Newbie Dooby Doo -- March 19-26 POR - UPDATED 4/6 About This Page:

[disneydani]

Wow, I am impressed at the pure stamina of you all! You sure packed alot in on e day one.

danielle

[RobDVC]

Terrific evening!

[BlueCinderellaEyes]

Awaiting to here more! I love the whole outta now where like a swat team! I almost peed myself as I totally pictured that! My kids thought I was nuts laughing so hard

[CountryTink]

Wow - what a great first day. More please.

[janicelovesmickey]

Looks like you had a great time. love the photos.
looking forward to the next installment.

[mcc0313]

What a great first day....glad everyone got to enjoy the parade

[njlaura]

The next day did not go as planned.

On paper we were supposed to catch a bus to Disney Studios at 8 am. I was going to run and get fast passes for TOT or RNRC and then go back and get more fast passes at 10. DHS isn't my favorite park but I was looking forward to trying these this year.

But that didn't happen.

We all slept in due to our late night the night before. I think we got to DHS at around 11:30.

Here we are on the bus.



I got everyone's cards and walked as quickly as I could through the sea of humanity. I was the fast pass volunteer because I walk abnormally fast. I was mocked mercilessly about it by Sally and Drew. Drew does a funny impression. Anyway, I got to TOT without knocking over too many people and the return time was 5:30. Uh oh. That wouldn't work. We had ADRs at Le Cellier for 6:30. I ran over to RNRC and the return time was 7:30. Oh well. Maybe next trip.

I decided to get fast passes for Star Tours instead and ran to the opposite side of the park. Whew. 2:00 return time. We could deal with that. I met up with everyone but we decided to split up again because Miles had no interest in HSM2.

I think DHS is so confusing to get around. We had so much trouble finding the fantasmic courtyard. By the time we got there it was pretty tough to see anything. Craig put Perry up on his already tired from the night before shoulders. She got bored with the show after a few songs so we headed to Craig's favorite ride here, TGMR. I could have sworn that last year a gangster took over the vehicle but this year it was a cowboy. Am I imagining it? Do they switch off if one of the cast members does a particularly good Jimmy Cagney or John Wayne impression?

We met up with the others in front of Star Tours and I discovered that I only had 5 fast passes instead of 6. Craig volunteered to sit this one out.

If you saw a grown man with his daughter's princess backpack strapped to his chest, it was probably Craig.




Sally was a bit apprehensive about going on this ride. She thought she might feel ill but Drew kept telling her that it was just visual effects. Um...why are there seat belts then? It was pretty funny when the cabin really started shaking and Sally did a bit of squealing. I think she spent most of it with her eyes shut.

Afterward, Craig decided he was going back to the hotel to rest before dinner. We decided to escape the crowds at DHS and take the boat over to Epcot to spend some time in the WS before dinner. Here's some shots of the topiary.

[njlaura]

Here's a couple more shots of plant life.





After a beer in Germany we took the boat over to the other side of the showcase. We still had some time to kill so we walked around on that side for a bit.

We checked in at the podium about 10 minutes before our ADR. I think we waited outside for about a half hour for our table. It was worth the wait though as this was the best dinner of the trip. Most of us started out with Glowtinis. I found them a bit sweet and stuck to one spot on the glass so I wouldn't get the extra sugar on the rim. Sally had a different technique to get maximum extra sugar. I probably wouldn't order one again but I was curious after seeing so many pictures of them.

We ordered a bowl of cheddar cheese soup for us all to dip our bread sticks in. Very yummy, especially the pretzel bread.

I had thought I would order the filet mignon with maple barbecue sauce and cream cheese mashed potatoes but it's no longer on the menu. I'm not a mushroom fan so I ordered the NY Strip. I think everyone else got the filet. Everyone was incredibly happy with their steaks. They were delicious and cooked to right temperatures. I had the chocolate whiskey cake for dessert which was good but very rich. I would definitely visit Le Cellier again.


On the way to the exit, the kids played on the light up sidewalk in future world.





We called it a night after that. Everyone was pretty exhausted and we wanted to get an early start at Animal Kingdom in the morning.

[patclairesmom]

Great TR. I was wondering how you were all going to feel the day after. What a great idea about the cheddar cheese soup and dipping the pretzel bread in it.

[carters_mom]

Great update! Too bad you missed out on TOT and RnRC
The Great Movie Ride is one of my favorites!! While I've always had the gangster version, I know that you may also get a cowboy version depending on which track you board.
More Please!

[Starla4436]

I am loving the TR! The pictures are really great!

[njlaura]

The plan was that we would leave POR at 7am for Animal Kingdom. Sally called the night before and said she was chickening out and thought she'd want more sleep. Ok lazybones. We were sticking with our plan though and got a wake-up call from Mickey at 6.

I awoke to a hive breakout. Uh oh. My wheat allergy was back and I guess all those bread sticks at Le Cellier didn't help matters. I'd been fine eating wheat for the last two years and now it has to come back at Disney with all those great treats!!?? Not fair!

We were all ready to go at 7. Even my husband who hates early mornings was ready.

We'd never arrived at rope drop before. It was just getting light when we arrived. We got to the entrance at 7:30 and Craig asked when it opened. When I said 8 he looked like he wanted to hurt me. It wasn't too bad though. They let us in at 7:45 and we made our way to the cute little opening show.

We walked as quickly as possible to get FPs for EE. Wow. The return time was already 9:45. I guess everyone else had the same idea.

We headed over to the safari and walked right on. This was a great time to ride because it was still a bit cool and all the animals were out. Here are some pictures.





While we were enjoying the safari, Sally was trying to reach me on the cell. I guess I didn't notice the vibration. She was on her way with Miles but Drew had decided to sleep in a bit. No EE for him! Maybe that was his way of getting out of riding it. In retrospect I should have used our tickets to get more FPs for this after we rode it. Oh well. Hindsight.

Breakfast time. What can I eat that doesn't have flour? Rice crispy treats! The breakfast of champions and pretty tasty with a latte. We found Sally and told her to get right over to the safari while the animals were still moving around.

Next up, EE. Now, Craig hates roller coasters and is afraid of heights. I'm also afraid of heights in real life but for some reason feel perfectly comfortable being hurled down a mountain in a train. I told him that it wouldn't be as scary as it looked...and he believed me! Sucker! I still can't believe he rode it.

Perry and I sat together and he rode with a very nice lady who had been on it before and lived to tell the tale. We told her she might have to do some hand holding. By the way, Craig was wearing the princess backpack across his chest again. I wish I had taken a picture. As we were headed up that really steep incline the woman sitting next to Craig told him to look to the right and I heard an anguished "Oh my god!" He spent most of the ride with his eyes closed. Perry proclaimed the ride awesome.

On the way out we stopped to look at the photos. I could kick myself for not having snapped a pic of a frightened Craig with his princess backpack. I saw some teenage girls pointing at his photo and giggling.

We went over to Dinoland and rode TS a few times and then took Perry over to the boneyard. We convinced her to go on Dinosaur with us. I think this ride is scarier than EE. The six year old looks pretty calm in the picture though, doesn't she?



We met up with Sally, Drew and Miles and went to see Lion King. I love that show and they were duly impressed also. I think they're becoming Disney fans.



We stopped for ice cream bars and made our way to Nemo. The three of us Z's finished our ice cream quickly and headed in to be guaranteed a seat. The A's were still not done so they stayed behind to finish. I was getting worried they wouldn't make it in time as it was filling up. Whew. I finally saw them come in and they were being escorted all the way down to the front row. I called Sally so she could gloat. Gloat all you want sister. You're going to miss the action in the middle stage.

We tried to get FPs for the rapids but they had just run out. Thank God! I hate wet rides and so does my hair. We had a late lunch at the Yak & Yeti CS. I ordered mandarin chicken salad which was nice and refreshing.

After lunch went on one of the jungle walks and Craig, Perry and I decided to head back to the hotel. Sally, Drew and Miles wanted to stay a bit longer and skip our ADRs at Spoodles.



After a nap at the hotel we decided we didn't want to trek over to the Boardwalk and thought we'd try Boatwrights instead. We put our names in and they said it would be about 45 minutes for a table. We got some wine in the bar, relaxed and ended up just getting some appetizers to share instead of dinner. The food was pretty awful but it was amusing to listen to Bob the piano player.

We turned in early because the next day we wanted to get to MK by 7 for rope drop.

[Starla4436]

this sounds like a relaxing and fun trip...sorry Boatwrights wasn't that great.

[Colexis Mom]

More great updates! Sorry you didn't get to ride ToT or RnRC Sounds like you had a great day at AK though More please

[njlaura]

Originally Posted by carters_mom

Wow--what a long fun day! I'm so happy that you were assigned to AB building #14. That's our favorite spot I'm always hoping for a corner room, but haven't gotten one yet.
Great update, can't wait for day two!

Yes, we really lucked out. I was tempted to fax a request in addition to the request we made when we reserved but I had heard recently that they don't like all the faxes.