The Village People take on "The World" & a 25th Unbirthday: 10/31 - FINAL UPDATE

[annnewjerz]

Happy 25! I can't even *remember* 25!

So far it sounds like a good WDW trip, full of surprises and changing plans.
Don't worry about the rookie photo mistakes, after *many* years of photography I still make some (like forgetting to disable the 10 second delay after I am done with it). Besides, you have December !

Thanks for the birthday wishes, boB. I do realize 25 isn't so bad in the grand scheme of things and am just happy to have made it this far.

My photo mistakes included 1) forgetting the QR plate for my ballhead; 2) keeping the ISO on 1000 for HalloWishes since we had just gotten off IASW; and 3) going on Pirates with my UWA lens and forgetting to switch it back on to autofocus after the fireworks.

I'm sure there will be a lot more mistakes to come in December.

I hope you get your 70-200mm VR for b-day present.

In my dreams. I'll be lucky if in early 2010 I can get the 80-200 f/2.8 without VR. I'm keeping my fingers crossed for that.

^Love this shot. Nice job!

Nice to hear a good review of Bluezoo. That's one that's on our radar for our next grown-up trip.

Looks like the bottom side of mushrooms, right? I can't be the only one that thinks that.

It's definitely worth the trip over there, just a short walk from Epcot and the best seafood we've had outside of the northeast.

Great pics! I really want to try Blue Zoo after Carries TR..now looking at yours, I still want to try it!

Definitely do. It was so nice and relaxed and quiet (probably because it's not on the dining plan). If you have a chance to check it out, I would definitely recommend it---I'm so glad Carrie convinced me!

Nice work so far! Like Todd, I also particularly liked the SW logo and drink shots near the beginning. (And the Mission Space exterior shots.) And like Todd and Bob, 25 seems like quite a while ago... why, I was shooting film exclusively back then! And I only owned three lenses!!! I don't know how I survived! Still in my thirties for another couple years... if it makes you feel better, I actually much prefer the 30s to the 20s. Not really looking forward to the 40s though!

Thanks, Jeff! Well wadda ya know---after selling two, I now only own three lenses AND even though I'm not shooting exclusively in film, I am shooting in film for the first time in my life

I'm sure anywhere up until the mid-30's shouldn't really be too hard a pill to swallow, but check back with me in 7 years or so and I'll let ya know how I feel.

 

[annnewjerz]

Onward to Day 2, my friends!

Day 2: October 18, 2009 (Part 1)

After a nice long night's sleep, we woke up to the sound of Erik's alarm clock ringtone, which is "Spider pig, spider pig, does whatever a spider pig does..." from the Simpsons movie.......

........yes, this is the man I married.

We bundled up and started our walk to the bus stop. It was a really chilly morning, that night had gotten down to around 49 degrees and the day was scheduled for a high of only 68. Not necessarily what we were expecting of the weather in October, but not horrible either, I guess.

The plan for the day was to catch the bus to the Magic Kingdom. We were keeping our fingers crossed that our bus luck was better than the day before, but weren't expecting too much. We got to the bus station and I realized that Twitter was down. Booooo! So I started updating the blog.

Twitter isn't working.
So sad. No apps and no website. all updates here for now.
Sent from my iPhone
Posted by Ann at 8:30 AM

After about a 20 minute wait, it was finally time to board the bus to the Magic Kingdom. Luckily, our breakfast reservation at Kona wasn't until 9:40 so we had more than enough time. When we got on the bus, this is what we saw.

INSANE! I've never had to stand on a bus so early in the morning. It was packed, I'm not sure why, but my feet were nice and refreshed from our early night so it didn't bother me. Today was Disney day, and that's all that mattered.

We hopped off of the bus in front of the MK just as the opening show was starting. I had never seen this before, so was excited that we were catching it. I feel like such a loser saying this, but after being in a less than pleasant mood the day before because of delays, weather, hunger, etc. just hearing the "magic, wrapped up in pixie dust" song almost made me cry, almost. It finally hit me that we were in Disney, going to the Magic Kingdom in only a matter of hours. It was a nice feeling.

We decided to take the ferry to the Poly. It was something we had never done. We started to walk down a brick pathway and didn't see a boat or a sign indicating a pick-up, so we kept walking.....

and walking.....

and on the way we saw this, which I thought was cool.

After about five minutes of walking, we seemed to be getting awfully close to the Grand Floridian. We kept walking and eventually we saw a dead end. You've got to be kidding me! Why in the world would anyone make a walkway to nowhere?? Makes no sense to me.

So we turned around and started to make our way back and eventually just hopped the monorail to make sure we didn't get lost again. After what seemed like hours, we arrived at the Poly and checked in with a CM from New Jersey at Kona Cafe.

We were seated quickly and I made sure to proudly display my birthday button because you never know what kind of pixie dust you may experience if you make it know what you are "celebrating today." Turns out it got me nothing, not even a happy birthday from our server, but that's okay.

After looking over the menu, even though I reeeeally wanted the macadamia pineapple pancakes, I went with the Tonga Toast to see if it lived up to all the hype it gets here on the DIS. I must say, my initial reaction was disappointment when I saw this plate put down in front of me.

I don't expect a gourmet presentation or anything, but how sad looking is that plate?? First, there are like three shriveled bacon pieces that weren't even hot. Second, the Tonga Toast looks like it's using the bathroom (if you know what I mean). Regardless, I know looks aren't everything and proceeded to eat my breakfast. I'm not a fan of regular French Toast, so on the plus side, this tasted nothing like French Toast. It was lighter, crispy from being fried and absolutely covered in sugar. Very sweet, almost like a donut, but not nearly enough banana on the inside. All in all, I'd give this breakfast a "meh."

Erik decided that he wanted to try a little of everything, especially since our next meal wasn't unil 5:00 at The Plaza. He ordered the Big Kahuna, which consists of just about every breakfast food you can imagine.

I guess this could be compared to the Grand Slam at Denny's or something. It had eggs, bacon, ham, sausage, potato, french toast and pancakes. I tried the pancakes, which were what I really wanted and they were soooo good, really made me regret the Tonga Toast. Erik had the rest of the stuff and liked it enough. He said it all tasted good, but that there wasn't anything particularly special about what he got.

Considering breakfast is cheap, we'll probably give Kona another shot on our trip in December, but wouldn't be disappointed if we couldn't fit it in.

After we were done eating breakfast, we decided to walk around the gift shops and take in some sights at the hotel.

I decided to purchase my first souvenier of the trip. I'm not sure why I picked it, I guess I just felt like buying something.

This is what was inside. Not the one I wanted, but that's the risk you take when buying a mystery box!

After we finished shopping, it was time to finally take that ferry ride. If we couldn't find it for the trip over---you can bet we'd find it for the trip back to the Magic Kingdom! We found the ferry stop right past the pool and hopped on. It was definitely cold on the boat, we were all bundled up, but it was a really nice ride and I'm glad we took it.

We hopped off of the boat and headed back towards the bus stops. It was about 11:00 at this point and we needed to go back to our room to rest up, get showers and change into our costumes.

At the bus stop, we waited 30 minutes for a bus back to Coronado Springs before a CM finally walked over to see how long we had been waiting and to contact dispatch. I don't know if the problems with the bus were only at CSR or resort-wide, but it sure seemed like there were less running this trip than our trip in 2007. Maybe a cut-back? Who knows, but it was definitely a tiny bit inconvenient waiting so long every time we wanted to get somewhere.

At around noon we made it back to our hotel and stopped into the gift shop/cafe area to see what they had. We saw some gelato that looked good and figured it would be a nice snack to tide us over until dinner, so we each got a small. Small is quite the understatement as these gelatos were HUGE.

I got a dark chocolate (no picture, sorry!) and Erik got a vanilla bean. We got one each after seeing the size of the cups, but I guess that is only used as a guideline because the CM serving us loaded these cups up with as much as she could fit in.

I thought mine was great, very rich and way too much so I didn't even finish. Erik liked his vanilla bean, it was very vanilla-y, but I think he liked my chocolate more. Poor guy, he always likes what I pick out better than what he gets for himself.

I'm going to end Part 1 here. Next up (probably not tonight) will be dinner at The Plaza and the beginning of Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party.

 

[inkedupmomma]

great pics! Sorry you didn't like Kona more ;/ I love that place! The tonga toast however never appealed to me, and after seeing it on someones plate on my last trip, it confirmed it! Just not my thing..I get the big kahuna though!

 

[Groucho]

I don't expect a gourmet presentation or anything, but how sad looking is that plate?? First, there are like three shriveled bacon pieces that weren't even hot. Second, the Tonga Toast looks like it's using the bathroom (if you know what I mean). Regardless, I know looks aren't everything and proceeded to eat my breakfast. I'm not a fan of regular French Toast, so on the plus side, this tasted nothing like French Toast. It was lighter, crispy from being fried and absolutely covered in sugar. Very sweet, almost like a donut, but not nearly enough banana on the inside. All in all, I'd give this breakfast a "meh."

I agree. The Tonga Toast was decent but our one dining experience there, which I think was January '07, was not particularly enthralling. Our server was about the least "magical" we've had yet; it kind of felt like he'd snuck in from Waffle House or something. Slow service despite not being at all crowded, merely OK food, blase waiter, no theming to speak of... no thanks.

I have tried to make Tonga Toast at home once or twice, and it is kind of tricky, but for now I'll stick to that rather than making a special trip back to Kona.

 

[scoot241]

That Tonga Toast is one of the most pathetic looking plates I've ever seen. The apple strudel french toast I got from Cracker Barrel was plated better than that.

The sunrise shot with the fog on the water is awesome.

When we stayed at CSR in 2004, we didn't have trouble with the buses. I don't know what the deal was for you.

Aren't you going to ride some rides?

 

[annnewjerz]

Our server was about the least "magical" we've had yet; it kind of felt like he'd snuck in from Waffle House or something. Slow service despite not being at all crowded, merely OK food, blase waiter, no theming to speak of... no thanks.

Ditto. I think we may give it another shot just to be fair, but it's definitely not going to be a must-do breafast for us. It's no pre-park opening Crystal Palace, that's for sure!

That Tonga Toast is one of the most pathetic looking plates I've ever seen. The apple strudel french toast I got from Cracker Barrel was plated better than that.

Thank goodness someone agrees. I thought I was being overly nit-picky.

The sunrise shot with the fog on the water is awesome.

That shot actually makes me feel cold just looking at it. The temperature that morning was about 49* and the water was steaming because it was warmer than the air temp. Brrrrrrrrr.

Aren't you going to ride some rides?

That's the glory of a 3 day trip 2 months before you're headed back for a week, no pressure to get anything done. In case you missed, we did go on one ride already---Mission Space. At MNSSHP we went on Pirates, Haunted Mansion, Big Thunder, Splash and It's a Small World so I'll have some pictures of those to share.

Hold your horses, Scott!! We're getting there!!

 

[annnewjerz]

The time has come, we are finally going to Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party (but not before some more random pictures and another dining review )

Day 2: October 18, 2009 (Part 2)

It was finally time for something I had been anxiously awaiting since we passed by the Magic Kingdom on our way to breakfast earlier---time to attend the Halloween party!

After resting up at our hotel, Erik and I got into our costumes and made our way out to the bus to try again for a bus to the Magic Kingdom. At this point, we weren't getting our hopes up for a short wait, so we got there about an hour before we were scheduled to meet up with the rest of our party.

At this point, Twitter was finally up and running again, so I was able to update to let you all know what our plan was.

On the way to MK for MNSSHP right now. Woohoo!!! Dinner @ 5 at The Plaza.3:11 PM Oct 18th from Tweetie

We got a bus and headed out to the Magic Kingdom to meet up with Alex and Joe. For those of you who aren't in the know, our group was dressed up as the Village People. Unfortunately, I forgot to get a group picture of us doing our "YMCA" pose, so instead you'll have to settle for some cruddy iPHONE pictures.

Here's me---the Indian. I ended up ripping off those long feathery white things by the end of the night because they kept getting in my mouth. As you can see, I went for the "manly" headdress. I figured if I'm going to be a mean Indian chief, I might as well look as close to one as possible.

Here's Erik---the Sailor. He ended up putting on his Phillies hooded sweatshirt about 4 hours into the party because it was a predicted temperature of 50 degrees that night.

Here's Alex (DBil)---the Cowboy. His costume was hilarious. I almost cried I was laughing so hard when I first saw him. From the hat to the bandana to the chaps, it was great.

Here's Joe---the Construction Worker. Again, Very good costume. Hard hat, ripped jeans, flannel shirt. Quite authentic.

Once we all met up, we took a quick ride on the resort loop monorail since we were about 25 minutes early. When we got back, we saw that they were letting people in even though it was about 3:50, so we got in line.

As soon as we went through the ticket line, the comments about the Village People started and requests for the YMCA were being yelled from the four corners of the earth. A woman walked up to us and asked if she and her group could have their picture taken with the Village People.....

.....huh?

I made sure she knew we didn't work there (with all those people in costume it was hard to tell) and once she said she did, how could I say no? We got in line, did our YMCA with fellow vacationers squatting down in front of us and they were on their way. Right now, our picture may be printing and going into someone's scrapbook. We're famous.

On the way in, I decided to stop to take some pictures, but not too many because the group was "starving" and wanted to get down to check in at The Plaza.

Erik loved how all of the front "lawn" was decorated with pumpkins. I think he forgot that when we came in September of 2007, it was decorated the same way. Oh well.

While I continued taking pictures, Erik struck up a conversation with the man on this bench about the Phillies. Apparently they were from the Delaware Valley area as well. You know what they say---it's a small world, after all.

Eventually we ended up at the end of Main Street.

Just checked in at The Plaza. Hoping to get in early.
4:07 PM Oct 18th from Tweetie

We checked in and again, I did a little bit of picture taking, but not too much since we were buzzed within 10 minutes to be seated.

We were sat at a nice little table near the window in The Plaza. It's a really small restaurant---which I was expecting, but so small that if you needed the bathroom, you had to go to the public restroom near the People Mover!!

Our server soon came over and wished me a Happy Birthday. She was really nice, her name was Darlene.

She took our drink orders and gave us a while to look over the menu, even though it pretty much consisted of burgers, turkey sandwich, burgers and reubens.

Erik and I decided to split a chocolate milkshake. Per Carrie's genius recommendation, I asked Darlene if it could be made with chocolate icecream and chocolate syrup in order to maximize the chocolate-y goodness. When she brought the drinks out, she even had the kitchen split the milkshake into two cups since she knew Erik and I would be splitting. Alex and Joe were boring and just got coke, even though they knew we were paying for dinner. Laaaaaaame.

Mmmmmmmmmm shakes at the plaza. Chocolate icecream with chocolate syrup is the s$%t.
4:35 PM Oct 18th from Tweetie

As you can see above, those milkshakes were pretty awesome. Maybe it was because they were "Disney milkshakes," but it sure tasted better than any I've had at our local diner before.

Next, it was time to order our meals. Erik, Joe and I all got burgers with cheddar cheese and fries on the side. I think all of us unanimously gave the burgers a solid "good." They were your typical frozen pattie style hamburger (or so it seemed) so there really wasn't much that could be done to make them amazing. The fries, on the other hand, were so good. I had fries from Cosmic Ray's later that night and they were not even comparable. Crisp, hot and just the right amount of salt. Thicken than normal fries, but not quite as thick as steak fries. Mmmmmmmm.

Alex ordered the turkey sandwich and really liked it. The turkey wasn't all slimy like normal deli meat, the bread was good and he got a pickle, which is a plus for him. He agreed that the fries were deeeelicious.

I was hoping that after we finished our meals, there would be room for dessert. Brownie sundae anyone? Unfortunately, all of us were stuffed so we decided to just get the check. There had already been three birthday cupcake/balloon/whole restaurant singing combinations since we arrived about 40 minutes earlier---so I was pretty certain I'd be next.

I was right.

I felt so bad because the cupcake looked good, but I couldn't eat it, I was just too full. The whole restaurant sang to me, which in a normal restaurant would have caused me to crawl under the table---but in Disney, it's fun.

We ended up splitting the cupcake four ways, just enough for a bite for each of us. Truth be told, I don't like vanilla cake, so I thought it was kind of a dud, but everyone else thought it was good. The cake was moist, the icing was really sugary and it was the perfect little treat to end the meal with.


Up Next: We finally make it on some rides, and maybe even see HalloWishes and the Boo To You parade.

 

[Todd_H]

^This is a MUCH better composition than the one I took. Nice job!

So how did you like shooting with the fish?

 

[annnewjerz]

So how did you like shooting with the fish?

It was a lot of fun, but even though I had it for over a month I didn't get to use it nearly as much as I would have liked. Our first day in The World I was just not in a picture taking mood. On our MNSSHP day I shot with it from the entrance of Main Street up to The Plaza and that was it because I was returning it to Karyl after dinner. It's unfortunate.

Maybe I'll have to "rent" Karyl's again for our trip in December.

Once I acquire a faster "walkaround" lens and a faster telephoto lens, I think I may start looking into buying it.

 

[scoot241]

The deep blue sky is awesome! Is that the Tokina you used here?

I hope you don't go on the tea cups after all this eating you've been doing. You might get .

That milkshake looks absolutely delicious. Does the Plaza count as a table service? If so, I'd probably pay OOP; burgers and shakes don't seem to be table service food to me (especially compared to 'Ohana, Teppan Edo, etc.). Or maybe I'm just a table service snob now.

 

[annnewjerz]

The deep blue sky is awesome! Is that the Tokina you used here?

Yup. I'm a little concerned about the sky. I didn't adjust the color except for boosting the saturation by like +5, it didn't look so blue on my home monitor, but here at work it looks insane.

I hope you don't go on the tea cups after all this eating you've been doing. You might get .

I knew this whole report was going to sound like a dining report, but I promise you we didn't eat nearly as much as it seems we did, it's just one of the only places I took pictures Just two meals per day and a snack. Unfortunately, one of the Debbie Downers of my group won't go on the teacups, so we skipped it this trip.

Does the Plaza count as a table service? If so, I'd probably pay OOP; burgers and shakes don't seem to be table service food to me (especially compared to 'Ohana, Teppan Edo, etc.). Or maybe I'm just a table service snob now.

It does and I completely agree that if I was on the regular DDP I'd pay out of pocket. For 4 entrees, 4 sodas and a milkshake the total was like $65, which is basically the price of a meal at Cosmic Ray's or something. We will beon the DxDDP in December, so we'll be hitting up The Plaza once or twice rather than using one of our credits on CS.

 

[scoot241]

Yup. I'm a little concerned about the sky. I didn't adjust the color except for boosting the saturation by like +5, it didn't look so blue on my home monitor, but here at work it looks insane.


It does and I completely agree that if I was on the regular DDP I'd pay out of pocket. For 4 entrees, 4 sodas and a milkshake the total was like $65, which is basically the price of a meal at Cosmic Ray's or something. We will beon the DxDDP in December, so we'll be hitting up The Plaza once or twice rather than using one of our credits on CS.

It doesn't look out of place to me; not at home, but of course my home monitor isn't calibrated either. I should do that sometime; I have a TV calibration DVD that would probably work.

Yeah if I were on DxDDP it would be a different story, but no way would I use a TS on burgers on the regular DDP. Looks like a good place to try sometime instead of Cosmic Ray's or Pecos Bill's.

 

[KatMark]

The "not so subtle" one is here for the report!

 

[annnewjerz]

The "not so subtle" one is here for the report!

Thanks for tagging along, Kathy. Everything I say, I say with love.

 

[KatMark]

Thanks for tagging along, Kathy. Everything I say, I say with love.

I totally understand. I am loving your food reports and will catch up with this report later now that I'm subscribed. I was out last night (went to see Tim McGraw) and am swamped at work today. You know me...I'll comment later.

 

[KatMark]

First, great job so far. The photos are great and you are a very good storyteller.

Second, for the comments regarding "enjoying your mid 20's and wait until your 30's"...well, let me just tell you, wait until you get to your 50's! I swear every year something else starts falling apart.

Third, you and Eric are like me and my hubby...LOVE the hat shots. This is a must do of ours every trip (if you saw my trip report I think Eric & Mark may have tried on the same hat). It is so fun (AND SO EASY ) to get them to do this for us.

 

[annnewjerz]

First, great job so far. The photos are great and you are a very good storyteller.

Thank you! I came back from Disney sick and all of the attorneys I work with are out of the office at a conference, so I've had plenty of time on my hands.

Second, for the comments regarding "enjoying your mid 20's and wait until your 30's"...well, let me just tell you, wait until you get to your 50's! I swear every year something else starts falling apart.

Not to make you feel old, but that's what my Mom keeps telling me. Basically shut up and stop whining, I'm still half her age.

Third, you and Eric are like me and my hubby...LOVE the hat shots. This is a must do of ours every trip (if you saw my trip report I think Eric & Mark may have tried on the same hat). It is so fun (AND SO EASY ) to get them to do this for us.

I have been following your TR and I believe you are right, probably even in the same spot. I tried on the Happy Birthday cake hat to be a good sport and let Erik take a picture. Needless to say, he only got half of my head in the shot, so that won't be posted.

 

[KatMark]

Thank you! I came back from Disney sick and all of the attorneys I work with are out of the office at a conference, so I've had plenty of time on my hands.



Not to make you feel old, but that's what my Mom keeps telling me. Basically shut up and stop whining, I'm still half her age.
I think I need to talk to your mother and to tell her to punch you for me! She's right...stop whining...your day will come.


I have been following your TR and I believe you are right, probably even in the same spot. I tried on the Happy Birthday cake hat to be a good sport and let Erik take a picture. Needless to say, he only got half of my head in the shot, so that won't be posted.

I forgot something else. You mentioned Erik got sick on the plan. Is he on any medication for anything? The reason I ask is that three years ago, Mark started having the EXACT same symptoms as Erik and I was scared out of my mind. Mark had a heart attack when he was 49 (he's now 56) and I was freaking out that he was having another one. It turns out that a new medication he was on he was supposed to take with a glass of milk or eat something before taking the pill. Well, we had a 7:30 a.m. flight so he had not eaten. Once he got something in his stomach he was fine and when I read the prescription bottle and told the dummy what he did wrong, he never had the issue again.

 

[annnewjerz]

I forgot something else. You mentioned Erik got sick on the plan. Is he on any medication for anything? The reason I ask is that three years ago, Mark started having the EXACT same symptoms as Erik and I was scared out of my mind. Mark had a heart attack when he was 49 (he's now 56) and I was freaking out that he was having another one. It turns out that a new medication he was on he was supposed to take with a glass of milk or eat something before taking the pill. Well, we had a 7:30 a.m. flight so he had not eaten. Once he got something in his stomach he was fine and when I read the prescription bottle and told the dummy what he did wrong, he never had the issue again.

You're hilarious.

Nope, not on any medications for anything right now, luckily. He really doesn't like flying and I just think the combination of a sold out plane, it being a little warm and only eating a donut and OJ for breakfast probably just got the best of him. Either that, or his hot flashes were caused by early onset menopause.

 

[KatMark]

You're hilarious.

Nope, not on any medications for anything right now, luckily. He really doesn't like flying and I just think the combination of a sold out plane, it being a little warm and only eating a donut and OJ for breakfast probably just got the best of him. Either that, or his hot flashes were caused by early onset menopause.

Tell him to lay off the donuts...not good for him at his age!