The Magic and the Misery ~ Updated 6/13: June Trip Report Started!

[Dugette]

I should mention (and, if you read our PTR, you may have noticed) we deviated from our original plans a fair amount this day. We had planned to either hit some headliners in DHS in the morning or have an easy morning at POR. However, we'd ended up doing the DHS headliners the night before. And, although we had a somewhat lazy morning, we still had time to spend in AK before lunch. And we were curious about RPW. The upcoming afternoon/evening follows our plans a little bit more closely, but there are still some changes, especially later in the evening. It was fun to make some spontaneous changes during this trip. But, back to the narrative:

When we finished lunch at Tusker House, I sprinted over to Everest to check for Fast Passes. It was about 3pm and they were all out. Oh, well. I quickly made my way back and met up with Dug just in time for a show.

Flights of Wonder was next on our agenda. We enjoyed this show on our last trip and wanted to go again...I especially wanted to get some good video to show my step-mom, since she's a big bird-lover. Dug took a lot of pictures, which was good since my video camera battery died during the show (towards the end, though).

Here's a still frame from my video. It's Miles, the Trumpeter Hornbill, eating the grape he caught in mid-air:

Next, here's a picture of Groucho, the singing Parrot:

Next up was Harley, the African Pied Crow. We didn't get any great pictures of him, but he retrieved (and returned) a dollar bill from someone in the audience.

After Harley, JJ the Great Horned Owl made an appearance. The cool thing about having my video is that I can pull some fun still frames from it. Here he is flying towards the back of the audience:

Many of the birds ended up flying right over our heads. The owl was supposed to land in the back, then fly back to the stage, going just over the heads of two audience members with cameras that had been brought up on stage. Well, JJ the owl really was not interested in the return flight. He stubbornly sat in the back, with everyone watching him. You can kind-of see the amusement on his face:

After a couple of minutes of prodding, he finally gave up and returned to the stage. Next up was "Baby Webster", the baby vulture:

He was followed by this Harris Hawk:

At some point in the show, I had noticed the row of Hidden Mickeys on the set. Dug snapped this shot of one of Mickey's cousins running along the row:

Next guest was "Fraser Crane", the Crane:

They also brought out a Bald Eagle:

These birds at the end of the show were pretty:

After the show, we found ourselves with enough time to do the Maharajah Jungle Trek before we had to be at the Finding Nemo show. We must have seen these guys on the way over to the MJT:

Here are some of the animals and the impressively-imagineered scenery from the trail:

Continued in next post...

 

[Dugette]

More Maharajah Jungle Trek scenery:

These next two are a couple of my favorite (action) shots. I think there was a mating chase going on:

More scenery:

Pretty bird:

Elaborate birdhouses:

Now it was time to head over to Finding Nemo. We arrived and were directed around to the side of the building for our "priority seating." There was a section in the front right and we were allowed to sit anywhere we wanted in it. We ended up sitting several rows back from the stage, right next to the walkway part of the stage that the actors use in some scenes. Then came the waiting for the show to start.

We were a little sleepy and tried to rest a bit. At one point, I noticed kids calling out "Nemo!!!" in unison. It took me awhile to see that they were spotting Nemo randomly appearing in the bubbles at the sides of the stage. But, once you see him, it's somewhat addictive to keep watching for his appearances.

The show started. The seats were good...felt right in the middle of the action at times. We enjoyed the show (we also saw it last September, but it's worth repeating).

During the show, I believe the park officially closed to the public and Extra Magic Hours began. This would be our first time being at AK in the evening. Our first order of business was to see the Festival of the Lion King show. We loved it last time and wanted to see it again. On our walk over, we saw this guy:

We also found out where all the birds go to sleep at night. Very cool:

We also saw these guys hanging out in Camp Minnie-Mickey:

As usual, FOTLK was great!

AK doesn't have a lot open in the evening, so we just planned to hit the headliners and hope the lines weren't too bad. I can't remember when, but at one point we stopped by Kali River Rapids, but it was apparently closed for EMH and we were shooed away. That was okay with me. I had no interest in getting wet. It worked out well on our September trip that it rained all day when we were at AK, so getting wet on Kali was no big deal--we already had ponchos on! We actually went twice in a row that time. But it was chilly and dry this evening, so it was probably good it was closed!

Anyway, we made our way over to try our luck with Expedition Everest. Turned out that it was a walk-on! Awesome!!

Then, we made the hike over to Dinosaur. It was also a walk-on! I know some people don't like Dinosaur at all, but we enjoy it enough. It's not the best ride ever, and it is pretty rough, but it's enjoyable. I especially like the video on the monitors at the end, showing the dino roaming the halls of the Institute! They have a good sense of humor on this one.

There was another attraction in Dinoland open for EMH, but we were avoiding it like the plague: Primeval Whirl. We've only ridden it once and it was during that rainy day in September I mentioned before. It was somewhat traumatic. While we were waiting in line, a girl (maybe 13 or so?) got out of her ride vehicle and slipped on the wet pavement. She fell hard, her head hitting the pavement...right by the edge of the ride vehicle. It looked like it was going to run over her head. It was quite horrifying. Luckily, she was helped up quickly and appeared to be okay. Very scary, though. So, of course, we already weren't feeling real good about Primeval Whirl after witnessing that. But we went on anyway. We HATED it!!! Dug is a bigger guy and he and I shared a seat on the right side of the car (I was on the outside). Two other people were seated on the left side of our car. If you've been on this ride, you can probably imagine how completely squished I was during all the spins. So, I was in pain the whole time AND it was still raining, so we were getting wet too. I couldn't even tell you what the ride itself was really like, I was trying too hard not to end up with any lasting injuries So, yeah, we were skipping that EMH attraction.

Next, we went to It's Tough to Be a Bug. Another attraction with no wait. In fact, it was the opposite of a wait. As we were making our way down the long and rambling queue, there were a couple announcements that the show would be starting very soon and we should make our way quickly to the entrance. We were cruising through the line pretty fast...it went on forever! Finally, we reached the entrance and got in. Enjoyed the show. We saw it once last September, so we were a little more prepared for the "exiting bugs" at the end.

Then it was back to Everest, because we really wanted to ride it while it was dark outside:

Despite what appeared to be crowds of youth outside of it, we were able to walk right on again! We requested and got the front seat. Nice view! Once we got out of our train, we decided to try what we'd tried (and failed at) with Space Mountain our first night...running out and getting back in line again right at closing. Luckily, EE's exit is short and the CM at the entrance was still allowing people in. So, we got to ride again! (not the front seat, but that was okay)

It was just after 8pm at this point and the park was closed. We had originally planned to go back to our resort and have the make-your-own-pasta in the food court for dinner. However, we'd ended up having that the previous night, so we changed plans and hopped on a bus over to Animal Kingdom Lodge. We'd been thinking it would be cool to spend a little time there if we had a chance...and now we did.

Once we arrived at the AKL, we wandered around exploring the inside a little bit. It's a pretty place. We went out the back doors and enjoyed the savannah view. We saw some Zebras in the distance. Also saw an Ankole Cattle, I think.

Then we headed over to Mara. There was another item we wanted to use a snack credit on:

Yummy, yummy! Good appetizer before dinner

After we finished munching, we took a stroll out by the pool area. It was closed for renovations, but we wanted to wander around a bit and see what it was like. Looked like it would be pretty nice when it was open.

We made our way to an animal viewing area. We took a look out of the various lookouts. We saw some flamingos. We also saw sleeping pelicans.

We saw the sign for the Night-Vision Goggles animal viewing. We got in the (short) line for it. There were only a few animals out, but we saw Elan, a Tommy, and a Vulture. It was a neat experience.

We still hadn't had dinner and we knew that we needed to get from one resort to another to go home, which is kind-of difficult. So, why not connect in Downtown Disney? And why not eat there? We'd heard that Wolfgang Puck Express was a great CS credit value, but we didn't originally have enough time scheduled in Downtown Disney to try it, so this was a good opportunity to work that in.

We took the bus from AKL to DD. It was a LONG ride. We were hungry and it was getting late, so we headed straight to WPE.

I had heard that the pizza was especially good and I love meatballs, so the meatball pizza sounded perfect! I got that with an orange juice to drink and a cookie for dessert (because they didn't have many options and it was portable, in case I wanted to save it for later). Dug got the Four Cheese Mac & Cheese with Chicken on it. It also came with a side salad. I think he got a lemonade to drink. And he got Creme Brulee for dessert. After we ordered, we sat down in the nearly empty dining room. When they brought out our food at first, it was 1/2 wrong. They put a meatball pizza in front of me, so that was good, but they put some other pasta dish (clearly not mac & cheese) in front of Dug. I think it turned out that the whole order belonged to another table. But they told me to keep the Meatball Pizza. They brought the other meal to the other table. I felt bad when I realized that the second person at the other table was probably watching me eat her pizza!

Anyway, once they got it all sorted out, here's the right food:

It was very yummy! The pizza was filling, so Dug had a little of it too. And I was too full for the cookie, so we brought it back to POR with us.

After dinner, we took a bus back to POR (Maybe it was too cold for a boat? I can't remember). We were very tired and went right to bed. 21k steps taken for the day.

Up next: What could possibly compel me to turn down a Soarin' Fast Pass and dinner at LeCellier?!?!

 

[cmp1111]

Great pictures! I'm glad you got to see AKL. For our first family trip, my DH declared that we were going to "do it right" and we picked AKL, savannah view. Now he refuses to go anywhere else, because he likes having breakfast, and wine at night, on the balcony with the animals.

But yes, the ride to DTD is a LONG one from there.

I loved all your Jungle Trek pics, and hooray for getting some extra EE rides!

 

[lovesdumbo]

Great pictures! My DD & I arrived at WDW on that day. We went to EHM at AK. The only ride we did was Dinosaur and then we went back to AKL as we had been up early and needed to be up extra early the next day (her birthday) for the Sunrise Safari. Wonder if we crossed paths.

 

[burly]

Okay I give what did compel you???

 

[LuvEeyore]

Okay...What would compel you to forgo at FP to Soarin and dinner at Le Cellier?
This is making me want a Disney fix.

 

[disneydreamingdebby]

I'm in and all caught up! (I have a terrible habit of reading a trip report to its (current) end before posting. I am enjoying your report. I loved the four parks video. I was tired watching it though- we do tour commando even with our twin girls. (They were 6-1/2 and 7 on our trips.) I am excited that in July they will be nearly 8-1/2 and we can push even more. (Really, aside from the requests to leave the parks to go swimming, they can tour with the best!)

You said early on that you wouldn't repeat Thurs. I can't wait (but it must be bad) to see what Thurs. held.

 

[Goofy442]

I love WGP foods. I have to eat there everytime we visit can't wait to go back.

 

[Sunset Cliffs]

Your new camera is amazing. Great pictures! The bird show pictures were very clear.

We love WGP and we always get pizza there. The pasta looked good too, so we might need to try that next time. Yay for getting to ride EE twice in a row!

 

[Dugette]

Great pictures! I'm glad you got to see AKL. For our first family trip, my DH declared that we were going to "do it right" and we picked AKL, savannah view. Now he refuses to go anywhere else, because he likes having breakfast, and wine at night, on the balcony with the animals.

But yes, the ride to DTD is a LONG one from there.

I loved all your Jungle Trek pics, and hooray for getting some extra EE rides!

I would love to stay at AKL someday. It seems like such a unique resort. I'd definitely have to get a savannah view. I'd love hanging out on that balcony too!

Great pictures! My DD & I arrived at WDW on that day. We went to EHM at AK. The only ride we did was Dinosaur and then we went back to AKL as we had been up early and needed to be up extra early the next day (her birthday) for the Sunrise Safari. Wonder if we crossed paths.

I wonder if we did cross paths? It's entirely possible! How was the Sunrise Safari? I bet that would be really cool!

Okay I give what did compel you???

Okay...What would compel you to forgo at FP to Soarin and dinner at Le Cellier?
This is making me want a Disney fix.

I'll be working on that update tonight, so hopefully you'll know tonight or tomorrow!

I'm in and all caught up! (I have a terrible habit of reading a trip report to its (current) end before posting. I am enjoying your report. I loved the four parks video. I was tired watching it though- we do tour commando even with our twin girls. (They were 6-1/2 and 7 on our trips.) I am excited that in July they will be nearly 8-1/2 and we can push even more. (Really, aside from the requests to leave the parks to go swimming, they can tour with the best!)

You said early on that you wouldn't repeat Thurs. I can't wait (but it must be bad) to see what Thurs. held.

Welcome! Glad you're enjoying so far. I read TRs the same way you do...I have to be fully caught up to comment. That's impressive that you do commando-style touring with your kids! Strangely enough, even though we did so much on our 4 Parks Day, it actually seemed fairly relaxed--maybe because we didn't have a strict schedule and were fairly spontaneous.

I love WGP foods. I have to eat there everytime we visit can't wait to go back.

Yes, it was pretty good. It might take me awhile to go back there, though. I'll get to that in the next update.

Your new camera is amazing. Great pictures! The bird show pictures were very clear.

We love WGP and we always get pizza there. The pasta looked good too, so we might need to try that next time. Yay for getting to ride EE twice in a row!

Thanks! EE twice is cool, but being in the front row at night, and looking out over that view and all the lights, is really cool!

 

[A&Bmama]

Another great update!

I would love to do Everest at night. All in all it sounds like you guys had a great day. I can't wait to hear what could possibly make you turn down soarin FPs and Le Cellier!

 

[cinderella crazy]

All caught up now! Wow! It's amazing the difference in picture quality.

Looks like you had a great time at AK! I would love to ride Everest at night!

Yum! Meatball pizza. It looks really good too!

Can't wait to hear about the Soarin fast passes and LeCellier (Mike keeps hoping that LeCellier will have an opening while we're there. I keep telling him not to hold his breath).

 

[Dugette]

Another great update!

I would love to do Everest at night. All in all it sounds like you guys had a great day. I can't wait to hear what could possibly make you turn down soarin FPs and Le Cellier!

Yes, it was a pretty good day. Unlike the next one...coming right up...

All caught up now! Wow! It's amazing the difference in picture quality.

Looks like you had a great time at AK! I would love to ride Everest at night!

Yum! Meatball pizza. It looks really good too!

Can't wait to hear about the Soarin fast passes and LeCellier (Mike keeps hoping that LeCellier will have an opening while we're there. I keep telling him not to hold his breath).

Keep checking on Le Cellier...you never know...something like my next entry could happen to someone and open up a spot for you and Mike!

 

[Dugette]

The plan for the day:

Up early to attend EMH at the Magic Kingdom from 8-9am. This was a highlight from our September trip, as we went on so many things in a row with no lines during that early hour.

Next, we hop on the monorail for Epcot. Grab some lunch at Sunshine Seasons. We did not eat there on our previous trip, but we were VERY tempted to, as the scents coming from it are amazing. I suspect that Disney is utilizing the same technology they use for the skunk on Journey Into Imagination and the chili dog on Stitch’s Great Escape in order to pump out yummy, yummy food smells from Sunshine Seasons. (And to pump out yummy, yummy popcorn smells from the popcorn carts! )

After lunch, the plan was to spend some time in World Showcase, maybe do some Kim Possible missions (we did the France mission on our last trip and enjoyed it). Grab a snack at the Boulangerie Patisserie. I was looking forward to trying a Napoleon and a Ham and Cheese Croissant.

After more time in World Showcase, we make our way to Canada for our most-anticipated dinner of the trip: Le Cellier! We had not been here before, but were really looking forward to that cheese soup and steak!

Sounds like a nice day, yes?


The actual day (from my point of view):

Sleeping soundly. I’m a good sleeper. I like to think I’m a highly skilled sleeper. I don’t wake up during the night. But I did this night. At 4:30am, to be exact. And I woke up with an upset tummy. (I’ll try not to be too gross here…but maybe don’t read this while you’re eating…don’t worry, there are no pictures!)

Headed into the bathroom, confirmed my stomach was not overly happy with its contents, but wasn’t too concerned. I’d be fine in the morning. Maybe the meatball pizza didn’t agree with me, who knows? Went back to bed. Went right back to sleep. Told you I was a good sleeper!

Woke up again awhile later. Still early, don’t remember when. Dug was still sound asleep. Needed to make another run to the bathroom. This time, I became aware that my stomach was not only unhappy with its contents, but that it was determined to evacuate its contents by any means available.

As a side note: We listened to a WDW Today podcast once where they interviewed a former janitorial cast member from WDW. He explained that throw-up is referred to as a “protein spill.” I will be using this Disney terminology in this post.

On another side note, I rarely spill protein. In fact, with the exception of one isolated incident maybe a year ago that probably involved food poisoning, I had not had a protein spill since I was 13 years old. On family vacation at Yellowstone. I’d had a lot of orange juice prior to that incident, so you can imagine I developed quite an aversion to orange juice for many years.

Anyway, I tell you all this, because there was a protein spill. And, being that meatball pizza was the last thing I ate, you can now understand why I’m not in a hurry to go back to Wolfgang Puck’s after seeing my pizza for a second time. To be clear, though, the food was not the cause—Dug had some of my pizza too and he was fine. So, don’t be afraid of WPE!

Well, that was no fun. But, last time it happened (the year-ago incident), I felt much better afterwards and the sick feelings went away immediately. So, I figured that would be the case this time too. Went back to bed. Dug didn’t even wake up!

I think the third time I woke up was morning-ish and Dug was awake. I told him that I hadn’t been feeling good. Made another bathroom visit, but luckily did not spill any protein that time. Did the next time, shortly later, though! Yuck!

I had a thermometer with and took my temperature. It was 99.8 degrees at that point. I tried to figure out what was going on. It didn’t seem like food poisoning…and there was nothing I had eaten that Dug hadn’t also eaten…and he was fine. It couldn’t be the seasonal flu or H1N1, as I’d been vaccinated for both far enough before our trip that the vaccines should have been fully effective. Plus, I had no respiratory issues…only stomach. It had to be just some sort of terrible stomach flu. Go figure—I spend all this time trying to avoid getting Dug’s impetigo (and I never did get it!), but I get some random stomach flu instead! Uuuugggggg!

It was clear that I wouldn’t be able to handle the EMH at the MK, so we decided to take it easy for the morning, let me rest, and see how I was doing at lunchtime. I went back to sleep, with occasional visits to the bathroom. No more protein spills occurred, but I felt very nauseous when I did anything, except lie flat on my back. Sitting, standing, thinking of food…all of it made me feel very sick. But when I laid on my back in bed, I felt decent. Slept a lot more.

I can’t remember when, but at some point in the day, Dug called his mom. He told her that I was sick. I believe that her advice to him included sleeping in a cot and wearing a mask. Lovely!

Around lunchtime, it became clear that I was still not up to going out. I didn’t want Dug to waste his whole afternoon watching me sleep, so I told him to head out to Epcot on his own. I didn’t need anything except the bed and the bathroom.

He headed out. He will be writing about his day in another post. I guarantee it will be more fun than my day!

I spent the afternoon sleeping, running to the bathroom, and sipping a bit of water. I didn’t eat anything at all. Not even a Reese’s Puff! I think Dug called to check in a couple of times. I don’t really remember. I felt bad at one point that I was sleeping away the day, so I managed to turn the TV on briefly. All I remember is that the weather was on and they were saying that there was a tornado somewhere a couple counties north of us. I didn’t know they had tornadoes in Florida in January! Turned the TV back off. I was so out of it. Laid on my back and slept some more. Thank goodness Disney has pretty comfy mattresses!

I’ve read some trip reports on here where people get sick and they say, “It’s better to be sick at Disney than sick at home!” I have to disagree with that statement. I think it depends how sick you are. If you can still function, I agree with it. If you are unable to do, well, anything…I disagree. I was miserable. I wouldn’t wish that flu on my worst enemy. I kept feeling terrible because I knew I was losing a precious day of Disney! If I was at home, I’d be taking a sick day from work—I wouldn’t have minded missing work! I’d have preferred that for sure!

So, my afternoon was boring. Slept, slept, and slept some more. At 5pm, I took my temp again and it was 100.8 degrees. I wished I had packed some Tylenol, but I only had Ibuprofen and figured that would be bad for my stomach. Water (and not very much) was all I consumed all day, in a feeble effort to not become dehydrated.

At some point in the early evening, Dug called again. He was really hoping I’d be feeling better after all that rest. He had managed to get two Fast Passes for Soarin’ by waiting until his window from the first one was open, then getting another (for me ). And we had Le Cellier reservations for 8:05pm. He asked if I’d be up for meeting him for Soarin’ and Le Cellier. It killed me to say it, but I had to say no. There was no way I could walk to the bus stop at POR unassisted, not to mention all through Epcot. Plus, even thinking about food made me feel nauseous. I’d hate to be spilling protein at Le Cellier! So, he went on his own.

I continued to sleep. I can’t believe I basically slept through the entire day! And I was still tired! And I didn’t eat anything, but was not the least bit hungry. This is one way that having the Dining Plan can go wrong…when you’re too sick to eat the food you’ve prepaid for.

I don’t remember when it was, but whenever Dug came home, he showed me some souvenirs. The waiter at Le Cellier felt bad that I was sick and couldn’t make it, so he sent some things home. Dug had several pieces of bread (including pretzel bread). He also had an entire piece of Chocolate Whiskey Cake that they’d given to him for free (for me to eat when I felt better). Just looking at the cake nearly made me spill protein, so we put the bread and cake in the fridge for later.

Dug also had stopped at the store at POR and picked up a few "sick supplies". There were no saltines, so he got a loaf of white bread. He got some ginger ale. And he brought home a variety of medications: Nyquil, Pepto, and some other cold/flu thing. I'm not big on taking medications, especially when some of the warnings on these contradicted my symptoms, so I didn't take anything. All I wanted was Tylenol, but I could wait till morning to see if I still needed that.

And then I probably went back to sleep. I don’t remember anything else. Most boring (and wasted) day at Disney ever! Good thing we got annual passes and are going back a few times! And, don’t worry, we have Le Cellier booked again for our June trip…and I intend to eat there this time!

Hopefully sometime soon I’ll get Dug to write up his day. I’m sure it will be dramatically different than mine!

I hope none of you ever has a day like mine!

 

[burly]

Oh man, i'm so sorry you went thru that, hope you felt better fast!
The first time i went to WDW i had and emergency root canal!

 

[Dugette]

Oh man, i'm so sorry you went thru that, hope you felt better fast!
The first time i went to WDW i had and emergency root canal!

Yikes!!!

 

[praisehisname]

Oh no! I'm sorry you were so sick! I hope the next day you woke up feeling better.

 

[A&Bmama]

Wow sorry to hear that you were sick.

Sounds to me like you had norovirus to me. My daughter had it at about the same time you would have. I nursed her through her violent protein spillages, brought her small drinks and took her temp at regular intervals. My thanks for performing my Dr. Mom duties was a case of norovirus of my very own. Not fun at all.

I wholeheartedly agree with you. I would much rather be sick at home be in than a strange place and lose a day of precious vacation. I wouldn't even want to be sort of sick.

Im going to go out on a limb and say if you had norovirus that by the next day you were feeling much improved but not 100%. I'm guessing you were still feeling somewhat tired and weak. You probably ate some small meals and drinks and didn't spill any protein. I predict you went to a park but didn't do a "full" day and avoided any thrill rides. Sounds like MK would be a good park to visit.

Can't wait till your next update to see how close I am.

 

[Dugette]

Oh no! I'm sorry you were so sick! I hope the next day you woke up feeling better.

Thanks. Things will improve...

Wow sorry to hear that you were sick.

Sounds to me like you had norovirus to me. My daughter had it at about the same time you would have. I nursed her through her violent protein spillages, brought her small drinks and took her temp at regular intervals. My thanks for performing my Dr. Mom duties was a case of norovirus of my very own. Not fun at all.

I wholeheartedly agree with you. I would much rather be sick at home be in than a strange place and lose a day of precious vacation. I wouldn't even want to be sort of sick.

Im going to go out on a limb and say if you had norovirus that by the next day you were feeling much improved but not 100%. I'm guessing you were still feeling somewhat tired and weak. You probably ate some small meals and drinks and didn't spill any protein. I predict you went to a park but didn't do a "full" day and avoided any thrill rides. Sounds like MK would be a good park to visit.

Can't wait till your next update to see how close I am.

I looked up norovirus after reading your post. I have to say, that sounds exactly like what I had! As far as your predictions, you'll have to wait and see...but you might want to look into fortune telling for some extra Disney money Sorry you and your daughter had to deal with it too...it was the sickest I've been in a LONG time! Just terrible!

 

[Goofy442]

I would be feeling the same way what a waste of a day. Go fiqure if we could plan getting sick it wouldn't be in Disney. My kids have only been sick twice in Disney and they go out of there way to help you. I hope you were only sick for one day and the rest of your trip was better.