Quick weekend trip (Jan. 19-22)

At 7 a.m. on Friday, Jan. 19, I stood aboard the Carnival Legend, waiting to debark after four most excellent days with the Barenaked Ladies. By 5 p.m., I was getting off a Pop Century bus at Epcot.

What more could one ask for?

So here's a recap of my three days at the World, post-cruise.

Friday, Jan. 19:

My friend, LeCrete, and I arrived at Pop around 2:30 p.m. We checked in and were able to get in our room (1415) right away. We threw our luggage on our respective beds, quickly unpacked, freshened up and headed to the bus for Epcot.

First stop was Spaceship Earth. This is my ritual at Epcot. I must ride this first. It's one of my all-time faves and I'm glad to see some work being done at the attraction. Now if they'd just fix the audio and the track. Our audio kept cutting out and the ride is a bit rough.

The crowd was a bit heavier than I expected, but then I've never been to WDW in January. Waits were fine, though.

Then it was over to the Seas with Nemo, where we walked right on. Thanks to all those folks who decided to snap photos with their flash during the ride. That aside, I'm still amazed at the technology behind this attraction and I can't wait to share it with my son this summer.

We headed for Soarin' next and it posted a 60-minute wait. Since we were late arrivers that day and all FPs were gone, we waited in line. We had a small competition to see who could answer the most Planet Puzzlers correctly. It was a draw, pretty much. The wait was about an hour, too.

After Soarin', we headed toward World Showcase. It already was getting dark, meaning I'd missed my opportunity to shoot some sunset photos. So I shot this in honor of the land of our cruise hosts, the Barenaked Ladies.

We walked around Mexico way, doing a lot of window shopping. Then, we arrived at our favorite shop of all, Mitsukoshi. We browsed, we spent money, we formulated wish lists.

We found a bench right across from Mitsukoshi and sat down to wait for Illuminations. While waiting, we shared a turkey leg for dinner. It was more than enough for the both of us, but left room for dessert from Boulangerie Patisserie. Cheesecake for LeCrete and chocolate mousse for me. The chocolate mousse is a must for me. I'm drooling just typing about it. :slurp:

We met some nice folks from Illinois while waiting for Illuminations. The show was grand and the globe was working. On our last trip, in October, the globe coasted out on the lake but didn't light up at all.

After the fireworks, we decided to call it an early night even though Epcot was having Extra Magic Hours. We headed way, way out to the Pop bus stop and went back to Room 1415.

 

[mouselvrmom]

That is a beautiful picture you took!! Thanks for posting!

 

[doop]

Thanks for the report, and that is an excellent shot of SSE you took.

 

[maggiegrace1]

Great report And Great pictures love..

 

[bayoutinkbelle]

Thanks for the comments! I had to stop after the first day to take lunch and an afternoon of meetings. I hate it when work interferes with my time on the boards!

And on we go ...

Saturday, Jan. 20

What a day! We hit three of four parks today AND Downtown Disney. We started off at Animal Kingdom, since it closes early. The day was bright and warm, but not too warm. The park was crowded, but it was OK. Lots of folks and three different Brazilian tour groups.

We headed over to the safari first. It was around 9 a.m. and the wait time was 30 minutes. We stood in line behind a family of five -- parents and three kids. As the parents sipped coffee and didn't pay attention, the kids ran around and climbed all over the railings. When the lines split, we went the opposite way.

I can report that the animals on safari indeed are real and I have pictures to prove it.

Real baby elephants (awwww!!!!):

A real giraffe peeking from behind a tree (which I found extremely funny):

And, in Danny's honor, another real giraffe THROUGH THE GRASS!

After the safari, we walked the Pangani Trail. I love this trail. I find it so relaxing. And I love bats, like these fellows soaking up some sun.

Then we saw a beautiful tiger. He looks kinda zoned out, enjoying the sun.

Next up were the gorillas. We were lucky to find a pair of brothers roaming the habitat. I zoomed in on one of them.

I also took this shot while walking the trail.

We came out of the trail around Kali River Rapids, which people were riding. It wasn't that warm, thank you very much. We did stop and watch the monkeys, though.

Of course, our next stop was Expedition Everest. The wait was 60 minutes and we got in the line since we knew we'd be leaving the park before FP tickets would be good. While waiting, we saw our old friend in the sky. Anyone know anything about this? On our last two visits, we've seen a skywriter writing religious messages.

Anyway, EE was excellent!! We got in the first car, which we have a talent for doing without trying to do so. I videoed the experience and will have to post it later when I get around to editing it. You'll be able to hear my unstoppable laughter.

After that, we decided to eat lunch. We made an ADR at Sci-Fi on our way out of the park and headed to MGM. We had a few minutes to kill, so we browsed in the Star Tours gift shop and watched folks getting autographs. It was odd to see a Stormtrooper sign an autograph.

After more browsing in The Writer's Shop, we checked in for lunch. I ordered the best lunch of all -- burger, fries and a shake.

Then what did we do after lunch? Why, we rode Tower of Terror! I'd never sat in the front row of TT and it was a totally different experience for me. I thought it made the ride even more intense, but that could have been the burger and shake jumping.

After TT, we decided to hop aboard the Friendship boat and go back to Mitsukoshi and do some more shopping. It also was a nice way to unwind after being on our feet a lot that day. We just kicked back on the back of the boat and enjoyed the ride.

Then it was back to MGM for Fantasmic, which I adore. After the show, we wanted to go to Downtown Disney for some dinner and more shopping. I hate it that you can't catch a bus directly from the parks to DD. We hopped a bus to Caribbean Beach and then to DD, where we ate at the Earl of Sandwich. That was a first for me. I had the Cannonballs! Not too bad.

By then (around 9 p.m.), it was getting chilly. We shopped at Basin and Ghiradelli (I think I just misspelled that. Oh well.) before calling it a day. Whew! I was very tired, but we had a fabulous day.

That's it for Day 2. I'll finish with Day 3 tomorrow because it's time to go home.

 

[davidpw97]

Nice report and cool pics so far. The storm trooper thing is pretty odd. They don't even have names, do they just sign "Storm Trooper"?

 

[CAPTAIN HOOK]

Great report - thanks

 

[bayoutinkbelle]

Nice report and cool pics so far. The storm trooper thing is pretty odd. They don't even have names, do they just sign "Storm Trooper"?

Thanks!

It is odd. I think I'd ask them to just sign "Larry." Just for giggles.

 

[bayoutinkbelle]

OK! I'm back at work and ready to post.

Sunday, Jan. 22

We started our last day by having breakfast at Pop. The food court was crowded, but it was easier on Sunday to find an empty table. I had the ham and cheese omelet. Not enough cheese to suit me, but that's just me.

By the way, the woman in the black hat is LeCrete.

Tummies full, we headed for the Magic Kingdom bus stop outside. I indulged my arty side while waiting for a bus. It was a beautiful day, warm but not hot. Wonderful blue skies.

We got onto a standing-room-only bus and headed for Magic Kingdom. We had decided to ride Space Mountain first, then hop on the TTA. But our first thrill of the day was seeing this:

The crowd was gathering for "Dream Along with Mickey," which had just started as we saw these nice folks.

Saints fans! The park seemed to be full of folks wearing Saints jerseys. We saw a few Bears jerseys, too, but the Saints far outnumbered them. These folks were from south Louisiana (we're from central Louisiana) and invited us to the strawberry festival in Ponchatoula around Easter. :slurp: Count me in!

We walked over to Space Mountain, which had a 20-minute wait. It basically was a walk-on. Loved it, as always. Same with the TTA.

Here's a shot of the Experimental Prototype City of Tomorrow that I took. It didn't turn out as I intended, but I really liked it anyway. Sorry, new camera.

We headed over to Toontown to catch the train and ride around to Adventureland and Big Thunder Mountain. While the park was moderately crowded, my favorite path was blissfully clear.

I stopped to take a picture of Space Mountain while on the path.

More to follow!

 

[bayoutinkbelle]

Day 3, continued:

After riding 'round to Adventureland, we headed to BTMR. The wait was 30 minutes, but it looked more intimidating because of how the lines work. LeCrete was sure it would be a longer wait. The line moved very fast, probably under 30 minutes.

This is another ride I videotaped, so stay tuned.

We left BTMR, glanced sadly at Splash Mountain and headed over to Haunted Mansion. We took the dock path and found ourselves in a stare-down contest with a gull. I think he thought we had french fries.

Haunted Mansion had a 10-minute wait. Sweet! However ... we were unlucky enough to get a doombuggy with terrible audio. It sucked. Add to that more thanks to the folks snapping pictures with their flash. :brick:

We needed a little cheering up after that (well, not really), so we skipped over to It's A Small World. The line was long, but moved really fast. We got into a boat with a family who's daughter was riding for the first time. It was great to see her and hear her parents talk to her during the ride.

I snagged a FP for Peter Pan after Small World and we started thinking about lunch. LeCrete got a hot dog and McD fries, while I passed. I have to be really craving a hot dog to eat them. Otherwise, bad things happen.

We walked over to Pirates next. The wait was only about 10 minutes since both sides were open. And can someone tell me why people insist of taking flash photos in dark rides? WHY?! It's got to be my biggest pet peeve in WDW.

After Pirates, we walked around to Splash Mountain. I got all excited when I saw them painting.

The sun wasn't at the best angle for a great photo, but there ya go.

Here's where LeCrete and I parted ways. She headed back to Pop to watch the Saints and I stayed in the parks. She's the football fan and I'm not. I caught the train to go 'round the park to ride Space Mountain again. It was down when I got there, so I headed over to Epcot for another go on Spaceship Earth. It also let me ride the monorail, which I hadn't done on this trip yet.

I caught a glimpse of a Disney bus involved in an accident while on the monorail to Epcot. I don't have all the details, but I don't think it was serious. I also spotted some deer moving about. Awwwww!!

After riding Spaceship Earth, I hopped back aboard the monorail and headed to MK. I decided to take the ferry this time. I rode the TTA, Haunted Mansion and Pirates before staking out a spot for Wishes, which I hadn't seen since last summer.

I liked the lighting in this photo. Appropriately spooky.

And here's the last photo, from Wishes.

As wonderful as the weather was for our entire trip (cruise and all), the weather on the drive home was terrible. It rained on and off for all 11 hours. Kinda set the mood, don't ya think?

And the worst part was that I forgot my Tinkerbelle watch, my rings and my cancer awareness wristband (for my dad, who's fighting lung cancer) in our room at Pop. I didn't realize it right away. I thought I had packed them, so I started searching once I got home late Monday. On Wednesday, I called Popl and talked to Mary in lost and found. When I said "Watch, rings and wristband," she gasped. Someone had turned them into the front desk and she had just tagged them that morning.

I got the package yesterday and my most sincere thanks to all those who helped me get them back. The watch could be replaced, but the rings and wristband have obvious value to me. The rings are my college graduation ring, a ring given to me by my son and two heirloom rings -- my grandmother's engagement ring and my grand-grandmother's wedding ring.

I think I'll leave them at home when I come back in June.

Thanks so much for reading! Hope you enjoyed!