Best Week Ever: Disney Edition (My Sept. 6-13 Trip Report)

Well kids I just got back from "the most magical place on Earth" and I'm here to tell you all about my little travels. We left at the butt-crack of morning on Saturday, Sept. 6th and sadly had to leave on Saturday, Sept. 13th. Well this will be my first trip report, so strap yourselves in and bare w/ me. The trip was filled w/ laughter, happiness, and maybe even a little unecessary drama for good measure. Here we go!

First of all let me introduce myself and the rest of the "cast":

David (Me)- Yup that's me ya'll. I'm 24 and a major Disney dork. I haven't been to the "world" in 4 years and when my mom asked me to "tag along" on their upcoming trip she didn't have to convince me twice to go along. They really had to twist my arm to go...*:animwink::animwink:*

Dad- He's a 47 y/o baby who happens to look like a grown man. :ROFLOL:He may look big and mean, but he's a big softie at heart. Remember the drama I mentioned? Well it was probably started by him. He's a type-A Disney commando who takes no prisoners. If you happened to see us you would see him 5 miles ahead and me yelling to "slow down". :lol:

Mom- She's 45 and a total blonde if you know what I'm saying. I shouldn't say anything because we are practically the same and we were always trying to go the wrong way to exit rides and the whole mess. Fun times! Anyways she was the type who wanted to stop and see the parades, but of course "you know who" wanted to go, go, GO! :lookaroun

Well anywho, that was my "short" little introduction to bring everyone up to speed on who you are dealing w/ on this TR. :wave: See you all soon for more.

 

[MAF]

Day 3- Sept. 8th, 2008

Ah so this is what it feels like to be fully rested! Yes folks, I got my first good nights sleep of the trip the night before and I was rarin' to take on Animal Kingdom. But before that I wanted to take some random pics of the hotel.

On the bus we got a little crazy....:lookaroun

We were at AK way early so we browsed around the shop they have outside and then I got this pic of the entrance.

After they let us in, they put on this really cute opening "show" w/ Mickey and the gang. First Minnie, Goofy, and Pluto came out on a truck and then they radio'ed Mickey who was climbing the Tree of Life. It was really neat.

 

[MAF]

Of course we all headed to Everest, which none of us had done before. I thought it was awesome, although was a little disappointed w/ the Yeti scene because it went by WAY too fast and it was too dark to even make him out. My mom freaked the heck out, I'm not even kidding you. She was "shocked" that Disney would create a ride so "treacherous"...:ROFLOL: Uh yeah she said "treacherous"! I think the backward part threw her over the edge. Sooo I guess she won't be doing that one again. :lol:

Here I am in front of "the treachery"...

Next we headed for Dinosaur which is one of my faves. Before though, we took some "interesting" photos.

We're going to eat your soul...

I think I'm in love...

Next we went to see "It's Tough to Be a Bug." This is probably my fave 3-D show at Disney.

It's Tough to Be This Fug...

Up next was the safari. It was nice and relaxing, although the animals seemed to be hiding from the heat, but can you blame them? Our tour guide was really good too. I took some random pics here.

...and the scariest ones of all!

Next it was time for the Finding Nemo musical. I love, love, LOVED it. I was sceptical about Disney turning one of my fave. movies into a musical, but they really pulled this one off. The guy who sang for Crush was incredible. This one was a hit.

 

[MAF]

After that my mom and I did Kali River Rapids while my dad sat out. We got a raft w/ some really funny people and got soaked.

Wow I look so hot as a drowned rat...:lookaroun

Next we used our CS credit for Yak and Yeti. They have a CS right outside of the main resterant. We all got the Shrimp Lo-Mein and I got the mango pie for the dessert. I thought the Lo-Mein was good overall. It was nice and hot and there were a lot of noodles so I was definately full. There weren't many shrimp in it which is probably to be expected. Overall it really hit the spot. The mango pie was pretty good as well. A nice change from chocolate cake.

After we ate I wanted to see the Lion King show, but we soon found out that it wasn't on for another 2 hours. I have missed this one for the last 2 trips and was determined to see it, so me and my mom stayed while my dad went back to the hotel for a nap.

While waiting for the showtime we headed to Camp Minnie, Mickey for some character pics.

First up was Minnie who was as sweet as ever.

Ok next was Mickey and let's just say this wasn't a pleasant experience for me. You probably don't know this, but I have an unhealthy obsession w/ Mickey. :lookaroun He was so rude to me! When we got to the front he grabbed my mom's arm and lead her up to the picture taking area. When I got in the pic he put his arm in front of me and was like pushing me back. Then after the pic he pushed me out to take a solo one w/ my mom. I know this was part of the "act" but really it sort of ticked me off. I *heart* Mickey, how could he do this to me? :ROFLOL:

Next we saw Goofy who wasn't that much into "character". I like my Goofy's to act crazy. :lol:

After character fun-age we headed over to the Lion King. I LOVED it. I love the live singers. They were so talented and sent chills into me. The acrobats were really good too, although I could have lived w/out seeing all of the skin tight spandex. My mom said she was having an anxiety attack from all of the things going on in there.

Well after the show we headed back to the hotel where I relaxed for a bit by the piano pool. They say that AK is a half-day park and it proved to be true for us as well. We didn't re-visit AK for the rest of our trip.

In the next installment- Our dinner at Boma, and then our brief stop at Hollywood Studios. Thanks for reading! :wave:

 

[bayoumoon]

Thanks for this installment I really needed some AK before work tonight. Can't wait for the rest. Keep it coming.

 

[MAF]

Sorry, MAF if I offended you. It was just a quick observation that I didn't think through.

You didn't offend me, I was just kidding. Although I don't really think I resemble Jeremy Piven...at all.

Ooohh. It glows! Though I'd prefer a Pirate Punch

Can't wait to hear more.

It does! I still have the "magic" ice-cube too. Is pirate punch the one that has the light up tinkerbell? If so then I can see why you wanted one...:lol:

Great report so far, can't wait to hear more.

Thanks for reading! :wave:

These reports do take a long time to do right!

Looking forward to the next installment.

They do, but it's a lot of fun to write. Thanks!

Love your report - you seem like a real fun guy - wish I was younger!! Your dad sounds like my son-in-law - he pushes us the whole way - move it, move it, - this way people!! get to go again in 2 weeks - can't wait - your info is getting me all excited.

Awesome, I am excited for you! :sohappy: Have fun and don't let certain commandos bother you and have a good time! :wave:

Thanks for this installment I really needed some AK before work tonight. Can't wait for the rest. Keep it coming.

:lol: I could have used a little AK before work today as well. Thank you for your comments!

 

[ClemsonTigger]

OK, enough of answering the fan mail
....back to the next installment! :lol:

 

[MAF]

OK, enough of answering the fan mail
....back to the next installment! :lol:

I'll try to resume the next intallment tomorrow!

 

[WDWFigment]

Not at all related to your trip report (which is great), but you thoroughly cracked me up in the "Lindsay Lohan" thread. Hilarious stuff.

 

[over]

cant wait for more!! this is a great report!

 

[MAF]

Just to let you know I had this update done on Thursday night but before it posted it was deleted! :fork: Oh well moving on....:drevil:

Day 3- Sept. 8th (Cont.)

So before I told ya'll about my trip to AK, and now I can tell you about our visit to the Animal Kingdom Lodge and our dinner at Boma. Let me tell you that the AKL is awesome! If I ever get rich I will definately be staying here. It kind of reminds me of the WL, but only w/ an African theme.

Here are a few pics I took of the Lodge:

I love how the animals were on property. Very cool. I also loved the outdoor camp fire, and the huge window in the back of the hotel. So after looking around for a bit, we headed downstairs to Boma for dinner.

Let me start off by saying that Boma was the place I was most excited about eating at. It was pretty much the only place that I insisted that we eat at. BIG MISTAKE! I'm sorry, but I thought the food was disgusting. Oh and before anyone starts scoffing at me, I will say that I tried EVERYTHING that they had to offer. I started off w/ this soup that tasted like pure sugar. Then I had this watermelon rind salad stuff that was horrible. I also had some of that dip stuff w/ the pita bread, and only could really tolerate one of the 3 kinds I sampled. :hurl: I also tried stuff like the folofal and cous cous which I'm sure I misspelled, but none of it was my cup of tea...at all. Even the prime rib and chicken they had tasted wierd. But then came the good part....THE DESSERT! Wow, now we're talking. They had the best desserts there. I swear to you that the things called "Zebra Domes" are the best creation known to man. I didn't even know what was in them or what they were, but they were freakin' good. Anyways, my mom and I were NOT impressed w/ Boma although my dad claimed to have loved it. Well I guess 1 out 3 isn't too bad I suppose.

After an "interesting" meal we decided to head off to Hollywood Studios for the rest of the night. We first hit the RnR Coaster. Ok this was hilarious because my parents had never ridden this before and I convinced them that it was "tamer" than Space Mountain. :ROFLOL:Um yeah, so when my mom saw the take off she freaked the heck out and claimed she had to use the restroom and she proceded to take the chicken exit. My dad was so ticked and I could not stop laughing... Anyways after we rode my dad convinced my mom to give it a try, although he decided to sit this it out this time around. Anyways we had a blast, but after the ride it broke down right before the exit and we were stuck on for about 10 or more mintutes. Needless to say I never heard the end of it from them and how it was not "smoother" than SM...:drevil:

 

[MAF]

After that we headed for Tower of Terror which a fave. of all 3 of us. This was the best "drop scenario" I think I have ever experienced. They gave us so many drops and then did a fake out where it seemed it was over and then headed back up and dropped again. Awesome! :sohappy:

After that I thought we were headed for Toy Story Mania, but my dad wanted to stop and see the Little Mermaid first? WHAT!? I was a little ticked because the park was closing soon and I had heard that TSM usually has long wait times. Oh well what could I do? After the show we headed over to TSM and yeah it was one of the longer lines we experienced on our trip, it wasn't THAT bad.

Well the ride was really good. I loved it, although my arm was hurting because I went nutso pulling that cord. It kind of reminded me of a mix between the Spiderman ride at IoA and Buzz Lightyear in the MK. Overall I would give it an A-.

Yet another random 3-D glasses pic, a la Toy Story Mania...

After TSM we headed home to rest up for our trip to Epcot the next day.

Next time on "Best Week Ever- Disney Edition" Grey Goose slushies, Margaritas, and the trying on of hats... Thanks for reading! :wave:

 

[MAF]

Not at all related to your trip report (which is great), but you thoroughly cracked me up in the "Lindsay Lohan" thread. Hilarious stuff.

Sorry, I was trying to break up the serious-ness in that thread. :drevil:

cant wait for more!! this is a great report!

Thank you! :wave:

 

[minnie2000]

Let me start off by saying that Boma was the place I was most excited about eating at. It was pretty much the only place that I insisted that we eat at. BIG MISTAKE! I'm sorry, but I thought the food was disgusting. Oh and before anyone starts scoffing at me, I will say that I tried EVERYTHING that they had to offer. I started off w/ this soup that tasted like pure sugar. Then I had this watermelon rind salad stuff that was horrible. I also had some of that dip stuff w/ the pita bread, and only could really tolerate one of the 3 kinds I sampled. :hurl: I also tried stuff like the folofal and cous cous which I'm sure I misspelled, but none of it was my cup of tea...at all. Even the prime rib and chicken they had tasted wierd. But then came the good part....THE DESERT! Wow, now we're talking. They had the best deserts there. I swear to you that the things called "Zebra Domes" are the best creation known to man. I didn't even know what was in them or what they were, but they were freakin' good. Anyways, my mom and I were NOT impressed w/ Boma although my dad claimed to have loved it. Well I guess 1 out 3 isn't too bad I suppose.

We didn't enjoy Boma either. My DH loves to try new and spicy food, but even he didn't like the food there. I tried lots of things, but I ended up eating chicken strips with the children! Also, it was so noisy there, that we could not hear what our server was saying, and she was standing right next to us!

 

[Kristilovesdw]

:ROFLOL: this is the funniest TR ever, you sound just like me! I love the pics, thanks for sharing! Looks like you and your family had a great time!

 

[MAF]

Day 4- (Sept. 9th, 2008)

On our schedule today was a visit to EPCOT.

We were there for the morning EMH, and I had heard that the lines for Soarin' get long very early so we decided to do that one first.

My mom got to be the line length determiner person. She was uber-excited.

This was our first time on Soarin' and it was just amazing. I love the feeling of the wind blowing at you and the beautiful scenery you "fly over". My fave part is the ending where you fly up to the fireworks over Disneyland. My mom hated it though seeing as she kept her eyes shut the entire time. She said she felt like she was going to fall off.

Next we did The Land boat ride which is one of my personal faves, although the others said they thought it was "boring". Whatev...

Scary mutant 'gators w/ glowing eyes!

I want a Mickey pumpkin for Halloween!

Next we headed for the Seas which I was very excited about seeing for the first time. Finding Nemo is one of my fave. movies ever. I loved the new clamshell ride they put in. A billion times better than the lame one they had back in the 80's. After that we looked around the tanks to wait for the next showing of Turtle Talk w/ Crush. I loved seeing the dolphin tank. There were about 3 of them playing w/ a ball. Pretty soon the time came for them to open up Turtle Talk and we headed on in. The show was really cute, although not as good as I had heard it was. Crush asked the little kids in the front to ask him questions, but none of them even asked any "real" questions. They just made comments like "you are funny." I think it would have been better if Crushed would have picked on some of the older kids in the audience. My mom and I enjoyed it, although my dad thought it was a complete waste of time. *sigh* Such is life...

Mine, Mine, MINE!

Hey look it the REAL Nemo and Dory!

People are friends...NOT food!

It's me and my best friend Nemo!

 

[MAF]

Next up was the Imagination Pavillion. We started by doing the Figment ride. Wow this place was DEAD. It was kind of sad actually. This ride has become so "sterile" and just not good. After the ride my mom and I did the picture taking thing where you can send it out to your email.

I...am...scary

Then we saw "Honey I Shrunk the Audience." I remember that I used to love this one, but it was gotten soo dated and just OLD.

Yet another 3-D glasses shot. (Yeah I had to take one for each 3-D attraction.)

Next we headed over to World Showcase to get what I was dieing to try. The Grey Goose Slushie in France. We started off at Canada where I saw a great "beer" T-shirt that my mom and I decided would be the perfect souvineer for my brother. Oh and this is where the crazy hat hijinks started...:lookaroun

*Sings* Daaavey, Davey Crocket! King of the Wild Frontier!

Next we visited jolly ole' England.

I'm stuck!

I'm a police officer, no really...:lookaroun

We ran into Alice. I was excited to see my first "face character"!

 

[MAF]

Up next was France!

I am a true art-teast!

My mom was getting hungry so we stopped at the bakery in France to grab a bite. They each had some sort of fruit tart thing and I got a chocolate donut thing. Mine was not that good seeing as it was practically frozen and tasteless. Then we got what I had been anticipating the whole trip, the Grey Goose slush! :sohappy: It was so good and definately put me in a much happier mood. My mom loved it as well, but my dad was not a fan. He said it was way too expensive for what little they gave us. Hello, this is DW, everything is overpriced. So yeah we thought it would be fun to ________ him off for the rest of the trip by talking about the drink and randomly saying "GREEEEY GOOSE" for the rest of our trip. We still do it to this day. :ROFLOL:

Ok next up was Morocco. Hey look it's Aladdin!

Next was Japan, where sadly I didn't find any crazy hats, just a bunch of demonic Hello Kitty merch.

Next we visited the US of A. I wanted to see the show they had, but for some reason they had specific times and the next one was like an hour away. Bummer...

Gee how could you have a shop represtening America w/out selling guns? :lookaroun

I represent my country by looking like an A#!-hat.

 

[MAF]

Well I know Italy was in there somewhere, but I didn't any pics there. No love for Italy, sorry! Next we visited Germany.

There is no beer in there, I swear! :lookaroun

Next up was China.

No comment...:lol:

Next we did the boat ride in Norway, Maelstrom. This is also another of my faves. It's really short, but I still enjoy it loads.

Of course we coudn't pass up the obligatory troll pic (BTW the troll was wearing a yellow shirt today):

After that it was time for more drinking! :sohappy: I got the fiesta margarita and my parents didn't get anything this time. Um yeah, it was not good...at all. It tasted like water and pure tequilla. Don't get me wrong I like to taste the licquor in my drinks, but it had no flavor outside of watered down licquor. I was not impressed.

Crazy hats made it better though!

 

[MAF]

After our trek around the world, we headed off to Test Track. This was the longest line we had of our entire trip. I think it was like a 45 minute wait time. Well I had ridden this one before, but my parents had not. They didn't really enjoy it that much and said it wasn't worth that long of a wait and I agree. We all agreed that it's probably more a ride for people who have never driven a car before.

Our on ride photo:

After Test Track we headed back to ASM for something to eat. We all got the Taco Salad and I got the fruit cup for desert and a PowerAid to drink. The Taco Salad was really good and you get to pick out what all they put in it. The fruit cup was horrendous though. All it had was a ton of melon and like 3 grapes. It was really gross. :hurl: After we ate I headed off to the piano pool once more while the parents took a nap. I'm not a nap taker at all.

Later on we headed back to Epcot to catch a few more rides, eat at Coral Reef, and then watch Illuminations. I had to make sure we visited Club Cool so I could torture my mom w/ the dreaded Beverly. mwahaha

Before:

...and After! :lol:

We also did the "new" Spaceship Earth. I really don't see what all the complaints are for? It seemed like the same old ride as before, and the ending wasn't THAT bad. Yeah it would get old after a few rides, but for people like me who only get to come to WDW every once in a while it's ok. Anyways my mom could not stop laughing at the video w/ the pictures. She was a lunatic...haha

This is dark, but here's what mine looked like:

To kill time we looked around Mice Gear before our ressies.

Once again I don't know who these people are.

Oh I forgot to tell you about our little trip to Mission Space. So I had already ridden this one about 4 years ago and I got really sick for like 2 hours afterwards so I knew that I would only be doing the Green "less intense" version. Well my mother was freaking out thinking we were doing the intense version the whole time. I was like HELLO, there are like 4 old people getting on, do you really think that we are doing the other one? Anyways when we get they finally shut the doors on us my dad made some smart ______ comment and my mom freaks out saying they better let her out NOW! This is bad, but I couldn't stop laughing and my dad is getting ticked the heck off and my mom is freaking out getting into a fetus like position. So yeah putting the 3 of us in a confined space is NEVER a good idea. :ROFLOL:

 

[MAF]

Coral Reef Review

So now it was time for the Coral Reef. This was another place that I did not enjoy. It was jam packed and it was LOUD. I don't mean it was slighly annoying loud, it was earth shattering, ear bleeding LOUD. Also they sat us like 2 inches from the next group of people.

I started off w/ a Bud Light to drink, along w/ a diet Coke and water. Hey I was THIRSTY! :drevil: The 3 of us got the steak w/ the au-gratin style potatoes. Have you noticed we always seem to order the same thing? :lol: I got mine medium-well and it wasn't too over cooked at all. It was really good, had a great flavor and the potatoes were excellent as well. I had heard bad reviews of this place, but it wasn't bad at all. Our waitress was really attentive and nice as well. She did a great job. For desert I got the Chocolate Mousse which was nothing but chocolate pudding in a mug, but it came w/ a this really good edible straw thingy. My mom got the sorbet and I think my dad got some kind of fruit tray or something, but I can't recall.

To sum it up I would NEVER come back here unless I came w/ someone who really wanted to go. It was just way too loud and obnoxious in there. You probably think I am exhaggerating, but it was just awful. The food was good, but not good enough for me to want to return.

After our dinner we headed off to catch Illuminations. My dad found this really bad spot in fron of a tree...:hammer: So my mom and I decide we want a better spot, and he once again gets all p*#sy. Sheesh... Illuminations was "ok", but def. can't compete w/ my fave. Wishes. Well after that we called it a night and headed back to the hotel in anticipation for our next day at DHS and Downtown Disney.

Once again thank you for reading! :wave: See ya real soon...