The Comando & The Newbie: Lots of Pics! Completed!

[thumperbelle3]

M-I-C-K-E-Y M-O-U-S-E!

Sorry there are no pics in this post. But I promise more next time!
We did Mickey’s PhilharMagic again and this time Mark could see everything. Then we repeated Haunted Mansion. Then we cut over to Adventure Land again and rode The Magic Carpets of Aladdin. We got spit on by a camel.

Back to Splash Mountain! We were in the front row of the log this time and my left side and rear end got wet. It was a much better ride than the first time. After we got off and went through the gift shop we were stopped by a CM who choose me to complete a trivia quiz. Well I must say that I am the queen of Disney trivia. It was no challenge for me and I got a Year of a Million Dreams certificate for completing it. Yay Me!

It had started to rain again so we jumped on the Train to Mickey’s Toontown Fair. We were going to meet Mickey! Well the line was 30 to 45 minutes so we said no thanks and maybe we could meet him at Hollywood Studios. We got some pressed pennies.

It was 6:00pm now and we had done everything we wanted to. I have never ridden the teacups so we walked over. I took one look and said “No way”. Too much spinning. I get dizzy on Buzz Lightyear!

It was time for dinner so we went to Cosmic Rays. I was not excited about this place, but Mark wanted to try the ribs. Again there were no lines to order. He got the ½ slab of BBQ Ribs, mashed potatoes, and green beans, a water, and sugar free brownie $13.38. I got Chili Cheese Dog with fries a Sprite and Triple Chocolate Cake $11.87. Again we used the dining plan. While we were inside it started to rain again. Hard this time. I could see the trees waving in the wind. We took our time finishing our meals a listened to the tunes from Sonny Eclipse. The place was packed.

I put my poncho back on and Mark went with the umbrella and we left Cosmic Rays. I didn't take too many pictures once it started to rain. Didn't want anything to happen to the new camera! Mark wanted to do Space Mountain again so we did. Twice. Both times on the left side. The rain stopped again. Then we did Monsters Inc again. The first time we did it the two-headed monster was a guy and girl and this time it was two guys. The second show was better.

 

[addictedtothemouse]

It was 6:00pm now and we had done everything we wanted to. I have never ridden the teacups so we walked over. I took one look and said “No way”. Too much spinning. I get dizzy on Buzz Lightyear!

I love the spinning rides, but when I rode the Teacups with my DDs I was afraid to get off. I thought I was going to fall flat on my face.

I like this ride ok but I wouldn’t want to be stuck on it for very long.

I agree, it's cute but could quickly become annoying. My DD(16) says she refuses to waste her time going on it again! We'll see.
It sound like the two of you are have a great time. And I'm loving your TR and the pics.

 

[thumperbelle3]

I wish I may, I wish I might, have the wish I wish tonight.

We walked toward the castle and took some pictures of it all lit up. It really is beautiful at night.

We had our BTM Fast Passes to use so we headed over there at 8:15pm. I don’t remember ever riding it at night before. Didn't need the FP's. We sat towards the back. I think we were the third row from the end. It was awesome at night. We both thought it was better. Then we made our way back to the hub to look for a place to watch Wishes.

We picked a spot on the left side of the castle near the food stand on the railing. We could see tons of people crowded on Main Street. We had no one in front of us. Just people sitting on the curb. Mark noticed the line that Tinker Bell files down on and asked me what it was for. I wanted it to be a surprise so I didn’t tell him. Wishes was really good. Again I got teary eyed because I know someday Mark and I will be back here with our future children. We took some pictures and video.

Our spot was so good the woman next to me sat the entire time and never had anybody stop in front of her. I’m glad the rain had stopped for the show. After it was over we hung around the hub and took some more pictures.

When we finally left at 9:45pm we were happy to see that there were 3 busses for POP Century loading. We got to sit on the way home. Thank God because my feet and back were killing me. We did sooo much walking today! I’m totally wearing tennis shoes tomorrow.

When we got back to POP we filled or mugs and I picked up the stuff we bought yesterday from the gift shop. Mark is going to wear his new Mickey shirt tomorrow and I think I’ll wear mine too. These guys were waiting for us when we got home.

Went to bed around 11:00pm. I had no trouble falling asleep!

 

[thumperbelle3]

My DD(16) says she refuses to waste her time going on it again! We'll see.
It sound like the two of you are have a great time. And I'm loving your TR and the pics.

Thanks for reading! I don't think I've ever gone to MK without doing IASW. The line is usually short and it's kind of a tradition I guess. A trip to MK wouldn't be the same unless that song is stuck in my head part of the day.

 

[JaxJags08]

Sounds like a fun night! I'm totally going to try that spot for Wishes in December. I want a good view, but am not really about waiting for an hour. How far ahead did you get your spot? And was it on one of the walkways to Adventureland or Frontierland? Sorry for so many questions Last time I got some bad info and was on the terrace for Cosmic Ray's and couldn't see a thing! We had to run out once Wishes had already started and stand on the bridge to Tomorrowland. This time I'm determined to get a better spot in advance.

 

[thumperbelle3]

I think we waited 20 or 30 minutes. I'm thinking a lot of people left the park beacuse of the rain and that's why we were able to get the spot we did.
When you face the castle we were on the very left edge of the hub. To the left of us was the bridge to Liberty Square and to the right was the bridge to Adventureland. I hope that helps you? I'm bad with direction somethimes! The only downside is there was no bench to sit on. We had to sit or lean on the railing.

 

[thumperbelle3]

Now on with the show!

I set the wake up call for 6:45am and that is what time I woke up. I think I just needed to get one park under my belt in order for me to relax. Because the crowds are so low it took the urgency out of touring which was a blessing. But that didn’t mean we would be taking any afternoon breaks! After I showered I went and got us some coffee and tea. Yes I tried the coffee again, but it would be the last time. We ate a quick breakfast and headed down to the bus at 7:50am. Once we got to the front of Classic Hall I could see the Disney Hollywood Studios bus. Mark was trying to take pictures and I said “Come on the bus is there!” Comando reporting for duty! We didn’t make it in time. It was ok as we would be first for the next bus. Except for the first day our experiences with the buses were really great.

DHS is only 5 minutes away from POP. So we had a lot of time to wait for rope drop.

I can’t believe how humid it was already. I hate to wear my hair in a ponytail and I tried to hold of as long as I could but it was so darn hot! They let us through the gate at 8:50am. We were pretty close to the rope on the far right side. We got some pictures of the opening show.

It was cute. Then they threw down the gauntlet and everybody speed walked towards Toy Story Mania.

They had 3 or 4 CM’s walking in front making sure no one ran ahead of them. We were about 20 to 30 people back. I thought we should get Fast Passes and then get in the standby line, but when I looked behind us there was a bazillion more people coming.

We wizzed through the queue area which looked really cool. Next thing you know were on! This is the coolest ride I’ve ever been on. Who ever thought of combining video games with a ride is pure genious. But man do your arms get tired.

Mark beat me of course. When we got out we got FP’s and looked at the standby time and it said 10 minutes so we got back on. I lost again but my accuracy is better!

What can I say I don’t like to miss. Mark just constantly pulls on the rope. We love this ride!

 

[thumperbelle3]

And this time it's opening for you.

We took some cute pictures of the brooms that Mark likes.

Then we headed down Sunset Blvd. We went to check in to the Hollywood Tower Hotel…or The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror!

Creepy! We only waited about 15 minutes to get from the outside of the hotel to the elevator.

Our elevator operator was very creepy and into his role. I love it when CM’s get into it. We were seated in the top row. This ride is so scary! A man on the other side of the elevator in the second row had his video camera on the whole time. It’s supposed to be pitch dark but we all had his bright LCD screen shining in our eyes. Maybe he didn’t realize it was that bad, but seriously what are you trying to record? Total darkness and screaming? So that kind of ruined Mark’s first time. He loved it though.

Next we went to Rock N Roller Coaster.

This was a very short wait also. Maybe 10 minutes until we were in the car. I did not remember how cool this coaster was! In the past I remembered only going upside down once, but I know we did it more than that. The take off is the best part! We liked the Aerosmith music too.

After that we tried to find the spicy cheese stuffed pretzel. We were told they were over by the lake. First we were able to get FP’s for TOT. We got our pretzel ($3.79) and a couple waters ($4.00) at Min & Bill’s Dockside Diner. Our cost $4.00. Then we were just in time to catch the Indiana Jones Stunt Show at 11:00am.

We had pretty good seats on the left side. We had to crawl over a bunch of people to get to them though. How come people can’t slide all the way to the end like their told?

Here is were we had our celebrity sighting. Michael Moloney from Extreme Home Makeover was cast as an “extra” in the show.

Little did we know but I had gotten a picture of him earlier at rope drop. I was trying to get a picture of the characters and was annoyed that this "guy" was in the way.

Mark thought this show was great and I was glad we saw it because Lights, Motors, Action! wasn’t running today. After the show we took pictures with some old friends.

I wanted Mark to get his picture taken with Bill Cosby but he thought Michael Landon was cooler.

It was baking outside so we took shelter in the Chinese Theater.

I think Kermit and I have the same size hands! The Great Movie Ride. What can I say. This ride needs help. Our “driver/guide” was about as robotic as the animatronic actors. They need better movies too. Mark didn’t like this ride and I don’t blame him. We still had some time before our 1:20pm ADR at Si-Fi Dine In so we went to ride Star Tours.

I think we waited 15 minutes for this. We had the front row seats. It’s fun, but once is enough for me. Plus it was really hot inside our vehicle. We took a few pictures and then walked over to Muppet Vision 3D.

I really like the pre-show area. I got a picture of the spaceship from “Pigs In Space”.

This one could use some updating too but I love the Muppets especially Gonzo. By the time we got out of Muppets it was 1:15pm. Si-Fi is pretty close so I wasn’t worried. We checked in and were seated within 5 minutes.

 

[lilsydney]

OK I am hanging by a thread!!
we leave on Thursday this week and right when I thought I was going to get to the Sci Fi review (we are eating there this week for our first time!) I got to the end of the thread so far!!

Great review- I am totally enjoying it

We are from Howell and I am guessing by The Zoo, MI you are from Royal Oak! howdy neighbor

our flight leaves at 5:45 a.m. from FLINT and we have DTD ADR the first day plus MNSSHP that night. Gonna be exhausted I know!

thanks for such a great daily read

 

[thumperbelle3]

OK I am hanging by a thread!!
we leave on Thursday this week and right when I thought I was going to get to the Sci Fi review (we are eating there this week for our first time!) I got to the end of the thread so far!!

Great review- I am totally enjoying it

We are from Howell and I am guessing by The Zoo, MI you are from Royal Oak! howdy neighbor

our flight leaves at 5:45 a.m. from FLINT and we have DTD ADR the first day plus MNSSHP that night. Gonna be exhausted I know!

thanks for such a great daily read

Hi lilsydney! I will have the Si-Fi review up shortly!

I didn't know that Royal Oak was called The Zoo. We are from Kalamazoo.
Have a great time on your trip! Just make sure to get plenty of sleep!

 

[thumperbelle3]

Time for something sweet!

I was hoping we wouldn’t be seated at a flying saucer table in the very back. We were led to the front row of cars on the right side of the screen to sit in the back seat. A party of three later joined us in front. I really like the atmosphere of this restaurant.

The movies were funny too. We especially liked “Attack of the 50 Foot Woman” and the “Catwomen of the Moon”. I can’t believe these were real movies! I pretty much knew what I wanted to eat before we got there. Our server was an Asian woman named Nancy and she was nice enough to take our picture!

She did a good job considering it was really dark in there. I ordered the Angus Chuck Burger with cheddar cheese and bacon, served with fries. I got a chocolate shake for my drink, cheese cake for dessert, and I also ordered the Pirate Punch with the light-up Tinker Bell toy $28.26. I don’t have a picture of the toy but she was clipped on to the straw and is about 4 inches tall. You can kind of see it in the previous picture. She is so cute and I had her clipped to my shorts most of the day.

Mark ordered the Angus Chuck Burger with cheddar and bacon too. He subbed onion rings for fries and got cherry coke for his drink and hot fudge sundae for dessert. He also ordered an Amstel Light $25.32.

Sorry the pics are so dark. It's a dark resturant! Later I looked back and saw that people were sitting at the flying saucer tables. They must have been booked. We thought the food was really good and we were stuffed by the end. The sundae was soft serve ice cream and Mark likes hard ice cream so it wasn’t his favorite. My cheese cake came with caramel sauce, caramel corn and M&M’s. It was really good!

It took us about an hour for lunch as it was 2:30pm when we got out. We walked past the Jedi Training Academy and the young jedis were fighting Darth Vader. It was so cute because the kids were so serious about it.

With our stomachs full of lunch we decided the best thing to do was use our FP’s for TOT. Yeah great idea. Actually it didn’t bother us at all. We sat in the front row! Mark declared this his favorite ride. Our elevator operator this time was a young girl who didn’t look like she was comfortable being there. She wasn’t as into it as the last guy. We got FP’s for RNR before heading back towards the hat.

The Block Party Bash was still going on when we walked by on our way to the Animation Academy. We didn’t watch any of the parades because Mark doesn’t really like them all that well. I kind of wish we had stopped to watch this one. It looked fun!

We had to wait awhile to get into the theater. The Mushu movie was kind of cute. I could have fell asleep in there though. After we got out of that we saw that Mickey was doing pictures! The line was super short so we jumped in. He was dressed up as the sorcerers apprentice. We got a good picture of us. Mickey gave me a hug and kissed me on the cheek!

Then we got to find out what Disney character we are most like. I was most like Ariel and Mark was most like Gaston. After that we waited about 15 minutes to get into the animation studio to learn how to draw a character. Today we were going to learn to draw Tinker Bell! I was so excited! A few minutes into the drawing we all realized how hard she is to draw. The eyes were the hardest to do. It would help if they gave us erasers! This is how they turned out.

I think Mark’s turned out a lot better than mine. And he said he couldn’t draw! Mark didn’t want to keep the drawings in our bag so he asked the gift shop to send them back to our resort. I told him they wouldn’t do it because we had to buy something first. But I was wrong. They shipped them for us!

 

[thumperbelle3]

For a very important date!

After the Animation Academy we went to use our FP’s for Toy Story Mania. When we went to the FP return the older gentleman checking FP’s looked at our and said “You’re late.” I looked at him and said “Is that bad?” I knew from the boards that you can use your FP’s after the time range. I thought maybe he didn’t know that. But then he just smiled, laughed and let us through. This was our final TSM ride of the day so I was determined to beat Mark. Our strategies are completely different. He’s fast and furious and I just go for the big points.

He beat me again but I still had fun! When we got out of TSM is was starting to sprinkle. By the time we ran to RNR it was coming down pretty hard. We got right on with our FP’s. I can keep my eyes open during take off but it’s hard! I put my poncho on and Mark got the umbrella. We FP RNR again and went to TOT. We could see the pouring rain when the elevator doors opened. We had front row again! It was cool. It was 5:40pm now and we were getting hungry.

I now bring to you Today’s Moment of Crazy: Brought to you by myself. Well it’s pouring rain and we are at TOT. I had planned on eating dinner at Pizza Planet which is like the farthest possible place away from us. Did I change plans and choose somewhere closer? Nope! Let’s run in the rain! I made Mark put his poncho on because the backpack had got wet. Then we ran. There are huge puddles everywhere! Our tennis shoes soaked. Yuck I hate that feeling! Crazy me.

When we got to Pizza Planet we discovered Marks poncho had not covered the backpack so it was soaked as well. The place wasn’t that busy. We were able to sit upstairs which was only ¼ full. I ordered the Woody Meal. Individual pepperoni pizza and garden salad with blue cheese dressing a Sprite and chocolate chip cookie $11.97. Mark got the Junkyard Meal. Individual veggie pizza (with mushrooms, peppers, onions, and tomatoes) and garden salad with fat free Italian dressing a ice tea and chocolate chip cookie $12.17. Our cost $0.00. The pizza was pretty good. I didn’t like the salad dressing. I saved my cookie. Mark ate his cookie and said it was delicious. I had a bite and it was!

The rain had stopped by 7:00pm we went back to ride TOT because that is what we do when we’ve just finished eating a large meal. Front row again! Then we used our FP’s for RNR. Mark wanted to do TOT one more time but I decided it was time to get a seat for Fantasmic. Would the weather hold off?

 

[thumperbelle3]

Pay no attention to little me!

We found some seats in the middle section about 9 or 10 rows from the front. I noticed that most people were sitting further back. Then I remembered we can get wet if we sit to close. Oh well how wet could we really get? It’s not Splash Mountain! It looked like another dark cloud was moving towards DHS. The announcements kept coming on, “Due to the nature of this blah blah blah.” I hoped it wouldn’t rain again. I put my poncho on anyway just to be safe. My mom always says if you carry an umbrella with you it wont rain. And hey! It didn’t and the show started.

The last time I saw Fantasmic we were in the very back row. I didn’t like it very much. This time was so different. I looked at Mark and I could tell he really liked it which made me like it even more! We took mostly video. My memory card filled up so we didn’t get the whole thing. I tried to get the finale. The characters didn’t come around on the boat like I thought they did. It was fantastic…I mean Fantasmic!

After the show we took some pictures of the hat all lit up.

I love the way my camera takes pictures at night. My old one never would have done this good!
We didn’t have to wait too long for a bus. We had to stand but it was only a short ride. Back at POP we decided to take a swim. It seemed colder this time so we just got our mugs filled with frozen coke and went back to the room to watch TV.

 

[addictedtothemouse]

Did you get very wet sitting so close? I mean not that you weren't already totally soaked. I thought that the princesses and princes came around on barges. Maybe it was just do to the possibility of more rain.

 

[thumperbelle3]

Did you get very wet sitting so close? I mean not that you weren't already totally soaked. I thought that the princesses and princes came around on barges. Maybe it was just do to the possibility of more rain.

We only felt a little misting of water. Perhaps we had the wind blowing toward us. The princesses and princes did come around on barges as did the indians in canoes but there was no "Steamboat Willie" at the end.

 

[Belle_princess]

Subbing! This is just like what DH and I will be like when we go to Disney in November- I'm the comando and he is the newbie! I love reading your trip report!!

Kristin

 

[thumperbelle3]

Subbing! This is just like what DH and I will be like when we go to Disney in November- I'm the comando and he is the newbie! I love reading your trip report!!

Kristin

Thanks for reading! You guys will have a great time!

 

[thumperbelle3]

Forget about your worries and your strife!

I’ve been sleeping much better since that first morning. Thank God because we were going to rope drop and staying until close every night! I told you I was commando! Mickey called (or was it Stitch?) at 6:45am. I got up and got ready. Our tennis shoes were still wet from yesterday so it was back to flip flops today. I hope my feet will last! I went down to the food court and got us each an ice tea. No coffee for me this time. I wish they would offer OJ at the fountain. All we saw was apple juice. For breakfast today I had two of my pretzel sticks from Goofy’s Candy Co. What I wouldn’t give to have another one of those right now. Heavenly! Mark had his usual Pop Tart and granola bar. Then down to the bus to visit EPCOT! I was really excited to get to World Showcase and do our “Eat/Drink around the World”.

We got inside and took some pictures in front of “the big ball” as Mark called it. And I let him. Although I call it by its correct name “Spaceship Earth”.

We headed to the rope where the characters were out. I tried to get some pictures of them but there were a lot of tall people at EPCOT today. Not two minutes later they dropped the rope and everyone booked it to the Land Pavilion. And we followed them to Soarin.

I think we were in the second showing of the day. And unfortunately we were in the bottom row. Not ideal for sure. It was still cool and we decided to get FP’s for later. Next I saw a fountain I needed my picture by.

EPCOT must have the most fountains.

We kept walking over to Test Track.

I think we waited 5 minutes. We skipped the briefing room or whatever it is. The doors were closing us in but people just pushed it open and kept walking. One of Mark’s brothers (he has 6!) does crash tests for GM back home. I told him to take some pictures and ask his brother if it looked like we were at his job.

This ride is good but I only really need to ride it once. My hair was so mussed after this ride!

We headed on to Spaceship Earth. We took the wrong way and ended up at Universe of Energy. Marks doesn’t like Ellen so we aren’t going to do it this time. We had to cut through Innoventions West to get over to SE. We didn’t stop to do anything in there though. The wait for “the big ball” was very short. Big surprise. I had read about the changes to the ending of the ride and so when they took my picture at the beginning I made a really weird face. I think this ride is really relaxing and I could totally take a nap on it! I didn’t want it to be over! Mark said this ride was his biggest disappointment. He thought Disney could have done so much more with the ride. He thought it was going to be like Space Mountain. Oh sorry buddy! The end was hilarious! My face looked so bad. I tried to take some pictures but they didn’t turn out great I think because we were laughing so hard.

Then when we got off the ride I had no idea they put your picture up on the big screen! I wanted to run right out of there so no one would see me!

Our FP time for Soarin was getting close so we headed back over that way. Gosh EPCOT is huge. I’m glad I told Mark we would do a lot of walking. He hadn’t complained. Yet. I ate my chocolate chip cookie from Pizza Planet and it was delish! We saw Club Cool on the way and thought I was a perfect time to try…The Beverly. Dun Dun Dun!

I secretly tried it first and boy is it nasty. Then I said, “Here babe, try this one. It’s from Italy.” He did and I got the perfect shot.

I liked the ginger one the best and Mark liked the one from Japan.

So with our thirsts quenched (we drank a lot to rid the Beverly taste) we went to ride Soarin. But Living with the Land was a walk-on so we got on that first. It’s educational and fun! We both liked it. I tried to pay attention as to why they have the baby alligators and I think they use them in the wild to kill pests like water snakes? Idk. Love the FP for Soarin. We sat in the middle this time. Better but not the best. Got more FP’s for later again. World Showcase was open so our plan was to tour there until about 5:00pm. We stopped at the jumping water fountain on the way.

It was super hot and the water felt good. We did not bring our misting fan today.

 

[Cindeegyrl]

Great trip report, I'm subscribing!!

 

[thumperbelle3]

They're here and there pink elephants everywhere!

We loved the World Showcase. We had the most fun taking pictures here. We crossed over into Canada. I had no idea Canada could be so hot!

We walked up to the little gift shop in front and bought the World Showcase passport. It cost $10.60 which I think is a great deal. It‘s a passport with two pages per country and stickers you can put in it for each country too. It also came with an EPCOT button with Mickey on it. We sat down in a shady spot and put all the stickers in. Then what you are supposed to do is take your passport to be signed and stamped at a Kidcot station by a representative of whatever country you are in. Sometimes they would put their personal touch on it to make it unique. It was a great souvenir and I’m really glad we did it.

After we got stamped in Canada we crossed the Atlantic to the United Kingdom.

I really liked the shops here. This is also where we began our “Drink/Eat around the World” (mostly drink!). We stopped at Yorkshire County Fish Shop and split an order of Fish & Chips, shortbread cookies, and a water $12.31. Used one counter service credit. We also got 2 Harps Lagers $14.91.

There were no tables so we sat on a bench by the water. There were lots of ducks swimming around but they weren’t too pesky. It was very hot! The beer was already going to our heads. We almost forgot to get stamped here!

We crossed the English Channel over to France.

I got my picture taken by another fountain of course.

And we got the best drink I think I’ve ever had. The Grand Marnier slush! ($8.00) This was unbelievably good! I wish we had each gotten one.

Once we finished I vowed to get another one before Illuminations. We got stamped and walked a few steps over to Morocco.

Huh? That was fast! I really like the architecture here too. We went into Tangierine Café.

I had wanted to eat lunch here but Mark doesn’t like that kind of food. So we got some great baklava and a Strawberry daiquiri ($9.48). I thought the daiquiri was pretty strong. We played around in here for a while.

Then walked over to Japan.