Welcome Home, Now Relax ~ Day 2 - Hollywood Studios, Downtown Disney, Wal-Mart

[wickesy]

Thursday 26th March

As expected we were awake early and by 6:00 we had both decided to give up on trying to get more sleep and got up. While Dad was in the bathroom I started our first day in traditional style - by watching Stacey and the Top 7 must-sees at Walt Disney World.

I hadn’t done any unpacking last night so I did that and by 7:20 we were both washed, dressed and ready to go. The park didn’t open until 9:00 so we went for a quick wander around part of the resort and took some photos.

We met some of Donald Duck’s relatives who were staying in one of the lakes on the resort.

I assume this is a bird box

We then went back and got our stuff together before making our way to the park where we parked up in Stage 41 at around 8:30. The turnstiles opened at 8:45 and we then had to endure the opening ceremony (which only lasts 5 minutes but seems to go on for so much longer) before we could finally make our way over to the first ride of the holiday - Toy Story Midway Mania. We were fairly near the front for rope drop and although we didn’t dawdle there was quite a queue for the Fast Pass machines by the time we got to the ride and although there was quite a line forming for the ride itself, and a wait time of 30 minutes showing, the line moved almost constantly and we were on within 10 minutes.

I started off a fair way ahead of Dad on the first couple of games but he soon caught and overtook me and the final scores were: Dad 61,500 (43% accuracy), me 54,900 (32% accuracy). We will definitely be fitting in another couple of rides before the fortnight is out.

From Toy Story we made our way to the Great Movie Ride where there was no wait and in fact there were people on the ride vehicles waiting for us to come along to fill them up a bit. We were in the first ride vehicle which meant that we finally got to see the cowboy scene that I had been wanting to see for a while.

After Great Movie Ride we browsed the shops for a while to kill time while we waited for the 11:00 showing of the American Idol experience.

Part of the pre-show here includes the warm-up man coming out into the audience with a camera crew and filming parts to be used in the live show later on so it is worth getting there early. We were soon into the theatre where there was a bit more warm-up before the show itself got started.

continued

 

[wickesy]

I haven’t seen much of American Idol but it certainly felt like the real thing and I was surprised at how good the three contestants - two women and a man - were. The first girl sang Colors of the Wind, then the guy totally wowed us all with a rendition of If Everyone Cared and the second girl finished it off with Last Dance. We then all sang along to ‘I’ve Got The Music In Me’ with Jordin Sparks (on screen) while the backstage team edited the video reminders of the three performances. We then all got to vote via electronic keypads in the armrests of the seats and the winner was announced as the guy - Seth Taylor. I think the show is definitely worth a visit, even if you have not seen the TV show and I made a note to try and get to one of the ‘final shows’ while we are here.

After American Idol we went round to Studio Catering Company for lunch. We both had the chicken with rice and black beans and a coke which came to $20.36 but as this was one of the restaurants that offers a discount to DVC members we got $2.04 off.

The plan after lunch was to hit Downtown Disney so we left the park at 12:30 and made our way over to West Side for a quick browse of the TV DVD box-sets in Virgin before going back to the car and driving down to Village Marketplace (lazy I know but it saves having to walk down there and then back up again to the car). We had a look around World of Disney, a quick look in Team Disney, pin traders, Disney Days of Christmas (where we saw loads of stuff that we wanted and will have to try and narrow down later) and Art of Disney (same here). We then went back to World of Disney where Dad got a zip up Grumpy hoody although when he tried to charge it to the room the cast member said that he had reached his credit limit. We knew that couldn’t be right as we hadn’t used them yet so the cast member advised us to check at the front desk when we got back to the resort.

Next on the list was to go to Wal-Mart so we went out to the one on Vineland Road which was only a couple of miles away. We stocked up on root beer, Mountain Dew, crisps, dips, strawberry cream cheese, bagels, coffee, Budweiser, water and juice and the whole lot came to $53.35 which was great considering the amount we had in the trolley.

From Wal-mart we made our way back to Saratoga Springs and went to the front desk where they told us that Dad’s key might have got de-magnetised and issued us with new ones. We then went back to the room to relax before going out to Sweet Tomatoes for dinner.

We went back out at 5:30 and arrived at Sweet Tomatoes shortly before 6:00. I love Sweet Tomatoes - they have everything you could ever want and more to create your own salad, they have great soups and pasta to follow and their strawberry lemonade is delicious. We started off with a huge salad each then I had tomato and onion soup followed by black bean chili soup and Dad had rosemary potato soup followed by tomato and onion soup. I then had egg plant pasta and finished up with a peanut butter cookie bar and chocolate brownie muffin and Dad had frozen yoghurt. The whole thing came in at $24.28 and you can’t argue with that sort of value!

We left Sweet Tomatoes absolutely stuffed and made the short journey back to Saratoga Springs where we spent the evening relaxing with a couple of beers and were in bed by 10:00 ready for a day in Magic Kingdom tomorrow.

Day 3

 

[irongirlof12]

nice morning so far.

 

[natalielongstaff]

you did well to get the cowboy versian of GMR .....ive never seen that !

 

[suzycute]

Another great day! We love Sweet Tomatoes too and can't wait to try out the new one at the Crossroads shopping centre when we go in September!

 

[wickesy]

you did well to get the cowboy versian of GMR .....ive never seen that !

If you want to be sure of seeing it just ask if you can go in the first ride vehicle. That will take you straight through where they do the gangster scene and stop in the cowboy scene.

 

[Gaynor]

Great day. like the look of American Idol I never miss it on TV.
Sweet Tomatoes is on my list of places to eat next time, I've read some good reviews about it.

 

[wickesy]

Great day. like the look of American Idol I never miss it on TV.
Sweet Tomatoes is on my list of places to eat next time, I've read some good reviews about it.

You'll probably enjoy it even more than I did then. I forgot to mention in the trip report that they have three judges as well, you can just about see the judge's desk with the three red cups in the last photo. I can't remember who they were other than they did have an English guy called Simon who played the Simon Cowell role. Obviously being Disney they didn't say anything really harsh but there was some constructive criticism in there, it wasn't all sugary sweet.

 

[Lizzybear]

Great start to the hol at my favourite park Love Sweet Tomatoes, we ate there in LA aswell and it was just as good as I remembered from Orlando

 

[SusanEllen]

You're root beer men--I like that about you two. Another thorough description of a packed, well-spent day. Thanks for the care you take with your reports, David.

 

[wickesy]

You're root beer men--I like that about you two. Another thorough description of a packed, well-spent day. Thanks for the care you take with your reports, David.

Thanks to you too for your kind comments on them.

 

[natalielongstaff]

If you want to be sure of seeing it just ask if you can go in the first ride vehicle. That will take you straight through where they do the gangster scene and stop in the cowboy scene.

i will, im always miffed when i get the gangster version again

 

[CHEK]

Great 1st day at DHS, TSM I have 1 word for it Fantastic

We were at DHS for the official opening of American Idol, but we didn't go and see it , something for next time

Sweet Tomatoes sounds fab, that's another thing for us to try!

Thanks for sharing such a detailed trip David

 

[wickesy]

Thanks for sharing such a detailed trip David

No problem, thanks for reading.

 

[Pinky166]

The best way to start any holiday.....TSM!!!! I loved it in December but we only managed to get on it once - I am determined to ride it several times in September.

 

[wickesy]

The best way to start any holiday.....TSM!!!! I loved it in December but we only managed to get on it once - I am determined to ride it several times in September.

So was I. We ended up doing it 4 times over the two weeks.

 

[Nubbedy]

If you want to be sure of seeing it just ask if you can go in the first ride vehicle. That will take you straight through where they do the gangster scene and stop in the cowboy scene.

Cool - I never knew this. Will have to try this when we go. Great first day, Sweet Tomatoes sounds fab, and I so cant wait for Toy Story Mania.

 

[Tink2312]

Ohhhhhhhh we were at the same American Idol show!!!!!!! Seth actually won the final - we decided to go back that evening especially to see him! Then we were actually talking to him at DTD - he said he was going to go to Nashville to audition - so watch out for him I think it was Seth Layne (sp?) by the way, not Taylor.
We also went first to TSM - we came out laughing like mad people - it was awesome!
We weren't originally planning on going to HS that day, but wish I'd've remembered you were going to be there - I would've looked out for you

Great start to your TR by the way

 

[wickesy]

Ohhhhhhhh we were at the same American Idol show!!!!!!! Seth actually won the final - we decided to go back that evening especially to see him! Then we were actually talking to him at DTD - he said he was going to go to Nashville to audition - so watch out for him I think it was Seth Layne (sp?) by the way, not Taylor.
We also went first to TSM - we came out laughing like mad people - it was awesome!
We weren't originally planning on going to HS that day, but wish I'd've remembered you were going to be there - I would've looked out for you

Great start to your TR by the way

Busted - I couldn't remember his surname and figured nobody would know anyway so it didn't matter. He was good though wasn't he. Were there any others in the final that were as good as him or did he walk that as well?

It would have been great to have another mini DIS-meet while we there but maybe next time.

 

[Tink2312]

Busted - I couldn't remember his surname and figured nobody would know anyway so it didn't matter. He was good though wasn't he. Were there any others in the final that were as good as him or did he walk that as well?

It would have been great to have another mini DIS-meet while we there but maybe next time.

None of them were in his league (in fact the girl who sang colours of the wind was better than the rest of the finalists - which even Seth agreed with when we met him *name dropping again* ). The woman who "supposedly" came second *I say that as she was rubbish* was a wannabe rocker that just screamed her way though the song!

I'll post some piccies of the final when I get the chance

Seth got a standing ovation even before it was announced that he'd won. I got the feeling that alot of people had returned to see him in the final.

Yep, a definite Dis-meet will be on the cards if we're over there at the same time again