Hot Times in the World: A June 2011 Trip Report!

HollyBelle · Jun 30, 2011

Ariel484 said:
‘Ohana was excellent…I’m ashamed it took us so long to get here, and we can’t wait to go back again (hopefully in January!)

LOVE that picture of you two... frame-worthy, for sure! :sohappy:

I'm so happy to hear you enjoyed Ohana! Of course, it's at the top of our favorites list!

Ariel484 · Jun 30, 2011

GlenAngl said:
I was loving your report and then I got to the Boardwalk Villas pics and I was loving it even more. We're staying at the BWV in October, so it was a good preview for me!!

Glad you like it! And you will LOVE BWV...the location is, in our opinion, one of the best at WDW, and the resort itself is beautiful.

HollyBelle said:
LOVE that picture of you two... frame-worthy, for sure! :sohappy:

I'm so happy to hear you enjoyed Ohana! Of course, it's at the top of our favorites list!

Thanks!! I never know what to do when I give the camera to someone else - mostly I just put it on full auto - so I'm glad some of these pictures came out okay.

Yep, I know 'Ohana is a fave of yours and Brett's! In fact, I think I pulled up one of your old TRs because I knew you had a bunch of pics of all of the courses to show to Will before our trip. Hopefully we can get there again in January!

Ariel484 · Jun 30, 2011

After dinner, we wandered around a bit in Boutiki. Will made a new friend!

So mature!

Wheeeee!

These glasses were pretty cool!

Not to whine, but there was TONS of Poly-specific merchandise. Why can’t it be like that at the Boardwalk??

After digesting a bit, we made our way out to the front of the hotel.

Love the tiki torches!

Our destination that evening was the Studios…the plan for tonight was to see Fantasmic!

Ariel484 · Jun 30, 2011

I believe we arrived at the Studios just as the first Fantasmic! show was about to begin. We were hoping that by skipping the first one we could more easily get into the second at 10:30. This had worked decently well for us in November.

I just love the parks at night. All the lit-up signs are so pretty.

Once again, we headed to…

Drawing class!

I think we were in the last class of the day, and this one was much larger than the Pluto class. Every seat was filled, and there were people on the floor in front with boards on their laps to draw on. There were a lot of children in this class, and our animator started with a speech about how “everyone here is special” and though all of our drawings may look different, “each drawing is special in its own way.” She was completely serious and talked for about 2 minutes. It was kind of sweet!

Our task that day was to draw Minnie, and the group we were with was really fun. Apparently the guy behind me was having a rough time, because at one point he exclaimed, quite exasperated, “She’s a monster!” It was SOOO funny. And we saw his drawing afterward…it wasn’t bad at all! Later on the animator came to look at another drawing dubbed “Balloon Minnie”…which was then put on a projector for all to see. Minnie had a giant, giant head and teeny tiny ears…but was still special in her own way, of course! Very funny…I think even the animator laughed at that one.

I didn’t get a picture of Will’s Minnie, but here’s mine…remember how I said the pencils don’t have erasers? Part-way through I realized I didn’t like my original circles (why is drawing a good circle so darn hard??), but I was stuck with them…thus my Minnie has 3 chins. I’ll have to fix that at some point.

Ariel484 · Jun 30, 2011

After class, we headed out intending to get into the Fantasmic line. We’d heard the BOOMS from the early show during drawing class, so we figured by the time we were done that the 9PM Fantastmic had ended and we could hop in line for the 10:30 show.

The plan was scrapped quickly. Hollywood Boulevard was PACKED with people…I’d assumed they were people leaving the first show, but they were actually people already lining up for the second. It was completely insane how many people were there. Fantasmic is my favorite night show at Disney, so I was sad to skip it, but really…this was just madness.

So rather than seeing our favorite show, we took our first (and only

) ride of the trip on our favorite ride!!

The lobby didn’t seem as dark this time:

The library portion of the queue didn’t seem as dark to me either…no worries. The ride itself was awesome, as usual. We had one of those rides where you see the silhouettes right at the end and think you’re done, only to be shot up once again! We love this ride so much, and I’m kicking myself that we only got on it once this trip.

Since I was so bummed about not getting a Boardwalk mug, I figured a Tower of Terror mug was a good runner-up. This thing is so cute!

I should also mention at this point that I made it a habit to ask every store if they had any kind of discount, and I got 10% off with my annual pass at each store (including purchasing the mug above, which made me remember to mention it). I am sure it would have been 20% off if I spent a certain amount, but I wasn’t clever enough to plan ahead like that and combine my purchases at the same store. Oops!

At this point the park was closed, so we began to make our way out.

Ariel484 · Jun 30, 2011

One of our favorite things about staying at the Boardwalk is the ability to walk to both Epcot and Hollywood Studios. That evening as we walked back to the Boardwalk (about 10-15 minutes…definitely faster than the boat) it was kind of a downer to hear Fantasmic going on knowing that we wouldn’t be able to see it that week. Tear.

We were back in our room around 10:40 or so, and right away I was back out on the balcony for more pictures!

Love this place at night…I especially love the strings of lights.

I spy (just barely) Spaceship Earth!

You’re killing me, sign.

Arrrg…

We were concerned about how well we’d sleep in this room…we could hear EVERYTHING going on through our balcony door. Eventually we realized that it just wasn’t closing all the way, so we rigged up a contraption involving our suitcases and a belt to pull the door completely shut. This helped with the noise a lot, and that, combined with the normal exhaustion of running around in the heat for hours, led to a night of good sleep for both of us.

switts · Jun 30, 2011

You’re killing me, sign.

I love this sign makes me laugh everytime its in one of your pictures :ROFLOL:

TakeMeThere81 · Jun 30, 2011

Ariel484 said:
Since I was so bummed about not getting a Boardwalk mug, I figured a Tower of Terror mug was a good runner-up. This thing is so cute!

Awesome mug! I remember seeing that pattern on t-shirts. I love all of the great mugs you are collecting! Totally up my alley!

Absolutely beautiful Boardwalk night shots! I love how the strings of lights "twinkle" in your pictures. So pretty.

TakeMeThere81 · Jun 30, 2011

Shannon, if you are training for the WDW Marathon(Half or full) you should get this shirt!

http://www.disneystore.com/disney-p...for-women/mp/1260593/1000809+1000204+1000765/

PartOfYourWorld · Jun 30, 2011

Ariel484 said:
I was okay with the 5th movie...the 6th one I HATED. I felt like everyone was making out the whole time and they left out some important details. It makes me wonder how well people who haven't read the books are really able to follow what is going on.

Thanks!! It's definitely our favorite place at Disney.

I can definitely see your point about the 6th movie, and I have wondered the same thing about people who haven't read the books. I just finished reading all 7 books before I see the last one in IMAX at midnight

and it will all be fresh in my mind so there will probably be alot of complaining if they don't do a good job

olinecoach61 · Jun 30, 2011

Awesome trip report! Love the pictures!

diddy_mouse · Jun 30, 2011

I've always wanted to stay at the Boardwalk, mainly because of it's proximity to Epcot. [adds to list of resorts I want to stay at: Beach Club, Poly, aaaaaannd Boardwalk!]

I just booked our trip for December (yay!) and it will be our first time at 'Ohana. After seeing all of the delicious pictures of food on the interwebz I couldn't pass it up any longer!

The picture of your ToT mug reminds me of my pursuit for the shirts that matched that image. I ended up finding one for Splash Mountain and my husband got one for the Haunted Mansion. I didn't know that they had mugs with the same design.

It's a bummer that was the only time you were able to ride one of your favorites...

Your nighttime shots of the Boardwalk (with and without signs

) look so serene. I LOVE the one of the Yacht Club. That whole area at night is just so lovely!

Ariel484 · Jul 1, 2011

switts said:
You’re killing me, sign.

I love this sign makes me laugh everytime its in one of your pictures :ROFLOL:

I'm so glad you're getting so much joy from my pain!! :cry:

(Haha, just kidding

)

TakeMeThere81 said:
Awesome mug! I remember seeing that pattern on t-shirts. I love all of the great mugs you are collecting! Totally up my alley!

I was so pumped when I found that mug! I just HAD to get it.

TakeMeThere81 said:
Absolutely beautiful Boardwalk night shots! I love how the strings of lights "twinkle" in your pictures. So pretty.

Thank you! The first time I ever took a photo where the lights "twinkle" (in my backyard) I got super excited. I love those lights at the Boardwalk.

TakeMeThere81 said:
Shannon, if you are training for the WDW Marathon(Half or full) you should get this shirt!

http://www.disneystore.com/disney-p...for-women/mp/1260593/1000809+1000204+1000765/

Thanks for the link! I just might have to grab one of those, especially since I'm starting to get nervous that they will not come out with 2012 shirts

$12 is a steal though!

PartOfYourWorld said:
I can definitely see your point about the 6th movie, and I have wondered the same thing about people who haven't read the books. I just finished reading all 7 books before I see the last one in IMAX at midnight and it will all be fresh in my mind so there will probably be alot of complaining if they don't do a good job

I found myself explaining quite a bit of the plot to Will after the movie was over. I saw it with him and 2 friends (who also don't read they books) and the friends enjoyed it much more than I did. Oh well.

And wasn't the 7th book amazing?? Well, I thought it was...I couldn't put it down the first time I read it.

Have fun seeing the movie on IMAX, I'm sure it will be awesome!

Ariel484 · Jul 1, 2011

olinecoach61 said:
Awesome trip report! Love the pictures!

Thank you!

diddy_mouse said:
I've always wanted to stay at the Boardwalk, mainly because of it's proximity to Epcot. [adds to list of resorts I want to stay at: Beach Club, Poly, aaaaaannd Boardwalk!]

Sounds like you and I have similar taste in resorts...we're booked at the Beach Club in January and would LOVE to get to the Poly some day.

diddy_mouse said:
I just booked our trip for December (yay!) and it will be our first time at 'Ohana. After seeing all of the delicious pictures of food on the interwebz I couldn't pass it up any longer!

Awesome! I love seeing the park around the holidays...everything is just so beautiful. You'll love 'Ohana...the food is good, there's a ton of it, and the atmosphere is really fun.

diddy_mouse said:
The picture of your ToT mug reminds me of my pursuit for the shirts that matched that image. I ended up finding one for Splash Mountain and my husband got one for the Haunted Mansion. I didn't know that they had mugs with the same design. It's a bummer that was the only time you were able to ride one of your favorites...

Ooh, I didn't see those for other rides! Something to look for next time...I'm intrigued by both of the ones you mentioned.

Riding the Tower of Terror only once was poor planning on our parts. On our honeymoon we rode it, like, 5 times, which was great. Something to work on for next time!

diddy_mouse said:
Your nighttime shots of the Boardwalk (with and without signs ) look so serene. I LOVE the one of the Yacht Club. That whole area at night is just so lovely!

Thanks! Despite the sign, I managed

"Serene" is the perfect word to describe that area, for sure.

Ariel484 · Jul 1, 2011

Day 5: Friday, June 17.

Let’s start the day with the sun rising over the boardwalk…

…and a Hidden Mickey in the carpet!

You’ll notice it was now the 5th day of our trip and we had yet to set foot in either kingdom…time to change that!

After grabbing a banana and muffin from the Boardwalk Bakery, we headed out to the bus stop.

So let’s talk about the bus situation at the Boardwalk. I said earlier that one of the things we love most about staying there is that we can walk to 2 parks. The kingdoms, of course, need to be reached by bus, and the Boardwalk bus to Animal Kingdom stops at Swan and Dolphin (like the Magic Kingdom bus) as well as at Yacht and Beach Club. Now that I think about it, that bus stops at Blizzard Beach too, right? I’d forgotten this after 2 years and was surprised to climb onto an almost-full bus that morning. It wasn’t a huge deal, just something that I found surprising. If I remember correctly, the Boardwalk is the last stop on the loop, so luckily we took right off for Animal Kingdom and got there pretty quickly.

We arrived pretty early…so early that we had front-row seats for the opening show!

Yep, got my sunscreen, park map and camera!

Let the adventure begin!

Our first stop was Everest, of course. We were on and off pretty quickly, by 9:00 actually – they’d let us in the park early for whatever reason!

We were already looking for a break from the heat, so we decided a show was just the ticket. Off to Camp Minnie Mickey!

The show was fabulous, as always. This was our first time seeing it since our honeymoon.

Just like in 2009, we were in the warthog section.

Ariel484 · Jul 1, 2011

More Festival of the Lion King pictures…

Crazy eyes!

Apparently I have a slight obsession with the tumbler monkeys, because I have loads of photos of them…just a few here:

Ariel484 · Jul 1, 2011

Last set of FOTLK photos!

This was pretty funny…the tumbler monkey went up to this girl, stared at her for about 30 seconds, and then “picked bugs” off of her to eat!

Ariel484 · Jul 1, 2011

After the show, we could put it off no longer…it was time to meet the big cheese. We headed back to the character greeting trails, and the place was crawling with furry friends: Mickey, Minnie, Goofy, and Donald as usual. Thumper and Miss Bunny, Chip and Dale, and Pluto were out, too!

I spy a puppy:

There he is!

And then, we met the Mouse, who was thrilled that it was our anniversary! Of course the photopass CM took photos of that conversation, but the CM with my camera did not

After our Mickey meet, we decided to go on a 2-week long safari.

The wait time was about 20 minutes…exactly the same time as the current fastpass return time. Instead of getting in the stand-by line, we grabbed fastpasses and spent those 20 minutes in “my favorite store,” which happened to be right by the safaris! What are the chances??

After our lovely AC break, we cashed the fastpasses in and were off!

And now, allow me to post the same safari pictures you’ve seen a million times already!

The Bongo (I think?), the ghost of the safari:

Gators:

Ariel484 · Jul 1, 2011

More safari…

Giraffes:

Cattle right by our safari vehicle:

The other guys:

Baby elephant!! (We saw another elephant throwing dirt and water on itself to keep cool…everyone was feeling the heat!)

Pretty flamingos:

Sleepy kitties:

Not-so-sleepy kitty:

We were seated in such a way that I was the first one on our bench (so I was all the way to the left), and I definitely got the best photo opportunities that way…I felt bad for the guy sitting on the other side of our bench. I think he got a good shot of the ostriches and not much else.

After the safari it was time for lunch, so we made the trek to Flame Tree BBQ…this was the only counter service meal where we used our Tables in Wonderland card.

Pulled pork sandwiches with fries and giant ice waters for all! Yummy, yummy.

The ducks were quite bold today - I thought one was about to jump into Will’s lap. However, thou shalt not feed thy ducks, says Disney:

Somehow I don’t think the little guy in the background is concerned about how our yummies will affect his tummy. :lol:

Ariel484 · Jul 1, 2011

We got back to the hotel (if I remember correctly, we got off the bus at the Swan and walked to the Boardwalk from there – tip for anyone that stays at an Epcot resort, if you don’t mind walking, just get off at the first bus stop and walk the rest of the way!), took showers and another lovely nap. Just like the previous day, we hopped on an MK bus and took the monorail to the Polynesian for our first-ever dinner at Kona Café.

It was a bit before 5, and we opened the place up.

It was sort of weird sitting in Kona and seeing the opening ceremony going on at ‘Ohana. It made Kona seem like the uncool little brother at the Polynesian, in a way.

Anyhoo, we had a really tasty lunch at Kona in February, so it was at the top of our list for dinner on this trip. I started off with a Backscratcher (I was debating between that and the Lapu Lapu, but the 151 scared me off):

It was okay. I probably won’t get another one.

We enjoyed our bread with the macadamia nut butter…pretty tasty.

For dinner, Will ordered the Pan Asian Noodles. I think he was hoping the noodles would be like the ones we’d had the previous night at ‘Ohana. Sadly, they were not. The dish was okay, but didn’t have a ton of flavor.

I ordered the Teriyaki-Style New York Strip with mashed potatoes and stir-fried broccolini.

I don’t know if I shot myself in the foot yet again getting a sirloin after having had a fillet earlier in the trip, but this wasn’t that great. The potatoes were nothing special – I don’t even think I went beyond the first bite – but I did like the broccolini.

We were both pretty disappointed in this meal, but admittedly I think we were expecting a lot after enjoying lunch there so much in February. I think we’ll keep it on the list for lunch, but probably not for dinner any more. Nothing was bad or terrible, it was just okay. We’d had 4 fabulous dinners in a row, and this one just wasn’t as good.

However, dessert was great!

Kilauea Torte (a la mode, of course)…YUM YUM YUM. This is one of my favorite desserts at Disney. Super delicious!