wdwgirl goes on safari...May 14-19 with tons of pics and video: final update, p. 18

[wdwgirl03]

We weren't quite ready to go back to the hotel (after all, it was still just late afternoon!). We debated between Hollywood Studios and Epcot...ultimately we chose Epcot because we'd be going to DHS the next day for dinner. Plus I wanted to see the flowers for the Flower and Garden Festival. So we walked over to the Epcot bus stop to wait for our ride. Luckily one came pretty much right as we got there. You know how the buses now play the audio sort of like they do on the monorails? Well, right as we were pulling into the bus station it starts playing "One Little Spark" (is that the official name of that song?!?!?) and I can't help but think about the original attraction with Dreamfinder and Figment. That was SUCH a good ride...why did they have to go and ruin it?!?!? Anyway, we go through the bag check and enter the park. It was kind of funny because they were playing Beach Boys music. Some people were complaining about it, but I sort of enjoyed it. Right at the entrance we saw the giant surfing Goofy topiary, and like everyone else, we had to take a picture.

One without us...

One with us...

I read on here that people have the photopass photographers take pictures with their own cameras so that is what I did. Why did I not think of that sooner?!?!? Gotta love the DIS.

So now we were ready to see how crowded (or in this case, UNcrowded) the park was. On our last trip we went to Epcot on New Year's Eve and I don't think I've ever seen so many people! It was nice to actually be able to walk around without a million other people trying to get around too. The park really felt empty, but not like we were the only ones there. We were amazed at how short the wait times were:

Mission:Space was 5 minutes
Test Track was 30 minutes
Soarin was 45 minutes (ok, maybe this is a little long, but still probably the shortest wait we've ever seen)
Universe of Energy, Nemo, Imagination, Living with the Land all had no waits, or maybe 10 min. at the most

So Dad said that since we were there we might as well go and do some of the rides since the waits were so short. Our first stop was Journey Into Imagination. I'm glad they decided to put Figment back in the ride, but it still does not compare to the original. I loved the opening with Figment and Dreamfinder! We also spent a little time in the ImageWorks...we all did the thing where you take your picture and then you can add all sorts of crazy details to it. Sorry, no pictures.

In my pretrip report I made a list of all the attractions that I wanted to do at each park. JII was one of them so next on the list? Living With the Land. It was so dead in there the CM literally told us to pick a row on the boat. I think there were maybe 2 other families on the boat with us. It's kind of a bummer that they don't have CMs giving the tours anymore and that it's all prerecorded. My favorite part of this attraction is the greenhouses! I made sure to take some pictures when we got there.

Gotta love those Mickey pumpkins!

While we were in The Land we decided to get something for dinner. Since I wasn't that hungry (still sort of full from our late lunch!) I just got a croissant from the bakery. Dad and Claire split a chicken dinner. I had a little taste of the chicken...it was very good!

Now it was getting close to 7:00 which was when Future World was supposed to close but some of the rides were still open. So we walked over to Test Track and saw that the wait had gone down so we got in line. There was a group of college-age kids behind us and we shared a car with three of the guys. It was their first time on the ride so it was kind of amusing hearing their reactions, like in the heat chamber one of them would say "that is HOT!" and in the cold chamber the same guy said, "that is COLD!". Needless to say they loved it when we were out on the track. That's another thing I love about Disney World: seeing all the first timers and hearing their reactions. So cool!

Since we weren't staying for Illuminations we decided it was time to end our night. Plus, we couldn't miss American Idol! haha It was a great start to our vacation but we needed to get some rest for Extra Magic Hours at the Magic Kingdom!

 

[MickeyDee]

Just now finding your PTR and have to say your scrapbook rocks! I'm still smack in the middle of working on mine from my 2006 trip! hehe

 

[tinkerbell87512]

Wow you are on a roll! 5 updates! you are putting my TR to shame. Lol I'm glad you had such a great trip. We had wonderful weather and I was shocked that some of the wait times were 20 mins and like you said were just walkons. Your pictures came out fabulous and I can't wait to read more!!!

 

[wdwgirl03]

Just now finding your PTR and have to say your scrapbook rocks! I'm still smack in the middle of working on mine from my 2006 trip! hehe

I'm glad you found my TR! Thanks for the compliment...I can't wait to start doing some more scrapbook pages for this trip.

Wow you are on a roll! 5 updates! you are putting my TR to shame. Lol I'm glad you had such a great trip. We had wonderful weather and I was shocked that some of the wait times were 20 mins and like you said were just walkons. Your pictures came out fabulous and I can't wait to read more!!!

haha yeah, let's just say I want to do my TR before I forget it all! I agree, the weather was awesome and the lack of crowds was very nice too. I will hopefully have my next update either tonight or tomorrow...or by the weekend. hehe

 

[wdwgirl03]

Alrighty time for another update but first some other random Disney notes:

*I saw on here that the Season of Disney shows are now on iTunes, so if you need a Disney fix...(that should be everyone BTW ) you can buy episodes individually or all 9 of them for $15. I bought the Behind the Scenes episode.

*I've been subbing again and one of the girls yesterday mentioned how she was going to Disney World tomorrow. Since I was in the same class today I asked her about her trip. She seemed really excited (who wouldn't be?!?!?). Then she was saying how they are buying fastpasses. Hmmm...I told her that anyone can get them but didn't want to argue too much with a 6th grader. hehe She also asked me if I had heard of the Animal Kingdom, not the park, but the Lodge (where they have animals in the front yard or backyard, she couldn't really remember )and I told her how that is where we stayed. She couldn't believe it! Some of the kids got into an argument about which opened first, Disneyland or Disney World...the girl was convinced that WDW opened first and we needed to look it up to finally convince her! hehe Ahhh, gotta love Disney talk.

ANYWAYS...here's the next installment of my TR:

Day 2: May 15
Welcome to a Place Where Dreams Come True
After a good night's rest (OK, not really, it seems no matter how tired I am it's always hard for me to sleep the first night in a strange hotel bed ) we were all set for some more fun. As is our tradition, we decided to go to the Magic Kingdom for EMH. So we got ready, ate some cereal from the Mara (the quick service restaurant at AKL) and were on our way. We made a quick stop on the third floor balcony to see if any animals were out, but nothing. I guess it was still too early for them...other than the ostrich squawking that I woke up to...) There was quite a crowd at the Magic Kingdom bus stop so we knew we didn't just miss a bus. We only had to wait a couple minutes before we were on our way. Even though we were at 2 parks the previous day, that first bus ride to the MK always gets me excited. It's a sign that our vacation is really starting!

When we got to the park they were already letting people through the turnstiles before the official opening. So I managed to snap a couple pictures:

While we were waiting I saw a big group of people all dressed up. It turns out they were new Cast Members...I saw a bunch of them had folders that said "Traditions" on them. That made me jealous. You know, I always said I was going to do the WDWCP but never did and of course now it's too late. Sometimes I don't know what I was thinking. But I decided that if I don't have a teaching job within 5 years I'm going to give up and move to FL and work for Mickey Mouse! haha (ok, ok, not really). When the time got closer for the opening show we got our Mickey dust:

And then the music starts up and the countdown begins!
*sorry for the poor quality of this video...you can't really see much since I was in a bad spot looking directly into the sun! But you can still enjoy the music. Just click to view!



I love this song soooo much...it's just so happy! If only I had started recording sooner. Oh well! We made our way down Main Street USA and got our first glimpse of the castle. Ahhh, home. Also in sticking with our tradition, we first headed toward Tomorrowland.

Our first stop was of course Space Mountain! Gotta love those classic Disney attractions. Then we went to battle the evil Emperor Zurg. We probably shouldn't have, but we each took our own Star Cruiser. A while ago I read that there is a target worth 100,000 points on the big orange robot's hand so of course I'm always prepared to hit it...of course I missed. I saw that Claire did make it and let me just say I was MAD! How dare she hit it when I had a measly 300 points? LOL. Can you tell I'm a bit competitive on this ride? Somehow I managed to score 80,000 points. Maybe it's because of my intense concentration:

Isn't it lovely?! After Buzz Dad wanted to go on Astro Orbiter. There was only one other group in front of us so we board the elevator. But then this little boy and his mother came and joined us. The first thing the little boy asked was "Is this like Tower of Terror?" We all had a good laugh at that. That was one amusing elevator ride up to the rockets...this kid was so funny! I asked him if he went on RNRC and he said "noooooooooo way." He then went on to tell us how he "tortured" his older sister. It's always fun talking to other people in line. We boarded our rockets and they actually weren't all full- we probably could've taken our own. I took a couple more pics:

Here's Dad!

I have to admit I was a little bummed when the ride was over and we'd have to leave the little boy. We still had a little more time before the park opened for everyone else so we took a ride on the Speedway. Then we headed over to Frontierland to join the crowd.

 

[SwansLoveDisney]

Just found your TR.

Did you go to Marquette? I did!!!

Okay, back to read more!

 

[SwansLoveDisney]

Just read your whole TR up until now...

You guys sure did a lot your first day!

I stayed at AKL on my last trip, too, and I loved it!

Reading your TR is getting me so excited for my upcoming trip. Too bad it's 6 months away!

It's funny...I have a picture of my college (Marquette) roommate and me in front of that sign at MGM that says "Milwaukee". It looks just like your pic!

DH (MSOE grad) and I now live in Arizona and we also caught a Brewers spring training game this year. I love that Maryvale stadium!

 

[wdwgirl03]

Just found your TR.

Did you go to Marquette? I did!!!

Okay, back to read more!

Just read your whole TR up until now...

You guys sure did a lot your first day!

I stayed at AKL on my last trip, too, and I loved it!

Reading your TR is getting me so excited for my upcoming trip. Too bad it's 6 months away!

It's funny...I have a picture of my college (Marquette) roommate and me in front of that sign at MGM that says "Milwaukee". It looks just like your pic!

DH (MSOE grad) and I now live in Arizona and we also caught a Brewers spring training game this year. I love that Maryvale stadium!

Hey!! Yes, I did go to Marquette! My sisters will also be a senior and freshman at MU next year.

haha, I know, I couldn't believe we did that much. But when we're in WDW I love being the parks and just want to go, go, go!

AKL was amazing and I can't wait to go back some day.

I'm glad you are enjoying my TR...those 6 months will fly by and your trip will be here before you know it (unfortunately for me I have no clue when I'll be going again until I know if I have a job for next year )

Thanks for reading!

 

[kathleen27]

Epcot sounds great with no lines!

I love the morning show at the MK!

Its so much fun to see other people's reactions! I really enjoyed talking to the other guests and the CMs last trip.

 

[TKDisneylover]

Hi Sarah!

I cannot believe that I did not see your PTR, but am glad I found your TR! I just read through all the pages to catch up. I remember reading your last TR and knew that you were going to take another trip in May. Glad to hear your flight took off without a hitch this time!

First off, I loved your scrapbook pages, great job! And I collected pressed pennies on our last trip but never picked up a book, and I had no idea that I could print out a list of machine locations. I will be sure to do that for our next trip (hopefully 2009!).

Great start to your TR, the pics from EPCOT were great! I loved your pink WDW t-shirt and your dad's Brewer shirt from your MK day. Your pictures make me want to go back so badly! And thanks for sharing the video clip, I have never seen the opening at MK but it is on my "must-do" list for our next visit! I love that opening ceremony song too!

Looking forward to your next installment! Oh yea, good luck on that teaching position your applied for, you should be finding out about it in the next week or so, right?

 

[wdwgirl03]

Epcot sounds great with no lines!

I love the morning show at the MK!

Its so much fun to see other people's reactions! I really enjoyed talking to the other guests and the CMs last trip.

It was awesome with no lines! Quite a difference between that and what we saw on New Year's Eve on our last trip.

The MK opening show is so cute...but I love all the openings at the parks.

I agree, I seriously think I could just go to WDW to watch other people.

Hi Sarah!

I cannot believe that I did not see your PTR, but am glad I found your TR! I just read through all the pages to catch up. I remember reading your last TR and knew that you were going to take another trip in May. Glad to hear your flight took off without a hitch this time!

First off, I loved your scrapbook pages, great job! And I collected pressed pennies on our last trip but never picked up a book, and I had no idea that I could print out a list of machine locations. I will be sure to do that for our next trip (hopefully 2009!).

Great start to your TR, the pics from EPCOT were great! I loved your pink WDW t-shirt and your dad's Brewer shirt from your MK day. Your pictures make me want to go back so badly! And thanks for sharing the video clip, I have never seen the opening at MK but it is on my "must-do" list for our next visit! I love that opening ceremony song too!

Looking forward to your next installment! Oh yea, good luck on that teaching position your applied for, you should be finding out about it in the next week or so, right?

Hi and to my new TR! I'm glad you found it and are joining in!

Thank you for the compliment on my scrapbook. I am happy with how it turned out...I must say that I got a lot of inspiration from the ladies over on the scrapbook forum! I got some more pennies this trip as well as a new book. I will have to post pictures later.

Aww, thanks! I got that shirt in January to add to my collection of WDW shirts. hehe

Yes, I should hopefully be hearing from the principal this week (I thought she said she was going to notify everyone either way). Even though I felt pretty good after my interview I'm not going to hold my breath that I get this job. But we will see!

New update is on the way...

 

[wdwgirl03]

Since it was almost 9:00 we headed over to Frontierland. Of course we had to ride the other mountains! We decided to do Splash Mountain first. Since the rest of the park had just opened it was a short wait. Now, since we've been to WDW so many times it seems that I have about a hundred of the same pictures. So I thought it would be cool to try to take some on the ride.

I would have taken more but right as we went past the big drop we saw the people in the log in front of us got pretty wet thanks to the sprayer that goes off when the logs come down the drop. I didn't want my camera to get ruined so I put it back in my bag.

After SM we walked over to Thunder Mountain. Again, another short wait...we pretty much just walked through the queue and were ready to board the train.

I think this is my favorite mountain just because I can clearly remember the first time I ever rode it when I was about 10 years old. I remember my heart was racing as we were walking toward it and I almost chickened out. But I love it. Especially the "hang on to them personal belongings now..."! (but I do think they have changed it a little bit...)

We wanted to go on Tom Sawyer Island but since it didn't open until later we walked back to Fantasyland. This cute topiary was near where the skyway used to be (anybody else miss that ride?)

Claire wanted to see Philharmagic so we saw that show. While we were waiting, everyone was taking pictures in their "opera glasses," so of course we had to join in the fun!

This is such a great show. I love all the different characters in it and it's so cute to see all the little kids' reactions. The little girl next to us would shout out all the characters' names when they appeared. After the show we figured we'd be able to walk back to Frontierland since Tom Sawyer Island would be opening soon (we skipped all the other Fantasyland rides since we figured we'd be able to do them at the Pirate and Princess Party). On the way the Cowboy Camp show was going on.

So then we got in line for the raft over to the island. I cannot remember the last time we went over there! Before our trip I said how I wanted to go over there and Dad said he would not go in the caves. Yeah right. I think we went through 2 caves. Some of them were kinda creepy though! LOL. We also went into the fort and walked over the barrel bridge. That was cool. You could get a really cool view of Thunder Mountain so I had Claire take this picture of me.

This later became my "pose" for this trip...I must have atleast 5 pictures of me with my arms up in the air like this. LOL.

We explored the island for quite a while before deciding it was time to get some lunch. So we waited for the raft again and decided to go to Cosmic Ray's to get something to eat. We all had either a hamburger or cheeseburger. We only got fries with one of them and the apple slices with the others since we always end up with way too many fries. While we were eating I saw our little friend from Astro Orbiter. I wanted to say hi before we left but didn't want to seem like a crazy stalker girl. LOL. We weren't quite ready to go back to the hotel yet so we decided to do a couple more attractions. And we saw something that we have never seen before...

Next up: A Whole Lotta Laughs!

 

[kathleen27]

Sounds like fun!

I think this is my favorite mountain just because I can clearly remember the first time I ever rode it when I was about 10 years old. I remember my heart was racing as we were walking toward it and I almost chickened out. But I love it.

Big Thunder Mountain is a favorite of mine.
My son rode for the first time when he was 10, we had a long line, and he was looking very nervous, he rode, but I'm not sure he liked it very much.

I have never been to Tom Sawyer Island, keep intending to, but have not made it over yet.

 

[DISNEY4XMAS]

After SM we walked over to Thunder Mountain. Again, another short wait...we pretty much just walked through the queue and were ready to board the train.

I think this is my favorite mountain just because I can clearly remember the first time I ever rode it when I was about 10 years old. I remember my heart was racing as we were walking toward it and I almost chickened out. But I love it. Especially the "hang on to them personal belongings now..."! (but I do think they have changed it a little bit...)

When we were there on christmas night my son who is 5 Cried after the ride and the CM said what's the matter buddy you didn't like it? And Tyler responded NO I WANT TO RIDE IT AGAIN!!!!! As a good mother should I let him ride again. The first time on that night it was walk on because WISHES was going on. The second time on we had fast passes. He wanted to do it a third time but it was already 10 pm and we were tired!

 

[wdwgirl03]

When we were there on christmas night my son who is 5 Cried after the ride and the CM said what's the matter buddy you didn't like it? And Tyler responded NO I WANT TO RIDE IT AGAIN!!!!! As a good mother should I let him ride again. The first time on that night it was walk on because WISHES was going on. The second time on we had fast passes. He wanted to do it a third time but it was already 10 pm and we were tired!

That is too funny because that is EXACTLY what my sister did when she was 5! My mom always says people must've thought she was a horrible parent for making her ride yet she wanted to go on again! Let's just say she has grown into a daredevil and isn't afraid of any thrill ride!

 

[nts4wdw]

Great update! I think I'll adopt that as my poise on our trip. (My children will be so thrilled.) You look very cute, though!

BTW, I was terrified on my first BTTMR ride and now every time I ride it I like it more!

 

[disneydusted]

Hi! I found your TR a few days ago and finally have had a chance to look at it all! Didn't you love WDW in May?! We have gone two times in May and have loved it!
I have been enjoying your unusual photos... the angles, the lighting, looking thru windows.... very fun! It's nice to see "new" images of WDW!

 

[wdwgirl03]

Sounds like fun!

Big Thunder Mountain is a favorite of mine.
My son rode for the first time when he was 10, we had a long line, and he was looking very nervous, he rode, but I'm not sure he liked it very much.

I have never been to Tom Sawyer Island, keep intending to, but have not made it over yet.

Oh yes, we had lots of fun!!

Tom Sawyer Island was pretty cool...you should definitely check it out sometime.

Great update! I think I'll adopt that as my poise on our trip. (My children will be so thrilled.) You look very cute, though!

BTW, I was terrified on my first BTTMR ride and now every time I ride it I like it more!

Thanks!! haha, that would be funny...I think sometimes I embarrass my sisters with what I do in pictures. All I can say is TOO BAD!!!

Oh, that is how I feel on Tower of Terror. I was so scared the first couple times I did it and now I love it!

Your trip is so close-I hope you have an amazing time!

Hi! I found your TR a few days ago and finally have had a chance to look at it all! Didn't you love WDW in May?! We have gone two times in May and have loved it!
I have been enjoying your unusual photos... the angles, the lighting, looking thru windows.... very fun! It's nice to see "new" images of WDW!

Hi! Thanks for joining in on my TR! I absolutely loved WDW in May...the weather was beautiful and the crowds were not bad at all. I would love to go again in May if I got the chance. I'm glad you are enjoying my pictures...and there's plenty more where that came from. hehe

 

[wdwgirl03]

After lunch we decided to go and see the Monsters Inc. Laugh Floor show. We saw it in January and got a kick out of it and since they say every show is different...

While we were walking to Tomorrowland (yes, we were at Cosmic Ray's but we walked to the hub and then back into Tomorrowland) the castle show was going on. One of these days I'll actually stop and watch the show...

As we were walking over the bridge to the Laugh Floor, we saw a little crowd gathered. I was very curious as to what was going on. Turns out it was this little guy!

Yes, it was Push, the talking trash can!!! (this would be the thing we have never seen before in my "cliffhanger" ) Now I had never heard of Push until I saw someone else's TR a while ago, so we stopped for a little bit to watch. OMG was he funny!! I managed to take a short video clip of him talking to a little girl. Make sure to turn up the volume!! He's saying how he likes the girl's hair and that it looks like Tinkerbell sneezed on her head.



I can't remember if it was the girl in my video or another little girl but he wanted her to start singing and dancing since she loved Hannah Montana. Well, the girl wouldn't do it so Push decided to do it! He actually sang "Dontcha wish your trashcan was hot like me". I was laughing so hard Push came over to me and asked me what I was laughing at. OOPS!

I could have watched him for a long time but we left Push to go to the Laugh Floor. While watching the preshow I saw Mike Wazowski's door:

The show was pretty funny. The monsters talked to this little boy with Mickey Mouse ears and they asked him when he got them and he said 3 (or something like that...whatever he said it didn't make sense at all! But it was cute).

After the show we were about ready to leave so we just went into the Emporium. I loooooove to shop and in Disney World I really just can't control myself. But I didn't buy anything (that would come later...haha)-just took a picture of the squished Mickeys.

Who else has one of those?! *raises hand* The only thing left to do was pick up our Pirate and Princess Party tickets. Claire and I hung around on Main Street while Dad went to pick up the tickets.

Don't you just love this view?!?!

I also took this little "atmosphere" video:


Then we went to catch the bus back to AKL for a break.

 

[wdwgirl03]

I thought since I'm at it I'd do the next update as well.

Back at the Lodge

When we got back to the hotel we thought we'd go back and check the savannah again. This time there was lots of activity! There were many animals out...most were just sort of laying around but some were eating and walking around.

Other than the zebras I can't remember right offhand what some of the other animals are. But it was so cool seeing all these beautiful animals right there! So awesome! Of course I had to take another video.



I was sort of sad we couldn't see any giraffes since they're my favorite. We watched the animals for a few minutes and then were ready to take a dip in the pool. There is only one pool at AKL but it is pretty big (though with the new DVC villas they're building another one I think). We all enjoyed the slide. hehe It was nice to actually have some swimming weather on this trip (you can't really swim in 30 degree weather... ) and it was very refreshing.

I'll leave you with a couple more pictures I took of the Lodge. Gosh I miss it here.

Up next: An evening at MGM...I mean Hollywood Studios.