Tuesday, February 3, 2015
Chapter 4: This Ship's Going Down!
After an hour or so of looking around the room, relaxing and watching the
channel about the hotel, we headed out for our first adventure - Downtown Disney! As soon as we headed out we noticed just how awesome our Just Engaged buttons were - every single Cast Member we passed had a great, big "congratulations!" for us. Literally every single one. It was so magical, and made us feel so special! If you're celebrating anything on your Disney vacation, definitely be sure to pick up some buttons. They're pure gold.
It was a five-minute walk to the bus stop from the 70s building, and then there was only an, oh... 40 minute wait for a bus. That's right - FORTY! This was our first experience with the Disney bus system, and we were
not happy campers. It could have been because there were seven of us on line to go to Downtown Disney, so I guess the supply fit the demand, but still. We watched a Magic Kingdom bus come and go... then Epcot... Hollywood Studios... Magic Kingdom again... Animal Kingdom... Hollywood Studios... Magic Kingdom... Epcot... Magical Express... Magic Kingdom... Animal Kingdom. It was ridiculous! We were really starting to regret our decision to not rent a car, but this was
thankfully the only time we had any real issues with the buses. It was also
thankfully our first day at Disney, so we were still energetic and pumped up enough to not be in a totally bad mood after such a long wait. Hey, we could've been waiting for an MTA train to take us to work... Once the bus finally showed up, it was a quick ride with plenty of seating.
The bus left us off right at the entrance to the Marketplace, and I was sooooooooo excited to be there! Woohoo, our first Disney "attraction!" We didn't plan on doing much shopping today, since we'd much rather spend our money on trips and food and experiences, so we had decided in advance to do as little shopping as possible. Plus we didn't have much room in our suitcases to lug it all back to Brooklyn. So we just glanced around a few shops before realizing how hungry we were and making a beeline for
Wolfgang Puck Express. The food sounded amazing, but we mainly decided to go here for the Oven Roasted Salmon entree. For $20 each. On a counter service credit!
Hollaaaa!
We each got the Oven Roasted Salmon with Cauliflower Puree, Marinated Tomatoes and Broccolini, and
wow - it was DELICIOUS! There really wasn't a bad part of the meal. The salmon was perfectly cooked, the cauliflower puree and broccolini were drizzled in lemon and oil and were so flavorful, and the simple marinated tomatoes were outstanding. Again, each entree cost $20 and was counted as a counter service credit on the dining plan. You can't beat that! Wolfgang Puck Express was our favorite counter service restaurant of the trip (by far) and is probably the best use of a counter service credit on property. Definitely check it out! We finished up by sharing two desserts - the vanilla bean cheesecake topped with raspberry compote, and a fruit cup (to balance out the cheesecake). The only thing we were confused about regarding Wolfgang Puck Express was that we ordered at the counter and then our food was brought to our table by a waitress. We weren't sure if we were supposed to leave a tip or not, so we did. Just make sure you have extra cash on hand to do so if you eat here on the dining plan.
After lunch, we wandered around Downtown Disney some more, making our way from the Marketplace to the West Side. There was a ton of construction going on in order to convert the whole area into Disney Springs, so the ambiance wasn't as casual and relaxing as it usually is. It was still a nice stroll, with perfect 75-degree weather. After visiting in the dead of summer every year, I was starting to love Disney in February more and more! We took some pictures before stopping into The World of Disney to see if they had the bride and groom Mickey and Minnie ears, but to no avail.
You spend thousands of dollars to bring your kids to Disney, and you know their favorite ride is going to be the $3 carousel...
Then we wandered over to our destination - DisneyQuest! In all the times I'd been to Disney I'd still yet to visit DisneyQuest. I was always deterred by the reviews of broken games and out-of-date technology, but our package had included free tickets and we surely couldn't let them go to waste
We were especially excited to check out DisneyQuest since it was something that we were both doing for the first time this trip, and could therefore really experience it together. We headed into the giant, dark building, and were greeted by a really beautiful mural on the ceiling, dedicated to Mary Poppins. Then it was into the elevators and up to the top floor.
We were instantly met by a giant statue of Wreck It Ralph (who we love), and therefore knew we would have a great time. The entire building was practically empty, with no more than a five minute wait for each attraction (and that was only when something was already in progress, and we just had to wait for the next ride). First up was Buzz Lightyear's Astroblaster, where you sit two-to-a-car in little caged-in vehicles. One person drives, while the other scoops up balls in the little road to then shoot at other cars. Hitting another car's target sends them spinning into oblivion, which meant that having OUR target hit also sent us spinning. It was so much fun! A lot harder to maneuver than we had thought, but we couldn't stop laughing every time out car spun out of control. We really liked this one.
Next we checked out the Wreck It Ralph video games. The only problem was that a lot of them were broken, leaving us both to take turns on one machine. No biggie though, especially since no one else was around so we could really take our time. Done with that, we got into the next round of Mighty Ducks Pinball Slam. A group of us all stood on our own little joystick-like platforms in front of a big screen, and had to move our bodies around in order to make our "puck" on the screen move into the goal. It was
exhausting; my arms were killing by the end of the game! Plus the pucks weren't very responsive so Mighty Ducks was kind of a bust.
We checked out a few more video games next, but again a lot of them were broken. Of the ones that worked, most of them weren't very responsive or just weren't that much fun. We tried the tiny roller coaster simulator, where you lay on a little reclined seat in front of a screen playing a video of a roller coaster, but all the seat did was vibrate and hurt our backs. Next. Cyber Space Mountain was right around the corner, so we headed over there. With the help of Bill Nye, you get to create your own roller coaster on a computer monitor before riding it in a nearby simulator. I love roller coasters but had never been on an upside-down simulator before, so I was super nervous. Turns out I don't like upside down simulators
We only made it go upside down once, and I was still a dizzy mess when we got off. Never again!
We took a break in the food court at that point, enjoying the peace and quiet from the otherwise constant noise and flashing lights in the rest of the building. We wanted to do something that didn't move next, just to play it safe, so we made our way to the Create Zone where we made our own toys on computer screens. Are you supposed to be able to have your toys made to take home? I could've sworn that you used to be able to design your own toy and then actually take it home, but that wasn't available today. I'm guessing it hasn't been available for a few years (if it ever was at all). Then we made our own dance song in a recording booth which was
hysterical. Our little music-loving hearts danced for a good 20-minutes in there, all the while cracking up at the ridiculous lyrics we made up to each song. This was one of our favorite things we did that day!
We then wound our way around to the last floor, where we hopped on a "boat" for the Virtual Jungle Cruise. Geoff and I both sat in an inflatable raft on top of a giant inflatable pad (almost like a bounce house), while holding rafts and watching a screen in front of us display, well, a virtual jungle cruise. We were supposed to paddle our way through the river but I just couldn't figure it out. We were going nowhere, and kept banging into walls which would make the whole boat feel like it was bobbing in the water. The cast member running the attraction eventually came over, took the raft right out of my hand, and demonstrated how I was rowing in the wrong direction
You can take the girl out of the city...
By then we'd been in DisneyQuest for about an-hour-and-a-half, and there was only one more attraction open - Pirates of the Caribbean: Battle for Buccaneers Gold. This attraction also had the longest line of the day, at about 15-minutes. Eventually it was our turn, and we were let into a big, dark room surrounded by screens. It looked like we were at the helm of a ship, with little guns all around the deck. When the experience started, there were videos of pirate ships surrounding us in all directions, and we had to run around the boat in order to shoot our canons at them before they could hit us with theirs. IT WAS THE BEST! This was, by far, the best attraction in all of DisneyQuest. We thought we were doing really well too, until our ship eventually sunk into the fiery depths of the Caribbean. Hey - the attraction was meant for a group of 6, so I think we did pretty damn well manning the ship with only two people
We were going to do this one again, but the line had gotten bigger by the time we were done and we didn't feel like waiting so we decided to make our way out. All in all, DisneyQuest was a fun experience, and a great way to kick off our trip. Would we go back? No. It's
definitely not worth the price of admission, but considering we got in for free it was a fun way to spend a few hours. I'm also glad we got to experience it when we did, because current rumors have DisneyQuest closing any day now. It's not something to take away any time from the parks though. Too many of the games were broken and attractions were closed to make it worth it. It's definitely past it's prime.
Up Next: The Greatest Sing-Along of All Time
Hey, I'll take it! He also played a few rounds of trivia with everyone, revealing that the fastest ride at Disney was actually Magical Express. That was kind of a buzzkill! 
I think it may have had more to do with the fact that there were giant cheer-leading groups there all week who were probably all placed together in the back buildings, but we appreciated it regardless.
