What Started As A Cruise... Another update! 19/04

[Kiren]

Oh my! So Sorry! I ended up being sent out of town on a temporary duty for the summer! Well I'll update now!

Day 2 - Wednesday 25 May - "Wow... This is a bit of a let down."

Apologies but this update is not very picture heavy...

So after our wild night at Magic Kingdom, DH and I decided we would get up at 7 AM. Well we are still working off jet lag at this point so when the alarm went off we did the unthinkable and hit snooze!!! :O

We rolled out of bed at about 8 and headed for our next park: Epcot! We made it there around 930 and we were still having decent luck with the transportation. No wait for the monorail!
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We were greeted by this beautiful sight and then made our way further into Future World. I'm going to post a disclaimer: DH and I were honestly not impressed with Epcot.

Continuing on: We quickly found there wasn't a whole lot to do and there are next to no breakfast options. We wandered around and rode Living with the Land. I remembered this from my childhood and it brought back a lot of memories. I enjoyed it and maybe when DH and I come back someday I'll do the Behind the Seeds tour. We next used our FP for Spaceship Earth. That also brought back awesome memories. We didn't get the custom future though. I think the ride was down just before we got to it so maybe it just wasn't working at the time.

World Showcase was finally open so we headed that way. I was excited because as a kid I never got to go through it. We stopped at Canada and watched Oh Canada! It was nice to see our country like that and even go to see our city! That was so cool! Unfortunately we had to rush a bit to get to Japan as we had an ADR at Teppan Edo! I had the Ebi and it was soooo good! We even got a nice surprise when they brought our dessert and sang a song for our Honeymoon! And while the meal was quite good it was also quite pricey! We were shocked this trip because we kept comparing everything to DLR. The food prices don't seem that bad in Cali. We wandered through Mitsukoshi and DH picked up some Tabi socks. I grabbed a strawberry Kakigori as we made our way through World Showcase and over to Test Track. It was fun but we definitely prefer RSR.

We went to Club Cool because I was determined to try Beverly. I reacted exactly how everyone else seems to react but DH? He LOVED it. He commented that the drink isn't supposed to be guzzled but used to cleanse the palate. Personally I think adulting it up might make it tolerable. Hahaha! Bit of a funny but sad moment though. At the stand we were at there was a young boy and his mom. Well mom wasn't paying attention and bumped her poor kid who proceeded to dump his pop all over himself! DH and I felt bad and quickly fled the scene, making our way over the sticky floor to the outside and the heat. OH MY GOODNESS!

Why didn't anyone warn me about the heat!? Honestly there were a couple of days I was concerned I wasn't going to make it out of Florida. But again I digress. We wandered some more and checked out Figment. My new favourite imaginary friend! Such an interesting and unexpected ride! We checked out Nemo and Friends since we had FP's but really didn't find it that interesting. We had to head back to the hotel though, as we had a very special dinner planned for the evening. We were dining at California Grill! Our good luck with the transportation continued! We were seated quickly and had a GORGEOUS view of the sunset. We were seated at 730 PM which was our ADR. I had the Combo Sushi Roll. I really liked the shrimp but the california roll had chunks and I mean LARGE chunks of shell in it. I'm not normally one to complain about my food (I serve and prepare food for a living I know how hard it is) but the waiter gleaned it out of me when he noticed I only ate one piece of the roll. He felt so bad about it. He ended up comping both the desserts. One was already comped because of the Honeymoon.

The bread was AMAZING! (Seriously I could've eaten another two baskets!)

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And I had my first adult beverage of the trip!

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Although I'm going to be honest I don't remember what it is. It's beer and it was very good though!

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And finally my dessert! It was the peach and berry creme brulee.... SO GOOD! I also had a 7 dollar cup of coffee which I don't think will be happening again soon.

Well tonight was EMH at Magic Kingdom so we decided to head over there and try to close out the park. We walked onto Monster Laugh Floor as Wishes was just starting. I did not realize it had audience participation. I laughed soooo hard haha! We hopped on Astro Orbiters (this one had a bit of a line as the park was just starting to close so people were jumping into the nearest line for one last ride before EMH began) Then we hopped on Dumbo. Made us miss DLR. Then 100 acre wood. Oh that is a fun one! After that we were feeling thirsty to we hopped next door to grab a couple of fountain drinks. The CM handed them to us and said that Mickey wanted us to have them. Woot free drinks! We finished off the evening with Haunted Mansion and we both really enjoyed the queue!

Next: How do we get back to the busses?!

 

[ariane37]

Wow, you must be happy to be back from wherever you were sent for the summer!
I'm sorry you and DH weren't impressed with Epcot; we really enjoy it. I think one of the issues with that park is that a lot of the things there to do aren't right "out there" in your face; you need to either search for them or know about them. For instance, we love a lot of the entertainment in WS: the acrobats in China, Serveur Amusant in France, the band in the UK are some examples as well as Voices of Liberty in the American pavilion rotunda. But on the other hand, since most of them are outside it's difficult to watch in the heat

Funny that DH liked Beverly but I think he's probably right that it's meant to cleanse the palate. I've never thought about that!

 

[Kiren]

Wow, you must be happy to be back from wherever you were sent for the summer!

I certainly am. It's been hard because I'm trying to catch up on a lot of stuff work wise and I just seem to keep falling further behind.

We just were expecting more from Epcot. It sounds like they are starting to update some of the attractions so that might help in future visits!

 

[Kiren]

Day 3 - Thursday 26 May 2016 - How do we get to the buses!?

So we woke up a little later this morning and decided that our Fastpasses were for later in the day so we decided to head to Disney Springs for the morning! Once again we had a zero wait for the bus and it took about 30 minutes to get there. We wandered quickly through the new area (even though it felt like an outdoor mall it was still pretty cool) and grabbed some Wetzel's Pretzels for breakfast! Always good! We don't have a pretzel place near us so it's a nice treat when we go! We had to head back in order to make our 1:05 ADR in MK. We had to ask how to get back to the busses because we were lost haha! We finally made it to the bus at about noon and once again had a zero wait! Woohoo! We dropped our bags off at the room and hurried off to MK for lunch at... Crystal Palace! DH picked this one so we could say we had done a character meal! As soon as we sat down Eeyore came by right away!

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He was so adorable and cute! Very huggable! We grabbed some food and sat down. Winnie the Pooh came by next!

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I don't think Pooh was having a good day today as he didn't seem too interested or energetic. Just posed for the picture and moved on. Maybe he hadn't had any honey yet! We noticed Tigger and Piglet making the rounds but we couldn't sit there any longer. The buffet was okay but we both felt it definitely wasn't worth the price.

We had a bit of time to kill before our first fastpass so we over to Enchanted Tiki Room. It's shorter than the DLR version and not as enjoyable. What bothered us was that on the way out people were touching the tiki's on the walls and forcing the mouths open! That was one thing we noticed at WDW was that people seemed a lot ruder and disrespectful than at DLR. Maybe because the crowds are larger?

So we next headed over to Hall of Presidents. I'm going to be honest the parts I did see were very interesting but when you mix long days, dark rooms and air conditioning I'm going to doze off!

On with our wandering we started heading for Tom Sawyer Island but got stuck in the traffic for Festival of Fantasy! We finally just stepped off to the side and ended up watching the parade with a pretty decent view. So cute and we got to see the dragon breathe fire! We popped over to TSI and checked it out before deciding to take a break where the old cafe is. We ended up sitting there for a good hour and half! It was so nice as it was in the shade and there was a wonderful breeze! We took some pictures of HM across the way.

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Grabbed food at Peco Bill's (I honestly can't remember what I had but it was good) and we headed to Pirates for our fastpass. Still enjoyable! We did have to go to Main Street on a detour because I ended up burning my chest really badly. But I got an awesome Dory T Shirt to add to my collection! We headed to BTMRR for our 2nd fastpass and found it to be longer and more fun that DLR. We then had to wait for our fastpass to Splash so we ended up people watching a bit. Wow... That's all I can really say on that. We decided after that to start heading back to the room. But we ended up stopping at Philarmagic. So cute! I loved all the effects and the music!

We made it back to the room and I did laundry. Not a fan of walking through the forest of Mosquitoes to get to the laundry in the garden wing and back. We grabbed supper at the Contempo Cafe and enjoyed our evening!

Next up: How does this pin trading thing work?

 

[dmea10]

We made it back to the room and I did laundry. Not a fan of walking through the forest of Mosquitoes to get to the laundry in the garden wing and back. We grabbed supper at the Contempo Cafe and enjoyed our evening!

Next up: How does this pin trading thing work?[/QUOTE]


Following along!

 

[heaven2dc]

Wow, you must be happy to be back from wherever you were sent for the summer!
I'm sorry you and DH weren't impressed with Epcot; we really enjoy it. I think one of the issues with that park is that a lot of the things there to do aren't right "out there" in your face; you need to either search for them or know about them. For instance, we love a lot of the entertainment in WS: the acrobats in China, Serveur Amusant in France, the band in the UK are some examples as well as Voices of Liberty in the American pavilion rotunda. But on the other hand, since most of them are outside it's difficult to watch in the heat

Funny that DH liked Beverly but I think he's probably right that it's meant to cleanse the palate. I've never thought about that!

I agree with you as Epcot is one of my favorite parks! We love Test Track, Mission Space (esp Orange side), Soarin and Spaceship Earth. The entertainment is so unique in WS - we love the Serveur Amusant!

 

[Kiren]

Following along!

Welcome! So nice to have some more people letting me know they are following along!

I agree with you as Epcot is one of my favorite parks! We love Test Track, Mission Space (esp Orange side), Soarin and Spaceship Earth. The entertainment is so unique in WS - we love the Serveur Amusant!

We just felt that the way we remembered it as a kid was not the way it seemed now. Just a little run down. Maybe if they revamp it a bit we will give it another try.

 

[Kiren]

Friday 27 May - DHS - What is this pin trading and how do we do it?

(Sorry for the delay again. I was busy at work and started a new position. But I plan on finishing this report tonight!)

Once again we had another late start (DH and I are not morning people), but we didn't have anything until our 1225 ADR at Sci-fi! We had another zero wait for the bus and we were on our way! We still had some time before our ADR so we wandered around a bit and came across Captain Phasma leading her troopers to the stage! So cool!

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We grabbed lunch of burgers and really good milkshakes and we really enjoyed the theming of the theatre. We both chuckled at the classic cheesy sci fi movies.

The next two pictures are out of order but we did go on GMR (really cool I didn't remember this from my trip as a kid) but before that we got adult slushies! I needed it to boost my courage for an upcoming fastpass.


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Ack I'm not doing very good today! These next two are switched around as well. But this was what I needed the adult slushie for. TOT!!!! I don't do well with heights or elevators but I knew I wanted to try this ride as did DH. So I mustered my courage and got on.

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I screamed my self hoarse but found it AWESOME! We actually had fastpasses for it another day and I was so excited! Below is the photopass picture we took just before we got on. He told us to look scared which wasn't all that difficult for me!


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So now we come to a classic Kiren moment and it takes a bit of telling. I'm known for leaving stuff behind. Usually minor things like leftovers from the restaurant and such. But this time I really did it. After ToT I really needed to use the washroom so I ducked in quick and did my thing and we carried on down the street back towards the other smoking area (more slushie drinks) well we get a little ways there and I wanted to check our next fastpass so I reach for my phone... It's not there. I start freaking out and bolt down the street heading back to the bathroom. (I'm not supposed to be running on my ankle but this was an emergency!) Unfortunately when I got to the bathroom it wasn't there. Luckily both DH and I have Android phones so I signed onto Google and starting tracking my phone. It said it was nearby! We started searching and searching but no luck. We remotely locked it and figured we should start heading to guest relations. As we walked past the FP+ kiosks I saw a CM holding a phone in his hand. It was mine! I ran up and asked if it was found in the bathroom and he said yes. Because we remote locked it Google automatically pulled up a picture of myself to prove it was mine. I was so happy I immediately just burst out crying. DH was trying to calm me down and we thanked the CM to continue on our way but he stopped us and beckoned us over to his little shed where he told me there should be no tears at Disney and gave us an anytime any ride fastpass! I was so happy again! So we immediately headed over to Rockn' and hopped on the limo!

DH has a zero reaction because apparently he was trying to catch his breath! Hahahahah! It was a bit shorter than I remembered it as a kid.

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After that it was time for our TSMM FP. But of course when we got there it was down! so we went to One Man's Dream and watched the preview for Alice Through the Looking Glass. Afterwards we decided to check TSMM and the new track was up. They were only letting fast pass holders on and we were told it was going to be a 45 min wait, so we decided why not and it turned out to only be about 15! Oh. My. Goodness! Why did it take us so long to try this ride out. SO MUCH FUN!

We had one more fastpass for Star Tours so we headed over and got the new Force Awakens and the scene with Jar Jar. It was too funny! After that we headed back to the hotel (One minute wait for the bus) and caught the water pageant before we went to eat at the Contempo and took it back to the room.

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Up next: And now for something completely different!

 

[Kiren]

Ack! I'm horrible at this! I don't use a computer much at work now as I'm always moving about! Gotta get back to the boards!

Saturday 28 May - Animal Kingdom/Disney Springs!

This morning was not a very early morning so there wasn't much of a rush to get around. We were headed to Animal Kingdom! This was a first for both of us as I had never gone there on my trip with my family, and it wasn't even built when DH went! We again had a zero wait for the bus. We got there and quickly got into the park where we headed straight for Expedition Everest (consulting a map the whole way haha!) Expedition Everest is definitely an awesome ride! Below is the only picture we have from today (Shocking I know!)

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We wandered around for a bit afterwards before heading to the Finding Nemo Musical! Oh my goodness Mickey, what a cute show! So adorable! We wandered to Dinoland USA and went standby on Primeval Whirl. Whee! (What I actually wrote in my notes!) Our final FP was for Kali River Rapids. I got soaked but honestly felt it wasn't that great of a ride. Too short and not worth walking around soaking wet. While we were trying to dry off DH got an Adult Coke Slurpee and I got a regular one. The CM almost didn't serve DH because he didn't have a "proper ID" (Like we are going to carry our passports around!)

We checked out some pins in one of the shops before deciding to head back to the room for a change of clothes and a rest. This is where our Bus Luck ran out. We waited almost 40 minutes for a bus and by the time it came the queue was full so the bus was full. We finally got back to the room and had a bit of a nap.

We got up and headed to Disney Springs around 4:30. Our bus luck is back! We had a zero wait and made it to DS in short order. We returned a purchase we had made earlier and grabbed a pretzel as we realized we hadn't eaten all day. We also decided to catch a movie (seems to be a tradition on our trips). So we got tickets to X-men in the Dine-in theatre. Before the movie we sauntered through DS. We built a lightsaber for DS and stopped at Basin for me to grab a nice bath bomb for a good soak later. We caught the movie (really cool experience!) and headed back to the resort around 11:30. We had a very brief 6 minute wait. I hopped in the tub with my bath bomb and a Kahlua mudslide and enjoyed a good soak before turning in for the night.

Next time: "Don't worry, it's definitely not going to rain!"

 

[Kiren]

Sunday 29 May - Disney's Hollywood Studios

Again we woke up a little bit later this morning we were headed to DHS with FP for ToT, Star Tours, and Indiana Jones Stunt Spectacular! We had a 1 minute wait for the bus. We got to the park and went over to ToT for our second ride of the trip!

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I enjoyed it much more this time! We wandered over to Star Wars Launch Bay and watched the movie. DH bought a Yavin 4 Medal. We wandered past TSMM hopeful, but the line was too long. We went on Star Tours again and got front row center! We then watched Path of the Jedi and headed to Indiana Jones. We already knew about the "twist" from reading online and it made it funnier. DH had fun trying to remember the show from 28 years before when he saw. He thinks it may have been the same shirt! I liked how they described each scene and what they were doing for it. We went in search of a Star Wars pin set for trading because DH got a little obsessed with it. DH bought a red vintage style Mickey shirt.

Then we headed to 50's Prime Time Cafe for supper. SO AWESOME! We had Cousin James from London, England. He played his part perfectly. Just perfect. He kept calling us Canada and playing us off with the table beside us. He gave DH a sticker for clearing his plate and berated me for not clearing mine. We went to walk off supper and look for those elusive Star Wars pins. We found them and on our way back to the room stopped at a DVC kiosk to ask what they were selling (Poly and Aulani). We ended up scheduling an open house tour for the next morning mostly for the 3 fastpasses and a 50 dollar gift card. I commented on how I thought I heard thunder and the CM said that he knew Florida weather and that it wasn't going to rain at all! DH snapped the picture below (unfiltered) right after we left the kiosk.
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Sure enough about 15 minutes after we left the Kiosk it started to rain. We stopped at Guest Relations to mention Cousin James and when we got out it was pouring and storming! We sprinted to the buses and waited under an umbrella near our stop four about 10 minutes. The bus came and we hopped on but unfortunately they had the AC blasting and with us being soaked it was freezing! We got back to the hotel and dried off while watching the storm from the window. We crawled into bed pretty quick after that and got ready for our DVC meeting!

Next time: "What will it take to make you buy?"

 

[Kiren]

Monday 30 May 2017 - Magic Kingdom

Well this morning we had an early start as we had our DVC presentation! The shuttle picked us up at the Contemporary and got us to the Poly for our 830 presentation. We received nametags and were walked through the property to the office/Deluxe Studio (Can't remember which building sorry!) Kenny arrived shortly after and once he pulled us up and had seen that we toured two years before in DLR he led off with "What could he do to have us walk away as members. He gave us some numbers and left us to talk. We looked around the room and without really talking agreed to do it! So we did! We now own 50 points at Poly and because we received 50 points from the year before we decided to plan a trip to DLR in 2017! But that's another story for later! We received our awesome welcome bag:



And they took us back to the hotel for us to drop our paperwork off and then drove us to MK! They also replaced our FP for Peter Pan with one that was good for PP at anytime! We got selected for screening then literally walked into the park as there was no lines. We got some pictures taken then headed for our FP at Tomorrowland Speedway.







TS was quite a bit of fun (We took separate cars) We headed to Starlight Cafe for breakfast/lunch. We then headed to Peter Pan and luckily it didn't break down! (When we went to DLR we got stuck on PP) We went on HM using one of our extra FP. Then we went to Big Thunder. After Thunder I started feeling unwell and we headed back to the room for a much need cooldown and rest. We headed back to the park and took the Monorail. It started to spit and quickly stopped. We again walked right in and again got "randomly" selected. We headed to Main Street station and rode until Fantasyland. We headed to Tomorrowland and rode the Peoplemover after ordering a custom magic band for myself. We used our second anytime FP on SM and picked up my HM magicband.



The guy in front of us ruined it by smiling haha! After that we headed up to the Carousel and I rode while DH waited. Then we grabbed a very tasty funnel cake and a cookie from Sleepy Hollow Inn.



We headed over to HM again, this time taking our time walking through the queue. I snapped a picture of the ring!



After getting out of HM it started to flash lightning and rumble thunder so we headed to Frontierland and used our last FP to ride Thunder in the dark. So much fun and cool with the flashes of lightning in the distance. After that we slowly headed out, stopping to meet Tinkerbell and Mickey. I didn't tell DH about this special Mickey and he was both pleased and a little freaked out by it!





By this time it was a full fledged storm and we got soaked walking back to the room. The lightning was pretty though. I added a last note that because we were on our honeymoon when we rode HM we got hearts with the ghosts!

Next up: The sad day everyone dreads...