The Japanese Invade Disney World Part II...With Photo's Finished 08/01/08

[TigerTown]

The reason this is part two of my trip report is that I’ve been a bad boy and not updated the report since last year. Because of this it has now, rightfully so, been moved to the completed trip report boards. If you would like to catch up on the previous half of my TR it can be found here:

http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=1502670


Chapter 1: We're Back

Chapter 2: 8/16/07 Arrival and Epcot

Chapter 3: 8/17/07 Part One Animal Kingdom

Chapter 4: 8/17/07 Part Two Illuminations Buffet

Chapter 5: 8/18/07 Part One Magic Kingdom Morning

Chapter 6: 8/18/07 Part Two Afternoon at the Hotel and Evening at Disney's Hollywood Studios

Chapter 7: 8/19/07 Part One Morning at Disney's Hollywood Studios

Chapter 8: 8/19/07 Part Two Afternoon at the Pool and evening at DTD

Chapter 9: The rest of the trip

Well let me start this segment by sending out an apology to those that were reading this TR on a regular basis. I feel bad about abandoning this report and would like to finish it. I could give you’re the usual “life got in the way” excuse but in the end I think I stopped because it was depressing me. I knew we weren’t going back for a while and that was a bummer.

Well, I’m over it now and I hate to leave things unfinished so I’m going to give it a whirl. Please be patient as I have lost most of my notes. I’ll be doing this from memory so it might be a bit sketchy.

That being said…on with our afternoon at the Beach Club and a not so great evening at MGM.

My parents were supposed to meet up with us in the morning to go through the Magic Kingdom. Because of the heat and my dad’s bad knees they decided to skip the park and meet us at the Beach Club instead.

We met them at the front lobby and decided to go into the Sun Room in the front of the hotel. I must say this room is awesome. It is so relaxing and bright that you could sit in there for hours. A couple times during the trip I went here by myself just to read and get some down time.

My parents, being grandparents, came bearing gifts for everyone. Each of the kids got a Disney gift pack from Downtown Disney and immediately had to begin playing with their new toys. The adults talked and exchanged stories (via translation) until it was time to leave for MGM (I guess it’s now Disney’s Hollywood Studios). We said goodbye to my folks and headed for the boat

The wait wasn’t very long which was a good thing because we had dinner reservations at Hollywood and Vine for 4:20. We knew we would be cutting it close so he had to hustle.

We made it to the restaurant in time to wait outside for an hour. This was honestly the longest we waited for anything the entire week. Unfortunately only part of the outside waiting area was in the shade so I spent the hour waiting in the sun. Ouch!!!

Once we were seated they told us to hit the buffet. After the long wait we were all starving. It may have been due to the hunger but this was an awesome meal. The food was really good for a buffet. In fact, I actually enjoyed this buffet better than the Cape May buffet we would enjoy later.

Towards the end of our meal I noticed MIL was looking a bit odd. She was really flushed and didn’t look so good. I flagged down our waiter and asked where the nearest first aid station was. The restaurant staff was extremly helpful. Not only did they tell us where it was but the manager wouldn’t let us take her there alone. He insisted on going with us to make sure she got there ok.

As it turns out she was just dehydrated which happens to many people in the parks. She rested in the first aid station for an hour and then went back to the hotel for the night with DW.

After we knew she was going to be fine the rest of us decided to continue our trek into the park.

I didn’t really plan anything for this evening because I knew it would be one of our longer days in the parks. We decided to head down Hollywood Blvd and get some shopping in. The girls found the High Scholl musical shop and spent close to 45 minutes trying to decide what they wanted. In the end all they got was a card game and some hair ribbons…unbelievable!

The next stop was the sorcerer’s hat for some pin shopping. I decided to get the kids a pin bag so they could keep the pins they liked safe. They all loved these bags and the youngest ended up carrying his bag the rest of the trip instead of his lanyard.

After we spent our wad it was time for a trip to outer space. We were walking down near Star Tours and noticed that the stand by line was only ten minutes. Of course we had to go in and check it out. Let me say that I still love this ride but it’s in dire need of refurbishment. The move is getting worn and the entire experience seems a little older now. I still enjoy the wait however and even found a place to download the soundtrack so I can listen to it on my i-pod.

The evening ended with our first ever viewing of Fantasmic. Wow…what a show…

Because we had the dinner package we were given reserved seating for the show. They had us meet up in the front of the park near the gas station where we were lead through a gate and into a back entrance to the theatre. Below is a map of where we went. The map shows a nice green field but in reality it’s a service walkway that leads to a side entrance of the theatre.

By the time the show ended we were all exhausted. The day had been really long and hot and everyone was feeling the effects. We headed for the boat launch back to the beach club and were greeted with a long line. Luckily they anticipated the crowds as all of the boats were in the water. The wait wasn’t very long and in just a while we were all sound asleep dreaming of the next day at MGM.


Up next our morning at MGM…

 

[TigerTown]

After a thoroughly exhausting day on Saturday we were ready for a little slower pace on Sunday. We started out the morning with our usual trek to the Beach Club Market place for drink refills. We brought them back to the room and used the drinks to wash down our pop tarts that had been delivered by Garden Grocer. After breakfast we met up with the in-laws and headed for the docks and another boat ride to MGM.

The wait wasn’t long and soon we were on our way.


I can remember this day very vividly because it was one of those beautiful mornings. The sky was clear and the air was clean. I could also tell it was going to be a hot one!!

We got off the boat and headed through the turnstiles. As soon as we got in, it was time for everyone, except me, to make a mad dash to Rock’n Roller Coaster. I made a mad dash to Tower of Terror for fast passes and then back to the front of the park to pick up Japanese translation headphones. These worked out well but we wished they were available on a few more rides.


After everyone got off RR the kids wanted to spend some money in the gift shop. My son loves guitars and spent some of his money here. He got a couple of pins and a few guitar picks. He also made sure to give one of the picks to his guitar teacher when we got home. It was awesome to see how excited he was over a two dollar guitar pick.

With souvenirs in hand we headed to the great movie ride.

MIL loved this ride because of the classic movies. I think she would have stayed in the theater portion of the line watching those movie clips all day if we would have let her. If I remember correctly we were on the gangster version of the ride. The youngest was a bit afraid but everyone else really enjoyed the show. It’s really too bad that you can’t get a decent photo of the outside of the Chinese theater any longer but I guess I understand the reasoning behind it.

As we exited TGMR we were greeted with the High School Musical parade. Of course the girls had to stay and watch. One thing I didn’t mention is that this was the week there were debuting the new movie HSM2. Disney had a special screening outside at the beach of the hotel but because the Japanese cousins wouldn’t understand they decided not to go to the viewing. I felt bad but they seemed to be ok with it after getting to see this parade.

Once the show ended we were off to our ADR’s at the Sci-Fi Dine In. I’m not really sure why but this is still one of my favorite restaurants in Disney World. I suppose I love the theme. Watching the “Kitchen of the future” always puts a smile on my face as well. The food was ok…not perfect, but everyone really enjoyed themselves.

As we left the restaurant we were greeted by the Monsters Inc crew. Of course we couldn’t pass by without autographs…

After meeting Mike and Sulley we headed back to Hollywood Blvd for some more shopping and then a trip back to the beach club for a nap…

Up next…an afternoon swimming and an evening and DTD

 

[KayleeUK]

Just caught up with your trippies - great

 

[TigerTown]

Just caught up with your trippies - great

Why thank you...

On another note You and my wife would get along very well Our very first date was a Bon Jovi concert at Osaka Castle in Japan. It was the KEEP The FAITH tour and becasue we were in the SRO section she sat on my shoulders most of the concert. Since then we have seen them almost every time they come anywhere nere Detroit.

 

[winkers]

Yay! I'm so glad you're going to finish your report!
Next time someone gives me a hard time for being so slow to complete mine, I'll refer them to you!

 

[TigerTown]

Yay! I'm so glad you're going to finish your report!
Next time someone gives me a hard time for being so slow to complete mine, I'll refer them to you!

Please do!

I really wanted to finish it eventually and the kids finally convinced me while we were editing the video of the trip. They really want to read the final report so I promised them I would finish it.

 

[noahdove]

Great!!!

 

[TigerTown]

Well …on with the show.

After our morning at MGM we headed back to the hotel for a rest. The kids always fought us on this but they were the first to fall asleep. We slept for over an hour as we knew this would be a relaxing evening at DTD.

We woke up in time for Ice Cream . We walked into the restaurant and put our names in for a table. Of course the place was packed so we spent our time next door in the arcade waiting for our table. We had planned a few arcade trips so DW had a large bag of quarters just for this occasion. Finally our name was called and we headed in. We didn’t need a menu because the kids had seen the Samantha Brown show on Disney and knew that the only thing they wanted was “The Kitchen Sink”. We were sitting at the bar so we actually got to watch them make the thing. That guy put an entire can of whipped Cream on the top. I’ve never seen a sundae with that many toppings. We ate, and ate, and ate. The kids loved it.

When we finished stuffing our faces we met up with the Japanese cousins and headed to the pool for a swim. Let me tell you that this is the best hotel pool on property. It was HUGE!!! The sand bottom was a bit strange at first but once you get used to it it’s not so bad and even gets to be comfortable.

It was during this time that the youngest Japanese cousin in the group decided to test out the lifeguards skills. We were walking to the other side of the pool and he decided, out of the blue, to jump in the pool. What he didn’t realize was that it was the deepest part and he promptly went under water. Needless to say we jumped in after him with the lifeguard in tow.

After we finished our swim it was time to get dressed and head to the bus stop for Downtown Disney. We jumped on the bus and made it just in time for the crowds…It was packed! The kids were on a pin trading mission so the first point of attack was the pin shop. We were planning to come back for more shopping later so this was just our initial scouting mission.

We next made a bee line into the Lego store as all of the boys love Lego’s. I think we spent an hour in there and the boys did a nice job of making grandma and grandpa a little lighter in the wallet. After the Lego shop we were going to head into Disney Quest. The youngest had other ideas however. He decided he was tired and fell asleep with SIL holding him.

We were debating whether or not we should get a stroller because we were sure that he would wake up as soon as we got it. After a few minutes we decided to take the plunge. It was a good thing because, as it turns out, he slept through the entire DTD night.

We had a counter service credit for dinner so we decided to eat at Wolfgang Puck Express. The food was really good. I’ve heard poor reviews of this place in the past so I was not expecting much.

After dinner we crossed Pleasure Island enroute to Disney Quest but as we entered we noticed that no strollers were allowed. Since we couldn’t take the stroller and we were all tired we decided to call it a night and head back to the hotel. On the way to the bus stop we veered into the autograph memorabilia store. This is where we lost (at least mentally) my youngest. As I mentioned previously he loves guitars. The first thing he saw when we entered the store was an autographed Led Zepplin guitar. He kept saying “I wish I had ten thousand dollars, I wish I had ten thousand dollars”. Sorry buddy it’s gonna take a lot of allowance to save for that thing.

We made it to the bus stop and waited briefly for the bus. We got back to the hotel, said our goodnights, and slept in preparation for another fun day.

Up next…A morning of sleeping and swimming and a wonderful evening in Epcot.

 

[TigerTown]

Good morning to those of you still reading I think the time has come to close out this trip report. I’m going to do a condensed version as to not bore you guys any longer.

On Monday morning we ended up sleeping in a little bit. We were all tired from the night before and decided to just chill out at the hotel all morning. We had breakfast in our rooms and then headed for the pool.

After swim time we headed into Epcot for an evening in the world showcase.

We had reservations that night at the Coral Reef. The restaurant was ok but honestly you don’t go here for the food. The atmosphere was what the kids liked.


The next morning we headed off to Blizzard Beach. I didn’t take the camera here so unfortunately we don’t have any pictures. I really liked this place but the day we went it was packed. The line for the larger slides was over an hour so we spent most of the time in the smaller areas as well as the wave pool.

That evening we stayed close to the resort and had dinner at the Cape May Café. I’m not a big seafood fan so I really shouldn’t comment on this restaurant. I guess from the reactions of my family the food was good. I just didn’t really care much for it.

Wednesday morning we had reservation for the Good Morning Gathering at Tony’s Town Square. We really had a great time here. The kids got to meet many of the characters and finished up some of those autographs that they wanted. After breakfast they did little skit and had the kids come up front to do the hokey pokey with Tony and the characters. Overall this was a very nice experience for everyone.

One of the benefits to the good morning gathering was that we got fast passes to Mickey’s Philharmagic. After breakfast we headed for this show. What a great movie. It’s my new favorite 3D movie in the parks.

Thursday August 23rd was our last full day in the parks. We got up early and headed for Epcot. Everyone ran to Test Track while I got FP’s for Soarin. After TT, we ran over to Mission space, and then used the FP’s at Soarin. We ate breakfast at Sunshine seasons and then decided to hit The Land ride. I really enjoyed this one more than I thought I would.

We went back to the hotel for our afternoon nap and then headed over to the Poly for Dinner at Kona. This was probably my best dining experience. I really enjoyed everything about this restaurant and would highly recommend it.

We woke up the next morning and headed to the airport. We were getting ready to board the plane when we were told that there was a mechanical problem. This was the beginning of our lousy day. The plane ended up delayed for two hours. Because of this when we got to Detroit, the in-laws flight back to Japan had already left. They were told that no flights were available for two days. This was unacceptable and after waiting and fighting with Northwest for almost three hours we finally found them a flight through Portland that got them home. It was a really bad ending to another wise wonderful trip.

Well that’s it. Hope you all enjoyed…