"Thunderbolts and lightning! Very very frightening!"... a trip report (FINISHED!!!)

[disneylovin24]

I really love all of the Universal pictures! Ive never been so Im kinda going right now through your pictures

 

[JanetorsCloset]

I don't know why I was sitting in the front. I ended up sitting next to this lady and her kid and they kind of got in the way of filming. I'm stupid. Filming from behind is easier.

Also, being born year of the rooster (I like to think of myself as a chicken), I should have been born with the ability to lay eggs. If I were, my eggs would most definitely be the size of the one in the nest.

 

[JanetorsCloset]

I originally was quoting parts of your post but disboards wouldn't let me have pictures since I've only posted on here twice. Dang.

And I'm replying again instead of just editing the first reply since I have to have 10 posts before I can link the pictures too.

I hope you wake up to notifications that you've got more replies and get excited only to be disappointed because it's from me. kekekekekekeke

 

[JanetorsCloset]

OH RIGHT, another thing, I would've gone again on the hulk. I don't know why you thought I wouldn't have. I always have the roller coaster jitters before I go on big rides but end up coming out of it with an adrenaline high.

Also, jess loves the hulk ride. I think it was her favorite of the trip.

 

[jtawesomesauce]

yo, your link to the second part of the dr. seuss part 2 goes directly to part one.

 

[clearskies]

Hi Jo,

To provide full disclosure I accidentally clicked on your TR since it was next to mine but I am glad that I did. You are doing an AWESOME job on this TR for far! You are too funny with some of your commentary and your family seems to have so much fun together. I love it.

You have posted some nice pics also. I enjoyed seeing your IOA pics and got to see some things that I missed on my last trip.

Oh, my daughter is a dragon as well but a cycle younger than you. Great sign!

I'll look forward to more. Keep up the great work on this TR!

 

[wingedjojo]

I really love all of the Universal pictures! Ive never been so Im kinda going right now through your pictures

I'm glad I could be of service but if ever given the opportunity, it's definitely something worth checking out.

Hi Jo,

To provide full disclosure I accidentally clicked on your TR since it was next to mine but I am glad that I did. You are doing an AWESOME job on this TR for far! You are too funny with some of your commentary and your family seems to have so much fun together. I love it.

You have posted some nice pics also. I enjoyed seeing your IOA pics and got to see some things that I missed on my last trip.

Oh, my daughter is a dragon as well but a cycle younger than you. Great sign!

I'll look forward to more. Keep up the great work on this TR!

Thanks for reading!

That's cool about your daughter but it sure makes me feel old. She's the first cycle after me but I can't believe the second cycle is about to come.

 

[wingedjojo]

Sorry for the lack of updates. I don’t really have an excuse; I was just lazy. To apologize, I’ve finished the rest of day 2 in 4 easy installments. Finally! Enjoy!

~*~*~*~
So THAT'S Shepherd's Pie: part 1

What we decided to do next was a first for all of us: go watch the Eighth Voyage of Sinbad show. There was about a half hour wait before we could be let into the auditorium so we just sat around the outside of the theater. Most of us were kind of thirsty and it was the perfect moment for the long awaited, glorious, blue drink of the gods.

What am I talking about? This:

I guess it’s normally called a blue raspberry Icee but to us, it was the most delicious, wonderful, tastiest, frozen treat in the world.

We first had a taste of it the last time we went to Disney World and we were all hooked like addicts. It was only a matter of time before we had our first taste on this trip.

So while the family sat around, Jess and I went on the hunt for our treasured frozen treats. It seriously took FOREVER to find an Icee machine. Find we did and enjoyed it we definitely did.

Even Ma joined in on the blue tongue fun.

After finishing our drinks (which took no time at all), we made our way into the now-open show area. We sat near-ish the middle and they were pretty central-to-the-action seats. The ground below us said “wet zone” but we thought it would be fine. I mean, there aren’t large tanks of water like at Sea World and nothing around us looked wet or damp.

Our innocent, pre-show selves:

The show itself was okay. Terribly cheesy but the special effects and stunts were good enough. Now…when it came to the water effects…we were greatly deceived. The ground may have been dry around us and the general area may have lacked signs of the presence of water…but we got SOAKED.

Our innocent selves were unaware of water CANONS that apparently were hidden right next to us. And they went off at least 3 times. Meaning we got soaked at least 3 times.

After the show, we squished and squeaked in our flip flops out. Good thing it was hot and we dried up in no time.

The Sinbad show was in the Lost Continent island and there wasn’t much else to look at. The only other attraction here was Poseidon’s Fury and to be honest, we saw it last time and all thought it was pretty lame.

So what to do now?

Back to Harry Potterland!

We knew we were going to ride Dragon Challenge at one point and it just so happened to have a 5 MINUTE WAIT TIME!!! How is it possible that such a fun ride can have such a low wait time? How could we say no?

We breezed through the line but that isn’t necessarily a good thing. We didn’t get a lot of time to look around because like the Forbidden Journey ride, there were things to look at while you went through the line. I did manage to capture a couple of highlights though.

Since we were already in the area and Ma liked it too, it was time to go on the Forbidden Journey ride again. Like earlier in the morning, the line said 45 minutes again but it felt so much longer. They had even expanded the line to make more loopy-loops.

About the time we got to the part of the line where you go through the green houses, the reason why my trip report is named the way it is reared its ugly head. At first it was only a light rain so we didn’t mind it too much.

To pass the time, I took a couple of pictures.

I even played a joke on mom. So have you ever tapped someone’s shoulder on the opposite side of which you’re standing so they turn away from you and into nothing? Yeah, I did that to Ma but it was super funny because when she turned, she faced a wall. It was pretty funny but I think it was a you-had-to-be-there kind of thing.

Then the rain, rain, rain came down, down, down. And when I say the rain came down, I meant that it CAME DOWN. It was pouring cats and dogs and hamsters and rabbits and all that cute and fuzzy stuff.

Of course, the thunder followed soon after and the rain came down even harder. When that happened, I did something I’ve never done before: start a slow clap. Boy that’s fun. I got most of the line standing in that green house to clap and I’m pretty sure I got at least Jess embarrassed.

We got a couple more pictures of the stuff along the line that I hadn’t gotten the first time around.

 

[wingedjojo]

So THAT'S Shepherd's Pie: part 2

After the ride (which was still super fun/cool/awesome) we went on the castle tour. This is where you go through the castle a.k.a. walk through the line without getting to go on the ride. There are some extra parts of the castle you get to walk through but not much. One such extra part is what I call the portrait hall. You go up this staircase and all along the walls are portraits and there are four portraits in particular that talk to each other and move. It wasn’t until later that I think Jess told me that they were supposed to be the founding fathers/mothers of Hogwarts. No WONDER they were chosen as the special portraits that got to talk and move. DUH.

With a couple more pictures around the castle, we finally made our way out.

It was still raining pretty hard and the gift shop connected to the Forbidden Journey ride (Filch’s Emporium of Confiscated Goods) was really crowded so we went to go look for some other place to stand and wait it out. So we went to the Owl Post.

We were waiting for quite some time and it was starting to get REALLY boring just standing there among so many damp smelling people. We hadn’t done the Ollivanders experience yet and I was kind of curious as to what that was all about. Nobody wanted to go out in the rain to wait for who knows how long with me but I somehow convinced Jess to go.

I think the only reason why I wanted to go into Ollivanders was because I thought the only way to get wands was to go in through that way. In retrospect, I’m pretty sure (like 100% sure) I’m wrong because making people wait about 40 minutes to purchase souvenir wands seems like a bad business strategy. Anyway. With a stroke of luck, the moment we started to line up for the Ollivanders experience show, the rain stopped. It was pure sunshine the whole time we were in that line.

That show was SOOOOO CHEESYYYYY like OH MAI GAWD THAT WAS SO CHEESY. Jess and I were the last to enter for that particular showing so we were in the back. I didn’t get picked to be the pseudo Harry for the show but that probably was a good thing. If anyone has watched Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, then they must remember the scene where Harry first gets his wand. This little show is that particular movie scene verbatim. I’m not kidding when I say that line-for-line this “experience” was just a replay of that scene but Harry is replaced by random people. It just seemed so silly to me that I couldn’t help but start cracking up in the back of the room. I have no idea why it was even so funny but I was just -ing my butt off. Jess had to hit me several times to make me quit it. While I’m sure I’ll never do it again, it was still a cute little moment and I’m glad I got to experience it. Plus, the room we were in was neat.

So the experience empties out into a gift shop. I think they named it Dervish and Banges. There was a bunch of fun things in there that Jess and I had a couple of laughs over. First I picked out my wands.

I didn’t want to get the wand that was associated with the month I was born in (kind of like a birthstone type of deal) because it was ugly so I was going to choose between the character wands. I had already planned ahead of time that I was going to get two (so I could duel with someone, of course) but it was just a matter of which two. It was such a hard decision because they all looked so pretty but I’m pretty satisfied with what I ended up picking out.

Jess and I wandered around the rest of the store and we saw a real live Monster Book of Monsters. Isn’t it cute? Don’t you just want to take one home and name it Fluffy?

We saw some toys being sold that they had slapped some names from the books onto. I’m not sure what they were supposed to do (besides be a paperweight) but I had imagined those objects to look a lot different from how they were portrayed here.

Then we found some imitation Hedwig owls.

And I SO wish I brought one home because they were SO much fun to play with.

Here’s a little taste of a video of all the fun shenanigans we could’ve had if I had brought one home.

 

[wingedjojo]

So THAT'S Shepherd's Pie: part 3

So while Jess and I were having fun at the gift shop, what were the others doing? Apparently Edward had bought some frozen Butterbeer that came in a souvenir cup.

We got back to them right before he finished all of it and I had a sip. It’s way too sweet for my taste. The cup was cute and all but I wasn’t going to buy my own. Oh well, at least I tried it.

The rain had completely stopped at this point and everyone was rested but hungry. I had planned earlier to go eat at the Three Broomsticks because how many opportunities will I ever have to eat here? I didn’t come all the way to Florida and all the way to Harry Potterland in Islands of Adventure to eat at McDonalds.

Earlier in the morning we had passed by a dining booth near the front of the park. I guess it’s a booth where you can inquire about food needs and make reservations and so forth. Apparently the Three Broomsticks is similar to a quick service dining place in Disney and it’s completely cafeteria style so there’s no need for reservations. Of course, since I chose the restaurant and pretty much wasn’t going to give another choice for anybody else, Ma made me pay for the meal. Boy howdy. Let me just say…paying a meal (especially dinner) for 5 people in a theme park is not cheap. I hope J.K. Rowling appreciates how dedicated a fan I am.

Jan and I both had the Shepherd’s Pie with Garden Salad: ground beef and vegetables crowned with potatoes.

Jess had the Fish and Chips: fresh north Atlantic Cod battered and fried with chips and tartar sauce.

Both Ma and Edward had the Rotisserie Smoked Chicken Platter: served with roasted corn and roasted potatoes.

I also got a cup of pumpkin juice and Jan had an apple cider.

Here I am trying my pumpkin juice prior to eating my dinner:

I’m gonna be honest here. I did not care for that meal at all. All that meat and potatoes was just WAYYY too filling and WAYYY too starchy. I got full before I even got half way through. The pumpkin juice, like the Butterbeer was way too sweet.

Jess enjoyed her fish and chips and Ma and Edward both liked their chicken. In fact, Ma loved the corn that came with her chicken so much that she devoured that thing in no time (I have a picture of her nom nom nom-ing the corn but she forbids me from posting it). I think I just chose the wrong dish but at least I tried it. Now I know I don’t like shepherd’s pie.

The interior of the Three Broomsticks was pretty neat. It would be cool if you could go upstairs. It would be even cooler if the upstairs had extra seating and you could spy on people below you.

After dinner we decided that since haven’t yet, we should go ride the High in the Sky Seuss Trolley Train Ride. So we made our way back to Seuss Landing. On our way out, we passed by the conductor of the Hogwarts Express. Now, as a little background, I work for my school’s transportation system. I’m training to be a bus driver now but I used to be a conductor myself. Not for the Hogwarts Express, sadly, not even for a train but for one of these:

A vintage double deck bus imported all the way from London. Hopefully by spring I’ll be eligible and trained to drive them.

So I just HAD to take a picture with this guy. We’re part of the same group consisting of the proud and the few conductors that exists in the world. We’re practically related!

Anyway. We made our way back to Seuss Landing and got on the train ride in no time. It’s not as fun as I remembered it being. For one thing, they added these lap bars that weren’t there back in 2007 and the train goes MUCH slower (=less fun). I’m not sure if I’m imagining it or not but it seemed as if the train track was shorter. Even with us going as slow as we were it felt like the ride didn’t last very long. Nevertheless, we got some pretty nice views.

With that taken care of, there wasn’t really much left on the “To Do” list. We figured we should just go back to Harry Potterland, get our fill and then finally make our departure. With one last picture of Seuss Landing, we were off.

 

[wingedjojo]

So THAT'S Shepherd's Pie: part 4

To get back to Harry Potterland from Seuss Landing we had to go through the Lost Continent. Since we hadn’t taken that many pictures earlier, now seemed like a good time to do so. First we stopped by the throwing up mountain that I’m almost 100% sure is connected to Mythos (the fanciest restaurant in the park). We tried Mythos back in 2007 and the food is decent but again, expensive.

Here’s the outside of the Poseidon’s Fury show. The whole ruins motif is pretty cool but again, the show is LAME.

Lastly, we have this water structure/statue/thing depicting Narcissus and him just loving his reflection.

So eventually we make it back to Harry Potterland and we go into Zonkos/Honeydukes.

I so would’ve bought a chocolate frog but at $10 each for chocolate I’m not even certain is delicious or not, it was not worth it.

I wasn’t going to buy any Bertie Botts Every Flavor Beans because I tried a little packet of that stuff eons ago and I already don’t like jelly beans. No need to add fuel to the fire.

When we walked pass the Dragon Challenge ride, it still surprisingly had a 5 minute wait time. Does nobody else want to ride this? Makes no sense to me.

With one last look at Hogsmeade, we made our way out of Harry Potterland…

…and out of Islands of Adventure.

In our rush to get into the park earlier, I hadn’t properly taken a picture of that lighthouse-looking thing. Although a little backlit, it’s still better than nothing.

When we got back to the parking lot, it was almost completely empty. Granted, we were at the park from opening to nearly closing. I’m surprised we lasted that long since we’re all such old farts.

Even the moon was up already.

With that, day 2 finally comes to its conclusion. Our tired, sweaty selves eventually made our way back to the hotel room. We needed to get clean and well rested for tomorrow is our first Disney park day!

 

[disneylovin24]

Don't you just want to take him home and name him Fluffy? Yes, yes I do!


Can't wait to hear about your first Disney day

 

[JanetorsCloset]

the seuss ride was way faster, I don't know what you're talking about. I'm guessing that's why they added the lap bars. It was more fun when it was slow and you could actually see everything. Also, it wasn't cool that they split it up into two tracks and you couldn't go into the restaurant place we went to for lunch. Or maybe we just chose the right tracks last time, I dunno.

 

[mamaboogie]

I've just read your TR so far in one big chunk and I've really enjoyed it. Your family are hilarious! And I love your writing style - very witty and engaging!

Glad you had fun at WWOHP - The 'Castle Ride' is awesome isn't it? Dragon Challenge always had a really short wait time when we were there last year too - don't know why!

Can't wait to read more!

 

[wingedjojo]

Don't you just want to take him home and name him Fluffy? Yes, yes I do!


Can't wait to hear about your first Disney day

Coming right up!

the seuss ride was way faster, I don't know what you're talking about. I'm guessing that's why they added the lap bars. It was more fun when it was slow and you could actually see everything. Also, it wasn't cool that they split it up into two tracks and you couldn't go into the restaurant place we went to for lunch. Or maybe we just chose the right tracks last time, I dunno.

That actually makes a lot more sense for lap bars if they had sped up the ride. I must really be getting old since I can't really remember whether it was faster or slower. Whoops.

I've just read your TR so far in one big chunk and I've really enjoyed it. Your family are hilarious! And I love your writing style - very witty and engaging!

Glad you had fun at WWOHP - The 'Castle Ride' is awesome isn't it? Dragon Challenge always had a really short wait time when we were there last year too - don't know why!

Can't wait to read more!

Maybe they're just REALLY efficient at loading and unloading people.

And thanks for the compliments!

 

[wingedjojo]

Why Must You Fail Me GPS?!?!

Before I continue on to our first Disney day, remember how I said that I wanted to get all the characters to do the peace sign with me? It was pretty much futile after Captain America. I mentioned how the Cat in the Hat and his four-fingered glove had failed me but I had forgotten to mention how it went with the conductor of the Hogwarts Express. When I asked him to do the peace sign, he had subtly implied that it was against policy to hold up signs for fear it becomes gang related. I guess the only reason why Captain America did it was because he’s Captain America and he fights for peace and justice?

So there went my plan of having characters do peace signs with me. Oh well.

Wednesday, June 15

The alarm for this day went off at 7:15am. The park didn’t open until 9am and I figured an hour and 45 minutes was perfectly fine for everyone to get ready, eat, and arrive at the park. After my morning routine and while people were rousing from their sleep, I decided to peek out the curtains to check on the weather. It was a glorious, overcast day with predicted thunderstorms.

While looking out the window, I saw a random cat just strolling along by the pool. It was soooo cute. I pointed it out to (I think) Jess and we were both just wondering where it came from. I wasn’t quick enough to grab a picture though.

For some reason, finding our way to our first park took FOREVER. I swear we got lost like 5 times and it was SO frustrating. I had my GPS and we were trying to follow the stupid signs for the parks but we just kept getting lost. It got to the point where Mom and I were getting angry at each other because she said I was feeding her wrong directions and I was just trying to follow what my phone said. I offered to drive so she could direct if she was so good at looking for street signs but she wouldn’t let me.

So which park were we trying to get to for its opening ceremony? You only get 4 guesses.

It’s…

…to…

TA DA!!!

THE MAGIC KINGDOM!!!~~~

We parked in the Pluto parking lot.

As a visitor to the Magic Kingdom, one always has to make a very tough decision prior to entering the park.











Ferryboat or monorail?










What we ultimately decided on was that we’ll take the ferry TO the park and take the monorail FROM the park.

I think we were fairly satisfied with our decision.

We had to wait a bit for the boat to dock but it didn’t take too long.

The dude piloting the boat didn’t look too excited for his day.

OMG OMG OMG!!!

FIRST LOOK AT THE CASTLE!!!

Jess got a bit seasick from all the excitement (don’t worry, there wasn’t really any puke).

So…

…close…

…almost touch it…

I had really wanted to see the opening ceremony after learning that such a thing existed. Had we NOT gotten lost the way we did trying to get to the park, we might’ve made it. In reality, we were almost half an hour late in catching the opening ceremony. Damn you GPS!!!

No openings nor ceremonies here:

One day I will be early (and not get lost) and get to see the little show.

 

[clearskies]

Hi Jo,

I am catching up. First back to IOA...

Heck yeah, you are not kidding about that Sinbad show being cheesy. Our kids got some entertainment out of it but whoa it was just plain bad at times to me.

You did a great job getting pics in the queue for Forbidden journey. I was looking at exif info (camera settings embedded in pics) and you have some seriously rock steady hands. The fact that you got good shots with shutter speeds of 1/5 sec and even slower is a marvel. great job

I definitely recommend that you look at the canon "nifty fifty". This is a 50mm f/1.8 lens that will help you out in dark areas. It is lightweight with a reasonable cost as well. If you get one of those on your T2i, set aperture priority mode to f/1.8 and bump up your ISO to 3200 or even 6400 (if needed) you can have even more success with those dark attractions. Again though you did great with what you have.

I am glad I skipped that Ollivander's show after reading your experience. You are correct in that you can enter the Dervish and Banges store from another entrance and can buy wands without having to withstand the line for Ollivanders.

On to MK....sorry about the GPS misbehaving. We saw the opening show once at MK. It is nice enough but not something I would kick myself over for missing. It is getting into an emptier park though that is the draw for me.

Looking forward to seeing more..

 

[wingedjojo]

Hi Jo,

I am catching up. First back to IOA...

Heck yeah, you are not kidding about that Sinbad show being cheesy. Our kids got some entertainment out of it but whoa it was just plain bad at times to me.

You did a great job getting pics in the queue for Forbidden journey. I was looking at exif info (camera settings embedded in pics) and you have some seriously rock steady hands. The fact that you got good shots with shutter speeds of 1/5 sec and even slower is a marvel. great job

I definitely recommend that you look at the canon "nifty fifty". This is a 50mm f/1.8 lens that will help you out in dark areas. It is lightweight with a reasonable cost as well. If you get one of those on your T2i, set aperture priority mode to f/1.8 and bump up your ISO to 3200 or even 6400 (if needed) you can have even more success with those dark attractions. Again though you did great with what you have.

I am glad I skipped that Ollivander's show after reading your experience. You are correct in that you can enter the Dervish and Banges store from another entrance and can buy wands without having to withstand the line for Ollivanders.

On to MK....sorry about the GPS misbehaving. We saw the opening show once at MK. It is nice enough but not something I would kick myself over for missing. It is getting into an emptier park though that is the draw for me.

Looking forward to seeing more..

Thanks for the lens advice. I'll definitely go check that out.

I guess that makes me feel somewhat better about getting to the park late. I really want a picture in front of the castle without random people in the background. Maybe the next time we go I should plan for a Crystal Palace breakfast or something.

 

[wingedjojo]

Our Fantastical Morning: part 1

When entering the Magic Kingdom (or Disneyland for that matter), I feel it’s almost customary to take a picture in front of the train station before you go into Main Street. It’s the same pull that always makes one take a picture in front of the castle. You just have to.

If you can see and recognize the character I’m wearing, then only you can comprehend the sheer awesomeness that is my t-shirt.

What character am I talking about? It’s NYAN CAT!!!

Some of you may be wondering: what’s a Nyan Cat? Why, it’s the single most adorable/hypnotizing/repetitive/CUTE/can’t-believe-it’s-still-stuck-in-my-head internet phenomenon to grace YouTube recently. Don’t believe me about its addictiveness? Check it out here.

When I was first packing and trying to decide what to bring with me, I had wanted a Disney-themed shirt for our Magic Kingdom day. I had worn a Slytherin tank top for our Harry Potterland day so I kind of wanted to do the same for at least one Disney day.

In trying to look for an appropriate top, I had come across this tank in Forever21:

I remember picking up the only size small they had in the store but deciding to not buy it yet because I wanted to walk through the mall before I committed to it (in case I came across something better). At the end of our shopping day, I decided to go back and purchase it. The saying “you snooze, you lose” came into my mind when I realized that somebody had already purchased it. They only had mediums and large left and they didn’t fit me right.

It was fate that I didn’t buy that shirt. During this day, I must’ve seen this tank top on at least 5 other girls. Whew, bullet dodged. Not to mention, I got way more compliments/attention with my Nyan Cat shirt than I would have had I worn the tank top that every other girl seemed to have bought and worn.

Nyan Cat is just that popular.

Anyway, enough talking about my awesome shirt.

So remember how back in day 1 I had bought and wrote out a postcard to the boyfriend? No? Maybe a picture of it will ring a bell.

Remember now? Okay. Well, it’s now day 3 and I finally remember to mail it. While the post office stamp on it doesn’t say so, I had mailed it from right in Magic Kingdom! Oohhh~~~ Magical~~~

With that taken care of, it was down Main Street we go.

Aahhh…pretty castle. I think I like this castle way more than the one in Disneyland. For one, the colors on this one are prettier and this castle is bigger and more impressive. The one in Disneyland is almost sad in comparison but that’s just my opinion.

Of course we have the obligatory castle shot:

I just love all the details on the castle. Here’s my fancy-shmancy shot of the castle up close.

The mosaics found on the inside of the castle are just beautiful. Does anyone ever wonder like I do how they put it together? Do they painstakingly break different colored pieces of tiles into the perfect size and then piece it together by hand? Does a machine do it and they just nail in the final product onto the castle wall? Were the tiles all white to begin with and they just paint the tiles like they pain a canvas? I may never know.

Our plan of action was to first hit as many Fantasyland rides as possible because once the little kiddies start waking up, it’s going to be super crowded.

We went to go ride one of Ma’s favorite rides. The line was somewhat long but moved pretty quickly. I don’t remember the exact wait time but I’m pretty sure it was less than an hour. Maybe even just 30 minutes.

While waiting, Jess decided to mess with my camera settings and experiment a bit.

A fancy-shmancy shot of the park map.

After Peter Pan, we went to ride another family favorite.

I don’t understand why some people out there hate on this ride so much. Yeah the song is unbelievably catchy and it’ll stay in your head for years but it’s a classic and the ride is cute. It’s also very relaxing not to mention the ratio of wait time to ride time is pretty decent.

I never noticed before but there are an awful lot of coins found in the waters of the Small World ride. I wonder how often they pick that up and count it?

The ride was pretty much a walk on so we got in our little boat in no time.

I’m pretty sure we’ve all been on the It’s a Small World ride so there’s no need to show all my pictures. I will present some personal highlights though.

First we have a poodle! Aww…how cute. I think it would be neat to have a poodle and then groom their hair into those little puff balls.

Next we have platypuses; nature’s enigma.

Then there’s the end scene where you have “bye” in all those different languages.

 

[wingedjojo]

Our Fantastical Morning: part 2

Our next Fantasyland ride was Snow White’s Scary Adventure. So they’re getting rid of this ride soon? I guess I will miss it since it has been there since forever but hopefully whatever replaces it will be great.

I think after this somebody was in need of a bathroom break (I’m going to blame it on Edward because that makes most sense to me). So while he went to go find a bathroom, we just sort of loitered around the carousel area. Nobody except me felt it was necessary to do a “pulling out the sword” picture.

At one point we wandered into a nearby gift shop and found the most disturbing piggy bank ever. It had all the princesses just kind of sitting or standing around but the freaky part of it was Ariel.

If those aren’t soul-less eyes, I don’t know what are. That’s just scary.

We also found Cinderella’s fountain. The sun was really strong and it was so hard to keep my eyes open.

I tried to get the shot where it looks like the crown is sitting on top of Cinderella’s head but I guess I’m too short or something because I just could not do it. Is there some sort of trick? Do I need to stand on something?

I thought about attempting to make reservations at Cinderella’s Royal Table for some sort of meal. Then I thought against it. Maybe one day if I ever go to Disney World with my boyfriend.

We could also see a little part of the new Fantasyland expansion. I’m excited for when that eventually finishes. Maybe we’ll finally see less of the park undergoing constant construction and less of those ugly tarps and temporary walls.

We went to go see Mickey’s PhilharMagic next because the next showing was just about to start and we just happened to walk by. I believe this was the first time any of us had seen this show and it’s absolutely adorable. I love the signs they had up in the lobby but we didn’t really have a lot of time to stop and properly look at them.

Next on the agenda was the tea cups ride. Surprisingly, Mom went on the ride with us. In the past she has refused to ride because it gave her motion sickness so we were pretty shocked she wanted to give it a whirl this time around. I think we tried not to spin it too fast for her just in case she got sick. I had to take a picture of her in the ride as photographic evidence that this, indeed, happened.

I forgot when but we had acquired Winnie the Pooh fastpasses (which also gave us the entirely unnecessary PhilharMagic fastpasses). It was getting close to time to go ride through the Hundred Acre Woods so we made our way over.

Apparently we were 3 minutes too early and were denied access to the fastpass line. So we just hung around and went inside Pooh’s house.

3 minutes later we entered the line and proceeded onto the ride.

We weren’t even going to attempt to line up for the Dumbo ride and nobody was particularly interested in lining up to meet any characters so we moved on to Tomorrowland.

Along the way we just happened to step into a pile of pixie dust and walked right into a moving trash can. I’ve seen videos of Push the talking trash can and read about it but had completely forgotten it existed until we came across it. Lucky!

Okay, I’m not a parent and by no means do I understand how to raise a kid but this boy in red was just trying to beat the crap out of Push for who knows what reason. Somebody seriously needs to teach this kid how to treat things better (especially things that don’t belong to him) because if he continues this way he’ll never be able to have nice things.

Here’s my video of our Push experience.



The first thing we decided to do once we got to Tomorrowland was ride one of our more cherished rides: the TTA. It’s so relaxing and it just hits the spot for a nice rest that still kept you entertained. I just only wish it was longer.

At one point we were going through a building that was in complete darkness and the ride stopped. It was so dark that I couldn’t even see my hand if I had put it in front of my eyes. Good thing nobody was scared of the dark or claustrophobic because they would freak out, I’m sure.

Next we took a spin on the Buzz Lightyear ride. We always have fun on this one and we tend to get competitive.

I got paired up with Jess, Jan rode with Ma, and poor Edward rode with his backpack.

My score wasn’t that high and I’m pretty sure I lost to Jess.

Around this point we were all starting to get hungry so it was time to go search for some food.