"How To Keep Your Husband Happy, Alcohol & Fishing!" April/May '14 TR ~Updated ~ 1/1

[JnKinVA]

This morning I woke up not feeling well at all. So we slept in before going anywhere.

We decided that even though we had done Epcot the night before we would go around noon to spend the afternoon trying some things we hadn't the night before. We had a 7:00pm reservation for Teppan Edo so we had plenty of time to walk around.

Favourite of the day: Pierogi and Kielbasa from Poland. Brought me back to my eastern European family roots.

Our first stop though was Mexico. We have never been inside this pavilion and I wanted to do the Gran Fiesta Tour.
It was cute.





And then the real deal was playing outside



We tried out the Chase Lounge. It wasn't that busy, it was a nice break from the sun and we love the Coke Machines...we have them at the Five Guys here.
Cherry Coke for both of us!



We walked around the World to the Land where we took a spin. John loves this ride and we will do the Behind the Seeds tour in January. He has a fascination with the 9 pound lemons

And then off to Nemo and Friends!

The Dolphins were out showing off their stuff. We love these guys as we have done the Dolphins in Depth twice now.


In no particular order: Calvin, Malabar, Ranier, and Khyber

And then we saw this guy! Whoa...haven't seen him before! I guess we'll be diving with him in January too!



We then walked back to Spaceship Earth for a last minute FP I made.

John wanted to be funny in the picture.



Then to the World again! Smashmouth was playing for Eat to the Beat.
We spent quite a bit of time in Japan just kind of hanging out and talking to people. Met a couple who were in the Navy and we hit it off. They were waiting for their turn for the Pick a Pearl. John did a bit of shopping.

It was now time for dinner. Delicious and entertaining as usual.

Since we had seen Illuminations already I begged John to take the monorail over to MK to see Wishes as it was the only night left to see the regular show.

We got there just as the EMSP was finishing. We got a good spot in the middle of Main St.


Awwww aren't we cute

Until Celebrate the Magic started....someone had their GoPro on one of those extendable sticks, so it ruined any good shots and was in view the whole time, with it's flashing red lights. And then my ultimate pet peeve......someone put their child on their shoulders right in front of me.

We got through it, and waited for the fireworks. This family came up beside us who had been way behind us and tried to push us out of the way. The mother kept pushing her way beside me with her backpack...elbows are my friend at this point.
Fireworks done and we felt like Salmon swimming upstream to make our way over to Tomorroland. We jumped on Buzz Lightyear to try for that elusive Galactic Hero.....and John got it! He was done before we even got to Zurg.



We tried again so that I could get Hero status, but I am not as good of a shot as John is.
Oh well, I'll try again in January!

We did Space Mountain one last time and then headed out.
We got to the bus stop and it was absolutely crazy. So instead we made an adventure of it.
We got on the ferry to Wilderness Lodge (our home away from home) saw the pool construction, and caught a cab back to the resort.

Then we crashed again

Up Next: Something New???

 

[JnKinVA]

First off, I apologize for the lack of photos in this update!

Thursday morning I woke up feeling even worse from my cold.

We decided that we would take a day off from the parks and had been discussing upgrading our Annual Passes to the Premium.
We were thinking of going to Blizzard Beach the next day and we will be going to Typhoon Lagoon in January, plus we were interested in the golfing advantages with it as well, so today became an adventure.

We took the bus over to MK so we could upgrade the APs at Guest Relations.
From there we took the ferry over to the Grand Floridian, our home resort with DVC to look around. We also wanted to see if they had any golf clothes at their shops. They did, but John ended up buying a Tommy Bahama shirt....he loves Tommy Bahama.
We also found out about getting over to the golf courses over by Shades of Green. This is where we took an even new adventure.
We walked from the GF to the Poly and then crossed the road over to Shades of Green and the Palm, Magnolia and Oak Trail golf courses so we could check out the Pro Shop and ask a bunch of questions.
I got myself a Mickey Callaway polo and a glove, John a pair of plaid shorts and a polo. Then we asked a ton of newbie questions. Thankfully the young lady behind the counter was very helpful and didn't treat us like we were idiots

We then walked back to the Poly and waited for a bus to Downtown Disney. And we waited, and waited and then the folks behind us who walked up about 10minutes after us started wondering about how long they would have to wait

When we finally arrived at DTD we walked down to Splitsville so we could do a little bowling and eat a late lunch.
We had so much fun and it wasn't busy that we did another hour. We would regret that later



After Splitsville we walked to DisneyQuest to take advantage of the new Premium AP.
John was in heaven. He loves videogames, especially vintage ones and they had lots of these.


This is my mom's favourite game! She used to play it on the Intellivision video game we had. I played it for her

We would definitely not pay for admission to DisneyQuest, but we will go with the APs.

We didn't realize that we ended up spending about 3 hours in DisneyQuest and when we came outside it was dark.
We walked back to the bus stop and hopped on.

Once again, we crashed. We were so sore from bowling and doing some of the more physical games at DisneyQuest!

Friday was our last full day at WDW.

I had made some FPs for HS for later in the afternoon, but this morning we were doing to Blizzard Beach, another new adventure for us! We had not done any of the water parks before.

We got to BB about 10:30am and it wasn't busy at all. It also wasn't blazing hot, but it was warm enough.

Our first trip down the mountain was on Summit Plummet. Now...I am not a fan of heights unless I am enclosed in something, like a roller coaster.
So John went first....then I went. I didn't look down and I got the famous wedgie. But it was fun, even though you get bounced around a bit. John's hips ended up getting bruised slightly.

We took the chairlift back up the mountain and rode Teamboat Springs with a couple of young ladies.

And then we hiked up the stairs to Runoff Rapids...man we are out of shape
We seriously thought we were going to go over the side or flip the tube on this one.
It was pretty fun though.
Then it was time for some relaxation, so Cross Country Creek lazy river it is. We took a spin around the park and then we were feeling a little hungry.
We got some food from the quick service there, and it was ok.
By now we were mostly dry so we decided to get changed and head back to the resort.

We got back and by this time I had convinced John to go back to the Pro Shop to hit some balls on the Driving Range. We took a cab this time, as I wasn't going to walk this time!


John on the Driving Range

Which then turned into convincing John to play a round of 9 holes on Oak Trail because the green fees are waived with the Premium APs.
We had a blast! We saw quite a few animals, including Turkeys, lots of Squirrels, Deer and even a Buck that ran up and in between 2 guys on the Driving Range!


Turkey


Deer (Does and Fawns)


The Buck on his way up to the Driving Range

We can't wait to go back in January to play a couple of rounds. It has even encouraged us to take up the sport while at home


We ended our round in the early evening and since we had played a round, we were issued a taxi voucher. We were waiting, and so were 2 ladies. A taxi had pulled in but didn't stop.
Then a van pulled up and called our name. The ladies had been waiting longer than us, so we told the cab to take them. They then asked where we were going, and we said GF (because John needed to exchange his Tommy Bahama shirt for a different size) and they were heading to Fort Wilderness, so we just shared the cab. They were very nice and were staying in the Cabins, so it was neat to learn about them.

We said our goodbyes, and exchanged the shirt and then went bath shopping! Basin White is addicting! And the DVC discount is better than the AP discount, so score!

We now had to go back to DTD as John had been waiting for a specific Lego set to come in and it had, so they were holding it for him.

We got the set, got a Starbucks (and had to have them remake my Mocha Frappuchino...there was no chocolate in it...probably because the barista that was making it was more interested in talking to her coworker than making my drink...I watched her).

And then we made our way back to the resort. Since we hadn't eaten since our early lunch, we ordered a pizza to the room. It was pretty good and John overtipped the delivery lady...but we like doing things like that.

And then...as this trip has been consistent....we crashed.

Saturday we woke up around 9:30am and started packing. We always buy too much, and end up having to stuff my carryon and large personal item bag full of clothes
We checked our bags, got a late breakfast and then we just sat around the pool until it was time for the Magical Express to pick us up.

It was pretty uneventful from here, except for the window seat that we paid for the with Economy Plus upgrade (on United) had no window.



I tweeted about it to United and they made a joke about it.
I wasn't pleased.
Oh well.

We got home and was greeted by Anna (our German Shepherd....who went into heat) and Tory, our cat.

Then I started looking at dates to go back before January....if we can!
You will have to stay tuned to see if we do!

 

[JnKinVA]

Now that I have finished the TR for our spur of the moment October trip and rudely interrupted my original TR, maybe I can get myself in gear and finish our April/May Trip!

I was quite happy with our choices of things to do in October, I hope we can do it again in January...although for 4.5 days, my mom has put me in charge of the itinerary..... That should be interesting.

I also hope I haven't lost you all with the lack of updates. I feel bad for not keeping on this as I should have.
I have visions of that movie Julie and Julia in the blog post where she writes "Is anyone out there?" And her mother responds with a comment

Now....must get my mind back to April and John's first big boy Disney haircut

 

[kastoney]

A sad when a trip comes to an end, but a bit better when you know there is another one on the horizon. Thanks for the "window" into your trip ; )

 

[JnKinVA]

Back to the original TR! Finally!

Things have finally become 'normal' around here.... if there is such a thing as normal haha.
Anna went through 3 weeks of becoming a 'woman'
Tory, she stayed 'normal'
John's sister went back to Texas to take care of her divorce and started the process of a wrongful death suit for John's mom.
And John's contract was extended until January 4th, which helps me out with the finances.

All the vacation plans have been finalized for January. We are arriving on January 11 (staying off property for the night since we that is our driving day and will take most of the day to get there).
Check into Beach Club Villas on January 12-16
Check into Wilderness Lodge Courtyard View from January 16-22
Check into Pop Century from January 22-28

Parents:
Check into Animal Kingdom Lodge Villas - Kidani Village January 14-16
Check into Villas of Wilderness Lodge January 16-19

Have most of our ADRs and FPs done. Most days are go with the flow days

Now...
Back to the show!

 

[JnKinVA]

So we had just finished our time in Frontierland and jumped on the train to head over to Fantasyland.
The Train Ride was quiet and we had a row to ourselves.






When we arrived at our destination, we headed into Silly Pete’s to meet Goofy and Donald.



We decided to walk around Fantasyland and do some things we haven’t done before. The Voyage of the Little Mermaid was one of them. It was a walk-on and it was fun. Reminded me a little bit of Nemo.







We were able to get quite a few Photopass pictures around this area as well which was nice. The photographer wasn’t in a real hurry to take the pics and be on with the next guest, so we had some nice poses.



Continuing on we saw the Gaston statue and Gaston but John didn’t want to stop and meet him.
We made our way to the castle and I stopped to have my picture taken at the Cinderella fountain.
Walked through the hub and took pictures by the statues of some of our favourite characters



and then on to the Rose Garden for more pictures and then in to Tomorrowland for our last FP of the day at Space Mountain.



Another fun and jolty ride. I always worry about this ride with John because he finds it too jolty some times.
Now that we had used our 3 FP for the day, and they had just implemented the extra FPs once you had used them so we decided to try it out. We went to the FP Kiosk by Stitch’s Great Escape and picked a FP for Haunted Mansion from 7:50-8:50pm.

When that was successful, we made our way down Main St to Guest Relations so that I could get a Disney Visa Rewards Redemption Card. This is when we thought it would be fun to get a haircut at the Barber Shop
It was a walk in appointment, and if you have seen the new video on the DME where they interview the barber at the shop, that’s who cut his hair.
I took a few pictures and then headed over to Guest Relations while John was getting all dolled up.


John explaining what he would like done.



I got my card and left some compliments for the Cast Members who did the Birthday Wishes for my friend Jill.
Since John had his hair cut, he needed a shower to get rid of the little bits of hair, so we caught the boat back to WL so he could have a quick wash and then head to the pool to relax. This was not to be, just as we got back it started pouring rain. It was about 4:00pm and lasted until about 7:15pm.

I sat on the balcony for a bit and watched the storm, while John catnapped. We were heading back to MK later on.

Up Next: Magic Kingdom at Night

 

[JnKinVA]

We decided to take the bus back to MK this time. Usually they are pretty reliable. We got down there at about 7:20pm. This is when the mood started to sour. A FW bus was there when we arrived. Then an Epcot bus, Animal Kingdom, another FW bus, DTD, FW again (this driver had done his loop already). We were getting a little impatient. Not to mention the mother who yelled at her child for ‘getting too close to the road’ while she sat her butt on the bench, but didn’t say a word when her kids started jumping in a puddle beside us soaking my legs. This definitely didn’t help the mood.


One of the many busses that was not for MK

At this point John wanted to just go and get on the boat, but I said if we did that, a MK bus would show up. And sure enough it must have been the magic words because a bus finally showed up. It took a good 35minutes for that bus to arrive (from when we showed up) and by the time we got to MK it was already 8pm.


John, not happy about the wait…

Because of the rain, there weren’t many people out front so we have a nice picture in front of the station with no one behind us.





We headed straight to Liberty Square for our FP at Haunted Mansion.


I was practicing with my new lens on my camera. This is the fireplace in the picture room of HM



Once we finished with our 999 Happy Haunts we walked back towards Tomorrowland. Coming to the hub, the Let It Go portion of Celebrate the Magic castle show was starting, so the lights were low, there were way too many people and I slipped off the curb landing on my left foot. The foot that I had surgery to reconstruct my Achilles tendon in August 2012. I swear I thought 1 of 2 things. 1: I just sprained my ankle because I couldn’t put any weight on it right away and I was hopping like a madwoman in front of Cinderella’s Castle and Walt. Or 2: I just completely destroyed any work that my surgeon had done 1.5 years ago. Thankfully it wasn’t any of those, but I sure didn’t feel right for a while.

We crossed the bridge into Tomorrowland just as Wishes was about to start. I wanted to see if I could get a good shot of Tink flying, but with the weather we had it wasn’t surprising that she stayed in the castle.

In an almost deserted Tomorrowland, we were going to use the free FP from RRC on Buzz Lightyear, but there was no line so the CM just sent us in without scanning our bands.



There were empty cars ahead and behind us. John beat me, again… although I did say to him during the ride ‘no fair you are better at this than me!’ and when I looked down I was beating him! But not for long, John heard me, saw the score and made it his goal to kick my butt.


Looking at our scores now, I can’t believe how low they are! Now that we know the high value targets, this will/should never happen again


THIS is my serious face

So now we still had a free FP to use and it had to be used by 9:30pm. We were in Tomorrowland…Wishes is going to end soon…let’s get to Space Mountain and use it there!
We didn’t have to do anything special, just touched our MBs to the Mickey and it lit up green. We were having a blast, being silly laughing and screaming and with about 1/3 of the ride left the lights came on! We were very surprised at how close you are to the tracks around you.
The ride went down afterwards for obvious reasons, so good thing we used our FP for it!


I have no idea what I am doing here, but it is obvious I am not posing for a photo

We were both hungry at this point, and I was dying to try the corn dog poppers from Casey’s. John hates hotdogs, so we had never been. I got my poppers, a cup full of mustard and I was in heaven.


Yummy!

John was waiting for me by Main St so we could get to the Confectionary. I wanted some cotton candy and a candy apple. John ended up for with a S’Mores bar and a chocolate marshmallow on a stick that looked like Mickey Pants.

We were finally done for the day. We decided to take the boat back. I munched on the corn dogs and John ate his S’Mores bar.


Mr. Happy and his S’more’s bar

When we got back to WL, John headed to the room, and I went to get a flatbread pizza for us to share.
We finally went to bed not long after. We needed rest as tomorrow was going to be a long, fun, wet day!

Up Next: A Date With Some Dolphins

 

[JnKinVA]

*Warning, there are no photos in this update due to time constraints and being backstage*

After our long day yesterday, we had to be up early again so we had another wake up call from Olaf at 7:45am.
We got ready and we were out of the room by 8:45am. I went to the Concierge desk to pay some of our bill down and traded for some pins from the Pin Board at the Concierge desk.

We were headed to Epcot again, and we decided to try the monorail again since our first attempt ended in us taking a bus instead.
We walked down to the boat launch. A Red Flag boat was there to take people to MK, but we were waiting for a Blue Flag boat to take us to Contemporary to get on the monorail there.
Well, instead of going to Contemporary and then Fort Wilderness, this time it went FW and then CR. By the time we got to CR it was 9:20. This was a problem for us. You see, we had a date with some Dolphins with the “Dolphins in Depth” program and it started at 9:45am and they want you there 15 minutes early to check in.
We got to TTC, transferred to the Epcot monorail and I asked a CM how long it takes to get to Epcot. She replied, “About 7 minutes”. It was going to be close!
We arrived at Epcot and I had John run ahead to Guest Relations where we were to meet to let them know we were here as it was literally 9:45am.
Funny thing though, John had our bag and had to go through bag check and since I did not I ended up getting to Guest Relations first.
Thankfully they had waited and didn’t leave us behind. *whew!*
If that boat had gone to CR first, we wouldn’t have been late. Oh well, next time we’ll take the bus

This is the second time John and I have done the Dolphins in Depth program. We had done it last year and loved it.
It involves a lot of behind the scenes of the Living Seas and the Dolphins as well (so no pictures). If you have been to the Seas and have seen the Dolphin tank, there are two smaller doors in the back where the behind the scenes happen for the 4 Dolphins. Basically this is where they like to hang out together, get fed, weighed, etc, but they are separated to two in a tank.
After learning about the Dolphins, you are taken to the public demonstration and given a front row seat.
They actually are doing research with these programs.
For this test, they were wanting to see if the Dolphin could remember ‘Same”.
The Dolphin that was sent down was Calvin. He is the oldest at 33 years old.
One trainer would give Calvin the sign to do a trick with the other trainer closing their eyes so they wouldn’t know which sign had been given. Hopefully he would do the right one that was given but if he didn’t they also kept track of that.
The second trainer would be told ‘open’ so they knew that it was complete. The second trainer would either then give Calvin the sign for “Same” which looks like praying hands, or a sign for a new trick. If he was successful the first trainer would blow a whistle and Calvin would return to get his reward. If he didn’t do it correctly, they would have him do something right, and then release him for his reward. They never withhold rewards.
Calvin did well, not all were correct, but he was still learning some of the tricks.
After that they were going to do a matching game, but Calvin wanted nothing to do with it, so the program ended at that point. The Dolphins have complete say in what goes on, even with our tour! If the Dolphins weren’t behaving, or they didn’t want to listen, then unfortunately you could be out of luck with the actual ‘Dolphin Experience’.
After we watched Calvin, we went back to the locker rooms where you are given your own locker for personal belongings and a second one with a wetsuit, dive boots (basically wetsuit boots).
Once we were all dressed they took us up above the tank and we were brought into the water about waist deep. The bottom of the tank is really slippery!
There were 8 of us in the tour, so they broke us up into groups of 4. The trainers had the Dolphins come out to them to make sure it was safe to ‘play’ and then they would call us down to do our photos with a Dolphin. After those were completed, we were able to touch and do signs for the Dolphins to do tricks.
We had Calvin and Ranier (pronounced Rineer) and the other group had Khyber and Malabar (we had Malabar last year).
We love this tour and think that Disney is taking very good care of the Dolphins. They have been there for a long time and a good portion of the money that we pay to do the tour goes towards Disney Conservation Programs around the world.

After we changed and were released back out where we came in around 12:30pm, we entered Epcot for another fun filled day…Until we become part of the show

Up Next: Mid-Day Epcot Fun!

 

[buckeev]

Still following! Sorry I haven't made time to reply, but I really enjoy your comprehensive reports! I wish I had the patience to do that, but our trips are far too crazy-hectic for me to even BEGIN to jot down notes and such. That, and I'm just lazy.
9 more days for us!

 

[JnKinVA]

Ok I forgot about the picture they take with the Dolphin and apparently I forgot that I have a scanner

 

[JnKinVA]

Still following! Sorry I haven't made time to reply, but I really enjoy your comprehensive reports! I wish I had the patience to do that, but our trips are far too crazy-hectic for me to even BEGIN to jot down notes and such. That, and I'm just lazy.
9 more days for us!

Good to know I have at least one follower still!

I am lucky that I have a photographic memory, so most of the time during the trip I write my notes at the end of each day. Unless there is something specific that I want to remember then I quickly put it in my phone.
Now, if I could only remember where I put my keys

So jealous you will be there at Christmastime! We were going to go, but we didn't know when John would be home. He was supposed to be home January 4, but then they changed it to December 18, so he will be home next week

32 days for us for a triple stay!

 

[WDWKOOK]

So many great photos with lots of fun details! Did you use the dolphin photo for your Christmas card? Did they sprinkle John with pixie dust after his haircut? I bet January can't come soon enough. Will he be home from AFG permanently then?

 

[JnKinVA]

So many great photos with lots of fun details! Did you use the dolphin photo for your Christmas card? Did they sprinkle John with pixie dust after his haircut? I bet January can't come soon enough. Will he be home from AFG permanently then?

Thanks Kook!

No, no personalized Christmas cards for us. But maybe next year

Haha, I wasn't there when they finished his haircut, but I'm sure they offered the pixie dust and he declined. He can be a party pooper sometimes

And 30 days to go for our trip. I. Cannot. Wait. We will be there for over two weeks. John said our 11 night trip was too long, but I think it's the parks that burn him out, so with the PAP we can do so much more, he loved going to Blizzard Beach and is looking forward to Typhoon Lagoon, I just hope the weather cooperates. We also loved golfing, DTD and hanging around the pool

And he goes back to AFG in March for another round.

I want to get this report done before we go, so I can get started on the new one!
Coming up, our second trip into the Seas

 

[JnKinVA]

We had finished our fun with the Dolphins around 12:30pm and we had a FP for Living with the Land. John really enjoys this experience and when we go in January we will be doing the Behind the Seeds Tour.
I know, you are probably thinking…really, a FP for Living with the Land? But I glad we did! There was quite a line for it and stand by was showing as 20minutes. I love the greenhouses and hydroponics, as well as the hidden Mickeys.



It was after we finished that we decided to change our Soarin’ FP to Maelstrom. Again, I know what you are thinking. John wasn’t all that impressed with Soarin’ and he refuses to go on Test Track or as he calls it: Test Track and Buy A Chevy.
So Maelstrom it is (and I’m glad we did as the next time we were there, Maelstrom was gone )

Once our FP was changed, we walked the path up by Captain EO and Figment so I could see the jumping water. This is one of two memories that I have from when my parents took us to Epcot in the 1980s (the other memory was EO).



We continued along until we were on the Canadian side of World Showcase.


A couple of ducklings in Canada that we helped reunite with momma duck.

We had a date in Naples. John didn’t know there was a restaurant that he would enjoy so much and we wanted to keep lunch simple since we were going to be diving later.
Our ADR was for Via Napoli at 2:00pm so we walked slowly over to Italy. As we were making our way over through the UK I spotted Mary Poppins. Her line was closing, but her assistant gave me a time sheet for all of the characters in the park.
We walked passed France, Morocco, Japan, where the drummers were out.



We finally made it into Italy.



Via Napoli had a line out the door! I think a lot of people were walk ups. We checked in and waited about 5minutes for our table.



Elena was our server and John was so excited to speak Italian to her to order for us. He was stationed in Naples when he was in the Navy but it had been over 15years since he had been there. He did really well and Elena was impressed and kept saying he did better with his Italian than she does with her English, but she was doing just fine

We ordered drinks and Mineral water (you don’t drink tap water in Naples so John was recreating that!)
John had a Caprese Salad, and we split a Large Margharita pizza. It was so good! Probably the best pizza I have ever eaten.
Then for dessert we split a tiramisu.









After lunch, since I didn’t get to meet Mary Poppins earlier, we made our way back to the UK pavilion to wait for her arrival. We were a little early so we went and met Pooh and Tigger in Christopher Robin’s room.



From there, we exited the toy shoppe where there was a huge line for Alice. It made me wonder if Mary Poppins would be meeting inside due to the weather being a bit iffy. The CM assisting wasn’t sure yet as they hadn’t made the call, so I waited inside the Toy Shoppe and John out by the tea gardens to a spot. Eventually we learned Mary Poppins would be inside and John joined me. I was first in line. Mary Poppins is one of my top 3 Disney movies. She is so proper and asked how I was doing today and completely played back with the answer of “not so well, as I am prone to giggling and not tidying up.” She responded that we would need to fix it with a bit of magic and that even so, we looked to be about the same height. I said, “well then, that makes us practically perfect in every way!” We had our picture taken, she shook my hand and said it had been a pleasure. I said the same and looked at John and said “well then, Spit Spot!”
I must have had a stupid grin for about an hour after that



Since John had entertained me with Mary Poppins, we went over to shop in the UK and bought some Downton Abbey shirts. We love that show, and even named our German Shepherd, Anna, after one of the characters.

It was about 4:00pm at this time which meant we were going to forfeit our Spaceship Earth FP which was ok with us since we rode it a few days earlier. We were NOT going to be late for our second trip to the Seas

Up Next:DiveQuest

 

[WDWKOOK]

What great photos! I missed this earlier while on vacation. Now, I'm even hungrier after looking at those photos of that pizza and my favorite tiramisu. BTW, they have a Breyer's Tiramisu Gelato that's really good.

Love the MP interaction - what fun! And, that photo with the burro is cute as are the ducklings.

Wishing you and DH a safe and happy 2015.

 

[JnKinVA]

What great photos! I missed this earlier while on vacation. Now, I'm even hungrier after looking at those photos of that pizza and my favorite tiramisu. BTW, they have a Breyer's Tiramisu Gelato that's really good.

Love the MP interaction - what fun! And, that photo with the burro is cute as are the ducklings.

Wishing you and DH a safe and happy 2015.

I get hungry every time I see that pizza!
I'll have to check out that Breyer's, love a good tiramisu.

Happy 2015 to you too Kook! And all is safe for now. John doesn't go back to AFG until March

 

[JnKinVA]

DiveQuest



We arrived at Guest Services outside the entrance at around 4:15pm, the time you are supposed to be there (unlike our morning adventure with the Dolphins haha). Just as we arrived, it had started to rain a little, and it got harder the longer we waited. We checked in and gave our sizes (just like in the morning) and showed our C-Cards (Dive Certification cards) and went inside. This time we got to see a different area behind the scenes such as where the food is prepared for the sea life and a whiteboard with who eats what, how much and when. They also showed us the room where the water quality is tested, which is right behind where the Manatees are. When you see the Manatees behind the scenes, you are actually up above the tank from where the public can see you. They had two when we were there, Lou who lost 90% of his tail from a boating accident and will most likely not be returned to the wild. And Little Joe. Little Joe was orphaned and was brought to Epcot to be rehabilitated. He was released back into the wild, but wasn’t doing well, so he was brought back. The hope that Little Joe can one day be returned back to the wild.
After the tour, just like in the morning, we got changed into our wetsuits and booties and headed up above the tank. From there we got our fins on and into our BCDs (Buoyancy Control Device), these had already been set up with our tanks and regulators attached. All we had to do was slip into the vests, do up your straps and get into the water! The only piece of equipment they let you use of your own is your mask.

We descended into the water with the Divemaster. Once we were all down we swam over to the Mickey Head which you can see from the viewing area to have our picture taken. John found a sand tiger tooth there. If you find one you get to keep it. This was John’s third time doing DiveQuest and the first time he found a tooth. The Divemaster took us around the tank and back to Mickey. From there, we were free to go with our Dive Buddy and swim around the tank.
John led the way, and he loves to go to all of the windows to wave at people. Especially those at Coral Reef eating their meals!


At the Mickey Head


Just keep swimming….


Just keep swimming….


Swimming, Swimming, Swimming



At one point during the dive, I couldn’t depressurize one of my ears and if felt like it was going to burst. I was trying to get John’s attention as I was behind him, but he kept going deeper. I bit the bullet and followed him down all the while hoping blood wouldn’t come out of my ear. I smacked him on the head and made the signal that I was going up. As I was, I looked up and started to ascend….and then BUMP! One of the new Loggerhead turtles had gone above me and I smacked right into him! By law you are not allowed to touch or harass the turtles (unless they touch you) so when it happened, I stopped but he wouldn’t leave me alone! The two Loggerheads were new to the tank that day and were very curious of the divers. When it was almost clear to continue, McBride, the Sea Turtle started to come over... all I could think was, you are awesome and I love looking at you, but go away so I can get to the surface!

I made it to the surface, and I let those know at the platform that I was ok and took a break. John joined me at the platform to find out what happened.
We still had 12 minutes of dive time, so I went back down and everything seemed to be ok.
Since I was worried about my ear, I lead John to ‘Shark Alley’ so I could look for teeth in the shells at the bottom. While I was looking down, I could see two shadows… one to my left and one right above me. Two Sand Tiger sharks decided to come explore above me. Quite awesome and chilling at the same time! But my patience paid off and I too found a sand tiger tooth


Mine is on the left, John’s is on the right (mine is bigger )

When we were finished, and cleaned up we got to watch the movie the filmed while we were diving. They sell copies of which 100% of the money goes to Disney’s Conservation Fund.

We then walked out through the dump shop only to see that it had been pouring out (and I believe a thunderstorm had passed since we could hear it in the Aquarium). It was still a bit rainy so we walked to the boat launch where Future World and World Showcase meet and the boat to Germany… and then walked back to Norway. I then realized we should have just walked to Norway in the first place!

We had our FP for Maelstrom and there wasn’t much of a standby, but we went ahead and used the FP anyway.




I had to laugh at the Norwegian Cruise Line as it’s the cruise line that we always have sailed on

When I got in since we were already wet from the rain, I said to one of the CMs “I’m afraid I might get wet on the ride” and I got the reply “Oh you’ll be fine!” Apparently sarcasm isn’t big in Norway
I don’t remember ever being on Maelstrom, but apparently I rode it in the 80s when I came with my family.
It was fun, but definitely not a Tier 1. Now I am sad that it is gone

Once that was all said and done, John wanted to go to Japan to look at kimonos for me and he wanted to try the Pick a Pearl again even though he said his luck has probably run out.
It’s amazing some of the questions that people ask while waiting for your turn. Here’s a few that I got:
- Are there really pearls in there?
- How do they get them in there?
- Are the bigger ones/twins/blue ones worth more?

Anyhoo, I will leave it at that!

It was our turn! John picked his, and I picked mine. San, Ni, Ichi!
And I got what I usually get, a pinkish hue pearl.
What did John get since all of his luck had run out? A Blue one! Yeah, luck ran out there.

And Kimonos are expensive, enough said about those.

We wandered back though France where I got one of those delicious Orange Grand Marnier Slush, made it to the front of the part, hopped on a bus back to WL.
We were hungry since we hadn’t eaten since 2:00pm, so we ate a very late dinner at Whispering Canyon Café. It was practically dead in there.
John had a steak and I got the Buffalo Meatloaf. It was actually very good!


Steak!


Buffalo Meatloaf that I wasn’t sure I would like….


I think I liked it

We paid and went back to the room. It had been a long day.

Up Next:Happy Anniversary!