"It's a tribute to all nations, but mostly America" Dave's first trip day one up. - Page 2 - PassPorter Community - Boards & Forums on Walt Disney World, Disneyland, Disney Cruise Line, and General Travel
"It's a tribute to all nations, but mostly America" Dave's first trip day one up.
About This Page: This is a discussion on "It's a tribute to all nations, but mostly America" Dave's first trip day one up. within the Sharing the Adventure: Disney World Trip Reports, part of the PassPorter Community - Boards & Forums on Walt Disney World, Disneyland, Disney Cruise Line, and General Travel; Looks like a great start to your TR! Can't wait for more!...
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Re: \"It\'s a tribute to all nations, but mostly America\" trip report
UGH! I feel so slow at writing...it takes forever before I can get back and post more. But here goes the official day one.
We got up early and walked over to Old Port Royale to get our souvenier refillable mug and a muffin before heading off to MK to join the tour. This lead to really the onlyincident I really had where someone was just flat rude to me. OPR has two different styles of refillable mugs. One had the characters on it and is shorter, but fatter. The other one has tropical flowers or something on it, and it's taller and thinner. Of course, I wanted the one with the characters, but there weren't any displayed. I asked one CM who told me to go into the sundries shop. Once there, I found another CM and asked her about the mugs. She told me there was no such thing--no mug with characters on it. I told her I had just seen them yesterday, and I KNEW they existed. Instead of going to find out from someone else, she stood and argued with me about it for close to ten minutes before I finally walked off. I had to find another CM who told me they had sold out of the mugs and were expecting another shipment later in the week.
After wasting much time, we sped over to MK. I tried to get Dave and I on the front car of the monorail, but the other conductor people said no. UGH! And we even had on our Disney shirts that day--the ones that said "Dave's first trip to Disney!" So, we got on the regular car and rode to the park.
There was an horrendous line outside the gate, but I went up and explained about our tour, and they let us in. Seeing Main Street empty was worth the cost of the tour! (Speaking of, I had gotten a 20% discount when booking on my Disney Visa...woohoo!)They did have the photographers available to take pics in front of the castle, which was AWESOME! We took pictures EVERYWHERE, and I explained to Dave how surreal it would be to him when he thought about it later, after the streets were packed with crowds.
We then went to check in for the tour and gave our order for Columbia Harbour House. Our tour guide was good, but not all that friendly. He didn't even mention anything about our shirts! I was so disappointed! I had really wanted some special attention on this trip!
I don't want to ruin this trip for anyone by giving too many details. I will say it was very interesting. We did do a lot of walking, and it was a hot day, but the tour guide did let us sit in the shade as much as he could. We rode Jungle Cruise and Haunted Mansion--which is my favorite ride at MK. We even got to go in through the servants' entrance, which I thought was the coolest part. Yes, even cooler than the utilidors. The whole thing just made me want to work at Disney more than I already do!
One hard thing was walking past so much cool stuff, knowing Dave had never seen it, and we could not stop. I knew we would come back around to look at everything, but with it being his first time, there was so much to show him, and I hated that we had to walk past it all. I guess this way he knew lots of trivia before we even started. We got a cool pin, and I kept our name badge. All in all, I would say this is definitely worth the money. But try to do it on a day when it is not so hot. It is a killer standing around listening to someone talk in the blazing hot sun. Even if they are talking about Disney!
After our tour disbanded, I asked the guide where I could get a pressed penny book. He did not know, so I decided I was not going to collect the pennies on this trip. Disappointment! It was on my list of things to do.
Afterwards, we headed to Tomorrowland. It made me sad to see Alien Encounter closed and know next time I come it will have Stitch in it. I loved it the way it was. Dave will never know its greatness. We got a FP to Space Mountain on while waiting got on Buzz Lightyear. Dave beat me--which was NOT fair since he had never even ridden before. We rode the TTA so I could show him the inside of Space Mountain. He was VERY nervous about this ride, but I sincerely thought it would be okay since it does only go 28 mph and he was fine on Test Track. I promised him if he rode it and hated it, he would not have to ride anything else.
After TTA, we went into Space Mountain. I sat in the last seat on the first car, he on the first seat on the second car. He yelled all through the ride, just like in Test Track, so I thought he was having a swell time. Turns out, not so much. When we got off, he was VERY upset. He had never been on a roller coaster that was in the dark before. I should have been more sympathetic, but between you and me, I thought he was being a baby.
The rest of the afternoon was mostly anti-climactic. He rode everything else--including Splash Mountain without any problems. We even bought the picture on this one.
For dinner, we ate at Cinderella's Royal Table, and who was there but Cinderella herself! I had eaten at CRT before, but Cinderella had never made an appearance. One of the CMs was handing out stickers, but skipped me. If I have one complaint about the trip it's that CMs seem to think that only little kids want the stickers, attention, etc. I paid to go, too! I'm a little kid in a big kid's body! I want stickers!
The food at CRT was FABULOUS. We even had dessert. We had our photo taken inside the castle, paid with money we had accumulated on the Disney Visa Reward Card, and headed out just in time to see Wishes.
It was spectacular! The singing didn't bug me a bit, as I was worried due to fellow passporter's complaints. The fireworks were amazing, and the timing with the music made it that much more special. It really was a great way to end the day.
At the beginning of the day, I had put on my pedometer to see how many miles one person walks in a day at Disney. Even with five hours of mostly standing around on the tour, we still managed to walk 18,000 steps. That's six miles! At least I know I walked off my morning muffin.
Re: \"It\'s a tribute to all nations, but mostly Ame
I'm sorry you couldn't find the pressed penny books. Most of the gift shops have them. We bought one at the figment gift shop. I love hearing about your BF's first time experiences at DW. I also love Wishes. I hope the CM's were just bummed out about all the hurricanes and are back to being happy! Can't wait for more of your report.
Re: \"It\'s a tribute to all nations, but mostly America\" Dave\'s first trip day
This morning we were going to eat breakfast at Donald's Breakfastasaurus at Animal Kingdom. I had never done a character breakfast before, and I was excited to see what it was all about. Plus, I love an all you can eat buffet! Who doesn't?
We got into AK for our 8 :00 reservations, and got seated right away in a small back room with one HUGE family and two other families of four. There was only one waiter for the entire room, which made me curious about how the service would be, but I guess it WAS a buffet--not much serving, etc. We went to get our food, and by the time we came back, the characters were headed around. Our waiter was really good about making sure the whole family got in the pictures with the characters.
I had heard several things about this breakfast--bad food, bad character interaction, but all in all, I thought it was okay. The interaction for me was okay, but maybe that's because I'm an adult. It was actually kind of obnoxious to keep having to get up every five minutes to have our picture made. BUT it was nice to get some pictures and one on one time. Mickey noticed Dave's button, but I can't imagine how since they can barely see anyway! The food was just okay, not fabulous. We paid with a hotwire savings club breakfast voucher, and had our picture made on the way out. Next time I go, I'll definitely try another breakfast so I can have one to compare!
Afterward, we raced out to get to Kilamanjaro Safari only to find we were trapped in Dinoland until the park's official opening. However, once the line dropped, we walked quickly (no running please!) around the back way to the attraction instead of going back to the front and around. We did not fast pass and got through the line pretty quickly. Most of the animals were out, which was a nice treat. I have gone first thing in the morning before and still not seen any animals. The highlight of the day was sitting in front of this REALLY southern family. I LOVE listening to other people's conversations. They were so funny! Dave and I quoted them the whole trip. Apparently the Mom was upset that they had only brought disposable cameras and their Minolta. Who brings a crappy camera to Disney when you have a nice one at home? Made no sense to me!
We walked through the jungle trek and kept our eye out for Hidden Mickeys. I usually talk to some of the animal keepers, but there weren't many around. We went to see the Tree of Life and went in to see the show. AND FINALLY! One of the CMs started asking Dave about his first trip, how it was going, etc. She ended up giving us VIP seating which made Dave feel REALLY special. She then pulled me aside and got me VIP seating for The Lion King show. We headed over there next and were supposed to sit in the Warthog section, but ended up getting confused and sitting somewhere else. It was REALLY cool to get to sit down front. BUT I was sad we got in the wrong section, because of course the man sitting in the front row in the wart hog section was picked to do the animal call. I KNEW the CM had called her friend to tell her to pick the gentleman in the front seat of the warthog section (since she told me that's what she was going to do). Dave is a big ham, and loves being the center of attention. He would have loved it!
We went on Primeval Whirl which is one of my favorites. It is really scary, but it does not look that scary from the ground. I made Dave ride twice, even though I do not think he wanted to ride it the first time. We went to Asia to ride Kali River Rapids, but it was closed temporarily. So, we did the jungle trek and watched the monkeys. It started to rain while we were on the trek, and so I skipped Kali and headed back over to Dinosaur for our FP time. We ended up having to pull out our rain coats, which I conveniently carry in my backpack on every WDW trip. There were a thousand people huddled under awnings, and no line for Primeval Whirl, which is how we got back on again. I felt very smart having small rain jackets in my backpack. For those of you newbies, this is a must! It could get you on lines while everyone is huddled about. We never went back to Kali. It is not one of my favorites. I think it is a typical water ride--without great special effects or theming. Call me dumb, but the first time I rode it, I could not even figure out what the theme was.
We rode the train to Rafiki's Planet Watch and listened to Grandmother Willow. I am a spider nut, so I really enjoy looking at the Bird Eating Tarantula and the Cobalt Blue. We also got to see the snakes feed which was soooo cool. I used to have a snake, but I'm stil fascinated by watching them strike their prey and digest it. These are huge burmese pythons (maybe boas?), so they feed them these big rats. They just suck them down their throat. The little kids were loving it!
I'll have to continue on day three later. My work is calling...How I wish I could think about Disney all day!
About This Page: This is a discussion on "It's a tribute to all nations, but mostly America" Dave's first trip day one up. within the Sharing the Adventure: Disney World Trip Reports, part of the PassPorter Community - Boards & Forums on Walt Disney World, Disneyland, Disney Cruise Line, and General Travel; Looks like a great start to your TR! Can't wait for more!...
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