Pluto_fan
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Mar 30, 2008
- Messages
- 944
Aw, that gave me goosebumps!
As always, I love your photos! Wow!
I'm really stumped by the latest "where in the world?".
I'll guess the Living Seas...but I think my streak has come to an end! 
The End of the World? Who Cares? We are at the House of Mouse!
- Thread starter jusero
- Start date
Aw, that gave me goosebumps!
As always, I love your photos! Wow!
I'm really stumped by the latest "where in the world?".
I'll guess the Living Seas...but I think my streak has come to an end! I'm really stumped by the latest "where in the world?".
Pluto_fan, you are absolutely right! Your streak is over.
It is not the Living Seas. Hint: you are in the wrong park.
haleofafamily
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Jun 27, 2006
- Messages
- 1,141
My first thought on the pic is a lantern on a jungle cruise boat. But I have a few other guesses if that is wrong.
You are right.
For bonus points, can you say exactly where in the Backlot Tour this is?
rcsilverspring
Mouseketeer
- Joined
- Apr 27, 2008
- Messages
- 426
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Where in the World?
Hint: This is for my friend Rosemary!
Who needs a hint? I'd know "home" anywhere. (sigh)
haleofafamily
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Jun 27, 2006
- Messages
- 1,141
Where in the World?
After much discussion we have decided that this picture is from Fantasmic! maybe a poster for it or something. We're pretty sure its Jafar from Aladdin.
Right villain, but it is not a picture from Fantasmic or a poster. Good try though.
Hint: you are in the right general neighborhood.
haleofafamily
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Jun 27, 2006
- Messages
- 1,141
Right villain, but it is not a picture from Fantasmic or a poster. Good try though.
Is it something from the villians store on Sunset Blvd?
mickeystoontown
DIS Legend
- Joined
- Oct 2, 2006
- Messages
- 29,327
That was going to be my guess too.
Nice to see you back on the Dis Lisa.
Now the wedding is under your belt, you have time to breathe now?
mickeystoontown
DIS Legend
- Joined
- Oct 2, 2006
- Messages
- 29,327
Nice to see you back on the Dis Lisa.
I've got just a little bit more time to breathe than I did prior to the wedding. Hunter has football practice four days a week and ballgames at least once a week. Thank goodness the school treats their football players well and washes their uniforms for them every day.
Chapter Eight: Toto…we’re not in Disney anymore!
Today was our Universal day. Each year we pick one park outside Disney and, most years, it’s Universal. Last year we tried Busch Gardens but was so disappointed, we went back to Universal this year. Maybe next year we will try Sea World. Any tips?
Anyway, we are up and out early so we can make the park’s 9 a.m. opening. We decided to pay the extra for priority parking. The walk to the parks is long enough as it is from priority. I can’t imagine parking even farther away. I am glad they at least have those moving sidewalks.
Making our way across the parking lots and breezeways, over the bridges, along the moving walkways, down the escalators, around the corners, through the boardwalk’s shops, restaurants, clubs and bars, among the kiosks, around the corner and across another bridge, we finally made it to the Universal gates. Of course, along the way, the crowds split off in two directions: the main crowd to Islands of Adventure and the lesser crowds to Universal. I was very happy to see so few people headed in our direction.
We always hit Universal first. It’s still our favorite of the two parks.
As we made our way through the gates, we headed off to the right towards ET. Most of the rest of the people went to the left towards the Mummy and the new roller coaster. Which, by the way, didn’t impress me in the least. Seems like a roller coaster for the sake of a roller coaster. Nothing special.
As is our custom, we hit ET first. I know, I know. It’s a kiddy ride, but we love it. But as we rounded the bend, that section had not yet opened. Ooooookay…
Off to MIB, another favorite of ours. Yep, it was open. So open, in fact that we were the only ones in line when they opened the doors and let us into the first room. Wait! Now there were about six of us as four teens ran up the walk and ducked in. Wait! Now there were about eight of us as a couple more came screaming up the walk. That should have been our first clue. Wait! Here come a few more. Now we are up to 10. Quick! Close the damned doors! Nope. Here come a couple more. By now we are up to about a dozen.
But this dozen sounded more like 100 with all the screaming and yelling and hooting and hollering. They were so loud; in fact, we could not hear a word the announcer was saying. By the time we hit the ‘elevator,’ my ears were bleeding and I was envying Leo’s hearing issues. I guess none of them noticed we were in a 10-by-10 metal box and there was really no need to YELL AT THE TOP OF THEIR LUNGS! Maybe if they weren’t all trying to talk over each other all at once … sheesh. Clue one we are not at Disney anymore.
When the elevator doors opened and we piled out, we were nearly trampled as the boisterous brood ran like a bat out of hell down the hall. Leo and I just hung back a while to let them be on their merry way. They disappeared around a corner.
Once they were out of site, but never out of earshot, we started to move along the Q. I just wanted these kids far enough ahead of us so I couldn’t hear them over the monsters on the ride.
By the time we made it to the cars, the kids were long gone … thank you very much! We ended up getting a car all to ourselves and headed out to kill some alien bugs.
Love this ride.
Our final score was 132,000 to 78,000. Guess who won? I know this is not a very impressive score to any young ‘uns out there, but for us old farts, I think it’s pretty good.
After MIB … and getting our ears to stop ringing … we headed back to ET and were able to get on pretty quickly. There were about 30-40 people in line ahead of us, but that’s nothing. Once we headed through the doors and to the turn styles where you give your name, we darted for the shortest line. Never a good idea. It stopped for some reason. We ducked over to the next shorter line and, you guessed it, this one stopped moving and our original line started moving. Back over to the original and, you guessed it, it stopped moving again.
This always seems to happen to me anywhere there is a choice of lines. Be it at the grocery store, the bank, a drive up teller, a toll booth, the theater … anything … I will always choose the line that will stop moving. So, if you see me, don’t get in line behind me!
Anyway, we finally make it through and were on our way to ET’s home planet. Always a cute ride.
We then headed over to Jaws and hop on board with no waiting with about 10 others. This is one of those rides that can be very boring if you have the wrong “actor.” We got the wrong actor. Figures. But what saved the day was the lady in front of us. She spent the entire ride ducking and diving, screaming and squealing and hiding behind her husband. I love riding these types of rides with newbies.
Off to our next favorite ride … Earthquake. Of course, it is now called Disaster! But, alas, it was not yet open either. As a matter of fact, nothing else in the park was open until 10 a.m.
Since it was only about 10 more minutes, we stopped at a corner coffee shop and split a pastry while we waited.
Ten minutes later and we are on our way to the subway disaster. I really like the new intro with Christopher Walken. And I still feel bad every time granny gets blown up.
We kind of wandered around for a while and stopped in to watch the monster makeup show. If you have never seen this show, you should try to catch it. This guy is hysterical. He reminds me a lot of George Carlin … minus the foul language. And, unless you want to be part of the show, don’t sit up front. You may also get picked on and bled on.
After riding MIB again so I could video tape the full ride (and without flinging the camera during the spinning), we grabbed lunch at the sandwich shop near the front gate before heading over to Islands of Adventure for a couple hours. We don’t usually spend much time here since there are only a few rides we like.
Of course, our first stop is always Leo’s favorite, the Dr. Seuss el-train. Then we hop on over to one of my faves: Poseidon’s Fury.
Other than these two rides/shows, we spent a while just wandering until we came across the Harry Potter section. Now, neither one of us has ever seen a Harry Potter movie or read any of the books; we wanted to check it out. We had no clue what we were looking at, but it did look pretty cool. And I am assuming it was pretty good because of the crowd level. It was nearly shoulder-to-shoulder here while the rest of the park was pretty quiet.
It was crazy busy. There was even a one-and-a-half hour line to get into one of the shops. Not sure what the heck they were selling in there, but people were willing to wait an awful long time to get in. Even the line for the main ride was only 45 minutes. Plus, I physically could not squeeze my way into the shop at the end of the ride.
And, believe it or not, one of the employees told me this was a slow day. Glad we weren’t there on a busy day.
In our wandering we noticed several other clues that we were not in Disney anymore. From a trashy, smelly bathroom, to the non-Disney customer service, to the guests themselves. We actually saw a group of young women walking around the park in teeny weenie bikinis … and fanny packs. Huh? As far as I know, there are no water parks here. Whatever.
One of the things I have never liked about IA is that you just can’t get away from the heat. And this was a pretty hot, humid day.
Now, with this in mind, we approach my final potty predicament of the trip. Have you ever tried to use one of those paper toilet seat covers with a sweaty butt? Nuff said. I will let your imagination run with this one.
Another thing I hate about Universal and IA is their version of the fast pass system. If you are not familiar with it, you have to pay extra per ticket (I think around $20 or so each) and then you are restricted as to what rides you can use it on and on top of that, you can only use it once per ride. Again, Toto, we are not in Disney anymore.
Normally we stay pretty late, but today we left by about 6 p.m. for a couple reasons. One, we were getting bored and two, my daughter, son-in-law and the grands came in today and we were meeting them at their hotel this evening. I was getting excited too since this was to be Jasmine’s very first trip to the World. Plus, the little ones had no idea we were here. And, yes, my grands’ names are Christopher and Jasmine. Very Disney names, to be sure.
On our way back to the car in the King Kong parking lot, I stopped in one of the hubs for a soda. I paid my $2.50 and expected the 16-ouncer you get at Disney for that price. Not!! I was handed the tiniest freakin’ bottle I have ever seen. It was missing the thimble cup, but I downed this 8.5 ounces of ice cold gold in a couple swallows. Really? Hey, Toto!
Anyway, we were on our way back to the World … and couldn’t wait to get there. We went back to Shades to relax and grab a quick bite while we waited for Tanisha to call and let us know they were on their way to Pop Century, their hotel of choice. They had flown in earlier today and spent the day checking in and visiting Downtown Disney.
We got the call and headed to Pop. We were waiting at the bus stop when they pulled in. When the kids got off the bus they didn’t see me at first. It took a minute to comprehend that that was Lola and Lolo. Once it sunk in, I got a resounding “LOLA!!!” and a couple mega hugs. Then I put them down and they saw their all-time favorite person … “LOLO!!!!” It was quite the reunion. They even knocked the video out of Leo’s hand sending it clunking to the cement. That's me, the chunky butt in the khaki shorts and blue shirt over by the bus. (first time linking a video, hope it works)
Our little chatter box grandson showed us around the hotel grounds and to their room. Then they both showed us how to bounce from bed-to-bed and wall-to-wall on a combination of adrenaline, excitement and a fair amount of sugar.
Good luck to Jason and Tanisha getting them to sleep tonight. The parents were dead on their feet, but the kids were just getting started.
As we left them to deal with the little jumping beans, we headed home to bed ourselves. Tomorrow is going to be a very loooooooong and tiring day as we were opening Magic Kingdom with the family. Couldn’t wait for Jazzy to get her first look at “Lola’s house.”
Other photos from throughout the day:
Twister
Silly hubby
Today was our Universal day. Each year we pick one park outside Disney and, most years, it’s Universal. Last year we tried Busch Gardens but was so disappointed, we went back to Universal this year. Maybe next year we will try Sea World. Any tips?
Anyway, we are up and out early so we can make the park’s 9 a.m. opening. We decided to pay the extra for priority parking. The walk to the parks is long enough as it is from priority. I can’t imagine parking even farther away. I am glad they at least have those moving sidewalks.
Making our way across the parking lots and breezeways, over the bridges, along the moving walkways, down the escalators, around the corners, through the boardwalk’s shops, restaurants, clubs and bars, among the kiosks, around the corner and across another bridge, we finally made it to the Universal gates. Of course, along the way, the crowds split off in two directions: the main crowd to Islands of Adventure and the lesser crowds to Universal. I was very happy to see so few people headed in our direction.
We always hit Universal first. It’s still our favorite of the two parks.
As we made our way through the gates, we headed off to the right towards ET. Most of the rest of the people went to the left towards the Mummy and the new roller coaster. Which, by the way, didn’t impress me in the least. Seems like a roller coaster for the sake of a roller coaster. Nothing special.
As is our custom, we hit ET first. I know, I know. It’s a kiddy ride, but we love it. But as we rounded the bend, that section had not yet opened. Ooooookay…
Off to MIB, another favorite of ours. Yep, it was open. So open, in fact that we were the only ones in line when they opened the doors and let us into the first room. Wait! Now there were about six of us as four teens ran up the walk and ducked in. Wait! Now there were about eight of us as a couple more came screaming up the walk. That should have been our first clue. Wait! Here come a few more. Now we are up to 10. Quick! Close the damned doors! Nope. Here come a couple more. By now we are up to about a dozen.
But this dozen sounded more like 100 with all the screaming and yelling and hooting and hollering. They were so loud; in fact, we could not hear a word the announcer was saying. By the time we hit the ‘elevator,’ my ears were bleeding and I was envying Leo’s hearing issues. I guess none of them noticed we were in a 10-by-10 metal box and there was really no need to YELL AT THE TOP OF THEIR LUNGS! Maybe if they weren’t all trying to talk over each other all at once … sheesh. Clue one we are not at Disney anymore.
When the elevator doors opened and we piled out, we were nearly trampled as the boisterous brood ran like a bat out of hell down the hall. Leo and I just hung back a while to let them be on their merry way. They disappeared around a corner.
Once they were out of site, but never out of earshot, we started to move along the Q. I just wanted these kids far enough ahead of us so I couldn’t hear them over the monsters on the ride.
By the time we made it to the cars, the kids were long gone … thank you very much! We ended up getting a car all to ourselves and headed out to kill some alien bugs.
Love this ride.
Our final score was 132,000 to 78,000. Guess who won? I know this is not a very impressive score to any young ‘uns out there, but for us old farts, I think it’s pretty good.
After MIB … and getting our ears to stop ringing … we headed back to ET and were able to get on pretty quickly. There were about 30-40 people in line ahead of us, but that’s nothing. Once we headed through the doors and to the turn styles where you give your name, we darted for the shortest line. Never a good idea. It stopped for some reason. We ducked over to the next shorter line and, you guessed it, this one stopped moving and our original line started moving. Back over to the original and, you guessed it, it stopped moving again.
This always seems to happen to me anywhere there is a choice of lines. Be it at the grocery store, the bank, a drive up teller, a toll booth, the theater … anything … I will always choose the line that will stop moving. So, if you see me, don’t get in line behind me!
Anyway, we finally make it through and were on our way to ET’s home planet. Always a cute ride.
We then headed over to Jaws and hop on board with no waiting with about 10 others. This is one of those rides that can be very boring if you have the wrong “actor.” We got the wrong actor. Figures. But what saved the day was the lady in front of us. She spent the entire ride ducking and diving, screaming and squealing and hiding behind her husband. I love riding these types of rides with newbies.
Off to our next favorite ride … Earthquake. Of course, it is now called Disaster! But, alas, it was not yet open either. As a matter of fact, nothing else in the park was open until 10 a.m.
Since it was only about 10 more minutes, we stopped at a corner coffee shop and split a pastry while we waited.
Ten minutes later and we are on our way to the subway disaster. I really like the new intro with Christopher Walken. And I still feel bad every time granny gets blown up.
We kind of wandered around for a while and stopped in to watch the monster makeup show. If you have never seen this show, you should try to catch it. This guy is hysterical. He reminds me a lot of George Carlin … minus the foul language. And, unless you want to be part of the show, don’t sit up front. You may also get picked on and bled on.
After riding MIB again so I could video tape the full ride (and without flinging the camera during the spinning), we grabbed lunch at the sandwich shop near the front gate before heading over to Islands of Adventure for a couple hours. We don’t usually spend much time here since there are only a few rides we like.
Of course, our first stop is always Leo’s favorite, the Dr. Seuss el-train. Then we hop on over to one of my faves: Poseidon’s Fury.
Other than these two rides/shows, we spent a while just wandering until we came across the Harry Potter section. Now, neither one of us has ever seen a Harry Potter movie or read any of the books; we wanted to check it out. We had no clue what we were looking at, but it did look pretty cool. And I am assuming it was pretty good because of the crowd level. It was nearly shoulder-to-shoulder here while the rest of the park was pretty quiet.
It was crazy busy. There was even a one-and-a-half hour line to get into one of the shops. Not sure what the heck they were selling in there, but people were willing to wait an awful long time to get in. Even the line for the main ride was only 45 minutes. Plus, I physically could not squeeze my way into the shop at the end of the ride.
And, believe it or not, one of the employees told me this was a slow day. Glad we weren’t there on a busy day.
In our wandering we noticed several other clues that we were not in Disney anymore. From a trashy, smelly bathroom, to the non-Disney customer service, to the guests themselves. We actually saw a group of young women walking around the park in teeny weenie bikinis … and fanny packs. Huh? As far as I know, there are no water parks here. Whatever.
One of the things I have never liked about IA is that you just can’t get away from the heat. And this was a pretty hot, humid day.
Now, with this in mind, we approach my final potty predicament of the trip. Have you ever tried to use one of those paper toilet seat covers with a sweaty butt? Nuff said. I will let your imagination run with this one.
Another thing I hate about Universal and IA is their version of the fast pass system. If you are not familiar with it, you have to pay extra per ticket (I think around $20 or so each) and then you are restricted as to what rides you can use it on and on top of that, you can only use it once per ride. Again, Toto, we are not in Disney anymore.
Normally we stay pretty late, but today we left by about 6 p.m. for a couple reasons. One, we were getting bored and two, my daughter, son-in-law and the grands came in today and we were meeting them at their hotel this evening. I was getting excited too since this was to be Jasmine’s very first trip to the World. Plus, the little ones had no idea we were here. And, yes, my grands’ names are Christopher and Jasmine. Very Disney names, to be sure.
On our way back to the car in the King Kong parking lot, I stopped in one of the hubs for a soda. I paid my $2.50 and expected the 16-ouncer you get at Disney for that price. Not!! I was handed the tiniest freakin’ bottle I have ever seen. It was missing the thimble cup, but I downed this 8.5 ounces of ice cold gold in a couple swallows. Really? Hey, Toto!
Anyway, we were on our way back to the World … and couldn’t wait to get there. We went back to Shades to relax and grab a quick bite while we waited for Tanisha to call and let us know they were on their way to Pop Century, their hotel of choice. They had flown in earlier today and spent the day checking in and visiting Downtown Disney.
We got the call and headed to Pop. We were waiting at the bus stop when they pulled in. When the kids got off the bus they didn’t see me at first. It took a minute to comprehend that that was Lola and Lolo. Once it sunk in, I got a resounding “LOLA!!!” and a couple mega hugs. Then I put them down and they saw their all-time favorite person … “LOLO!!!!” It was quite the reunion. They even knocked the video out of Leo’s hand sending it clunking to the cement. That's me, the chunky butt in the khaki shorts and blue shirt over by the bus. (first time linking a video, hope it works)
Our little chatter box grandson showed us around the hotel grounds and to their room. Then they both showed us how to bounce from bed-to-bed and wall-to-wall on a combination of adrenaline, excitement and a fair amount of sugar.
Good luck to Jason and Tanisha getting them to sleep tonight. The parents were dead on their feet, but the kids were just getting started.
As we left them to deal with the little jumping beans, we headed home to bed ourselves. Tomorrow is going to be a very loooooooong and tiring day as we were opening Magic Kingdom with the family. Couldn’t wait for Jazzy to get her first look at “Lola’s house.”
Other photos from throughout the day:
Twister
Silly hubby
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