The Cheesecake Tour - Complete

[sunny04]

I'm going to start with a simple bit of background and some general observances that with either not make it in the TR, or will be mentioned over and over and you will know what I mean already.

First of all, this trip is just me and DH. We are both 26 (at least we will be in a couple weeks when I turn 26 - Happy Birthday to me!). We first went to WDW for our Honeymoon a little over 4 years ago and it stuck. Now we go about twice a year. Since I am currently a teacher, we have to go on breaks, hence the spring break trip.

We tried out renting DVC points this time and loved it! Thanks to the DIS and sbacer we got Saratoga Springs and it was beautiful! We'll talk more about that later.

We actually drove down on the 16th most of the way after work, but since all we did was drive, I won't mention that again. It's just to explain to you why our drive will be so short on the 17th since you can see by my name that I'm from TN. Our trip was March 17-23.

Observances, etc. :
- Crowds were not too bad. We have seen MUCH worse wait times. There were times we wondered where all the people were it seemed so empty. Especially for spring break...not bad at all.
- The overall concept of magic in the parks is on the decline. That is not to say it is not magical to those of us who love it. I just mean that there are things Walt would not approve of. They no longer follow with his ideas of keeping the work out of the guests view. Oh, they still say their reasons for much of what they do is not to break the illusion, but they do. Walt would not like that you can see backstage areas from the road, or workers painting all day and leaving wet paint signs all over the place, or trucks and people covering the African savannah. It's really very sad.
- The castle....<sigh> They have ruined the castle for me. The new paint has just destroyed an icon IMO. They repainted the top of the castle a new shade last year. Well that's lovely if you only see the top half. But when you see it with the gray bottom half, it doesn't really match. Plus, when they repainted the blue on the towers, they used a shiny paint. In Oct. they were still painting, so I hoped this would be fixed, but it's not. During the sunny parts of the day, the sun reflects off of the blue in an uneven shiny mess. But not even off of all of the towers, so it's not even at all. And now for the worst part to me, for some unknown reason painted the middle section with the clock in a crisscross pattern. It's the only part. The crisscross is the lighter blue that it used to be, and the rest is the shiny blue. It's so yucky and has no purpose that I can figure out. I'm sure some will have no problem with it, but to me, it's horrid.
- People are rude.

Now, let's get this TR started!

 

[sunny04]

March 17th - We left our hotel in Valdosta at about 9:30 I think and drove in to Saratoga Springs. DH gets a bit anxious about things not working out, so he was a little worried our reservation just wouldn't exist for whatever reason. But it did. We checked in and requested a room in Congress Park with a water view(you can see DTD). They had one on the 4th floor, but it wasn't ready yet. We decided to wait for it, since our ADRs weren't until 5pm anyway and it was only about 1. So we drove over and parked in front of Congress Park and then walked around the resort.

Saratoga Springs is really beautiful....lots of light, springy colors and water everywhere. You get the sound of fountains and waterfalls and running water quite often around the resort. It's spread out, which means you don't see lots of people. That makes it feel even more peaceful and relaxed. It really is very nice. We walked back over to the main building to Artist's Palette for a snack to hold us over until dinner. We walked in, and I was hit with a horrible headache out of nowhere. I thought I was going to pass out. I made it through the line and to a table and slowly nibbled on my pretzels. After awhile, it started to subside a little. (BTW, for those of you who want more details on the food, I will be doing a dining report in the dining section as well...and that is where the title of the TR came from after all. ) We finished our snack and I felt a lot better. I took some ibuprofen anyway to try to knock it out before the parks. We walked out back by the pool and found a bench to sit on. We basically just sat and enjoyed the peace of the afternoon. If you knew DH, you would realize what a big deal this was to get him sitting still without having something else going on. It was amazing and wonderful and relaxing.

At about 2:15 we called to check on our room being ready, and it wasn't yet. So after a little bit, we decided to head back to Congress Park anyway, assuming the room would be done around 3ish. As we walked back around, the skywriter was doing his work and had written "GOD" and was making a smiley face. We walked back behind the building to the water section and found a lovely little bench back there too!

At 3, I called to check on our room again and got an annoying CM that got all snippy because she was spelling my name wrong. She kept acting like I was doing something wrong. I think I know how to spell my own name. The room was ready and it was a PERFECT location! We could park right in front of the entrance to the building, and there was an elevator right at the entrance. Then our room was around the corner from the elevator. We also had a corner of the building room, so our balcony was by itself, not right next to someone else's balcony like some of them were. The view was so pretty...water and DTD. Very nice. I loved this resort and this room. They were perfect.

So we unpacked and got ready to go. The weather was nice, but on the chilly side and was supposed to be in the 40s that night. So we put on pants and took jackets. Around 4, we headed to Epcot for our 5:00 ADR at LeCellier!

 

[tinawv]

Looking forward to the next post.

 

[oybolshoi]

Glad to see you've got a trip report started! I'll be looking forward to your dining report, too.

Happy Early Birthday!!

 

[sunlver]

Great start to your trip report.. I just love reading them all. We are going in June so I am trying to read as many trip reports as possible.

Looking forward to your next installment

 

[sunny04]

So we got to Epcot and realized that we had left our park tickets in the hotel room. DOH! Dh said he knew you could get them reprinted at Guest Relations if we had lost them, so we proceeded to lie to WDW. Actually, DH lied, because I don't like to...I tried the "We don't have our passes...." and they wouldn't take that. So DH said we lost them, and they immediately said ok. So we had new tickets printed - and they are the pretty new ones! Dh got Tink, I got the teacups. We looked at the times guide as we entered and saw that Nemo was only 20 min. and Living with the Land was 5.....while Soarin' was 40. Not bad for spring break though!

So we checked in around 4:45 at LeCellier and were seated in about 5 min. I noticed the trivia question at the door was about what Canadian currency was called (one coin). So I asked our waitress, and I'm sorry to all the Canadians out there because I will probably spell these wrong...feel free to correct me. The Canadian bird is apparently the Loon, so the coin is called the Loony (Loonie?) and the 2 "dollar" coin is called a Toonie (That's how it sounds anyway!). I was like, that's so cute! The waitress laughed and said, "Yeah, Canada is real cute." The kid next to us got a magical moment certificate because he was terrified by Stitch and the parents were telling the waitress about it. But not us. Anyway....for more food info, check out the Dining Report.

Around 6:00 we were done eating and walked back to check on Nemo. It was up to 30 min. now. We have been to WDW enough that we refuse to wait more than 20 min. in most instances. If you just wait and come back later, the wait will be shorter. So we were snobs , refused to wait, and headed over to Living with the Land which was still 5 min. We love the Land. We loved it much more before they turned it into a madhouse, but Living with the Land is still peaceful anyway. We noticed several new plants, which was neat. Then headed over to Figment. I know most people loved the old Figment rides, but I never saw them...and I just love this one. I was soooo excited to see several people go in too! I always worry they will just completely close Figment down and put something boring in it's place. So imagine my excitement when we went in and were on a FULL CAR!!!! I've never had that happen. I was quite happy.

After Figment we headed over to Spaceship Earth. It had a line out into the walkway. Here's a little tip if you don't already know this - SE is a CONTINOUS ride....so it should NEVER have a wait. If you wait more than a few minutes for SE, you're crazy. No offense. So we again were the Disney snobs that we are and refused to wait. We knew that in a few minutes, the line would be non-existent. So we walked over to the Art of Disney store to waste a little time. We LOVE that store. I wish we could afford and had a place for everything in that store!

After a few minutes we headed back over to SE, and can you believe it? The line was gone. Well, how about that. So on we went.

I have failed to mention yet how horribly sick I was at this point. That morning before our drive into WDW, I suddenly got attacked with sneezes and a runny nose. And it lasted all day. Sneezing, coughing, itching, sniffling...it was horrible. By the time we are at in the TR, my throat was killing me, and none of the other annoyances had stopped. So I needed to take some medicine and we had no drink. So we took a little bypass into Club Cool for some free drinks to take my medicine! Hehehe...I felt quite clever.

Then we headed over to the World Showcase. As we started walking, we saw something odd. There was a HS band playing and walking through the WS, going all the way around. We've seen bands in MK, but not at Epcot. It seemed strange. It was kind of funny watching everyone realize there was a band marching up behind them and try to get out of the way. We took our time, taking pictures as we walked, stopping in France to let the band pass by.

We noticed that the areas by Italy were NOT blocked off this time as they usually seem to be. So we thought we would try watching Illuminations from a different spot than normal. However, DH has this website or something on his blackberry that tells him which direction the wind is blowing at Epcot. So he looked it up and the wind would be blowing towards Germany...right next to where we were sitting. We didn't want to be stuck watching the entire show in smoke, so we moved to our normal spot anyway (between Norway and Mexico). We nearly always get something yummy from Kringal, the baker in Norway as we wait for Illuminations. However, I was not feeling up to par, and didn't feel like waiting in the long line. So I sent DH to find me some water, which would be cool on my throat. DH is so wonderful, he went and waited in the line in Norway himself and got us Strawberry Cheesecake. Mmmm....man did that feel good on my throat! (For those of you who haven't had this cheesecake, it is the best ever. The whole thing is flavored strawberry and it has fresh strawberries on top. Soooo good. #1 on my list) Then we watched Illuminations and headed back to the resort to sleep.

 

[sunny04]

March 18
I woke up still sick, my throat was not feeling good at all. We had ADRs at Kona at 9am, so it was a little early which is never good. (We’re an hour earlier at home, so it felt earlier to us than FL time said it was.) We left the hotel around 8:30 and parked at the Transportation Center. Then walked over to Kona from there. And here began our constant notice of rude people. If you have several people in your family, you should not make one long string of people and take up the entire walking space. Especially if you are walking extremely slow. We checked in right around 9, and were seated within 5 min. again. For more on the yummy Tonga Toast etc., check out the dining report.

After breakfast, we headed over to MK. I was dismayed to see the castle was still shiny and the colors didn’t match. We went straight over to Buzz and saw that the Laugh Floor was Open! Buzz had a 30 min. wait, so we got FP and headed into the Laugh Floor. It really is quite funny. I tried to text in one of my favorite corny jokes (What do you call cheese that isn’t yours? Nacho Cheese! ) but Mike didn’t choose it apparently. Oh well….I got a text message back from Mike though…I thought that was pretty fun. There is one man in the show that gets teased mercilessly. When the show was over Dh says, “Remind me never to sit in that spot.” I’m sure the spot changes, but it was funny anyway. They talked to someone right in front of us though, and my camera bag was up on the screen. That made me happy too. It’s the small things really.

After that, we headed over to BTMR, taking pictures along the way. We got FP and then walked around to check on POTC. The wait time said 20, but there was no line in sight, so we knew that was wrong and headed in anyway. It was almost a walk on – so says I, Davy Jones.

We headed back over to use our Buzz FP, DH barely beat me. Grrr…I beat him several times in a row, and was pleased with myself. This trip ruined that.

We walked across to the TTA and GUESS WHAT??? Space Mountain was down and the lights were ON!!! We had never managed to catch that before. We both pulled out our cameras and snapped as many as we could. None of them came out too great, but it was cool anyway. After TTA, we walked over to see if was running yet, but it wasn’t. So we got a FP just in case we were still in the park by 3:00 to use it. (We weren’t.)

On our way back to BTMR, we walked through Fantasyland to check out the wait times. They were pretty yucky, so we kept walking. We stopped in HM, which I promptly closed my eyes and rested through. Nothing wrong with HM, I like it, but I was not feeling so great and I needed some rest time. I did open my eyes just in time to see one of those heads pop up and scream at me. It scared me to death.

As we left, we looked for the ring, and it was still uncovered. Then walked on over to BTMR to use our FP. There was quite a line for the FP line, and it still took us about 15 min. to get on in that line, which was strange. But the sky writing pilot was at it again, so I watched him and tried not to die from my cold. I felt pretty terrible at this point of the day. After BTMR we went to Casey’s, which is our favorite tradition. We got corn dog bites, fries and drinks and walked over to the little rose garden between the castle and tomorrowland. It’s one of our favorite quiet spots. We ate our lunch in peace, took some pictures and noticed…what is that? A checkered pattern on the castle?! What is wrong with these people! And then went back to the resort to rest. We stopped at the Hess station for gas and I went in and got some more medicine and the yummiest Hot Chocolate/Coffee/Caramely Goodness of a drink I’ve ever had. It was warm, which is why I got it, and it made my throat happy, and my taste buds even happier. I finished my drink at the hotel, took some medicine and went to sleep while DH worked some. It was quite nice with the balcony door open and the wind blowing in…ahhhh….everything’s better at Disney.

 

[sunny04]

18th Continued –
We took a rather long rest, but we had a treat planned for the evening! Thanks to the DIS and kpearson, we were getting to share an Illuminations Cruise with another family! So around 6:45 we headed off to the Beach Club. Dh wanted me to drive for some unknown reason, so I did, and we found it okay. Let me just say I LOVE THE BEACH CLUB!! Dh is soooo tired of hearing about it, because after the moment we walked in, it’s the only thing I could talk about. Still is. It’s fabulous and beautiful and just wonderful. Plus, when you walk out the back, you have the little circle of fabulousness that is the Beach Club, Yacht Club and Boardwalk. I mean, wow. They are way too cool. Loved it.

Anyway, we walked along, me probably with my mouth wide open in awe, and found the dock that we would need to be at for the cruise. Then we walked on around to the Boardwalk to find a place to eat. You know, during the day, the Swan and Dolphin just look blah to me in comparison to all the prettiness around them. But I’ll tell you at night when they are lit up, they are quite pretty. We saw one of the street performers on the Boardwalk, which was fun. He was doing something with a banana and was acting like he didn’t have enough, and a guy up on a balcony of the hotel held one out. It was pretty funny, but probably not very funny to read about, so I’ll move on.

We decided to get some food at the Boardwalk Bakery because it would probably be the quickest and easiest. So we did. (Cheesecake on the bottom of the list….I don’t really remember anything about it. I took one bite and wasn’t impressed.) We ate at a little table by the water which was nice, except there were tiny little bugs everywhere, so we ate really fast trying not to consume bugs in the process. We will assume that we didn’t.

It was about 7:30 when we were finished eating, and were supposed to meet at the dock at 8. So we headed back around to the Yacht Club to use the bathroom before waiting in the cold for the boat(It was around 45 that night). The Yacht Club was similar to the Beach Club, only had dim lights that made it seem darker and hoity-toity to me. I like the BC better. We went back to the dock and waited for awhile and the family we were meeting showed up. We chatted a bit while we waited and finally got on the boat.

 

[oybolshoi]

I know what you mean about the Beach Club - as much as I want to try some other resorts I always end up coming back here. It's just lovely and so convenient to so many different things.

And you are absolutely correct about the Swolphin - blah during the day and just gorgeous in the evening.

I can't wait to hear about your Illuminations Cruise - some day I want to do one, especially if we can nab the Breathless.

I hope you started to feel better.

 

[sunny04]

Luckily, the boat also provides some big heavy blankets, because it was COLD on that water! We cuddled up under the blankets as we rode around. First you head out towards the Swan and Dolphin and out by MGM. The “captain” was a great CM that told us interesting information about things we passed. We saw part of the Fantasmic fireworks as we passed, which was exciting for me. Then we drove back around the way we came and docked under the bridge at Epcot. As we pulled up beside the other boat, a kid on it leaned over and says “Real pirates don’t say things like Arrhh, they say things like You Smell Funny.” Made me laugh. Then the CM passed out snacks and drinks. We only had to wait a few minutes before the fireworks started. It was really neat to watch that way, although our normal view is much better. The globe is much closer on the boat, which was interesting to see. Overall, it was a great experience, and not too cold once I zipped up my jacket, pulled my hood up, and tucked the blanket around me.

After the fireworks, we rode back over to the Beach Club. We thanked the sharing family again, and decided we weren’t cold enough apparently, because we wanted ice cream. So we asked the CM how to get to Beaches and Cream and she told us. We finally found it, and the wait to get inside would be 30 min. It was way too cold to wait outside for that long, so we went in the to go section and got a shake to go. Yummy tasty stuff on that menu. I wanted a No Way Jose, but it wouldn’t have been easy to get to go, so the shake worked just fine. As we walked back to our car, some people stopped us in the BC “Here are some people who know what they’re doing. Is there a place to get dessert around here?” So we explained where B&C was. One man said, “Do they have pecan pie??” We said no, and he got frustrated. His friends laughed. Obviously he had been looking for awhile for some pecan pie. Poor guy. Then we headed back to the hotel to sleep, drinking our shake all the way home.

 

[sunny04]

March 19th
This morning we had a tour at 9 am at the MK. We were doing Mickey’s Magical Milestones tour. And by the way, this is a 2 hour tour for anyone ages 10 and up. And it’s only $25, or $20 if you have a Disney Visa. Pretty awesome. For those of you like me, who want to know everything about things you are going to do, you can read the entire post. For those of you who want to be surprised and not know the little secrets of what happens, I will warn you with a spoiler alert in a minute so you can skip to the next post.

We had planned to arrive at MK by 8:30 to have some time on Main Street before opening. However, the monorail did not agree with that. So it was 8:45 before we rushed up to the gates. The opening ceremony was already starting, but of course we didn’t have time to watch it. Probably the only time I will make it to an opening, and I couldn’t even watch it. DH went off towards the castle to take pictures and I went to check us in for the tour. I knew I would be starving before it was over, so after checking in I wandered towards the confectionary to find something to take with me. About the time I started in that direction, the gates opened. I wish I had a dramatic sound effect to put in here, because I have never seen anything like it. These people were RUNNING at top speed, pushing strollers haphazardly in front of them. It was wild. And here was tiny little me trying to meander THROUGH this crowd in a different direction. I laughed my head off and amused the security guard watching the craziness. We said good morning to each other as I passed calmly through the running crowd.

Then I went into the Confectionary. Here’s a tip I learned on this trip. If you want some peaceful shopping, shop in the morning! I was the ONLY person in the store. It was wonderful. I bought a box of mints and a bag of pretzels to hold me to lunch, then tried to call DH and make sure he hadn’t been clobbered by the masses. He didn’t answer. I called again, he was coming behind me. BTW, he got a funny picture of the people running at him. He said he heard a noise, turned around and they were just coming straight for him, so he snapped a picture. It's funny.

I nibbled on my pretzels while we waited and we looked for other people waiting with same kind of name tag on. About the same time, the 3 ladies with the same nametag on starting waving us to come over. So we met up, our tour guide showed up, that was it, just 5 people! So off we went! I have to say, this was one of the best CMs ever. Her name was Claire and she made me think of supernanny. The tour guides wear a long blue overcoat and a blue rounded hat, and she had this harsh look to her. But then she smiles and talks about Mickey and she is just the most fantastic, sweet woman in the world. We loved her!

 

[oybolshoi]

The Illuminations Cruise sounds like it would be so romantic. But I know what would happen if Jay and I got it... we'd end up with a face full of smoke for the entire show!

I'm really curious about your Magical Milestones tour - update soon so I can be spoiled. I love to be spoiled!!

You're doing a great job!

PS. Too bad you couldn't buy some cheesecake "to-go" before your tour.

 

[sunny04]

Just for you oybolshoi, here's an update.

SPOILER ALERT….if you don’t want to know the surprises of the tour, skip to the next post that will pick up AFTER the tour ends. Otherwise, continue.

We started by walking back out to the front entrance to look up at the train station and the Mickey in the flowers. Claire was a FAST walker, so we were trying to keep up. I can’t remember every detail of information, but she gave us a lot of background to Walt and Mickey both throughout the tour. She also showed us a few hidden mickeys along the way, which is always fun.

We started with a get to know you time, we all said our names, where we were from, and our favorite Mickey memory. Then she told us some stuff and we headed off to Exposition Hall. We had somehow never made it to the back section of Exposition Hall. If you are a WDW fan (and I assume you are since are part of a discussion forum and reading about someone else’s trip) you need to check it out. It’s got a little movie theatre, some cute little picture spots, and lots of history on Walt and Mickey. Really cool. I wanted to get my picture made with the Steamboat Willie cutout, but like I said before, Claire is a FAST walker. I think we would have been lost if we stopped for a picture. Then we stopped just outside the building to talk more about Walt’s life and how Mickey came about. Supposedly, Walt first drew Mickey on a train, so of course, we went and boarded the train. Then we were all given a page and a pen to try to draw Mickey as we rode. She continued giving us information as we drew. She also told us the one with the best Mickey would win a VALUABLE PRIZE!! Mine was voted the best (thank you, thank you, I am honored) so I got stickers. But she decided we all did such a great job, she gave everyone stickers. And since we only had 5 people, she gave us all another set of stickers.

On our ride around to Toontown, she pointed out the hidden mickey inside Splash Mountain, which I have never been able to find! Now I’ve seen it! (Mickey on his back in the boat scene, he’s in the clouds) We got to Toontown before it was open and got to go into Mickey’s house on our own. We really got into the hidden mickey hunt here. Then Mickey came in! We all got our pictures made and he strolled on back to the Judge’s Tent.

After Toontown, we started towards Fantasyland. She pointed out that Fantasyland was the land of feature films – Snow White, Alice in Wonderland, Peter Pan, The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh, Dumbo, Cinderella…..I decided not to point out that Small World didn’t have one.

We walked to Sir Mickey’s first to see the Giant peeking inside. In this store, she really talked to us about how much of an impact Disney had on our country and the economy. It’s really crazy. During WWII, several companies were ready to collapse, so got the rights to use Mickey’s image on their products. They are huge corporations now. It’s weird to realize how important a little mouse can really be to the world.

Then we headed over to Philharmagic, walking in the back door…cool. She also showed us the HMs in the show. I think there were 5…..one was in the lion king section, one was in the beauty and the beast section, one in Aladdin that I didn’t see, on in ariel’s scene, and I think that’s it. I think the 5th on is the one on the proscenium. If you want to know specifics, you can PM me and I’ll explain them better.

After Philharmagic, we walked over a little “glade” she called it behind the Liberty Square shops. We passed the evil stepsisters as we went by the castle. They are so fun to watch! Claire told us that Walt had always wanted to create a multi-sensory experience for his guests. He wanted to reach them through sight, sound, touch, smell and taste. Philharmagic really accomplished this more than anything else, and those who worked on the creation of that show felt like it was a “love letter” to Walt. Finally giving him the one thing he couldn’t accomplish. Pretty nice.

Before we went on this tour, I had done research of other people’s experience on it. Everyone else had another character come out at this point to present them with their surprise. However, Dream Along with Mickey was going on in front of the castle, and I wonder if that is why we didn’t get one. Whatever the reason, we did not get a second character. Claire presented us all with Mickey ears. Our names and MMM 07 had been painted on the ears. Quite cute. DH hated it I’m sure. That’s the end of our tour.

 

[oybolshoi]

Thank you!!


It really sounds like a fun tour. Were your Mickey ears the traditional kind or did you get something a little more fancy like Year of a Million Dreams?

** I am appalled at how badly I type when I don't have sleep - I had to come back and fix this!**

 

[sunny04]

Thank you!!


It really sounds like a fun tour. We're your Mickey ears the traditional kind r did you something a little more fancy like Year of a Million Dreams?

I was hoping for YOMD ears, but no....just the old kind. They are the mousketeer looking ones, with the round red and black patch front and center with Mickey's head in the middle. They're cute, and since we've never bought Mickey ears before, I suppose they stopped a travesty.

 

[sunny04]

Spoiler Over…you may now resume.
We had an ADR for 12:30 at Concourse Steakhouse, so we had some time to waste. We walked back over to Fantasyland. IASW had a 5 min. wait, so we rode that. I know most people don’t care for it, but I love IASW. A little less since reading Kingdom Keepers , but I still love it. Then we just walked along the shops of Main Street. I found a shirt I liked and found out it was on sale when we went to buy it! Woohoo! Then we headed on over to the Contemporary on the monorail.

It was about 10 til 12 when we got there and our ADR was for 12:30, but it’s usually empty around that time, so we figured we’d check in early. They weren’t open yet. They open at 12. So we sat in the chairs next to the restaurant and watched the window washer. That guy was amazing. We checked in at 12 and were immediately seated. I’ll just mention a few things here about Concourse. Don’t get their water, it’s nasty. And on this occasion, the food didn’t sit well with me, so it will affect me a little through the night. Mostly won’t matter except in the dining parts, just thought I’d mention it.

We went on back to the hotel after lunch to rest. The plan was to head to AK in time to see the 4:00 parade. We always do AK as a half day, and in the morning, so we never make it to 4 to see the parade. We planned it as an evening half day this time for that reason. When I planned, this was an EMH night (I swear it was), but you will see we had some confusion with that too.

I felt pretty yucky and wanted a longer rest, but DH was quite insistent that we needed to leave by 2:30. Yuck. We had like and hour and a half I think. I did not feel happy.

We headed to AK….I am truly sorry if you love AK, please don’t be offended. But I am not a big fan of this park. Dh and I usually come on an EMH morning, and get it done by noon. I LOOOOOVE Dinosaur, DH loves the Safari, Maharajah Jungle Trek, and EE. We also both quite enjoy Donald’s Breakfastosaurus. (Well, and DH likes Dinosaur and I like Safari, etc. I was just pointing out our favorites. I can take the rest or leave it, but Dinosaur is awesome.) We also both LOVED Tarzan. We are very sad it is gone.

Anyway, back to us getting to AK. It’s like an immediate grump alert for me as soon as we get there. It’s always hot, crowded and you have to walk a million miles back and forth to do the things you want to do. This is the one park that we ALWAYS argue at. Because it makes us grumpy. So, we have the normal battles plus I wanted to rest more, and my food still was not digesting well.

It was about 10 til 3 when we arrived and were hoping to make the new Nemo show. We hurried over and heard the line being told that the theatre was full. Guess not. So we decided if we had a chance later in the trip, we would come back to AK just to do Nemo. So we headed to Dinosaur. The wait time said 20, but there was no visible line, so we didn’t believe them. We went in and it took about 10 minutes. I wish this ride was in a different park so I could ride it more. I was a little dinosaur geek as a child….I may be the only girl that could name several dinosaurs correctly and spell them correctly in grade school. So I grin and giggle at the big cute carnivorous animatronic.

 

[sunny04]

After Dinosaur we picked a spot for the parade. It was in Africa near the safari, so we could jump into the line as soon as the parade was over.

We had some interesting families on either side while we waited. On one side there was a baby screaming so loud that everyone walking by was looking at it with a horrified look…kind of amusing to watch their expressions. The other side was a family that I don’t even know how to explain without being offensive. Let’s just say, the mother was controlling and would inform her husband to “resume my position” so she wouldn’t lose her seat while she shopped. It was interesting.

So after all this time without seeing the parade, it kind of got way more built up my head than it should have. We thought it was a pretty dinky parade. Kind of repetitive….a little animal shaped car, bunch of stilt walkers, animal shaped car, bunch of stilt walkers, float with a character, bunch of stilt walkers. But now we’ve seen it, and we know….afternoons at AK are a BAD idea. The wait times were CRAZY.

We walked straight to the Safari after the parade and it said 50 min. Yes, that’s right, 50 min. and the ride snobs GOT IN THE LINE. Now I was getting really grumpy. I was at AK, and my stomach felt horrible, and I was still sick and feeling it, and we were getting into a line that said 50 minutes?! You have to be kidding me! It actually took about 40 min. Less than 50, but way more than I like to wait for anything. I’m impatient if you hadn’t noticed, part of that Aries in me. Plus, the inevitable AK argument happened during that 40 min. What can you do? The plus side is, we had the BEST guide on our car ever. He really got excited and tried to let us see the animals, slowing WAY down. He also pointed out a HM I’d never heard of before. The little island that the pink flamingos stand on, is shaped like Mickey’s head! I had never heard that one mentioned before!

After the Safari, we had to go to the Maharajah Jungle Trek. DH is obsessive about his tiger pictures, although I don’t believe he get any more perfect than the ones he already has. So we went, and the CM at the tigers kept telling everyone she didn’t know the answers to their questions. Which was interesting, because every other CM there always has, so we knew the answers. I would think they all would have the same training.

Then we walked over to EE. It had a 30 min. wait, and again we actually got in the line. <sigh> Poor sick, impatient me. We will never go to AK in the afternoon again. Mornings all the way. It took about 25 min. to get on the ride…I wondered as we walked through the line, how many people leave that line believing in the Yeti just because of the made up information they have displayed. They have some pretty convincing stuff if you believe things like that. EE wasn’t as fun for me today sick I didn’t feel so great, but then I’m not a roller coaster fan anyway. But I got a better look at the Yeti this time and man, he is awesome. About this time, we realized that AK had nothing out about night EMH. DH asked if I checked recently…well, no I hadn’t. But I swear it said it when I planned. And I would have checked that carefully. So either, I’m really bad at reading the EMH hours, or they changed them. Because they are tomorrow morning, not tonight. It didn’t really matter though, since we were done with AK now anyway. We decided we would go to the hotel for a bit and then head over to MK for Wishes later. It was getting a little sprinkly anyway. So we headed back to rest again and listen to the rain outside our balcony…so peaceful.

 

[sunny04]

Final 19th
We left the hotel around 8:00 for the MK. We were right on schedule, getting there just in time for some rides maybe before Wishes. We weren’t planning on watching Spectro. But of course, again the monorail had a different idea. They were switching out something and bringing on another monorail car to get ready for MK closing. So we sat and sat and sat realizing we were completely trapped in the monorail, many feet above the ground. Lovely. There was a couple beside us betting on what color the castle would change next…they cracked us up though when they started talking about riding Space Mountain. The guy had apparently had a few beers (only 8 I believe he said) and the girl didn’t want him to throw up on her. He said, nah…I’d throw up on the person behind me. She said, oh, ok then, let’s go. It made us laugh. So we finally got in the park in time for the fireworks. Then somehow made it across the crowds to POTC.

About this time DH was getting hungry, although I was STILL full and yucky feeling from lunch about 9 hours before. Not getting that to eat again!! So we ended up at Sleepy Hollow getting a funnel cake and water. We sat by the water and ate, even I nibbled at it a bit. We took some pictures and headed back to the resort.

As we left, I have to tell you, this was one of my favorite things that happened on the trip. These two boys, probably high school age, had swords and were doing a very elaborate sword fight…they had jumps and all kinds of stuff. They even had a cue, one would say Arrrrr, and that meant they were going to either slice under them or at their head. They were brilliant…I laughed all the way to the monorail…they fought all way out the exit! Up stairs and ramps and all. It was the funniest thing I saw all week. I think some people thought they were crazy, they got some dirty looks from some adults. But I found it charming and perfect. Great ending to a day at WDW.

 

[AshClan]

I've been reading tidbits all day, and just finished! Sorry you weren't feeling well, but sounds like you did your best to make the most of it. I'm heading over to read your dining review now!!!!

Nice Job! Looking forward to the rest.

 

[sunny04]

I just wanted to say thanks for the comments. I know a lot of people just read and don't post on TRs...I usually only read them. But when you are writing, it makes it much easier and more fun when you get great feedback. Thanks for reading! I will try to get a new installment posted tonight!