We Stuffed our Faces and Searched for the Tronorail, It's Trip Report Time! *11/3

[Leleluvsdis]

The more and more I read of your TR the more and more I want to stay at contemp so incredibly badly next dec!!! Kona looks really good, we were going to eat there for breakfast next friday but have decided on wave for dinner instead. Can't wait to read more!!!

 

[kmrein]

Hi, there, I am a little late but wanted to subscribe to your thread. I have to go back and do some more reading from the beginning but I'm excited to read more. Thanks for sharing and looks like you got some great photos!

 

[wdwgirl03]

Sounds like you had fun at TL! We haven't been there in so long. Awesome you tried Humunga Kowabunga!

Yay for finding the water bridge!

 

[Bridora]

Sounds like you guys had a great time at Typhoon Lagoon. Our favorite part of the park are the water slides too. I, for one, don't blame ya'll for backing out of the shark reef. We did it and Hunter freaked out which kind of freaked me out.

Oooh cool story about the underwater bridge thingie! Great detective work on your part.

Once again, your food pictures are helping me decide where to eat next trip.

We did have fun! I was glad we decided to get the tickets...I'm afraid we won't be able to go now without doing a water park!

The more and more I read of your TR the more and more I want to stay at contemp so incredibly badly next dec!!! Kona looks really good, we were going to eat there for breakfast next friday but have decided on wave for dinner instead. Can't wait to read more!!!

It's sooo pretty around there! I wonder what it looks like at Christmas....
I've heard Kona breakfast is awesome! But dinner at Wave is great, too! I'd go with dinner, myself, because I'm not a big "big breakfast" person. We always eat breakfast, but usually just something small...

Hi, there, I am a little late but wanted to subscribe to your thread. I have to go back and do some more reading from the beginning but I'm excited to read more. Thanks for sharing and looks like you got some great photos!

I'm glad you're here! And thanks!

Sounds like you had fun at TL! We haven't been there in so long. Awesome you tried Humunga Kowabunga!

Yay for finding the water bridge!

We had lots of fun there, wish we could have stayed longer!

I was glad to have finally solved that mystery!

 

[Bridora]

Oh, look! I found some more food pictures from Kona! Max took these for me with his phone...so here's an even better shot of the best dessert ever:

And this was Max's ribeye, I'm pretty sure. I say 'pretty sure' becuase this picture seems to have less mashed potatoes than the other, maybe he rearranged the plate for maximum steak visibility:

And another dessert:

Coconut Cream Kiki Tart - served with raspberries and lychees

Luckily I found those while looking for the first picture for my next installment!

 

[mickeystoontown]

Yay for Max getting some awesome food pics. The steak looks super yummy.

 

[Bridora]

Before I found those extra pictures, I had left us all standing at the Monorail platform, waiting not so patiently for the next one. We were craning our necks, jumping up and down, and trying to whistle casually while looking in the opposite direction, as if it was really no big deal which monorail would be next. So, was it the Tronorail?























You bet it was!

Max was able to take this shot with his phone as it arrived to take us to Epcot!




We were beyond excited.




Not even the rain sprinkling down could bring us down, nor rain on our Tronorail parade. (It’s ok not to laugh--I’m not that great with jokes)


Max tried to get a better shot of the Tronorail once we got to Epcot, but they don't like guests standing on the platform, trying to take pictures, I guess, because they ran him off!

We left the real cameras back at BLT because of the rain. Unfortunately, we left our ponchos there, too. We went inside the first store once we got inside the gates, to the left of Spaceship Earth, right at the entrance, to pick up some more. We had been seeing signs advertising a great deal on some windbreakers that were discounted (I think they were only $10) with a certain dollar amount purchase. The plan was to get those windbreakers for the kids...until we discovered they didn’t have a hood! Craziness! We spent the longest time in the store, going back and forth as to what to buy.

Wasn’t it as easy as just saying, “ 2 adult and 2 child ponchos, please?” Well, not when they’ve got these in the store:

Great little pullover windbreakers that have this cute logo on them:

And fold up into this nice compact size:

But it wasn’t easy to pick up 4 of those babies, either! They were a bit on the expensive side. After picking them up and putting them down a few times (and looking at hats, caps, and other such goodies) we finally decided on the winning combination: 2 adult pullover windbreakers and 2 child ponchos. Don’t feel bad for the kids. Feel bad for Max, who had to endure the teasing from me that occurred as soon as we walked out of the shop and found that it was no longer raining. Yes, folks, we had been in there so long, choosing just the right rain gear for ourselves, that when we finally emerged, the rain had passed.


Now you can laugh!




We trekked over to Soarin’, which had a 45 minute wait. We waited anyway, just because we could! It was worth it, too! Soarin’ is a great ride!


After that, it was over to Test Track with a 20 minute wait, followed by Mission:Space, which was only 5 minutes! I know it was Evening Extra Magic Hours that night, but I don’t have any other notes after Mission:Space. I know we saw the Tronorail several more times that night, though!


The kids had really been wanting to go to T-Rex this year because they enjoyed it so much last year. Allison specifically asked for it, or Rainforest Cafe. We didn’t have an ADR on Wednesday since our CRT lunch had used 2 Table service meals, so we made a T-Rex ADR for lunch on Wednesday….the kids were excited!


Our other plans for Wednesday? Back to DHS for the rest of the park, hopefully a trip to Boardwalk for Welcome Home Wednesday, and back to DHS again for Evening Extra Magic Hours!

 

[mickeystoontown]

I am sooooo sorry! I did laugh about it taking you guys so long to decide what to buy that it had stopped raining. So sounds like something that would happen to us.

 

[kmrein]

YUM!!! We're going to Kona (and staying at the Poly!) this November and I can't wait. I've only been for breakfast and am looking forward to dinner there. The desserts looked great!

 

[wdwgirl03]

Woo hoo for the Tronorail!

Those are nice windbreakers. Too funny the rain had passed when you finally decided what to get!

 

[Bridora]

Yay for Max getting some awesome food pics. The steak looks super yummy.

Hey, sneaky! I was glad to find those!

I am sooooo sorry! I did laugh about it taking you guys so long to decide what to buy that it had stopped raining. So sounds like something that would happen to us.

It was great! I think Max may have worn his jacket for a bit anyway, just to say he used it.

YUM!!! We're going to Kona (and staying at the Poly!) this November and I can't wait. I've only been for breakfast and am looking forward to dinner there. The desserts looked great!

You're going to have the best time! I just love the Poly...it's great.

Woo hoo for the Tronorail!

Those are nice windbreakers. Too funny the rain had passed when you finally decided what to get!

We were so glad to finally see it up close!

They are nice, we haven't used them again since we've been home, but we've got them for future WDW trips & I'm sure we'll use them somewhere else...It was too funny, I couldn't stop laughing as soon as I saw that it wasn't raining anymore!

 

[Bridora]

Don’t ask me what we did before our 12:30 T-Rex ADR! It’s not like I’m writing a trip report or anything…oh, wait.

I don’t imagine we did anything spectacular before lunch. I’m sure I would’ve written that down!

Since we were planning on going over to Hollywood Studios after lunch, we drove the car to Downtown Disney. Leaving BLT, we saw an unfortunate sight:

Yikes!

Earlier in the week, on one of our walks to Magic Kingdom, we saw another mishap at that same intersection. A Disney vehicle, I can’t remember now if it was a car or a minivan, had driven over part of the curb area where there were some kind of cement or metal barriers. (my memory is failing me, and soon I’ll want to just go back and delete this whole paragraph!) Anyway, the poor lady drove right over them and got herself stuck! I would have been completely mortified! Another Disney vehicle pulled up soon afterwards and I’m sure help for the car was on the way!


And now, going back to Downtown Disney…

We went right on inside and were taken to our table. Max & I decided right away to order a couple of appetizers to split for our meal. The kids ordered lunch from the kids’ menu, but since they had quickly tired of Mommy taking pictures of their food I don’t remember what they ordered. Max & I, however ordered quesadillas and those yummy yummy nachos we had last year:

T-Rexadillas - Chicken, peppers, green onions, Monterey jack and cheddar cheeses grilled in flour tortillas and served with pico de gallo, sour cream and guacamole

Colosso Nachos - Seasoned beef, pico de gallo, black beans, green onions, cheddar cheese, queso sauce and sour cream

(descriptions from allearsnet.com)

Max had fun playing with the camera on his phone:

Here are some more of our surroundings:

And then we hopped in the car and drove over to Hollywood Studios.

Here’s a picture someone snapped along the way


Here’s a question: Why would someone who is taking little notes about their Disney trip write the letters ‘P P’ in her notebook?

PhotoPass? Um, that’s all I can think of besides Peter Pan. Peter Pan is not at DHS, so I don’t think that’s what we did next. Possibly, it was PhotoPass, because we did have some taken over by Tower of Terror, but right after ‘P P’ I’ve got Star Tours. It’s a mystery! And no, it wouldn’t be a bathroom break, I’m pretty sure I didn’t write those down!


Anyway, soon we rode Star Tours. Ah, Star Tours….our last time for the original! I so wish we had been able to attend the big Star Wars Celebration they had last month.


After Star Tours it was Muppet Vision 3D! Do you guys like that show? I never thought I cared much about the Muppets until I finally saw their show last year. Growing up, I did watch Muppet Babies, but that was about it. Do you know what? The Muppets are hilarious! I loved the show, and so I insisted we go see it again.


From Muppets, we went to the Great Movie Ride and asked about the Cowboy Show.


The very first time we went to Disney World was July 2003. July. The first time we rode the Great Movie Ride we saw the Cowboy Show. We did not stop for the gangster shootout, no we kept going and saw a Cowboy shoot-out, complete with a burning building. We only went on GMR once that year. The next year when we went back and rode the GMR, we saw the gangster scene. When we drove by the burnt out buildings I seemed to remember that it used to be on fire there. I had myself & Max convinced that they must not do that one anymore. Years went by without any more Cowboys until one year, 2007 maybe, Max finally asked a CM about it. Low and behold, they still did the Cowboy show, only not as frequently. It has something to do with how many cars they run on the track at a time, I think. If they run two sets, the first will continue past the gangsters to the cowboys, while the second stops at the gangsters and passes through the cowboys, meeting back up in the last room where they show all the movie clips. (love that part!) We were able to wait a bit that year and finally got to see the cowboy show again.


We decided it was time for Cowboys, so Max asked if they were running it that day, and they were! We just had to wait out one round and we were on! I think the kids enjoyed seeing it.


By that time it was time for Welcome Home Wednesday! It’s a fun little thing for DVC Members. They hold them on Wednesdays over on the Boardwalk in the Atlantic Dance Hall. They have refreshments and put on a game show with lots of cool prizes. Everyone gets a little something, too on the way out. I had only just found out about it not too long before our trip and really thought it sounded like something fun we could do, if we got the chance.


I also wanted to take the boat over from DHS. If we had driven, I’m sure we would have made it on time, but we waited around for a boat. It seemed like we waited forever. Just as we turned around to go back, a boat appeared in the distance!


We ended up getting off at the Yacht Club ( I think) and walking over because it was quicker.

We were very late to WHW as it was. The game show was already going and at least halfway over. We got our snack coupons and headed in to look for a seat. We finally found an empty table on the second floor. The kids & I went back to the refreshment counter and got some lemonade and Cracker Jacks. We returned to our table to eat our snacks and finish watching the game show, hosted by Deevy Cee! She is so funny! Max says his Momma could have played her well, and I think he is right!

Game show set-up from the 2nd floor


It was fun! I had never been in the Atlantic Dance Hall, either, so that was neat to get a glimpse inside! On the way out, everyone (kids included) was given a DVC cap.

Hooray!


We did a little exploring around the Boardwalk then. I love walking around there!

I think everyone has one of these pictures:

We also did a quick walk-through of the actual Boardwalk (Inn or Villas?) We would be checking out of BLT the next day and into Boardwalk, so we wanted to take a quick peek at the inside! Luke was on ‘Hidden Mickey’ watch:

There are quite a few in the carpet! My favorite is the Mickey on the rollercoaster!


We talked about renting one of the surrey bikes and riding along the boardwalk. I thought that would be fun! By that time, though we were ready to get back to Hollywood Studios. There was a certain way I was looking forward to getting there. Guesses, anyone?

Oh yeah, walking!


Crazy? Not to me. I love walking. The trail looked so nice and peaceful, winding past the Boardwalk and the waterway, past trees and other beautiful nature. We did walk, but I’m not sure that anyone else was excited about it. And, truthfully, it was pretty hot. Not much shade there on that walkway.

Finally! DHS was in the distance!


We saw some people jogging and walking for exercise along the way. I would love to be able to use that for a walking track every day! I know some people work-out on vacation, too, but I don’t know where they find the time!


Allison & Luke were pretty draggy at this point and we had to stop quite a bit to wait on them. They kept stopping for drinks, silly kids! But soon we arrived back to Hollywood Studios!



What’s next? Is rain in our future? More importantly, will we have to buy yet another set of ponchos?

 

[mickeystoontown]

I ordered those yummy quesadillas at T-Rex too. Makes me wish I was there now.

I've wracked my brain over what PP could stand for too. Since it's not a bathroom break , I would guess Photopass. Yay for getting to see the cowboy scene in the Great Movie Ride. It seems like we always see the gangster part too.

We've never been over to the Boardwalk. It looks like such a pretty place. I would have probably wanted to walk back to Hollywood Studios too. My family, however, would have vetoed me.

 

[wdwgirl03]

T-Rex Cafe is on my list of must-dos for March. I think the theming is so fun and we enjoyed the Rainforest Cafe when we ate there. Those are some interesting pictures Max took! LOL.

Glad you made it to WHW. It is a fun little event to go to. Miss Deevee Cee though gets on my nerves!

I love that picture of DHS on the walkway from the Boardwalk. I just love that view. Especially when you're on one of the boats and you round the corner and all of a sudden see it. Such an exciting view!

 

[princess_momma]

Wow, I've missed 3 updates!!! Crazy!!

I have loved them all!! You are fabulous. You totally do Disney right! I love how you enjoying walking everywhere. I'm the same way. Yeah, it's hot as heck...but somehow Disney gives me energy for every single step. I love it.

WHW's sound so fun even if you were a little late!! I want to be a DVC owner!! That would be the greatest!! Can't wait for more!!

 

[Bridora]

I ordered those yummy quesadillas at T-Rex too. Makes me wish I was there now.

I've wracked my brain over what PP could stand for too. Since it's not a bathroom break , I would guess Photopass. Yay for getting to see the cowboy scene in the Great Movie Ride. It seems like we always see the gangster part too.

We've never been over to the Boardwalk. It looks like such a pretty place. I would have probably wanted to walk back to Hollywood Studios too. My family, however, would have vetoed me.

yeah, talking about those nachos before lunch when you can't have them is pretty sorry!

I've still got to load in my Photopass pictures. I think I do remember now that we had some taken in front of "the hat" so that's probably what it was!

You have to go over there sometime. The Boardwalk is a beautiful place to walk!

T-Rex Cafe is on my list of must-dos for March. I think the theming is so fun and we enjoyed the Rainforest Cafe when we ate there. Those are some interesting pictures Max took! LOL.

Glad you made it to WHW. It is a fun little event to go to. Miss Deevee Cee though gets on my nerves!

I love that picture of DHS on the walkway from the Boardwalk. I just love that view. Especially when you're on one of the boats and you round the corner and all of a sudden see it. Such an exciting view!

Here's a couple more T-Rex pictures I just found:

Have you watched any of Deevy's videos? They are pretty funny, once or twice, the kids love to watch them! Over & Over & Over!

Wow, I've missed 3 updates!!! Crazy!!

I have loved them all!! You are fabulous. You totally do Disney right! I love how you enjoying walking everywhere. I'm the same way. Yeah, it's hot as heck...but somehow Disney gives me energy for every single step. I love it.

WHW's sound so fun even if you were a little late!! I want to be a DVC owner!! That would be the greatest!! Can't wait for more!!

Crazy! Now you're acting like me!

Thanks! Yes, there is a certain energy in Disney...it just makes you keep going...there's so much to see & do & you're in Disney World! So exciting!

 

[Bridora]

We made it back to Hollywood Studios without too much trouble.

Girls win!


Once we were back inside the park we made our way over to:

There was pretty much no wait at all! We stopped a few times just to enjoy the awesomeness that is the Tower of Terror queue…too great to just run through, I think. I love the mist that lingers around the grounds!

After our stay there, we checked on the Rock ‘n Rollercoaster wait times. The sign said 20 minutes, but as we were walking up the CM at the head of the queue was telling some other people that the wait was actually more like 60 minutes, so we decided to come back to that one later. We hadn’t yet visited the Backlot, so we headed over there for a tour.


Some photos I took along the way:

The kids enjoyed looking at all the movie props this year!



Say what you will about Miley Cyrus (and I’ll probably agree with most of it) but Hannah Montana: The Movie really was a good movie! Allison & I went to see it with a couple of friends when it came out and look what she got to see at Hollywood Studios!

This is a barn that Miley had to paint in the movie, for those of you who have not seen it. Pretty cool to have something Allison had recently seen in a movie in the park!

Poor Mr. Tumnus!



When we finished up there we finally did something we’ve been wanting to do for a while: One Man’s Dream! Hooray for us! At least this wasn’t on that long list of things we didn’t do this year!

We had to show our Keys to the World as we entered because Evening Extra Magic Hours were just beginning! Hooray for those, too!

Here’s something silly: I didn’t know there was a movie at the end! I just thought it was a walk-through of museum-like displays and such. So it was definitely a bonus at the end when we heard the announcement about the movie starting!

I thought it was great that the kids got to see more about Walt Disney. They are old enough now to connect him with Walt Disney World, so it was neat for them to learn more about him and to view him as a real person.

Max & I also enjoyed One Man’s Dream!


If there is one bad thing about EEMH, it’s the lack of restaurants that are open. We hadn’t eaten dinner yet, and we were hungry by that time. Luckily, the EEMH times guide listed the places that were serving food. We ended up going back to the row of 2-3 walk up counters near Rock ‘n Rollercoaster. Rosie’s All American Café was one of the places, but I don’t remember the other one. Max & Luke went through the line at one, while Allison & I took on the other. As soon as Allison & I got our tray we began to look for a table. There are several picnic tables in the area with umbrellas and then there are some covered areas that also have picnic tables under them. The skies were getting dark with both the night and with some dark rain clouds. I love the way Tower of Terror looks when it gets all cloudy and dark outside--spooky! The wind was picking up and you could tell it was going to rain soon. That’s why I chose a picnic table with no cover over it.


There’s another time you can laugh at me!


I’ll just offer this: the other tables were full.


By the time Max & Luke got their tray, a table under cover had opened up, so Allison & I joined them in relative shelter. As we ate our meals it began to sprinkle. Thank goodness we had packed all the ponchos that day! Or, thank Max! Max & I put on our new jackets and the kids put on their ponchos. The wind was blowing napkins and receipts around. Cast Members appeared to close up all the umbrellas at those tables that had them. We were very thankful to have a roof over our heads.


The view from our shelter:

We finished up our dinner and gathered our things together. I had my small camera, but took no food pictures that night. It rained pretty hard there for a while. When the rain let up some we decided to abandon our table and head across the street.

Fuzzy Max, modeling his new jacket!

I love the way the streets look at night after a rain. That’s what I was trying to capture in those pictures.


We must have left for the night soon after that because I don’t have anything else in my notebook!

We had to check-out of Bay Lake Tower the next morning. So sad. Even though we were checking in to Boardwalk for one night, our trip’s end was near.

 

[mickeystoontown]

Good thing an umbrella table opened up or you guys would have been soaked! Glad that you were finally able to make use of the ponchos and jackets.

 

[Leleluvsdis]

I want to do one mans dream again... we went through it last year and went to the movie, and there was a family that was letting there kids just have a regular conversation which was VERY annoying.. .and I'm talking pre-teenagers that should no better, but anywhoo... I love DHS anytime, you truely feel like you are in a movie. So sorry about having to leave your monorail view and BLT, but can't wait to read about the rest of your trip and boardwalk!!

 

[princess_momma]

waaaaaaahhh!! I just miss DHS so bad!! That's really unfortunate about the lack of opened restaurants during EMH. I know the ONLY thing that irked my DHS was that Starring Rolls closes at like 4!! I wanted a second cupcake! (to take back to the room for later...I swear!! )

Thank you, thank you, thank you for all the pics of ToT!! I'm in my happy place mentally now!