WAIT! IS THAT THE SWALPHIN?! A January 2014 Trip Report

[Surfinpiratee]

Joining in, pics are great, hope to see more!!

Thank you!
There will be more! Thinking about doing an update tomorrow!

 

[Surfinpiratee]

I just realized I don't think I ever explained the TR title!!
Obviously we are not staying at the Swalphin..the joke started like this:
We passed by the Swalphin and Billy asks, "What's that over there?" I said, "Oh, that's the Swalphin!" He goes, "The Swalphin...?" "The Swan/Dolphin!!! Thus, the Swalphin!"

Billy thought this was hilarious. Then one of the times we left Disney, (we were just somewhere in Orlando) Billy goes, "Wait! Is that the Swalphin?!"

*sigh* ...No Billy...we're not even in Disney!!!!

Okay on to the update...

Saturday, January 4

We finally arrived at my first Disney World park!!!!!!
ANIMAL KINGDOM!!!
They still had the Christmas tree up, so this is the first thing I noticed..



I just love him.
It made for another very awesome selfie



I was in awe the entire time. I just loved being there, and was taking it all in. All of the palm trees



We just walked around for a bit before we went on any rides. (Don't even ask why..I have no idea.)



We saw this little guy!!!



THE TREE OF LIFE. This must be the best tree to ever exist in the history of trees. We stared at it for quite some time.


We made our way over to the first attraction of the trip: It's Tough to be a Bug! The wait was about 5 minutes. I really liked this show. I could totally see how parts could scare young kids...but it was still an awesome show
After the show, we came across a gift shop and had to go in. I wanted to buy this baby



And this:


HAHAHAHAH. We laughed about this for a good 10 minutes.

Flamingos They used to be my favorite bird. (It is now the Tucan, for those wondering)



He wasn't very photogenic

The Tree of Life. It's just so lovely


Obviously another good selfie shot!!!


We then made our way to.....Africa!



Yet another selfie ^
​

 

[Surfinpiratee]

Saturday, January 4​

We made our way through Africa, and saw this beautiful sight



SO MAJESTIC. We didn't ride Everest though...we're not huge ride people, and we weren't sure how we felt about the whole going backwards thing. However, we might ride it next trip!

HARAMBE


Billy had to use the bathroom (first of many on this trip!) so I stood around and watched the African performers!


They were very cool. I absolutely LOVE Africa and the culture. Not to mention..the animals! Speaking of animals, we made our way over to... Kilimanjaro Safari! We walked through the queue, which obviously was too amazing, I didn't even think to take pictures! The wait was only about 20 minutes, maybe a smidge longer.



Giraffes are my favorite animal...of all time.


As you probably could have guessed, because I have about 43643 pictures of the Giraffes



I like this picture a lot ^ because it shows the safari car we rode in as well!



I was shocked with how good of a picture I got of the lions! I'm a photographer pro.



The safari was amazing!!! I literally felt like I was on a safari in Africa. It was too cool. Definitely one of my favorite rides in Disney. After the safari we walked through whatever exhibits are there right outside the safari. We saw these!!!


We continued walking through Africa. I was capturing the beauty and detail



William had to use the restroom yet again...I stood outside and found it humorous it said 'gents' so of course I had to take a picture!
​

 

[Surfinpiratee]

Saturday, January 4​

By this time we started to get hungry. We're really smart, because we brought food from home so we could make sandwiches and bring other snacks into the parks to save money. But guess what? We didn't think to bring any food... DARN! Guess we'll have to get Disney food! Note for next time: get more food in Disney!
I really had no idea what kinds of quick service places there were in Animal Kingdom. So with the help of MDE and the Dis boards, I found that a good place was.... Restaurantasaurus! (Did I spell that right? haha)
It wasn't very crowded so we pretty much walked right up to order! The CM asked us if we wanted to donate to the conservation. Of course we said yes! We each got a button that said we were heroes This made me crazy happy. FREE DISNEY SOUVENIRS!

We got our food and found a seat. There were many open tables. We just chose to share a burger and fries


I was really impressed! It was very good!
After lunch we took a stroll through dino-land and made our way over to... DINOSAUR! I was really excited for this ride..not sure why but I was! The wait was about 20 minutes. Some pictures from the queue:





The ride was super fun! I'm definitely looking forward to riding it again next time
We walked past Everest yet again..


Billy told me he wanted to see Flights of Wonder! We didn't really have any plans, so away we went!



HAHAHA The greatest owl to ever live.

This seriously was a GREAT show, if you have never seen it, GO SEE IT. It's hilarious and so amazing to see all of the birds! It's also a good way to relax for a few minutes and sit down!
After the show we were making our way over to Camp Minnie Mickey to see the Lion King! We were stopped by a parade!




After we watched the parade, we arrived at Festival of the Lion King! We got there with about 5 minutes before the next show! All I have to say is WOW. This is an excellent show! If I ever work in Disney. I want to be a performer in this. We sat on the elephant side




After the show was over, we wandered around for a bit before we were ready to leave​

 

[TheMaxRebo]

Glad you are enjoying (er, enjoyed at this point, I always get confused with what tense to use in the middle of trip reports) Animal Kingdom. It is definitely one amazing themed theme park!

You definitely picked some good shows/attractions to do - though as a big fan of EE I am disappointed you skipped it (though totally get why not everyone would enjoy the ride)

 

[Surfinpiratee]

Glad you are enjoying (er, enjoyed at this point, I always get confused with what tense to use in the middle of trip reports) Animal Kingdom. It is definitely one amazing themed theme park!

You definitely picked some good shows/attractions to do - though as a big fan of EE I am disappointed you skipped it (though totally get why not everyone would enjoy the ride)

Hahaha I might get brave and do it next time...I like Thunder Mountain...is it similar?

 

[MidnightParade]

I love Animal Kingdom! Its just so beautiful and I find it feels more relaxed, I think because of all the trees.

And I agree more Disney food! lol Haven't seen Flights of Wonder but I'll keep it in mind for our trip now!

 

[TheMaxRebo]

Hahaha I might get brave and do it next time...I like Thunder Mountain...is it similar?

I think it is similar - similar feeling going around curves, though a bit smoother. It all comes down to how you feel about going backwards. I like it but I know some people really don't.

Unless that concept really, really bothers you I would give it a shot - it really is a fun ride!

 

[LuvEeyore]

You definitely need to ride EE. ride in the front row so you can see the Swalphin!

 

[BoBippity]

Looking forward to your TR!

 

[Surfinpiratee]

Saturday, January 4​

When I left off, we had just seen Festival of the Lion King. (ahhhh, I wish I could watch that show again right now!)

We had passed by this sign earlier and DBF really wanted a picture by it. So we saw it as we were wandering and had to take a picture!



Oops we cut off the sign..

Much better!



We did just about everything we wanted to do there. We were hungry so we decided to head back to the resort.
Only one's at the bus stop!



I took this awesome picture from the POR bus stop. It's zoomed in! I was super proud of my photo taking skills.



Bye Animal Kingdom!

We didn't wait longer than 10-15 minutes for a bus. I don't think that's too bad?
We arrived back at our POR room. I think I wanted to get a picture of the outside of our room/room number. That's how this picture came about...



Like I said at the beginning, we brought a lot of our own food to just heat up in the microwave. One, to save money. And two, because Billy used to have stomach issues (doctors thought it was gastritis)..especially when we would go out to eat. Hence why we brought food from home! So we went down to the food court to heat up our dinner! Tonight we had pasta with alfredo sauce.



It was pretty good!

More pictures of the food court because it was so cute!



After we finished eating, it was still early. So we decided to check out Downtown Disney! Went down to the bus stop. I think we waited a little longer, but it wasn't over 20 minutes. Finally we arrived!



As soon as we walked in we saw some statues that I was in love with. So the only obvious thing to do was to take pictures!




We spent some time in this paintings store. I was in love with this Dumbo picture.



Billy and I love Winnie the Pooh. We had a nice man take our picture!



We saw a machine that makes tags/dog tags, and it was only $10! So we had to make one for our puppy!!



​

 

[MidnightParade]

Aww, I love the painting store! So many things I want in there that are sooo crazy expensive!

Boo to stomach issues! I have been reading up on Paleo recently and reading peoples stories and I just can't imagine having so many afflictions just because of the food you eat! (Not saying Billy needs Paleo, just feel awful for all people who have similar tummy issues)

Can't wait for park day 2!

 

[Surfinpiratee]

Aww, I love the painting store! So many things I want in there that are sooo crazy expensive!

Boo to stomach issues! I have been reading up on Paleo recently and reading peoples stories and I just can't imagine having so many afflictions just because of the food you eat! (Not saying Billy needs Paleo, just feel awful for all people who have similar tummy issues)

Can't wait for park day 2!

Yeah luckily he's better though!!! It lasted from like...summer 2 years ago to last February.

I'll post another update within the next couple days!

 

[Surfinpiratee]

Saturday, January 4​

When I left off, we were wandering around Downtown Disney! AND WE CONTINUED TO DO SO!

I love Roo. Like, a lot. But I wasn't going to buy a stuffed animal...so obviously I had to take a picture!!



Buzz





I bought my Minnie ears!!!! I was super happy, as you can see.



I was born near San Diego and used to live there. So I love the Chargers. So thus, I took a photo!



Just the best store to ever be built on this planet.








This wasn't ridiculously awesome or anything...


PASCAL. (We obviously spent a lot of time in here. Sorry for the picture overload!)




After we finished up in World of Disney, we were getting tired, So we decided to make our way to the bus stop to head back to POR.

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I believe we waited around 10-15 minutes for a bus
This is my really terrible attempt to take a picture of our building number at POR...but here it is...



(psst...it's 34 Alligator Bayou if you can't see )

We got to bed quickly and watched some Stacey and HGTV before going to bed! It was our last night at Port Orleans! But we were checking out tomorrow to go another Disney resort!!! What's in store for tomorrow?! ​

 

[Surfinpiratee]

Sunday, January 5​

Second full day in Disney!!!! Yay! We were ready to start the day! We were checking out at POR But that's okay!!

We had to get up earlyish to check out before 11am.

After we packed up all of our stuff and our car, we drove to the lobby. There was a little bit of a long line So I decided to take some more lobby pictures!!





I really wanted to get an autograph book. So I headed to the gift shop, while Billy waited in line! I bought the one that's little and blue with all of the basic characters on it. I also had to get an OFFICIAL AUTOGRAPH PEN.

We finally made it to the front of the line and checked out. We didn't want to check in at our other resort yet since the room may not be ready yet. So we left our car at POR and headed for the bus stop!



By the way, it was like 80 degrees on this fine day. WHAT? 80 DEGREES IN JANUARY. This wasn't exactly a norm in Illinois. I was wearing shorts and short sleeves!

Some more photos of the gorgeous Port Orleans Riverside while waiting/walking to the bus!





POR was seriously so wonderful!! I would recommend it for anyone! I can't think of anything that would make people not like it! We were probably at one of the farthest buildings and we always walked to the lobby/food court.

I remember waiting for a bus for around 20 minutes. It was like...we saw every park like 3 times before the park we wanted arrived...



Todays park choice was....EPCOT!



We made it through bag check and arrived inside...All I can say is WOW!!!!!
Remember when I said it was a nice day...?



SUN TO THE EXTREME.

Pretty much when we first walked in we saw Pluto! The line had MAYBE 5 families in front of us. So of course we got in line!!!



MY FIRST CHARACTER EXPERIENCE AT DISNEY WORLD.

We did have FP for a couple things. I think the only thing we ended up using them for was Soarin...because it wasn't crowded and we didn't really need to! So our first ride we ventured to was....



I LOVED the finding Nemo ride. It was basically walk on. I would recommend it if you have never been on it before OR if you have some serious Finding Nemo lovers in your group (Billy and I... ). But now that I have been on it, I probably won't go on it unless the wait is 20 minutes or less.



MANATEES!​

 

[MidnightParade]

Yay Minnie Ears and manatees!

Happy you had a nice warm day! We went in January 2010 and it was pretty cold on our Epcot day

Yay for first character experience! Pluto is a good way to go!

 

[Surfinpiratee]

I'm on a roll!!! One more update for today. Well, guess I can't promise that...there could be more!

Sunday, January 5 ​

We were just leaving the seas when I left off. This was the beautiful sight I saw when coming out...



Palm trees are my favorite tree!
It's not documented, but I believe we stopped to eat our sandwiches we made!
We continued walking when we came across this:



I told Billy we had to ride it...but it might be lame But we went on! It was literally walk on..there were 2 other girls in front of us getting on.

At the end of the ride they have all that stuff you can play with. We made our own Figment This is him:



Also, as we were leaving, Billy goes, "Oh....I get it...Figment...Figment of your Imagination!"

Way to catch on, William!

Figment was fun n all, and the song is super catchy, but I don't think I need to see him next trip. I mean, if I REALLY wanted to kill some time I would, but other than that...

We then got on the boat to explore the countries!!! I was super looking forward to this, Billy was as well!

First stop, MOROCCO!



This sun is loving to get in all my pictures...

Morocco was quite amazing. What love about all of the countries; you actually feel like you're there for a second!



It was a palm tree...I had to have a picture by a palm tree....thus this photo:



We continued walking and came across a sign for Jasmine and Aladdin!!!!! I must go meet them!

There was a small line, we probably waited 10 minutes or so.




THIS WAS LIKE THE BEST CHARACTER EXPERIENCE. READY FOR IT? OKAY.

So Aladdin was talking about his vest and he was like, "It's purple! It's my favorite color!"

Then I was all, "Purple is my favorite color!!!"

Aladdin was like, "Do you know why purple is your favorite color!?"

".....no..."

THEN HE SAID: "Purple is the color of royalty! So you must be the princess of your kingdom!"

"I am!!!!!!!" I said!

Then Jasmine told Billy that he must protect me, and hold all of my shopping bags!

It was the greatest.



After that awesomeness, we carried on.
Next stop: Japan!



Billy loves the architecture here!

We walked around some gift shops, Billy bought a build your own Bonsai tree!





Might be one of the coolest pictures ^

And these were like, the biggest coy fish we had ever seen!!!

​

 

[MidnightParade]

I like Figment, especially the fun stuff at the end we can goof around with but your right. If your time is valuable it's skippable. Although I keep waiting for them to shut it down and replace it so want to experience it while I can too.

How did the build your own bonsai tree turn out?

 

[Surfinpiratee]

I like Figment, especially the fun stuff at the end we can goof around with but your right. If your time is valuable it's skippable. Although I keep waiting for them to shut it down and replace it so want to experience it while I can too.

How did the build your own bonsai tree turn out?

I think after he planted it he dropped it and the soil went every where :/

 

[Reflections of Earth]

I'm joining!