diddy_mouse's first TR! 12/10/07-12/15/07 with pictures!

Okay so this took me well over a month to do but I had a lot of pictures to resize and such. I also wanted to make a good first attempt!
Here's the beginning and check back for more updates!

This was me and DH's first trip to WDW during the holidays. It was also the first trip we had taken that didn't have a pre-set agenda to it. The last trip was our honeymoon and the trip before that we got engaged. This was just time to take in the holidays before they actually arrived.

DEC. 10TH – ARRIVAL, MK AND MK EMHs

We landed at MCO right on schedule and after my traditional visit to the restroom right inside Airside 3, we caught the tram over to the main terminal. It still hadn’t sunk in that we were really in Orlando. After taking the escalator down to baggage claim, DH saw the driver from Quicksilver Tours holding a sign with our name on it. The driver greeted both of us, took my bag, and we followed him outside to what I thought would be a town car. Instead it turned out we were magically upgraded to an Escalade! After our bags were loaded into the back, we were on our way

It was so great to finally be heading to our resort. From the moment we entered the realm of WDW, I was perched on the edge of my seat. Crossing under that archway, you just seem to leave everything behind. Following the monorail beam in the direction of the Magic Kingdom, we made a right turn and began the drive up a winding path where the Lodge suddenly appeared. I actually got misty-eyed as we pulled into the drop-off area, especially after the driver said: “Welcome home!”

The first step into the grandeur of the lobby seems to produce only one word: “Wow.”

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DH and I just stood there for a few seconds before making our way over to Registration. It was about 12:15pm when we got there and I didn’t have high hopes of our room being ready yet. I never seem to have that kind of luck. However the CM at the desk, after getting my name, picked up her phone and made a call. In about 3 minutes she told us we had been upgraded to a woods view! This was our second unexpected upgrade and we had only been in Orlando for a half-hour. After another “welcome home” we went to the elevator only to discover we were staying on the lobby level

Here's some WL pics!

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The boat ride to the MK was so relaxing. We pulled up to the dock and immediately jumped the resort monorail to head to the Poly. We decided to have lunch at Kona Café and I’m so happy we did.

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The food was wonderful and very filling. I had the duck dumplings with the chicken plate lunch and the chocolate fondue for dessert. DH enjoyed the crab cakes, mahi mahi plate lunch, and the Kilauea for dessert. Now it's time for some pictures from the Poly!

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We then hopped on the boat to head back over to the MK.

More to come...
 

diddy_mouse

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Day ONE (cont'd)

Once we got to the MK we actually lingered on Main Street for a little while, just taking pictures of things we hadn't shot before. Mainly the Xmas decorations. I also made it a point to get a picture of every one of the character statues around the hub. I'll post just my favorites of those...

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So...having gotten our fill of picture taking for the afternoon DH and I headed over to PotC (as is tradition.) The wait wasn't bad at all. the only problem was that we were behind the group of people who had to touch *everything* the queue. This group of slightly inebriated people in front of us had to knock on all the barrels to see if they were real I guess. But I digress...the new additions to the ride were just wonderful! We hadn't seen it since '05 and I gotta say I was very pleased. After Pirates, we ventured over to the Mansion to check the wait (which was pretty short.) OMG....that was truly the best ride ever! The surround sound in the stretch room, the pictures in the loading area, so awesome. I just kept saying "wow" especially when we got to see The Bride. This is always our second ride of the day and my husbands favorite.

Obligatory HM shot!
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As the day began to wind down we made out way through Fantasyland but didn't ride anything because the waits were a wee bit too long. Also since it was a EMH night we knew we could come back. We did hit the TTA as well as the wonderful place that sells cheese stuffed pretzels! Mmm...the Lunching Pad. Realizing that we had to get our EMH bracelets, we booked it over to City Hall and were good to go. Then I think we went back to ride Splash. I know we rode Pirates again before getting our spot for Spectro. Oh yeah, we had the stupid group of people that just happened to stand right in front of us about 5 min. before the parade started. Luckily we found a better spot.

Spectro was wonderful as usual. They did have the clown/Chuckie doll performers with the bright face paint when we saw it. Just a little creepy looking if you ask me.

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We didn't get to catch Wishes where we normally watch it, mainly because after Spectro we hopped on BTMR since there was no wait. After getting off I heard the music start up and we figured "oh well." So we watched it from under the Liberty Tree. Definitely a unique perspective! EMH's kicked off and we rode Small World then the Carrousel and saw PhilharMagic. By now we were almost dead on our feet. Being up since 5am and only having four hrs. of sleep made it a little hard. After walking through Tomorrowland and passing on SM, we hit the Laugh Floor (which I though was very cute) then called it a night. Made it back to the Lodge around midnight and passed out!

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Tomorrow was what I was waiting for...Epcot!

Stay tuned for more!
 

diddy_mouse

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Now we return to our regularly scheduled trip report...

DEC. 11TH - EPCOT, CHEF MICKEY'S, AND MVMCP

The alarm went off at 7am that morning. Our goal was to get to Epcot in time for the morning EMH but we realized after getting ready and having breakfast we wouldn't make it. Roaring Forks was the first stop of the morning and it wasn't too crowded even though it was early. We got our food and decided to eat outside since the weather was just perfect! Also being able to listen to the wonderful Christmas music that the WL has was a great way to start our morning. While we were eating we noticed the various birds that came to join us. One in particular landed right on the chair in front of me!

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After breakfast we headed over to the bus stop and sure enough the first bus to pull up was for Epcot. The new on-board audio was a nice touch. It reminded me of the monorail audio and being able to listen to an Epcot music clip really gets you excited to get there! I had all the energy of a little kid as we made our way to the park and walking from the bus stop up to the entrance gate.

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And once inside we got to see SSE in all it's wand-less glory!

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Now, this was the first time that I can remember being in a park right around opening. We made it through the turnstiles at just about 9 and there wasn't too much of a crowd. DH and I stopped into Art of Disney first just to browse then headed over to The Land, yes...to get a Fastpass for Soarin'. I gotta say though, it was such a lovely walk over there. Once inside we grabbed our Fastpasses which had a return time of only like an hour and a half from then. In the meantime we rode Living with The Land which I hadn't done since I was a kid. I forgot how interesting that attraction is.

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After hanging out in The Land we decided to take a dip in The Seas. We hadn't visited here in three years and I was looking forward to seeing all of the animals again. Since there was no one in line we went ahead and rode The Seas with Nemo and Friends. It was cute and we liked how they did the projections on the tanks but hearing nothing but "Nemo? Nemo! Neeemo?!?" did kinda grate on us. But I loved the background music! So then we walked around Sea Base Alpha -- err, the rest of The Seas. I really forgot how HUGE those tanks are!

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Upon departing The Seas we saw that it was time for our Soarin' Fastpass. We breezed through the queue and when we got to the end there was a group of 5 in front of us but they wanted to wait so they could try to sit all together. So we ended up going before them (party of 2 = sweet!) and were in row C2 (I think). I do know that we had a fabulous ride. We were seated on the inside, I was sitting on the end by the aisle. Man did that make a difference! The last time we rode it back in '05 we were on the outside and could see the outer edge of the screen which messed with the illusion of it all. This time around the illusion was totally there.
 

diddy_mouse

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
DAY 2 - (CONT'D)

Random monorail shot!

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After leaving Soarin' we decided to go ahead and do JII because it had been a while since we rode it. I always enjoy hearing that variation on "One Little Spark"...

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Anyhoo, still in Future World we figured it was now or never to grab a Fastpass for TT. The wait time on it gave us enough spare time to hit Grand Fiesta Tour, Maelstrom, and browse the wonderful Mitsukoshi. Lunch time was quickly approaching and we decided to "get some fish and chips in England!" (heh heh) On the way we passed a pin cart and I got my Epcot 25 pin with the monorail! Most excellent. We ate near the water and were once again visited by birds, lots of birds. Splitting one of those platters was the best idea, there was no way I could have eaten all that fish. (thanks Dining Plan!) I checked my watch and we had to head back to TT. For some reason after the pre-show there was a huge bottleneck of people leaving the other pre-show rooms. I think there was an elderly back up which caused the delay. And this was something we ran into almost the whole trip.

If I remember we went next door to M:S once we saw that UoE was closed. I am sooooooo glad we chose Green Team. We had a much better time on it! Although once we were in our capsule and they were doing the little checks and such we ended up just sitting there for like 5 min. The guys next to us started playing with the joysticks and we were pressing the buttons to kill time. Finally we started up and had a blast! (pun somewhat intended.) After leaving M:S we started to make our way out of the park because we wanted to go to DTD before heading over to Chef Mickey's. As we walked past SSE I noticed that the wall was open a little and they were letting people in. I looked at the CM, pointed to the queue, and then she waved us through! I was so happy to get on during the soft opening. We both noticed that there was some room for improvement and DH's main complaint was the volume of the narration.

So, we left Epcot for the day and took the bus back to the WL to grab what we needed for MVMCP. Then we took the DTD bus and browsed around there for a little bit. I picked up an awesome set of pins where the characters were dressed like pirates. They were so cute! Oh also while we were at DTD we saw some chalk artists doing a display for National Treasure 2.

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CHEF MICKEY'S

We had a 5pm ADR for Chef Mickey's and made it pretty much made it on time. After queuing up to check in, we waited for like 5 min. which was just enough time to trade one of my pins with a CM and then we were taken to our table. We got the low-down about how everything works (since it was our first time) then I ordered a Mai Tai and right before we got up to get some food...here comes Donald! We were actually seated where the characters make their first stop on our side of the room. Donald stopped by, followed by Minnie. Then we hit the buffet and made it back just in time to see Mickey, Pluto, and Goofy. They were so great!

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MVMCP

That dinner was so much fun and put us in a great mood for the party. We took the monorail over, got our wristbands inside the gate, then headed off for some holiday merriment. The MK looked so pretty at night with all of the decorations lit. First we rode the TTA then took a ride on Space which had no wait. We booked it over to Pirates to get one more ride in before the stage show. We got a spot to watch Celebrate the Season right in the hub. I really enjoyed this show. It wasn't overly cheesy and I LOVED the animated character faces! Afterwards, we fought through all the people waiting for the parade and went to the HM again then realized we needed to head over to Tomorrowland and grab a spot on the bridge for Holiday Wishes. We got hot chocolate ( which was *really* hot!) and cookies at the Noodle Terrace then it was off to the bridge. The fireworks were so great and I was happy to see Tinkerbell perform her flight. Didn't think they would have done that for the show. I know some board members were meeting on the bridge for the show if they were at the party that night. Not sure if I saw any of you but I was there! :wave:

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After fighting through the crowd, who were all waiting for the parade, we made it to Adventureland and rode PotC. Once we got out, we walked down the pathway that shortcuts to Frontierland and sat down for a minute. DH came back with fries and we moved down to the ground right by the ropes. I was sitting where they cut off the path and I hoped that this would keep anyone from sitting right next to me. Nope. Some cranky old woman in an ECV with her annoying grown-up-adult son rolled right up on me. She was complaining the WHOLE TIME. I'm glad I was able to tune her out and actually enjoy the parade. Though I could hear them occasionally in our video footage.

To round out our night we did Peter Pan, the Teacups, Splash, and finally BTMR. All in all, MVMCP was such a great experience. I got one of the limited edition pins with Tinkerbell as well as one of the scary gingerbread men dolls that they sold.
 

diddy_mouse

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
DEC. 12 - FOUR PARKS IN ONE DAY PLUS DTD

Well, we decided to set the wake-up call for a half hour later than the previous morning. So the phone rang nice and early at 7:30am and we began day number three. After another fantastic breakfast outside we walked down the path to the bus stop and made our way to AK. This was actually the first time we had been here when it wasn't brutally hot. Instead we had gorgeous weather!

Our first stop of the day was going to be Everest! We passed through the Oasis and made a beeline for Asia.

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There was a pretty good group heading the same direction so I figured everyone was heading to the same ride we were. When we got to the entrance of the queue I was very surprised to see only a 20 min. wait. We expected it to be much longer due to the fact that the park had just opened. Walking through the queue we were both amazed at the level of detail that was put into the attraction (not to mention that corner of Asia!). I will admit that I was a little nervous about riding but I think it was because I was also really excited. When it was our turn to board the train we were seated towards the back, probably the middle of the second to last car. Oh man...watching a video of this thing then actually riding it was just...wow! After zipping around through the icy section and hitting the broken track, DH and I were so ready for the backwards section. As we lurched backwards I was just anticipating a small turn or something but holy crap...I didn't know you just. kept. falling! Oh and the yeti? Totally unreal! He was swooping and growling...and it was so cool!

After a superb start to our day at AK we ventured over to Dinoland and boarded our Time Rovers in Dinosaur. The wait was about 5 min so we pretty much walked right into the preshow. On this go around I told myself that I would try to keep my eyes open the whole time. I know, I know...it might sound a little juvenile but I managed to do it. All in all it was a good time.

Checking the time I told DH we should probably head over to Camp Minnie-Mickey to catch FOTLK (we have never seen it!).

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After grabbing a bottle of water from Chester and Hester's we were on our way. The funny thing was, right before we got to Camp Minnie-Mickey DH spotted an ice cream cart and got himself a Mickey Premium Bar, the first of the trip! Mmm...early lunch... We were then ushered into FOTLK and found seats on the back wall, about five or so rows up, on the outside by the aisle. DH and I noticed that hardly anyone was sitting in our row. I guess no one wanted to walk past us to get to the other side. Anyhoo....the show was just wonderful! The four singers were so interactive with each other and the audience. Our show actually had some of the shyest kids when they were called up to be section leaders. It was cute! We were in the lion section and had a very vocal group which made it more fun. It acutally got chills when they were singing "Circle of Life" and I even teared up during "Can You Feel the Love Tonight." I really don't know why we waited so long to see this show. Here's some of my favorite pics:

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After FOTLK we were going to try for the safari but because it was getting closer to lunch, more people were coming into the park. Instead we opted for the Pangani Exploration Trail. It had been a while since I walked it and we didn't do it on our last trip. Needles to say, we saw quite a few critters on the trail including the gorillas.

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Well, we went back over to Everest and took a couple of pictures then decided to head out for the day. On the way to the bus stop we figured that which ever theme park bus showed up first, that's where we'd head next. Looks like we were going to Epcot!

More to come...
 

diddy_mouse

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
DAY 3 (CONT'D)

EPCOT

We got to Epcot around 2 pm and by this point we were getting pretty hungry so instead of wandering all over World Showcase looking for something to eat, we went and had lunch at the Electric Umbrella. The food was okay but we did enjoy eating outside...too bad the fountain was dry. So we just people watched as we planned our next move. After getting some fuel in us we went over to see if SSE was still open and sure enough it was! Ride number two! Next we stayed to the right side of the park, passed through Future World and made out way to Canada. I absolutely love this pavilion. We browsed the shop and DH found something interesting back where the plush animals were...

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Isn't that too funny?

On our way from Canada to the International Gateway I ran into Chip and Dale. Dale was flirting with another lady a little further down the path so I approached Chip and he was so cute. He took my hand and DH took a picture of us in a tango-esque position. I adore Chip and Dale, they are just too much fun! Anyhoo...we then caught the boat to the Studios.

DISNEY'S HOLLYWOOD STUDIOS

If I had to choose which park had the worst crowds, it would definitely be DHS. Something about the attitudes of everyone there was just awful and I got a vibe right in the entrance plaza. We only do a small handful of attractions at this park but they are still some "must-do's." First stop was RnRC. The was about 20 min but we figured if we didn't hop in now it would just get worse. DH and I were getting ready to board and this strange woman in the row next to us started to get into our row. Don't ask me how. We were like: "Woah, this isn't your row! You go up there." I mean honestly...it's not rocket science. That's why they have the dividers. So the ride was great as usual and we then decided to go check out Star Tours.

As we got to Star Tours they were running the Jedi Training Academy. I thought this was a neat little idea. The CM they had as the trainer was really good with the kids and his interaction with Darth Vader was pretty good too. The ride was fun as usual, complete with DH and I making fun of our pilot and his P e e W e e Herman laugh. :lol: But I do think it's definitely in need of a refurb...but that's not anything we haven't heard before. Next on the agenda was MuppetVision!

Before we went to go see our favorite Muppets, we got some soft-serve at Gerties Ice Cream. There was a group of boys in front of us who were taking forever with their order. Umm...there are three flavors....and I think I heard one of them say: "Okay I want chocolate but also vanilla. Can you mix them together?" o_0?? Luckily my order was sweet and simple: chocolate in a sugar cone. We took our frozen treats and went to sit on a bench near the Indy show. Unfortunately we couldn't even sit and eat ice cream because every five minutes someone almost ran over us with a stroller or looked at us like we were eating some foreign object. We got up and left then finally got to MuppetVision.

I gotta say, something about that show always puts me in a good mood when we leave. Speaking of leaving, when the HSM Pep Rally started we knew that was our cue to exit. We headed to the bus station and headed back to the WL. There was a family sitting next to us who were yaking away about stuff and making fun of the WL like the whole drive (I have no idea why) but they clammed up once the dad noticed my DH's WL shirt.

Taking some time to relax a little in the room and recharge, we grabbed a snack then hopped on a bus to the MK.

MK

This was probably the funniest thing we did on the whole trip. We went to the MK simply to ride the TTA. I think DH had mentioned after DHS that we had already done three parks today, why not go for four? So yeah...we walked in, zipped down Main St., strolled into Tomorrowland, and took a spin on the TTA, then left! It was fun!

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EPCOT (part deux)

Well, here we are, back at Epcot! The whole point of our return was to take some pictures at night because we had hardly any. I really don't think we rode or saw a single thing on this second visit. But that was okay, we had EMH's at the end of the week. Now for some of the pics! I apologize for the ones that blurred.
 

diddy_mouse

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
DAY 3 (CONT'D)

Epcot @ night...


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Once we took enough pictures we walked down to the Beach Club to see their holiday decorations. Mmm...the scent of the gingerbread display was almost overwhelming. Here's a shot of the carousel...

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Next we wait for a bus to DTD. DH and I were slowly hitting the first stages of sleepiness. But once we arrived at the Marketplace, the first place I wanted to go was Ghirardelli's for my brownie sundae. Now, after eating that huge thing I definitely grew more tired. We only hit World of Disney and maybe Once Upon a Toy I really can't remember. All I know is that it was a struggle to get back to the bus stop. boy were we ever happy to crawl into bed when we got back. That was probably the busiest day we've ever had on a trip. Five parks and DTD. Whew!

Next up in the Trip Report...another visit to AK, followed by MK, Boma, and DTD! Stay tuned!
 

Turcicus

Member
Great report so far, and from a fellow Virginian!! You and your DH look oddly familiar... Anywho, I'm looking forward to reading more!
 

diddy_mouse

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Pics to be added later...

DEC 13TH - AK, MK, BOMA, AND DTD

Sorry I've had such a gap in time between posts. I've just been really busy lately! I might have to come back and add pics later to this post. Anyhoo...

After having such a wonderful time at AK the previous day we had decided to spend another morning there. Mainly because I wanted to ride Everest again. Once we arrived at the park we headed straight for Asia and jumped in the queue for Everest. This time around we actually snapped a couple of pictures and really looked around at all of the details. It was hard to take everything in because our line moved pretty fast. Once we got off as we were heading out of the gift shop DH asked if I'd like to go on again. I thought about it for a second, we checked the line which was down to 10 min, and hopped right back on! Man that is such an excellent ride!

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So, after taming the Yeti, we crossed back into Asia and debated if we wanted to ride Kali. We tend to have horrible luck on water rides, meaning we get drenched just about every time we ride one. The night before we unexpectedly got soaked on Splash. We said we'd check the wait and if it was under 20 min we'd ride. Sure enough, the wait time read 5 so on we went. There was a family in our raft that had already done one ride through and they were dripping wet. I had a feeling I would end up with that wall of water on my head before the ride was over. Well, I was wrong...we got through relatively dry but our raft-mates got soaked yet again!

As we sloshed up the exit ramp I wanted to go to the Tiger Trek. I hadn't done this in about 7 years and we weren't able to fit it in the day before.

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One thing I have learned about walking the trails at AK...take your time. You don't have to be right on top of the group in front of you. DH and I couldn't seem to shake the group that was before us. They had a little kid who wasn't interested in the trail at all and he just kept lagging behind or wandering off by himself. We either slowed down our pace, or tried to pass in front of them while they were distracted. They still managed to catch up to us. Nevertheless, the trail was fantastic! We had a great encounter with the fruit bats, who were very active that morning. DH got some great video footage of them cleaning themselves and eating.

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One thing I never noticed before on the Tiger Trek were the wall carvings depicting man's relationship with nature. Just goes to show that AK has some of the best themeing.

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Once we finished the Tiger Trek it was off to Kilimanjaro Safari. Oh, on our way over there we got to see DiVine! That was pretty cool...I loved how she just morphed into the trunk of one of the nearby trees. I just wish we got a better picture of her. It was kinda of funny to see the reactions on people's faces as she slunk by. They didn't quite know what to make of it!

The wait for the Safari was only about 20min and we actually got to sit right behind the driver with a bench to ourselves. Pretty much all of the animals were out and about on this trip which was so nice. We got some great pictures!

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Continued...
 

diddy_mouse

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
DAY 4 (CONT'D)

Kilimanjaro Safari

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After the Safari we figured it was time to be heading out. But we did ITTBAB as our last attraction. As we made our way through the winding queue there was a couple in front of us haphazardly pushing both sets of grandparents(?) in wheelchairs. I could have sworn there was a wheelchair entrance before you got to the actual theater inside. Guess I was wrong....but I digress...One thing I forgot about during the show was how low those black widows drop from the ceiling! We had a few freak-outs from the audience when they came rocketing down over our heads.

Well, we said goodbye to AK and caught a bus to MK.

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Feeling a little hungry we headed straight for Aloha Isle. Mmm...pineapple goodness.

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Then we went on the Jungle Cruise. OMG our skipper was too funny! He did the best deadpan narration and also let a little boy drive the boat. The kid was so nervous about steering us into something! It was a definitely a good laugh. Next up was Splash followed by Tom Sawyer's Island. DH really wanted to go here, I wasn't too thrilled. We walked around for a little bit and saw the parade go by. One day I will actually watch this thing in its entirety from the sidewalk! We did take some good pictures though.

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Realizing that we hadn't eaten lunch yet, we went over to Cosmic Ray's and sat outside to admire the castle. We did have some feathered visitors though. A one-legged seagull was hanging out near me and I was so afraid he would either take my sandwich or peck me. Not to mention the other few who were swooping in amongst the other diners. Now I know why they post those signs about not feeing the birds.

After our bird-invaded lunch we went over to Toontown and actually took a ride on the Barnstormer. We had some cute kids in line behind us and yes, I felt like a dork getting on a kiddie coaster, but I'm kinda glad we did it. Next DH and I walked over to Stitch followed by a spin on Space. After a quick check of the time (we had an ADR later) we headed back to the resort.

We dropped some things off, I grabbed a wonderful Mickey head rice krispy treat, and we made our way to DTD. After a little more shopping in Pin Traders, World of Disney, the Xmas shop, and Once Upon a Toy to name a few, we needed to go back to the WL to chill out and get ready for dinner. We had 8pm ADR's at Boma and I was really looking forward to it!

If I remember correctly, I think we took the boat to the MK then got on the AKL bus. We got to the resort a little early but we went a head and checked-in anyway. The AKL is truly a beautiful resort and we said we'd stay a little after dinner to look around. Now, I gotta tell you...I absolutely *loved* Boma! The food was so unique and just full of flavor, oh and the Zebra Domes? I had three of them. I also had about three or four pieces of that cornbread. I discovered which foods I wasn't fond of (but I did try) and those that I loved. DH warmed up to it and he enjoyed himself too. Now that we've been here, I'm really anxious to try Jiko! Maybe on our next trip...

Once we had stuffed ourselves silly on delicious African cuisine, DH and I tried to walk some of it off around the lobby and the gift shop before getting back on the bus and returning to DTD. We were dropped off at Pleasure Island and walked down to Virgin Megastore. At this point I was getting a little tired, perhaps because I was full of food and some alcohol. Also the awesome shoes I was wearing were starting to irritate my feet. So we walked, slowly, back towards the Marketplace and took the bus back to the WL. After changing into comfortable clothes we went down to the pool and soaked out feet in the hot tub. There was no one in it which was a plus, and we weren't there for too long just enough to relax for a little. Then we lumbered back to the room and called it a night.

Next up in the trip report....MK, Flying Fish Cafe, and EMH @ Epcot (our last night!) I also hope to get the pictures put in this post once I organize them!
 

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