The Sea Witch Stole My Voice! Our Two Week Land and Sea Adventure! COMPLETE 4/12

[Lifelong_Dreamer]

Cathcing up again, sorry, I can't wait to go back to Sci-Fi we really like it especially the Oreo milkshake

Love love love the balloon PP photo, so cute, I need to get that one

Yum, I want an Oreo milkshake right now!

 

[englishrose47]

Yum, I want an Oreo milkshake right now!

Me Tooo !!!!!!

I missed Fantasmic due to rain this time!!!!

 

[Lifelong_Dreamer]

Me Tooo !!!!!!

I missed Fantasmic due to rain this time!!!!

We were very lucky that we chose that particular day to see Fantasmic as I am pretty sure the rest of the week we were there it either got canceled or was not scheduled at all. So we really lucked out.

 

[Mysteria]

We missed the night shows this May too.

Glad you got to see Fantasmic.

 

[MAGICFOR2]

Looks like a great day at DHS! I didn't really love LMA, either. I would rather see Little Mermaid again. I don't know if I'll ever get DH back in there again! I'm glad you got to see Fantasmic - it really is a must see!

 

[Lifelong_Dreamer]

We missed the night shows this May too.

Glad you got to see Fantasmic.

Bummer, stupid rain!

 

[Lifelong_Dreamer]

Looks like a great day at DHS! I didn't really love LMA, either. I would rather see Little Mermaid again. I don't know if I'll ever get DH back in there again! I'm glad you got to see Fantasmic - it really is a must see!

Almost missed your post as I was posting at the same time!

I would like it if they fleshed out the Little Mermaid show a bit more. More action and less of the movie clips. It is one of my fav Disney movies so I would love to see more Little Mermaid stuff in the parks. I was very excited when I heard that they are adding a Little Mermaid ride out in California.

 

[carissanboys]

Mmmmm - your burger at Sci Fi looks so good!

Negative attitudes really annoy me. Glad you were able to make your escape.

And I'm glad the rain held off enough at the end so you were able to see Fantasmic!

 

[Lifelong_Dreamer]

Mmmmm - your burger at Sci Fi looks so good!

Negative attitudes really annoy me. Glad you were able to make your escape.

And I'm glad the rain held off enough at the end so you were able to see Fantasmic!

As you know I can be pretty negative at times too, mostly about myself though, but when you are in WDW or anywhere really and are talking with strangers you have just met it is pretty rude to just rant about everything in the universe. Makes people very uncomfortable! Not to mention WDW is supposed to be a happy place, don't rain on somebody's vacation!

 

[puggymom]

As you know I can be pretty negative at times too, mostly about myself though, but when you are in WDW or anywhere really and are talking with strangers you have just met it is pretty rude to just rant about everything in the universe. Makes people very uncomfortable! Not to mention WDW is supposed to be a happy place, don't rain on somebody's vacation!

HI Lessa, catching up on trip report reading! I love the details in your report, makes me feel like I am there with you! I'm heading back to Sci Fi in a few weeks, my last trip there not so great, but I did like it before that. It's been a few years so keeping fingers crossed as it's one my favorite themed restaurants!

Gotta love that Disney magis where is stops raining just before, same thing happened to Murph and me with Wishes last year.

Be back when there's more, can't wait to read about the cruise!

 

[carissanboys]

As you know I can be pretty negative at times too, mostly about myself though, but when you are in WDW or anywhere really and are talking with strangers you have just met it is pretty rude to just rant about everything in the universe. Makes people very uncomfortable! Not to mention WDW is supposed to be a happy place, don't rain on somebody's vacation!

Actually, when I think of words to describe you, negative does not make the list. I think you're a pretty upbeat person.

 

[Lifelong_Dreamer]

HI Lessa, catching up on trip report reading! I love the details in your report, makes me feel like I am there with you! I'm heading back to Sci Fi in a few weeks, my last trip there not so great, but I did like it before that. It's been a few years so keeping fingers crossed as it's one my favorite themed restaurants!

Gotta love that Disney magis where is stops raining just before, same thing happened to Murph and me with Wishes last year.

Be back when there's more, can't wait to read about the cruise!

Hey Mo! Here's hoping that your next meal at Sci-Fi brings back the magic!

Actually, when I think of words to describe you, negative does not make the list. I think you're a pretty upbeat person.

Except for when I am having one of my woe is me anxiety/panic attacks.

 

[PopArtGal]

Wow! Finally caught up hehe

So here's what I have to say.

-I love the Tinkerbell pillow. I saw it and really wanted it. But I knew it would not fit in our suitcases as we were almost done our vacation.

-Jolly Rancher pop?? What does that taste like. In my mind it is disgustingly sugary.

- I like the tree decorations. I think it's cool. You kinda gave me an idea for an art project that the students might enjoy for earth day.

- Prince Caspian was VERY cute.

- And I think your mom's Mickey was so cute. Too bad she threw it out.

 

[Lifelong_Dreamer]

Wow! Finally caught up hehe

So here's what I have to say.

-I love the Tinkerbell pillow. I saw it and really wanted it. But I knew it would not fit in our suitcases as we were almost done our vacation.

We weren't sure it was going to fit either, we managed to squeeze it in there though. I am sure it helped that we ended up buying a rolling duffel so had an extra bag to get stuff home. If it hadn't fit we would have just brought it as a carry-on onto the plane.

-Jolly Rancher pop?? What does that taste like. In my mind it is disgustingly sugary.

We didn't it try it pretty much for the reason you just stated.

- I like the tree decorations. I think it's cool. You kinda gave me an idea for an art project that the students might enjoy for earth day.

- Prince Caspian was VERY cute.

I think Mom was jealous of all the attention I got from him. He simply posed for a picture with her, no interaction.

- And I think your mom's Mickey was so cute. Too bad she threw it out.

She is very picky about her "art". She didn't want to keep it unless it was "perfect".

 

[englishrose47]

Hi Lessa and Beth .. Oh and can't forget the Bros. Grimm!!!!

 

[emmaca]

Hi Lessa and Beth .. Oh and can't forget the Bros. Grimm!!!!

Good morning Rose, you must be getting excited! I hope you and your family have a grand time!

 

[LOVEMY3KIDDOS]

Great view of Fantasmic! We always do the dinner package so get the right side of the theater. They aren't bad, just not as good as your seats!! Can't wait for the cruise!!!!

 

[princess_momma]

Almost missed your post as I was posting at the same time!

I would like it if they fleshed out the Little Mermaid show a bit more. More action and less of the movie clips. It is one of my fav Disney movies so I would love to see more Little Mermaid stuff in the parks. I was very excited when I heard that they are adding a Little Mermaid ride out in California.

Do you have the Little Mermaid Special Edition DVD? On the 2nd disk of bonus features, they have the concept art and a virtual ride for what was going to be the Little Mermaid ride in WDW. I'm not sure if that's the same one they're going to do for the one in Cali, but its there.

 

[Lifelong_Dreamer]

Great view of Fantasmic! We always do the dinner package so get the right side of the theater. They aren't bad, just not as good as your seats!! Can't wait for the cruise!!!!

Ah, we have never done the dinner package, just always tried our luck getting there a bit early. I don't care where I sit though, as long as I get to see Fantasmic!

Do you have the Little Mermaid Special Edition DVD? On the 2nd disk of bonus features, they have the concept art and a virtual ride for what was going to be the Little Mermaid ride in WDW. I'm not sure if that's the same one they're going to do for the one in Cali, but its there.

I do have it, never looked at the Special Features. I'll have to check it out.

 

[Lifelong_Dreamer]

We woke up nice and early this day. We knew that we would have to get to the park super early as it was sure to be extremely crowded. It was the opening day of Star Wars Weekends! I had been so excited when they announced the dates for the 2009 weekends and saw that we would be able to attend on our last park day. It was not something I had planned for when initially booking the trip as SWW is usually in June so it was a nice little surprise.

We got to the park right around 8am. We approached the turnstyles from the side bag check and then joined the lines at the turnstyles. We were fairly close to the front, hurray! Looking behind me I could see the huge line of people waiting to get the celebrity autograph fastpasses, thank goodness Mom and I don't care about that kind of stuff. I left Mom in line while I went in search of a Times Guide for the day. Well at the ticket counters they only had the normal DHS Times Guides. Where on earth were all these people getting the special SWW guides? I stopped somebody and asked and they said they were handing them out right before you go through bag check. Well why on earth did they not have these at the side bag check too?!! So I went back out to the main bag check, grabbed two guides and then had to go through bag check again. I was annoyed!

They keep you entertained while waiting to get into the park. First they have a radio station from the Star Wars universe playing. This was very entertaining, I especially enjoyed the Storm Troopers recruitment ad. Here's some clips that Mom and I recorded.

Star Wars Radio Clips

Then closer to park opening Storm Troopers appear on the rooftops. They were sent to guard the entrance from "rebel scum". They were hilarious!

Mom and I recorded pretty much all of their "show". The sky clears up and makes the video easier to see around the 3min mark.

Storm Troopers

Once they started letting us in it was a mad rush to the rope. Instead of heading straight down the street like most of the people I led Mom off to the left and down a side street. There was a rope drop here too which was much less crowded and would allow us to be closer to the Star Wars area. I was hoping this would give us an advantage over the crowd at the main rope drop. Just and FYI in case you were wondering but they do NOT have a special Star Wars rope drop ceremony.

Mom and I were right at the rope and standing next to us was a lady who looked to be in her forties and she was in full costume. Well it was Star Wars Weekends so I was not surprised to see somebody dressed up, in fact I expected it and was surprised when I saw barely anybody dressed up. Well Mom started chatting with this woman as it is impossible for Mom not to talk to strangers. Well it turns out she has been coming to SWW for the past 16 years! Wow, that is some dedication! As she continued to talk Mom and I began to realize there was something not right about her. She was a total Luke Skywalker stalker. I mean she was crazy, there was just something about her that was very off. She even carried around this kit that was like a shrine to Luke. You know in tv shows and movies how they will show stalker shrines that people make in their closets. Well this box was like that. Creepy!

As soon as the rope dropped this woman took off running.

Mom and I were hustling as well, not running like some of the people. I was really surprised that Disney allowed this and did not walk everybody to the Star Wars area like they do with the safari in AK and Soarin at Epcot.

Anyways I suggested to Mom that we ride Star Tours first as I knew there was a chance that we would get Darth Vader or some Storm Troopers on the ride with us if we were the first ride of the day.

We saw this lady while heading into the ride.

Well we were the first ride of the day, unfortunately we did not have any special guests riding with us. Oh well!

Upon exiting we got in line to get our first character picture. First up was Princess Leia.

Well this is when we encountered crazy stalker lady again. The line for Leia was set up right next to the fastpass machines for Star Tours. Well crazy stalker lady had clearly already been through the line and was just standing there next to the fastpass machines starring at Leia. Mom and I were in line for 15 minutes and this woman did not move. What the heck was she doing? I suspect that she was waiting for Luke to show up but she was really creepy and I was surprised that the character handlers allowed her to loiter there in the character area.

After Leia we got in the insanely long line for Chewbacca. This whole area was pretty much a sea of people. Crazy! While waiting in line Chewie left and an ewok came out for pictures. Mom and I stayed in line though because I knew it was very likely that by the time it was out turn that Chewie would be back.

They had a CM going up and down the line making sure that everybody knew who they were standing in line for. Turns out he had a master schedule of who was going to be where and when. He let us have a little peek.

My feet were really killing me but there was no way I was getting out of that line. I knew that I would just have to suck it up as it was sure to be a day full of long lines.

The Jedi Training Academy started up while we were waiting in line. Mom held our spot in line and sent me over to try and get some pictures. They had both Darth Vader and Darth Maul out fighting the young padawans today.

I rejoined Mom in line and finally our turn for pictures was up. I think we stood in that line for 30-40 minutes. The whole time we were in line we could see that crazy stalker lady was still standing in Leia's greeting area starring at her with the crazy look in her eyes. She had been there for over an hour know! What on earth was she doing?!! I know she wasn't harming anybody or actually doing anything but she just gave off such a creepy vibe and Mom and I just could not help wondering about her.

For some reason Mom did not want to get in the picture with Chewie. Mom and I had been chatting with a lady in line with us and I had told her all about how Alek and Erich had called me Chewie growing up. She suggested that I should frame a copy of these pictures of Chewie and me and give them to my brothers for Christmas. LMAO! Stupid brothers! The pictures did turn out nicely though I think.

Next we hustled on over to the line for Queen Amidala. She had gone in for a break right before we got in line so we figured she would be back in 10 minutes or so. Wrong! Amidala kept us all waiting for at least half an hour. Some pictures we took while impatiently waiting for Amidala to return.

Standing in that line was painful! It was so freaking hot! I thought I was going to melt. At least there was a railing I could perch on to relieve my feet.

Eventually Amidala came back out and since the line was not long we saw he rather quickly after she returned.

It was an hour and a bit away from parade time so I suggested to Mom that we stake out the parade spot that I had selected and then one of us could go grab lunch and bring it back there to eat.

The spot I had selected for the parade was where the celebrity busts are. Surrounding the busts is a short wall that you can sit on to view the parade. It is the perfect spot as nobody can stand in front of you as they would be in the parade route, you get to sit down, and since you are perched on a wall you are at the perfect height to take pictures.

Mom saved our seats on the wall and sent me off to explore and also to grab lunch. She didn't mind my going off on my own as I am definitely the Star Wars fan out of the two of us. She had never even seen the movies until I made her watch them before the trip. I told her there was no way I was taking her to Star Wars Weekends without her seeing them.

In my wanderings I came upon the line for Leia Minnie. I got in line and then heard a CM announce that in 5 minutes Minnie would be going inside and Jedi Mickey would be coming out. Works for me!

Well this line was moving VERY slowly and parade time was getting closer and closer. The CM started announcing that Jedi Mickey would be leaving soon to get ready for the parade. I was beginning to be afraid that I was not going to make it. Well I did just barely! They cut off pictures after the family that was behind me in line.

Click here to continue