The most fantastic, magical things can happen ............... Day 03 Update/July 18

[YukiPhnx]

OH MY GOSH, so much moving around!!! Sounds like a really fun packed summer you have ahead of you!

And it's great that you were able to book all of your FP+s in 1 go. Did you get the times you wanted?

 

[englishrose47]

Wow that is a busy schedule , I am jotting down things I want to do that are new to me. Epcot has the new show in Canada les parfaits and also Disney & Pixar films.

 

[Hundredacre]

Day 10

It's moving day - again!
Hand over luggage to bell services to transport to Old Key West

Shopping at Disney Springs

Lunch at Wolfgang Puck's Express

Check into Old Key West

Do some shopping

Spend evening at DHS
FP+ for

Muppet Vision 3D
TSM
ToT

Watch Star Wars fireworks

Stay for EMH

Day 11

Have breakfast at Olivia's (tradition)

Head to Epcot
FP+ for

The seas with Nemo and friends
Mission Space
Soarin

Grab lunch at Epcot

Pool time at OKW

Spend evening at DHS

Star Wars Dessert Party if offered

Day 12

California Grill Brunch at the Top

Visit MK
FP+ for

Jungle Cruise
7DMT
Splash Mountain

Stay for Festival of Fantasy Parade

Pool time at OKW

Spend evening at Epcot

​

Under day 11 "grab lunch at epcot," where is that food from? Looks amazing.

 

[momof3princes]

I am so late to join you here! Wanted to say Hi!!!! Now I am going back to the beginning to catch up, looking forward to reading all about your adventures

 

[Pinkocto]

Under day 11 "grab lunch at epcot," where is that food from? Looks amazing.

I think that's Sunshine Seasons in The Land pavilion. The beet salad there is fabulous as well.

 

[MAGICFOR2]

Your plans are looking great! Speaking of rental car return, we had trouble too in 2004 after a hurricane had been through. All of the signs had blown down around the exits for the rental return area. We kept driving around in circles, until we ended up pulling over and calling the rental desk to get directions. That is why we only rent from in terminal places now, we were traumatized.

 

[dew4378]

Following along! Your upcoming trip looks exciting and exhausting!!!!

 

[chunkymonkey]

Can't wait to hear about your Gardens of the World Tour! We did our first tour at the parks on this trip (Behind the Seeds) which was pretty cool.

Your summer vacation sounds so magical! I honestly would not mind changing resorts especially with the amount of time you have there. I just think it's part of the fun and exploring of the WDW Resort. I would definitely consider it myself and I probably would do it if I had APs and more vacation time!

 

[Flossbolna]

I hope you haven't floated away in all the rain recently!! Seems like your corner of Austria got a fair share of it!

 

[c3h3a3r]

Wow - just wow.... your plans look amazing....would love to go on a Disney cruise....

 

[Leshaface]

Absolutely loving your plans (and hating you at the same time!

 

[GoofyFan1515]

I'm dizzy just reading about all the whirlwind touring you have planned! Would love to join you.........but I'm afraid I couldn't keep up!

 

[pas130]

WOW that is a true "world" tour! Love reading your plans. I've done our FP but only one TS meal

 

[dizneeat]

I am sorry I have been absent for a while here, but it is going towards the end of the school year and there are tests and tests and more tests and it eats up all my time. Finally today I was able to get back on here.

This vacation is going to be amazing!!!!

We definitely hope so, especially as we will get the chance to meet some awesome DISers at WDW, at DL and on the cruise.

That is awesome. I know that didn't cross my mind but we were getting a little desperate.

We had been driving in circles for quite a while and when all else failed we came up with the plan of following the shuttle. Thank god it worked.

Loved the long weekend in Italy. Sounds relaxing.

It is so relaxing as we really are able to do nothing but walking around a bit and eat great food.

Oh My all the plans for this summer. I totally enjoyed reading them through I forgot to quote anything.

And those are only the plans for the first 12 days, there is a lot more to come.

Sounds like it's going to be an incredible trip!

It's a big one, even for us, and we are so looking forward to it.

OH MY GOSH, so much moving around!!! Sounds like a really fun packed summer you have ahead of you!

It looks like a lot, but since Disney will do the transport of the suitcases it should be easy. And we are used to moving around a lot from our drives to Key West and all over the west coast. We have quite a lot of things squeezed in, but there have been so many new things and staying for over two weeks should give us enough time to enjoy it all.

And it's great that you were able to book all of your FP+s in 1 go. Did you get the times you wanted?

It worked like clockwork. I got all of my initial times, but have since shuffled them around a bit.

 

[dizneeat]

Wow that is a busy schedule , I am jotting down things I want to do that are new to me. Epcot has the new show in Canada les parfaits and also Disney & Pixar films.

There's definitely a lot packed in. We have not been to WDW in the summer in a few years, so we are "eager" to do as much as we can during this summer.

Under day 11 "grab lunch at epcot," where is that food from? Looks amazing.

It's from a few years back from Sunshine Seasons at Epcot.

I am so late to join you here! Wanted to say Hi!!!! Now I am going back to the beginning to catch up, looking forward to reading all about your adventures

But you are here now!!! Hope you enjoy coming along. I promise, once school is out I will get up to more speed here.

Your plans are looking great! Speaking of rental car return, we had trouble too in 2004 after a hurricane had been through. All of the signs had blown down around the exits for the rental return area. We kept driving around in circles, until we ended up pulling over and calling the rental desk to get directions. That is why we only rent from in terminal places now, we were traumatized.

Thank you! I hope they will work out.
Tell me about rental car returns. We have travelled so much in the US and had our fair share of searching around to find returns. Thankfully today we travel with our GPS and the searching is reduced to a minimum.

 

[dizneeat]

Following along! Your upcoming trip looks exciting and exhausting!!!!

Welcome!
Yeah, exciting and exhausting, but don't we usually need a vacation after a Disney vacation? Maybe this is why we added the cruise.

Can't wait to hear about your Gardens of the World Tour! We did our first tour at the parks on this trip (Behind the Seeds) which was pretty cool.

We have done quite a lot of tours at WDW, DL and DLRP and they are all fun. We did the Behind the Seeds a few years ago and it was a fun little tour. Gardens of the World is only offered during F&G and so we just jumped on the opportunity of going on that tour. It was really interesting.

Your summer vacation sounds so magical! I honestly would not mind changing resorts especially with the amount of time you have there. I just think it's part of the fun and exploring of the WDW Resort. I would definitely consider it myself and I probably would do it if I had APs and more vacation time!

I hope it turns out the way we would love it to be. With not having been in the summer for quite some time we are really looking forward to it.
And we don't really mind moving around. Gives us several different experiences and since we don't intend to transport our luggage ourselves it should be easy.

I hope you haven't floated away in all the rain recently!! Seems like your corner of Austria got a fair share of it!

Thankfully our immediately area did not get as much as some a bit further away, but we had some seriously wet days lately.

Wow - just wow.... your plans look amazing....would love to go on a Disney cruise....

Ah ..... thank you! If you haven't been on a Disney cruise, you really should try it one day. They are awesome, but be aware they can become very addictive.

 

[dizneeat]

Absolutely loving your plans (and hating you at the same time!

Thank you for your approval, and I hope you don't hate us too much. (I do understand!)

I'm dizzy just reading about all the whirlwind touring you have planned! Would love to join you.........but I'm afraid I couldn't keep up!

I am sure you'd be able to keep up. If we can do it, so could you.

WOW that is a true "world" tour! Love reading your plans. I've done our FP but only one TS meal

I hope we will be able to make the most of our visit - I actually didn't plan on many TS restaurants, but they did add up in the end.
Oh, and btw - any chance we could meet up for a drink or something? PM me if you think it would be possible.

 

[Pinkocto]

Hopefully school ends smoothly for you. I'm glad you have this vacation to look forward to!

 

[dizneeat]

Hopefully school ends smoothly for you. I'm glad you have this vacation to look forward to!

Thank you! Three more weeks, which means 1 more big test, an overnight trip to Salzburg with my class and the teacher's excursion (another 2 days) and then blissfully "studentless" nine weeks! Can't wait.

 

[dizneeat]

Day 3, March 22

Gardens, rides and friends … - Part 2

Then we learned that a few more guests were signed up for the tour but had not made it yet and we would wait for them for a few more minutes. About 10 past 9 we finally left, with more person joining us, but a few others still not there. We first started with the flower display behind Spaceship Earth, then headed over to the National parks display

and finally the Mickey display that was right there.

We learned about what goes into making those topiaries, what materials they use and how they are watered from the inside. Next we walked over to the Butterfly House

and our guide pointed out some of the details there as well.

And once we had left we learned that the rest of our group was now finally on its way and we were waiting for them there.

A few minutes later they turned up and we headed to World Showcase

to check out the topiaries and learn how horticulture added to the experience. We walked past Mexico

and then up a path to the side of it and she pointed out some of the plants there

and even though we had been there several times, it struck us that we had never noticed those plants. There was a lot of talk of how the plants blended in and still gave the area a distinctive look. They even showed us the materials of which the topiaries are made and it was pretty interesting as that was something we had no clue about. When we reached Norway we stopped again and this time we all got a small present. An Olaf – Gardens of the World Tour pin. And even though we knew the pin was given out, it was a nice surprise to see the Olaf design. And off we went again, stopping in China to explore the dragon and after seeing it quite a few times, it was the first time to see the “fire”in its mouth.

There were lots of little things pointed out and in Germany we learned that even in the train garden there were some tiny Mickey and Minnie topiaries.

We got a good look at the special trees behind the small restaurant in Japan and watched a person from the Bonsai society take care of the Bonsais that were on display in front of the shop. We all had a smile when we came to France and the guide pointed out that no one really liked taking care the French garden, as it required a lot of trimming of the boxtree and you had work bent over for that for longer periods of time. And finally we made it to Canada, where we again admired the gardens and were told the story of how they had come about in Canada. And then we went backstage to see what the “mountain” in Canada looked like from the back side. This was not our first look behind the scenes and it still surprises me at how different life is behind those doors. We had a good look (no photos please) and were told how they maintained the trees that were up on that “wall” that looked like a mountain from the outside. We were then told that this would be the end of the tour, but not without another present. Everyone in the tour got the Flower and Garden poster in a cardboard container as a present. We had known about the pin, but the poster was a real surprise. Once on stage again, we all still chatted for a while, the guys from Adventures by Disney let us know that there were new “adventures” to come, but we had to read up on them on the website and then finally we said our goodbyes.

(side note: since there were numerous CMs taking care of the displays we were not allowed to take photos during the WS part. It was okay to take pics of the flowers close up, but no pics with background, so therefore the lack of photos during the last part)

To be continued ..........​