Stranded in the Happiest Place on Earth! August 2011 (Lots of pictures) updated 01/28

[Stringbean&Wingnut]

Too funny about you going to Kona for the good coffee for your DGF! I love breakfast there, isn't it such a great way to start an MK day!

Yay for getting to rope drop and not having to go back to the room for your KTTW card!! And you guys got a lot done that morning!

 

[Amy&Dan]

So glad you were able to get your KTTW card replaced at guest services! Disboards does come in handy.

Love your trip report and photos!

 

[OrangeJuice]

Before we left for Disney we had decided that we were going to be intense and spend the entire day in the park without going back to our rooms. We were adults and we were tough!...Boy! where we wrong haha! This is how we discovered that naps are good(aka necessary).

Last update had us eating lunch at Peco's after a very productive morning. The touring plans where really useful in the mornings but we usually broke away from them in the afternoon. I don't feel like this was an issue because the parks where surprisingly empty and a lot of the rides where walk ons. Sometimes before lunch we had gotten a FP for JungleCruise so we slowly headed into that direction. We arrived just a few minutes before our FP window so I think we went looking for a washroom. Is it only me or are the washrooms not well identified. We had to ask a CM to point it out for us Haha. TMI? whatever haha… Anyways, back to Jungle Cruise. We went through the FP line and where on our boat within minutes. Gotta love Fastpasses!!! JC is not one of my favourite rides at WDW, I think it's starting to show it's age. I would like to ride it at night once because I've heard a lot of people say that it is a cool experience. I did get some good pics on JC though.

After JC we noticed that PoTC had a 5 minute wait time so we walked onto it. Someone on my boat was having fun taking flash photography through most of it. Not only is it annoying, its pointless because the flash can't possibly be strong enough to offer proper lighting for a good shot. I didn't even dare take out my camera because I couldn't remember where the drop was and if we would get splashed going down. After PoTC we went to Splash Mountain one more time then headed onto the train hoping to get closer to Tomorrowland. I guess I hadn't realized that the only other stop was the main street station. I knew Toontown was closed but I thought there was a 4th station. Oops!

So we ended up on Main Street again. We didn't have the energy to make it all the way back to Tomorrowland so we did some shopping then got in line to meet Mickey and Minnie. It felt a bit weird to be lining up to meet characters when you don't have children but the characters where great and made it fun. I was really pleased with the pictures the photopass photographer took there. The wait wasn't too long but we really didn't mind because it was all air-conditioned. In fact after we saw Mickey we got right back in line to meet the Princesses. I was super happy to get a picture with Belle because she has always been my favourite princess. The next trip I'm hoping to get a picture with her in her blue dress. The other two princesses where Aurora and Cinderella. TheKeeper wanted to return later in the week to see if we could meet different princesses but we never made our way back there. I don't have many pictures of this afternoon because of 1. THE HEAT and 2. I don't have our photopass CD yet.

Even though we'd spent the last hour in the AC we where still exhausted so we decided to hand around the Main Street Train Station and wait for the afternoon parade. We where standing in the entrance to the Emporium when we noticed that they where roping off part of the Main Street; this created a whole new place to stand right next to the parade route. We quickly walked to this area and got to have first row places without having to wait an hour. I got some great pictures of the characters in the parade. I love how they interact with the crowds and pose for pictures. It sure was hot though.

As soon as the parade finished we went straight back into the shops to cool off. We got a Powerade in one of the shops and walked around before deciding that we where way too exhausted to get anything done. We had ADRs at Grand Floridian Café in about an hour so we grabbed a popcorn bucket and headed towards the monorails. We where so tired that we never noticed that we got on the monorail that went directly to the TTC without stoping at the resorts. On the bright side we got to relax on the monorail and eat popcorn. TheKeeper was falling asleep!! We still got to GFC early for our supper. They weren't even open yet. Luckily there was a little bench near the restaurant where we sat while we waited. at 4:30 sharp we got to sign in and where quickly called in by our hostess. We had some great service at the GFC. Our hostess was very helpful and chatty. I also like the atmosphere in the GFC. We got some bread before supper which was very good. The wait time for food really wasn't long. TheKeeper ordered a steak with parmesan frits and I had a salmon. She said the steak was good but she LOVED the frits. They are fries cooked with parmesan cheese and they where delicious. It made me wish I had gotten a steak. My salmon was also very good. We will definitely be going back to GFC next time we go to WDW. For dessert, our hostess highly recommended that we get the dessert sampler which included: Fresh berry tart, boston cream pie, key lime tart and lemon cheesecake. It was very pretty and we got a chocolate Mickey with it which was super cute but we both felt that it wasn't the tastiest dessert. But the meal itself was our best for the trip.

After supper, we where still feeling exhausted and we knew we had EMH that night. So we admitted defeat and headed back to ASSports for a nap.

Part 4 of our MK day will be up as soon as I find the time to upload the pictures onto photobucket. Thanks for reading!

 

[thekeeper]

Wow I didnt realise that I looked so tired on those last pic lol!.. Everytime i'm eating frie it make me crave those frits so defenetly going back to GF next trip!

 

[OrangeJuice]

After the meal, we where still feeling exhausted and we knew we had EMH that night. So we admitted defeat and headed back to ASSports for a nap. We got back to our room around 6:45 and slept for about an hour. It wasn't long but it was just enough to get us feeling fresh again. TheKeeper was smiling again so it must of been a good nap.

We where back at the MK around 8:30 right on time to line up for the evening parade. That morning we had been really successful by lining up right near the start of the parade on main street where they rope off the area at the last minute so we hung around that area hoping we'd get lucky again that night. and we did!!! We had front row places again for the evening parade. I had read on some website that some parents try to wedge their kids in tight spots in order to make their way to the front of the line. We had people on both sides of us trying to squeeze their kids in front of us. I moved aside for one little girl and as the parade went on her mother tried to wedge the stroller beside her. At one point the stroller was on my foot. I felt a little guilty for keeping my spot. The Main Street Electrical Parade was ok but I felt it was different from what I'd seen from Disney so far. They seemed to rely less on Disney Characters and music and focus more on the light show and electric music. It was impressive that's for sure but I wish it was a bit more whimsical maybe.

As soon as the parade ended we walked through the shops to get to Adventureland, the plan was to ride SplashMountain while people where watching the ending to the parade but I forgot that the parade blocks the way from Adventureland to Frontiereland. So we made a detour through the treehouse. WHAT A CLIMB!!! it was so hot and muggy that we where drained by the time we where back on the ground.

The parade thankfully was finishing so we crossed to Frontierland. We grabbed a FP for SM and then went through the regular line, we had to wait some time but I don't think it was that long. We got to ride BTMRR one last time then back onto SM. On our second SM ride of the evening we got to see the ending of Wishes just as we where going down the last drop. I wish I could of had my camera because it was a really special view.

We then made our way across to Tomorrowland which we hadn't even set foot in yet! We stopped to ride Iasw. It was a walk on but I think I would enjoyed walking off of it by the end haha! That song does get annoying pretty fast. Nevertheless I would ride it again on every trip I think.

Actualy I lied about not going to Tomorrowland before this time. I forgot that we had gone earlier to get FP for Space Mountain. If my memory is correct we might of rode Buzz lightyear once too in the afternoon. Anyways, we used those FP (Outside of the return window) to ride SM during EMH. Despite it being FP we still had a semi-long wait. As a kid, I had really liked Space Mountain. It had been my first real rollercoaster. As an adult I thought it was very jerky and I had a hard time fitting my legs into the ride vehicle (with my backpack). I heard TheKeeper yelling the whole ride though! It cracked me up! After Space, it was midnight and we where STARVING!!! so we went to Cosmic Ray's and shared a chicken and rib combo. That sure hit the spot but we where still pretty tired. We sat by the castle a little while I had fun taking pictures then decided to head out early. We had hoped to last till 2:00AM but I think we would of fell asleep on a bench somewhere. Besides we had a long day in EPCOT the next day so we had to get some rest.

Well that's it for today! thanks a lot for reading and commenting! Join me next time to hear all about our day at EPCOT!

 

[thekeeper]

MK was a really good day and I loved everything we did there. I loved riding
splash in the dark and it was priceless too see the ending of the wishes!

 

[OrangeJuice]

After a late night in MK, we where a bit slow to get out of bed. We got to Epcot at 8:57 but they where already letting people in.

My lens where foggy in the morning

We joined the rush heading towards soarin'. We where following the UG touring plan which said to grab a FP then head towards Test Tract; however, the the FP machines where down. Because we where late getting in the stand-by line was already 40 minutes. We decided to give up on Soarin for now and head towards TT anyways. Just as a side note, it is unbelievably hot in Florida in August!! The treck from Soarin to TT was increadibly long because of the heat. The best part was crossing between the innovention pavillions where there was fans blowing cold air on us!! The line at TT was already pretty long so we hopped in the Single Rider line. With minimal wait we where in our (seperate cars). I think it's worth it even if you have to ride with strangers. We where able to ride twice in a row with minimal wait.

The keeper happy to have found a seat. Playing around in the showroom postride.

I really liked that we could place our ride photo on our photopass! I'll post something later on with our photopass pics. After TT x 2 we decided to go check out Soarin to see if the fastpass machine was up and running again (It was so we grabbed two). At this point we where starving and a little moody from the heat so we tried out Sunshine Seasons for breakfast. It was a normal quality quick service breakfast but we where starving so to me it was delicious haha! I didn't know much about Living with the Land so we skipped it and went out to find Nemo. We found him in The Seas pavillion.

The ride was a walk on so I don't have many pictures of the queue. I love how the ride ends inside the Seas pavillion. what a gorgeous and relaxing place! DGF went of to the washroom and I think I stayed in a trance just looking at the fish swim.

When DGF came back we realized that a Dolphin demonstration was coming up so we waited in the dolphin area (upstairs?). While we waited we found a (not very) hidden Mickey.

The CM showed up not long after and told us about how they where teaching the dolphins some kind of pattern recognition exercice. They set up two sets of squares on the window. The trainer would touch one square in the first set and the dolphin would need to point to the corresponding square in the other set. When they where right the trainer would play a sound that the dolphin liked. It is incredible how smart these creatures are. At one point after a right answer the dolphin made a flip in the water . This was a very special moment ( and not very crowded at all!).

Following this we went to the Imagination pavilion to meet my favorite purple friend...FIGMENT! Actually I can't say I remember ever actualy having met him before. Anyways, it was a very fun, cute ride. We played around a bit in the pavilion afterwards and decided to skip Captain EO. Afterwards we where thirsty so we tried Club Cool. DGF is very difficult when it comes to food so she tried a few then gave up. I had told her about the Beverly before so she categorically refused to try it haha. I must admit that I wasn't courageous enough either haha. We then went to innoventions and made a video game starring ourselves and where subjected to a fake storm to teach us about storm safety (which is ironic considering a hurricane was headed towards Florida at the time). At this point we where pretty tired and a 45 minute dark ride sounded like a great place to sleep (I know I shouldn't be proud of this but I had a cranky DGF to please haha). So off to Ellen's Energy Adventure! Although it is long I think it is pretty incredible due to its size and capacity. We finished EAA and had to hurry over to Japan for our late lunch. I was hoping the the boats would be crossing the lake so that we wouldn't have to walk all the way around but we didn't have any luck. We rushed across Canada, England and France and got to Japan just in time for lunch. I must say that Future World did a great job of providing Air conditioned areas but when we got to World Showcase in the early afternoon sun we where exhausted. There really isn't a lot of shade as you go around the world. Anyways, I'm rambling haha, So we decided to have lunch at Teppan Edo. I mentionned earlier that DGF had difficult taste but she was looking forward to this meal when I mentioned that there was steak.

TheKeeper chose the chicken and Steak and I chose the shrimp.Our Chef gave everyone a small dish with a different sauce and explained what each was. The she spread the oil over the cooking surface and made a Mickey face then put a bough and made Minnie Mouse she then said bye bye Minnie and started to cook our vegetables and noodles ( and the meat of one of the guest at the table since he was allergic to the mushrooms that she would be cooking later with the rest of the meat). She pilled all the onions on top of each other and poored oil into it to make a volcano then moved the pile around making train noises and letting out pufs of smoke. She was very entertaining! So we first got a taste of the noodles and vegetables which I thought where excellent. While we ate she prepared our meat. DGF had asked for her steak medium rare so she was the first to get her meat. She said that it was really good. My shrimp was amongst the last thing ready but I devoured it! it was delicious. For dessert DGF had the soft ice cream which was ok and I tried the chocolate ginger cake which was good but not excellent (which I think is on par with most desserts we tried during out trip).

 

[OrangeJuice]

I don't remember much from our trip around the World so I will just let the pictures do the talking for me!

Japan:

We got a nice Pikachu Tshirt and some chopsticks.

Morocco:

France:

We saw two amusing waiters

And Aurore

Marie passed by as we where meeting Aurore.

England:
TheKeeper went into the red phone booth but it was way to hot in there!

Canada: Our Home and Native Land!

Since we where so close to Future World we used our Soarin Fastpasses. This was probably the longest of our wait times and we where placed in the last row (so the bottom row in the air). I hope it was just because of our place that we didn't enjoy this ride as much as we hoped. We would be fine with not riding it on our next trip. Afterwards DGF wanted to meet the Fab5 so we went to the character spot. Actually this was the longest wait of our trip. I always feel a little bit akward meeting the characters as an adult with no kids but it makes for great pictures so we do it!

After this we where done with future world so we started back into WS from the other side with Mexico.

Norway:

China:

Germany:

Miam!
Italy:

We went to the American pavilion for supper I can't remember what we had but it was good for a QS meal. This is when we smelled the most wonderful smell ever. The FUNNEL CAKE!!! wow that smelled delicious but we had just had supper so we promised ourselves that we would come back the next day. We found a nice spot to watch the fireworks between morocco and france. We sat down and I took pictures of our surroundings for about an hour. My camera is not the best for low light settings but I had fun anyways.

The keeper really enjoyed the fireworks (and so did I). I love love loooove the soundtrack for illuminations. I actually regret that we only got to see it once during our trip.

 

[OrangeJuice]

Our 4 day was probably the wettest day but not just because of the rain. This was our Water Park day!!! We decided to sleep in a bit in the morning and only got to Typhoon Lagoon about an hour after opening. I think this was a mistake now because by the time we got there the lines for the slides where already quite long. We started out with a slide then tried the reaf where you can swim with the fish. I don't know why but the mask really burned our face. There must of been somekind of chemical on it. I think our skin got really sensitive during the trip because even sun screen caused it to burn. Thankfully the water was nice and cool and allowed us to cool our faces. oh and the view was also great! I didn't bring my camera to the waterpark so I don't have pictures. Afterwards we went in the VERY busy wave pool for a few waves. It was a lot of fun but you know it is hot when even the water is not refreshing you. Crush and Gusher was a lot of fun and so was Humunga Kowabunga but the lines where so long that we left early to go back to the hotel. We had reservations at Coral Reef for later that night but we didn't feel like going to Epcot right away so we decided to go to DTD to try out Ear of Sandwhich since I'd heard so many good things about it on here. We got there just as it was starting to rain so we ran into the store and ate while the storm settled.

Desserts first

Ham and Cheese (delicious)

We then decided to explore DTD a bit before heading to Epcot.

Me posing with Mickey and Minnie

After we where done in DTD we went to EPCOT but since there are no direct busses we had to make a pitstop at a resort. I asked a CM for directions (as in which hotel would be the best) and we took a bus to CBR where we waited while at least two sets of busses to other parks went by (but not EPCOT). One family had been waiting for some time when one of their kids asked if he could go get something in the room. The kid wasn't gone 2 minutes that the bus arrived for their destination. They had to wait for the next one! yikes.

We got to Epcot as the rain was stopping.

.

Spaceship Earth had a five minute wait so we got on. This ride is beautiful! I love the scene at the end in the dark is just breathtaking! I thought it would be a very romantic spot for a proposal.

Here's what our future will look like. http://s1135.photobucket.com/albums...ney/Day 4/?action=view&current=P1040786-1.mp4

We registered early for our meal at Coral Reef and sat outside watching the monorails go by. The wait was long but because we had registered early we where still seated at our ADR time. We where super lucky and got a seat right by the window. This was my birthday supper so it was even more special. The menu has a guide to identifying fish species so we did that while we waited for our food. I had ordered the lobster ravioly and DGF ordered the Salmon on black rice. I must say that we where disappointed in this meal. I didn't think the ravioly was that good but DGF enjoyed eating out of my plate. Her salmon was good but the rice wasn't good at all. For dessert, I had the chocolate mouse and DGF had the cheesecake. Both where fine. They brought mine with a special birthday chocolate inside.

Wet zone

Not much privacy

Wannabe marine biologist

We got out of the restaurant just as Illuminations was finishing. This was a late EMH day so we had a few more hours of fun ahead of us.

A quick photoshoot with the upsidedown falls.

Then we remembered we had wanted to try the funnel cakes so we went to America. We got there just before the little kiosk closed. I asked if they where on the dining plan and the CM said that they weren't but because it was my birthday I could have one free! YAY! and it was tasty! as good as its odor!

We sat by a stage and ate our funnel cake. Well honestly I think I was too busy taking pictures but DGF really enjoyed it.

As we where heading out we decided to ride TT one last time together since our first two times where in the single rider line. We decided to have fun and make scared faces in our photopass pictures. At that point it was nearing midnight so we headed back to our hotel for a good night's sleep.

 

[Kelly Sullivan]

awwwwwww I was hoping to get to the part where you got stranded I loved looking at all your pictures. Looks like a wonderful time and it's getting me excited for our sept 2017 trip