Zombie Apocalypse and Pixie Dust - A 2 week Disneymoon (PTR link 11/14)

[PopArtGal]

It seems to be raining that much when we get to Epcot. You barely get any notice and it pours! lol

Oh well, we've come to expect it hehe

It happened once in MK and we only had 1 poncho. I gave my mom the poncho and braved it. Let's just say that when we got to the resort and I got changed.... well there wasn't a part of me that wasn't wet. Every inch of me and clothes on my body was wet.

 

[ronnmel]

I will do Spaceship earth in April! I pinky promise!
And WOW the rain! We got caught in some crazy rain in Epcot in Sept, but having lived in Vancouver, it really wasn't all that wild, but your guyses rain storm...that's intense!!

And you are not done hearing about Spaceship Earth in this TR. In fact, it's coming up again in the next update.

All caught up on the last couple of updates! Love all of the baby buys and the baby bump! So excited to finally see it!

Awww, Mexican Donald is so cute! That's one of my favorite "specialty" outfits for the characters. I bet he loved Ron bragging on him!

Oh no! I'm sorry the skies opened up like that! Isn't Florida weather crazy?! One minute it's beautiful, and the next...

Thanks! I love love LOVE my belly. And she's been so active these past 2 days, it's awesome!

Oh yeah, Mexican Donald loved that Ron liked him best.

Florida weather really is crazy. Often you can tell a storm is coming, but this time it caught us completely by surprise!

So funny seeing everyone huddled together like that! I've never been during the summer, only February and December so not too many flash floods =P I guess when we are there in September we'll have that to look forward to!

Yep! Get used to heavy rain in September! At least often times it doesn't last long, but then there are times... Well, you'll see soon!

It seems to be raining that much when we get to Epcot. You barely get any notice and it pours! lol

Oh well, we've come to expect it hehe

It happened once in MK and we only had 1 poncho. I gave my mom the poncho and braved it. Let's just say that when we got to the resort and I got changed.... well there wasn't a part of me that wasn't wet. Every inch of me and clothes on my body was wet.

In 2009 it was always grey when we went to Epcot. This year both Epcot and Hollywood Studios, as well as the water parks, seemed to be rainy and stormy a lot. For some reason Animal Kingdom has always been super sunny. Yeah, being drenched as if you had gone on Kali River Rapid... I can relate!

 

[ronnmel]

Day 8 part 8 - Epcot Has Been Transformed Into Kali River Rapid
August 18th, 2011

Do not miss the other Epcot update I wrote earlier today. And just in case you forgot what it looked like outside when I last left you, here's a reminder:

Since Innoventions and Living With the Land were closed for the night, Test Track was for sure closed in this weather, we had already explored quite a bit of The Seas earlier, walking around World Showcase would have been pure madness, what were we going to do? Head back to our beloved Spaceship Earth, of course!

We made a run for it, though why I'm not sure since it was raining so hard we ended up drenched anyway. There were lots of people standing around close to the entrance, but no one was going in the ride so we walked in with zero wait! This time I decided we should try the French version, just for fun. Verdict : it was just not the same. At least the picture worked this time, so we sent our postcard to our email.

We looked outside, but it was still raining cats and dogs so we stuck around to try out all the other games that are in the post-ride area of SE. First, here is the name of the driving game we had tried earlier:

We start by trying this one:

You get to push virtual pellets of energy with a real stick to power a city and make it grow. It's a lot of fun, but unfortunately it's quite dated and doesn't work so well, which makes it hard.

Then we tried:

It's a virtual claw game where you have to build a skeleton. Kinda like a mix between the game operation and the claw machines where you can win a toy (like the little aliens in Toy Story).

My favorite game was this one:

It tests you reflexes, coordination and memory using colored buttons. I beat Ron.

Ron's score

My score

Ok, we can't wait in this area any longer as we have tried everything. But the rain is NOT letting out, so we made a run for MouseGear, cutting through the Electric Umbrella. I tried on several t-shirts, but unfortunately the print I prefer is only available on regular (guy) t-shirts and was way too big for me. I ended up buying a black women t-shirt representing the four parks, and a Tinkerbell fleece blanket (which I sleep with every day, so it was a wise investment. ) For some reason, I did not take a pic of any of these souvenirs.

While I was doing my shopping, Ron used the time to call his DD back at home. By the time we are both done it was now 8:30pm and the storm was still going full force with heavy rain and constant lightning. As much as I wanted to see Illuminations (and eat at the Mexican CS), we gave up and walked back in the rain to the buses (and what a long walk it is!).

We stopped underneath Spaceship Earth to take a video of the rain as I felt it really looked fake with the lighting. Here's a screencap from that video:

While waiting at the bus stop we made another video, where Ron asked me what I thought of the new version of Kali River Rapid that they had installed in Epcot, meaning we got just as drenched as in that ride. Even though the bus stop was covered, the rain was coming down so hard that it was finding its way between every single crack and there was just no protection.

Here's my sad face, at the thought of missing Illuminations, AGAIN! (oh how I wished we had pushed through our tiredness that first night and stayed an extra 15 minutes to watch it!)

Back at POP we braved the madhouse that was the food court and got a late dinner. I got a simple cheeseburger, while Ron got Mom's Dinner, which was meatloaf. it wasn't raining so hard by then so we decided to bring our food back to our room and eat there. I took this random picture of just my snack, probably because I thought it was funny that Disney had its own chips.

As we were eating dinner in our room we had the TV on. We were watching some news channel and they were talking about some flash floods that happened all over Orlando. That's how bad the rain was!!!! It basically rained hard non-stop for almost 3 hours, then light rain for another few hours.

After eating I took a short walk in the rain (because I love walking in the rain, at least when it's warm). We ended up going to bed around 11:30pm, though it took me forever to fall asleep.

Characters Today:
Mr. Penguin
Mexican Donald Duck
Mulan

Up Next, It's A Rough Day For Hungry Hungry Hippos
​

 

[shan23877]

That was some rain! But, at least you got to play some games that you might have otherwise skipped.

I like being out in the rain on a super warm day too.

Hope that you're feeling ok, the third trimester can be exhausting. Keep us posted on all the baby stuff too, I love it!

 

[Starscream275]

As I much as I hated the rain in Epcot, the rain was actually useful to me while in the Magic Kingdom it did help me cool off because it had be sunny all day while I was there so itwas nice to have a change in weather I thought it was a nice balance for me. But yeah it was quite terrible for you.

 

[Mom&RN]

WOW, that was some rain!! The games at the end of Spaceship Earth are really in need of some updating/fixing. They are fun but the last time we were there had the same trouble you did with the games on the floor not working correctly. So sad you missed the show, I often miss the fireworks as my son really doesn't like them - he was VERY noise sensitive as a kid and still really doesn't like loud noises (which is why I think he doesn't like fireworks).

 

[ronnmel]

I forgot to mention in my update that as we were eating dinner in our room we had the TV on. We were watching some news channel and they were talking some flash floods that happened all over Orlando. That's how bad the rain was!!!! It basically rained hard non-stop for almost 3 hours, then light rain for another few hours.

That was some rain! But, at least you got to play some games that you might have otherwise skipped.

I like being out in the rain on a super warm day too.

Hope that you're feeling ok, the third trimester can be exhausting. Keep us posted on all the baby stuff too, I love it!

Yes, the rain forced us to play all those games. It was something we wanted to do, but had the weather been sunny we might have just never gotten around to it.

I'm feeling okay pregnancy wise. Kinda freaking out a bit that I officially have less than three months to go. A bit tired and some pain, but mostly okay. Besides posting a photo of my bump once in a while, I won't have much to update on in the next month and a half as I can't really do any shopping until my baby shower. But I'll do my best.

As I much as I hated the rain in Epcot, the rain was actually useful to me while in the Magic Kingdom it did help me cool off because it had be sunny all day while I was there so it was nice to have a change in weather I thought it was a nice balance for me. But yeah it was quite terrible for you.

I don't mind the rain on a very hot day when it lasts just long enough to cool you down, but this rain was relentless! 3 hours of pouring rain with just no stopping.

WOW, that was some rain!! The games at the end of Spaceship Earth are really in need of some updating/fixing. They are fun but the last time we were there had the same trouble you did with the games on the floor not working correctly. So sad you missed the show, I often miss the fireworks as my son really doesn't like them - he was VERY noise sensitive as a kid and still really doesn't like loud noises (which is why I think he doesn't like fireworks).

As much as those games need updating, I kinda understand that it's not a priority at all for Disney.

I was sad to miss the show too, especially since we had chosen not to watch it on our first Epcot night. Have you tried using earmuffs with your son? I've read on other TR that they work well for kids sensitive to noise.

 

[Starscream275]

To be honest ya didn't miss much with IllumiNations. It was pretty predictable in terms of how the fireworks were done but that's just my opinion anyway.

 

[ronnmel]

To be honest ya didn't miss much with IllumiNations. It was pretty predictable in terms of how the fireworks were done but that's just my opinion anyway.

We had seen Illuminations back in 2009, so we knew what we were missing. We love the show so much, we were hoping to be able to catch it multiple times during our trip. That's why we were pretty bummed to have missed it twice in our two Epcot days. Only one more chance to see it left. We love everything about it : the firework, the globe in the middle, the lasers, and of course the music!

 

[ronnmel]

Day 9 part 1 - A Rough Start to a Rough Day
August 19th, 2011

3 updates in two days. Wow, I'm on a roll! If you haven't read it yet, go check out my last two Epcot updates from yesterday. Now moving on to day 9. As you can tell from the title, we didn't have that great of a day. But that's not to say that there weren't some great moments, so let's get it started!

The go-go-go attitude we had all trip was starting to get to us and it was really hard getting up that day. We hit snooze a couple more times than usual, and Ron even asked if we could switch our days again. Our next break day was 2 days away though, so we somehow managed to get up. We had a quick breakfast at the food court (fruits for Ron, the usual chocolate milk for me) and were soon off on the bus in direction of Animal Kingdom.

We got to Animal Kingdom around 8:45am, but though the park did not opened officially until 9am there were no ropes anywhere. We were free to head straight to the attractions. Our direction was the very pretty and still empty Asia.

First we got FPs for Expedition Everest, then went straight to Dinoland. We passed in front of this show, which we saw on our previous day.

We quickly got to what we hoped would be our first ride of the day, Dinosaur.

There was a huge line all outside the attraction and it was NOT moving. It was already passed 9am by then, yet the ride did not seem open. Turns out the ride was broken and they didn't know when they would open it, so we left.

On Discovery Island we stopped to get a few photopass pictures. We got the standard shot with the Tree of Lofe:

A few close-ups :

And a magic shot with Stitch:

We continued our trek towards Africa, but not before taking a few pictures on Discovery Island.

It was still very empty in Africa at that point, and it was a beautiful sunny day.

Though we had already gone on the Safari twice on our previous AK day, we decided to do it one last time. The posted standby time was 20 minutes, which turned out to be pretty accurate. We took several photos while waiting in line.

We'll go on our two-weeks safari in the next update.


Up Next, Hungry Hungry Hippos​

 

[NikkiLovesWDW!]

Wow, bummer about the rain!! We had a trip that it rained pretty much all the time the entire trip. It really is a downer! But what a difference the next morning! I love your pictures of AK. Such a beautiful park. I especially love your face in the Stitch shot!

 

[Starscream275]

I'm guessing you didn't do much in terms of a day in the AK? I would say what my experience of the park was like to you but I don't wanna spoil the next part after the one you are gonna read but I will say this I didn't do much whilst I was there. Anyways pictures are awesome especially the Stitch one.

 

[mickeystoontown]

You were one updating pregnant lady and I got behind. I love the furniture that you bought for the baby's room. I would have done the same thing as you and not said a word about the glider making you go over budget because he was so excited about it.

Back to the trip report: Oh by gosh! What a downpour in Epcot! You can tell from the pictures that it was raining like craaaaazy.

Too bad that Dinosaur was closed after you walked all the way from Asis to Dinoland. The safari is a good alternate though even if you have done it a couple of times already.

 

[oboedm]

All caught up with your updates! That rain on your Epcot day was insane! Glad you found things to do, and that it didn't ruin your day.

How often did you plan break days? Would you have preferred them more often? I am starting to plan our trip for next October, and wanted to get your opinion! I think we want to go for at least 10 days, maybe 2 weeks.

 

[kmedina]

It will be fun to look over all of Claudia’s pictures and creations from the kidcot stops when she gets older. We did not really make it to the Land last trip. I love the picture of everyone under cover. It was really raining. Kali River Rapids indeed. Those are funny pictures from Spaceship Earth.

That’s a bummer that Dinosaur was down. I probably would have done the safari again too. It is my favorite thing to do at AK, but we only have time to ride it once each trip.

 

[DisneyKira]

Sorry about the nausea. I hope you feel better soon!

What cute baby things! I am so excited for you!

Loved the updates as always. I am jealous of the donald picture. Josh and I always want to take pictures with him but the lines are always so loooong! And the monorail pics are neat too

 

[ronnmel]

Wow, bummer about the rain!! We had a trip that it rained pretty much all the time the entire trip. It really is a downer! But what a difference the next morning! I love your pictures of AK. Such a beautiful park. I especially love your face in the Stitch shot!

A little bit of rain here and there is fine, but non-stop downpour makes it hard to do anything. I can't imagine a whole trip like that!

AK is so very pretty, and the prefect blue sky sure did help!

I'm guessing you didn't do much in terms of a day in the AK? I would say what my experience of the park was like to you but I don't wanna spoil the next part after the one you are gonna read but I will say this I didn't do much whilst I was there. Anyways pictures are awesome especially the Stitch one.

Actually, if you remember we had already spent one full day (from opening to almost closing) at AK at the beginning of our trip, so this was our second day. This time we were focusing on the few things we had miss, as well as redoing our favorites. We managed to have fun, despite the rough times.

You were one updating pregnant lady and I got behind. I love the furniture that you bought for the baby's room. I would have done the same thing as you and not said a word about the glider making you go over budget because he was so excited about it.

Back to the trip report: Oh by gosh! What a downpour in Epcot! You can tell from the pictures that it was raining like craaaaazy.

Too bad that Dinosaur was closed after you walked all the way from Asis to Dinoland. The safari is a good alternate though even if you have done it a couple of times already.

I'm really hoping to be done with this TR by the time Peanut comes around. Plus, I knew that the next few weekends (including the one that just finished) will be crazy busy for me. So I tried my best to do lots of updates while I had the time.

I cannot wait to use that glider to read bed time stories, and I know Ron is already dreaming about falling asleep on it as he tries to get Claudia to sleep.

It's usually pretty hard to get pictures of rain, but I succeeded! I love rain, but that was a bit too much even for me.

The Safari is nice to do several times because you never see the exact same thing every time. And as rough as our morning was, this safari ride was a lot of fun!

All caught up with your updates! That rain on your Epcot day was insane! Glad you found things to do, and that it didn't ruin your day.

How often did you plan break days? Would you have preferred them more often? I am starting to plan our trip for next October, and wanted to get your opinion! I think we want to go for at least 10 days, maybe 2 weeks.

Epcot has so much to offer besides just the obvious. I think if we had to be stuck in the rain, this was the best park for it.

You can get more info on the way we scheduled our park and break days in my PTR (other link in my signature). But basically we had plan on doing 2 parks days, 1 rest/water park, 3 park days, 1 rest/water park, 3 park days, 1 rest/water park, 2 more park days, then departure. It didn't work, and we had to switch our days a few times as we were too tired. The problem with us is, we have a really hard time taking a break in the middle of the day. We find it doesn't really make us rest. So that makes for very long days. Other problem is, we love the water parks so much, that we plan on visiting one every day we are not in the park. In hindsight, we should have planned for at least 1 REAL rest day. So my best advice would be to plan on days with nothing planned in the morning/early afternoon at least a few times. I'll probably discuss this even more after I finish this TR, in my "looking back" update. Hope this helps!

It will be fun to look over all of Claudia’s pictures and creations from the kidcot stops when she gets older. We did not really make it to the Land last trip. I love the picture of everyone under cover. It was really raining. Kali River Rapids indeed. Those are funny pictures from Spaceship Earth.

That’s a bummer that Dinosaur was down. I probably would have done the safari again too. It is my favorite thing to do at AK, but we only have time to ride it once each trip.

I was looking through a baby book at Babies R Us today. I really hope I can manage to keep all those souvenirs/pictures from her and write/put it in a book to keep as a memory. I just looked through mine last week and it was fun reading all about what happened to me as a baby!

It was a bit disappointing that Dinosaur was down, but the Safari ride sure made up for it!

Sorry about the nausea. I hope you feel better soon!

What cute baby things! I am so excited for you!

Loved the updates as always. I am jealous of the donald picture. Josh and I always want to take pictures with him but the lines are always so loooong! And the monorail pics are neat too

I feel better now, but I do have to take the pills 3 times a day. And every time I'm done eating (especially if I eat a big meal), I feel bit bad right after. Thankfully it usually goes away very soon.

We bought yet another cute baby thing this weekend : her coming home outfit! I should do an update with it soon.

We probably got luck with walking by Mexican Donald with a short line. I sure jumped on the opportunity!

 

[ronnmel]

Hi everyone!

I didn't post any update last weekend because I spent it visiting Quebec City with Ron. Yes, a romantic weekend for two, thanks to a Christmas gift from my mom. It was nice to get away just the two of us. We mostly walked around the city on Saturday, had a great meal, then went shopping on Sunday. I even bought a little something for peanut. I'll be doing a mini-update as soon as I upload my pictures.

 

[oboedm]

Hooray for a babymoon! Can't wait to see the pictures!


Thanks for the info about your rest days! It is appreciated!

 

[kmedina]

Sounds like you had a nice weekend. How nice of your Mom!