Trip report

[thestevied]

Day 6 - Hollywood studios and downtown

So today we started by going back to hollywood and riding the stuff we missed first time around. Walt- one mans dream is a firm favourite of ours. We love it and will always do it at least once every time we come here. And it didn't disappoint. I'm reading a biography of walt Disney at the mo so it's good to see how some stuff ties in with the book. Queues were getting pretty mental around lunchtime. 50 mins for the great movie ride!? Never seen that so busy. After chatting to some Americans at the bus stop that evening it turns out there's a national Jewish holiday this week in New York, which we think is partly why the parks have seemed so busy.

For the afternoon we visited downtown. We didn't do too much shopping but we did go bowling. This was good fun, and you pay by the hour, so we managed five games for $20 each.

As it approached evening time we thought we'd was over to do some drinking at the monorail resorts. We've never stayed in any of them but like looking around. We started at the grand Floridian which is my wife's dream destination. Had a drink at citricos which was ok but pricey. So we moved on to the contemporary and found a lounge called the outer rim. This was lovely and was overlooking the lake. We ended up staying two hours having cocktails. Again, this was a nice end to the day, especially as it was kind of unexpected and unplanned.

 

[thestevied]

 

[scoobydooby]

Yeah. You can't beat an unscheduled cocktail

 

[Disneynutinlondon]

it turns out there's a national Jewish holiday this week in New York.

Actually it's not just New York, the last couple of days have been the Jewish New Year (Rosh Hashanna) and its celebrated world wide LOL!!

What I think the person meant was in New York many of the schools close over this period due to the high number of Jewish families in the area

 

[thestevied]

Actually it's not just New York, the last couple of days have been the Jewish New Year (Rosh Hashanna) and its celebrated world wide LOL!! What I think the person meant was in New York many of the schools close over this period due to the high number of Jewish families in the area

Yeah that sounds like what he said. And it makes sense!!

 

[dixonsontour]

Thanks for the updates - nice pic of you both at Universal. Loving the Universal pictures - 3 weeks until we are there. Hope crowds stay low

 

[thestevied]

Day 7 - MK at midnight

There were a few things we hadn't done yet at Ak so we headed back there first thing. Did expedition Everest with our fastpasses that we got earlier in the week when it broke down, and then walked through the maharajah jungle trek. I really enjoyed this - bats, Tigers, Komodo dragons, it was a nice walk. Except it was so hot!! We'd planned to do the forest trail too but it was too warm so we left at about 11am.

Spent the next 3 hours by the pool having some nice relaxing time! Somehow I forgot to cream my chest so that got quite red! Had some lunch at the fountain in the hotel. Pretty standard food but good value.

At 8pm we headed to MK. We had fastpasses for the Spectro parade and wishes which were at 9pm and 9.45pm. These were both as good as ever and having the fastpasses make it much more comfortable in my opinion. Not so much for the views but for the fact you don't get so crowded in to the point where you can't even move. I never enjoy that.

After the shows we rode as many rides as we could. Was nice to see in midnight doing some rides. We hadn't ever stayed that late before. By that time the crowds had thinned right out too, so it was a nice relaxing evening.

 

[thestevied]

 

[thestevied]

 

[disneyholic family]

enjoying your trip report and your pictures!!

 

[SilentK]

Love the pics, we've never seen the dragon out.

We did a couple of 1am closes at MK in December, it's the best time! We got so much done

 

[stephensmum]

Enjoying your report, thanks for making the effort.

 

[thestevied]

Day 8 - universal

Today we finished off all the rides at universal and islands of adventure that we hadn't previously done. We also spent more time at diagon alley (really can't stress enough how much we enjoyed this!) and had lunch at Springfield. We got there early and had all the rides finished by about 12. This meant we could spend a bit of time mooching around Springfield. While the simpsons ride is ok, Springfield as a whole we really Like. Of course, it definitely helps if you like the show. We both ate at Krusty burger and had a duff beer at moes. We finished it off with a lard lad donut which was immense, and only $5!

We'd planned on doing Hollywood studios in the evening but the queues were so long it didn't seem worth it. Also when the frozen fireworks are on they close down access to rides at the back of the park. (Can't remember if I've already mentioned this, apologies if I have...)

So instead we walked to the yacht club where we'd stayed last year and had some snacks and cocktails at the crews cup lounge. It's nice and cosy in there and was nice for us to reminisce.

Can't believe we're into the final week already!!

 

[thestevied]

Lunch at krustys


Biggest donut ever!

Snacks at the crews cup lounge

 

[thestevied]

Day 9 - more shopping and old town

What started this morning as a 'quick trip to look for a pair if trainers' turned into a huge 3-4 hour full on clothes shopping trip. And to be fair, we both equally enjoyed it. We don't usually buy clothes, but the prices seemed so good today. We visited american eagle, Nike, Ekko and the disney outlet. Jeans, shirts, jumpers, t shirts, trainers, there's not much we didn't buy. I'm now worried about packing everything! We've paid for extra luggage but I'm still worried! We'll find a way though, I'm sure. On the way back we did the other golf course opposite our hotel at Fantasia gardens. Again, this was great fun. Made even more amusing by the fact there were a couple of mating lizards on one of the holes!!

In the evening we went to old town with some friends to meet some more friends who had just recently landed. The place seemed pretty cool, but as we arrived late (about 10.30pm) it was very quiet so we didn't stay too long. Visited a couple of shops and had a drink. There was some scary looking rides but they had just closed so we missed them. May go back though if we have time.

Up early tomorrow for extra magic hours at epcot, so I really should get some sleep!!

 

[thestevied]

 

[thestevied]

Day 10 - epcot

We made a good go of the kiosks at the food and wine festival today. We'd already done a few but it was nice to have a couple of hours picking our way through the stuff we really wanted to try. This is our third time here and it's a big draw for us. Possibly the main reason we choose epcot resorts. Half way around world showcase the rain started coming down heavy so we ducked inside to the wine cellar at Italy. It was on our list of things to try anyway so this seemed like the ideal time. It was very authentic looking inside and the waiters were very knowledgable. We had a red wine sampler and a cheese sharing plate. Both were delicious but a bit pricey. Came to $50 in total. It was so tasty though. We love cheese and wine and had been craving it since we've been here.

It was still rainy in the evening, so we decided to go back to the contemporary for a look around the shops and some food and drinks. We are at the contempo cafe which is quick service but I though they did a really good assortment of goods at ok prices. We shared two sandwiches - Italian sub and buffalo chicken. The Italian sub was really good. We walked this off by looking round the shops. The wife found a nice disney handbag. It's made from seat belts which sounds weird but looks really good. Was $150!! But as impulse buys go this one was great.

We tried the other two lounges next. The wave, downstairs, which was pretty quiet. Found a nice quiet area with booths where we all had a cocktail. We'll defo go back here, we all enjoyed it. Then we went to the California grill lounge. We'd tried to go at 8.30 but it was full (for the fireworks) but at 9.30 there was some space. We spent two hours there, having cocktails and coffee. The views were great and it was nice to go and enjoy the atmosphere without eating. We ended up being the last people there so gut some nice photos of it being empty. Again, a nice unexpected end to the night.

 

[thestevied]

Inside the wine cellar...

 

[thestevied]

Walking to contemporary.

First drinks

 

[thestevied]

Empty california grill



View from the top of the contemporary