The WL/DCL/BCV Extravaganza! Trip Report - UPDATE 1/29 NOT FINISHING THIS

[Bridora]

How can anyone hate Timon and Pumbaa??? They're arguably the two best charcaters in that movie. Your mom baffles me.

Sonny makes a cameo in day 3.

Have you guys seen 'Lion King 1 1/2'? It's a great movie...I love it!

Ready for Sonny!

 

[Bridora]

for going back in February! How exciting!

I loved that first picture you posted of Everest--on your way to ride Dinosaur.

WL looks like a great, relaxing place to stay!

 

[Charlefours]

WL is absolutely gorgeous! I am dying to stay there even more now. One of the other trips that I am sure we will take.

Looks like you had a great time in AK. I am definitely leaning towards Tusker House as a likely candidate for our trip. DD loves breakfast foods (pancakes and eggs especially) so I am thinking we may try several. Would you recommend it then? I have to say before I have read several TR mentioning TH it was not even on my radar. Seems like it definitely should be.

Glad you had a great day!! Looking forward to the next chapter...

 

[jenny105]

Jenny: so happy you're going back in February!! FUN!!!

Your pictures from WL make we want to go there so badly . I just called Jackson to tell him we need to plan a trip and he was like "Okay, who's TR are you reading?"

What great luck with your seats at the Poly!!

Bring on Day 3!!

Hopefully we'll be back there in February. I have the hotel booked but we haven't done much else lol. I think with the holidays coming up, we just want to make sure we have our finances in order!

Jackson knows you so well!

Sounds like a great time at 'Ohana!


Also...you two managed to make it out of Animal Kingdom before the rain hit. Well played....well played.

When we got back to WL it was cloudy but never rained and then it passed. Guess we lucked out!

Have you guys seen 'Lion King 1 1/2'? It's a great movie...I love it!

Ready for Sonny!

I've never seen it!

for going back in February! How exciting!

I loved that first picture you posted of Everest--on your way to ride Dinosaur.

WL looks like a great, relaxing place to stay!

WL is amazing. I can't say enough good things about it. Pictuers don't even do it justice. I fell in love with the place!

WL is absolutely gorgeous! I am dying to stay there even more now. One of the other trips that I am sure we will take.

Looks like you had a great time in AK. I am definitely leaning towards Tusker House as a likely candidate for our trip. DD loves breakfast foods (pancakes and eggs especially) so I am thinking we may try several. Would you recommend it then? I have to say before I have read several TR mentioning TH it was not even on my radar. Seems like it definitely should be.

Glad you had a great day!! Looking forward to the next chapter...

I would highly recommend Tusker House! I think it flies under the radar being that other character breakfast places are so popular. I picked it because Donald is my favorite and it's about the only place you can interact with Daisy! The food is really good and the characters not only take pictures with everyone but they dance with the kids as well. Definitely try to get an ADR there for your next trip!

Hoping to get a new day started this weekend, if not later on today!

 

[jenny105]

So Day 2 had come to a close after Ohana and we woke up bright and early on Day 3 to get to rope drop at DHS! It feels weird to try and call it Hollywood Studios now. It will still always been MGM.

Apparently with my photography skills it's "Isney's" Hollywood Studios.

We had gotten there around 8:30 and as we were walking in, a CM (I believe her name was Heather) approached us. Asked us if we wanted to be part of the park opening. Absolutely! You don't have to ask us twice! They took us into a little room to the left of the entrance of the park and had us wait a few minutes while Heather got us 'checked in' and then explained what we had to do. She then took us to the front of the park, where the rope was up. There was no one around yet so she took some pictures of us!

Heather walked off for a few minutes to talk to her manager and I was thinking 'Hmmm, I wonder if we'll see Staci from the DIS boards. She's supposed to be here for rope drop.' I had just said this aloud to Joe when they started letting people walk up to the rope. And who was the first person I saw...

Staci and Michael! Awesome! We chatted for a bit and then Heather came back to call us over and let us know that the show would be starting soon. She snapped a picture of us in front of the crowd.

Then our ride showed up!

If you haven't seen the DHS rope drop, it's really cute. They use everyone as 'extras' and whoever they pick to help out during the show gets to stand in the cute car and say the big line: "Hollywood, here we come!" and then you ride off to your first ride of the day. Here are a few shots of us in the car.

Let me just say, Heather was great! She took a LOT of pictures for us and she was super nice. They had asked us which ride we wanted to go on first, Tower of Terror or RNRC. We chose ToT but mentioned that we had originally planned to run to TSM first to get fast passes. Well, she went and got them for us for 10 am. Awesome! Before the car took us over to ToT, she hightailed it over to ToT and took some shots with NO ONE around!

Here we are headed to ToT!

We got the first ride of the day! We asked Heather to come on with us and got the whole ride all to ourselves! Before we parted, she mentioned to stop by guest services before we left and they'd have a little surprise for us. Woohoo! What a great start to our DHS day!

Coming up, Toy Story Mania! Did I beat Joe's score? Stay tuned...

 

[karentan]

i had no idea this happened to you! what surprise did you get?

 

[jenny105]

i had no idea this happened to you! what surprise did you get?

I didn't really mention it, did I? Had to save something for you to read in my TR! You'll find out what the surprise was at the end of day 3.

 

[wdwgirl03]

Wow, how lucky for you guys to get picked for the opening show.

 

[BippityBoo]

WOW! What a start to a great day!! You were so lucky!

So great that you got to meet Staci! Love her TR!

I can not wait to find out what surprise they give you! You must update soon

 

[beyondblessed]

Wow - What a magical start to your day!

 

[Charlefours]

What a special way to start your day at DHS! Looking forward to seeing what special surprise you got too.

What time did you get to DHS for rope drop? What is a good time to show up? We would love to be there for a few rope drops this trip.

 

[jenny105]

Wow, how lucky for you guys to get picked for the opening show.

I know! I couldn't believe it!

WOW! What a start to a great day!! You were so lucky!

So great that you got to meet Staci! Love her TR!

I can not wait to find out what surprise they give you! You must update soon

It was so much fun, I loved it!

Staci is a total sweetheart.

I will try, I promise!

Wow - What a magical start to your day!

It definitely was!

What a special way to start your day at DHS! Looking forward to seeing what special surprise you got too.

What time did you get to DHS for rope drop? What is a good time to show up? We would love to be there for a few rope drops this trip.

We got there a little before 8:30 and it wasn't too crowded yet. They'll stop you at the ticket gate first and then let you up to the rope. You can pretty much see from anywhere because everyone in the show is on some kind of a platform. I hope you get to see it! It's really cute!

 

[jenny105]

...For a mini PTR update. The February hours aren't out yet but I was looking at January's hours to get an idea. Considering Disney is switching back to the 180 day mark tomorrow, that means I have to make my ADRs. I think I have somewhat of a plan figured out.

2/18 - We'll get into WDW. We don't have our flights booked yet but I was looking at a flight that gets in around 1:30. I figured since we're only going to have 4 day hoppers, we could just hang around the resort this day and go to DTD. We didn't get to go there on our last trip. No parks this day.

2/19 - We always do the MK as our first park. I'm pretty sure I'm going to make a lunch ADR for Liberty Tree Tavern seeing as we've never been there and whenever we pass it we say 'We should go there.' lol. Epcot has EMH that night so we may swing by there.

2/20 - Epcot for the full day. Here is where I'm stuck on an ADR because there are just too many places to choose from in and around Epcot. I was thinking of Teppan Edo, Garden Grill, or Captain's Grille. Also Le Cellier since we both enjoyed it so much this past trip but I do want to try something new. I've never been to any of the other three restaurants mentioned.

2/21 - DHS for most of the day. Lunch ADR at Sci Fi since we skipped it last time. Then we'll head over to MK for EMH. I love being there late at night. So fun!

2/22 - I was looking at a late flight back this day so we'll have almost a full day in the parks. AK in the morning/early afternoon with an ADR for breakfast at the Tusker House. Joe and I REALLY enjoyed it this past trip and would love to go back. MK for as much time as we can before we have to leave. Also tradition for MK to be our last park before heading home.

Any help with the Epcot restaurants would be appreciated!

 

[princess_momma]

Hey!! How was your weekend? All your plans sound so good!! I think that if you plan on staying for Illuminations, you should stay in Epcot for dinner, but if not, definitely do Captain's Grill! (though, depending on when you eat, that may not even matter!) That's all I have to add!!

I wish I could've been there when you met Staci! You guys are like 2 of the people I want to meet most from the Dis! That must've been so fun!

I'm so glad you got to be a part of the show!! I'm glad that DHS was the only time I was there for rope drop so I know exactly what you did in the show!! That's so AWESOME!! I'm so happy for you!! Really! It brought tears to my eyes!! (But I'm a big cheeseball who cries over everything ever since I was pregnant )

I'm so glad you got TSM fast passes too! That was so nice of them!! How awesome to have the whole ToT elevator to yourself!! Did that make it anymore spooky? I plan on taking over a whole elevator with my bridal party when I get married there! Except I don't think that will be as spooky as just 3 people!

Can't wait to hear about the rest of your day!

 

[jenny105]

Hey!! How was your weekend? All your plans sound so good!! I think that if you plan on staying for Illuminations, you should stay in Epcot for dinner, but if not, definitely do Captain's Grill! (though, depending on when you eat, that may not even matter!) That's all I have to add!!

I wish I could've been there when you met Staci! You guys are like 2 of the people I want to meet most from the Dis! That must've been so fun!

I'm so glad you got to be a part of the show!! I'm glad that DHS was the only time I was there for rope drop so I know exactly what you did in the show!! That's so AWESOME!! I'm so happy for you!! Really! It brought tears to my eyes!! (But I'm a big cheeseball who cries over everything ever since I was pregnant )

I'm so glad you got TSM fast passes too! That was so nice of them!! How awesome to have the whole ToT elevator to yourself!! Did that make it anymore spooky? I plan on taking over a whole elevator with my bridal party when I get married there! Except I don't think that will be as spooky as just 3 people!

Can't wait to hear about the rest of your day!

Hi! My weekend was good, I worked most of it but had a night out with my friends on Sat. How about you?

We're not big on Illuminations. I think that show is outdated and I get bored about 5 minutes into it. I've tried to watch it before but I'm not a fan.

Staci was super nice! Maybe we'll all be there at the same time one of these days!

I loved being part of the show, it was so much fun. Everybody was so nice too. ToT is always spooky to me but I love it. The drops weren't that great though. I've been on it before where you just fly down but we kept bouncing up more than anything else on that ride. Oh well. Still fun! Especially since we got the car to ourselves.

 

[princess_momma]

Hi! My weekend was good, I worked most of it but had a night out with my friends on Sat. How about you?

We're not big on Illuminations. I think that show is outdated and I get bored about 5 minutes into it. I've tried to watch it before but I'm not a fan.

Staci was super nice! Maybe we'll all be there at the same time one of these days!

I loved being part of the show, it was so much fun. Everybody was so nice too. ToT is always spooky to me but I love it. The drops weren't that great though. I've been on it before where you just fly down but we kept bouncing up more than anything else on that ride. Oh well. Still fun! Especially since we got the car to ourselves.

I was moving all weekend! It was pretty boring, but still good!

That would be so great if we were all there at the same time!!

I hope to be a part of a show one day!! That just looked like so much fun!! I would've picked ToT too...sorry the drop sequence wasn't the best. But at least you were on!

 

[jenny105]

So after our opening of ToT, we walked over to the Great Movie Ride since we had time to kill before TSM. I do love that ride but I think they should update it a bit. The actors are super cheesy.

We had a little more time to kill so we walked toward TSM and took a few pictures before we got on. We also got another fastpass for later on in the day! I love the way the area around TSM is themed. Super cute and just like out of the movie! They did an awesome job! Toy Story is one of Joe's favorite movies so he got to be the star of this photo shoot.

Love this hat!

A couple pictures inside the queue of TSM. I didn't take many because we breezed right through it. Later on in the trip, we actually waited in the regular line for it so I took more then.

TSM. IS. AWESOME. It is just sooooo much fun. I have to say though, work out before you go on this ride! Your arm is going to be hurting!!!! Here are our scores from the first round. I forgot to turn the flash off so it came out a little off.

He kicked my butt!!!

After TSM we walked through One Man's Dream and saw the movie that goes along with it. Then we decided to head over to Animation Academy and learn all about the art of Disney Animation from Mushu. I had never seen the Animation Academy before and really enjoyed it. We also took part in the drawing class! We drew Eeyore. I love Eeyore!!

As we were walking out of the class, we saw that the UP characters were out. YAY!

That movie is so great.

After that, we decided to head over to RnRC. There wasn't a long line and we walked right into the pre-show. "Can someone grab my Les Paul?" Aerosmith, stick to music, and not acting. LOL.

After RnRC, our tummy's were rumbling. We headed over to Pizza Planet!

I haven't heard great things about the food there but it wasn't horrible. It was hard to find a seat though, the place was PACKED!

By that time, it was time for TSM again! We were so excited. I think this is in the top 5 of my favorite things to do at WDW.

I didn't beat him this time but at least I cracked 100K! My score was improving.

We walked around for a bit and headed over to meet the Cars. On the way over we snapped this pic.

Then it was time to meet Mater and Lightning McQueen. It was SO hot at this point in the day. I just wanted to get my picture and get out of the sun! That queue was insanely hot!!!!

Up next, Block Party Bash pictures and later, MNSSHP!!!!

 

[Rora]

WOW! Heather was fantastic and the pictures she got were great! Jenny, you guys got so lucky and I love that your sporting your Vera bag! That's my girl!!

Your plans for Feb:
Day 1 looks good- just relax and enjoy the resort
Day 2- LTT is yummy!! Go for it!
Day 3- Never been to any of the 3 places mentioned but gotta vote for Le Cellier.
Day 4- Sci Fi is a MUST!
Day 5- YAY for more Tusker!

Such cute pictures of the Cars and UP characters!! And, I'm so proud you got that score- heck I can't even break that!!

Great update!!!

 

[jenny105]

WOW! Heather was fantastic and the pictures she got were great! Jenny, you guys got so lucky and I love that your sporting your Vera bag! That's my girl!!

Your plans for Feb:
Day 1 looks good- just relax and enjoy the resort
Day 2- LTT is yummy!! Go for it!
Day 3- Never been to any of the 3 places mentioned but gotta vote for Le Cellier.
Day 4- Sci Fi is a MUST!
Day 5- YAY for more Tusker!

Such cute pictures of the Cars and UP characters!! And, I'm so proud you got that score- heck I can't even break that!!

Great update!!!

Heather was awesome! She took so many pictures and she was super nice. I brought my Vera bag with me everywhere.

I think we're going to go with Garden Grill. It's character dining and since we had so much fun with that the last time, why not do another one? I'll let you know how it is!

My score improved even more later on in the trip!

 

[Bridora]

How exciting that you guys got to open the park! That must have been so much fun! Also cool that you spotted Staci there! I loved the pics of you guys riding in the car on your way to ToT!

I love TSM, too! So much fun!