Trip Report The Cold, Rainy, and First Ever Trip Report

2014 Family Trip to Walt Disney World

I have never done a trip report before, mostly because I didn't know they existed until a couple weeks ago, I figured what the heck, I have enjoyed reading them let me try writing one. So there are 7 of us in our group, we are staying at Animal Kingdom Lodge. Let me introduce the cast; Pat (me), Cara (my wife), Trevor (my brother), Brittany (Trevor's girlfriend), Ian (my youngest brother), Sandy (my dad), and Peggy (my mom). Cara and I last visited in 2007, it was our first trip together as we had just started dating about 6 months earlier; I even met her parents while there at Bluezoo in the Swan and Dolphin. The rest of my family Trevor, Ian, Mom, and Dad hadn't been since 1989. I remember going and DHS was brand new, there was almost nothing there that worked; I was 6, trevor 4, and Ian 2. Brittany has never been to Disney World. I think that is all the background info you need, well you don't need any of it, so want? you probably didn't really want it anyway, so on to the actual adventure.
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When these babies arrived we got really excited.

Day 1

Cara and I were out the door at 5 a.m. we had a flight out of Laguardia at 7. We arrived in Orlando a little before 10, then it was off to wait for My Magical Express. There were not many people waiting when we arrived, but after waiting about 15 minutes a few of the resort lines had gotten a little long. Our bus was about two thirds full. Trevor and Brittany's flight from Detroit landed while we were getting on the bus, and for a minute we thought they would make it on ours, but we took off without them.
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We were ready to go after seeing this
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First we stopped at Art of Animation, which looked like a huge resort, the walk from Little Mermaid section to the lobby area looked really long. Next we stopped at Pop Century where the vast majority of our bus was staying(about 10 people were going to AoA or AKL). Animal Kingdom Lodge is an impressive resort, it is really something to look at. Our room was not ready when we arrived so we checked our carry ons with the hotel and went off to Disney's Hollywood Studios.
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We had heard a lot about Toy Story Midway Mania, and made fastpasses for it, as well as Star Tours, and Tower of Terror. Our first FP was for Star Tours, the line for the fast pass entrance had gotten backed up (a common thing I noticed during this trip) after a few minutes we actually got in, and had to wait a few minutes to board the ride. I don't really remember the ride from 7 years ago, but I think the new version is an improvement, I liked it much more than I did before.
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After this we went and did the Muppets 3d, which I really loved last time. It seemed that a lot of the effects were not working this time, it was still a fun little 3d movie, but it seems like with the new Muppet movies they could update this one, as the other 3d movies throughout the parks really are more impressive than this one currently is.
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I really regret not buying this
After Muppets we got in touch with Trevor and Brittany, they had gotten checked in but Brittany was not feeling well, so they were going to wait for their room to be ready at hotel and relax for a bit. Cara and I decided to get lunch since we didn't have to wait for them, I kind of wanted to try the Sci-Fi drive in, but Cara wanted to go to The Brown Derby, so to the Brown Derby we went. We got seated after about 5 minutes with no reservations. We both ordered a cocktail, I had a variation of a Manhattan, and Cara had a bloody mary, they were both very good. To eat we both had Cobb Salads, which I though was fine, but could have use a dash of salt.
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After Brown Derby it was time for TSMM, it was a Monday in January and the standby line was over an hour long wait, we got on very quick with our fastpasses. I scored 121,000 and Cara had 54,000, Cara immediately said we have to ride this again before we leave. We both really like the ride, we only wished the standby line wasn't so long.
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Cara was tired and wanted to take a nap, we had gotten the text saying out room was ready during lunch. We still wanted to ride ToT before heading back, but on the way they we ran into to these colorful characters.
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Chip and Dale were great; we didn't interact with any characters 7 years ago, and I was determined to do as many as we could this time.

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We continued on to ToT, which we both love, this and Everest go back and forth as my favorite rides. Of all these drop type rides in the theme park world ToT is by far the best. After riding I wanted to get right back on, but we had been up since 4 a.m. so I agreed to go back to the hotel. We got to our room and were greeted by some of these great views.

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We only reserved a Standard view room, but we got to see a ton of animals. Last time we stayed here, we got a view of animals, plus construction of the Kidani Village, so this was an upgrade. Eventually we got in touch with Trevor and Brittany. We had reservations at Be Our Guest for 7:25, Trevor had said we should go to Magic Kingdom early so we could se the Electric Light Parade. Well we got to the lobby at 6 like we agreed to, but Trevor and Brittany were late so we didn't head to MK until about 6:50. We tried to find a spot to watch the parade, but it was packed. We walked past Haunted Mansion which had no wait so I suggested we ride that instead of fighting for space to watch parade.

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PMC0849

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
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I love when this tombstone starts moving
Everyone loved HM, it seemed appropriate to me that this iconic ride was Brittany's first ride at Disney. We continued to BOG, and almost went on Small World on the way, but it would have been cutting it too close to our ADR time. So we checked in, and I requested the west wing, which meant a slightly longer wait, but it was the right decision.

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Trevor and Brittany shared Mussels for an appetizer
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I had the potato and leek soup
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Cara had french onion soup
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I love this effect, and the picture that changes to Beast
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Trevor and I had the pork chop
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Cara had the shrimp and scallops in a puff pastry

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Before desert they asked if we wanted to meet Beast.
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Trevor had the grey stuff
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Cara had the strawberry cupcake
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I had this puff pastry
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Overall I enjoyed BoG, it wasn't the best meal we had this trip, but the setting is really great. The potato and leek soup was very good, and the pork chop was good too, I really enjoyed the sides it came with. The french onion soup was disappointing, I forget what Cara said about her entree. Trevor and Brittany said the mussels were delicious. They grey stuff was delicious, we figured it was a cookies and cream frosting, my cream puff was very good too, I just thought it had a little too much cream in the middle, Cara's strawberry cupcake didn't really standout, it wasn't bad, but was not as good as the other two deserts. After desert our waitress brought us each a small dab of grey stuff since we told her we all loved it. Magic Kingdom was closed after we finished so we walked down the nearly empty streets to the exit, and started thinking of what we would do for our first full day at Disney.
 

PMC0849

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Day 2 - Or the last time we see the sun for awhile

Cara and I woke up on our second day, we had ADR for the Akershus Royal Banquet Hall Princess breakfast. We were a few minutes late but we we only waited a few minutes until we got our picture taken with Belle, and were taken to our seats.
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Our server was very friendly, just a bit nervous, it was her first day out of training, she did a very good job. Somehow I forgot to take a picture of the food here, but it had a very nice buffet, with various pastries, smoked fish, fruit, and other things. We also received a platter with bacon, sausage, a potato cake, and scrambled eggs. Everything was very good, actually the bacon here was the only bacon I had that was crisp, which is how I like my bacon. Soon the princess parade started, it was very cute seeing the little girls in all their princess costumes parading around the restaurant. We were also glad to see that we were not the only table of just adults taking part in the character breakfast. After the parade the princesses started coming table to table.

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Cinderella, was first up, she noticed my Detroit Tigers hat and asked if we were from Michigan, then accused us of being misleading since we actually live in New York, I did grow up in Michigan though. She asked if I was Cara's prince charming, and then told Cara she reminded her of her good friend Merida, which made Cara's day.

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Aurora, came next, I can't remember what we talked about with her. I know we discussed the different colors the fairies wanted to make her dress. I know we spent more time with her then just that, but I can't really remember. Maybe it was actually her who mentioned Merida, now that I think about it.

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Ariel, followed Aurora; Cara immediately told her that she was my favorite, which made Ariel very excited. She told us not to brush our hair with the snarfblats at our table. We discussed trying to move under the sea, and how I wasn't a merman and would just drown, and also my fear of sharks, which Ariel shared.

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Finally, Snow White, she was also very friendly and we talked about wishing wells, and Dopey. What else I can't remember, I have not seen this movie in so long I really didn't know how to interact with her. After breakfast it was just about 11, there was a fairly long line awaiting for Maelstrom to open, but nothing too bad. We also went and checked out the ridiculous line to see Anna and Elsa. The queue to meet the Frozen girls was always full, and there was always a group of people waiting around the corner to meet them later too. It became clear we were not going to even attempt to see them. We hopped in the line for Maelstrom once it opened up, this ride was closed 7 years ago, so I was excited to ride it this time.

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Maelstrom, is an odd ride, it has a few small thrills in a mostly educational ride, but it delightfully corny as well. The Trolls are my favorite part, but it amuses me that all of a sudden there is an oil rig. We had decided to spend most of the day at Epcot, it is probably our favorite park, but in hindsight we should have gone elsewhere after Maelstrom. Not that we had a bad day there, but my family wanted to spend a lot of time there after they arrived on day 3. After Maelstrom out Fastpasses were coming up first up was Mission Space.

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We chose the more intense version of the ride, which of course broke down while we were in line. We waited it out and luckily it didn't take more then 10 minutes to get it back up and running. Oddly enough one of the members of our team was a little girl from Ann Arbor, Mi where I grew up. She was complaining that the rest of her family was too scared for this ride and had to keep doing it by herself. Mission space was fun, and after it was over we were both a little dizzy, you can really feel the G-forces. Our next fastpass was for Testtrack, a ride we skipped 7 years ago because it was constantly broken down or had 2 hour long waits.

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Our car was one of the most powerful that day!
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What a beauty.
We both really liked Test Track, from designing a car, the ride, to making a commercial about your car afterwards. It made us like our favorite park even more. Our next fastpass was for Livign with the Land, which is one flaw I noticed with the fastpass system. The whole time at Epcot there were only 3 rides that needed FP, Test Track, Mission Space (orange side), and Soarin. So here we have to pick a third one that is completely unnecessary, maybe during busier times it is, but not while we were there. I don't see why we can't make a FP for Soarin and Test Track on the same day if we wanted. Anyway on our way to the Land pavilion we noticed this.

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A Cronut! or as Disney called the less romantic sounding croissant doughnut. Cara has wanted one of these since they were introduced in NYC, but for those of you who don't know people line up at 5 a.m. here to get the limited amount of these they have. We aren't that crazy. The Disney Cronut was good, it reminded me of a multilayer elephant ear. After our quick snack we continued to our next FP.

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Olaf's cousin
I remember a lot of this ride, but I don't remember the greenhouse, or fishtanks. Cara really like LWtL, I thought it was interesting, but she was more of a fan than me. I did see my only hidden Mickey here though, in a tank with a giant shrimp. Next time I think we need to grab lunch here since a lot of the produce they grow here is served at the restaurants near by. We decided it was time for lunch, so we started heading to Beaches and Cream. On the way we came across Mary Poppins, and there was almost no line to meet her so we hopped on the end of it.

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I never heard the end of telling Cara I thought Mary was pretty, D'oh!
Mary was great, she told us stand up straight, and tried to send me to work cleaning chimneys, even volunteered her service as a nanny if we needed one in a few years. We continued to the back entrance to Epcot, and saw the Beach Club, Yacht Club, and Boardwalk area, which we really liked, and the location was great. We kind of decided we wanted to try to stay there on our next trip, since you can just walk in that less used entrance to Epcot. We didn't have ADR at Beaches and Cream, but we got seated instantly. We were not super hungry, and had ADR at Le Cellier that night so we didn't want to eat too much. We shared a pastrami sandwich which was just fine, and while the main reason we wanted to come here was the no way jose, we just knew we couldn't handle it. We got a chocolate Malt to go instead.

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Not an impressive picture, but it was a very good malt

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We walked outside of BaC and I heard a familiar tune, the theme to "Northern Exposure" I thought that was weird but then "The Simpsons", "Night Court" and more tv themes were being played. It seems the pool at Beach and Yacht club were doing a TV theme show name that tune. This made me want to stay there even more, because all those kids playing would have loved a weird 30 year old guy jumping in, naming all those classic shows from the '80's and 90's.

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Just a neat looking spider web on way back to Epcot
We kind of slowly walked around the world showcase areas, we knew we would be meeting my family here tomorrow and thought we didn't want to do too much that they might want to do. This was another mistake :banghead:.
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I wish you could meet Remy somewhere.
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Seeing these at Disney amused me.
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I love Mexican Donald.
We really only explored France, and Japan, but didn't really do anything. We spent a lot of time wandering the Japanese gift shop, which was massive, I don't know how we missed this last time.​
 

PMC0849

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Day 2 Continued

We decided to head to Magic Kingdom for awhile, but on the way out of Epcot made a couple of stops.

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This is one of Cara's favorite things
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And she actually likes Beverly
Flavors around the world, we both enjoy this attraction. I can't say that there was one flavor that stood out this time, there were some good ones, but none beat good old fashioned Coca-Cola. We then headed towards the exit for Epcot, but noticed Spaceship earth had no wait. It seemed like Spaceship Earth either had no wait, or everyone entering the park got in line for it making the wait longer then it should ever be for that ride.

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What happened to my head?
Spaceship Earth is an interesting, yet somewhat corny ride. It is nice to sit down for a few minutes, and listen to the soothing voice of Judi Dench, I seem to remember a different voice last time. I also don't remember the end where your face is put on the screen. We walked into Magic Kingdom, right in time to see a parade! Which was fun.

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If they have the costumes, why can't you meet characters like Luminaire?
We headed into tommorowland, with no real plan in mind. We saw the Monsters Inc. Laugh Floor which I kept hearing good things about, and we decided to do that. After a short wait in the pre show room, we were seated. This is a great attraction, very entertaining, we both laughed a lot. We wanted to go on Space Mountain but the line was too long, we did go on Buzz Lightyear, but our cart would only spin in one direction, and Cara's gun wasn't working. So after this we headed to Pirates, one of our favorite rides from 7 years ago.


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Still trying to get that key after all these years
Last time we were here, Davey Jones was on the waterfall in the beginning, he has now been replaced by Blackbeard, I think I prefer Davey Jones. We played around in the Pirates gift shop for a few minutes, before heading back into Adventureland, we saw Jungle River Cruise had a 5 minute posted wait so we got in line. It was clear that the posted time was wrong. We waited about 20 minutes, before we had to get out of line so we wouldn't miss ADR at Le Cellier. We rushed to the Monorail, and got right on one, but had to wait a while for the Monorail to Epcot from TTC. We got to Le Cellier a few minutes late, where Trevor and Brittany were meeting us. They had driven down to Ft. Lauderdale to meet a friend and spend the day at the beach. We were seated quickly at Le Cellier, and I teased Cara who has never been to Canada about the fact that we were in Canadaland.

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Beer and Cheese Soup
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The Filet
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(Blurry) Lobster Poutine
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Creamed Spinach
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Ribeye
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Strawberry Panna Cotta
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Maple Creme Brulee
Cara, and I shared the soup which was excellent. Trevor and Cara each had a filet, while I had the ribeye. We all shared the poutine and spinach. Brittany was not feeling well so didn't order anything. Of course by the end of the meal she had taken some from all of our plates... The very first bite I had of the ribeye was bland, I prepared myself for disappointment, after that first bite it was fantastic though. Maybe the butter had melted into the meat well enough after that first bite, which then effectively flavored the steak. I had a bite of Cara's filet which was also very good. I personally don't order filet, I think there is more flavor in ribeye, which is my preferred cut of beef. But this filet was very good, I can see why it is so famous. The poutine was also excellent, I love poutine, and adding lobster to it only makes it better. I am eagerly awaiting a return trip to WDW so I can eat this again. The desserts were good, I preferred the creme brulee. Our server Marina, was fantastic, she really was amazing, and seamless melded into the attitude at our table. There was a table next to us that we saw arguing over the dining plan with their server. I tried to eavesdrop, since I am curious about the dining plan. Sometimes trying to understand it is like reading latin. We did not use it this trip, but I want to know if it is worthwhile for next time. The main reason we didn't do it this time was because I knew a few people in our party would skip meals, or go to dinner and just get an appetizer, so I assumed it wouldn't be a good option, also we were going to a few places that didn't take the dining plan, but the latter would be easily changed had we gone with it. Anyway I need a lesson on dining plan 101. After dinner, everything was closed, so we headed back to AKL. We were aware that the next two days the weather was supposed to be unpleasant, but we had no idea that it was going to just keep being awful after that. We said goodbye to the warm dry days, and were ready to welcome, Ian, dad, and mom, on the next day, as well as 40 degree temperatures and rain!

 

FlaggNL

Well-Known Member
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I wish you could meet Remy somewhere.
Then you abolutely have to come to DLP :) The new Ratatouille ride will open this summer :) Remy will be there, I am sure!!In my TR there are some pics of the building process :) And btw great TR, pls continue!!​
 

PMC0849

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Then you abolutely have to come to DLP :) The new Ratatouille ride will open this summer :) Remy will be there, I am sure!!In my TR there are some pics of the building process :) And btw great TR, pls continue!!​
That's funny, my wife is pushing for our next trip to be to Paris, and mentioned a potential day at DLP!
 

PMC0849

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Day 3 - Everyone Else Arrives, and Brings Rain
Day 2 was beautiful, 75-80 degrees sun shining. Day 3, 40-45 degrees, and rain, it never down poured but it misted all day. Cara, Trevor, Brittany, and I had breakfast reservations at Kona Cafe, Trevor had read about it and really wanted to go, so he made us all an reservation the night before. We headed to the bus stop, we were not sure what the best way would be to get there, bus to MK followed by monorail? First bus that arrives than transfer to whatever gets us to Polynesian? We waited about 10 minutes before a bus arrived, which we just took, it went to AK. The bus to Polynesian was waiting for us at AK, so we thought we made the right choice, except the bus sat at AK for 15-20 minutes. We got to Kona Cafe about 10 minutes late. We were seated and ordered, Cara and I decided to share the Tonga Toast and a side of sausage.

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Trevor, also had the Tonga toast, and Brittany had some egg dish that came with a biscuit, so she could make breakfast sandwiches. Our decision to share the tonga toast was correct, it was massive. It was very good, I kind of want to eat it again. Cara and I finished ours, Trevor could not. After breakfast we got on the Monorail and were on our way to Epcot... again.

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I can't help but sing the Monorail song from "The Simpsons" on this thing.
This is when I realized Cara and I made a mistake spending our previous day at Epcot. Don't get me wrong, it is our favorite park, we just missed a lot at other parks this trip, and I think part of it was because we spent a lot of time at Epcot, doing things we had already done.

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Trevor set up FP+ the night before for all 7 of us the night before. We had Soarin, Captain EO, and The Seas with Nemo. I had told him several times you don't nee done for Captain EO but he didn't listen. We went right on Spaceship Earth which Brittany and Trevor had not done. I really don't need to ride that ride more than once a trip, well this was my 2nd time in 2 days, and it wouldn't be my last either. It was okay though, Cara and I got a different future story which was fun to see. After this we walked over to Mission Space and Test Track area. Test Track had a 40 minute wait, but 5 minute for single riders, so we hopped in that line. Sadly we decided not to stop and build our own cars and just went right to the ride.

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The cold and rain during the speed test didn't bother me like I was afraid it would. I really like test track, and this was the last time we got to go on it during this trip. I would have loved to design another car, and get on this ride again. After TT we headed to MS, Brittany was too scared to go on the orange side so we did green, which was okay with me, since I was interested in seeing how different they were. The answer was a lot different. Green was barely worth it when compared to orange. Our FP for Nemo was coming up (we couldn't get this one at a time when all 7 of us were there), so we headed that way. On the way we came across a few familiar faces.

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There was no wait to meet Goofy or Mickey, but Minnie had a huge line. There must have been some kind of competition going on this week, we kept seeing large groups of middle or high school girls during this trip, they seemed to be from all over the world too. They would only get in lines as groups of about 40 too. They were all waiting for Minnie, so we skipped her, and went to Nemo.

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Nemo is an okay ride I guess, I kind of find boring. There are similar rides I like better, because I like those movies better I guess. We went to Turtle Talk with Crush next, but right as we were getting into the theater, Brittany realized she lost her wallet, her and Trevor went back to Nemo to see if they left in the the shell. Cara and I stayed at turtle talk. I didn't expect much from Turtle Talk, but it was actually pretty funny. I can't remember any one thing that happened, but it was cute. We met up with Trevor and Brittany afterwards, they found her wallet, and had gotten back to turtle talk as they closed the doors. They just looked around the aquariums, while waiting for us, which meant they didn't want to do it again with us. About this time we got the message that the rest of our family was at the San Angel Inn, earlier then we expected, so we headed over to meet them for lunch. I can't remember what everybody had, as soon as we ordered I got very hot, and felt sick. I know I had a margharita and enchiladas, and Cara and Ian had some chicken over rice dish, which was very good, I wish I had ordered it.

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I wasn't feeling well so I just took a very quick sloppy picture of the enchiladas
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During lunch I got up and went outside for a bit of fresh air. I felt 100 times better after that cold air cooled me off a little. We went on the ride in the Mexico pavilion after lunch.

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This is not one of the best rides in WDW, it is amusing enough to justify riding it, but that is about all I can say. We headed over to Maelstrom next since it had no line. We got in line and noticed my dad and Brittany were not with us. We assumed they were just waiting for us since they aren't as big a fan of rides as the rest of us. I do enjoy Maelstrom, it is more exciting than most of the sit in a boat rides, but is cheesy enough to make me laugh. We headed into the gift shop to find Dad, and Brittany, but they were no where to be found. A few minutes later we found them. They had stepped into the gift shop because Brittany was cold and wanted to see if she could find a sweater or something, and then went on the ride. She ended up getting a hat, because everything else was too expensive. I noticed you could get a look at Anna and Elsa at the end of the gift shop, so I peaked in to try and get a picture of them.

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I love Elsa, but I could not get a picture of her facing me.
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It was very difficult to get a picture of the "Frozen" girls, there was a rascal parked infront of the rope between me and them, and they never really faced where I was. So I did my best. Another question, how come when I edit a picture on Photobucket, when I post it here, it seems to show the unedited version? We continued walking around the World Showcase, we spent some time in China, and watched the circle vision movie there. On the way out I saw Mulan was meeting, there was a pretty long line so we skipped that one. I did wonder why they have her dressed in her costume from the beginning of the movie when she is unhappy, instead of her warrior outfit. We did not get very far into World Showcase before a drawbridge blocked out path. They were bringing out the boats for Illuminations. We waited a good 10 plus minutes and the bridge was still up, our FP for Soarin was coming up so we decided to head back.

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Impatiently waiting.

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We headed over to Soarin, which Cara and I didn't do last 7 years ago, because it always had over hour long waits. My Dad didn't want to ride it, he doesn't like heights, but we convinced him it would be fine. There was a huge line at the entrance of the FP for Soarin, anytime there is a problem with 1 persons Magicband, or FP this happens. When we got near the front, some woman just walked right up, to the CM who instructed her that there was a line, she responded with, "I have a fastpass" the CM looked at her and said "So do all of these people, you are going to have to get in line" the woman starred daggers at this CM, and stormed off in a huff. Apparently this woman thought she had a better FP than the rest of us with FPs. Anyway, even with a FP there was a decent amount of waiting for Soarin. I do have to say it is an incredible ride, I am sorry we only did this one time. My dad hated it, and kept his eyes closed the whole time. We had our Captain EO FP next, but I insisted everyone would enjoy LWtL since it was right there.

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Everyone enjoye LWtL, Cara really likes that ride, she finds a lot of that food stuff, and aquaculture fascinating. We went to Captain EO, and like I had said before we did not need a FP. I have vague memories of EO from when I was a child. This is a really corny movie, it makes almost no sense, and then Anjelica Huston is there. It was amusing enough, but not the best 4d movie disney has. It may have surpassed the Muppets which needs some updating. Most of our party was pretty tired, and we were all sick of the cold and rain, so we headed back to AKL.
 

PMC0849

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Day 3, continued
We had ADR at Jiko that night, I thought that would be a great dinner for the first night everyone arrived since it was in our hotel. Our reservation wasn't until 8:30 so after everyone had freshened up and rested a little Ian, Cara, Mom, Dad, and myself met at Victoria Falls Lounge for a drink.

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We all had a cocktail, or glass of wine. I had to try the blue glowtini, it tasted like pure sugar in a glass. I was glad I tried it, but will skip this drink on my next trip. We headed down to Jiko after finishing our drinks, and got seated fairly quickly. Brittany was afraid she wouldn't like any food there, but it was the first night she was feeling well enough to eat. We ordered the taste of Africa, the South African Vetkoek, and the Inguady tibs in brik. They were all very tasty, I remember especially liking the Vetoek. I, not having eaten much at lunch was very hungry, so I ordered the wild boar tenderloin for myself as well. I had the scallops for my entree, Trevor had lamb, my mom had a beet salad, Cara and my dad had the short ribs, Brittany had the filet, and Ian something that I don't remember what it was.

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My scallops
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Wild Boar Tenderloin appetizer
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Short Rib
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I don't remember what this was
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Beet Salad
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Lamb
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Filet
Everyone loved the food, the big winner was the wild boar. If you find yourself at Jiko, do yourself a favor and get the wild boar tenderloin appetizer. The scallops were also very good, a lot of scallops in it, most the time you get like 3 scallops in a dish, this had like 6. We got two deserts to share, the coffee creme brulee, and something else, that looks like a bread pudding, but I don't remember what it was, next time I should write these things down.

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Creme Brulee
Dessert was also very good. I was relieved everyone enjoyed the meal. We discussed plans for the next day, we had ADR at 50's primetime cafe for lunch, so we knew we would be going to DHS, but there were morning EMH at MK. Trevor, Brittany, and Ian, decided to sleep in, but mom, dad, Cara, and I were going to meet early to head to MK. Everyone headed back to their rooms, I stopped at the concierge to help set up FPs for the next day, and figure out dinner. We were supposed to do Spirit of Aloha, but the weather was going to prevent it. I got refunded fo SoA, and made our FPs for DHS, we got Star Tours, TSMM, and ToT. Plus, due to some glitch the concierge gave us 3 extra FPs for whatever rides we wanted whenever we wanted!!
 

jlsHouston

Well-Known Member
I forgot to include how glad I was we ended up waiting for the West Wing, the main dining room was very cafeteria like, much louder and crowded than other two rooms. Plus at the end of the night the beast came in and stared at the rose for a few minutes.

Yes we love the West Wing more than the big main room. Want to try the library still
 

jlsHouston

Well-Known Member
Well I'm up to day 3 with you and your family. Hate that the weather was cold and wet. I am now dying to eat at Le Cellier. Your food pics are making me hungry. Thanks for sharing.
 

PMC0849

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Well I'm up to day 3 with you and your family. Hate that the weather was cold and wet. I am now dying to eat at Le Cellier. Your food pics are making me hungry. Thanks for sharing.

We really like Le Cellier, and wish we would have gone back on a later day. When we go back we will definitely make a return visit.
 

FlaggNL

Well-Known Member
That's funny, my wife is pushing for our next trip to be to Paris, and mentioned a potential day at DLP!

Hej that sounds great! And when you fly to Paris you absolutely have to go at least a day to DLP :) And if it is in or after summer you will see Remy :) And if it is before that time, my best guess you can find Remy in the Chez Remy restaurant!
 

PMC0849

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Day 4
Cara, Dad, Mom, and Myyself, got up early to head to MK for the morning EMH. We got there about 10 minutes after 8:00; it was dead. At one point while there a cast member said they only expected 19,000 people that day, which I guess is really slow for MK. First thing we noticed was Minnie greeting people, so we walked over to meet her.

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After meeting Minnie, my parents wanted coffee, so we went to Starbucks, they got coffee and a quick bite to eat. We slowly wandered up Main Street, and made our way over to Haunted Mansion, and after playing in the line for a few minutes walked right on. We rode HM 3 times I think, maybe 4, and the CM this morning was the only one who really tried to be creepy, and he did a great job of it. Cara thinks HM might be her favorite ride. We really didn't have much of a plan for the morning at MK, so we wandered into New Fantasyland. I saw Peter Pan's Flight had no wait, which is unusual for that ride, so we got on that. It's a cute ride, but I guess I don't understand why the line is constantly up around an hour long each time. After Peter Pan we wanted to do Pirates, so we went over there, and got right on. Pirates was always one of my Mom's favorites from when we were kids, but she has not seen it since the movies have came out. She got a kick out of seeing Jack Sparrow in the ride. About this time Cara and I got a little hungry and we got a text form Ian asking where we were, he said he was just getting up, and would come to MK in about an hour. Cara and I went to the Sleepy Hollow QS place and grabbed a waffle sandwich to share. It was huge, and wasn't bad either. I feel like I am getting the order of this messed up, D'oh! Anyway next we went to the enchanted tiki room. I had vague memories of singing and talking parrots as a kid, but didn't see this 7 years ago.

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It's a silly show, not one of the best, but it's not bad. It was nice to get inside out of the cold for a few minutes. I had the damn song stuck in my head the rest of the trip, and my dad kept mentioning how stupid that tiki room thing was. Next, one of my favorites the Jungle Cruise.

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I love the Jungle Cruise, if you get a bad driver it can ruin it, but our guy was very funny. He had sort of apathetic tone to his voice, which for some reason just really worked when he was rattling off bad joke after bad joke. My dad was cracking up during our trip down various rivers. Ian met us after the Jungle Cruise, and my Mom wanted to do Hall of Presidents, well they wouldn't let Ian since he had a coffee. We went to Big Thunder Mountain while he drank his coffee, but of course it was closed. We decided to go to Tomorrowland and said we could do HoPs another time. By the time we got to TL Ian had finished his coffee, we went on Buzz Lightyear, Carousel of Progress, and Monsters Inc Laugh floor. Monsters Inc, became my parents favorite, my dad would not stop mentioning how funny it was. It helped that he and my mom got on the screen during the pre-show. They said she had kissed a monster and then it panned over to my dad. Cara and I both got jokes read, I can't remember what they were, they both had to do with farm animals. It was time to go to DHS for our ADR at 50's primetime. Here is where I realized we made a mistake, we should have spent the majority of the day at MK, it was slow, we were having a good time, there was a lot to do still, but instead we had the ADR and had to head to DHS.

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We got to the '50s primetime, right on time, Trevor and Brittany met us there. We checked in, and we waited, and we waited some more. After about 30 minutes we asked what was going on, and the guy said we just don't really have any tables to accommodate your party, but we are trying. This annoyed me, if you can't accommodate a large party that is fine, but don't let me make the ADR for that large of a party, or tell me at check in, it may be a long wait. We waited an hour before we were seated, if I had known I when we got there it would take that long, I would have said forget it. We were all a little irritated. My Mom couldn't get over the setting, she kept saying we had that in our kitchen, I used to watch that show all the time, etc. Our server was very nice, and her and Trevor had a few words, throughout the meal.

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We got some onion rings to share, which were good, and Cara and shared a chocolate malt that was also good. I had the fried chicken which was good, my mom had chicken pot pie which was decent she said, dad and Cara had meatloaf, it was very bland, really not very good at all, I can't remember what Ian and Brittany had, Trevor had beef stroginov (I have no idea how to spell that). He didn't like it at all, he said it was very bland, had almost no flavor, he ate very little of it. We also had a brownie sundae, which was good. We had 6 FPs this day at DHS, first was Star tours. We all really enjoyed Star tours, my Mom was laughing very loudly during the whole ride. I think she was a little embarassed. Okay, my computer is going very slow, I am going to have finish day 4 later.
 

PMC0849

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Day 4 continued
Sorry about that, I just couldn't deal with how much my computer was lagging. After Star Tours, we went to TSMM, Cara and I both improved, but I kicked her but again. I think Cara and Ian had the 2nd and 3rd best scores, the rest I don't remember. Trevor said his 3D glasses had a dent in them, and it made the 3D effects blurry and very hard to actually play the games. I think he probably just sucked and made up an excuse, but whatever. Everyone else enjoyed TSMM, I wish this wasn't our last ride on it. Next was Muppets, once again, it didn't seem like all the effects were working, and just felt like the most out of date of the 4D movies. Which is sad, since I love the Muppets. I realize I didn't take a lot of pictures at DHS this day, I think it must have been because of the rain, and I didn't want to get my camera wet. Next up we had our last scheduled FP which was ToT. When we got to it there was only a 10 minute wait so we just did that and saved our FP. My mom and dad skipped that ride since it's not there thing. I love ToT, I can't stress that enough. There always seems to be some young kid in line in front of us who is terrified, and needs constant reassurance he will be okay. After ToT, we could really do what we wanted, we went on Aerosmith, with our first wild card FP. Cara, really thinks they need a more modern band for this ride, I don't really care, I don't have anything against Aerosmith, but can also see her point, and I don't really listen to them. Brittany screamed the whole ride, it was hysterical. After Aerosmith we all wanted to do something different. Mom, Dad, and Ian did Great Movie Ride, Trevor and Brittany did Aerosmith, and we did ToT, 2 more times. After all of that we had to head over to Epcot for our ADR at Restaurant Marrakesh. So we ended up not using 1 of our FPs. We missed a lot at DHS, Cara and I never got on Great Movie Ride, Cara had really wanted to do the American Idol experience audition; she is a pretty good singer, and was even part of the virtual choir that was playing at California Adventure over the holidays. We also missed Fantasmic, Indiana Jones, the other stunt show, voyage of the little mermaid, the art thing we you draw a character, this one was the most disappointing to me. So, I guess we just have to go back. ;)

We got to Epcot, and headed around to Morocco, we got checked in, and sat down to wait to be seated. I stepped outside and saw Aladdin and Jasmine, across the way. I grabbed Cara, and we went right in. Nobody was there to meet them.

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Apparently Genie was cooking for them that night, which they were excited for, and Abu was running around somewhere, but would get out before the fireworks. They were a lot of fun. When we got back to the restaurant everyone else was seated. Cara talked a lot about coming to this restaurant, she really likes it, and it always seems to have tables. Maybe because it isn't out in the open, I don't know.


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Since we ate later then we had planned, Cara and I shared a lamb shank for our entree, my mom had a lamb shank too, but a different preperation. We all shared the beef brewat rolls, even though Trevor protested, he thought it was weird they had cinnamon and sugar on them, he loved them, and we ate them quickly, we also had the Goat Cheese with crispy bread. Trevor and Brittany shared the Mussels, I think Ian and Dad had couscous with beef. When we first looked at the menu Brittany started pouting, whispering to Trevor that she wouldn't eat anything here, well guess what she cleaned her plate :banghead:. We had a couple very good desserts and watched some belly dancing, which was a lot of fun to see. There was about an hour maybe an hour and half until Illuminations, so we explored some of world showcase.

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No genies came out.
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Mmm... Beer
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$1500, wow!
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Not much cheaper, but if I was rich I would buy it. I just can't get enough Ariel!
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This place smelled, and tasted great!
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We had a few beers from different lands, got a caramel covered cookie, and found a great spot for Illuminations, right by Germany. Trevor waited there while we all kind of split up into Germany, Italy, etc. 5 minutes before the start of the show we headed back to Trevor. There was almost nobody there for this nights fireworks. It must have been too cold for most people.

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Everyone enjoyed Illuminations, but from what I hear Wishes at MK is second to none when it comes to fireworks. We never came close to seeing wished because we were always at dinner while they were happening. Another reason we just have to start planning our next visit. Well we headed back to AKL as day 4 ended. The weather report for the next day was good, low 70's and sunny. We were going to head to Universal for the day, and discussed how we were going to get there and when we would meet.
 

Lyear

Well-Known Member
Sounds exciting so far. That's quite a lot of people to coordinate a trip with. Sounds like everyone was pretty good with being flexible.

My wife and I got stuck at the drawbridge on my first ever day in WDW. At that time I had no idea what it was for, though my wife swears she told me. That night I was like, hey, there's that globe thing. I actually rate Illuminations as my favorite fireworks in the world. I really enjoy the music, and how they incorporate the whole area around the lake.

Sorry you got sick at San Angel. That is one of our favorite restaurants.
 

PMC0849

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Sorry you got sick at San Angel. That is one of our favorite restaurants.

it was so weird, I felt fine, and then as soon as we ordered I got really hot an felt awful. As soon as I hit that 40 degree air though I felt instantly better, just took a little while to get my appetite back.
 

PMC0849

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Day 5 - More rain and universal
We all met in the lobby of AKL sometime between 8:00 and 8:30, my parents got a car service to take us to universal and back. We are huge Simpsons fans, and when we heard about the new Springfield area of Universal we had to go, at first I thought we would skip Islands of Adventure, but my mom and Cara wanted to see Harry Potter area. Cara, Ian, and I had purchased our two park tickets before we left for Orlando, Trevor got the rest of the groups tickets the night before, and was going to get them will call. So, he got some VIP express pass, which the 3 of us didn't have. So when we got to the park Ian, Cara, and I had to see if we could add this to our tickets. Which we did, for not cheap. For the most part they were useful, but I don't think they were worth it for that day. The walk into Universal takes forever, much longer then the buses to any of the of the Disney Parks. We noticed most of the people were heading to IoA so we went to regular Universal first. First thing we came across was the Despicable Me ride, which had a 40 minute wait, so we got to try out our new passes. They got us right onto the ride.

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Cara is sick of the rain
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I do not care for the Despicable Me movies, but this ride was a lot of fun. It's hard to describe, it isn't quite a normal simulator, but it is a lot more than just a 4D movie. It was possibly my favorite ride at Universal. After DM we went to Springfield, to get a giant doughnut for breakfast of course.

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They were out of Bort license plates.
They did a pretty great job bringing Springfield to life, but I wish there was more. The ride itself is mediocre, it is the Back to the Future ride with a new coat of paint, and feels old, in comparison to newer technology. We went on Transformers next.

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Transformers was okay, I expected more, The Spider-Man ride at IoA is much better in my opinion. Actually I think we did E.T. first, which was terrible. Oh, we also went on Men in Black after the Simpsons, man, I keep forgetting some of these details. They make you put your bags in a locker before riding this, which didn't make sense there really was no reason why we couldn't have our bags on the cars, like they let you at Disney. It was really annoying. So, next was the Mummy, which was a lot of fun. We did Shrek 4D as well, which had some good effects, but something about it lacked the charm of something like Philharmagic. After Shrek we headed back to Springfield to get lunch, I just needed to have a Duff beer.

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Raspberry Duff, Lady Duff, Tartar Control Duff.
The food in Springfield is not great, the Krusty Burger is essentially a whopper. The Chicken and waffle sandwich from Cletus' Chicken Shack was the best. We also got calamari for some reason, it was awful, I am shocked we didn't get sick. The Beer was pretty good though, and they play clips from classic Simpsons episodes, in the dining area which is really nice. I wish we would have sat in the Moe's Tavern area which was nicer, but it was also the most crowded. Cara and I went to the Kwik-e-Mart to buy some souvenirs before we went to IoA. Once we got to IoA the rain really picked up, and a few of us were kind of done with it and wanted to go. We went to Harry Potter first, they wanted us to check our bags again, but my Dad wasn't going to ride, so they let him go with us in the line and hand off our bags at the point he left. Which was very convenient. The Harry Potter ride was fun, but would have been better if it didn't break down twice while on it, kind of takes away from the illusion a bit.

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We couldn't find my Dad after Harry Potter, we got a butterbeer, which was very tasty, and it started pouring. We found dad and started heading towards the exit. It let up a bit when we got to the Marvel heroes area. We went on Spider-Man, while my dad got in touch with the driver to come get us. Spider-Man is a great ride, it was between that and DM for best ride at Universal. After SM we thought it would be a little while still until the driver came, and Trevor wanted to ride Hulk, so Cara, and I went with him. Everyone else was so down because of the weather. Hulk is a very good roller coaster, it lacks the showmanship a lot of the other rides have, but the actually ride is fun.

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We still had to wait a little while for the driver, wish we would have jumped on SM again before leaving, but oh well. My thoughts on Universal, the rides are more intense, but they are trying very hard to match Disney in theme and detail, they do a very good job, but everything still feels Disney lite. However, I kind of wish Disney would do take some things from Universal still, rides like SM and Transformers could be a great addition to a Disney Park. I have often felt a Hercules ride, where he maybe is pulling you in a broken chariot, and then a bunch of monsters come out to attack him, including a Hydra, I can just see a bunch of 3D hydra heads, maybe feel its breath, etc. I know the weather kept us from taking full advantage of Universal, but, as hard is it may try, I don't think it will ever be as good as WDW. I will continue day 5 later, there is some time at MK, and dinner at Bluezoo, to report.
 

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