Where did this heat and all these people come from? The new PTR/TR link 5/7

[sunny_stace]

Your ride pictures are awesome Katie! Soarin' and Nemo! Fun! I too love to watch the Manatees! Oh I love Epcot....I wish I were there now! Your TR is awesome! I think mine has seen it's last days...I really don't have the time and I get bored. I'm notorious for not finishing things that I start I'm afraid!

 

[MHTeacher]

Wow---your shots during Soarin' made me feel like I was right there. I've never thought about trying to take pictures during that ride!

 

[Lovemy3babes]

Great Soarin' pictures! Next time I really need to ask for front row. They don't mind generally when you ask, do they? I always feel like a bother or something, lol!

 

[KatMark]

Sorry i'm a little late to your update (been with Mark for his surgery). Love the pics; I never thought to take a picture during Soarin'--will have to try that in September.

 

[kschafer]

Your ride pictures are awesome Katie! Soarin' and Nemo! Fun! I too love to watch the Manatees! Oh I love Epcot....I wish I were there now! Your TR is awesome! I think mine has seen it's last days...I really don't have the time and I get bored. I'm notorious for not finishing things that I start I'm afraid!

Noooo Stace! I wanted to read about the rest of your trip. Hmm, maybe you should have changed your dates to join me the week we were there then I would know how it turned out!

Wow---your shots during Soarin' made me feel like I was right there. I've never thought about trying to take pictures during that ride!

I was surprised with how quickly the scenes move that I managed to get clear pictures but when the final scene was the only one that turned out fuzzy, I realized my camera does OK with motion as long as it's not dark. Night time pics were the poorest of those taken on this trip

Great Soarin' pictures! Next time I really need to ask for front row. They don't mind generally when you ask, do they? I always feel like a bother or something, lol!

I must say I have lucked out in getting the front when I would have waited for it so have never actually asked but I gather from reading on the Dis that it's not an unusual request and I think you would simply be asked to step aside for others to load then move forward once they start filling the front row again.

Sorry i'm a little late to your update (been with Mark for his surgery). Love the pics; I never thought to take a picture during Soarin'--will have to try that in September.

oh dear Kathy, I didn't realize I wasn't following your PTR so I missed the news about Marc. I hope things are going well for him (and you too of course!)

 

[kschafer]

Day 4 continued

After completing our flight over California, we briefly discussed grabbing FP’s for Test Track but Mom and Shelby needed to head out immediately for their lunch ADR and Shelby would need her KTTW to pay for their food so we decided to wait until later. So they hightailed it over to Morocco to make in on time to Restaurant Marrakesh. Although I had by this time trained Shelby to wait on eating her food so I could take a picture, I had not yet trained her to take her own food porn so I have none to share but I can say they loved their lunch!

In the meantime, Dad and I started to wander. I got a kick out of this booth. I’m sure it had something to do with the F&G festival but I could just imagine all the Disers they could hire to man this booth if they are in need Disney experts!

I liked the flower arrangements as dolphins

And Mickey heads

And of course these super cute topiaries I’m sure you have already seen on other TR’s

Dad and I then stopped to pick up a few desired F&G souvies (I have pictures taken from later so hang on!). It was then that it occurred to me that I hadn’t thought through how I would ever get a couple of my larger items home. Suddenly I had a moment of genius when I was explaining to Dad that I could pick up my purchases at the front of the park and not even carry it on the bus since they had their car with them and would give us a lift back to CSR Mom and Dad would be driving back to Iowa at the end of the week. Yippee!! Dad said he thought there would be enough room for a couple larger size boxes in their car which was good because one of those boxes was HEAVY!

We made our way into WS which brought us to Canada!

I asked Dad if he wanted to see the movie but he was reluctant to do something like that without Mom and Shelby so we stopped for a couple more photo ops and kept moving

Moving on to UK stops. Again, we basically meandered through and took some pics along the way

I thought these were cute. A few nights later when we passed this way, a cute older couple were posing in the same way in front of the topiaries…Awww!

Still moving counterclockwise around WS brings us to France!

Dad and I had a dinner ADR for later in the day but it was time for just a little something to tide us over. Fortunately we were right here

And there is a delicious looking place that would satisfy just that need.

As we waited in line, the girl in front of us ordered the cheesecake. The young guy working laughed at her and commented that they don’t really have cheesecake in France. They only place you can really get it there is at Starbucks…not exactly a place to get classic French pastries!

We had decided to do a little cheating with our meal credits on this day. Shelby treated Mom to lunch and I treated Dad to dinner. Still, with Shelby’s arrival almost 24 hours after mine, we were going to end up with a couple extra credits so I burned one on a meal here. Definitely not a good use of a deluxe credit but it would have gone to waste if I hadn’t so I guess it was better than nothing. I told Dad to select the savory item hoping he would select the ham and cheese croissant or quiche but he thought they didn’t look very special so he picked what looked like ham and cheese on a baguette

We were quite surprised to find tomato sauce under the ham and cheese! So it was basically a French bread pizza which wouldn’t have been my choice but it did the trick. We shared the pizza and drink and I used a snack credit for a second sweet so we could share a couple choices. I picked the mousse and it was good but we didn’t finish it, just not in the right mood I guess. Dad picked the lemon tart which was a bit “well done” on this day but had excellent flavor! He has mentioned that tart 3 or 4 times since that trip. After our mini-meal, we returned to our wandering

 

[kschafer]

Past Morocco

One thing we seemed to miss in 2008 was any type of live entertainment in WS so catching them was a high priority for me this time around. So when I heard these gentlemen

We walked quickly over to America to watch. A short video for your viewing pleasure



More topiaries (see, just wandering around!) Figuring Mom and Shelby were nearing the end of their meal, we didn’t want to move on too far so we walked back in the direction of Japan

I was really impressed with the bonsai trees!

Then we heard some more entertainment and killed some more time watching them.

These folks must never need to exercise because they get quite a workout with each show!

Surprised we hadn’t yet heard from the lunch diners, we decided to park it for a bit in the shade. This stand was nearby so I decided to take a few pics of the F&G specialty items. This Mickey and Minnie were so cute!

But having seen this from the previous year and with my association with an awesome group of Disers known as “the gnomies”, there was no doubt that this would be the Mickey coming home with me.

That little statue looks so cute in my flower box on our front porch like in this photo.

Beth had requested something Tinkerbell for her garden and I had to give her a call and see which one she wanted. She selected the one with Tink holding the gazing ball

It is simply beautiful but she is bronze and for a fairy, she is amazingly heavy!! So glad I just had to haul it out to the car from package pick-up then not worry about her again until Mom and Dad returned to Iowa.

Eventually we decided to make our way back to Morocco

We didn’t wait too much longer after this but it was nearly 2 hours after their ADR time and it only then had become clear that Dad and I should have taken the time to do a little more in depth exploring instead of waiting but still, it wasn’t a bad couple hours

 

[KatMark]

Awesome F&G photos. I love the Mickey gnome for your flower pot -- too cute.

 

[brookelizabeth]

Wonderful pictures!!!!! I have an itch to go to the F&GF so badly after reading all these TRs.

Wandering the WS is never a bad way to spend an afternoon!! Your mini meal looked yummy too.

Love that Mickey gnome! He looks adorable in the flower box! I just might have to pick one up in September as well - our new apartment has a beautiful garden outside, he'd look awfully cute in there and I think my landlady would like him too!

 

[2xcited2sleep]

Wow. All the topiaries look SO beautiful. I have to visit sometime for F&G.

How nice to have your Mickey gnome to give you a dose of Disney every day!

 

[PrincessInOz]

You are so lucky to have the use of your parent's CAR to transport that Tinkerbell and the Gnome back home. I so wanted the Gnome but figured it wasn't worth paying the price of extra air luggage !

Love the updates...and your F&G pictures are gorgeous.

 

[Lady Lallie]

I love the Tink that Beth picked. How cute is she!?

Sounds like a nice relaxing afternoon with your Dad. I'm interested to hear where your dinner ADR was.

 

[heaven2dc]

I would love to go during F&G Festival - a co-worker & his family went 5/2-5/8/10 for their girls' first WDW trip and loved it. But it was so hot!

Great pics of the topiaries!

 

[praisehisname]

Beautiful pics of F&G! My very first WDW trip was during F&G, but I didn't know what it was so I really didn't pay attention. Now I want to go again and really soak it all in!

 

[Happy Elf]

Great pictures! We got the Mickey gnome for my FIL when we went...we had to ship a box home because we bought too much stuff...

 

[MEK]

Katie -

I am so glad you got your gnome. Where is that gnome now, by the way? I haven't seen or heard of him in quite a while.

I am reading from a picture-less site, so I can't fully comment until I get home tonight. Still, it sounds like an awesome afternoon in Epcot. I am so glad you were able to get Beth her Tink!

 

[DWGal210]

Sounds like you and your dad had a relaxing afternoon! It's nice to wander around the WS.

(And GO CATS!!!

 

[jenjolt]

What a nice afternoon to spend with your Dad around EPCOT!!!! I'm glad that you were able to see some of the entertainment, I love the shows in World Showcase!!!

The food looks so yummy!! It must be lunch time!!!

OOOH a Mickey Gnome! I will get one of those some days! I love that gnome!

 

[Lovemy3babes]

What a nice afternoon you had with your dad. I bet it was neat to have that quality time.

 

[MHTeacher]

Great pictures from around the world at Epcot!

I love the Mickey garden gnome---sort of jealous that I didn't buy one while I was there. I looked at it several times, but talked myself out of it each time.