therealgoofy
Mouseketeer
- Joined
- May 26, 2003
- Messages
- 168
Two Texans and a Mouse
Day 1, 9/22
Dates: 9/22-9/29 Austin, TX to WDW
Coronado Springs Resort
Cast Members:
Chris ambitious planner, twenty-something (ok, 29, but that still counts)
Jill (girlfriend) recent college grad that has no idea whats in store for her. Newbie to everything WDW/Universal
Today was supposed to be dedicated to MK and Epcot according to our itinerary, but we decided to do Animal Kingdom instead. Im INSANE I tell ya! We got up early again and went to the Pepper Market for breakfast. We decided to eat a much lighter meal than the day before and it turned out costing us $20. Im telling you I could eat Cereal and water and it would have been $20. Either way, we felt a lot better during the morning hours on fruit and such.
We hopped a bus to the AK which was also right around the corner. Coronado Springs is close to EVERYTHING. I loved the location, and it was so quiet. Jill carried a purse today so we had to stand in the Lemming line to get her bag checked. Let me re-phrase. She had to stand in line while I went inside. :smile: While Im thinking about it. <b>TEXAN TIP #9 Bring disposable ponchos with you from home.</b> They only cost .99 cents and they apparently make it not rain if you have them. It looked as if it was going to rain everyday we were there, but the Poncho god told the Rain god otherwise.
We took a Pic We also took this one
We bee-lined it for the Kilamanjaro Safari but found a pretty long line when we got there. Along the way we took this The safari was neat and our guide was great. We saw Elephants, Giraffes, Rhinos, flamingos, a female lion and some poachers. I think the coolest part is how its setup. It looks like at any moment a cheetah could/would attack one of the gazelles. The upside-down trees and Termite mounds were well done too.
We passed on the Jungle trail that was next to the exit and headed straight for the Kali River Rapids. I had read somewhere that this was one of the best themed rides in WDW, but I have to disagree. Although we both liked it and got really wet, I thought the theming was just ok. I mean how hard is it to simulate burning wood. Id do it again though. There were some people that came off SOAKED and other that were just wet, but everyone got wet.
There was a pretty cool trail that we went through in Asia that had Tigers, bats, and a really neat aviary. I was surprised that the tigers were up and moving about. Its not that often that you get to see them, even at a zoo.
We walked by the Bird show because we thought it was something that we didnt want to see. I hope that I was right. Ive also heard that there isnt much shade in the Animal Kingdom and I have to disagree. There was a ton of shade, just not much A/C. The trails sometimes bottleneck because they are so small. All it takes if for one Lemming to stop in the middle of the trail and everyone else is screwed. Its kind of like the mini-van phenomenon. Ever notice that mini-vans are the root of all traffic jams?
We went underground for a bugs life. The Tree of Life is so much more impressive in real life. Pictures dont do it any justice. The carvings on the tree are just amazing. Like clockwork, once the movie started, kids started screaming and parents took their kids out of the studio. I had never been to AK before, but this show was great. Jill said that it made Muppets 3d look like Ishtar. Ok, shes not that funny, but I am. I forgot to mention yesterday, but What is the plot of the Muppets Movie? It really doesnt make any sense. Anyway, we really liked the bugs.
We darted over to Dinoland and rode the Triceratops Spin which was fun, but a little out of place for Disney. Afterwards, we got in line for Dinosaur, but the ride shutdown while we were in queue. We said that we would come back and do it another day, but never made it. Maybe I can convince Jill to go back because we missed some things at AK. We didnt get to see Tarzan or the parade either.
I went the restroom by dinosaur and noticed that someone had gotten sick all over the floor as you walk in the door. I carefully jumped over it. I promise theres a point to this story. As I was walking out, there was this tough guy wannabe who was starring at me for some reason and had his chest inflated. I starred back knowing that if he kept looking at me, he wouldnt see the puke. Sure enough he lost his footing in it and I scurried out the door. THAT, my friends, is humor at its finest.
Our last stop at AK was at the Lion King show. It had just been rehabed and was now enclosed. The show was fantastic and is probably the best attraction at AK. Dont miss this one!
All in all our stay at the AK was brief but we enjoyed it. We didnt realize that we wouldnt be coming back, but I think the 5 hours we spent there was enough. If there was a least favorite and we HAD to only choose three parks to visit, we would have left this one off of our list, but by no means did we not like it.
Next stop was the Pepper Market back at the resort for lunch. I had a pizza that had way too much cheese on it. I was almost disgusted...almost. Jill had the perfectly assembled sandwich and I was jealous. We made a quick stop back to the hotel room to pickup some gear for my scuba adventure.
Next stop was guest relations at Epcot. Jill bought me a DiveQuest adventure for my birthday and that is where I was told meet the instructors/divers. She went inside the park and I told her to take lots of pictures of me. I was there early and met up with some of the guys who I was going to be diving with. Two of them had just gotten back from a dive at the Caribbean, one of them worked as a diver at an aquarium in Boston, and the others had been diving for years. Here I was on my first dive since being certified back in college. I wasnt nervous until I started talking to those guys. I figured it would be like riding a bike, and the worst thing that could happen was that I could die. The dive instructor came out and got us and took us behind the scenes. He asked that we not take any pictures because unlike the front side of WDW, the back side isnt near as nice. He says and who would want a picture of a dumpster anyways. He showed us the filtration system for the aquarium and it was amazing. There were 4 HUGE (bigger than an oil tanker) tanks that filtered the water. He spat off tons of facts about the filters, but I cant remember the exact details. They were unreal though. He then said that this is the worlds largest indoor aquarium.' The last fact that I remember was that the entire Epcot ball could fit in the tank and you would still have room to swim around the walls. Thats a big tank! He ran through a couple of safety procedures and sent us into the locker room to get changed into the wetsuits that they provided. He laughed when I told him that I had size 13 shoes and replied that I didnt need fins. Funny one, kid! The guy was actually super nice. I started talking with him about how he got this dream job and he said he just called up the WDW jobline and found that they had a dive master position open. I also asked him about future plans for the Living Seas and he told me that they were going to incorporate all of the water movies (Little mermaid, Nemo) into it. He said that the suits were finalizing plans for it. He didnt tell me NOT to tell anyone so here I am telling everyone. There were no more details than that. It did sound like it may happen sooner than later though. Anyhow, we were all suited up and were about to head upstairs. We came to a door with a black light above it and the CM said that there are black lights above every door where you are about to be on stage. He said it was Disneys way of letting CMs know to get into character, tuck your shirts in, etc. I thought that was pretty cool. So, the six of us and the instructor walked through the living seas as everyone pointed at us and wondered what we were about to do. We had to climb a staircase up to the top of the tank. He took us on a tour from the top and we got to see the dolphins up close. They were very interested in what we were doing. The tank was ENOURMOUS! Our dive master and gear were waiting for us on the the side of the tank and he gave a brief overview of how it all worked. It came back to me very quick. We suited up and started the dive. There was a videographer that was taping us. The first 15-20 minutes was dedicated to taking a tour of the tank. There is a fake shipwreck with cannonballs and such that we could pick up. We then swam over to this little apparatus at the bottom that had and air pocket in it. You could swim up underneath it and take out your regulator and take off your mask while the video guy filmed you. It was pretty wild. After that we were allowed to buddy up and swim wherever we wanted to. I went straight for the windows where there was a ton of people watching. I found Jill and she shot some pictures
#1
#2
#3
#4
The videographer also shot us next to our family. You could see everyone on the other side of the glass surprisingly well. The kids were going nuts and Im probably in about 100 peoples photo albums. We then swam over to the restaurant. Along the way we saw tons of fish, rays, a huge sea turtle and a couple of small sharks. I remember thinking that there wasnt much too the living seas, but when youre swimming in it, its another ball game. We waved at everyone in the Coral Reef and you could tell that the window seat that they had asked for had just been vindicated. I dont know what was more fun, looking at the fish or the people on the other side of the glass. It was definitely the best birthday gift I had ever gotten. One of the best parts was that the money that we paid to do the dive ($140) all went to the Disney Conservation fund. The videos were $35 and DVDs $70 and that too went to the conservation fund. I was surprised to hear that they didnt profit from it. If you are Scuba certified, you have to do DiveQuest. If you arent certified, then what are you waiting for?!
After showering up and watching/purchasing the video, I went out in search for Jill. We had forgot to setup a meeting place. I first tried the front door to the Living Seas, but she wasnt there. I walked all way around to the front gate to see if she might be there, but no luck. I then decided to walk back to the attraction and found her. She had gone to the bathroom and I had just missed her. We headed back to the resort and decided that we liked having a car much better than riding the buses. <b>TEXAN TIP #10 I never once thought that we shouldnt have rented a car. </b>We were so glad to have it, because the busses seemed sporadic and at the end of a long day, it was much nicer to get in the car and be home.
We had a PS at the California Grille that night for 9:10, so we rested for a bit and then headed out. If you miss the exit for the Contemporary and end up in the MK parking lot, you have to make a LONG U-turn to get back. That wasnt cool, but my fault. We walked into the Contemporary and I promptly said 1984 called and wants its hotel back! I dont know what the big deal is about this place. I thought our resort was A LOT nicer, granted, I didnt see the rooms. The place just seemed dated. We got in the wrong elevator shaft to go to the restaurant, so we had to switch midway up and tolerate some kids making fun of us as we exited. The doors opened and the restaurant was awesome. It was packed with what seemed to be a pretty hip crowd. I realized that I forgot my camera at that point and suffered through Jill telling me how cruddy of a boyfriend I am. I briefly entertained the idea of going to get it, but it was raining and I just didnt see it. Its a shame now because Jill looked amazing and I cleaned up pretty nice myself.
We walked up to the front desk and gave them our name. They couldnt find it. <b>Texan Tip #11 Check your PSs before you leave. </b>I had made some changes to mine a couple of weeks before we left and they apparently didnt get it right. I had to go through the rundown with the girl about everything I did. She was able to pull up my name as having cancelled the day before, which I had, but there was no new ressie. I explained to her that I obviously made a new PS after cancelling. Looking back, that logic doesnt make a bit of sense, but at the time I was Albert Einstein. At first she said that we were going to have to wait, but after throwing some charm at her, I had her eating out of my hand. We had a drink at the bar and our table was ready. They put us at a window seat which was great, and not requested, but we were at the other end of the restaurant on the corner. The windows were fogged up a bit due to the weather, but it was still nice.
Our waiter came over promptly and made some wine suggestions and really spent some time with us and the menu. He made SOLID recommendations and even told Jill about some wines that she should try when we got back home. He wrote them down with prices and everything. As he walked away I said Hes the best waiter that Ive ever had and even if he screws up from this point, hell still probably be the best. Me and my big fat mouth! We didnt see the guy for another 15 minutes which I wrote off as hes in the weeds (waiter term). We finally were able to order some more drinks and got the Ravioli for an appetizer. We also ordered our entrées. I had the pork loin and Jill had the Ahi tuna. We didnt see the guy again for a long while. Mistake number one was that he made me sit there and wait for beer after I had already had a couple. I thought about going up to the bar and pouring it myself, but kept letting this guy off the hook, because of his Oscar winning performance when we first sat down. The Ravioli came out, followed by our drinks. It was fantastic. The food came shortly thereafter and it was suggested earlier that if we wanted this chocolate cake dessert that we should order it now because it took 20-25 minutes to bake. We ordered..like that was a tough sell. Our food was FANTASTIC. It was by far the best meal of the trip. I highly suggest the pork loin. It was simply amazing. We didnt see old boy through our entire meal and come to think about it, I dont even think he ran our food (which may be normal). Looking back, the guy was just probably busy, but I would have liked to see a bit more attention to detail. The waiter next to us stopped and chatted with his table often. He could tell that they wanted to talk and boy did he talk. I overheard him telling the couple that he and his friends got bombed one night while staying at the Grand Floridian. One of them had bet the others that he could swim across the lake to MK. I guess that guy got in some serious trouble. THATS MY KIND OF WAITER!! The cake finally came out and it was worth the wait. It looked like a normal cake but when I put my fork into it, more chocolate erupted out of that bad boy that it would make even Mt. St. Helens jealous. It was awesome. I think we escaped the evening for $150 including tip, but it was worth every penny.
The night ended with us deciding that we didnt want to do Universal tomorrow. We were pretty beat from the first couple of days and wanted to sleep in a bit. We decided on Future World that next morning.
Stay tuned. It may be a couple of days until my next installment. These things are more tiring than running a marathon backwards.
Day 1, 9/22
Dates: 9/22-9/29 Austin, TX to WDW
Coronado Springs Resort
Cast Members:
Chris ambitious planner, twenty-something (ok, 29, but that still counts)
Jill (girlfriend) recent college grad that has no idea whats in store for her. Newbie to everything WDW/Universal
Today was supposed to be dedicated to MK and Epcot according to our itinerary, but we decided to do Animal Kingdom instead. Im INSANE I tell ya! We got up early again and went to the Pepper Market for breakfast. We decided to eat a much lighter meal than the day before and it turned out costing us $20. Im telling you I could eat Cereal and water and it would have been $20. Either way, we felt a lot better during the morning hours on fruit and such.
We hopped a bus to the AK which was also right around the corner. Coronado Springs is close to EVERYTHING. I loved the location, and it was so quiet. Jill carried a purse today so we had to stand in the Lemming line to get her bag checked. Let me re-phrase. She had to stand in line while I went inside. :smile: While Im thinking about it. <b>TEXAN TIP #9 Bring disposable ponchos with you from home.</b> They only cost .99 cents and they apparently make it not rain if you have them. It looked as if it was going to rain everyday we were there, but the Poncho god told the Rain god otherwise.
We took a Pic We also took this one
We bee-lined it for the Kilamanjaro Safari but found a pretty long line when we got there. Along the way we took this The safari was neat and our guide was great. We saw Elephants, Giraffes, Rhinos, flamingos, a female lion and some poachers. I think the coolest part is how its setup. It looks like at any moment a cheetah could/would attack one of the gazelles. The upside-down trees and Termite mounds were well done too.
We passed on the Jungle trail that was next to the exit and headed straight for the Kali River Rapids. I had read somewhere that this was one of the best themed rides in WDW, but I have to disagree. Although we both liked it and got really wet, I thought the theming was just ok. I mean how hard is it to simulate burning wood. Id do it again though. There were some people that came off SOAKED and other that were just wet, but everyone got wet.
There was a pretty cool trail that we went through in Asia that had Tigers, bats, and a really neat aviary. I was surprised that the tigers were up and moving about. Its not that often that you get to see them, even at a zoo.
We walked by the Bird show because we thought it was something that we didnt want to see. I hope that I was right. Ive also heard that there isnt much shade in the Animal Kingdom and I have to disagree. There was a ton of shade, just not much A/C. The trails sometimes bottleneck because they are so small. All it takes if for one Lemming to stop in the middle of the trail and everyone else is screwed. Its kind of like the mini-van phenomenon. Ever notice that mini-vans are the root of all traffic jams?
We went underground for a bugs life. The Tree of Life is so much more impressive in real life. Pictures dont do it any justice. The carvings on the tree are just amazing. Like clockwork, once the movie started, kids started screaming and parents took their kids out of the studio. I had never been to AK before, but this show was great. Jill said that it made Muppets 3d look like Ishtar. Ok, shes not that funny, but I am. I forgot to mention yesterday, but What is the plot of the Muppets Movie? It really doesnt make any sense. Anyway, we really liked the bugs.
We darted over to Dinoland and rode the Triceratops Spin which was fun, but a little out of place for Disney. Afterwards, we got in line for Dinosaur, but the ride shutdown while we were in queue. We said that we would come back and do it another day, but never made it. Maybe I can convince Jill to go back because we missed some things at AK. We didnt get to see Tarzan or the parade either.
I went the restroom by dinosaur and noticed that someone had gotten sick all over the floor as you walk in the door. I carefully jumped over it. I promise theres a point to this story. As I was walking out, there was this tough guy wannabe who was starring at me for some reason and had his chest inflated. I starred back knowing that if he kept looking at me, he wouldnt see the puke. Sure enough he lost his footing in it and I scurried out the door. THAT, my friends, is humor at its finest.
Our last stop at AK was at the Lion King show. It had just been rehabed and was now enclosed. The show was fantastic and is probably the best attraction at AK. Dont miss this one!
All in all our stay at the AK was brief but we enjoyed it. We didnt realize that we wouldnt be coming back, but I think the 5 hours we spent there was enough. If there was a least favorite and we HAD to only choose three parks to visit, we would have left this one off of our list, but by no means did we not like it.
Next stop was the Pepper Market back at the resort for lunch. I had a pizza that had way too much cheese on it. I was almost disgusted...almost. Jill had the perfectly assembled sandwich and I was jealous. We made a quick stop back to the hotel room to pickup some gear for my scuba adventure.
Next stop was guest relations at Epcot. Jill bought me a DiveQuest adventure for my birthday and that is where I was told meet the instructors/divers. She went inside the park and I told her to take lots of pictures of me. I was there early and met up with some of the guys who I was going to be diving with. Two of them had just gotten back from a dive at the Caribbean, one of them worked as a diver at an aquarium in Boston, and the others had been diving for years. Here I was on my first dive since being certified back in college. I wasnt nervous until I started talking to those guys. I figured it would be like riding a bike, and the worst thing that could happen was that I could die. The dive instructor came out and got us and took us behind the scenes. He asked that we not take any pictures because unlike the front side of WDW, the back side isnt near as nice. He says and who would want a picture of a dumpster anyways. He showed us the filtration system for the aquarium and it was amazing. There were 4 HUGE (bigger than an oil tanker) tanks that filtered the water. He spat off tons of facts about the filters, but I cant remember the exact details. They were unreal though. He then said that this is the worlds largest indoor aquarium.' The last fact that I remember was that the entire Epcot ball could fit in the tank and you would still have room to swim around the walls. Thats a big tank! He ran through a couple of safety procedures and sent us into the locker room to get changed into the wetsuits that they provided. He laughed when I told him that I had size 13 shoes and replied that I didnt need fins. Funny one, kid! The guy was actually super nice. I started talking with him about how he got this dream job and he said he just called up the WDW jobline and found that they had a dive master position open. I also asked him about future plans for the Living Seas and he told me that they were going to incorporate all of the water movies (Little mermaid, Nemo) into it. He said that the suits were finalizing plans for it. He didnt tell me NOT to tell anyone so here I am telling everyone. There were no more details than that. It did sound like it may happen sooner than later though. Anyhow, we were all suited up and were about to head upstairs. We came to a door with a black light above it and the CM said that there are black lights above every door where you are about to be on stage. He said it was Disneys way of letting CMs know to get into character, tuck your shirts in, etc. I thought that was pretty cool. So, the six of us and the instructor walked through the living seas as everyone pointed at us and wondered what we were about to do. We had to climb a staircase up to the top of the tank. He took us on a tour from the top and we got to see the dolphins up close. They were very interested in what we were doing. The tank was ENOURMOUS! Our dive master and gear were waiting for us on the the side of the tank and he gave a brief overview of how it all worked. It came back to me very quick. We suited up and started the dive. There was a videographer that was taping us. The first 15-20 minutes was dedicated to taking a tour of the tank. There is a fake shipwreck with cannonballs and such that we could pick up. We then swam over to this little apparatus at the bottom that had and air pocket in it. You could swim up underneath it and take out your regulator and take off your mask while the video guy filmed you. It was pretty wild. After that we were allowed to buddy up and swim wherever we wanted to. I went straight for the windows where there was a ton of people watching. I found Jill and she shot some pictures
#1
#2
#3
#4
The videographer also shot us next to our family. You could see everyone on the other side of the glass surprisingly well. The kids were going nuts and Im probably in about 100 peoples photo albums. We then swam over to the restaurant. Along the way we saw tons of fish, rays, a huge sea turtle and a couple of small sharks. I remember thinking that there wasnt much too the living seas, but when youre swimming in it, its another ball game. We waved at everyone in the Coral Reef and you could tell that the window seat that they had asked for had just been vindicated. I dont know what was more fun, looking at the fish or the people on the other side of the glass. It was definitely the best birthday gift I had ever gotten. One of the best parts was that the money that we paid to do the dive ($140) all went to the Disney Conservation fund. The videos were $35 and DVDs $70 and that too went to the conservation fund. I was surprised to hear that they didnt profit from it. If you are Scuba certified, you have to do DiveQuest. If you arent certified, then what are you waiting for?!
After showering up and watching/purchasing the video, I went out in search for Jill. We had forgot to setup a meeting place. I first tried the front door to the Living Seas, but she wasnt there. I walked all way around to the front gate to see if she might be there, but no luck. I then decided to walk back to the attraction and found her. She had gone to the bathroom and I had just missed her. We headed back to the resort and decided that we liked having a car much better than riding the buses. <b>TEXAN TIP #10 I never once thought that we shouldnt have rented a car. </b>We were so glad to have it, because the busses seemed sporadic and at the end of a long day, it was much nicer to get in the car and be home.
We had a PS at the California Grille that night for 9:10, so we rested for a bit and then headed out. If you miss the exit for the Contemporary and end up in the MK parking lot, you have to make a LONG U-turn to get back. That wasnt cool, but my fault. We walked into the Contemporary and I promptly said 1984 called and wants its hotel back! I dont know what the big deal is about this place. I thought our resort was A LOT nicer, granted, I didnt see the rooms. The place just seemed dated. We got in the wrong elevator shaft to go to the restaurant, so we had to switch midway up and tolerate some kids making fun of us as we exited. The doors opened and the restaurant was awesome. It was packed with what seemed to be a pretty hip crowd. I realized that I forgot my camera at that point and suffered through Jill telling me how cruddy of a boyfriend I am. I briefly entertained the idea of going to get it, but it was raining and I just didnt see it. Its a shame now because Jill looked amazing and I cleaned up pretty nice myself.
We walked up to the front desk and gave them our name. They couldnt find it. <b>Texan Tip #11 Check your PSs before you leave. </b>I had made some changes to mine a couple of weeks before we left and they apparently didnt get it right. I had to go through the rundown with the girl about everything I did. She was able to pull up my name as having cancelled the day before, which I had, but there was no new ressie. I explained to her that I obviously made a new PS after cancelling. Looking back, that logic doesnt make a bit of sense, but at the time I was Albert Einstein. At first she said that we were going to have to wait, but after throwing some charm at her, I had her eating out of my hand. We had a drink at the bar and our table was ready. They put us at a window seat which was great, and not requested, but we were at the other end of the restaurant on the corner. The windows were fogged up a bit due to the weather, but it was still nice.
Our waiter came over promptly and made some wine suggestions and really spent some time with us and the menu. He made SOLID recommendations and even told Jill about some wines that she should try when we got back home. He wrote them down with prices and everything. As he walked away I said Hes the best waiter that Ive ever had and even if he screws up from this point, hell still probably be the best. Me and my big fat mouth! We didnt see the guy for another 15 minutes which I wrote off as hes in the weeds (waiter term). We finally were able to order some more drinks and got the Ravioli for an appetizer. We also ordered our entrées. I had the pork loin and Jill had the Ahi tuna. We didnt see the guy again for a long while. Mistake number one was that he made me sit there and wait for beer after I had already had a couple. I thought about going up to the bar and pouring it myself, but kept letting this guy off the hook, because of his Oscar winning performance when we first sat down. The Ravioli came out, followed by our drinks. It was fantastic. The food came shortly thereafter and it was suggested earlier that if we wanted this chocolate cake dessert that we should order it now because it took 20-25 minutes to bake. We ordered..like that was a tough sell. Our food was FANTASTIC. It was by far the best meal of the trip. I highly suggest the pork loin. It was simply amazing. We didnt see old boy through our entire meal and come to think about it, I dont even think he ran our food (which may be normal). Looking back, the guy was just probably busy, but I would have liked to see a bit more attention to detail. The waiter next to us stopped and chatted with his table often. He could tell that they wanted to talk and boy did he talk. I overheard him telling the couple that he and his friends got bombed one night while staying at the Grand Floridian. One of them had bet the others that he could swim across the lake to MK. I guess that guy got in some serious trouble. THATS MY KIND OF WAITER!! The cake finally came out and it was worth the wait. It looked like a normal cake but when I put my fork into it, more chocolate erupted out of that bad boy that it would make even Mt. St. Helens jealous. It was awesome. I think we escaped the evening for $150 including tip, but it was worth every penny.
The night ended with us deciding that we didnt want to do Universal tomorrow. We were pretty beat from the first couple of days and wanted to sleep in a bit. We decided on Future World that next morning.
Stay tuned. It may be a couple of days until my next installment. These things are more tiring than running a marathon backwards.
I'd have to say it was a great first dive choice.
Resistance is futile, you WILL be assimilated!
YOU BETTER NOT WIMP OUT AND STOP MID-TRIP
