Live-ish TR WDW/DC/NYC/DL- now with photos!

[Saskiwi]

Man oh man, did we do Epcot today or what... Wee must be over jetlag becsuse my plan for us to do "just" Futureworld today and leave World Showcase for another day was thrown out and we were back and forth across that park like crazy people

 

[australiankaren]

Man oh man, did we do Epcot today or what... Wee must be over jetlag becsuse my plan for us to do "just" Futureworld today and leave World Showcase for another day was thrown out and we were back and forth across that park like crazy people

we love crazy people....and the sun is out, its a clear blue day..just a tad chilly now

 

[Saskiwi]

Oops..didn't mean to post just yet. I am using my ipad to post this TR, and have to say I HATE typing on it...accidentally brushed the SEND then...aargh
Anyway we were back to our commando selves today- brekky at home and at the gate by 815. Hurried to Test Track which was new for us all and which I loved- love the speed and no upside down or spinny bits- perfect!!
We also did Mission Space- green version for me and DH (see above- not good on the spinners!) but the boys loved the orange version. They also LOVED The Sum of All Thrills, where you design your own roller coaster and then get to ride it on those robotic arms which are the same technology they use for the Harry Potter ride. Very cool
By now it was 10ish and we were feeling peckish after our early breakfast, so we wandered over to World Showcase. The Garden Festival is still on and everything looks gorgeous- big lush plantings everywhere and tons of topiary Dis characters dotted about, plus of course, all the extra little food and drink stalls....
We started at Mexico and the food stall there had delicious little soft pork tacos. They had pork crackling in them too, with a dollop of salsa verde, yummo, crunchy, juicy and spicy all in one mouthful.
At Mexico we went inside and rode the Gran Fiesta tour...who does that, right??! It is actually pretty cute and I am a sucker for any ride on water, so we rode it again later in the evening too!! Next stop, 2 school breads to share at Norway...another good Disney Food blog recommendation, fresh and creamy custard and moist coconut- excellent. Time for Maelstrom next, which being a water ride, was given the thumbs up. Surprise hit was the
Staven (sp?) Church which houses the Viking display. The boys are big into Viking-esque stuff at present as they play a video game called Skyrim which is kind of Norse saga-ish, so they enjoyed Norway in general and may yet go back to buy play helmets, shields and axes, god help me....

Ok I am going to have to pause today's report to do some online research on Universal - yes we are off to the Dark Side tomorrow and I feel very unprepared compared to WDW! Harry Potter here we come....

 

[viaggiamo]

Great TR. I am here too.

 

[5ofus]

we love crazy people....and the sun is out, its a clear blue day..just a tad chilly now

Good point, look how much we love you!

What a great day at Epcot Looking forward to hearing about your journey to the dark side tomorrow

 

[Kiwigirls]

Great trip report so far, and fun to read long while it's happening. We LOVE s'mores, and have to make do with "not quite right" versions in NZ. Love that you have a tradition of getting the US cereals while you are there, DD loves those too!

 

[SnowWhite09]

we were pretty full so shared a serving of Smores...mmm
So revived by this great meal we decided to head on over to MK and catch the Electrical Parade which we hadn't seen since DL in the 1990s!!!

Thanks so much for your "live-ish" trip report Saskiwi - I have really enjoyed it so far! I keep reading about Smores, but can't find out what they are. Can someone please tell me?

 

[dabecs]

Thanks so much for your "live-ish" trip report Saskiwi - I have really enjoyed it so far! I keep reading about Smores, but can't find out what they are. Can someone please tell me?

2 Graham crackers with chocolate and melted marshmallows in the middle, traditionally a camping treat



We loved the Grand Fiesta ride - my girls would have ridden it all day if we had let them! Test Track was closed when we went, sounds like so much fun!

 

[Saskiwi]

Back from The Dark Side! but I guess I should finish off Epcot yesterday first...
Ummm....
After Norway we walked around the Showcase, and checked out the other lands en route. Spent quite a while in the Japan department store and had a disappointing bite in the France patisseries: croque monsieur toasted cheese sandwich was barely warmed and served by disdainful French teenagers... On the plus side, the espresso was REAL espresso and the fruit and chocolate tarts were okaaaaaay....not great.
It was getting super hot by now and the boys had FPs to TestTrack ticking in their pockets...so with heart in mouth (me), my cell phone with DS13 and my cell number written on DS10s arm (in case they got separated!!) we put them on the ferryboat to go ride TT and Mission Space again and then catch the ferry again to meet us in Germany. DH was quietly confident they would be okay, but I didnt relax til we met up with them again!!
In the meantime we did the American Adventure for a bit of a sit down in the cool and a dose of mega-patriotism! We didnt bother looking into the UK I'm afraid- Living in Christchurch is more than English enough!
We got on the ferry to Germany and grabbed a beer and pretzel at the Sommerfest, where the kids joined us i lived in Germany for a couple of years a long time ago, so it was a good nostalgia hit- and, I can still order a beer in German!
We enjoyed it so much we decided to try and go to the Bierkeller for dinner, and got an ADR for 7pm.
In the meantime, we went back to Futureworld and did the Seas with Nemo, Living with the Land and Spaceship Earth. Too funny that Judi Dench voices that one- we kept expecting a James Bond reference any moment!
We also went back to the Mitsu- thingy store in Japan to buy a Godzilla T and Sonic waterbottle for DS13 and some cute little Japanese girly stickers and things as gifts for cousins.
Dinner at the German bierkeller was good. Buffet of hearty German stuff, but quite a variety and of course more good beer. Lots of little kids going nuts to the oompah band and dancing like they were at The Wiggles. It was pretty noisy - our waitress was from Hamburg and had been working there for 25 years!
We watched Illuminations after dinner and then headed home, knackered.

I woke up at 1 am and my feet were still throbbing (never a good sign) and today we all faded pretty fast at Universal- going gangbusters at Epcot had taken its toll!
We started off well- were at the gates early and got to WWoHP in time to ride the Forbidden Journey with only a 10 min wait. I was a bit hesitant but decided to give it a try. It is an amazing ride, but definitely a oncer for me, as I felt queasy for the next hour or so. The kids did the other HP coasters and we had a butterbeer in The Three Broomsticks (TIP: don't bother queuing outside to get one from the street cart- you can just walk in and grab one with no wait) It was tasty- a bit like butterscotch creaming soda.


We queued for about 20 mins to see Ollivanders wand shop which was NOT worth it unless you are a die-hard fan. The Owlery and Honeydukes Sweetshop are great and the theming overall everywhere in WWoHP is amazing.

They really have that false perspective thing sorted!
It was hot again by now (1100) and so we did the two water rides whose full names I forget- Popeye's Barges and Ripsaw Falls? Both were fun but you get seriously soaked - MUCH more than any Disney ride, We were wringing out socks and sneakers and had to pay for the giant dryers for the kids.
To help with the drying, the three boys rode The Hulk coaster, which is in the incredibly loud Super Hero section of the park. Rock music blaring everywhere at painfully loud levels and little shade, made it the final straw. We dove into the nearest cool, quiet cafe for lunch and decided we had had enough for the day!
Everyone was tired and needed a nap and afternoon by the pool.
So that's what we did- fab! Dinner at home and then out to Walmart for a bit of stocking up on cosmetics ( so much cheaper than in NZ it is ridiculous )
A full MK day planned tomorrow with our ADR at BOG
night all!

 

[australiankaren]

so do you recommend if we only have a day to just do IOA???....your poor feet....sounds like you need a day by the pool......

 

[5ofus]

Oh how I miss Epcot! Sorry to hear about your not so good pastry though. Good on you for being brave and letting the kids off on their own for a while - I can imagine what a big step that must have been!

 

[Caroline NZ]

Sounds like some hot busy days! How are you finding travelling from Windsor Hills to the parks?

 

[WAMUMOF4]

Sounds like your having a great time it is nerve racking letting the kids go on there own isn't it

 

[Miss Red]

Your poor feet hope everyone has their energy back

 

[Saskiwi]

so do you recommend if we only have a day to just do IOA???....your poor feet....sounds like you need a day by the pool......

Yep, for me IoA is the park I would do, but then Im not a big thrill ride person! WWoHp is a must see, and the theming generally allover the park seemed really top notch. jurassic Park area was very jungly and AK-like, and the Dr Seuss area looked super-cute! we are big Dr Seuss fans so we are planning on popping back to do that area and ride FJ one more time, when we visit the other Universal Park in a day or so. the other park has The Simpsons ride, a mega coaster the Rip Ride Rockit, The Revenge of the Mummy and Men in Black. those are its major rides anyway. we did a few of them at Universal Hollywood a coupla years back, so thats why it was our "second choice " park here.

Its another gorgeous Florida morning here...whipped up a batch of Mickey waffles for brekky and we are off shortly to MK, Will test drive my new gel insoles I bought at Walmart last night too!!

 

[Saskiwi]

Sounds like some hot busy days! How are you finding travelling from Windsor Hills to the parks?

Amazingly easy to get to the parks from WH. AK is literally 5- 8 mins. The others a bit further, but even Universal yesterday was only 20 minutes! At night when all the park is emptying there is quite a lot of traffic but we have used the GPS and it all flows smoothly- except for the time when I thought i knew the way and didn't turn on 'Ken', our GPS Aussie, and we ended up in Celebration!! Let me know if you have any specific WH queries Caroline and I will try and answer them.. It is a very nice resort. Clean, good quality fittings in our house, nicely planted streets and the pool is perfect for the kiddos. And we are paying $25 a night LESS than we will be paying for one room at Hojos!

 

[Caroline NZ]

Amazingly easy to get to the parks from WH. AK is literally 5- 8 mins. The others a bit further, but even Universal yesterday was only 20 minutes! At night when all the park is emptying there is quite a lot of traffic but we have used the GPS and it all flows smoothly- except for the time when I thought i knew the way and didn't turn on Ken, our GPS Aussie, and we ended up in Celebration!! Let me know if you have any specific Wh queries Caroline and I will try and answer them.. It is a very nice resort. clean, good quality fittings in our house, nicely planted streets and the pool is perfect for the kiddos. And we are paying $25 a night LESS than we will be paying for one room at Hojos!

Thanks for the great info Saskiwi. I will probably bombard you with questions closer to the time. I have already put a deposit down on the house we are goign to stay in ( did it at 2 yrs out, so that it gave me something firm to work towards!)

 

[Minniemum]

You had me Mickey waffle Love the way you are blending your (not-so) old memories shared with your DH, into new ones with your whole family.

 

[Saskiwi]

So a nicely full day at MK yesterday. - we were able to pick and choose what we wanted to see and ride, as some rides we knew we would be doing in DL in a couple of weeks' time.

So we concentrated on rides that are only at MK, or those that are different to the versions at DL, or those which will be closed at DL like Big Thunder Mountain Railroad!
We arrived in time to catch the Opening Ceremony from the train, which is a cute way to start the day. then we hot footed it to Peter Pan and rode with minimal wait. It is pretty much identical to DL, cute and quite charming. Splash mountain was down for most of the day, which was annoying- when it finally reopened we heard a CM explaining it was because of a problem with a fire alarm which had to be repaired before they could open.
it was a hot day so everyone was gagging for a cool ride and when it finally reopened at 530 it was mobbed and went straight up to 75 mins standby! Luckily they had been handing out FPs for about an hour before , so we got one of those.
I wont do a ride-by-ride recount, because I cant remember them all already! But standouts were Winnie the Pooh, which has a great interactive queue with games for kids and is a much more charming and fun ride than DL's version,, which is more like "Pooh's Bad Acid Trip", I always think!
We also really enjoyed Mickeys Philharmagic- it was kind of thrown in as a time- filler while we waited for our Splash FP time, but we all loved it. Anything which utilises all those great Disney movie songs is usually already halfway to being a winner with us, and MP does, with lots of silly Donald Duck stuff thrown in for laughs too.
The new Little Mermaid ride queue is another great interactive experience, in fact we decided we like the queue better than the ride, which is identical to the ho-hum DCA experience... The exterior with Prince Eric's castle is lovely too.
We didnt get to Enchanted Tales with Belle, as queues were 30 mins plus all day. Might try again, but given that the rest of the family will be going under duress, unless it is a walk-on, I don't like my chances...
We rode BTMR twice with FPs, so didn't get to experience its interactive queue, which they are installing in DL at present I think. It was pretty similar to the ride at DL as far as I could tell- a few more animals along the way maybe?
At lunchtime we decided to leave the park and took the monorail to the Contemporary for lunch at the cafe. This was a nostalgia-trip as DH's first experience of Disney was as a 17 yo exchange student, when he was taken to WDW and began the day with breakfast at the Contemporary. He remembers eating in that huge space by the Mary Blair murals, as a monorail whizzed by and thinking that he had arrived in the future! Very different to 1970s provincial NZ, trust me!
On our way to lunch I ducked into City Hall and got a Happy Birthday pin for him. His bd isn't until next week in New York, but we decided yesterday was his 'Disney' birthday, as the whole trip is to mark the big event! He must have been wished "Happy birthday" by at least 20 CMs that afternoon, and also a few fellow guests, which was really nice.
Linda, a young CM from China who was on checkout at the Contempo Cafe gave him a free ice cream sundae, which was very cute..We had a good meal there, much better quality food we thought, than the average lunch in the park, for a similar price. DH and I split a chicken pesto flatbread and beef and goat cheese salad and the boys had burgers. We shared a birthday cupcake too, which had coloured sprinkles through the batter as well as on the frosting. It was so nice and quiet and relaxing there, that we hung around for a bit and got our energy back. We checked out the gift shops and the fabulous Mary Blair mural on the wall, and the monorails whizzed past as they had done 33 years ago.


Back at the park in time to watch the Celebrate parade. We thought this was going to be the same as a similarly-named parade at DL, but it was quite different and enjoyable. They cram a number of different movie characters onto each float- we could spot 6 different movies on one of them!
In Tomorrowland we again went down memory lane by jumping on the Peoplemover, but sadly the retro-fab Carousel of Progress was closed. It reopened today, so hopefully we will get to go on it before we leave.
I don't have a smartphone but the kids had downloaded the MyDisney Experience app so we were able to check wait-times etc on their iPods, which was very handy, as rides which we never wait for at DL sometimes had 30 mins plus waits, ....and vice versa!
We did Buzz Lightyear which we didn't like as much as DL. the laser blasters are fixed in position, and the whole firing experience is much more clunky and slow.
Space Mountain was quite different too- better themed queue but I didn't like the seating one behind another, as much. Also there was no music( or it was much quieter) and the ride was bumpier. but DS10 liked the bumps and rated it better than DL, so there you go!
My feet were loving my new gel insoles, and we still had a bit of energy left, so we popped over to Tom Sawyer Island to see how different it was from the Pirates version at DL ( answer, a little, but not much)
From there we saw Splash was running finally, so went over to use our FPs. We got soaked- especially myself and DS10 seated in front. literally it was like someone had thrown a bucket of water in my face. this would have been fine normally, as it was still uncomfortably hot out, but our ADR at BOG was in 15 mins!
Some serious paper towel action was called for and we didn't make quite the grand entrance into the Beast's castle that we might have hoped for! DS10 spent all dinner sitting on a pad of folded paper towels so he didn't get the seat too damp!
We were seated in the ballroom, which was good as you get to see the snow falling outside, but it is incredibly noisy- especially around 6 and 7, when there were lots of little princesses dining with their families. One at the table next to us threw a mega tantrum and had to be taken out, which was slightly amusing- poor parents going to all the expense and bother of getting this reservation, tricking her out in full Belle regalia and then it all turns to custard....parenthood, you gotta love it!

At the door to The Beast's Castle
if you want a quieter meal I would ask for a table in the West Wing, which is spooky and smaller, with the animated falling rose and transforming Prince/Beast portrait that they have in The Beast's Library at DCA.
The meal was good quality and well cooked. I had the pork chop with macaroni cheese and green beans and a red wine jus and DH had the scallop and shrimp in lobster sauce, which he said was really rich and delicious. Had a perfectly nice glass of French pinot noir for $9 and he had a Belgian beer. The setting is great and the kids got to have their photo taken with The Beast who wanders through once an hour or so.
Service was a bit patchy, DH ordered the french onion soup to start, which they forgot to bring out. But our waitress served DH a plate of "the grey stuff" (it's delicious!) with a birthday candle after dessert, and a card from Belle and the Beast, so she saved her tip!

We decided we didn't need to see Wishes again, so after a couple more rides, left just before 9pm and were home by 9.30.

Today, we took a break from Disney (whaaaaaaaat..???!!) and drove to Kennedy Space Center, which is about an hour away on the coast. We spent about 5hours there looking at rockets, doing the bus tour, and watching an IMAX movie about the Hubble space telescope. Mostly sitting down,which was nice for our feet, and educational too!
Chick-fil-a for lunch, which is sort of better-quality KFC. i don't eat KFC at home, but this was pretty good. we are planning on Buffalo Hot Wings for dinner- a chain recommended to us, and there is a tub of Ben and Jerrys Cake Batter ice cream in the freezer, ay yi yi...better do some more all-day walking tomorrow!

 

[australiankaren]

thanks for the detailed update... i dont feel as bad now not getting a resi for the be our guest place I like to hear myself chew

we loved nasa as well....keep us updated