The horse girl, her big guy and WDW..a trip report! Update 8/4-Day 10, pg 26!

[DisneyJo]

Tara I'm on page 200 of HP, what about you?

 

[Eventer98]

Tara I'm on page 200 of HP, what about you?

I finished at 10pm last night!!!! We should PM about it when you're done!

 

[Eventer98]

Day 6, part 1

Again, I let ourselves sleep in. Until 8am!! Wowsers!! We had AK planned for the day and then Dixie Stampede at 6:30. We got moving and headed over to AK. Our ADR for DB was for 10am. I was starving already!! So that means I have worked off all the crap I have eaten so far this week right?? We had a quite a show on the bus on the way over. There were two girls across from us, about 9 years old. Well one fell asleep instantly while the other did the open-mouth, head bob thing the whole ride. She kept waking back up every 10 seconds and acted like she had no idea she had just fallen asleep. One time drool got all over her shirt and the next she cracked her head on the back of the seat. DH was in hysterics!! So were the people next to us. Oh how I wanted to get a picture but I had no idea where her parents were and didn’t want to get yelled at!! I told DH to stop laughing b/c she had to know we were laughing at her but man, it was a riot!! We said if it was our kid we would let them go to town and then videotape it for blackmail later in life. We got to the gates at 9:15 and went to get a FP for EE. I swear Disney had shipped some cattle to market that AM b/c I saw this walking over to Everest..first time it was witnessed on this trip!!

Good God is that a clear walking path? With no one to pull a dead stop in the middle of traffic?? It was great. For about 2 minutes when the next herd moved in. And speaking of dead-stopped again..we were coming out of an AK gift shop later in the day when the idiot in front of us stopped dead and I had to fly off to the side to avoid slamming into her where I promptly tripped over a door jam and almost fell. Swell. Do you know why she stopped DEAD, instead of going to the side?? Yep, you guessed it. The all important law that says you may not, under any circumstance, walk and look at your watch at the same time. Grr.

Back to our EE trek. We grabbed FP’s with an 11:05 return time which was perfect. By the time we ate at DB and walked back over it should be just around that time. So, like on Tuesday, we headed over to Dinosaur to see what the standby time was. It turned out to be the same wait time as then too…30 min. In fact, we were in the same starting place in line as then as well. It’s another fast moving line and we were through in probably 15 min. or less. Probably b/c those slow moving tourists weren't in line this time! This ride scared me again again!!! It seems to scare me more every time I ride!!

DB’s is right next door to Dinosaur so by the time we got off the ride it was 10:05. 5 minutes late. I think that’s the first ADR we weren’t early for all week!! We were seated in about 3 minutes and oops, we forgot to pose for the picture. Too bad. You all know I am not a fan of those pictures and how they come to your table and kinda put you on the spot.

This TS seems huge!! There were 4 rooms I think and of course the buffet lines (fruit/cereal/bread in one room, meat/pancakes in another) Our table was of course the farthest one back. The food was really good but no Mickey waffles. Boma didn’t have them either…I find that hard to believe! So it looked we would be denied this trip. Speaking of denied….we were snubbed by characters again!!! I couldn’t believe it! Last year we were only snubbed once my Minnie at LTT. Here Goofy walked by and just waved along with Pluto. Finally, when Mickey was about to snub us (who had a tiny waist with big hips…I would swear he was a cross dresser!) I held up my camera and he stopped. Same with Donald. But if I hadn’t they would have waved and walked by!

(I'm not sure what happened to the forced Mickey pic..it must not have come out! )

The food was real good…they had real thick cinnamon French toast which was yummy. The eggs were “soft” so that was perfect in my book. Brad was our server and he was pretty quick with the drinks. Towards the end of the meal the OJ wasn’t quenching my thirst so I got a diet coke to go. They had to put it in a coffee cup with a lid b/c at AK regular cups don’t have straws and lids. After breakfast we rolled back out into the heat. I guess it wasn’t even that hot yesterday, around 85, but the humidity was high. My friend told me it had been hotter in Rochester…around 95. Funny to think FL was cooler then NY! We walked by this guy on the way out.

We were still a few minutes early for EE so DH walked down to get a FP for Kali River Rapids. On the way we saw these guys on a boat!

Not my favorite ride as I mentioned before. I guess I just think it’s too short. But it does feel good to get drenched on a hot day!!! The FP return time for that was only about 90 minutes away. Not too bad b/c we did not plan to spend too much more time in the park that day.

Back to EE…it was calling my name again…I figured this would be my last ride until we were back in AK in EIGHTEEN MONTHS!! Fate was on my side b/c we ended up in the front seat. Had I thought ahead I would have hung on to my camera for the ride instead of stowing it. The view at the end of the tracks before you go backwards is awesome!! We saw MK, Epcot, TOT…just a great view. Oh well. The front was so much better then the last row that we were in on Tuesday. It seemed a lot faster!! So it gave me something to hold on to until our next trip.

Something else we missed last time was the Mahjara Jungle Trek.

Part of me wanted to skip it b/c we were just so tired and hot..no so much tired from that day alone, since it was only 11am, but just tired of walking in general. But I knew I would regret it if we missed it again so we gave it a whirl. It was nice….I didn’t expect to see the Tigers with how hot it was but there were two of them laying in the shade.

The Flying Fox bats were cool too….my best friend loves bats so I had to take a pic for her.

There was a bird area too but we didn’t see many. I think it was just so hot I didn’t have the energy to lift my head up and really look.

By this time we had about 30 minutes to kill before our FP for KRR were up. We actually just sat on a bench and people watched. And boy is that fun!!! I’m evil..I know. Lots of nice people I wanted to take a picture of for this handy dandy report but I couldn’t get the pic fast enough before they were out of sight. Finally we lined up for KRR. At least it was hot…so that makes the ride worth it. It’s not the getting drenched part that I hate it’s just not that fun of a ride to me. We ended up being 1/3 people to NOT get soaked on this trip. Nice!! I got wet enough to cool off but not drenched.

I would have loved to do the safari again but figured the FP time would be too far out. There wasn’t much else we wanted to do in the park that day. After trekking all the way over we found out we were right..the return time was after 4pm. So we decided to head back to SSR. We both took showers and an hour nap (first ones of the trip) and then I called a taxi to take us to Dolly Parton’s Dixie Stampede in Orlando!!!!

I can't remember if I updated my quest for an Ohanas TS time. We ended up getting one for Sunday night. So I switched Trails End Buffet to Friday and then cancelled that AP ADR.

 

[DisneyJo]

I finished at 10pm last night!!!! We should PM about it when you're done!

I read about another 100 today but the DIS keeps getting in the way


So funny about those girls they obviously needed a break if they were falling asleep that early in the morning What is it with you and the characters you obviously don't look like character people but then why would you go to those meals Glad you enjoyed EE and front seat too

 

[punkin413]

i can't believe you're getting snubbed at this character restaurants!!! that stinks. i mean, you guys paid too and that price is supposed to include the character interaction. it shouldn't matter if you have kids or not! if we get snubbed at CP i'm gonna yell at the character doing the snubbing, so get ready! don't worry....i won't be rude.....just something like "yoo hoo.....pooh bear......you missed us over here!"

we loved the front of EE, too! we waited for the front the last two times we rode it!

 

[Eventer98]

I read about another 100 today but the DIS keeps getting in the way


So funny about those girls they obviously needed a break if they were falling asleep that early in the morning What is it with you and the characters you obviously don't look like character people but then why would you go to those meals Glad you enjoyed EE and front seat too

I had the opposite problem..HP was keeping me from the Dis!!

i can't believe you're getting snubbed at this character restaurants!!! that stinks. i mean, you guys paid too and that price is supposed to include the character interaction. it shouldn't matter if you have kids or not! if we get snubbed at CP i'm gonna yell at the character doing the snubbing, so get ready! don't worry....i won't be rude.....just something like "yoo hoo.....pooh bear......you missed us over here!"

we loved the front of EE, too! we waited for the front the last two times we rode it!

You can yell at them in sept..I don't mind!! I could have spoke up too so I can't put the blame all on them!!

 

[Eventer98]

Day 6, part 2

I had been to the Medieval Times Dinner Show in Toronto this past March and loved it!! Owning horses makes it all the more awesome! I thought the Dixie Stampede would be fun as well…all you have to say is rodeo and I am there!! I had gotten our tickets from Undercover Tourist last Jan. and reserved seats then. You are asked if you want to root for the North or the South when you call. I choose the South b/c it reminded me of Gone with the Wind times. No other reason. We had originally planned to rent a car for the day, which would have cost about $38 (including a refill on gas) rented from the Marriot,off property. We used them last year and it was great..they pick you up! But after doing some figuring I thought it would only be about $12 more to just take a taxi. Then we didn’t have to waste park hours returning and getting the car. So taxi it was. They picked us up out front and it was about $21, including tip, each way. So only about $4 more in the long run. I’ll take it! I remembered from Medieval Times that they tell you to get there 60 min. early just so you can watch some pre-show stuff and spend money in their gift shop. We got there 25 min. early and it was perfect. Bought some soft drinks in a lovely plastic souvenir boot mug, waited 5 minutes, and they let us in to the theater. We were in the second row. They mysteriously sat us on the end though when everyone else filed in from the other direction. Hmm. And I wasn’t reserving a specific seat back in Jan…just a seat in general. But I didn’t think anything of it. For now.

Mural on wall behind ticket counter

They started bringing out dinner right away..it was vegetable soup, biscuit (no refills here guys..that stunk b/c the soup portions were measly), a whole rotisserie chicken, piece of pork, 1/3 ear of corn, ½ baked potatoe and an apple turnover for dessert. The food was ok..nothing like Disney quality but not horrible. The show was ok too but way to many audience antics and not enough horse stuff. Medieval Times didn’t have audience participation stuff. And let’s stop here to talk more about audience participation. About halfway through dinner one of the workers came over and asked if we wanted to be part of a couples skit in the arena. Eek!! I don’t like that stuff. She then said we would get to ride horses. What?? I told her I have horses so I was in. She said it was like 2 minutes. Hmm. How would they get us up on horses in 2 minutes…takes me a few and I have been riding 25 years!! So I figured they were tricking us but hey, it’s fun right?? We were finally called down along with another couple from the South and two from the North. The stagehand told us we would go out into the ring and the guys had to pick a horse for us to ride. Interesting. As we went out I did not look at the people in the audience..I would have lost my dinner. Just kept my eyes on all the horses lined up. sure enough..the show started and I knew we had been had!! Yep, you guessed it..we were riding stick horses. Both of us had to share one stick horse and race around some barrels down to the real horses and back again. Our team lost b/c the other girl fell off her stick. We didn’t even get a cheesy medal for my memory box. What a scam!! It was fun though but sorry no pics. I guess I could have left my camera with the teenager sitting next to me but she didn’t look too thrilled to be there. Oh well.

Our waiter took this pic

When we got back to our seats our dessert was waiting. DH was stuffed and couldn’t finish his but I ate all mine of course. The show ended, it was only 80 min. long..I think M.Times is longer, and we called for our return taxi. I stopped in the gift shop and bought some magnets. Very exciting eh? Overall I don't think we will see this show again...I was disappointed in the amount of horseback riding.

Sine it was only 8pm, we asked the taxi driver to take us to Blizzard Beach so we could try some miniature golfing at Winter Summerland. With my AP it is only $5.50 a round. We choose the winter course. I love Xmas and need a fix every now and then!! It was a great little course…some of the holes went to Disney extremes when it comes to adding their own special touches. One shot water out at you and another had a Mickey that popped up out of a Xmas present. You don’t find this quality on the golf course at home. Definitely worth full price if you have an inkling to go.

DH had asked when we first got there if buses ran to the resorts since BB was closed by the time we got there. The CM said they run until 11pm from the BB bus stops. Alrighty then. We headed over there when we were done (DH beat me by a stroke which is RARE!! I always win even though he is a golfer!) and while we waited saw 3 Epcot buses come!!! They had EMH that night so I figured that’s why there were so many. After the 3rd bus came and there was still no sight of a resort bus (not just ours…NONE of them came through) we thought maybe we needed to get on the Epcot bus and transfer. Thank you CM for telling us. Makes sense b/c every time an Epcot bus came by the driver looked at us funny. Thanks for stopping to tell us what was going on Mr. Driver. When we got on Epcot bus #4 we asked that driver what the deal was. He said resort buses should be coming through. Well we had already waited 30 min. so we just went to Epcot.

We went right to bed when we got home and I set the alarm for 7am so we could be to MK early for our last day there.

 

[TunaJr]

I saw the stick horses coming reading your report......we went to the Dixie Stampede in Myrtle Beach two years ago.......I'm glad we did it, but once was enough.... The wife mentioned doing Medieval Times Dinner Show while we are at Myrtle Beach this year...... I'm not to sure, but maybe......

I love the pictures from miniature golf....... The last two trips we stated we need to play miniature golf, but we can never seem to fit it in.........

Can't wait for more..........Great Job!........

 

[zigzagzerr]

Thanks for the info on Dixie Stampede -- it sounds kinda fun, but maybe not worth the money.

I'm looking forward to trying that mini golf course in August, since we have the voucher. Last time, we did the other one, over by the Swan and Dolphin, which was also pretty cute!

Bummer on the lack of transportation info at the bus stop. You would think people woulda said something.


Great report. I'm sorry that it's getting closer to the end. Look forward to the last day at MK.

 

[punkin413]

i can't believe you got stick horses.....too funny! too bad they weren't real. you could've shown your stuff!

by the way, do you know if that discount for mini golf applies to the fantasia gardens, too? we wanna play when we go back in april and i'll have my AP, but ray wants to play the fantasia gardens course since he just loves that movie so much.

last day?????

 

[Eventer98]

I saw the stick horses coming reading your report......we went to the Dixie Stampede in Myrtle Beach two years ago.......I'm glad we did it, but once was enough.... The wife mentioned doing Medieval Times Dinner Show while we are at Myrtle Beach this year...... I'm not to sure, but maybe......

I love the pictures from miniature golf....... The last two trips we stated we need to play miniature golf, but we can never seem to fit it in.........

Can't wait for more..........Great Job!........

M.Times is worth the money! Try to get tickets somewhere like Undercover Tourist first...they can really save you a lot!!

Thanks for the info on Dixie Stampede -- it sounds kinda fun, but maybe not worth the money.

I'm looking forward to trying that mini golf course in August, since we have the voucher. Last time, we did the other one, over by the Swan and Dolphin, which was also pretty cute!

Bummer on the lack of transportation info at the bus stop. You would think people woulda said something.


Great report. I'm sorry that it's getting closer to the end. Look forward to the last day at MK.

We almost went to Fantasia Gardens later in the trip...we definitely will next time!!!
DS was fun but I don't think it's really worth the money. The food was ok...just not really enough for DH!! The drinks also come from a pitcher so my diet coke seemed a little warm and flat.

i can't believe you got stick horses.....too funny! too bad they weren't real. you could've shown your stuff!

by the way, do you know if that discount for mini golf applies to the fantasia gardens, too? we wanna play when we go back in april and i'll have my AP, but ray wants to play the fantasia gardens course since he just loves that movie so much.

last day?????

Yep...it applies to all the courses!! Totally worth the money but try to go at night when it's cooler. It wasn't busy at all either. We had to wait about 5 min. for our "tee time."

 

[Eventer98]

I found the Mickey pic from DB! It was in the wrong file!!

 

[DisneyJo]

Stick horses no wonder it only took a couple of minutes! So the taxi wasn't too expensive this time? Was it a different firm than took you from CSR to SSR? I love the mini golf in America as we just don't have anything like it over here

BTW I've finished HP

 

[twob4him]

Great update! I went to M.T. in northern NJ a few times. They had a nice dressage demo and lots of horses thruout the show. It was pretty good. Sorry this one didnt work out that way. Sounds like a great time anyways.....and you did get scammed! Sounds like Whispering Canyon Cafe stuff! I love the minigolf pics...it looks like fun too! VERY detailed course!
So sorry to hear your last day is coming up!

 

[Eventer98]

Stick horses no wonder it only took a couple of minutes! So the taxi wasn't too expensive this time? Was it a different firm than took you from CSR to SSR? I love the mini golf in America as we just don't have anything like it over here

BTW I've finished HP

If you love mini-golf you have to try the courses at WDW!!! Even at full price they are worth it!!

Glad you finished HP..I just sold my copy on Ebay and made a few bucks profit.

Great update! I went to M.T. in northern NJ a few times. They had a nice dressage demo and lots of horses thruout the show. It was pretty good. Sorry this one didnt work out that way. Sounds like a great time anyways.....and you did get scammed! Sounds like Whispering Canyon Cafe stuff! I love the minigolf pics...it looks like fun too! VERY detailed course!
So sorry to hear your last day is coming up!

Don't worry..not my last day. Just my last day at MK. I still have 3 days left plus the leave day!

 

[Eventer98]

Day 7

The alarm went off at 7am and I reset it for 8am. I was super tired. It seemed to make a difference b/c at 8 I jumped out of bed. Hungry I might add. But we had CS planned around 11 and then dinner at the Trails End Buffet at 6.

We got to MK around 9:15 and found it quite empty. We went towards Space Mt. first and instead of grabbing a FP like our original plan, we waited about 10 min in the standby line. Not too shabby!!

I like this ride more every time I ride! Then we headed over to get a FP for Splash Mt. The return time for those was about an hour away. So we walked on BTMR with a 5 min wait. Where were all the cattle??? Then we went to Adventureland and rode Pirates with a 2 min. wait. Wow! Our whole morning is almost over and it was just after 10! Now our FP’s were up for Splash Mt. so we went on that. I didn’t duck my head down the last hill like I always do..it was super humid again and I wanted to get soaked. And I did! I thought I remembered that there was EMH that night in MK so I asked a CM. Indeed there was..11pm-2am. We decided to come back after Cirque if we weren’t too tired.

By this time it was 11 and we decided to get lunch at Cosmic Ray’s Starlight Café.

Another great CS!! Food was almost the same as EU in Epcot except instead of cheesecake they had chocolate and carrot cake. I didn’t take pictures of this meal since it would have looked exactly like the EU one!! They did give us large cokes instead of mediums but I wasn’t complaining!!!

After lunch we wanted our food to settle so we rode TTA twice. We had to get off and walk back through the line to ride again but it wasn’t long. We talked about riding Astro Orbiter but the line was too long. No FP for that one. Neither of us had ridden it before but it wasn’t worth the long line. By this time I was pretty tired. We grabbed another FP for Space Mt. to use during EMH. I have no clue why I still had room in my stomach but decided to go get a Dole Whip. I had never had one before but thanks to all you Dis’ers I knew I couldn’t miss out!! Ok….I forgot to take a picture…don’t kill me. And don’t kill me for what I am about to say. In fact, I should put a disclaimer up!! (TR author is not responsible for reactions caused by what reader is about to hear) Does that work? I thought they were just ok. Nothing special. Was I supposed to get the Dole Whip Float? They were not creamy enough. I thought there would be whip cream and all that good stuff. Not just a cup of soft pineapple icecream. So I guess I was disappointed!! Thanks DIS’ers for leading me on!!!!

So we shopped around a bit and grabbed another FP for Spash Mt. which we also planned to use later that night. We were still dragging so we went back to the room for a swim and maybe a load of laundry. And yes..I actually went in the pool. But only b/c I had a load of laundry in. This is the SSR playground which is near the quiet pool.

DH took a nap while I watched some TV and then we left for dinner at Trails End, then we'd be heading to CDS!!

It took quite awhile to get to Fort Wilderness. We first took a bus to MK and then transferred to a boat to FW. We were still 15 minutes early so I wasn’t worried. I really like FW….I don’t think I would like to “camp” there for fear that the Disney Magic would be lost. DH stayed there about 15 years ago when they had some sort of trailers and he liked it. Now they have cabins which are a little pricey but sleep 6 I think. I wouldn’t mind that though but as for pitching a tent? No thanks. I will save that for when I am camping in the Adirondacks.

The buffet was ok….it is only $18 I think, so about $6 cheaper then other non-character buffets. The food was good..just not a huge selection. The menu had said there was bread pudding, my favorite, but it wasn’t out. They did have apple cobbler and rice crispy treats for dessert. Again, no pictures b/c we all know what buffet food looks like! They had cornbread though…that’s my favorite!! I never make it at home b/c DH hates it. So overall it was a TS we will come back to again..perhaps we will pay OOP next time since it’s so cheap. Our server was Gary and he was awesome!! An older guy in his 50’s. We knew the DDP included tip but we gave him an extra $4 b/c he was so friendly. DH always gets like 4 refills for each meal and he was right on top of it. In fact, by the 3rd refill he just brought out a small pitcher of ice tea for him!! Then when our meal was over he asked if we wanted drinks to go. That’s awesome!! We had yet to be asked that.

This guy watched over our table

Now..to get to Downtown Disney. It was about 7 so we had plenty of time to make the CDS show at 9pm. We went to the buses in FW and found out you have to take a certain color trail bus to the front of the campground and transfer there. So we had to get on the Orange Trail Bus..it was a short 5 minute ride and then we waited another 5 for the DD bus. The main bus loop is right next to the stables. I had considered taking a trail ride when DH was golfing on the 30th but it was like $45.…too much when I have a horse at home I can ride for free. They were very nice stables though and I was impressed. Sometimes those places have real crappy barns for their horses.

We finally got to DD and had about an hour to kill so we shopped some more and then walked down to Pleasure Island. I must say I do not care for PI at all. Maybe b/c I am old and can’t appreciate all the clubs. I don’t know. It is very intimidating to me and does NOT have that Disney Magic feel to it. Ugh. I hate it. I also don’t like all the locals that show up after dark. I think it really takes away from PI being Disney. I think they should just allow resort guests but that’s just my opinion…and you all know I have a ton!!!

Anyway, we made our way down to the CDS tent…I mean how can you miss it??

We got there about 15 minutes early and picked up our tickets from will call. I had bought them back in Dec. and choose the first row of the tier 2 seats. Very nice!!! I honestly don’t think there is a bad seat in the whole place though and next time would probably do tier 3. The show was awesome!!! I wish I could have taken pics but of course I couldn’t. If you have the extra $80 per ticket fee I would definitely see this show!! It’s not like anything I have ever seen before. I thought DH would be bored out of his mind but I actually think he liked it more then me!!!!

The show let out around 10:45 and we headed to the PI bus stop which only had resort buses. So we went back to SSR and waited about 20 min for a bus to MK. If we were smart we would have caught the Poly or Cont. bus and taken the monorail but we didn’t think about it. We finally got to MK around 11:30. We picked up our EMH wristbands at the gate and headed to Space Mt. I noticed A LOT of people there for EMH with toddlers and infants. I just don’t think that’s fair to them. Yes, they were sleeping in those hideous plastic strollers but how comfortable is that and how good of a sleep is that for them? I just felt bad for them b/c I am sure they would rather be back in their room in a soft crib.

ANYWAY, we rode Space Mt and then did a 5 min wait on standby for BTMR. By this time I was a walking zombie..it was almost 12:30!!! We decided to go on SM and then go. They weren't accepting FP’s for this one anymore so we did a 10 min. standby wait. The park had a whole different feeling to it at night..I really liked it. It was also less crowded then I thought it would be. We headed out and caught the bus to SSR. I think I finally crawled into bed close to 2am!!! And we had to be up at 7am b/c DBIL was coming to golf with DH.

 

[punkin413]

you're making me wanna go see cirque when we go back in april!!! we've talked about it, but never really seriously considered it.

i can't wait to do evening EMH at MK! we didn't do it in may because it was our first day and we were exhausted after MGM. the disney walkathon conditioning hadn't set in yet! and we really didn't get to experience MK after dark because it didn't get dark until like 8:45 and then wishes started at 9:00....then the park closed. so i'm really looking forward to being there after dark!

 

[winkers]

I'm finally all caught up. Just thought I'd let you know I'm still here!

 

[zigzagzerr]

Wow, Cirque de Soleil, too? How lucky are you? This sounds like it was a truly fabulous honeymoon, and I"m glad you had such a great time.

When we were at WDW last August, we tried EMH at Magic Kingdom, and it was a complete zoo! I guess it's really just the luck of the draw sometimes.

Sounds like a very full day. Looking forward to more.

 

[SwansLoveDisney]

It sounds like you had the BEST Magic Kingdom day! No lines anywhere.

I have got to see a Cirque du Soleil show one of these days!