What's the Sitch? The Great Disney D-Tour! (12/19 Lego Tribute)

[dawnbu40]

It's always fun to find a new character in the parks! Hopefully meeting Max made up for your son having to look at all those flowers

 

[meeko_33785]

Wow, I haven't seen Max in the parks in ages. Looks like your DS had fun meeting him.

 

[thecapells]

It's always fun to find a new character in the parks! Hopefully meeting Max made up for your son having to look at all those flowers

Well, I'm not sure about that.
Flowers are really girly you know...

Wow, I haven't seen Max in the parks in ages. Looks like your DS had fun meeting him.

It was very cool and a total surprise.
Even after the insane planning I do, I still get surprised every once and a while at Disney!

 

[thecapells]

After our chance encounter with Max, we headed back towards Fountain of Nations Plaza.
And here’s where you really start getting a feel for the Flower and Garden Festival

It starts with an advertisement for the recent Disneynature film “Earth” created entirely out of sand:

The shape even changed throughout the festival.
When I went back the following month for my conference, it was different but that pic is for later…

Towards the center of the plaza, there was a large Beauty and the Beast display and our model was ready!

And then she demanded her closeups.
And I mean demanded - she made sure she got a shot next to EVERY topiary...

First was Chip (I thought his lips were a little too big):

And then Mrs. Potts of course

Flanking them were Lumiere

and Cogsworth

Besides the topiaries, the greens were lush and flowers were everywhere.
Here’s a shot of probably one of the most Not-So-Hidden Mickey’s you’ll ever see:

By the Lagoon, there was more of a jungle theme as the topiaries were dedicated to the Lion King.
From Mufasa

to Rafiki holding aloft baby Simba

The scene was really nicely done and even included Nala

Next store were some giraffes

And, of course, Timon and Pumbaa getting ready for a feast of topiary bugs!

On the other side of the Simba display was Scar and Zazu

By now, it was approaching 11:00 so we quickened our pace and headed straight to Norway.
The kids were very disappointed to see that the Viking ship was gone and a bed of flowers and trees replaced it.
(I was kinda disappointed as well but I had read that this was coming).
So we took a picture next to what was left of the ship and signed in for our 1st Kim Possible Mission.

There’s a little kiosk with the KP logo next to those remnants of the Viking ship.
The CM was friendly and allowed us to pick our country (Mexico).
We wanted to knock off this one quick and then head to lunch.
Come join us as we try to save the World - the World Showcase that is!

 

[thecapells]

Sorry - I hit submit twice...

 

[HilJoy14]

Great pics of the family! Especially the one with Stitch!

I have been enjoying your trip reports for some time now (the previous one and this one) and am just now coming out of lurkdom to post. Can't wait to read more!

 

[kangaand2roos]

I'm partway through your first TR and decided I should sub to this one. I should be caught up in a day or two!

 

[thecapells]

Great pics of the family! Especially the one with Stitch!

I have been enjoying your trip reports for some time now (the previous one and this one) and am just now coming out of lurkdom to post. Can't wait to read more!

Thanks for posting! I love "meeting" everyone who is reading along!

I'm partway through your first TR and decided I should sub to this one. I should be caught up in a day or two!

Glad you found us!
And good luck catching up - I know the last one was pretty long...

 

[jmskinner]

Ok, haven't been reading TR's lately, but couldn't sleep tonight and yours was the first one to pop up so thought I would finally catch up. Love the resort pics. I want to give AS Movies a try now.

Too cool about riding Soarin' 3 times and before the park opened. I can't remember if the shots you took of the images on the wall were part of the interactive items or not. I need to look back at my photos.

Love the videos in T-Rex. (Sorry, getting out of order here.) Was that a member of your party that waved in the middle of the last one, or just someone walking by?

Can't wait to hear about your Kim Possible mission!

 

[All7OfUs]

I love Flower and Garden!! We've been there for it last two trips and are always just amazed at what the gardeners can do!

I was sad to hear the ship had sunk as well. My kids adored playing on it back in 2000. Sad.

I'm pretty convinced I want to do a Kim Poss. in Sept., so can't wait to hear your review.

 

[thecapells]

Ok, haven't been reading TR's lately, but couldn't sleep tonight and yours was the first one to pop up so thought I would finally catch up. Love the resort pics. I want to give AS Movies a try now.

Too cool about riding Soarin' 3 times and before the park opened. I can't remember if the shots you took of the images on the wall were part of the interactive items or not. I need to look back at my photos.

Love the videos in T-Rex. (Sorry, getting out of order here.) Was that a member of your party that waved in the middle of the last one, or just someone walking by?

Can't wait to hear about your Kim Possible mission!

Glad you're back but sorry you couldn't sleep.
Anticipation of yet another Disney trip keeping you up I hope?

All Star Movies was definitely a fun resort for Toy Story lovers.
I'm tempted to give another section a try on a future trip.

Yeah, I'd love to know if those weird scenes were part of the interactive display.
Doing it first thing in the morning and using fastpass, we've never experienced the interactive queue and I'm curious what it's all about.

As for T-Rex, that was our friend waving at the camera just to be funny.
I think I'd be pissed if I didn't know them and they did that.

I love Flower and Garden!! We've been there for it last two trips and are always just amazed at what the gardeners can do!

I was sad to hear the ship had sunk as well. My kids adored playing on it back in 2000. Sad.

I'm pretty convinced I want to do a Kim Poss. in Sept., so can't wait to hear your review.

Kim Possible was alot of fun - the reviews are coming shortly and I'll try to remember all I can!

 

[DisneyMom5]

We've only done the games in the Soarin' queue once or twice. I remember once in '07 it was during pm emh, and there was a 20 min. or more line.
They are cool, Wii style games, only your whole body moves and you have no controller. If you are birds racing, then your whole group has to flap your arms together to get your bird to fly faster. There are as many groups as there are those big picture displays, so 4 or 5 maybe???

It was a good way to pass the time while waiting in line.

This trip we just walked on several times, so no games were running. You have to have enough wait time to do the games. And yes, they are those weird geometric types shapes.

Enjoying the report!

 

[thecapells]

We've only done the games in the Soarin' queue once or twice. I remember once in '07 it was during pm emh, and there was a 20 min. or more line.
They are cool, Wii style games, only your whole body moves and you have no controller. If you are birds racing, then your whole group has to flap your arms together to get your bird to fly faster. There are as many groups as there are those big picture displays, so 4 or 5 maybe???

It was a good way to pass the time while waiting in line.

This trip we just walked on several times, so no games were running. You have to have enough wait time to do the games. And yes, they are those weird geometric types shapes.

Enjoying the report!

Ah, that makes sense.
I've heard so much about the interactive queue but have never seen it.
Then again, we never wait for Soarin' as we always head there 1st thing in the morning.
So I guess the games are never activated.
Thanks for the explanation!

 

[WrightFamily06]

Nice Update I can't believe you got to meet Max , it's almost magical when you get to meet a character that doesn't seem to be around much anymore ! Adorable pictures of everyone in front of the Topiary's , WDW does such a beautiful job w/ the F & G Festival . Can't wait to see how the KP mission turns out !

 

[thecapells]

Nice Update I can't believe you got to meet Max , it's almost magical when you get to meet a character that doesn't seem to be around much anymore ! Adorable pictures of everyone in front of the Topiary's , WDW does such a beautiful job w/ the F & G Festival . Can't wait to see how the KP mission turns out !

Thanks for the kind words and meeting Max was definitely an unexpected treat.
But now buckle up as we head South of the Border to Save the World!

 

[thecapells]

At 11:00 on the dot (they wouldn’t do it earlier), the CM checked us in at the KP kiosk in Norway.
I asked to be assigned to Mexico and was obliged.
From there, the CM gave us a quick spiel on what we’d be doing and handed us a Kimmunicator (Disney’s version of an LG cell phone).

The game starts as Wade (the resident computer geek from the Kim Possible TV show) walks you through the “gadgetry.”
Wade makes sure you know how the Kimmunicator works, how you can replay things if you miss something, and everything else you need to know.
Then he sends you off to your destination.

We arrived at the temple in Mexico and pressed the "OK" button on the phone.
There’s little audio/video clips explaining a little more about the mission as you go.
All dialogue appears in writing as well in case you can’t hear it but the audio is very good so I wouldn't worry about that.
In fact, as you wander the World Showcase, you’ll most likely hear those tell-tales Kim Possible beeps as you explore.

Each mission takes you through about 7 assignments.
However, there are about 10 or so assignments available per country.
So if you repeat a country, you will get a different selection of 7 assingments.
I know for a fact there are several assignments we did not get and there were some we did that I hadn’t heard of before.
I believe the finale for each mission stays the same though.

Okay, then – that’s the basics.
Let’s save the world!!

The Mexico mission started us off in the area before the Mexican marketplace devoted to Mexican art.
Remember, this is where we started but everyone gets different assignments.

Our assignments here included finding a hidden seal behind the giraffes and getting information from an informant disguised as a dancing skeleton:

The way these work is that once you get near the target, Wade explains how you should press the ‘OK’ button on the Kimmunicator to activate something.
The giraffe display darkens to reveal a hidden seal that’s been there all along but you’d never know.
The skeleton starts dancing and telling you some vital information for the mission.
These are funny as you can surprise regular visitors if they are unsuspecting (which we did from time to time).
However, you may see crowds of other agents activating targets before you.
I would scout ahead and try to “walk slower” so the kids wouldn’t see the cool stuff before we got there.

Another part of our mission included listening to the parrot in the marketplace repeat a conversation held by the villains.

I forgot to mention – each country has its own set of villains from the Kim Possible television show.
You don’t actually need any knowledge of the show.
Everything is fully explained to you and you can easily get into the storyline without any prior information.

Finally we raced to our finale.
Overlooking the marketplace, we had to activate our Kimmunicator to prevent the villains from launching a rocket out of the volcano in the distance.
I was really looking forward to this as you actually get to see an animated rocket blast off from the volcano.
Our Kimmunicator successfully knocked the rocket off course and it crashed somewhere in the depths of the Gran Fiesta Tour.
I wonder what it looked from down on the boats but from our point of view, it was actually a disappointment.
The mission was fun, interactive and a solid one but I definitely found some of the others to be higher on my list if I rated them.
In hindsight, Mexico is smaller so a lot of the assignments take place in the same general area.
Even missions with less audio-animatronics at least had us exploring more of the pavilion like in Norway.
And that’s the point, right?
Get those kids actually enjoying the parts of the pavilion not named Kidcot.

With all that said, I highly recommend the Kim Possible World Showcase Adventure.
And I’d even recommend trying every country if you could.
Of the four we did this trip, (yes, there's 3 more coming up),
I’d rank Mexico 3rd but still a lot of fun.

Each mission takes about a half an hour assuming you have a general idea of the layout of the pavilions.
I’d say Epcot novices may take more like 45 minutes.

Upon completion of your mission you get a choice.
The first choice is to return your Kimmunicator to a secret drop box well hidden within the pavilion.
Or, if there is battery remaining, the Kimmunicator will suggest additional missions at pavilions that are not too crowded with fellow agents.
We selected Norway and then I closed the Kimmunicator and put in my pocket.
As the CM suggested earlier, they have a decent battery life so you can close them, do some stuff, and then go back to your mission.
In our case, we had lunch reservations in another country.
But first, we celebrated saving the world by tracking Donald Duck through the Gran Fiesta

Now, come join us for one of our favorite restaurants in all of Walt Disney World.
Take off to the Great White North!

 

[DisneyMom5]

We did our first KP adventure this trip. Kids would have liked to do more, but we were tired and dealing with weather, not to mention NINE kids between ours and my SIL, and it was too much hassle. Maybe sometime in the future???

 

[thecapells]

We did our first KP adventure this trip. Kids would have liked to do more, but we were tired and dealing with weather, not to mention NINE kids between ours and my SIL, and it was too much hassle. Maybe sometime in the future???

That could definitely be rough.
But I heard you could get several Kimmunicators to the kids can split up.
In fact, that's what we expect to do next time around.
And since the assignments are random, we'll be doing different things even though we're in the same country on the same mission!

 

[thecapells]

We headed directly across the World Showcase Lagoon and towards our neighbors to the north – the Canadian pavilion.
We had an 11:50 lunch reservation at Le Cellier!

Out front, we were greeted by, of all characters, Bambi and her friends

Not sure why Bambi appears here, but hey.
Nobody wanted to pose with the deer topiary including our professional model.
I think everyone was hungry.
So we headed down into the Canadian landscape.
Victoria Gardens is much more lush during Flower & Garden so of course, I don’t seem to have any pictures.
I think I was too focused on lunch as well.
As usual, it was FANTASTIC.
Mom had her standard mushroom filet and I had my standard NY Strip Steak with cheddar mashed potatoes.
Both were great but I liked Mom’s a bit better and I think I’ll try that next time.
The kids were delighted by butter noodles.
I had a Cesar Salad appetizer and Mom split a French Onion Soup with DD.
DD ordered fruit (which we gave to X), and we ordered the cheddar cheese soup for DS.
Since DS wanted no part of the soup (which we expected), we used it as a dipping sauce for the amazing pretzel bread!
MMMmmmmmm…
For dessert, Mom had the crème brulee, DD has some cake, and DS and I got chocolate moose!!
I think everyone that comes here should get the chocolate moose
My moose came complete with a plate that celebrated our anniversary!

While we’ve only been married 9 years this September, we’ve known each other for 20 that March so this trip marked a celebration of that.
We were even presented with a really nice card:

And our adorable waitress even wrote us a wonderful little inscription

We love Disney.
And with Mom being Canadian, this is always a fun time.
So much fun that we had to replicate our wacky pictures from last trip:

I love those pictures.
And yes, we’re really that weird.
But we have fun!

Lunch finally ended and we headed out.
But before we left, I ran over to the falls for one nice scenic shot

Next stop – time to Meet the Mouse!

 

[thecapells]

BTW - single digit dance!

We leave for our Pirate Adventure on October 30th!!
Hopefully, I'll have most of this TR done by then