gw_lit
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Nov 19, 2003
- Messages
- 924
Cast:
Me: many previous trips to WDW (loves to play "roll your eyes and sigh")
DW: a few previous trips to WDW (loves to play "turn around and glare")
DS5: favorite monorail is purple... no, yellow... no, orange
DS2: loves twains
Dateline: May 10, 2004
Day #3 can be found here (pics have been added)
Sorry for the delay in Day 4, it seems life always gets the best of my time. In writing this, I've realized that after parting ways with my brother, niece, and my ARCF SIL, the rest of our trip was fairly uneventful. So without further ado .
Day 4 - Apricot
Hoorah! Our first day going to a Disney park with the boys! After getting the tribe up and showered, we headed up to the concierge lounge to grab a quick breakfast. We're really not big breakfast eaters, so the offerings in the lounge were enough to fill up the stomach and get us on the road. While we were eating, DS5 asked, "Are we going to Apricot today?" DW and I looked at each and grinned, "Apricot?" "Yeah," said DS5, "the place with the big ball." "Oh, EPCOT!" By royal decree, from this point on, our family shall refer to Walt's Experimental Prototype Community of Tomorrow as Apricot! Of course, after sitting in the lounge and watching the monorails loop around Bay Lake the question had to be asked, "Do we finally get to ride on the monorail?" Yes, son, we get to ride the monorail. I hope its the first of many rides for you! "Can we ride on Test Track first?" Since we got the planning DVD before our trip, DS5 has been dying to ride on Test Track, he talked about it nonstop from the first time viewing the video.
After a quick stop by the room to grab our stroller and other accessories, we took the short walk over to the TTC to board the monorail to Apricot. "Yes! We get the yellow monorail, that 's my favorite," says DS5. Wait a minute, yesterday it was purple. That's OK son, they can all be your favorite. Just like the night before, seeing the boys' faces as they watched Wishes, their faces were just glowing as we rode along the monorail track. And then once the track makes the loop around Spaceship Earth on the inside of Apricot, the boys couldn't stand it, they just had to get going there was just too much they wanted to see.
We got to Apricot just a few minutes after it opened for the day, stopped in, bought our Pal Mickey. I'm still undecided about this "creation." It's a novelty, but I'm not sure it's worth it. While DW took the boys for a pit stop, I ran over and grabbed our FastPasses for Test Track. After regrouping, we had to make our first stop at the Living Seas, they boys were dying to see the Nemo characters.
DS2 & DS5 with the tank gang.
After a few pictures of the Tank Gang outside, we headed inside to get on our Hydrolators to SeaBase Alpha. The attraction just really isn't the same without the SeaCabs. There is just something about taking them the rest of the way into the base. I almost felt cheated without my SeaCab ride, but the boys never knew any different. We probably spent close to an hour inside SeaBase Alpha.
Pal Mickey holding on to DS2's shorts for dear life. DS2's shorts aren't holding on real well.
The Nemo addition is great, it seemed very popular with everyone. I'm ready to go back and see the other additions with Crush and Bruce. As soon as we left the pavilion, DS5 asked, "Can we go on Test Track now?" Patience son, we'll get there.
We then headed over to Journey to Imagination and Figment. The boys loved this ride, well, at least the parts with Figment. Like most people, this version of Imagination is the 2nd best. The original version was the best by far, and the second version was just awful. This one is OK kind of like diet soda, its OK, just not the same as the original. When we were done, it was time to use our FastPasses over at Test Track, so we hopped on over to the other side of Future World. We had trouble keeping up with DS5 on our way over, he was on a mission! Since DS2 was too small to ride, we used the baby swap feature. DS5 and I went first, we practically walked on, the crowds weren't too bad yet. Once it was our turn, we got a front seat. I was a little worried at first, DS5 is pretty timid, and isn't comfortable with new things, but he absolutely loved the ride. As soon as we got off he was asking to go again. Guess what DS5, now you get to take Mom! He was loving the whole baby swap thing he got rides, while DW and I just got one not a bad deal for a 5 year old. After riding with DW, he spotted the Test Track Slot Car set in the Standard Disney Gift Shop as You Exit the Attraction. I had slot cars when I was little so I thought it was a great toy for him to pick out. (Hmmm, if parents had saved those slot cars from my childhood How many times do we ask ourselves, if we just saved those Barbies, GI Joes, etc., they be worth millions today?) I'd rather have the boys get something that costs a little more that they'll play with, rather than a bunch of cheap junk. At that point, we discovered a huge advantage of staying onsite, package delivery to the resort. Yeah! We don't have to lug it around the park!
It was approaching lunchtime, and we had a PS for the Garden Grill Ice Cream Social in the afternoon, so we didn't want to wait too long for lunch. After hearing so many good reviews of Le Cellier, we thought we'd head to Canada for lunch, eh? We didn't have a PS, but we had no wait at all for a table. I really wanted to try the cheese soup, but it was just too warm for me to eat soup, but now I wish I would have tried it. I had the grilled steakburger with blue cheese, DW has the grilled chicken caesar salad, and the boys both had the staples of kids everywhere chicken nuggets. All of the food was really good. DW's salad was absolutely huge, I don't think she even put a dent in it.
We then started our way around the World Showcase, stopping in Japan and watching the show with the drummers. The boys loved watching this performance. We think DS2 is going to be a musician, he's into everything musical and just couldn't stand still during the show he had to move to the beat. As we made our way into Germany, we heard it, "Twain Dad! Lots of twains!" I figured we'd be spending a little time here watching the large scale trains. DW just doesn't get it, she doesnt' see what's so fascinating about trains. She's a trooper though, she tolerates us! After spending quite a while watching DW went and got us some frozen lemonades, hoping that they would "bribe" the boys into moving along. Actually, I think it made them more content, they were happy to sip on their frozen lemonade and watch the trains go by.
After spending close to an hour watching trains and eating frozen lemonade, kept heading around the World Showcase. DS2 was getting tired, so we skipped Norway and Maelstrom, and headed to Mexico and El Rio del Tiempo. This is really a nice relaxing ride, but in need of some serious updating. I don't think we were in the boat for more than 30 seconds and DS2 was asleep in his mom's arms. When we made it back to the loading platform there was no one waiting to get on, so the CM just sent us around again. After a second journey through Mexico, we disembarked from our cruise ship (well, it's a thought!). DS2 even stayed asleep while the Mariachi band played (very loudly!) inside the pavilion as we made our way out. It was getting close to time for our PS for the Ice Cream Social, so we loaded DS2 into the stroller and headed back over to the Land.
Once we checked in with the CM host at the Garden Grill, we were seated in just a couple minutes. DS2 was still asleep, and DS5 was just fascinated with the "turning tables". We got into our both and the CM brought us our ice cream, I wish I would have had the camera out to capture the expression on DS5's face when he saw what he got to eat. (Sidebar: We had discussed with the boys some of the things we planned, but we kept some things a surprise, Ice Cream Social was one of those surprises. I'm glad we did this since it was the boys' first trip to Disney, it just made things that much more special. End Sidebar.) After having a few characters come around Chip and Dale (or was it Chuck and Dave?), Pluto and Mickey DS2 finally woke up and was thrilled to see that he had ice cream to eat too.
Garden Grill Ice Cream Social
After another round with the characters, we packed up again to head out. I think Ice Cream Social is a great deal it's a nice mid-afternoon break and well worth the money for a character "kind of" meal. (On second thought . Ice Cream Social is awful don't do it it's not worth the money and the ice cream is bad and the characters don't interact with anyone well, that's my story so you don't book Ice Cream Social next time you go I want it to be easier for me to get my PS Love Ya, Mean It!)
After saying goodbye to the characters, and figuring out how to get off of the revolving restaurant, we were going to head over to the Universe of Energy. Seriously, how do you figure out where you are when your seat has been slowly revolving for the last 45 minutes? I can backpack for miles, pick my way through swamps, woods, over mountains, and I can't figure out how to get off the d@mn restaurant. Our family must have been a sight to see! You would have thought we had been to the Garden Grill Happy Hour.
DW took the kids over to Universe of Energy, while I went and got more FastPasses for TestTrack, DS5 was ready to go again! It looked like rain was coming, so we grabbed one of our 88 cent Wal-Mart ponchos to cover the stroller while we went into the pavilion. I really, really love this ride, the Jeopardy pre-show just cracks me up every time. And, I think the boys were as fascinated with the moving seats as the attraction and the dinosaurs themselves. When we finished the ride, we came out and saw that it had rained, and that someone had helped themselves to our poncho. I had tied the poncho on so it wouldn't blow away, so someone had to work to get it. To whoever took our poncho, I'm glad you stayed dry while our 2 year old's stroller got wet. It obviously didn't rain super hard, or long, but its still annoying to have a wet stroller due to the inconsiderateness (is that a word?) of someone else.
Over we went for another set of rides on TestTrack (DS5 was loving the whole baby swap thing more and more), and then back over to the Living Seas for one more visit with Nemo and friends the boys just love their sea creatures. After close to another hour at the Living Seas it was time for dinner, so we grabbed some of the typical counter service fare at Electric Umbrella. We still hadn't been on/in Spaceship Earth yet, so we headed for our journey to the past. On line at all this late in the day, we literally walked on.
At this point, it was dark, we were tired and it was time to head back on the Poly. We would miss Illuminations, but the boys were done for the day. As we exited and climbed the 752 ramps to the monorail platform, Illuminations started. So we stood on the platform watching some of the fireworks behind Spaceship Earth. It really wasn't too bad of a view, not the same as being right on the lagoon, but not bad none the less. We were also lucky enough to get a ride up front on the monorail on the way back to the TTC. And as an added bonus, we were on the orange monorail, which is DS5's favorite (along with the purple one and the yellow one). I still think this was the favorite ride of the day, there's just something special about being up front in the monorail with the pilot. After a quick change at the TTC to the resort monorail and a short ride to the Poly, it was back to the room.
We got the boys into their jammies, and as I sat there with the boys, I asked what their favorite thing was today. DS2 answered, "twain" . "Nemo" "twain" "Nemo". DS5's favorite was TestTrack and the monorail, and Nemo, and the trains, and the ice cream, and the dinosaurs, and Figment, and then DS2 got sick all over me, and all over him. Just great! He's on an antibiotic for goodness sake! Fortunately, I was able to contain most of it with my clothing and very little got on the floor. So, with a quick call to Mousekeeping to bring us some disinfectant and towels to clean up the floor, we erased the damage. (Looks like I get to laundry a night early yippee!) We got it cleaned up, the boys were falling asleep, so we got them into bed, and DS5 said, "That was a great day Apricot was my favorite." Just wait Son, you ain't seen nothin' yet!
Coming soon: Day 5 - The Magic Kingdom
Me: many previous trips to WDW (loves to play "roll your eyes and sigh")
DW: a few previous trips to WDW (loves to play "turn around and glare")
DS5: favorite monorail is purple... no, yellow... no, orange
DS2: loves twains
Dateline: May 10, 2004
Day #3 can be found here (pics have been added)
Sorry for the delay in Day 4, it seems life always gets the best of my time. In writing this, I've realized that after parting ways with my brother, niece, and my ARCF SIL, the rest of our trip was fairly uneventful. So without further ado .
Day 4 - Apricot
Hoorah! Our first day going to a Disney park with the boys! After getting the tribe up and showered, we headed up to the concierge lounge to grab a quick breakfast. We're really not big breakfast eaters, so the offerings in the lounge were enough to fill up the stomach and get us on the road. While we were eating, DS5 asked, "Are we going to Apricot today?" DW and I looked at each and grinned, "Apricot?" "Yeah," said DS5, "the place with the big ball." "Oh, EPCOT!" By royal decree, from this point on, our family shall refer to Walt's Experimental Prototype Community of Tomorrow as Apricot! Of course, after sitting in the lounge and watching the monorails loop around Bay Lake the question had to be asked, "Do we finally get to ride on the monorail?" Yes, son, we get to ride the monorail. I hope its the first of many rides for you! "Can we ride on Test Track first?" Since we got the planning DVD before our trip, DS5 has been dying to ride on Test Track, he talked about it nonstop from the first time viewing the video.
After a quick stop by the room to grab our stroller and other accessories, we took the short walk over to the TTC to board the monorail to Apricot. "Yes! We get the yellow monorail, that 's my favorite," says DS5. Wait a minute, yesterday it was purple. That's OK son, they can all be your favorite. Just like the night before, seeing the boys' faces as they watched Wishes, their faces were just glowing as we rode along the monorail track. And then once the track makes the loop around Spaceship Earth on the inside of Apricot, the boys couldn't stand it, they just had to get going there was just too much they wanted to see.
We got to Apricot just a few minutes after it opened for the day, stopped in, bought our Pal Mickey. I'm still undecided about this "creation." It's a novelty, but I'm not sure it's worth it. While DW took the boys for a pit stop, I ran over and grabbed our FastPasses for Test Track. After regrouping, we had to make our first stop at the Living Seas, they boys were dying to see the Nemo characters.
DS2 & DS5 with the tank gang.
After a few pictures of the Tank Gang outside, we headed inside to get on our Hydrolators to SeaBase Alpha. The attraction just really isn't the same without the SeaCabs. There is just something about taking them the rest of the way into the base. I almost felt cheated without my SeaCab ride, but the boys never knew any different. We probably spent close to an hour inside SeaBase Alpha.
Pal Mickey holding on to DS2's shorts for dear life. DS2's shorts aren't holding on real well.
The Nemo addition is great, it seemed very popular with everyone. I'm ready to go back and see the other additions with Crush and Bruce. As soon as we left the pavilion, DS5 asked, "Can we go on Test Track now?" Patience son, we'll get there.
We then headed over to Journey to Imagination and Figment. The boys loved this ride, well, at least the parts with Figment. Like most people, this version of Imagination is the 2nd best. The original version was the best by far, and the second version was just awful. This one is OK kind of like diet soda, its OK, just not the same as the original. When we were done, it was time to use our FastPasses over at Test Track, so we hopped on over to the other side of Future World. We had trouble keeping up with DS5 on our way over, he was on a mission! Since DS2 was too small to ride, we used the baby swap feature. DS5 and I went first, we practically walked on, the crowds weren't too bad yet. Once it was our turn, we got a front seat. I was a little worried at first, DS5 is pretty timid, and isn't comfortable with new things, but he absolutely loved the ride. As soon as we got off he was asking to go again. Guess what DS5, now you get to take Mom! He was loving the whole baby swap thing he got rides, while DW and I just got one not a bad deal for a 5 year old. After riding with DW, he spotted the Test Track Slot Car set in the Standard Disney Gift Shop as You Exit the Attraction. I had slot cars when I was little so I thought it was a great toy for him to pick out. (Hmmm, if parents had saved those slot cars from my childhood How many times do we ask ourselves, if we just saved those Barbies, GI Joes, etc., they be worth millions today?) I'd rather have the boys get something that costs a little more that they'll play with, rather than a bunch of cheap junk. At that point, we discovered a huge advantage of staying onsite, package delivery to the resort. Yeah! We don't have to lug it around the park!
It was approaching lunchtime, and we had a PS for the Garden Grill Ice Cream Social in the afternoon, so we didn't want to wait too long for lunch. After hearing so many good reviews of Le Cellier, we thought we'd head to Canada for lunch, eh? We didn't have a PS, but we had no wait at all for a table. I really wanted to try the cheese soup, but it was just too warm for me to eat soup, but now I wish I would have tried it. I had the grilled steakburger with blue cheese, DW has the grilled chicken caesar salad, and the boys both had the staples of kids everywhere chicken nuggets. All of the food was really good. DW's salad was absolutely huge, I don't think she even put a dent in it.
We then started our way around the World Showcase, stopping in Japan and watching the show with the drummers. The boys loved watching this performance. We think DS2 is going to be a musician, he's into everything musical and just couldn't stand still during the show he had to move to the beat. As we made our way into Germany, we heard it, "Twain Dad! Lots of twains!" I figured we'd be spending a little time here watching the large scale trains. DW just doesn't get it, she doesnt' see what's so fascinating about trains. She's a trooper though, she tolerates us! After spending quite a while watching DW went and got us some frozen lemonades, hoping that they would "bribe" the boys into moving along. Actually, I think it made them more content, they were happy to sip on their frozen lemonade and watch the trains go by.
After spending close to an hour watching trains and eating frozen lemonade, kept heading around the World Showcase. DS2 was getting tired, so we skipped Norway and Maelstrom, and headed to Mexico and El Rio del Tiempo. This is really a nice relaxing ride, but in need of some serious updating. I don't think we were in the boat for more than 30 seconds and DS2 was asleep in his mom's arms. When we made it back to the loading platform there was no one waiting to get on, so the CM just sent us around again. After a second journey through Mexico, we disembarked from our cruise ship (well, it's a thought!). DS2 even stayed asleep while the Mariachi band played (very loudly!) inside the pavilion as we made our way out. It was getting close to time for our PS for the Ice Cream Social, so we loaded DS2 into the stroller and headed back over to the Land.
Once we checked in with the CM host at the Garden Grill, we were seated in just a couple minutes. DS2 was still asleep, and DS5 was just fascinated with the "turning tables". We got into our both and the CM brought us our ice cream, I wish I would have had the camera out to capture the expression on DS5's face when he saw what he got to eat. (Sidebar: We had discussed with the boys some of the things we planned, but we kept some things a surprise, Ice Cream Social was one of those surprises. I'm glad we did this since it was the boys' first trip to Disney, it just made things that much more special. End Sidebar.) After having a few characters come around Chip and Dale (or was it Chuck and Dave?), Pluto and Mickey DS2 finally woke up and was thrilled to see that he had ice cream to eat too.
Garden Grill Ice Cream Social
After another round with the characters, we packed up again to head out. I think Ice Cream Social is a great deal it's a nice mid-afternoon break and well worth the money for a character "kind of" meal. (On second thought . Ice Cream Social is awful don't do it it's not worth the money and the ice cream is bad and the characters don't interact with anyone well, that's my story so you don't book Ice Cream Social next time you go I want it to be easier for me to get my PS Love Ya, Mean It!)
After saying goodbye to the characters, and figuring out how to get off of the revolving restaurant, we were going to head over to the Universe of Energy. Seriously, how do you figure out where you are when your seat has been slowly revolving for the last 45 minutes? I can backpack for miles, pick my way through swamps, woods, over mountains, and I can't figure out how to get off the d@mn restaurant. Our family must have been a sight to see! You would have thought we had been to the Garden Grill Happy Hour.
DW took the kids over to Universe of Energy, while I went and got more FastPasses for TestTrack, DS5 was ready to go again! It looked like rain was coming, so we grabbed one of our 88 cent Wal-Mart ponchos to cover the stroller while we went into the pavilion. I really, really love this ride, the Jeopardy pre-show just cracks me up every time. And, I think the boys were as fascinated with the moving seats as the attraction and the dinosaurs themselves. When we finished the ride, we came out and saw that it had rained, and that someone had helped themselves to our poncho. I had tied the poncho on so it wouldn't blow away, so someone had to work to get it. To whoever took our poncho, I'm glad you stayed dry while our 2 year old's stroller got wet. It obviously didn't rain super hard, or long, but its still annoying to have a wet stroller due to the inconsiderateness (is that a word?) of someone else.
Over we went for another set of rides on TestTrack (DS5 was loving the whole baby swap thing more and more), and then back over to the Living Seas for one more visit with Nemo and friends the boys just love their sea creatures. After close to another hour at the Living Seas it was time for dinner, so we grabbed some of the typical counter service fare at Electric Umbrella. We still hadn't been on/in Spaceship Earth yet, so we headed for our journey to the past. On line at all this late in the day, we literally walked on.
At this point, it was dark, we were tired and it was time to head back on the Poly. We would miss Illuminations, but the boys were done for the day. As we exited and climbed the 752 ramps to the monorail platform, Illuminations started. So we stood on the platform watching some of the fireworks behind Spaceship Earth. It really wasn't too bad of a view, not the same as being right on the lagoon, but not bad none the less. We were also lucky enough to get a ride up front on the monorail on the way back to the TTC. And as an added bonus, we were on the orange monorail, which is DS5's favorite (along with the purple one and the yellow one). I still think this was the favorite ride of the day, there's just something special about being up front in the monorail with the pilot. After a quick change at the TTC to the resort monorail and a short ride to the Poly, it was back to the room.
We got the boys into their jammies, and as I sat there with the boys, I asked what their favorite thing was today. DS2 answered, "twain" . "Nemo" "twain" "Nemo". DS5's favorite was TestTrack and the monorail, and Nemo, and the trains, and the ice cream, and the dinosaurs, and Figment, and then DS2 got sick all over me, and all over him. Just great! He's on an antibiotic for goodness sake! Fortunately, I was able to contain most of it with my clothing and very little got on the floor. So, with a quick call to Mousekeeping to bring us some disinfectant and towels to clean up the floor, we erased the damage. (Looks like I get to laundry a night early yippee!) We got it cleaned up, the boys were falling asleep, so we got them into bed, and DS5 said, "That was a great day Apricot was my favorite." Just wait Son, you ain't seen nothin' yet!
Coming soon: Day 5 - The Magic Kingdom
Have a nice little pause then go on and post more please! I love trip reports 
.
