A different kind of Disney trip - February 2013

Hi everyone!! I"m back for another trip report. This one from February 3-10, 2013. We arrived in Orlando on the 1st, but went to Universal on the 1st-2nd which was a lot of fun. I prefer Disney though! This trip was a lot different than some of the past trips mainly due to: a lot more solo time for me, realizing that others don't share the same love of Disney I do, and really solidifying that I want to work for this company.

Day 1: February 3, 2013 - Magic Kingdom

We arrived to Bay Lake Tower around 11 and checked in and then before you know it, we were on our way over to the Magic Kingdom. It was a lot more crowed than I expected, but I really didn’t care since I was FINALLY in the Magic Kingdom! We made our way up Main Street and I took in all the sights and sounds, including Move It Shake It Celebrate It, which was up at the hub.

Of course the first thing we were going to do is to go check out the new Fantasyland. Not gonna lie, I was a little disappointed with it at first. It wasn’t what I was expecting at all. Although I do think the wall to wall people back there is what killed it for me. Ariel’s Undersea Adventure was closed, so we explored Gaston’s Tavern and we looked in the shop there. No sign of Gaston though.

We made our way over to Adventureland to ride Pirates, which was great as always! I really enjoyed the addition of the Mermaids. We also rode the Jungle Cruise and it might have been one of my favorite experiences on that ride ever. We had skipped Diana and she was hysterical! Job well done to her. I definitely found a new love for the Jungle Cruise this trip, as I rode it about four times over the course of the week. After spending sometime in Adventureland we made our way into Frontierland and made it into the Country Bear Jamboree just before the doors opened! It was the first time I saw the show in years. I enjoyed it, but I did find myself bored at times. It’s a nice place to go if you want to relax and get a break from the heat.

We ventured into Liberty Square and rode the Haunted Mansion, which was great! I love that ride so much! I still get spooked out in parts of it. After riding Haunted Mansion, we went into Fantasyland only to discover that all of the ride waits were at least 45 minutes long. In my opinion none of the rides in Fantasyland are worth a 45 minute wait. We saw Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum (who I haven’t seen in years) and the White Rabbit outside the Mad Tea Party so we hopped in line for each of them.

 

[disneyfan1995]

run those 13.1 miles!! Or go for the 2015 WDW Marathon weekend and do Goofy or Dopey!!

Seriously contemplating doing the 1/2 marathon during marathon weekend in January.

 

[disneyfan1995]

Day 3: February 5, 2013 - Hollywood Studios/Magic Kingdom

We started off our day in Hollywood Studios by getting fastpasses for Toy Story Mania, which of course had a return time for 2:00 and it was barely 10:00 by the time we arrived. We started off by checking in to the Hollywood Tower Hotel which was a lot of fun. We then hopped over to Rock N Roller Coaster to join Aerosmith backstage at their concert. Rock N Roller Coaster is definitely one of my favorite rides. I just love the thrill that you get during the take off and during the three inversions. It’s great. I also love the feeling of the drops on Tower of Terror. I just wish the ride was a little bit longer.

After disembarking from our stretch limo, we all headed toward the hat so we could ride the Great Movie Ride. I really enjoy this ride a lot, but our guide wasn’t engaged in the material and the gangster that robbed our car was not loud enough. I didn’t hear a word they said. Other than that, the ride was great as always. I definitely think that they should update the ride in terms of technology and making it more efficient and make the AA’s look new, but they shouldn’t replace the movies because the ride is a classic. After our spin on the Great Movie Ride, we headed over to Star Tours, which I did not enjoy at all. I got dizzy and felt sick. The feeling passed quickly, but it made me not want to ride again. The 3D made it ten times worse. We then tried to get into the Indiana Jones show, but it was full. Instead, we decided to get lunch at Backlot Express. I had a cheeseburger with french fries and it was fine. Nothing special though.

After lunch we went over to Indiana Jones and were able to get into the show this time. It was great. The part with the extras was really funny, especially the guy that actually worked for the show. He was hilarious!! The show was great, but I got a little bored at parts. The ending is still pretty epic with the airplane and the big explosions and everything.

 

[disneyfan1995]

After Indy we decided that it was time to go meet some of our character friends. We met Ralph and Vanellope from Wreck it Ralph and we also met Sorcerer Mickey! The lines weren’t too long, which was a plus. I really liked the interaction that we had with Ralph and Vanellope. They were a lot of fun. I also think it would be pretty cool to be friends with Ralph!

It still wasn’t time for our Toy Story Mania fastpasses so we went to go meet Sulley and Mike. We saw the Green Army Man in Pixar Place along the way! After meeting up with some of our character friends, we finally were able to ride Toy Story Mania. My score was decent, but nothing to brag about. I still gotta figure out a way to get a really great score!!

After riding TSM we went over to Voyage of the Little Mermaid and spent some time with Ariel and her friends under the sea. This show is a nice way to sit back and relax for fifteen minutes. I really hate being ushered in to the little preshow room where you wait. It’s just uncomfortable to stand in there with everyone being all crammed. It’s also great to sit in the back of the theater since the effects of being under the sea are more real. Once the show was over my family was ready to leave, but I wasn’t.. so I stuck around for a little bit. It was nearing 3:00 so I hung out around the hat and waited for the Countdown to Fun parade. It wasn’t the greatest parade ever, but it was fun and the music was catchy.

After Countdown to Fun I caught a bus over to the Magic Kingdom since I didn’t really have anything else that I wanted to do. I went to meet Mickey over at Town Square Theater since the line was only 5 minutes.

After meeting Mickey, I did a another first. I finally rode the Carousel of Progress. While it was kind of outdated, I still enjoyed it. I meandered around for a little bit after being let out of COP and then I returned to Bay Lake Tower since I had a bit of headache. Dinner was at Kona Cafe, but I skipped out and just ate down in the Contemporary.

Up next: A solo day with an overcast morning at Epcot and sunny afternoon at MK.

 

[DisneyBergh]

Great TR! Makes me wish my trip wasn't over a year and a half away!!!

 

[disneyfan1995]

Great TR! Makes me wish my trip wasn't over a year and a half away!!!

thanks!! Just keep counting down the days and it'll be here in no time!

 

[disneyfan1995]

Day 4: February 6, 2013 - Epcot/Magic Kingdom/Spirit of Aloha

Today was a solo day in which I ventured off to Epcot and then Magic Kingdom. My mom and little sister were off at BBB and the CRT and my brother and dad went over to Typhoon Lagoon. Personally, I wasn’t really interested in going to the water park since the morning was kind of chilly and overcast and plus I’ve done Typhoon Lagoon before and I rather would have had park time. I decided to head over to Epcot around 10:30. I hopped onto the monorail from the Contemporary and arrived at the TTC. Of course the monorail to Epcot had broken down and I had to wait for a bus. It would have been great if they had announced that before we arrived to TTC, but whatever. I waited about 10 minutes for a bus and then was on my way to Epcot.

Upon arriving, I jumped into the nonexistent line for Spaceship Earth. I was stuck near a car with some lovely Brazilian tourists who used flash photography at least 15 times throughout the duration of the ride. I thought I was gonna go insane by the end. The flash is just SO distracting in a dark ride like that. It’s one thing if the flash accidently goes off or if you do it like a small handful of times, but repeatedly is just annoying. Anyways, other than that the ride was pretty great.

After learning about the evolution of the Spaceship Earth, I headed over toward the Imagination Pavilion and went to visit Figment. As always this attraction was a walk on. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a wait for this ride. It really wasn’t that great and as much as some people do like it I really think it needs to be replaced with something better. That way they could further disperse crowds in Future World. I also went over to Captain EO and unfortunately missed the show by a few minutes so I had to wait for the next one. It was a fun movie, but I’m not really sure why I did it again.

 

[disneyfan1995]

By that point there was nothing else that I wanted to do so I decided to head out and caught a bus to the Magic Kingdom. Upon arriving I didn’t really have a plan so I decided to wander a little bit. I wound up in Fantasyland and ran into Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum again so I stopped for a picture with them. I really like how they are being reintroduced into the park again, although they also should have Alice, Mad Hatter, and Queen of Hearts out. Kind of have it like a rotation that appears on the times guide.

After seeing the Tweedles again I went into Liberty Square and went to visit the happy haunts in the Haunted Mansion. Something about riding this alone is just spooky, especially in the beginning. Upon leaving Haunted Mansion, I went over to Adventureland to ride Pirates again which was great! Since I was by myself I got row 6 again which was pretty awesome. I hate it when they stick me in some random row with some family I don’t know. It’s pretty awkward for me especially since some people get annoyed when a single rider gets thrown into their row (Test Track). I decided to check out the Tiki Room once I was done with Pirates. It was fun, but definitely not my favorite at all.

It was nearing time for the 2:15 Dream Along With Mickey so I headed to the hub so I could watch it and then so I could stake a spot out for the parade. Dream Along With Mickey was great as always and I was next to some woman from the company who kept taking notes on the show. Maybe they plan on tweaking it or something? Who knows.. After the show was over I waited around for the parade to start and my mom and sister came to meet me which made having a spot for the parade a little bit easier. Of course people came up and nudged their way to the front and then held their camera super high during the parade so half of my photos were ruined cause they had big ugly hands in them. The parade was fun as always! I really enjoy the music for the parade, it’s really catchy!

 

[disneyfan1995]

After the parade I went to ride Pirates again, but the ride was having issues while I was in line so I decided to hop out of line and went for another spin on the Jungle Cruise. This was trip three for all of you keeping score. I heard some new and fun jokes this time, but I enjoyed my other two skippers a lot better.

After cruising the rivers of the world I made my way out of the park, but stopped to see Mickey again. Everyone who went before me with Mickey decided to wait on the other end for some reason so I didn't wanna just barge out and create some of kind of disturbance with them so I just stood there and waited for a good 5 minutes. Boy was that awkward... After visiting with Mickey I hopped on the monorail and headed back to Bay Lake Tower so I could rest and get ready for the Spirit of Aloha dinner show over at the Polynesian.

Up Next: Spirit of Aloha

 

[disneyfan1995]

We booked the later showing of the Spirit of Aloha dinner so we headed over to the Polynesian and were able to catch Wishes again as we were waiting to be seated. Unfortunately, this was probably the worst dining experience of the entire trip, so there’s gonna be a lot of negativity. It was an absolute train wreck checking in and getting seated and of course they made us pose for some uncomfortable awkward looking photo that they later try and sell to you for a ridiculous price.



To be completely honest, I thought it was ridiculously over priced and I didn’t enjoy the food that much either. The only appetizer I liked was the pineapple-coconut bread which was kind of meh anyways, but it was the best out of the three things. The only entree that I liked was the island pork loin. I also don’t even think we ate desert, but I don’t remember for sure. We paid for category 1 seating so I was expecting a seat up in the front, but yet we were given a seat that was in the very very back of the middle floor area and there was a pole in the way. It was an awful view and we should not have been seated there for the amount that they charged for the category 1 price.




The show was also pretty boring. The entire first part of the show was some cheesy story that was highly unnecessary. The actual good part of this luau experience didn’t start until about 90 minutes into the evening. Once the luau part started things got a little bit better. The fire spinning guy was cool, but it was nothing that I haven’t seen before. It was just too long of a dinner experience for us. I probably will not be returning to the Spirit of Aloha. I’d personally rather dine at Kona Cafe or Ohana.

Up next: A very long day with an unfortunate start.

 

[fractal]

Thanks for your review of Spirit of Aloha. I've read other "luke-warm" review but was still considering to add it, but you convinced me otherwise.

 

[disneyfan1995]

Thanks for your review of Spirit of Aloha. I've read other "luke-warm" review but was still considering to add it, but you convinced me otherwise.

No problem!! It's definitely not worth the money in my opinion.

 

[disneyfan1995]

Day 5: February 7, 2013 - Animal Kingdom/Hollywood Studios

I started this day off on a bad note considering when I woke up my throat was incredibly sore. I could barely swallow water without experiencing severe pain, let alone eat. So right there and then I knew it was going to be a LONG day. I got myself some halls over at the Contemporary gift shop and off we were to the Animal Kingdom.



Our first order of business of course was to run over to Asia so we could ride Expedition Everest. Luckily for us, the ride was a walk on so we quickly got on and rode. I think we rode three times since the wait was pretty much non existent, which was perfect. My mom sat the ride out since she isn’t a big fan of roller coasters and she said that a lovely Brazilian group came up and dumped all of their crap right by her. Literally there were about fifty brightly colored bags surrounding the area she sat in. One issue this entire week was the incredibly rude Brazilian tourists and Brazilian groups. Luckily, we were able to avoid their chanting, but their flat our rudeness when navigating throughout the parks was unavoidable. It was also cheer/dance week which also meant there were herds of cheer teams who traveled in large groups too.

After trying to find the Yeti on Expedition Everest, we headed toward Africa to fastpass the safari. We lucked out and only had to wait about fifteen minutes for our return time. I really wanted to go over to Camp Minnie Mickey and catch FOTLK, but we did the safari first.

 

[disneyfan1995]

I really enjoyed the new safari as opposed to the old version with the very cheesy story line. We had a different lens for the camera today which meant we were able to get some really nice pictures of some of the animals. Unfortunately, we didn’t see any of the zebras that they added toward the end.






After the safari we went over to Pizzafari for lunch. We beat the lunch rush by just about 10 minutes, so that was really awesome. Unfortunately, it took me forever to finish my pizza. I’m a pretty quick eater, but because my throat hurt so badly it took me roughly 20-25 minutes to eat the small pizza that they give you. I was really irritated that I had to get sick like that during the trip. At least it was toward the end and not the beginning. One downside to having a really sore throat that I could do NOTHING about was that it made me really irritable. After lunch we waited in line for Russel and Dug. It was their last set of the day (for some reason on Thursdays they end earlier) but they were a lot of fun to meet. I wish Carl was there too, but whatever... I guess he’s now a “retired character”.

 

[disneyfan1995]

After meeting our wilderness explorer friends, it was finally time to go see Festival of the Lion King. We got the lion section again. This seems to be the section that I sit in the most. The show was great as always. My one complaint is that during the Finale, the person who sings for the warthog section seemed to be a little bored and out of it. Luckily, when I saw the show the next day the person who was singing for that section knocked it out of the park!
















After joining Simba for his celebration we headed over to Dinoland and rode Dinosaur! I love this ride. It’s a lot of fun and it can be very suspenseful if you forget when the T-Rex is going to jump out at you.

After riding Dinosaur we were ready to leave AK so we headed over to DHS since we wanted to catch Fantasmic that night (and we also had an ADR at Mama Melrose).

Up Next: A not so fantastic ending to Fantasmic

 

[disneyfan1995]

We boarded our bus from AK to DHS and of course the bus driver packed the bus with a cheer team which was kind of annoying, but whatever. Once we got to DHS, we headed back toward Streets of America and met Phineas and Ferb. The line for them wasn’t too bad, but when I was back a few weeks ago it was ridiculously long. I met them on the Disney Fantasy and I think I waited about 5 minutes. We also caught Muppet Vision 3D which was fun. The Muppets are so cooky and fun. I can’t wait for the upcoming Muppet movie to be released. The first one was great so I have high hopes for this one.

After Muppets it was time to check in at Mama Melrose. I think we waited about 10 minutes to be seated which wasn’t too bad. I was just a little impatient since I wanted to get a good seat at Fantasmic since it fills up quickly and there was only one showing for the night.

The overall experience here was great! We had eaten here in the past and had enjoyed it so we decided to come back again. I got the spaghetti and meatballs, which was great even though it was hard for me to eat it with my sore and partially inflamed throat. I seriously still do not understand how and why my throat was so sore for the last part of the trip.

After finishing our meal we headed over to Fantasmic and of course the entire amphitheater was almost full, but we were able to snag a seat over on the left side in the second section (so not all the way over to left, but pretty close to it). The show was awesome as usual and I enjoyed seeing my beloved Disney Villains (who are no where to be found in the parks...). The show was going awesome up until the end. It started raining JUST as the Steamboat Willie character boat was coming around the corner and of course it wasn’t just a drizzle, but a hard rain. So my favorite part of the show was ruined because we got up with everyone else in the amphitheater and made a dash for the exit. I was still able to catch the end of the show and tried to snap pictures, but it was really hard when everyone was pushing to get out. I’m sorry, but it’s just water it’s not like it’s harmful to get wet... you’re gonna get wet no matter how fast everyone is walking. After our mad dash out of the park we were able to jump right onto the bus and we got seats! Score.







Once we got back to Bay Lake Tower we went up to the lounge on the top floor and caught wishes. We saw two firework shows in one night, not too bad... but I really wanna catch all three in the same night. Maybe when I’m doing the college program I can!

 

[disneyfan1995]

Day 6: February 8, 2013 - Animal Kingdom/Hollywood Studios (solo edition)

I woke up feeling ten times worse than I did the morning before which was just super considering I had the Keys to the Kingdom tour the following morning (and I did not want to be all miserable and grumpy for that) so instead of going to Downtown Disney with my family, I decided to hang back in the room and rest.

After about an hour of sitting there and watching television I realized that I wasn’t gonna get any better by laying in the room so I decided to make the most of my day and went off to the Animal Kingdom again in hopes of having a better experience! For some reason I didn't take a whole lot of pictures today, but I took a few.

Upon arriving to Animal Kingdom I went straight for Camp Minnie Mickey to see FOTLK again. It was even better than the day before. I got the giraffe section this time and everyone in the show was just fantastic, especially the woman who was singing for the warthog section. She really went all out during the finale portion of the show.





After FOTLK I decided to go see some of the characters on their greeting trails. I went to see Baloo and King Louie and then hopped in the very short line for Donald Duck. Donald’s line is sort of hidden so not many people were in the line, which was great! I wanted to see Mickey and Minnie, but those lines were huge and I wasn’t really willing to wait that long when I knew I could see them other places.

 

[disneyfan1995]

After seeing some of my character friends, I went over to the Tree of Life and learned just how tough it is to be a bug with Flick and Hopper. This show is a lot of fun, but I really hate the bee stinger special effect that they do when Hopper comes to spoil the fun.



By this point in the day I was really hungry and I didn’t really know where to go for lunch. I didn’t want Pizzafari nor did I want Flametree BBQ so I decided to do a first and went over to the Yak and Yeti counter service. I got the honey chicken and I LOVED it. It was delicious and is definitely worth going to again. I really wish I had discovered this place a lot sooner than when I did! After lunch, I went for one last spin on Expedition Everest and then I exited the park and hopped onto another packed bus (with a cheer team of course) and headed to Hollywood Studios again.

I did quite a lot at Hollywood Studios this time around. I started by fastpassing TOT and then jumped right into the single rider line at Rock N Roller coaster. I waited forever to ride Rock N Roller coaster mainly because there were so many even numbered parties of guests (grrr). My favorite was the party of 24 cheerleaders, like you’ve got to be kidding me right? Their whole squad took up one whole limo. It was just pretty baffling to me that they traveled in that big of a group. Anyways, I eventually got on the ride and loved it as I usually do. The initial takeoff is by far my favorite part.

I still had some time until my fastpass for TOT so I went and saw the Beauty and the Beast show. I missed it when I was down with my school last year (mainly because no one could make up their mind with what they wanted to do) so I was happy when I was able to snag a seat in the fifth row for the show. The show was a lot of fun as it usually is. Be Our Guest is such a fun and entertaining song.









Once the show let out, it was finally time to go beyond the fifth dimension in the Hollywood Tower Hotel so I boarded my service elevator and plunged down the elevator shaft. The thrill from this ride is great. It was my first “thrill ride” back when I was nine and even though I was completely horrified the first time I rode it, it is still one of my favorite rides down at WDW.

I was going to go see the American Idol experience afterwards, but they cancelled the show for some reason, so I jumped onto the Great Movie Ride instead. I was awkwardly placed up in the first row next to some random family. It was really uncomfortable for me, but the ride was good other than that and the sound issues from when our car got robbed by Mugsy.

After my journey into the movies, I went to see if they were still doing character palooza at the Animation building, but I was informed they had stopped doing it that previous December (it started back up mid March and is over on Streets of America). I was pretty bummed to hear this news, so I left the park so I could rest before our ADR over at Ohana.

 

[disneyfan1995]

We arrived for our ADR at Ohana and were seated pretty quickly. We got some of the pineapple coconut bread (which is just eh... I prefer the chips and sauces that they used to have). Our server came by and dropped off salad, noodles of some sort, and pot stickers. The pot stickers were just heavenly, like I ate the entire thing and then asked for more. They were just perfect. After our appetizers they brought out the meats and shrimp. I’m not a big shrimp person so I just primarily stuck to the chicken and pork which was very tasty. Most likely it is the same chicken and pork that is served at Spirit of Aloha. We were lucky enough to be able to catch Wishes from Ohana which was neat. They dimmed the lights and pumped in the music from the show. I got to see Wishes from so many places this trip (our room, the fifth floor skywalk, the top of the world lounge, Polynesian beach area, Ohana, and Magic Kingdom). Once Wishes was over we were just about done our meal so we finished up and then headed back to Bay Lake Tower for the night.



Up Next: A different side to the Magic Kingdom

 

[WDW_Princess24]

Count me in!! I was actually there the entire time you were, from the 3rd-9th, I'll have to keep a look out for myself in your pics lol ( I still have to write the February TR). You weren't the only one who was surprised by the crowds, more and more it's look like there is no more "slow" season..BOO!
So glad someone shares my appreciate for the mermaids in PoC and the Jungle Cruise!
How did you max out your score on Buzz?!?! I am so jealous! You can never see if you are actually hitting anything in there!
I went to BoG on my birthday in November and didn't get the grey stuff, and it was my actual birthday. Also went there the day I got engaged in February and didn't get it than either...ahh..one day
I absolutely LOVE your pictures of Epcot in the morning! I could not agree with you more about Test Track, it's nothing to write home about and the design process was a hot mess when I did it too!
I've always wondered about Spirit of Aloha and I appreciated the honest review. I hate when they make you pose for those pics and than approach you as your eating to make a sale, I always skip the photo!
I too experienced the tour groups that same week, they really do make it an unpleasant experience and it's the adults supervising them who start all the yelling/singing/chanting. I am all for a good time but they are just TOO much to handle.

 

[disneyfan1995]

Count me in!! I was actually there the entire time you were, from the 3rd-9th, I'll have to keep a look out for myself in your pics lol ( I still have to write the February TR). You weren't the only one who was surprised by the crowds, more and more it's look like there is no more "slow" season..BOO!
So glad someone shares my appreciate for the mermaids in PoC and the Jungle Cruise!
How did you max out your score on Buzz?!?! I am so jealous! You can never see if you are actually hitting anything in there!
I went to BoG on my birthday in November and didn't get the grey stuff, and it was my actual birthday. Also went there the day I got engaged in February and didn't get it than either...ahh..one day
I absolutely LOVE your pictures of Epcot in the morning! I could not agree with you more about Test Track, it's nothing to write home about and the design process was a hot mess when I did it too!
I've always wondered about Spirit of Aloha and I appreciated the honest review. I hate when they make you pose for those pics and than approach you as your eating to make a sale, I always skip the photo!
I too experienced the tour groups that same week, they really do make it an unpleasant experience and it's the adults supervising them who start all the yelling/singing/chanting. I am all for a good time but they are just TOO much to handle.

Thanks for reading along, and wow what a small world!! Maybe you're in some of my pics. I have close to 1400 from the trip (I'm just narrowing it down to my favorite ones).

The tour groups were absolutely horrid. They are SO rude and inconsiderate and they don't understand English at all. I think if you're gonna come over here that you should at least very very basic English so you're not 100% clueless like some of them were.

BOG was just a miss the night we went. I'm sorry you didn't get any grey stuff, that's a bummer - especially since you were celebrating both times. Congrats on your engagement!! Very exciting!!