NO CAPES! A Nov. 2014 TR ~ 12/31: Departure Day - TR Complete

[SarahDisney]

My face would have looked just like Beth's on Rock & Roll; I hate that ride. That is the ONE ride I would NOT give into on the girls trip.

This was our first time doing it, and Beth went into it hating it. You can definitely see that on her face.

I like your choice of dinner places (although I would have had a hot fudge sundae). I'm sorry you weren't "feeling" it shopping this trip. I do like that new Marketplace store...very nicely done and some great things.

We try to get something different every time, so we go for the complicated ones. Hot fudge sundae is just too basic for us. And I really was impressed by the Marketplace Co-op store!

We were not impressed with 1900 Park Fare either The food was mediocre at best and we were very unhappy with the character interaction (and Mary Poppins was out "ill" that day). We are going to try dinner in October only because we love the stepsisters.

I get the impression that dinner is much better than breakfast. I feel bad that it was our first character meal and it was bad ... it turned Beth off of character meals, and I think a better first meal would have had a better result.

Love your interaction with Frozone and Mr. Incredible. We usually have a great experience with them too and always try and stop for a visit.

They are among our favorite characters to visit - a must do for every trip!

So glad you were able to see the Frozen sing along. I knew you would love it!

Thank you for the recommendation - we probably wouldn't have done it without you recommending it. It really was super cute!

Bummer about the DTD night not being as good as usual. I tend to think DTD often ends up that way for me because we are almost always trying to sneak it in on a day after being at the parks all day and are just too tried to truly enjoy it. I think it is much more enjoyable on it's own day. Just need to have a trip long enough to make that possible. but hey....ice cream for dinner is always a win in my book!

Agreed - we do it after a day at the parks and we just don't always have the energy for it. I'm planning a possible trip in a few months where we'll go down in the afternoon (instead of early AM like we usually do) and just do DTD the first night, not doing a park first. Hopefully that'll make it more enjoyable.

I think your glasses look really cute. You should wear them more often.

Thanks! I used to wear my glasses a lot more (I'm actually wearing them now - I usually wear them around the house). But sometimes my contact lenses are just more convenient.

I kinda feel the same way about the Grand. It is beautiful but doesn't really feel like "home" because it is just TOO beautiful. My youngest, who loves all things fancy, is dying to stay there and maybe we would for a night or two someday (if I could find the right deal!) but never for a whole trip!

It's nice for a short visit or really fancy event, but you're right, it really doesn't feel like "home."

Sorry your Park Fare meal wasn't very good. What a bummer! I have never done breakfast but we have always enjoyed dinner. I do have mixed feelings about character meals in general. I like the idea but I wish they would change the set up so you have the meets before you sit down or something. I feel like so many of our pictures end up awkward because either we are eating or it's hard to get up from the table, etc. Character meets in the parks are typically so much better.

Interesting idea about changing how they do meets at character meals. The problem with character meets at the parks is that you wait in line for a while and then don't always get as much time with the characters, and I was hoping the character meals would be different. I was definitely a little bit disappointed.

I do love the pre-meal picture of you and Beth and glad the chef was so accommodating.

Thanks!

 

[MalkaR]

So interesting to hear an actual account and pictures of the kosher food! I plan to take my family in a couple years and we keep kosher too. Great trip report so far! I'll be waiting for your next installment!

 

[SarahDisney]

So interesting to hear an actual account and pictures of the kosher food! I plan to take my family in a couple years and we keep kosher too. Great trip report so far! I'll be waiting for your next installment!

Hi!

I wish I had more kosher food pics for you! They have a decent number of choices, both quick service (there's 1 location in each park (2 in Epcot) that have kosher) and table service (I think you can get it anywhere with 48 hour notice). Plus, the Mickey Ice Cream Bars are OU-D and a few of the other packaged snacks are also kosher, which is great.

Thanks for reading along and for saying hi!

 

[SarahDisney]

Day 4: Thursday, November 6th
Part 2: Never Again

When you last saw us, we were trying to avoid making friends on the bus. Eventually the bus ride (and thankfully, the conversation) ended, and we got off at …

One thing to mention before we go into the park: as you may have inferred from its placement in the picture above, Beth was carrying the backpack that day. I woke up that morning and my back was in a lot of pain (it had hurt the day before too – I took Advil, which did nothing). I was in so much pain that I had to spend the $7 at the hotel gift shop to buy Aleve (which is the only thing that works for my back). So even though I had said I would carry the backpack the whole time, Beth had to take it on Day 4 because I just couldn’t (I don’t think it was related to the backpack , though – my back just randomly acts up sometimes – my joints act much older than they are).

Back to the important stuff … a picture by a different sign:

With a pretty border this time:

Once we got into the park, we had plenty of time before our first FP+ (we got out of breakfast earlier than anticipated). Rather than worry about moving times or anything , we decided to take it easy and look at animals. We started by walking around the Oasis area. Whenever possible (for here and other areas), I’ll try to label the animals we saw, and also post a list of ones we saw but didn’t photograph. I take no responsibility if I mix up animals.

Spoonbill:

Black Swan: (not Natalie Portman)

We tried to take a picture of the Northern Pintail Ducks, but we couldn’t get them to stay still … they seemed a lot more interested in ducky racing (which was super cute, by the way!). Ducky racing. They were so cute.

Macaw!:

Black-Necked Swan (not a great picture):

Rhinoceros Iguana (ugly animal):

Next we headed over to Discovery Island, stopping for a picture by the Tree of Life:

It’s Tough to Be a Bug had a 5 minute wait (aka the time it takes to walk through), so we headed over there. We took some pictures while we walked:

Another picture after the show:

And a picture by the sign:

We had never done It’s Tough to Be a Bug in Florida before. In fact, we hadn’t done it since California 2009, and I didn’t know why. Now I know. Not only are there foul smells, darkness (not suitable for kids, seriously … the ones behind us were terrified) and things touching you, but towards the end you assaulted by your seat (they call it a “sting” – I call it assault). I didn’t exactly need to be poked in the back when my back was already really painful. Not cool, It’s Tough To Be a Bug … not cool. That attraction now goes right next to Maelstrom (which I know no longer exists) on our “Never Again” list.

Once we were done with that, we walked around a bit more, and saw more of one of my favorite animals – another macaw!

Blue and Yellow Macaw (it’s funny that I like macaws, because as a general principle, I hate birds):

We still had a ton of time before our first FP+, so we decided to explore a section of the park we had never experienced before:

As I was posing for this picture, I heard a CM telling guests that Daisy Duck had no line. I know we had just seen her the day before, but … no line? We had to!
So we went down … and right before us Daisy went for a 2-minute break that was closer to 10 minutes.

Once Daisy finally came back, we got this picture:

After a brief interaction with Daisy, we were off to Dinoland. This area was entirely new to us, so there were lots of new things to try. We saw the sign for Finding Nemo the Musical, and decided to come back and hit the last show of the day if we had time.

First stop was:

We got on right away – we walked to the end of the line and they were looking for a group of 2, so we went on! We liked it – it was corny but cute and fun.

We stopped to put on our suntan lotion (seriously … AK is always the hottest park – which definitely contributes to my not exactly loving it) and then proceeded to our next stop (also no line):

This was just like every other Dumbo-style ride across all the parks … just hotter. Seriously. Take a girl who always wears long sleeves and multiple layers and put her in a park where the temperature is 10 degrees hotter than the rest of the surrounding area, and it makes her crabby.

We got off and still had time, so we decided to do Primeval Whirl again. I believe we did the other track this time, but I’m not 100% sure. I do remember that one of the tracks went down either while we were on the ride or right before or right after. This time we sat with a nice dad and girl … the dad was hysterical, he was trying to scare his daughter (but in a cute way).

We saw Goofy and Pluto, but their line was long and we didn’t really want to wait. So we headed out of Dinoland (for now at least).


By this point it was time to head over to our first FP+ … a date with some of our favorite friends!

We got in fast enough, although the kid in front of us in line was a little annoying.
We got there, and they were great! Minnie LOVED my shirt. And she loved Beth’s earrings (I don’t think you can see them in this picture, but they were very funky … the same ones she wore on Monday at Epcot, but I don’t remember if you can see them in any of those pictures either).

Here’s our picture (we only have the posed picture for this one):

We were in and out pretty fast, so we had plenty of time until our next FP+. But by this point we had realized that today just wasn’t our day and AK just wasn’t our park. Maybe if we had park hoppers we could have hopped over to a different park (*cough*MK*cough*) for a few hours and been more into it, but no park hoppers, so it was AK or nothing (plus, there was still stuff we wanted to do at AK … we just didn’t want to do anything other than that stuff).

So we made a decision: essentials only, take it easy and get lots of rest, and call it a day early. Looking at the app, we saw that Baloo and King Louie were meeting in Asia, and since we wanted to see them, we decided to make our way over there.

We wandered around a bit and finally found King Louie and Baloo. It was a long line, but it wasn’t too hot in that area, so we just relaxed.

Finally we got to the front of the line and got this picture:

I don’t know why my hand was in my pocket, but it seemed to be a theme over the course of the day. I never know what to do with my hand in pictures anyway, so I guess my pocket is better than some of the alternatives.

Since our next FP+ wasn’t too far away, we decided that Baloo and King Louie (yes, I know I keep changing the order) would be our last major activity before the FP+. So what did we do to kill the time?

We decided to sit down somewhere and eat our snack. We wanted somewhere a bit out of the sun, which is not easy to find at Animal Kingdom, but we found a place where we could sit, stare at a construction wall, eat our snacks (bananas from breakfast), and people watch. Saw a lot of people wearing walking boots (something we had never noticed before California 2012, when Beth was in a walking boot), and we were impressed because there’s a lot of walking at AK.

We (well, I) also took the time to read my Hollywood Studios Fun Facts, which we had missed out on yesterday because my phone was in the backpack.
Mini-explanation: I scoured the internet and found 1-2 “fun facts” for each attraction we were expecting to experience – something to discuss while on line. This was inspired by an episode of How I Met Your Mother in which Ted, the main character, shares Empire State Building Fun Facts with his friends when they all visit the ESB together. This will become relevant in a few paragraphs.
So I was reading the fun facts, and I had a great bit of difficulty with the word “animatronics.” I don’t know why, I just couldn’t pronounce it. And it’s a word that gets used quite a bit at Disney … it was actually funny.

Anyway, so as I was reading the fun facts, Beth said (as she did throughout the trip): “You should let someone else tell you they’re fun facts.” (I actually realized that this line is not actually in that episode, so I don’t know where it comes from)
My response: “Four and a half stories per week.” (There’s an accompanying hand gesture. If you don’t get it, I guess you’ll have to watch that episode of HIMYM. I apologize in advance, because sometimes that show is painful)

Finally it was time for our next FP+, so we made our way over. There was a PhotoPass photographer there, so she took our picture:

She also took another angle with her camera (probably with the ride in the background, I don’t remember), but I don’t have that one.

We sat in the second row. I don’t think we’ve ever sat that close to the front before. I didn’t like it much.
Then again, I don’t like Expedition Everest much in general. I just do it because I feel like we should.

Expedition Everest is where I will go on my long rants about the lap bars. I know I’m on the thinner side when you average all guests, but I’m really not the skinniest person in the world. The lap bar does not come down far enough for me to feel secure in my seat. There are a few rides like this, but EE is the worst. I actually got really sick the first time I rode it because of a back and forth movement when the car stopped and started again at the end, which I don’t think would have happened had the lap restraint been down far enough. I really don’t understand it, but I know that I’m not comfortable with the distance between me and the lap bar.

Now that I’ve ranted a bit, I leave you with a tree picture:

Coming Next… You’d think something named “Cotton-Top” would be cuter …

 

[KatMark]

I love the photopass pictures out in front of the park.

I LOVE It's Tough to be a Bug.

Cute picture with Daisy.

I'm sorry to hear your back was hurting. I can't believe you did Primevil Hurl with a bad back (yes, I said, HURL, because I hate that ride...makes me want to hurl). How come you didn't do Dinosaur while you were in Dinoland?

I guess I'm weird because I find the Studios to be hotter than AK on certain days.

I love the picture with Mickey & Minnie and Baloo and Louie.

My last ride on EE occurred this summer on my girls trip. I will NEVER do it again.

 

[SarahDisney]

I love the photopass pictures out in front of the park.

Thanks!

I LOVE It's Tough to be a Bug.

I get the impression that you and I have very different tastes in Disney attractions...

Cute picture with Daisy.

Thanks!

I'm sorry to hear your back was hurting. I can't believe you did Primevil Hurl with a bad back (yes, I said, HURL, because I hate that ride...makes me want to hurl). How come you didn't do Dinosaur while you were in Dinoland?

My back did not actually bother me on Primeval Whirl (and I can understand why it would make you hurl). My back pain is weird (along with my knee pain and all my other aches and pains). It really only bothers me when I'm actively moving it (or being poked in the back), but I can do rides that twirl and twist and move a lot as long as the movement is passive and I'm not actively moving my back. It's weird, but so am I.
In terms of Dinosaur ... from what I saw on one of the TV specials I watched, it reminded me a bit of Jurassic Park (the movie) ... which scares me a little. I'm not afraid of dinosaurs, but I don't necessarily want them jumping out at me or all around in the dark or anything like that. Plus, my sister doesn't really like Dinosaurs, so she really wouldn't want to do it. Honestly, it just didn't really interest either of us. It's one of those things (like TOT) that if I ever go with someone other than my sister, I assume I'll get dragged on, but I'm not volunteering to go on it.

I guess I'm weird because I find the Studios to be hotter than AK on certain days.

Interesting. I'd be interested to know if there is an actual difference in the heat and/or humidity between those two parks. Last year we did AK and HS on the same day, but I don't remember if it felt like there was a temperature difference (I know I started off the day with my hair down and then put it up, but I put it up before we hopped and rarely take it down when it's been up already).

I love the picture with Mickey & Minnie and Baloo and Louie.

Thanks!

My last ride on EE occurred this summer on my girls trip. I will NEVER do it again.

Believe me, I don't blame you. I would have no objection to skipping EE, but because I can do it, I feel like I should. But I get never wanting to do it again.

 

[ursalita]

Hi there! I just read through and thought I'd join in. I'm really enjoying it so far. Your TR makes me wish I had a sister. It seems like you both had a great time together. Can't wait to read more!

 

[SarahDisney]

Hi there! I just read through and thought I'd join in. I'm really enjoying it so far. Your TR makes me wish I had a sister. It seems like you both had a great time together. Can't wait to read more!

Hi! Thanks for stopping by and saying hi.

My sister says that she's available for rent - if you pay her expenses, she can join you on your trip . She's great with kids, too.

We did have a lot of fun. I'm glad you're enjoying the report!

 

[Elevationist]

I love love love all of your AK photos! Especially the one with Daisy. I LOVE classic Daisy in her pink!!!

That final photo of ya'll in front of the tree is frame-worthy. That's an awesome shot!

I have to tell you, your TR has been enlightening! I've never really known anybody who keeps kosher, so reading about your meals has been fascinating. So much so that I found myself on Wikipedia this morning, educating myself about just what it means, the different rules and practices and the reasons for them, etc.

What's this I hear about your Feb. 2015 trip being confirmed?! Is there a PTR?! (Wait, maybe I should look in your signature. Derp! )

 

[SarahDisney]

I love love love all of your AK photos! Especially the one with Daisy. I LOVE classic Daisy in her pink!!!

Thanks! Her classic pink is my favorite of all her outfits, so I'm glad we got to see her in that outfit!

That final photo of ya'll in front of the tree is frame-worthy. That's an awesome shot!

Thanks! I believe that's the one we printed for our parents.

I have to tell you, your TR has been enlightening! I've never really known anybody who keeps kosher, so reading about your meals has been fascinating. So much so that I found myself on Wikipedia this morning, educating myself about just what it means, the different rules and practices and the reasons for them, etc.

I'm glad this has been an educational experience for you! Kosher is one of those super complicated things, and there are so few people (relatively speaking) who keep kosher, so most people really don't know much just because they're never really exposed to it. I've met people ranging from thinking kosher was just a synonym for "acceptable" to only knowing no pork to knowing a lot of the laws, so I've learned to explain a little bit over the years, but it is really hard to touch on every tiny little aspect (especially because there are some things that I don't fully understand).

What's this I hear about your Feb. 2015 trip being confirmed?! Is there a PTR?! (Wait, maybe I should look in your signature. Derp! )

I see you found it and came over to say hi! It got totally confirmed over the weekend (I don't call it official until I buy the non-refundable plane tickets), and I'm pretty excited about it.

Meanwhile, I've also decided on my next 2 trips (after February):
Disneyland 2016 (not sure what time of year yet, but we haven't been since 2012 and will have been to WDW 3 times since - and we used to alternate) & WDW Flower and Garden 2017 (probably within the first 2-3 weeks, because we want to go long before Passover)
Don't know what I'm doing after that ... all I know is that I really want to go in mid-November 2021 (I think Nov. 14-19) and stay at the Contemporary (with Poly as a second choice). I've already started saving for that one - I'm about 1/100th of the way to my goal!

 

[SarahDisney]

Day 4: Thursday, November 6th
Part 3: Up Close and Personal With…

When you last saw us, we had recently gotten off of Expedition Everest. Next on our list was another part of the park we had never done before.

But this part we were actually pretty excited for – both the animals and the character. What am I talking about?

We waited a little bit for the train, but soon it came and we got on.

Train Selfie:

I was excited to see the cotton-top tamarins. I know they’re endangered, and I figured they’d be cute (seriously, any animal named “cotton-top” must be adorable … it’s like a rule or something). So we got to the tamarin area and saw all three types (I don’t remember their names):

Those cotton-top tamarins (middle picture) were ugly. I’m very disappointed. If something is named “cotton-top,” it should be cute. Just saying.

We got to Conservation Station, and Beth really wasn’t feeling well (breakfast did not agree with her). So we decided to see Rafiki, look for frogs, and then take it easy.

First we waited on line for the star:

Note the matching gray and black. She’s also wearing blue makeup and funky red and blue (and yellow) earrings.

We went off and found a few different frogs, but we don’t have pictures because we weren’t feeling like it (and they weren’t the super pretty ones anyway). We sat down for a little bit, and once Beth was feeling up to it, we walked back to the train.


Bye bye, Rafiki’s Planet Watch …

We had a little bit of time to kill, so we went into a shop.

Before this next picture, a bit of explanation:
One of the things that bothers me with both FOTLK at AK and the Lion King section of AOA is the complete lack of anything Nala. She’s a big part of the movie, yet she’s nowhere. Nowhere.
So anyway, we went into a store and saw something that made me a little happy:

Next up was time for our last FP+ of the day (and my favorite attraction at Animal Kingdom) …

We saw a lot of animals (though I don’t have pictures of them all). The final list of animals that I have marked off is … (in alphabetical order) addax, African elephant, African lion, ankole cattle, black rhinoceros, eastern bongo, giraffe, greater flamingo, hippopotamus, mandrill, Nile crocodile, pink-backed pelican, sable antelope, warthog, white-bearded wildebeest (aka gnu), white rhinoceros, yellow-billed stork, and zebra. Overall, it was a great safari.

We were able to take pictures of some animals that we got up close and personal with, including …

Giraffe:

Elephant Rear End:

Ostrich:

White Rhino (not as up close and personal):

Zebra (I had to slide over to the other side to get this one … but there was nobody else in our row, so no worries):

Once we got off, we went to the Pangani Exploration Trail to see some gorillas.

Side pictures:

Another gorilla hiding behind a rock:

Next up it was time to wait in line for a great show:

No inside pictures this year, but we didn’t enjoy it as much as we did last year. It was still good, but I was sad that it wasn’t as good. I liked the new theater location, and we were waiting in a covered area, which was nice (Beth really wasn’t feeling well, so she was sitting on the floor, sorta napping).

After FOTLK, it was time to leave. As we left Africa, I took one last picture:

It was almost time to leave the park, but since it was our last day, we needed to print our Photopass pictures. We always have a problem with printing pictures (generally the printer stops working). So what would go wrong this time?

We got to the PhotoPass center and were helped by a very nice CM named Erica. My sister is much better at telling these kinds of stories than I am, but since I forgot to have her help me write this up before she left … you get my version.

Erica was really great. We chatted a bit – she told us that purple MBs may actually be coming out soon (this in response to my purple-painted MB), and also said that the hat at Hollywood Studios was coming down in early January. She also helped us pick out pictures and was very entertaining. We printed a 5x7 & wallet sizes of our picture with Beast and printed 4 pictures (well, 6 technically because it was 2 5x7 and 2 sets of 2 4x6), one with each park icon, for something called the Capture the Magic Package that we always get my parents. Basically, it’s 4 pictures in a folded paper display thingy.

In previous years, when printing PhotoPass pictures, something always went wrong, usually with the printer. Nothing went wrong … and we told Erica that it was weird and we liked getting free stuff when things went wrong. Erica went in the back for a few minutes, and came back with an extra display thingy – one with Christmas characters on it. We said thank you, but mentioned that we’re Jewish, so it’s kinda weird. At that point she started putting the “Happy Hanukkah” border on one of our pictures. It was hysterical.

End of the day, she couldn’t do anything else for us, but we really appreciated the effort that she put in to try to get us something free because for once nothing went wrong.
(Meanwhile, right now we’re trying to print more pictures through the website and having trouble with the stickers, but that’s a different story entirely).

Once our pictures had printed and Erica had entertained us, we left the park. Outside we saw Meeko and Governor John Ratcliffe from Pocahontas. We wanted to get into the line to see them, but they were just closing the lines and we weren’t willing to wait. So we left and headed back to the hotel.

Coming next … How do we get into the Finding Nemo pool?

 

[Elevationist]

The Cotton-Top Tamarins are so ugly they're cute! I love them!

Aww, the Nala plushie is adorable! And I agree, I was really surprised to see she wasn't represented anywhere at AoA!

I love all the critter pictures! Especially dat elephant booty!

It sounds like you had an AWESOME PhotoPass CM at the end of the day, and I'm glad to hear that nothing broke! Hooray for Erica! Sounds like she really tried to go above and beyond for ya'll.

 

[KatMark]

Sorry Beth wasn't feeling well. Great picture with Rafiki though. I never have seen a cute frog in all of my life.

Great animal pictures...especially the giraffes.

I'm sorry you didn't enjoy FOTLK as much this year as last. What was different? We had a really great show in September.

I'm glad you had a great CM to help you out with printing your photos. And nice that you got a little bit of pixie dust too.

 

[SarahDisney]

The Cotton-Top Tamarins are so ugly they're cute! I love them!

See, I just found them ugly, not cute. To each her own, I guess

Aww, the Nala plushie is adorable! And I agree, I was really surprised to see she wasn't represented anywhere at AoA!

I know, I can't believe there's nothing Nala at AoA. I was so happy to find the plushie and see that at least she's somewhere.

I love all the critter pictures! Especially dat elephant booty!

Thanks! The elephant gave us a nice view of its butt.

It sounds like you had an AWESOME PhotoPass CM at the end of the day, and I'm glad to hear that nothing broke! Hooray for Erica! Sounds like she really tried to go above and beyond for ya'll.

She was really great. She actually understood when we were disappointed that nothing went wrong ... most CMs would just be confused.

Sorry Beth wasn't feeling well. Great picture with Rafiki though. I never have seen a cute frog in all of my life.

Thanks!
We're big frog people - our favorite frog is the poison dart frog, but the ones they had weren't so pretty.

Great animal pictures...especially the giraffes.

Thanks! Last year we only saw the giraffes from far away, so it was nice to be so up close!

I'm sorry you didn't enjoy FOTLK as much this year as last. What was different? We had a really great show in September.

I don't know what was different ... maybe it was just because last year it was new and this year it wasn't. Or maybe it was just that we weren't feeling well this year. It was still really good, even if it wasn't as good.

I'm glad you had a great CM to help you out with printing your photos. And nice that you got a little bit of pixie dust too.

We love getting pixie dust, and it was nice to get it without having something go colossally wrong.

 

[SarahDisney]

Day 4: Thursday, November 6th
Part 4: Is the Pool Closed?

Once we got back to the hotel, we went back to our room, dumped our park stuff, and grabbed what we would need for dinner and resort exploration. Dinner was cereal for Beth and tuna on crackers for me.

On the way to the room we snapped this pretty picture:

And once we got there, we had a present from Mousekeeping:

(and in that picture you can see the super sad part of the day … our DME return to the airport notice)

So we went to dinner, ate, and then went to Ink & Paint Shop to check out what they had there … and for me to buy something specific. I had seen it the night before, but wanted to hold off on buying it to see if I found anything better at Downtown Disney. I didn’t, so I went back and bought …

I’ve used it at least twice since … it probably doesn’t fit my water bottle (I don’t think any of my bags do) and I had a hard time sticking my bagel in there a few weeks ago (with a smaller water bottle), but otherwise, it’s awesome. And it’s coming to Disney with me in February (we’re going with smaller bags and carrying the water bottles instead of the big backpack).

I believe Beth bought some shot glasses there (one of which she gave to our brother), and possibly a few other things, I don’t remember. Our next plan of attack was to head to the pools first – so we headed to the Cozy Cone Pool.

On the way to the pool, we took a few pictures:

Pool gate:

Fillmore:

Once we got to the pool … we couldn’t get in. Was the pool closed already? We saw people there, so we knew there must be a way to get in.

We finally figured out how to open the gate (I may have seen instructions somewhere, I don’t remember), and I took pool pictures (sorry about the lights, they were just in my way and I didn’t want to deal with trying to adjust my picture taking spot):

And Beth inside a Cozy Cone Cabana:

Next up was the main pool … the Big Blue Pool (Finding Nemo themed).
Last year we took pictures from outside the gate. We knew that you needed your KTTW card or MB to get in, but no matter how many times we tried to scan our MBs, they wouldn’t open the gate.
Same problem this year. Except … underneath where (we thought) you were supposed to scan your MB, I saw the symbol that they have when I use my phone to tap and pay. So I tried tapping there, and lo and behold, the gate opened. Apparently we had just been tapping our MBs on the wrong surface. Oops?

So we got inside and got to take some pictures of the pool area.

I love how this picture came out:

Kiddie Splash Pool area:

You made me ink!

Crush and Dory:

Kids Play Area:

Mr. Ray:

Next up was The Little Mermaid Section. We had seen some of this last year, but not the pool, and not the sketchpads on the sides of the buildings.

For those of you who are unfamiliar with AoA, at the end of each building there are “sketchpads” (in keeping with the animation theme) of characters from the corresponding movie. Here’s the Ursula one:

Beth tried to get a picture from the side so that you could actually see that it’s supposed to look like a sketchpad with pages and everything. I think she was fairly successful:

My favorite princess :

And her Sea King father:

At this point in time, since we were near the room (we were in the Triton building, room 9482 I believe, something like that), we stopped off in the room to drop off packages and change our (okay, my) shoes.

Once we were all changed, we took a picture in front of King Triton (I don’t know if you can tell, but I’m wearing flip flops):

We went into the Flippin’ Fins Pool, but for some reason I didn’t take any pictures there. I did, however, dip my foot in the water. And then I was walking around with one wet flip flop.

Next up was a picture of Ariel:

And Ursula (this is where we stayed last year; next time we’re at AoA I’m calling and asking for Ariel):

Let’s not forget some fish friends:

We weren’t done yet … but this post is. Stay tuned for more exploration!

Coming Next … Ursula’s Signature

 

[SarahDisney]

Day 4: Thursday, November 6th
Part 5: I'm Gonna Swing From the Chandelier
(no, I didn't actually want to swing from a chandelier, that's a song lyric)

When you last saw us, we had just finished exploring the Little Mermaid section of AoA, and we had one stop left to make before heading over to Pop Century for some souvenir shopping.

That stop …

That is the big chandelier in Animation Hall. Those white pieces of “paper” are sketches from the movies featured as themes at the hotel.

I tried to get as many pictures from different angles as I could. Here’s what I got:

If you look carefully, this one is signed by Pat Carroll (aka the voice of Ursula):

There are a few signed ones, but that was the only picture I got.

Once I had finished taking my chandelier pictures, we headed over to Pop Century to check out what souvenirs they had in their gift shop.

On the way over, Beth had to snap a picture:

(I pointed this out to her because I had seen it the morning before on my run)

Once we got to the Pop Century gift shop, Beth started looking for the gifts she needed. We were in a slightly better mood than we had been at DTD the night before (or at AK earlier in the day), so we enjoyed browsing a little more … and of course, took pictures of some cute stuff.

Beth, who is a big Tangled fan, saw some pins that she liked (but didn’t buy):

And then we saw lots of fun magnets:

Beth made some purchases and as we were heading out, we saw the trivia of the day … and since it was about one of Beth’s favorite movies, she had to take a picture:

Of course, we then stopped to answer the trivia questions, got them all right (although we needed some help on #2), and got more stickers! (I don’t have a picture of these stickers, but we each got 3 character stickers).

We walked back over to Art of Animation, and we must have walked back by the Big Blue Pool, because we saw something we hadn’t seen before … and had to snap a picture:

By that point we were done and ready to head back to the room (of course, I spent the entire walk to the room saying "P Sherman, 42 Wallaby Way, Sydney"). We went back to the room, packed, and went to bed. We had a 4:15 DME pickup scheduled, so we needed to be able to get up early!

Bedtime: 9:50 pm (Both)
Day’s Totals (according to Sarah’s Fitbit):
Steps – 25,191
Flights of Stairs – 32 (I don’t know if that’s actually true – Fitbit tends to count uphill as stairs)
Miles – 10.52

End of Day Recap – Our Favorites:
Favorite Part of the Day:
Beth – Chef Brad, being right next to a giraffe, photopass experience
Sarah – Chef Brad
Favorite Character Meet:
Beth – Mickey & Minnie, Rafiki
Sarah – Mickey & Minnie

Coming next: Time to say goodbye to Disney

 

[stacy~**]

Sorry about your back pain. Glad that Beth was able to help you out and carry the bag.

It's Tough to be a Bug is either a love it or hate it attraction. I really enjoy it and I have to admit part of my enjoyment is seeing all the first timers freak out. Is that wrong? Plus I love Bug's Life and unfortunately this is really the only representation for them at WDW.

Your Mickey and Minnie picture is great!

Sorry the EE lap bars make you uneasy. I have the exact opposite feeling. I like them loose or I feel like they bruise my legs plus I've been known to not pull it down super tight so I can have more movement. It adds a TOT element to the ride.

Yay that your February trip is falling into place! I will have to head over to your PTR and check out your plans. I can't remember, is it the 5k you are doing? Too bad our trips won't be at the same time (we are going early Feb.).

Sorry Beth wasn't feeling great as the day went on. Feeling bad at Disney is the worst.

Love the AOA bag you chose. Cute!

I enjoyed your AOA pictures. I have been lucky enough to tour/explore the resort twice and I really like it. Next time we stay value I definitely am hoping to stay there. Although I really want a Cars suite which isn't value priced.

 

[SarahDisney]

Sorry about your back pain. Glad that Beth was able to help you out and carry the bag.

Thanks. Beth has had some neck & back pain in the past so I wasn't sure if she'd be okay holding the bag, but she was great about it.

It's Tough to be a Bug is either a love it or hate it attraction. I really enjoy it and I have to admit part of my enjoyment is seeing all the first timers freak out. Is that wrong? Plus I love Bug's Life and unfortunately this is really the only representation for them at WDW.

Seeing first timers freak out is definitely a legitimate form of entertainment. I think it's definitely one of those things that some people love it and some hate it. I wanted to love it, but I just couldn't handle some of the "interactive" parts (I think part of it was being "stung" in the back when my back already hurt ... that really wasn't fun)

Your Mickey and Minnie picture is great!

Thanks!

Sorry the EE lap bars make you uneasy. I have the exact opposite feeling. I like them loose or I feel like they bruise my legs plus I've been known to not pull it down super tight so I can have more movement. It adds a TOT element to the ride.

See, I'm afraid of TOT, so I don't really want that element added to the ride ...
I'm also one of those people who likes my seatbelt really tight. I don't know why, I guess it's just a personality thing. I think most people prefer a little bit of space.

Yay that your February trip is falling into place! I will have to head over to your PTR and check out your plans. I can't remember, is it the 5k you are doing? Too bad our trips won't be at the same time (we are going early Feb.).

Yup, we're doing the 5K Friday morning. I'm hoping to eventually move up to the longer races, but I'm not quite ready for that yet (as of right now I'm doing just under 3.5 miles of walk/run ... so maybe I'll be ready for a 10K in a few months, but definitely not by February). It would be so awesome if we were going to be there at the same time ... maybe a different time. You'll have to report back on how the weather is so that I know what to pack.

Sorry Beth wasn't feeling great as the day went on. Feeling bad at Disney is the worst.

We think it was the breakfast food (which actually makes us sad because we don't have many breakfast options and we got a good breakfast ADR for February that we may end up cancelling). She was feeling a lot better by the end of the day, though, which was good.

Love the AOA bag you chose. Cute!

Thanks! I'm a huge Little Mermaid fan so I love that it has Ariel on it.

I enjoyed your AOA pictures. I have been lucky enough to tour/explore the resort twice and I really like it. Next time we stay value I definitely am hoping to stay there. Although I really want a Cars suite which isn't value priced.

I would love to stay in the suites (preferably Cars, but I'd take Finding Nemo or Lion King instead if that's all I can get), but if I'm paying that much, I might as well go Deluxe. But we love AoA and the Little Mermaid room is our default hotel choice (when it's available). Disney really did an amazing job with that one - we've been there twice and I'm still finding new things that really amaze me.

 

[courtneybelle]

Hi Sarah!!! I love the title, The Incredibles is one of my favorites

Belle looks fabulous in her cape even though we know it's not very practical!

I'm not a big Boyz II Men fan but I like their voices so the concert sounds like it would be really fun!! I missed the Sing Off special this year and I'm so disappointed because Patrick Stump of Fall Out Boy was one of the judges this year and I LOVE him. I'll have to try and find it online or something!!

I really like the charm you picked! I definitely want to check them out next time I'm at WDW.

I'm cracking up at you guys getting the 1% milk because it has Mickey on it. TOTALLY something I would do.

I'm so glad your meal at BOG was good! People hype up the West Wing but I think the ballroom is the best.

I'm sorry to hear about the real-life troubles I hope 2015 is much better for you!! "Dreams do come true, and maybe something wonderful will happen!" - Enchanted

Yesssss so glad you got to see the Frozen Sing-A-Long! I love it. Especially Kristoff.

Rock 'n' Roller Coaster is one of my favorites so I'm glad you got to ride it without a long wait! Such a great ride photo hahaha

I am a huge HIMYM fan so I LOVE that you came up with the fun facts!!! Picture me going "ooooooo" after you said 4 1/2 stories per week.

I LOVE that AoA purse!!!

 

[afwdwfan]

Read through your updates this morning, no way I can comment on all of it, so I'll stick to a few things that stood out.

If your goal is to see princesses, you're sure got things off to a strong start!

Your observations about your service at Mama Melrose... well, I was disappointed by our service there as well. And we didn't have any specific dietary needs.

The lap bars on EE. I totally understand where you're coming from. But I hate lap bars for a different reason. I'm on the bigger side and they are knee bangers. I think that is the problem that Disney has to cater to everyone from the 42" kids to someone who is well over 6'.

I may have had some difficulty trying to open the gate to the Cars pool too...