WDW has a new fan...This is his trip report (Completed!! 2013-05-20)

[the_green_machine]

Loving you TR, you are such a awesome couple. I imagine you are already planning your resort, parks and restaurants for next years trip.
How are you both doing now that your are home, settled and hopefully enjoying Spring up there?

Angel16

Thanks so much, that's nice of you to say. Your right on the money with your post....We started talking about the next trip and what we would do and do different next time almost immediately. I want to go moderate but Nicole doesn't think that we'll spend enough time at the resort to justify the cost...she'll win that one

Spring is kind of weird up here this year....We had a week in the low 30's (Celsius) in March and now we're hovering around 10-15 c. They're expecting a very dry summer up here (so much so they're considering shutting down both of our provincial parks for the entire summer)....so we'll see what the next few months hold in store for us....

I just read throught your trip report this morning...I love it! What an awesome surprise. I love that way that you all took it easy on the trip. You experienced a lot of the little hidden treasures of Disney that many don't experience until they have gone several times. I can't wait to read more!!!

Glad your along for the ride....Its all because of these boards and sites like www.easywdw.com that we had any measure of success with our trip. If I hadn't done my research it would have been an entirely different experience!!!!

 

[jennyjinx3]

Loving your trip report and what a fantastic Christmas present but seriously now you've been once you're broke for life

I went for the first time at 35 only for the sake of the kids (it really held no interest for me) and now i'm like a maniac planning our 7th trip in 9 years

YES!!! I was the exact same as you...now a full blown addict...i need help!

 

[jennyjinx3]

Ha!!! I started writing tonight...I'm hoping to add all the pictures (One in particular which may crash the entire site due to it's awesomeness!) and have it up by Sunday afternoon...Sorry...works been bananas!



I hear you...We would be returning in January but friends of ours would like a little more time to save. I didnt anticipate becoming a fan but before I knew it I was having the time of my life!



Planning a free day was only out of sheer necessity. I'm not sure if I've mentioned this but my wife has MS and I knew, at some point, she would need a full scale re-boot during our stay. In retrospect I should have done it a day earlier but without previous knowledge we def. pushed it a day too far.... It can be a real beast if you dont plan for it!

Sorry to hear your wife has to deal with MS, it must present it's challenges...to your wife

 

[Angel16]

Just dropping by to check in on you both and say HI!

Whenever you have day 6 up and ready we are here


Angel16

 

[the_green_machine]

HERE WE GO...Off to the races and Day 6....Second to last day and at some point I am going to sacrifice any amount of self respect I have for your entertainment.....Oh Boy!!!!

Today Me and Nicole were up at the crack of dawn (Dawn officially “cracks” at 6:30 am....for those of you that didn’t know) and on the Animal Kingdom bus by 8. We have heard that AK is a very big park (the biggest in WDW actually) and with shorter hours than we had become accustom to since our arrival we knew it was going to be a full day.

As we entered the park the Tree of Life greeted us just inside....this thing is for real. The trunk and root system is amazing, so many different creatures carved into it....Im sure its 100% concrete but it’s a fitting crown jewel for this great park. After a few photopass opportunities we were on our way.

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First on my list of “to-do’s” was a FP for “Expedition Everest”....Now (again in the interest of full disclosure) I am not nor have I ever been a fan of roller coasters....I think its in my geographical DNA. Although there are exceptions...I would hazard a guess that roller coasters aren’t 20% as popular in Canada as they are south of the border....Obviously a lot of Canadians are fans....I am not a member of that group.....at.....all. That said, everyone says it’s a do not miss...so with an ever expanding knot setting up shop in my throat I set off for Asia to make a date with the Yeti.

We walked down towards “Dino Land USA” and after Nicole found a cool place to light one up I had a quick look around (mostly/completely for the kids, more like something you’d find at your local traveling amusement/fair ground type of place). The one thing I found though about this walk from DL USA to Asia is you experience one of the most dramatic scenery changes in all of the parks. From the Black Top, amusement park, type of vibe with loud flashy games of chance you turn the corner and find yourself walking across a makeshift concrete bridge with exposed rusting beams. If you look closely you see small foot prints left behind by small children as the concrete was still fresh. Above you is the peak of a snow capped mountain, “Expedition Everest”. If you had any preconceived notions that this was a run of the mill children’s ride left over from “Fantasy Land” the intermittent screams coming from the mountain shock you back to reality...fast.

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“Asia” was amazing just to look at. Everything looks so authentic with religious monuments, Tibetan prayer flags and “Beware of the Yeti” signs at the base of the mountain. Seemingly everywhere you look you have to take a minute and appreciate the level of detail that went into this area.

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With FP’s in hand I returned to DL USA and Nicole and I made our way to Africa. We initially took in Rafiki’s Planet Watch, but quickly realized that with shortened hours of operation, if we were going to get the most out of this park it wasn’t going to happen there.

Next up was “Kilimanjaro Safaris”....Which was awesome. I’m sure I knew we were going to see live animals...but in the back of my mind I guess I wondered how “live” it would be. Man, this one did not disappoint! A giraffe came so close to our truck it was though you could reach out and touch him. So many different animals on full display....They said there was a lion somewhere in there, I’ll have to take their word on that one.

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As lunch was right around the corner we made our way to “Flame Tree BBQ”. It seemed about 150 other people in the park had the exact same idea. Some how we found a comfortable seat in the shade (no small feat) and while feeding, possibly, the 3 bravest ducks in the resort we enjoyed a pretty good BBQ lunch, not the greatest meal of the vacation but your in WDW...things could be a lot worse.

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“Festival of the Lion King” was next on our list of must-do’s. We made our way to Camp Minnie-Mickey. I’m still not sure if we fought through the crowd going in or the crowd coming out but man there were a lot of people interested in this show. We were both looking forward to this for sure. For Nicole it was a chance to see one of her favorite Disney stories come to life right in front of her....for me it was an air conditioned rest on an 85 degree day....neither disappointed. As we left, the fight was on again, I’m sure they could redesign this area to make it a little less congested....I can’t imagine it in the middle of the summer.

Up next we made our way to “It’s tough to be a bug”. This is the type of show I like....similar to “Philiharmagic” it seems like all of your senses get a going over and there’s a few laughs to be had to boot. After we left we posed for the obligatory photo with Flik I convinced Nicole to take in “Finding Nemo - the musical”. She was on the fence about this one, although for the life of me I don’t know why. Nemo is def. in her top 2 or 3 Disney movies, but I think she just didn’t like the idea of seeing it in any other form than the original. We really liked this one. Although Nicole wasn’t sure how she felt about being able to see the puppeteers I thought it added a different twist that you really don’t see any where else in the parks....and really with a story like Nemo, how else could you do it?

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As our day was drawing to it’s end it was time to bite the bullet and conquer “Everest”. Now, if you don’t mind I’d like to go over possible reasons “Everest” was left until the end of the day....
a) We decided to save the best for last? .....probably not.
b) I wanted the day to end with a memorable BANG!!!!...... no
c) I’ve always had a fascination with the ground breaking work of Sir Edmund Hillary, and this would be my only chance to walk in his shoes?....Ahhhh no.
d) I couldn’t take pretending to be a big tough man amongst men any longer, all the while fighting the urge to projectile vomit all over everyone within a 20 foot radius. Due, in no small part, to the crippling fear of riding this roller coaster AND if I didn’t do something about it I feared my heart would explode right out of my chest?....DING DING DING!!!!!

Now Nicole had ZERO interest in having anything to do with this ride. She does not like them...she, in fact, hates them with what can only be described as a fiery hate. As we entered the queue for “Everest” (made considerably shorter thanks to those bloody fastpasses....Thanks a lot Walt!) She still had no idea that I was about to die from fear....she (as a loving wife that would do anything for me) was there because this was something that I wanted to do...something I was looking forward to doing (wrong on both accounts). Little did she know that there was not 1% of me that wanted to venture up that god forsaken mountain....BUT I knew that when we did this, together, as frightened as we would be...when it was all said and done and we were back home we would be able to sit and laugh about this for many years to come. Luckily it turned out to be one of our best (and more terrifying ) memories of the entire trip.

We made our way into the queue and quickly onto the ride itself. As we began our ascent up the first incline I was almost paralyzed with terror, which for the more experienced WDW readers out there meant bad news for this guy. Now as we began our ride down into the mountain it was bearable...I mean...I was screaming, but, I was still trying to be cool about it....Well that soon came to an abrupt halt. As we soon stopped because the track seemed to have been ripped out from under us so too stopped my ability to control the majority of my bodily functions. As we rocketed backwards into complete darkness I believe I may have lost consciousness for a few moments.....no...I wasn’t that lucky. I would love to go into great detail for you about the twists and turns and all the fun there was to be had but I can not. For you see, my new Disney friends, I was screaming like a new born baby, frightened for the very first time. My eyes were slammed shut so tightly nothing short of an act of God would have been able to pry them apart. I, to this day, have little to no memory of the majority of that ride only to say that I almost cried....several times but things couldn’t conceivably get any worse, right. Then we shot out of the side of the mountain. For about 20 minutes...I’m serious...I think time stopped. The only thing that remained constant was me hurtling straight down towards the ground at 1 million miles an hour. Now I’m not saying I was a little frightened, no....I think for a second I literally considered jumping to my death but gravity has having no part of that. After the drop I continued to scream and just remember terrifying snap shots (of my life flashing before my eyes) of the remainder of the ride......

As we stopped I looked at Nicole for the first time (who I had ignored the entire time...due to the majority of my nervous system shutting down). When she looked at me, with tears running down her cheeks, it was clear that we would not be riding “Everest” again any time soon/ever again in a million years.

As we left the ride and entered the gift shop, we stopped to have a look at the picture that Disney was able to capture as we rocketed out of the side of the mountain........

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There are a few things I want to point out about this photo....
1) The look of sheer terror on my face...It kind of looks like I’m laughing...I assure you friends...I was not.
2) If you look closely at my left hand....I am squeezing Nicole’s hand so tightly, I have effectively squeezed all the blood out of, at least, 2 of her fingers and they are snow white (no pun intended).
3) Although Nicole is obviously terrified she was at least brave enough to keep her eyes open and face our impending doom.....me? No sir!
4) EVERYONE ELSE...they don’t even seem like they’re on the same ride....you’d think this was “It’s a small world”.

I’ll tell you, the photos at WDW are a little pricey but I would have paid twice as much for that beauty....I’ll treasure it forever.

After “Everest” we made our way to our 5:45 reservation at “Rain Forest Café”. Supper was great, and it had decent atmosphere though you could definitely tell you weren’t in a Disney restaurant. There just wasn’t that level of....I don’t know, it just lacked something.

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Arriving back at POP at a little after 8 we decided to do the last of our souvenir shopping for family and friends, walk around the resort and take a few photos. Tomorrow we have a very early morning. Our last day in WDW, rope drop, breakfast at Chef Mickey’s and dinner at Cinderella Castle....we’re gonna need a good nights sleep.

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[amyrella]

LovIng the tr!! I am laughing hysterically at your Everett pic and your description!!! My bf asked me what's so funny bc I laughed so loud! I just shook my head and said nothing.. ( he doesn't get the Disney obssession)

 

[the_green_machine]

LovIng the tr!! I am laughing hysterically at your Everett pic and your description!!! My bf asked me what's so funny bc I laughed so loud! I just shook my head and said nothing.. ( he doesn't get the Disney obssession)

Ha!....Awesome. Glad you enjoyed my terror

 

[jennyjinx3]

Ha! I just spit my mini-wheats all over the screen! I can't tell you how much you just made me laugh! I too will never get on that roller coaster again... and I went on by myself after DH and I swapped out! I ended up clutching some british guy beside me...

Love how you don't mind humiliating yourself!

 

[Couchy]

WOW! What an incredibly sweet DH you are. Your wife's smile made me tear up. You gave her one heck of a gift

 

[204charity]

Oh my goodness! Tears literally rolling down my cheeks right now! LMAO! My dad and I were brave enough to try EE together last week and that pretty much describes our experience on the ride. Unfortunately we rode without cameras or credit cards, so we have NO photo evidence of us losing our minds on the ride. Oh well - just another reason to go back I suppose. lol

 

[the_green_machine]

Ha! I just spit my mini-wheats all over the screen! I can't tell you how much you just made me laugh! I too will never get on that roller coaster again... and I went on by myself after DH and I swapped out! I ended up clutching some british guy beside me...

Love how you don't mind humiliating yourself!

Ha!...Although as time goes by and the memory of that day slowly slips away at times I think I will have to try it again next year...We'll see As far as the humiliation, it was far to awesome not to share with the people I knew would appreciate it the most!

WOW! What an incredibly sweet DH you are. Your wife's smile made me tear up. You gave her one heck of a gift

She's more than worth it...just glad it all finally came together.

Oh my goodness! Tears literally rolling down my cheeks right now! LMAO! My dad and I were brave enough to try EE together last week and that pretty much describes our experience on the ride. Unfortunately we rode without cameras or credit cards, so we have NO photo evidence of us losing our minds on the ride. Oh well - just another reason to go back I suppose. lol

Glad you enjoyed it

 

[cinderwannabe]

I am really enjoying your TR and pictures. But seriously, I have gone back 5 times already to look at that EE pic! I cannot stop laughing!!!!!!! I am so glad I am alone in my living room because I probably look a little looney about hard I keep laughing. Priceless!

 

[204charity]

Just thought I'd let you know today I went for coffee at my parents place (they were with me in DW last week) and I shared your little description of EE to them, OMG - my mom laughed her *** off! LOL!

If you care to read about our journey in DW - the link is in my signature! Just started today!

 

[knik]

Just joining in now and loving your TR!!

What a wonderful surprise for your wife... Hmmm... I should leave this open for DH to read...

Can't wait to read more from a fellow Manitoban!

 

[Brae's Mom]

That, my friend, was the best description AND picture of Everest I have EVER seen My poor husband is laying here trying to sleep and I am laughing, with tears streaming down my face and he's like what the heck are you laughing at. Good for your for giving it a shot, and thanks for the laugh. I needed a good laugh today.

So glad that you both enjoyed your trip so much.

 

[the_green_machine]

I am really enjoying your TR and pictures. But seriously, I have gone back 5 times already to look at that EE pic! I cannot stop laughing!!!!!!! I am so glad I am alone in my living room because I probably look a little looney about hard I keep laughing. Priceless!

Just thought I'd let you know today I went for coffee at my parents place (they were with me in DW last week) and I shared your little description of EE to them, OMG - my mom laughed her *** off! LOL!

If you care to read about our journey in DW - the link is in my signature! Just started today!

Just joining in now and loving your TR!!

What a wonderful surprise for your wife... Hmmm... I should leave this open for DH to read...

Can't wait to read more from a fellow Manitoban!

That, my friend, was the best description AND picture of Everest I have EVER seen My poor husband is laying here trying to sleep and I am laughing, with tears streaming down my face and he's like what the heck are you laughing at. Good for your for giving it a shot, and thanks for the laugh. I needed a good laugh today.

So glad that you both enjoyed your trip so much.

I was looking forward to getting this day up...The moment I saw that picture I knew I had to write a TR if only that I could share this picture....I would hazard a guest that I was one of the most terrified full grown men to ever "brave" the summit of "Everest"

 

[pigletto]

Oh my goodness!!!
I just read the first post in your thread and watched the video and had to comment. That made me cry! What a wonderful surprise and her reaction was just absolutely beautiful!!
THAT is what Disney is all about.

I can't wait to catch up on the rest of your trip report!

 

[LuvindisCruiser]

Have been reading your trip report, and it is GREAT!
Love, the EE adventure you had. HILARIOUS!

But, you know I give you SO much credit for even trying that ride..

And, you are the awesomest husband EVER, to take your wife on such a great trip.
I got all teary eyed when I watched her surprise video! She, is the luckiest girl!

I can't wait for the rest!

 

[mbvisitor]

Loving your trip report! I have tears running down my face from reading your EE experience!

Thanks for sharing that with us!!

 

[MickeyMoguls]

Thank you SO MUCH for posting your EE pic! I'm sitting here at working laughing hysterically. I don't think I've ever seen a better ride photo! I have to give you credit for even riding despite your fears. My husband absolutely refuses to ride any roller coasters. The only one I ever got him on was Space Mountain on our honeymoon years ago, because he didn't know it was a roller coaster. He didn't speak to me for over an hour after we got off! Your trip report is fantastic! Glad you two had such an awesome experience (except for EE!)