What new things have you done at DL recently?

kkmcan

Official Mouse Fan
Joined
Apr 23, 2003
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We just got back from a short trip to DL. We went with a few things in mind that we wanted to do and have never done before in all of our trips there.

We did the Tortilla factory tour- very cute, great snack!
We got margaritas in DCA- loved them!
We did the drawing lesson in the Animation Studio. That was our favorite and we tried to go back several times but we always seemed to get Mickey when we had just done Minnie.
Got the kids silhouettes done on Main street. They are now hanging on our family room wall.
DH and I got wine from the wine bar- very nice and relaxing to just sit and sip!
We did the canoes! That was fun, but my arms were burning.

I guess thats it. We did the usual rides as well but we are so happy that we finally got around to doing some things we've always wanted to try!
 
Our trip was March 7-14:

New stuff for us:

Rode in the Wheelhouse of the Mark Twain & got to blow the whistle & ring the bell!!!
Rode in the front of the Monorail...great view!
Rode Toy Story Midway Mania.....loved it!!

Ate at Cafe Orlean's.....which is now my all-time favorite restaurant!
Ate at the Blue Bayou....very very nice!
Tried the Lilo-n-Stitch Character Breakfast....small but soooo much fun!!! Not a lot of characters, but Lilo & Stitch played with our family at least 5 times during our meal....so you didn't notice the lack of characters!! This is now a must every trip.

Watched the fireworks from NOS.....it was a fantastic view from there....you can't see the lighting on the castle, but we did see Tinkerbell.

Anytime we saw someone taking pictures of their party, we asked if they wanted to be in the picture & if we were interested....they'd take ours in return.

This is a biggie for our family.....we left the park for an afternoon to swim & enjoy the DL Hotel grounds & memorabilia. (we never leave....we're die hards to the end). We also left a couple nights prior to closing (and closing was at 9pm)
 
New things I tried on my last trip were the Animation Academy, tortilla factory tour, and the bread tour.
 
i am tired so forgive the lack of caps.

toy story mania
buzz
pooh
new version of mansion
dole whip
gluten free hot dog at coke corner
DIVAS ROCK
orange stinger
DLR tower of terror
nemo ride
the revamped space mountain
gluten free cheddar burger at taste pilot
Ariel's Grottto, twice
googy's kitchen brunch with mom, been to goofy's before but not with her
tender ride on a train
stopped by at fantasy faire but the hour lon line made it impossible for me to do the Diva group photo.
new fireworks show
turkey leg
revamped pirates
mickey ice cream bar
took and ECV from one park to another, like fainting spell over that.
ate blood orange sorbet
seen the new innoventions
new monsters ride
new animation show where I drew tiny minnie
blue sky cellar
 

We rode the Pooh ride! Lol-- it was there last time we went but it got such unglowing reviews we didn't ride it. Well yesterday it was so packed in the park, we were walking by it and the wait was only 10 minutes so were curious. We loved it! It was a nice shady line and we went and got back in line again. Yeah I miss the Country Bears but I really like the Pooh ride. It's just a classic dark ride. Oh and CA of course- wasn't there last time we went. The new fireworks show was amazing too.
 
After not being able to go to DLR from 2002 - 2006, when I returned in 2007, everything seemed new to me! Since then I have tried to make a point of doing things I have never done at DLR on the last few trips - for whatever reason, I had just skipped them or didn't know much about them since I missed a few years at DLR. This could include eating at a specific restaurant I had never been to before, or taking pictures of certain things. Now let me see if I can remember some of my new things....

December 2008 New Things:

-Saw Aladdin
-Visited Animation Building and saw zoetrope
-Ate at Taste Pilots Grill
-Looked in the Fortuosity Shop & Off the Page
-For the first time, took lots of black and white pictures at DLR (see trip report for those) and took pictures of things I had never taken before
-At dinner at Storytellers (we have done other meals there)
-Watched the Pixar Play Parade
-Spent about half a day all alone, totally by myself
-Took picture with Santa for the first time in probably 24 years!
-Ate gingerbread men cookies with Mickey ears


October 2008 New Things:

-Tried PhotoPass for the first time ever
-Rode Toy Story Mania for the first time (best ride ever)
-Saw It's Tough to Be a Bug and roamed around A Bug's Land
-Went to my first ever Mickey's Trick or Treat Party
-Tried the Blue Bayou for dessert only
-Ate at ESPN Zone for the first time


In 2007, almost everything was new to me: Pirates with Jack Sparrow added, Buzz Lightyear, Nemo Submarine, the Pooh ride (I had never made it on this ride before), Mike and Sulley to the Rescue, Soarin', ate at Naples - all of DCA was new to me!!!

Next time - hopefully a trip to the Animation Academy!!!
 
We did a bunch of new things on our last trip too:
- My daughter petted Every Single Goat at Big Thunder Ranch, then colored in the craft house there
- Rode the Mark Twain
- Ate at Cafe Orleans (new favorite, this was SO yummy!)
- Playhouse Disney (my daughter LOVED it, me not so much)
- Whitewater snacks

Edited to add: saw the characters going 'off stage' on the steamship after Fantasia. This was a trip highlight, my daughter felt like she had them all to herself as we were the only people by Hungry Bear when the ship went by!

It was like having a totally different experience, it was great!
 
I forgot to add the best one of all!!!

My daughter got to wake up Jose in the Tiki Room. I was so proud and she was amazed that she'd done this, just stared at Jose for the whole show!
 
Our trip earlier this month was full of 1st's for us.

*Pin Trading! DS left his lanyard with probably 20 pins on SM ~ nobody turned it in. :sad2:

*Musical Chairs w/Alice & Mad Hatter, I thought DD would really get into this but DS loved it!

*Breakfast at Goofy's Kitchen ~ it was OK.

*Rode the Monorail.

*Rode the train.

*Visited the Tiki Room (I don't remember this from my childhood ~ so I might have done it before.)

*Stayed at DLH ~ loved it, but it's still too much $$.

*This was our 1st trip just the 3 of us!
 
In the Animation building, we have done turtle talk with crush before, but this time my boys wanted to look around. The toy story thingie (can't remember the name) is just amazing and we had fun in the villian's area. We didn't get to see the storybook exhibit in the library, but we each took a turn with Ursula's voice catcher and I discovered that my mom can sing :goodvibes. The highlight was learning how to draw :thumbsup2 We learned how to draw Donald, Jack Skelleton and Minnie. I have all of the artwork saved and after framing them I will hang them around the house...
 
For the first time ever we saw the "Bugs Life" show in DCA. I went first with my 3 year old dd while my older kids and dh went on Screamin'. Oh my gosh...so cute! I told my boys they had to see it. They aren't big on shows, but I told them they would love it...and they did. We saw it two more times after that.

Also went to the "Tiki Room" for the first time on our last trip...can't say that I will be able to talk my family into that one again, but I can see how it would be a nice place to go when you need a break and a cool place to sit.
 
This last trip was SO different from our '06 trip. Although I had personally done most of the things at DL myself (having been many times as a teen) I feel like doing them with my family is a "first" - and some things really were!

We stayed at Hojos for the first time and LOVED it! Most certainly won't be our last!

We visited the Tiki room and celebrated after with our very first Dole Whips - :lovestruc

We rode Dumbo (I never had!) Casey Jr and the Storybook Canal boats...we missed them all last time.

We also rode Alice in Wonderland. Guess who my DD4 is now OBSESSED with?

My kids tried to pull the Sword from the Stone - unsuccessfully but it made for cute photo ops!

I made my first foray into City Hall (for a birthday button) and ditto the First Aid station (for a bandaid)

At DCA we girls had lunch at Ariel's for the first time (yum!) and I took my DD on most of the rides in Bug's Land while the boys tried TSM and Soarin' for the first time.

Best of all, we got to show our two sons "Fantasmic" for the first time, and they are STILL talking about it!!

And even with all of this, we still have an amazing laundry list of stuff we didn't get to do.....which is why we can justify going back in 2012! :woohoo:
 
I almost forgot, I took DD to see "Playhouse Disney on Stage" - it is a MUST for the preschool crowd, she loved it!
 
For the first ever (3-21-09), we went on the Story Book ride. It was cute, probably won't go on it ever again. But I'm glad I finally got around to that.
 
We did Aladdin, the Muppets and finally took our kids on Jungle Cruise. Our DS 6 loved all of the corny jokes. DS 4 still talks about going underwater on that ride.

Loved sitting in Muppets with DS 4 as he was trying to grab the characters and watching him move because of the 3D effects. Of course being in a family of boys, anytime anything blows up (like the Muppet theater) it's a very good thing. :upsidedow
 
I have been numerous times and done mostly everything.

This Friday me, my sister, and her DBF are going to DL & DCA. Her DBF has never been on Dumbo or Peter Pan so we are making sure we get there before rope drop so we can ride PP, Dumbo, Toad, and Alice before doing Matterhorn and grabbing a FP for either IJ or one of the mountains.
 
What and where is the tortilla factory tour? I also think I remember reading about something at the tortilla factory on your birthday?
 














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