"You're not making good choices, Phoebe!" A July 2015 Trip Report *completed 1/2/16*

[Imamom2]

First off - good luck as PTA pres! Sounds like you will be great and as a teacher I can tell you all you do is much appreciated I'm glad you loved UA - we have done WDW/UA trips three times with our girls and every time was wonderful. Royal Pacific is one of my favorite hotels! Great pool and Express Pass is priceless, right?!? We also stayed at the Hard Rock several years ago - beautiful resort. I really like all things Universal in that it's so different from Disney. Disney is so inspiring and fun and it sounds like your family had a wonderful trip. Thanks for sharing it with us!

 

[Newsies]

Tell me that the WL pool isn't just perfect for an afternoon break! Heck, I usually never go back to the parks in the middle of the day, but I loved my afternoon breaks at the pool so much that I never quite went more than one day without stopping to play in the pool!

Sounds like you guys enjoyed the dessert party

Regarding your Epcot early morning bus struggle. Oh my God. It wasn't just that day, and it wasn't just you. The WL NEVER sees Epcot buses in the morning. The morning I went to DHS (which for some reason every other bus that stops at WL is DHS?), Epcot was having their EMH. About 35 people in line were getting aggravated because they were missing the EMH because they had never seen a bus. Even my parents and Grace went to catch a bus to Epcot at 11:00 in the morning and wound up at the park at 2:30! I mean, there were extra things involved in that debacle... but still, it was ridiculous.

How lucky that you got twins at pick-a-pearl! I always spend way too much money at Mitsukoshi, too. Whoops

Looks like a lovely evening at Artist Point!

Yay! Your Universal Studios day looks good so far! Love all of the Harry Potter pics!

I'm so sorry about losing your credentials I hope you got all new ones in time!

..Glad you did! The Jurassic Park stuff seems awesome. And aww, how cool is it that L was picked to name the baby velociraptor! Pancakes is the best name ever.

I love Seuss Landing so much!

If a woman. Had grabbed something from my hand. And said that it was the last one and her daughter wanted it... Good Lord. Help me. Oof, my blood is boiling just thinking about that.

Same with those two college/high school girls. What the heck? I would have gone off in MiB.

Okay! I'm all caught up! I'm sorry you guys ended up so aggravated at US/IoA But I hope that the rest of your trip comes and goes without much more incident!

 

[xlsm]

First off - good luck as PTA pres! Sounds like you will be great and as a teacher I can tell you all you do is much appreciated I'm glad you loved UA - we have done WDW/UA trips three times with our girls and every time was wonderful. Royal Pacific is one of my favorite hotels! Great pool and Express Pass is priceless, right?!? We also stayed at the Hard Rock several years ago - beautiful resort. I really like all things Universal in that it's so different from Disney. Disney is so inspiring and fun and it sounds like your family had a wonderful trip. Thanks for sharing it with us!

Thank you so much!! We love the teachers at our school, and it means a lot to me that I am able to help them, even if it's just in a small way. I hope you have a great school year too! We love teachers around here

Express Pass is one of those things I just don't think I could ever live without!

Thanks for following along with me!

Tell me that the WL pool isn't just perfect for an afternoon break! Heck, I usually never go back to the parks in the middle of the day, but I loved my afternoon breaks at the pool so much that I never quite went more than one day without stopping to play in the pool!

I LOVE the Lodge pool. I was lucky enough to always stake out a spot in the corner where the river comes flowing in. It made me feel like some kind of pool VIP, lol!!

Sounds like you guys enjoyed the dessert party

It was nice! I think we might try the Pirates and Pals cruise next time, but I was really glad we decided to do the dessert party this year. It was a good experience for us.

Regarding your Epcot early morning bus struggle. Oh my God. It wasn't just that day, and it wasn't just you. The WL NEVER sees Epcot buses in the morning. The morning I went to DHS (which for some reason every other bus that stops at WL is DHS?), Epcot was having their EMH. About 35 people in line were getting aggravated because they were missing the EMH because they had never seen a bus. Even my parents and Grace went to catch a bus to Epcot at 11:00 in the morning and wound up at the park at 2:30! I mean, there were extra things involved in that debacle... but still, it was ridiculous.

UGH!!! I'm so sorry you guys had bad Epcot bus experiences too!! We've always had great bus karma at WL, and I don't know if we've ever had to wait more than a couple of minutes for a bus to any park, so that wait was just nighmarish. We got to the point where we seriously considered taking the boat to the Contemporary, taking the monorail to the TTC, then changing trains to Epcot. Even if it took longer, at least we'd constantly be moving. But we just *knew* if we got out of line to leave for the boats, the bus would pull up and we'd miss it. I even thought, well, we can take a bus to MK, take another bus to Beach Club, then walk in the international gateway...In hindsight, I kind of wish that's what we'd done. Oh well.

How lucky that you got twins at pick-a-pearl! I always spend way too much money at Mitsukoshi, too. Whoops


When the CM pulled the first pearl, I was kind of disappointed. It was just small and plain, and I had hoped against all hope that I'd get one of those really cool pink or bluish-black colored ones...but then he kept digging around in there (poor oyster) and pulled out the second one! I was so surprised.
That store...I might as well just go in and throw handfuls of cash in the air. Take it! Take it all! Take all of my money, please!!
I swear, we'll buy anything there. Ooh, it's from Mitsukoshi? Cool! Buy it! Buy all of the things!!
It's a problem.

Looks like a lovely evening at Artist Point!

It was so nice! And I can honestly say, I have never, ever been so uncomfortably full in all my life. We ate WAY too much.

and I loved every bite.

Yay! Your Universal Studios day looks good so far! Love all of the Harry Potter pics!

I'm so sorry about losing your credentials I hope you got all new ones in time!

..Glad you did! The Jurassic Park stuff seems awesome. And aww, how cool is it that L was picked to name the baby velociraptor! Pancakes is the best name ever.

I love Seuss Landing so much!

I've decided, that while my primary residence is Cinderella Castle, I might have a weekend home in Diagon Alley. That would work for me.
I have never come so close to crying in public (aside from sobbing all over Winnie the Pooh last year at Crystal Palace) as I did when I thought all of my stuff was lost forever!
Jurassic Park was so much fun! We are HUGE superfans of the movies, so it was very exciting for us. It's also the area of the park with the most trees, so it was much shadier than everywhere else, lol.
I told L your opinion of his velociraptor name, and he gives you the thumbs up and says, "She knows what she's talking about!" You have the stamp of approval.
Seuss Landing is a national treasure.

If a woman. Had grabbed something from my hand. And said that it was the last one and her daughter wanted it... Good Lord. Help me. Oof, my blood is boiling just thinking about that.

Same with those two college/high school girls. What the heck? I would have gone off in MiB.

I am happy to report that I made it out of there without ending up the subject of a true crime show on Investigation Discovery channel...or Cops.
As I look back on it now, it's a little funny. I mean, I will never understand why those people felt the need to do what they did, but...it was just so bizarre and rude that it seems like something from a tv show.



Okay! I'm all caught up! I'm sorry you guys ended up so aggravated at US/IoA But I hope that the rest of your trip comes and goes without much more incident!

final US/IOA update coming in just a few minutes!!

 

[xlsm]

Thanks so much for being patient with me!

We survived Back to School Night yesterday. I spent the whole day running around like a crazy person...driving here, driving there, driving BACK here, driving BACK there, etc...
It was exhausting.

We ordered new school shirts last week, and they were supposed to be done at 1:30 yesterday, so I went to school (it's midway between my house and where the shirts were being made) to drop off a few things and get organized for that evening...but they never called. I had to get home and type up a few things, so I left to do that. I wanted to be back at school by 3 to get started, but at 245 I got the call that the shirts were finished. So I frantically rushed down there to get them and back home again (which took half an hour) to finish typing the forms I needed, and I didn't get to school until 4.

And then I had to carry in 8 boxes of t-shirts. I took them out of the car, carried them one by one across the parking lot to the side door of the school, then propped the door open and moved them inside. All I could see in front of me was the long hallway to the cafeteria, and I did not want to. I was so hot and gross and sweaty from hauling boxes in the heat. Luckily, the second grade teachers saw me, got me a dolly from the janitor's closet, and I loaded them up 4 at a time and moved the boxes that way.

By then it was 4:30.

It was crazy.

But we survived, and I'm currently waiting to hear how we did financially last night!

I know what you're REALLY here for though, and that's...

Chapter Five Part Six - The US/IOA Finale

We had just finished saving the world from aliens and we were headed somewhere special.

We were going to visit those wacky residents of Springfield USA!

This was very exciting for us! Growing up in the 80s and 90s, I was there for the beginning of the Simpson's craze, and I have a soft spot for that zany family.

First stop...



I LOOOOOVE the way this area looks!! It's perfect in every way.

We used our EPs to visit Krustyland...and it was the longest wait we experienced all day. We were in line at least 20 minutes, and those nice dark clouds you see in the background of the photo moved on rather quickly, so we were in the sunshine for a lot of the wait.
I can tell this is a fun ride, but either I'm getting old or I was still wonky from FJ, because I really got beat up on this one! I hit my head, my shoulder was bruised...I got a little woozy (<--- that is just a fun sounding word! Woozy. LOL!) from the swooping and dropping, etc...

We left happy and ready to explore the rest of Springfield.



We loitered at the Kwik-E-Mart for awhile

then stopped by Moe's Tavern



I felt a *little* weird taking my kids into a bar, LOL. All I could think of was that line from the movie Sweet Home Alabama, "You've got a baby! In a bar!"

Luckily this one was child friendly.



After looking around, we walked out and split up for a second. The kids claimed a table, while DH went here:



to get us a drink and I went here:





to get a snack.

We enjoyed our treats...



I didn't have super high hopes for the donut OR the Duff...we really just wanted the experience. But I have to say, both were awesome! The donut was fresh and sweet and PERFECTION, and the Duff was really good! I was nervous it was going to be something gross like Bud Light with the Duff name, but it was kind of like Blue Moon. I was pleasantly surprised.

We all had big cups of water to rehydrate, and finished our tour of Springfield.

First though, some napkin love...







Goodbye, Springfield USA!!



What an awesome area!! We loved everything here.

More childhood nostalgia...



and now...it was time for the moment I was dreading.

I would be facing my greatest childhood fear (outside of my irrational terror that I'd get appendicitis)...



I hate ET. He is so creepy to me. When I was little, and this movie came out, my grandparents took me over to my Great-Aunt and Uncle's house...they used to get together and play cards. My Aunt Joan had rented a movie for me...it was brand new! Very popular!

ET.

I remember hiding behind her couch at the part where people in white coats were taking ET away, and there was shouting involved. It's literally all I remember of the movie, and it was traumatizing to me.

I've never watched it again, and I've harbored a fear of ET ever since.

My kids take advantage of this and torture me at every opportunity.

We used the EPs and got through the line quickly (the standby line was LONG!). I did like the queue area, it's like a forest, dark with trees. Nice and cool! We hopped on our bikes and made our way off on an adventure to save ETs planet or whatever.

Oh. my. gosh.

ETs everywhere! I'd get overwhelmed by them, turn away, and there'd be ANOTHER FREAKIN' ET right next to me.

I made it through the ride, but the dump shop was too much for me. There was a photo op in the corner and DH was laughing and telling me I needed to go get my picture done, but I was out of there as fast as I could go!

I'm literally shuddering as I relive the moment.

I've considered watching the movie again as an adult, but I just can't bring myself to do it! I know it's ridiculous. I know. But...I don't care!

We were beyond exhausted at this point, but we had one major must do left on the list, so we headed that way.

We passed Mel's...



and I grabbed a quick blurry picture of Monster's Cafe (which I'm really sad we didn't visit! I love the classic Universal Monster movies from the 30s)




L and I had a date with...



THE MUMMY!!!

We got a locker for our stuff, and got in the EP line. This line has stairs, FYI. Not what I needed at that point in the day. I was so tired!

We escaped from the mummy (and another ride involving fire...what is it with fire at US/IOA??) and went out to the locker to get our stuff.

When you rent lockers, you use a little touchpad thing to scan your finger metrics, and you have to use the touchpad in the area where your locker is located to unlock it when you're finished. You can't just use a random one. So we got in line behind some Tour Group girls (yes, they followed us to the dark side). They could not get the touchpad to work for them. But they would. not. move. They must have tried for 10 minutes, there were three of us waiting, so I said, "Can we please open our locker? Maybe you're at the wrong one?" They rolled their eyes, and were fighting with each other in Spanish or Portuguese, but they finally moved.
I opened our locker in about 5 seconds and moved out of the way. The others in line behind me said "Thank you", and my faith in humanity was restored. Polite people! Hooray!!

While L and I were riding The Mummy, DH and X had gone to listen to these guys:



We met up with them, and started making our way out of the park. We kind of wanted to ride the Minion Mayhem ride, but decided to pass at the last minute, but I snapped a picture of Gru's house on the way out:



I didn't say it was a good picture, LOL!!

We said goodbye to Universal...



and made our way to the resort ferry launch. The boat pulled up just as we got in line, and we headed back to Royal Pacific.

Goodbye Islands of Adventure...



Hope you find your salt, Jimmy...



and that was it.

We got to Royal Pacific, went out front, sat on a bench and waited for our Uber driver to pick us up.

It was just after 5:00pm, so it was rush hour, but our driver was AWESOME. He took us through residential neighborhoods and through back roads on Disney property and we got back to Wilderness Lodge in no time! He got a cash tip in addition to his good review on the app.

I have never, ever, ever been so happy to be back at Disney World in my life.

We all four sort of fell out of the car with our bags. I said, "All I want is an elevator and my bed", and the valet guy heard me and just laughed.

We enjoyed our time at Universal Studios and Islands of Adventure, but this visit proved that we are Disney people to the core.

Our room was a sight for sore eyes. One of the boys (can't remember which one) went with DH to get food from Roaring Forks while the other kid and I took turns in the shower.

It was pepperoni flat bread for me and the kids, and DH had the roast beef. X and I had sugar cookies, DH and L had chocolate chip.

DH and the kid who went with him to get food took their showers, and then we all collapsed.

I fell asleep immediately. It was like, 7:30pm, LOL!! I was spent!

The rest of them went to bed around 9 they said, and then we had another early morning.

We were going somewhere SUPER AWESOME the next morning and I can't wait to share the next update with you!

Coming soon...back in the Disney bubble and it feels so good

 

[Sailormoon2]

We enjoyed our time at Universal Studios and Islands of Adventure, but this visit proved that we are Disney people to the core.

Can you elaborate? What made US/IOA so different/ worse? Or was it just a case of being exhausted? We are doing US for the first time in 2 weeks and it will be the last 2 days of our whirlwind trip. I'm really hoping I won't be too tired to enjoy it.

 

[xlsm]

Can you elaborate? What made US/IOA so different/ worse? Or was it just a case of being exhausted? We are doing US for the first time in 2 weeks and it will be the last 2 days of our whirlwind trip. I'm really hoping I won't be too tired to enjoy it.

Sure!

For us, US/IOA just wasn't as easy as Walt Disney World.

I mean, there are perceived perks, right? Like you don't have to do as much planning or whatever, but for me, that made it more stressful!

There's a very different feeling at the two Universal parks than there is at the Disney parks. I'm not sure how to describe it.
Lots of things at the two parks felt very inconvenient to me. The locker situation was just obnoxious. At other theme parks, the lockers/cubbies are usually at the end of the line, just before vehicle boarding, and you stow your stuff quickly, hop in the ride vehicle and go. Here, you have to go to an area off to the side, push through the crowds, rent a locker (it's free unless you go over the one hour limit - i think it's an hour), come back after the ride, open your locker, etc...It can be a huge time suck, depending on how busy the area is before and after riding.

And people sometimes complain about lack of shade or trees at Disney World...well, there's certainly a lack of shade here. I noticed it particularly at Islands of Adventure. The Toon Lagoon and Marvel Superhero Island areas were just baking in the sun with no respite unless you went into the shops.
Overall, everything just felt incredibly crowded all over at both parks. The walkways, the stores, etc...and not just in the HP areas where it is part of the themeing. Certain sections were better than others, the Simpson's area in particular was more comfortable than other areas. And I think "comfortable" is an important word here...these two parks just didn't feel as comfortable as the Disney parks.

The rude guests and poor interaction with several TMs didn't help our opinion either!

Did we have a good time? Mostly. But there were a lot of less than magical moments throughout the day. Every single one of us said, "Wow, this sure isn't Disney" several times throughout the day. I guess we are just spoiled!

Alllll of that being said...

I think if you have more time there to slow down, the experience would be quite different. Is it possible to do both parks in one day? Absolutely! We could have kept going and finished probably every single ride in the parks. We entered the parks at 7 and left after 5pm. There were still 5 hours left before closing.

What I've learned is, you will do yourself a disservice if you go in expecting things to be like Disney World. It's just not, and it's not fair to the Universal parks to compare them this way. It's different there, and it's fun! There's a LOT of cool things to see and look at. That was probably my favorite part - the looking around. The rides I could take or leave, many of them are quite similar, but they are all VERY different from the offerings at the Disney parks. Thrill ride junkies will appreciate the attractions at US/IOA, but anyone who suffers from motion sickness will not! (I don't usually get motion sickness at all, and some of the rides here really bothered me - Forbidden Journey especially, even though it was one of my favorite ride experiences! I wish I could ride again without feeling terrible, because it's spectacular!)

For us, the way the Disney parks work is just preferable, because it's what we're used to. It's more immersive overall, and feels like more of a respite and an escape. We felt US/IOA was just a big theme park. Better than a Six Flags by leaps and bounds...but still.

Are we glad we went? 100%!! Certain parts of the parks are UNBELIEVABLE.

But even though we skipped a lot, none of us felt much disappointment in that. I mean, I wish I'd ridden the Hulk, and I'd like to spend more time in both HP areas, but I don't feel like I really missed out on much.

I'm glad we took this one day trip there to get a feel for the two parks. We'd consider going back, but NEVER for just one day again, and never ever without staying onsite to get the Express Passes.

Now, this was just our experience on a Friday in July, so a Tuesday in January or something would be completely different, so take it with a grain of salt.

It was a learning adventure, that's for sure!

 

[Newsies]

Looks like another great time in Springfield!

Don't worry, I'm terrified of ET, too.

You guys got a lot accomplished that day, no wonder you were so exhausted!

I'm excited to hear about where you're going tomorrow!

 

[missangelalexis]

Love Springfield, it's such a well done area!

I'm sure you all were exhausted from the long day you had, but sounds like you accomplished everything you wanted to. I'm sure that bed felt SO good that night

 

[ariane37]

I like your summary of why you're Disney people to the core and what you feel is better/worse at US/IOA. Interested to see what mine and my family's take is when we go in 2 weeks I think part of how some of us "Disney" people feel after visiting Universal truly has to do with just how "Disney" we are. Even with all the extra planning it now takes for a Disney trip as opposed to when I first started going, I still find Disney relatively easy. And as I believe you said about your family, we "know" Disney. And the unknown can always be confusing and not quite as fun! Of course on the Universal boards you do find former hard core Disney people who have switched sides so to speak and now prefer Universal.......I can't see myself becoming one of them lol. I hope we enjoy ourselves as you did and with 3 days I'm feeling we'll have enough time to do what we want. But can I mention this again? Those lockers You're killing me with the locker talk!!! It's like a small child pulling on my sleeve every time I think about our upcoming trip and get excited. I feel a tug, look down, and there's something looking up at me going "but........the lockers! Remember the lockers are there???" If only I wasn't so vain and could leave my brush and lipstick at the resort I could maybe attempt the bagless thing. But alas, I must make an attempt to stay beautiful

Speaking of beautiful, I am not skinny nor "fat". I used to seriously have body image issues but thankfully when I turned 40 (yes, it took that long) I decided I love food too much, bad food not the healthy kind, to continuously diet and so having decided that, I would love my not thin/not fat body and put Italian curses my Aunts taught me on anyone who laughed at me or belittled me for loving my chocolate and pastry. So while I think you really handled those hopefully future unattractive high school/college girls very well and adult-like, I would have, as us old people say, given them quite a piece of my mind had I heard them make comments like that about me
NOW, I will be getting one of those gigantor pink donuts in a couple weeks. And I may share with DH and my DS's, but I also might keep it all to myself, and I don't care who sees me eating the whole darn thing!!!!
Oh and BTW I do sometimes put something half way healthy in my body. And you are lovely

 

[Sailormoon2]

Thank you for taking the time to elaborately expand on your impressions of IOA vs Disney! It was very insightful (as much of your TR has been).

The Toon Lagoon and Marvel Superhero Island areas were just baking in the sun with no respite unless you went into the shops.

This is really good to know, and hopefully, somehow plan for...

We'd consider going back, but NEVER for just one day again, and never ever without staying onsite to get the Express Passes.

We are staying on site for 2 days, and have express passes, so clearly that will make things "easier", but won't solve the locker situation. I agree with you, it's silly not to just have them as you're boarding the ride.

We felt US/IOA was just a big theme park. Better than a Six Flags by leaps and bounds...but still.

I will approach it with this in mind. We have done a lot of Six Flags and Wonderland (their similar Canadian property) and have always thoroughly enjoyed ourselves, so approaching this the same way will help manage expectations.

 

[xlsm]

Looks like another great time in Springfield!

Don't worry, I'm terrified of ET, too.

You guys got a lot accomplished that day, no wonder you were so exhausted!

I'm excited to hear about where you're going tomorrow!

THANK YOU for understanding about ET. He's literally the WORST. The creepy, creepy, creepiest. Ugh!

We really did do a lot that day. I often wonder if we'd slowed down, would we have stayed longer or not?? What would I have done differently? Etc...

Love Springfield, it's such a well done area!

I'm sure you all were exhausted from the long day you had, but sounds like you accomplished everything you wanted to. I'm sure that bed felt SO good that night

I agree! Springfield is great!

I was soooo tired. I normally have a lot of trouble sleeping, so for me to fall asleep that quickly, that early, meant I was beyond exhausted!

I like your summary of why you're Disney people to the core and what you feel is better/worse at US/IOA. Interested to see what mine and my family's take is when we go in 2 weeks I think part of how some of us "Disney" people feel after visiting Universal truly has to do with just how "Disney" we are. Even with all the extra planning it now takes for a Disney trip as opposed to when I first started going, I still find Disney relatively easy. And as I believe you said about your family, we "know" Disney. And the unknown can always be confusing and not quite as fun! Of course on the Universal boards you do find former hard core Disney people who have switched sides so to speak and now prefer Universal.......I can't see myself becoming one of them lol. I hope we enjoy ourselves as you did and with 3 days I'm feeling we'll have enough time to do what we want. But can I mention this again? Those lockers You're killing me with the locker talk!!! It's like a small child pulling on my sleeve every time I think about our upcoming trip and get excited. I feel a tug, look down, and there's something looking up at me going "but........the lockers! Remember the lockers are there???" If only I wasn't so vain and could leave my brush and lipstick at the resort I could maybe attempt the bagless thing. But alas, I must make an attempt to stay beautiful

Speaking of beautiful, I am not skinny nor "fat". I used to seriously have body image issues but thankfully when I turned 40 (yes, it took that long) I decided I love food too much, bad food not the healthy kind, to continuously diet and so having decided that, I would love my not thin/not fat body and put Italian curses my Aunts taught me on anyone who laughed at me or belittled me for loving my chocolate and pastry. So while I think you really handled those hopefully future unattractive high school/college girls very well and adult-like, I would have, as us old people say, given them quite a piece of my mind had I heard them make comments like that about me
NOW, I will be getting one of those gigantor pink donuts in a couple weeks. And I may share with DH and my DS's, but I also might keep it all to myself, and I don't care who sees me eating the whole darn thing!!!!
Oh and BTW I do sometimes put something half way healthy in my body. And you are lovely

I think your experience will be a lot better than ours, because you'll have more time there, and you won't have a Disney hangover. I feel like you'll be able to better immerse yourselves in the parks, and separate US/IOA from Disney more.

I truly believe that if we'd had *just* a US/IOA trip with no Disney, we would have had a completely different visit. Honestly.

Please don't let the lockers get you down! You shouldn't have any tour groups in your way, which will help considerably!! It's really not as bad as you're imagining, we were just dealing with crazy circumstances sometimes.

I was really proud of myself for not yelling at those girls.

That donut is delicious. We shared it between the four of us, but I probably could have taken it down on my own. And I would have LOVED EVERY SINGLE BITE.

Thank you

 

[xlsm]

Thank you for taking the time to elaborately expand on your impressions of IOA vs Disney! It was very insightful (as much of your TR has been).

This is really good to know, and hopefully, somehow plan for...


We are staying on site for 2 days, and have express passes, so clearly that will make things "easier", but won't solve the locker situation. I agree with you, it's silly not to just have them as you're boarding the ride.


I will approach it with this in mind. We have done a lot of Six Flags and Wonderland (their similar Canadian property) and have always thoroughly enjoyed ourselves, so approaching this the same way will help manage expectations.

You're welcome! I'd honestly meant to say that at the end of the update, but sort of rushed the end there, so I'm glad you asked!!

I think your visit will be a breeze with two days and express passes for sure!
Like I told ariane37, the locker situation probably isn't as bad in reality as it seemed to me in the moment, so don't worry too much. Some of them are just in really terrible locations in regards to the ride lines. Mummy and Men in Black in particular seemed odd.

I mean, it's better than any kind of Six Flags, but the immersion isn't as complete there as it is in a Disney Park.
My best advice is to just try to keep it totally separate from anything Disney related in your mind.

You will have an awesome trip, I know it!!

 

[Disney Khaleesi]

I've been a lurker but I have to say, I love your Springfield pictures! I'm a huge fan of the Simpsons and your photos are making me want to plan a trip so, so bad.

Also, I love the shirts your boys wear. I'm a huge geek so whenever I see a Doctor Who shirt on someone else I'm usually like "LOOK OH MY GOD THERE'S A DOCTOR WHO SHIRT."

 

[xlsm]

I've been a lurker but I have to say, I love your Springfield pictures! I'm a huge fan of the Simpsons and your photos are making me want to plan a trip so, so bad.

Also, I love the shirts your boys wear. I'm a huge geek so whenever I see a Doctor Who shirt on someone else I'm usually like "LOOK OH MY GOD THERE'S A DOCTOR WHO SHIRT."

I'm so glad you came out of lurkdom!!

I loooooved the Springfield area. It was so FUN. Everything in that part of the park was done so well.

Well, guess what? L's backpack AND lunchbox this year are the Tardis ones from Hot Topic! You'd fit right in over here

 

[xlsm]

Saturday!! Woohoo!!

Yesterday afternoon I had one of the Ultimate Stereotypical Mom and Kid Moments.

X told me at 2:30pm that he was supposed to work the Boy Scout yard sale from 4 - 9pm. Oh, and also TODAY from 6AM - 11am.
Uhhh...what?

That's not exactly part of my plans for the last Saturday before school starts.

I took him yesterday at 4, and DH went and picked him up at the end of his shift. He managed to get X out of the 6am shift, but they both had to go help at 10:30 today. *sigh*

So they went and did that while L and I went to the mall to pick up my contacts from the eye doctor and to do a little more back to school shopping.

I had a couple of personal moments of weakness...I got myself a Sadness button from Hot Topic and a Fozzie Bear Ittybitty from Hallmark. I was really proud of myself for only getting one, because those things are insanely cute.



See?? How was I supposed to resist? He will live on my desk with my Grumpy Cat and my collection of tsum tsums (Marie, Daisy, Snow White, Cheshire Cat, Winnie the Pooh, Eeyore).

I'm a responsible adult.

time for my next update...

Chapter 6...in which an Explorer is a Friend to All, be it plants or fish or tiny mole.

So I guess the title of the chapter is a dead giveaway, huh??

The SUPER AWESOME place we were headed bright and early was Animal Kingdom!

We were up early because we had an 8am pre-park opening breakfast reservation at Tusker House. It was our first visit EVER to Tusker House, and we were all incredibly excited.

We got to the park around 7:40 via bus, and were the first family in line at the tapstiles



It was kind of fun being there so early! We got the chance to talk to the sweet CM who was cleaning up and getting ready for guests to show up. It was another instance where I missed an opportunity to take her name and give her some praise. I've GOT to start being better about that!

X was tired, so L tried to help him feel happy:



Looks like it worked!

More people showed up, and we were let into the park. We were technically the second family to enter the park, even though we were first getting there, because a different CM opened his tapstile station first. BUT they went to the left and we went right through the Oasis.

Nobody here but us Ibises...




I absolutely LOVED being there before the crowd. We were so far ahead of everyone that we had the park to ourselves minus the CMs. I'm not sure where the other people went???





Ah, THERE she is.

I cannot get enough of the tree of life. It's tied with Cinderella Castle for my favorite park icon.

Animal Kingdom first thing in the morning is truly magical. We felt like we had the place all to ourselves. Every time I walk in I think, "Oh my gosh, this might be my favorite park!" In fact, I'm going to just come out and say it...on this trip, Animal Kingdom was my favorite.

We got to Tusker House and checked in



and I think we were the first people seated! This happened last year at Crystal Palace, too. It made me feel like a VIP, lol!!

My pictures here aren't great, just a warning. We were the first table the characters visited, and they had to squish in between our table and the one next to it, so almost EVERY SINGLE PICTURE is blurry. I was so disappointed! The ones that aren't blurry, the kids are making weird faces. But I'm getting ahead of myself, you'll see for yourself in just a second.

L started with carbs and fruit (as usual) and I just filled my plate full of any and everything that looked good:



the second picture is my plate. Clockwise: bacon (obviously), cinnamon raisin bread pudding (DELICIOUS!!), leek fritata (second favorite after the bread pudding), scrambled eggs (eh), breakfast potatoes (good), and under the bacon is a cherry turnover (just ok). I also had some cheesy bobotie (i think) that was really good. We also drank our weight in POG juice (our waitress said it's really good with coconut rum...I'll bet it is!).

Donald came out right away



then Goofy



After he came through, a large tour group came in and everyone had to pause and let them go through to another room.

I liked watching the characters interact with other guests.



Next up was Mickey



See? Blurry.

And when they weren't blurry, the kids made weird faces.



When Mickey got to a table down the aisle, he was preparing to visit a baby who started SCREAMING hysterically (and not in a good way) the second she saw him. The mom tried to calm her down and get a picture, but the kid was coming unglued. Mickey was super polite and left the room until the baby calmed down, and then the mom took her outside so Mickey could visit with the rest of that table.

Finally Daisy, the ultimate sweetie, came to say hello (blur alert)





We got a little more food (more bread pudding for me, YUM!), more juice, finished up and left. We were out around 8:35 I think.

The park was empty of course. One other family was outside besides us, and they went to line up at the safari. We wanted to look around a little first, but that's where'd we were planning to end up, too.

I love the posters on the outside of the Tusker House building



And our favorite...



Think 10 times before poaching.

We are animal lovers in this house, and I think that might be why we all have such a soft spot for Animal Kingdom. The conservation aspect means so much to me.

We walked over to see the Festival of the Lion King building



and wandered back toward the main path to take in our surroundings



STUNNING.

I had to get in on the action



How shiny can one face be before 9am?? Behold.

The kids manned the cannon





Gorgeous.

A CM was setting out a merchandise cart so we stopped to look



then went inside the store.

Three birds had gotten inside, and the CM got on the phone and called someone to come remove them. Two of them flew out, but one just wanted to hang out.

L found a Simba



No caption necessary, LOL!!!


It was almost 9 by this point, so we headed here



and walked over closer to the safari entrance so we'd be able to walk on up.

Up next...Safari Time!

 

[xlsm]

Chapter Six Part Two

We had been milling around the area, and not really waiting in line, when the CMs said they were ready to let people through the line, so we ended up in the second safari car of the day.

We entered the Harambe Wildlife Preserve



I was really hoping we'd see some giraffes today. Last year, we didn't see any and I was so sad!

Ok, safari time! Let's see some animals!!



He's smiling!! Cutie.



Rhino to the left of me, waterfall to the right...here I am, stuck in the middle with you.



GIRAFFES!!!!!

We actually saw a TON of giraffes, including a couple of babies. It was so hard to get pictures of them. I got a video of them running across the savanna. It was magical.



Another rhino, and look! The male lion was awake!! Majestic.



I love the rhinos so much! My heart just breaks when I think about how low their numbers are in the wild. It's devastating.

What an incredible safari! It was just perfect in every way.

After watching the animals on the safari, we headed over here:



We stopped to see these guys:



They were so funny! If you look at the photo on the right, under the hanging ball thing, on the log...One of the monkeys is just draped over the log, like he is just too tired to move. It reminded us of our lazy dogs and we laughed! It was also feeding time, so a CM was stuffing lettuce and stuff into the fence, trying to coax them closer. They weren't quite ready to commit, but the were slowly creeping closer.

We had things to see, so we moved on.

(some of these pictures might be out of order...they didn't transfer to my photobucket well, but they're still all from the Pangani trail.)



This sign cracked me up! There were zero buffalo. It was another potential TR title.

We saw Okapi



and a hippo



and looked at some skulls





And then the boys got started on what would become one of their very favorite things we've ever done in all of Walt Disney World





WILDERNESS EXPLORERS!!

This was the perfect activity to keep them motivated and engaged all day. They were really into earning as many badges as possible during our time at the park.

Our next animal was one I was very anxious to see...



Awww!! Itty bitty baby gorilla And grown up man gorilla, too.

It was soon time to move on to see something new at Animal Kingdom



look to the left there...



The boss man.
(I'm alllwaayyys watching, Wazowski. Always watching.)

DH and the boys went into Zuri's Sweet Shop



while I went to take pictures of the area.




I joined them inside Zuri's, and the boys were lamenting the loss of the "match the species" treats with the CMs behind the sweets counter. This store has a lot of cool things. I wanted pretty much everything, but I wasn't keen on trying to travel home with food items. There were several awesome baskets and kitchen items I would have liked to have had, but I didn't want to deal with shipping them home.

We kept moving toward Asia for our first FP+, but stopped for Tree of Life pictures.





Coca-Cola is everywhere too, just like Mickey.



Next up, a couple of construction pics. The first one is over a fence, Rivers of Light work on the water, and the second is another fence farther down, decorated with tigers.





The boys worked on some more badges...



We were almost to our destination!!

Coming soon...Asia!

 

[xlsm]

School starts tomorrow! I have a constant nauseated feeling in my stomach...I'm so nervous about X starting Middle School! I'm a worrier in general, but I have no idea why I feel this way. I pretty much feel unprepared for tomorrow as a whole. At this point, I usually have their backpacks packed and ready to go out the door, all of their clothing organized, etc...

Not this time. Both boys' closets look like a tornado hit. I stopped putting their clothes away for them several months ago, and instead I just send a basket of clean, folded laundry upstairs with them, and hope for the best.
Well...you can't always survive on hope alone, unfortunately.
Today we'll be getting any last minute little things they need, going to Barnes and Noble to get them each a new book to start the year, and come home to fix that closet/dresser situation.

Oh, and anyone following coverage of D23?? I look at my instagram feed with envy constantly throughout the day. Soo jealous of everyone attending!! We are so excited for Star Wars Land and Toy Story.

Good luck to any of you heading back to school soon!!

Chapter Six Part Three

We were just entering Asia, and making our way toward our FP+ for Expedition Everest. We were right at the end of our time window, so imagine my dismay when we got into the FP line and saw THIS:



Matching shirts. Tour Group.

I'm not sure what the story was here. I think maybe their window hadn't quite opened yet or something? I could never figure out why they were not able to go through. I know a couple of the girls kept getting blue Mickey's, so I just assumed it was because they got in line too early (or too late). The poor CMs were so exasperated, but managed to still remain pleasant as they tried to maintain some kind of organization within the EIGHT MILE LONG fast pass line that was not moving.

We had to keep a break in the line so as not to block the pathway, and we were on the far side of that space. I had so many people try to get in line in front of us. I felt like the line police, telling them "The line is back there" (it just kept GROWING), but there was no way I was letting anyone in front of us. I was not trying to pick up karma points in heavy traffic on the highway. I was holding my ground.

Finally the line started moving.

I still have no idea what the heck was going on. The ride was running, the standby line was not horrible (maybe 35/40 minutes?)...mystery.

X sat this one out and used the time to work on the Wilderness Explorer requirements around the shop area, and waited in there for us.



uh oh. dark clouds. The Yeti must be getting angry.





We looked around at all of the Yeti evidence. Am I the only one who thinks those drawings of the Yeti aren't all that intimidating looking? He looks like a cartoon character. That's not threatening! We're surrounded by cartoon characters at WDW! (LOL - Oh, I'm so funny. *it's ok to roll your eyes here*)

We took in the details



How do I get to the Sassy Yeti?? I would shop there in a red hot minute.

We were through the line and headed up the mountain in no time.





What a view! You can see Avatarland/Pandora cranes in the distance
(We've never watched Avatar, but we are very excited for the park expansion because the artist renderings look beyond gorgeous.)

Uh Oh...there's trouble up ahead!!



Totally posed "fear" shot, in which we were actually sitting still waiting for the train reversal. Sorry, spoiler alert for anyone who has not ridden. The guy sitting by DH is like, "What?" (He was nice, by the way.)

We escaped the Yeti



and went down to the shop to pick up X, and looked around for a minute. I think the little stuffed animal Yetis that are like little chubby balls of snow are the cutest things. They have snow leopards too. In case you haven't noticed, I have a major weakness for cute stuffed animals. I have passed that on to my children, and their rooms are FILLED. Do you know how hard it was to be a CM at the Disney Store and be surrounded by cute stuffies every day?? With an employee discount no less. (sale time was the hardest. A couple times a year we'd have a buy one get one promo...torture. But I resisted!!)

We had to back track pretty far to pick up their WE badges, and also to finish up part of one they missed somehow, so I got a second chance to get a far off picture of Expedition Everest, as all the ones I'd gotten on our way TO the ride are blurry because we were hurrying.

You can really see what it looks like with the construction walls up in this one:



It was kind of strange...I was incredibly aware that the walls were there, and it really had an effect on views across the water (which was so disappointing to me), but they really weren't as intrusive as I was expecting them to be. Yes, it made the walkway feel a little close right there, but somehow not unbearable, and we were distracted by reading all of the Walt Disney quotes printed up on each section.

Ok, the boys had finished the missed badge requirement and went to pick up the sticker. The CM and X shared a name, so we had to take a picture of them together! He was so nice, and didn't even act like I'd asked him to do something weird. Gold star!



We said goodbye to Everest



and headed toward our next FP destination.

Side note: When we got to the bridge, I was disappointed to see there were no photopass photographers out here like there have been in the past. We kind of had a hard time finding them on this day, but when we did, we stopped at every single one!

Destination ahoy! Dinoland USA!



Speak of the devil and he shall appear...we spied a photopass photographer!



Me: standard scared face and jazz hands, kids: sort of committing this time, DH: what is that???

We got in the FP line for Dinosaur, and I was glad we had a fast pass. I've never waited for this ride longer than 15 or 20 minutes, but the standby line was around 35 I think. We enjoyed the faster trip through the line. We got the read time card of awesomeness, and L carried it for us.




Oh, hi.



We made it back through time ok, but we didn't pick up the iguanodon...in fact...I think we picked up...



Two cute baby carnotauruses. I'm sure if we raise them up right, they won't turn into man eating beasts. Right??



Smilodon sayz...where to next?

DH stayed in the AC, but the boys and I walked over to Primeval Whirl. On the way, we saw these two heading over to their meet and greet area:




We got in line, which was pretty short, 10 minute posted wait, I think. We had to deal with some line cutters. A girl around X's age shot through a gap between us (which was less than 6 inches probably) to get ahead of us in line, and then her dad and grandpa came barreling through like they owned the place. I said, "Are you actually doing this?" and the dad gave me a look like, "Shut up, sassy Yeti, We sure as skunk hair ARE doing this." The grandpa looked a little embarrassed, and wouldn't look me in the eye.
X was really upset, but I told him to make like Elsa.

I will admit, I took their picture and from behind and was planning to Disboard Shame them, but what's the point? Live and let live, and let karma come get you later.



Up, up...



(I like these types of shots, can you tell?? LOL!!)

hey, that dinosaur has a face!



I got really slammed around on Primeval Whirl this time around. It was only the three of us in the ride car, and I had no one on the other side of me, so I was sliding around and crashing into the side of the ride vehicle every time we Whirled. Not awesome. But the kids love this ride, so I took one for the team.

We went back to the shops to pick up DH, and bought an Animal Kingdom mystery pin pack, because X wanted to make a trade on the pin board and didn't have his lanyard. I wanted a particular pin from that pack, so I said ok. We got the pin I wanted (hooray!!) and another one with Pluto chewing on a dinosaur bone. I hesitated about trading it, but let X go ahead and pick the pin from the board that he wanted



the boys went back over to the Boneyard to work on a couple of WE badges, and DH and I just chilled out on a shady bench and looked at crocodiles.



I got up at some point, because I saw a CM with a full pin pad, and wanted to look and see what she had. I found one I knew X would LOVE and took the risk of trading away that Mickey hat fish he'd just traded for.



Nerd Goofy!

They finished up their badge requirements and came back over. I was right, he was excited for the pin. His lanyard is the nerd characters, and he has several nerd pins that he's traded for over the last two years, so he was very happy!! That one's a forever keeper.

We were ready to move on from Dinoland...where to next??

Part Four coming soon!!

 

[annie170]

Happy new school year! Good luck with your position with the PTA. As a teacher, volunteers such as yourself are so valuable to schools. I don't know what we'd do without our active parents who give of their time so generously.

Tusker House is my favorite character restaurant in all of WDW. The first time we were there, we had an 11:15 lunch adr. We got the tail end of the breakfast food and then around 11:30, all the lunch selections were brought out. I love how there are different offerings such as hummus, couscous and tabbouleh there, as opposed to the usual selections at most buffets. Not for everyone, but we love it.

AK is my least favorite park, but I don't think I've ever really appreciated how beautiful the details and theme are there. For some reason, it's always so hot and crowded when we've been there.

You got some really great safari photos! I love when a lot of animals are out and active.

 

[Sailormoon2]

I think we were the first people seated!

Amazing! What luck.

We were out around 8:35 I think.

That is incredible timing and you got to see every single character. We have this same ADR coming up for our first time at AK...I am positive this will turn out to be my favorite park.

Shut up, sassy Yeti

His behaviour was awful, but your sense of humour is why I love this report!

I just chilled out on a shady bench and looked at crocodiles.

What a lovely idea.

 

[xlsm]

Happy new school year! Good luck with your position with the PTA. As a teacher, volunteers such as yourself are so valuable to schools. I don't know what we'd do without our active parents who give of their time so generously.

Tusker House is my favorite character restaurant in all of WDW. The first time we were there, we had an 11:15 lunch adr. We got the tail end of the breakfast food and then around 11:30, all the lunch selections were brought out. I love how there are different offerings such as hummus, couscous and tabbouleh there, as opposed to the usual selections at most buffets. Not for everyone, but we love it.

AK is my least favorite park, but I don't think I've ever really appreciated how beautiful the details and theme are there. For some reason, it's always so hot and crowded when we've been there.

You got some really great safari photos! I love when a lot of animals are out and active.

Thank you so much!! I know how much time, money, and personal time teachers put in to make sure our kids are learning, have what they need and are safe...you are valued too

Last summer, I had booked a 1030 meal at Tusker House to try to get in on the breakfast/lunch combo, but ended up canceling it because it wasn't working with our plan for the day. I was so sad! We were thrilled to make it this year, and I'd love to try lunch or dinner sometime. But I can't get over what a benefit it was to get in there so early that day, and have so much time to wander in the empty park.

I love how everything is part of the theme at AK. Every crack in the walkway, every worn spot on a bench...it's all there for realistic effect, and it's spectacular in its simplicity. It just wows me every time. We never spend as much time as we want there, because you're right - it's always SO HOT there. I really look forward to going there when the temps are cooler so we can stick it out longer!!

Amazing! What luck.

That is incredible timing and you got to see every single character. We have this same ADR coming up for our first time at AK...I am positive this will turn out to be my favorite park.


His behaviour was awful, but your sense of humour is why I love this report!


What a lovely idea.

We really did have the perfect timing there! I could not have planned it better.
I think you will really enjoy the early breakfast experience! Animal Kingdom is unlike any other park - the themeing is incredibly extensive and fully immersive. It's gorgeous! (even with walls up while they're working on things)

If I didn't have my sense of humor, I'd probably go crazy, LOL!!

It was a nice moment, just sitting there while the kids were working on their Wilderness Explorer achievement...watching the lazy crocodiles be lazy...it was good