna was here? That makes more sense right? By the time we made it to Canada, it was about 6:30 and dark and cold. We look around for a bit. I never knew about the little water feature in the back, and I still kinda don’t cuz it was so dark, but it was pretty romantic anyway.

We traveled down to LC, which I hoped would be as awesome as everyone says…guess what? It was better! I LOVED the pretzel bread and discovered my love of Crème Brule. I had the Maple Steak and the Maple Crème Brule as Rachel Ray would say, “yummo!” Everyone loved their dinners and the atmosphere was perfect for 2 newlywed couples, dark and small. There were a few families, but mainly adults. I think it was mainly because of the late time. I had the soup and DH, T & C had the Shrimp Cocktail, which I told them they had to get (I don’t do sea food, but they all love it). We all had some type of steak and we were all very happy and VERY full by the end of the meal. We did manage to get two orders of pretzel bread though! So I discovered with the DP that if I HAD to have dessert (which I did), Crème Brule was an awesome choice, because it’s small, but sweet. Surprisingly I wasn’t very interested in most chocolate desserts, which just goes to show just how messed up my system was, because I really should have been craving chocolate like there’s no tomorrow.

So we finish up our awesome dinner (with a great CM BTW) in the nice warm restaurant and head out into the freezing cold night. Whoops! Wrong smilie, more like: It wasn’t really that bad. If I had had a real hoddie, I would have been comfortable, but my little sweater and capri’s (dumb!) just couldn’t cut it. I did bring those little stretchy gloves, which I used every night, they were invaluable. C thanked me profusely for telling her to bring some.

We find a pretty horrible spot to watch Illuminations. The park was PACKED. We got out of dinner late-ish, but there was still about 45 minutes til showtime, and it was JANUARY!! Go home people! WDW is MINE in January!!! Mine!!!

I know believe that Illuminations sucks if you’re not on the water. It was rough, but all the bodies huddled together kept us warmish! Luckily we had all seen it before, so it wasn’t a big deal.

After the show, we joined the huddled masses (Moo!) and slowly left the park. Back at Pop, DH decided he REALLY wanted to swim even if it was only about 50 degrees outside. I mean we are from Cleveland, 50 degrees is bikini weather! (I’m kidding, but it is pretty warm!). About 5 minutes after he left, he was back again shaking like crazy. It was very, very cold, because of the wind and why oh why weren’t we at a resort with a hot tub? Because you are cheap dear. (No offense POP people! I was and am still shocked that DH would pay more for a mod.)

Anyway, I went and got him some hot chocolate while he took a hot shower. Then we drifted off to dreamland.

Up Next: I get to ride EE!!!...or not…

 

[harleyquinn]

Does no one love me anymore? Or is no one else here right now?

Day 5, Part 1

Okay, so when I planned this trip I knew that AK would be crowded on this day, because of EE, but after Thursday-Saturday being the zoo everywhere we went I knew it would be REALLY crowded, and I was right. It was worse than I’ve ever seen it and it was actually HOT in the sun. Still nice in the shade though. Anyway…

Today DH and I are going to head to AK to ride EE with a nice couple from the DIS. This was the soft opening for AP and DVC owners. Do any of you remember those threads where poor pathetic people (like me) who we going to be in WDW during this weekend begged wonderful people to let them tag along? Well, I was lucky enough to hook up with one such wonderful person. Now I always knew that there was a pretty good chance that we’d never find each other, but our plans were sound.

I know that T & C want to sleep in so I tell them that we’ll call them after we ride and that they should head over to AK whenever they were ready. Gotta love those cell phones. What did we all do before? Stay together all the time? I remember in the good old days we would just pick a time and place and meet, but now we just call each other and then pick a time and place to meet.

So DH and I get up super early and head to AK which is opening at 9. We’re to meet our new best friends (at least until the old ones show up) at the Rainforest Café sign at the entrance to the park at 9am. DH and I get there at 8:15 (I was really excited!). I take a seat by the sign and start worrying. I get to watch all the people trickle in. I start to notice that there are A LOT of people trickling in. Apparently Mickey notices this too, because they open the park at 8:30 instead of 9. I know this happens a lot more than people realize, but I was surprised. So I watch a ton of people go through the line that I would have been at the very front of, but I’m not even in yet. And we wait…and wait…it’s 9am…where are they? It’s 9:15 OMG!!!!! WHERE ARE THEY???? At 9:20 I say lets go in and check the other entrance to Rainforest in case they are they. We walk by a couple…one of them has her arm in a sling.

They aren’t at the other entrance. By now, I know it’s not going to happen, but we decide to head back to the entrance to EE just in case. They won’t let anyone who can’t show proof that they “belong” into the line (talk about a clique!) So we gaze longingly towards the big white mountain of fun and turn around and walk away.

So you very smart readers noticed I added a weird, seemingly pointless sentence to my description, right? > “We walk by a couple…one of them has her arm in a sling.” After speaking to my DISer friend when we got back, I think this might have been them. She broke her arm the night before and had been in the emergency room until 3am (they live in FL). They had met their other friends and taken them to the line and got them through, but they didn’t stick around, because she was feeling gross from the pain meds and lack of sleep. Plus they had already ridden EE. I also learned that it was probably perfectly fine that we missed each other, because her friends were in line for 3.5 hours! Not worth it to me and my schedule. It’ll be something to look forward to for the next trip.

So it’s only about 9:30 and we’re hungry. I decide we should go eat at Rainforest café for breakfast forgetting that they don’t take the DP. (Doh!) We should have just left especially since I had horrible food poisoning from here on our honeymoon. It was my fault, not the restaurant, but still, fp on your honeymoon really puts a damper on things! But we stayed and it was good.

We called T and C and got no answer, so we headed to see the Lion King. We’d never seen it before. I had never made it a priority, because we had seen the play in Toronto and in Cleveland, so I figured we’d seen it all. But it was completely different and really fun, even had some of that audience participation I love so much!

Just as the show was ending, my phone went off. (I had it on vibrate, relax!) Actually everything had just ended and we were all filing out (Moo!) T & C said they had just gotten on the bus and we’re on their way. So we headed back to the entrance to wait…and wait…and wait. By this time I was really grumpy. I had gotten up early to sit on my butt and watch other people have fun (which is kind of fun, but I was in no mood to notice that). It took the bus what seemed like forever to get there.

We all met up and told our pathetic story. We headed over to dinoland to ride Dinosaur, which is not on my favorite ride list, but I always want to ride it anyway. Everytime I get off of it I always wonder why did I do it again, but whatever. No one wanted to ride Primeval Whirl with me (ride wussies!)

Next Up: We herd (Moo) around AK.

 

[paigevz]

LOVING your report Sarah!!!!! It's FABULOUS. You are so detailed..........I just feel like I'm right there with you. Can't wait for more!

 

[cyjmhill]

You are doing a great job - I am glad you decided to work on your TR.

Thanks for sharing!

 

[DebIreland]

Hey Sarah! I'm still here from the original fan base back in February. I'm so glad you decided to finish the report. I haven't read the new parts yet (off to do that just now) but I just wanted to post to say I'm pleased you're finishing it. I hope your DH is doing ok. I know the first year is hard after losing a parent - oh well, it's all hard, not just the first year, but it does ease as time goes on. Off to read more now....

 

[harleyquinn]

Hey Sarah! I'm still here from the original fan base back in February. I'm so glad you decided to finish the report. I haven't read the new parts yet (off to do that just now) but I just wanted to post to say I'm pleased you're finishing it. I hope your DH is doing ok. I know the first year is hard after losing a parent - oh well, it's all hard, not just the first year, but it does ease as time goes on. Off to read more now....

Hi! I'm glad you found me again.

I'm working on the next installment.

 

[harleyquinn]

Day 5, Part 2

After Dinoland we went and watched the bird show thingy, which was actually really cool. I was always a sucker for that kind of stuff as a kid at Sea World. This was another thing we had never done before. I started to realize how much AK is a cool weather park. In June and August we toured fast to get the heck out of there, because it was WAY too hot. On this trip there were so many people walking around that we couldn’t move fast, we could barely move at all, so we actually noticed stuff.

Unfortunately we missed Tarzan Rocks it was closed, so I had two chances to see it and never did. My memory is fuzzy for the rest of the afternoon, so I’m sure some of this is out of order. DH and I decided to brave Kali River even though it was pretty cool at this point. There was no line at all, which is quite different from the crazy lines in the summer. So we waterproofed ourselves as much as we could and T & C held most of our stuff (so THAT’S why people go in big groups! Stuff holders!).

The queue was cooler than the ride IMO. We didn’t see much of it, because we were walking super fast through it. I’ll never understand why Disney choose this park to have the fewest indoor queues; it’s super crazy hot here in the warm months. I’m sure it’s something to do with it being the eco-type park. They want you to notice the plants and stuff. Yep, I’ll notice them when I faint smack into them! We thought Kali was pretty pathetic, not nearly as long or fun as Wolf rapids at Geauga Lake. I’m glad we rode it, so I don’t ever waste time in line for it in the summer. If I need to cool off that bad, I’d rather sit in a shop for a/c. Sorry all you Kali lovers!

We did the Safari next, which is always awesome. Lots of animals were out and we got some cool pictures. We got fastpasses cuz the line wait was longer than the FP wait. While we were waiting, some African musicians came out and played for a while. DH and C ended up getting picked to go dance while T and I took a billion pictures. Very fun…I know, I know I’ll post some pictures!

Lastly we hit ITTBAB. I knew it was going to be awesome to watch T & C’s reactions, they are not bug people. They seriously hate spiders. I’m surprised they don’t call us to come kill them for them (we live on the street next to them). So it was awesome. You know which part was the best. I wish I could have taken a picture!

We grabbed a Mickey bar on our way out. It’s a AK tradition. We had planned to get a Mickey Bar everyday using our snack credit, but this was only our second (we got one at MK). We were just always so full, we never needed a snack. We ended up like many, many others buying about 10 Mickey rice crispy treats and some water on our last day.

AK is a pretty good park for crowds, but getting out of here and the crowd over by the counter service place by the Safari was crazy!!! You could barely walk at all. It was awful especially with my sour disposition. But the musicians were great and watching DH have so much fun dancing in front of everyone was great. It was yet another moment where I realized that this was totally the best place for DH to be after losing his mom.

Up Next: The day’s not over yet! Jiko baby!

 

[TheDisneyTraveler06]

Wow, Sarah! What a great TR so far!

I'm so sorry to hear about your MIL. Keeping your family in my prayers.

Keep it coming! Can't wait to read the rest!

 

[harleyquinn]

Thanks Denise! I'll try and get another installment up today!

 

[cyjmhill]

still waiting....

I posted another installment on my report - your turn!

 

[harleyquinn]

Sorry! I got side tracked with vacation planning, and I can't find my notes!

Should have something very soon!