"Circle of Life" themed Photo TR 6/19-6/29 UPDATE:9/24 On the Path Unwinding

[DLR29]

Then I could get another FP so I ran to Dinoland to pick up one more Dinosaur FP. I met my family back at the Maharajah Jungle Trek, which was the last and only thing we really wanted to do at AK. The trek was great and we saw tons of animals, although with the sun in that sapphire sky, those tigers were fast asleep.

Some interesting architecture. Maharajah is full of stuff like this.

The water fountains...this is why I love Disney. The attention to detail is amazing.

Some more shots from the aviary.

These monkeys were out and about.

 

[DLR29]

Then it was time for our final ride on EE. We used our FP and waited 5 min. I got some great shots of the ride.

One of my favorite pictures ever!

Then our last AK ride was Dinosaur with the FPs. Well, we didn’t really need the FPs because the line was super short anyway, but whatever. It was just as loud and scary as last time. That dinosaur that “follows” you/runs after you is super scary! I think I’m still having nightmares….

Exiting the park from Dinoland, I spotted a hidden Mickey in the pavement!

We left AK pretty early and got back to SSR before noon, mostly because we decided to eat lunch at the resort instead of at the park.

 

[DLR29]

Keeps Great and Small on the Endless Round (Evening-DHS)

Evening:
Since we took an early midday break, we returned to DHS relatively early as well, about 3:30. Again, we used the technique of running from the Grandstand to the Springs because a DHS bus had just left when we got there. We knew we wanted to see the Lights, Motors, Action! Show at 4 so we planned accordingly. Once we got there the FP for all 3 of the big rides were gone, so we settled on a VotLM FP. Then we went straight to LMA where the line was already huge!

Everyone was so hot and sweaty in the small queue area. :EW: DU and DC10 went to go get us some slushie things from the stand nearby. We started moving into the amphitheatre before they returned though. Here’s how full the seating was before we got near.

They kept squeezing people in everywhere. The entire stadium was completely packed. I think they must have asked us 3 or more times to get real comfy with the people around us. I could definitely feel the looks of jealousy around us while we sipped on our refreshing slushies in the hot afternoon. The show finally started and it was amazing again! Although we remembered last time we were there they did some jet ski stunts which weren’t in the program this time. Oh well, I still got some great pics!

Cool action shot

Another one of my favorite shots!

Eventually the show ended and all 5,000 viewers try to exit at the same time. It took some time to get out of there but we prevailed. We went back to the Little Mermaid to use our FPs. I really like the show with all of the music and special effects. And with FP, we were guaranteed in the next show (others were waiting multiple shows). It was quite the difference going from the great big LMA amphitheatre to the small VotLM theater.

 

[DLR29]

Our tour continued in the back with the Backlot Tour. The tour was informative and relaxing, and thankfully, we didn’t have to wait long at all. I have lots of pictures, especially of catastrophe canyon.

Before

After

On the tram

Backstage of LMA

Entering Catastrophe Canyon

Backside of Water

Finally in the villains room...we have the White Witch

Organ from Pirates

Getting hungry we decided to eat dinner at the Backlot Express. Well…I wanted to eat at Studio Catering Co. cause it looked like they had some good sandwiches, but it was too “exotic” for DCs (slightly picky).

At dinner we were decided whether or not to see Fantasmic or to do something else. In the end, we chose just to return to SSR and go for a night swim. We got back by 8:15 and swam for a while before getting to bed relatively early.

 

[mermaid764]

Another awesome update!

Love your pics of LMA!

 

[DLR29]

Another awesome update!

Love your pics of LMA!

Thanks! I really got lucky with the timing of the LMA pics, especially of the "grand finale" shot, but they turned out great!

 

[minuet]

I am loving your review. It sounds like you put a lot of effort into planning to make this a memorable trip for everyone!

 

[DLR29]

I am loving your review. It sounds like you put a lot of effort into planning to make this a memorable trip for everyone!

Yay! Thanks for reading. It was a lot of hard work but totally worth it! Another update coming right now.

 

[DLR29]

It’s the Circle of Life (Morning-Epcot)

Morning:
We hopped on the bus and headed to Epcot in the morning. We got there at 8:50 so I was one of the first ones at the Soarin FP machines, while everybody else went to TT to wait. I got in and out of the Land ASAP. Here's the crowd coming in to Soarin as I was leaving.

I was the first one to go from the Land to TT as a FP runner (there were multiple other parties waiting at TT for their FP runner to get there). We basically walked on to TT and had a great ride!

Some action shots from the fast part.

A really awesome TT shot! So good that I made it bigger!

Then a colorful shot of the exit activities

Next up was Mission: Space. Since DM and DD get motion sickness easily, they sat this one out. But the other 6 of us rode Orange Team. 5 minutes (and about 5 “WARNING, if you have ever had the common cold, you might barf on this ride” signs) later we were on our mission. I was the engineer and had DB and the two younger cousins in my pod. Overall it was super intense and a ton of fun!

Our next item on the agenda was something new to us: Sum of All Thrills. If you’ve ever been to DL’s Innoventions, it basically wastes space. Epcot’s Innoventions has so many cool activities and exhibits. I definitely underrated this place and on future trips will probably spend more time here. But we were here for the newest addition. Me and DC12 rode together on our designed roller coaster. It was really a lot of fun programming it and then riding it, and it felt like we were actually riding a roller coaster! Very cool, although the line moves slowly.

Since we had 45 minutes to kill, we hopped on over to Ellen’s Energy Adventure. While she’s funny, the overall ride is not exciting, except the dinosaur part. But since it’s unique to WDW we had to do it at least once. Although once is plenty.

Dinos

We knew that we were going to return to Epcot that same evening so we grabbed TT FPs for later. Then we went over to use our Soarin FP. Since we wanted the front and center row, we waited an extra ride. It was relaxing, although I wish they would make it more unique instead of the same film as DCA.

X!!!

And since this section is titled “Circle of Life” and we’re at Epcot’s Land pavilion, you would expect us to go see the film. Sorry, nope! Although it seems interesting and I would like to see it on a future trip. Since it was nearing noon we hopped on over to the Electric Umbrella for lunch. I would have preferred to try something else at Sunshine Seasons but we had to cater to our pickier members.

After lunch we headed back to SSR for our afternoon break.

 

[mermaid764]

Yah for another update.

I'm glad to hear that Epcot's innoventions is something to see since I agree that DLR's is basically waste space and probably wouldn't have put much time aside to see this at Epcot.

Looking forward to more

 

[jmm476]

Just found your TR and QSDP review today, enjoying them both very much! Thanks for the great pics.

 

[DLR29]

Sorry for the long time in between updates for those actually reading! Life has been hectic getting ready to head off to college next week. Here's the next installation:

And It Moves Us All (Evening-Epcot)

Evening:
We returned to Epcot after a 2-3 hour break and went directly to The Seas. Tonight was all about rides and moving! We walked onto the clamshell ride which moved us to the Seas exhibits. Other than the EAC part, the ride is not as immersive as it could be, but it’s still nice and cool and a fun ride.

Dory!

A few pics of the exhibits in the Seas

I found Nemo

After exploring a bunch of the exhibits, we decided to see Turtle Talk. DC12 was terrified because when we went to DLR this past December, Crush picked him to talk. DC12 gave a smart remark back to Crush (about swimming fast) and now everyone in our extended family makes fun of him for that. So DC12 made sure to sit in the middle of the bench where “Crush couldn’t find him”. There was an adorable little kid sitting on the ground up front. He explained to Crush that he was a Transformer and then proceeded to “transform” himself. It was the cutest thing ever! Crush had no idea how to react but he was good going along with the kid.

Little aquarium thing in front of the theater

Next ride on the list was Living with the Land. The ride was good but we were stuck in a boat with a bunch of 15 year old girls on their "quinceniera" tour group trip. They took SO many flash pictures so I yelled at them (in both English and Spanish), but it pretty much ruined the beginning part. Oh well.

Alligators

 

[DLR29]

Continuing around Future World West, Journey into Imagination was next. Some of the effects are cool on this ride (the butterfly), others are not (the skunk...) but overall it's an ok ride that never has a line!

*~IMAGINATION!~*

We were getting hungry and we wanted dinner at the World Showcase somewhere. We took a friendship boat to France where we got a bunch of pastries for the next day's breakfast.

Then we wanted to see the American Adventure but it had just started and we didn't want to wait 30 min. So we continued to walk around WS to China where we ate at the Lotus Blossum Cafe. After dinner we saw Reflections of China. I don't know about DCs but I really liked the CircleVision movies this trip (although I remember them as being boring the last time I came).

DC12 playing with a puppet

 

[DLR29]

One more thing we had to do at WS was the Mexico pavillion. We walked right on to Gran Fiesta Tour and had a great time. Then we walked around inside looking at the cool artifacts!

For our final ride of the day we rode TT with our FP that we had picked up before our midday break. It was great because we skipped a huge line! I love this ride and could ride it many many times in a row. Can't wait for Radiator Springs Racers at DCA!

We left before Illuminations ended so we beat the crowds out. At the SSR bus stop I met a DIS member! She noticed my LGMH and we talked for a little bit. But unfortunately I forgot her username! Sorry, if you're reading!

We got back to SSR relatively early and crashed. The next morning was an early one! And it was our cousins' last day

 

[Sweet Pea UK]

Great update - can't wait to read more!!

 

[NaLisa]

Enjoying your TR and DR. Thanks for taking the time to share all this great info. Ready for the next update!

 

[DLR29]

Great update - can't wait to read more!!

Enjoying your TR and DR. Thanks for taking the time to share all this great info. Ready for the next update!

Thank you both for reading! Another update coming right now!

 

[DLR29]

Through Despair and Hope (Morning-MK, Evening-Check into AKL and MK)

Morning:
We got up early early again because I wanted to get to MK very early. We again used the trick of running to the Springs after just barely missing the bus at the Grandstand. This helped us arrive at MK by 8:20.

I positioned myself just under the right arch, while the rest of our party was over by the left arch.

It was interesting standing next to these people who had obviously no plan. They wanted to go to the Hall of Presidents first! Anyway, I sat there by myself for 40 min, but it was worth it because when the rope dropped, I was one of the first ones on Main Street.

And one of the first ones in Tomorrowland where we had another mini rope drop

I was the first person at the Space FP machines and then I quickly booked it all the way to the other side of the park where the other 7 were waiting for me at Splash. DC13 and DM didn’t want to ride because they didn’t want to get wet so there were only 6 of us who rode. Actually, the person who filled the last row of our log was one of the people that wanted to go the Hall of Presidents first!

 

[DLR29]

Being back in Frontierland, we rode BTMRR with the same wait as Splash: 0. It was great getting both of these major rides done very quickly.

We really wanted to get on the first Tom Sawyer Island raft to look for paintbrushes, but we still had some time before 10AM, so we went over for another HM ride. On the way, we stopped to take pics in the gallows!

HM was another great ride and thankfully we didn’t have to wait very long either. The staircase room still amazes me!

Perfect timing because it was just about 10AM. First I did run and get JC FP just in case we needed them later. Then I met everyone on the first raft to TSI.

I certainly hoped that with 8 people we would be able to find one paintbrush! Unfortunately, many other people on that raft also went searching around the island. After looking for a solid 30 min EVERYWHERE around the island, we gave up! This was a disappointment (the despair part), especially with 8 people splitting up but it wasn’t a big deal. Most paintbrushes had been found by other parties so we just went back to the main land. Oh well. So instead of the special TSI FP, I went over to get Splash FP. However, when I got to the machines, I noticed that DU’s ticket was missing from my lanyard (more of that despair thing)! I backtracked to JC to see if I had left it at those FP machines…no luck there. Fortunately, the CM at Splash was nice enough to give me 1 FP that happened to coincide with the other 7. And also, fortunately it was DU and DCs last day so we didn’t have to worry about getting a replacement, although it was still a bummer.

Regardless, I met up with them at Pirates and told them the news. It wasn’t a big deal, again because they didn’t actually need to use them anymore. We walked right on to Pirates.

 

[DLR29]

Then we walked over to JC to use our FP. Turns out that FP was not needed this early in the morning, but it didn’t hurt us! I really like the MK version, especially the ancient temple ruins part. And some of the jokes are different, which is refreshing after hearing the same ones over and over at DLR.

We just had to get Dole whips since we were on the QSDP and it was expiring that night, so we stopped by Aloha Isle for a sec and grabbed some yumminess in pinapple soft serve form. DCs weren’t fond of the pineapple, so they got root beer and Coke floats.

With our whips and floats we walked over and saw the Tiki Room Under New Management. Last time we were here, I really enjoyed it. Now I’m thinking “Why on Earth did I like it?” It’s just very odd and strange. I think I’ve come back to my senses in accepting that DL’s original Tiki Room is a much better version.

We had two more FPs left, so the last two rides for DU and DCs were going to be Splash and Space. First up, another ride on Splash. This time DM and DC13 did ride and enjoyed it. We got soaked at the part right before the second lift hill where the jets spray the riders coming down the first drop!

Then we hiked to the other side of the park, stopping for a water break, to use our Space FP. It was our longest line of the morning at a whopping 15 min. Everybody had a great time, and it was a nice “last ride” for our cousins. DC13 even said that she liked it better than DL’s ???

Since their flight left at like 5PM, they needed to be at the Magical Express place by like 2PM. We left MK to have one last “nice meal” while still on the QSDP. Where else??? None other than WPE again! But first we stopped and watched the Dapper Dans with their bells, and also DCs got some goodies with snack credits from the Main Street Bakery for their flight back.

We took the bus to Congress Park and walked from there. It was a very enjoyable last lunch at our favorite place on the QSDP. Unfortunately, all things must come to an end and we had to say farewell to DCs and DU. They were very appreciative of all of the planning and FP running! We said good-bye and they left for ME. We stayed at DTD for a little bit to do some shopping. Then we were off to go check in to our new resort for 3 nights…AKL! But that’s for later.