The End of an Era - Where Dreams Come True at Pop & Kidani **NEW 5/28 FINALE

[bellebookworm9]

Sounds like you're off to a great start! I Tim Horton's! I've been wanting an iced cappuccino and a Boston Creme donut for the last two days. Sorry to hear about the small children on the plane, but at least the flight itself wasn't too bad. I'm still not sure whether we're going to get our own luggage or tag it for Magical Express. Can't wait to read more!

 

[MickeyisBeast]

Joining in!
Can't wait to read more

 

[redlight]

I hadn't heard of Tim Horton's before. is it more like Starbucks or more like a sandwich place?

Looking forward to Epcot!

 

[Princess116]

subbing! great updates!!

 

[onelilspark]

I hadn't heard of Tim Horton's before. is it more like Starbucks or more like a sandwich place?

Looking forward to Epcot!

It's a doughnut place. They have some sandwiches too. And Coffee.

They're all over Western NY too

 

[jenbear123]

Um, might this have something to do with why it was so much warmer in there? Just sayin'.

Oh you know it That, and the bum warmers in the seats!

Good stuff! And more reasonable than Starbucks.

Woohoo another timmies fan MUCH more reasonable than Starbucks. Why pay $5 for a coffee? I may not be a coffee connoisseur but it all tastes the same to me

I don't understand why a little tyke like this was not with her mother. I mean, grandmother's are fine, but when kids get scared they want their mom.

I don't think this kid was scared. She just refused to sit still!

An episode like this helps put-off any thoughts of having kids, doesn't it? They're not usually this bad to be around! Quite the contrary.

You better believe it does! Children... *shudder*

We had a terrible time finding ME last year. I was a new TR reporter and was too embarrassed to put that little bit of info. in my TR.

Oh rrrreeeaaalllyyyy? Now the secret is out!

You got a good picture. Were you seated that close to the front, or did you elbow your way up the aisle?

Actually I zoomed up between the seats. I was sitting about 4 rows from the front. Pretty coy huh?

You think they might want some good references from you?

Oh for sure. I wonder if they would've done the same if I told them I'm on the DIS...

What the... I must know what the fridge looked like! JK.

Hey! Are you mocking me?

Nice update. You left us wanting for more.

Right where I want you

Sounds like you're off to a great start! I Tim Horton's! I've been wanting an iced cappuccino and a Boston Creme donut for the last two days. Sorry to hear about the small children on the plane, but at least the flight itself wasn't too bad. I'm still not sure whether we're going to get our own luggage or tag it for Magical Express. Can't wait to read more!

I'll mail one right out to you Although the iced cappuccino might be more of a cappuccino soup by the time it reaches you. I suggest taking advantage of ME to deliver your bags. If you don't mind waiting for your luggage to arrive. We always run off to the parks right away so it's not a big deal.

Joining in!
Can't wait to read more

Why hello there Welcome to the shin-dig!

I hadn't heard of Tim Horton's before. is it more like Starbucks or more like a sandwich place?

Looking forward to Epcot!

A little bit of a) and a little bit of b) Like a starbucks only without the snobbery and pricetag

subbing! great updates!!

 

[Señor DonDuck]

Good to hear you survived the flight. Love the sight of that WDW archway.

I've had the pleasure of experiencing Tim Hortons little box of delightful goodness. So addictive.

 

[All7OfUs]

Hey Jen!

Lovely update! I laughed that your room request was magically granted after they found out you were a TA!!! Ah, the perks of a job!

So, ME is a little hard to find?? I'm getting scared. Do I dare lurk around on the transportation board??

Bummer it wasn't warmer for you! I like HOT!

That's exactly what I"m requesting too! 50's Lakeside. I hope I get it! None of the other theming even remotely appeals to me.

Sometimes kids need to be just held down in the airplane. I know we've had to do this a few times with our own kids cuz they just didn't want the seatbelt on. It almost always gets better once the plane takes off.


So EPCOT is first- Let's tour!

 

[wdwgirl03]

Yay, you're there! I love getting to the airport in Orlando and heading to the Magical Express terminal. Glad your flight was noneventful.

Can't wait for more!

 

[jenbear123]

Good to hear you survived the flight. Love the sight of that WDW archway.

It's the happiest I'll ever feel (until my wedding day) when I see that sign

I've had the pleasure of experiencing Tim Hortons little box of delightful goodness. So addictive.

So fattening too!

Hey Jen!

Lovely update! I laughed that your room request was magically granted after they found out you were a TA!!! Ah, the perks of a job!

I found that quite laughable myself. I should use that line more often.

So, ME is a little hard to find?? I'm getting scared. Do I dare lurk around on the transportation board??

Have you not used ME before? It's simpler to find than people make it out to be. Once you know where you're going, you wonder how you ever got lost in the first place.

Bummer it wasn't warmer for you! I like HOT!

ME TOO!

That's exactly what I"m requesting too! 50's Lakeside. I hope I get it! None of the other theming even remotely appeals to me.

And if you don't get it, just say you're a TA It's really quiet over there without having a pool around. Plus when you face the lake, it's like you're the only ones in the whole place.

Sometimes kids need to be just held down in the airplane. I know we've had to do this a few times with our own kids cuz they just didn't want the seatbelt on. It almost always gets better once the plane takes off.

I wonder if I was like that as a kid. The only memory I have of being on a plane was when I was convinced it was a bus... that is until it took off

So EPCOT is first- Let's tour!

Yay, you're there! I love getting to the airport in Orlando and heading to the Magical Express terminal. Glad your flight was noneventful.

Can't wait for more!

Yes, no air turbulence for me this time. The more I've been travelling, the less my fear of flying rears it's ugly head. And no pukers on the flight either!

 

[MEK]

Excellent TR so far. I honed in when I saw you were staying at POP and Kidani. Those were the places I stayed my last two trips. Sounds like you are off to a nice early start. Glad the fridg swap worked so well.

 

[Krissy04]

Your title drew me in...next week I'll be staying at POP for one night and then on to AKV Jambo for 3 more

I so wish the Buffalo airport had a Tim Hortons!

Off topic, but since you mentioned hockey in your update I suppose I should say 'congratulations!' on the gold ...but you gotta admit...Ryan Miller rocks

Anyway, great picture of the WDW sign...can't wait to hear more...don't make us wait too long

Krissy

 

[jenbear123]

Excellent TR so far. I honed in when I saw you were staying at POP and Kidani. Those were the places I stayed my last two trips. Sounds like you are off to a nice early start. Glad the fridg swap worked so well.

Welcome to the party I loved Kidani. Now if only I could afford to stay there for more than one night, all would be right in the world

Your title drew me in...next week I'll be staying at POP for one night and then on to AKV Jambo for 3 more

Wow, I must've done something right with my title. You're going next week?! Have fun!!!! A TR perhaps?

I so wish the Buffalo airport had a Tim Hortons!

It doesn't?! And I'm flying out of there in April..... NOOOOOOOOooooooooooooo

Off topic, but since you mentioned hockey in your update I suppose I should say 'congratulations!' on the gold ...but you gotta admit...Ryan Miller rocks

Ryan Miller is one of the best goalies in the league right now. Beats Toronto's Raycroft any day Of course he'd be a favourite or yours... being on the Sabres and all

Anyway, great picture of the WDW sign...can't wait to hear more...don't make us wait too long

Krissy

Thanks I'll start working on the next update tonight. I've got way more readers this time. Hope I can keep up!

 

[jenbear123]

The mighty golf ball presented itself directly in front of us as we passed through the admission gates. I inhaled the sweet, magical air that is Disney into my lungs. I was officially on a Disney high.

Our first destination was to get a fastpass for Soarin'

We were well behind the Soarin' stampede of the day so I only hoped we could get a fastpass time in before our dinner ADR at Tokyo Dining. The park seemed pretty busy that day but to my surprise, fastpasses were still available. And for a reasonable return time too!

With our spot in line reserved, we agreed that the sandwich we had eaten earlier was not satisfying our insatiable hunger. Bubba and I decided to share a package of sushi and got ourselves each a drink at Sunshine Seasons

It wasn't until after we got this that we realized we were having sushi for dinner. D'OH!

Finally we had tamed our ravenous bellies so we went to our first destination

Even after multiple trips last year, I still never got to spend an extended amount of time in Innoventions. This was going to be cured on this trip! Like I mentioned earlier, it was rather chilly this day, so being indoors was rather comforting.

Our first stop brought us to the Creative Workshop, where you get these neat velcro froggies.

We quickly put our creative imaginations to work. At first I didn't think we could keep our pieces of artwork until I saw a CM refilling the velcro shapes. This was a pretty neat experience. Something I've always missed out on.

Here's our finished frogs (mine on the left, Bubba's on the right)

For the rest of the day, these guys kept clinging to EVERYTHING in my bag. Be forewarned....

The path brought us to another neat kiosk, the new IBM "Smarter Planet"

There are screens where you can play either a matching game or a voting game, to make a smarter planet. It's interesting to compare your answers versus what others say for what the important things are on our planet. Now if only we could start taking action on some of these issues *cough*cough*cough*government!*cough*cough*cough*

Being satisfied with our smarter planet, we suddenly cascaded into virtual reality. Without rhyme or reason we were jumping over huge gaps, scaling high walls, and collecting these weird green coins.

Fortunately, we escaped this treacherous place with only 3 out of 5 lives lost. This was a good day.

We had already done a few of the other exhibits so we headed out to explore the east (or was it west?) Innoventions. On our way, we started seeing hints of the Flower and Garden Festival

It's spooky to see these topiaries again. Many of them have changed positions and are in different places than they were last year. Almost seems as if they were alive.... dun, dun, DUN! To think we were at the Flower and Garden Festival just one year ago scares me. Time went so fast! This was before I started TRs on the DIS of course.

Where was I?

Oh right.

So onwards we trekked to East/West (it's all the same) Innoventions. On our way, Bubba mentioned she wanted to try Sum of All Thrills. WHAT?!?! I had read on one of the blogs at AllEars what this thing can do. Creating your own roller coaster is all well and good unless you have a sister who loves thrill rides and jumping out of planes Thankfully she compromised and would let me design our "coaster". Phew....

Was I scared? YES
Did my life flash before my eyes? YES
Did I have fun? YES! (surprisingly)

I would recommend all (yes ALL) of you to try this at least once (unless you suffer from severe claustrophobia or motion sickness) I was scared out of my wits but ended up really enjoying my coaster creation. Sadly I can't remember what we called it. Something like Roaring Mountain, I think. Anyways, it was all very math related, most of which I ignored and just focused on making my coaster the tamest thing imaginable. Who needs math? It's a very interactive experience to create your roller coaster. Using tangible tools (that actually move and you can hold in your hands) you create the speed and height of the track on this touch based screen. In retrospect, I should've made mine a bit faster with a bit higher hills. Something for me to try next time. You have a time limit. So the length of your ride depends on how much you create within that time frame. Bubba and I were able to get a solid minute or two out of ours

Now, I'm not normally bothered by people other than Canadians who point out we talk funny. We say, eh. I get it. We also might have a weird accent that you're not used to. But laughing at us is being a tad on the disrespectful side. Usually it's something you laugh about. "Hardy, har, har. You call pants, trousers." "No doubt aboot it, eh?" But just the way this CM at Sum of All Thrills pointed out the way Bubba and I were talking. Not cool, yo.


Moving on.




Finished with our Innoventions adventure, we decided to strap on our backpacks and dig a hole to.....

China!

Can anyone guess where in China I took that photo?

 

[redlight]

Here's our finished frogs (mine on the left, Bubba's on the right)

Your frogs are adorable!

 

[All7OfUs]

No, not cool to laugh at someone's accent! But I do love listening- I think that's very cool!

Mary told me about the Sum experience, and it's gone way up to the top of our lists. Can't wait!

I never feel attracted to Innoventions- I need to re-think that I think.

I know where you took that China photo! Did you try the echo thing??

 

[Flossbolna]

A CM really should know better than making fun of other guests... I wonder why people don't realize that they sound "funny" to you as well? It goes both ways...

Sounds like a good start to your day at Epcot. Did you have to wait long for Sum of all Thrills? I read somewhere that it gets pretty long lines.

 

[scooby9932]

Wow, those frogs are cool! We'll definitely have to try them when we're there in April. We always enjoy Innoventions. It's a nice break from the heat & crowds - or in your case, the cold & crowds.

I want to try the Sum of All Thrills. I do get motion sick, but usually have my Psi bands on anyway. I would love to try a tame plane ride.

Making fun of someone's accent is so uncouth. I can't believe a CM would make fun of yours. You'd think working for Disney they'd hear all kinds of accents all the time.

I love hearing different accents & the different words/phrases people use! I never laugh, but I have been known to "adopt" the accent of the person I'm talking to. It's a strange habit that I try to control so as not to embarrass myself & others. Somer does the same thing, so it must be genetic!

And you know what, I call pants trousers. It wouldn't even occur to me to think that was different. But I do LOVE to hear the "aboot" and "eh" from my friendly Canadian neighbors! It's nice to hear & see different cultures, languages, dialects, accents, etc. I think it makes life interesting. How boring would it be if we all talked the same?

 

[glennbo123]

It wasn't until after we got this that we realized we were having sushi for dinner. D'OH!

That's pretty funny! I'm sure you still enjoyed your dinner sushi. I will be posting something sushi-related in a few days on my PTR.

Our first stop brought us to the Creative Workshop, where you get these neat velcro froggies.

I had seen that there was a velcro display thingee, but I didn't know you got to make and keep some cool frogs. Score!

Being satisfied with our smarter planet, we suddenly cascaded into virtual reality. Without rhyme or reason we were jumping over huge gaps, scaling high walls, and collecting these weird green coins.

The kids and I did this one. It was pretty cool, but I didn't take any pictures. I figured I could take pictures of my computer screen at home since it said they would e-mail our games to us and I had entered my e-mail address. None of us ever received anything. Bummer.

We had already done a few of the other exhibits so we headed out to explore the east (or was it west?) Innoventions.

I can never keep them straight either. I think the Epcot is upside-down , north/south wise, from what I think it should be. It drives me crazy because I usually have a pretty good sense of direction.

On our way, Bubba mentioned she wanted to try Sum of All Thrills. WHAT?!?! I had read on one of the blogs at AllEars what this thing can do. Creating your own roller coaster is all well and good unless you have a sister who loves thrill rides and jumping out of planes Thankfully she compromised and would let me design our "coaster". Phew....

We have to do this! I think I read that blog too, but now that you're reminding me about it I need to put it as a "must do" for when we visit Epcot.

Now, I'm not normally bothered by people other than Canadians who point out we talk funny. We say, eh. I get it. We also might have a weird accent that you're not used to. But laughing at us is being a tad on the disrespectful side. Usually it's something you laugh about. "Hardy, har, har. You call pants, trousers." "No doubt aboot it, eh?" But just the way this CM at Sum of All Thrills pointed out the way Bubba and I were talking. Not cool, yo.

What a hoser! I enjoy hearing other accents. I like to try figure out where other people are from. I wonder if we'll lose this as people become more mobile.

 

[MEK]

That is a beautiful picture you took in China....and....I have no idea where.....but I will soon when you tell me.

I am looking forward to trying sum of all thrills and I will try to make a scarier coaster than I normally would based on your review.