Pre-Trip Fractal's Aug '11 Pre-trip report & '07,09 trip flashbacks

HollyBelle · May 10, 2011

Oh my goodness, your "flashback" trip reports are so great, I can only imagine what you'll be able to do with a trip that is super fresh in your mind! You have such a beautiful family! I hope you all have the most magical trip ever.

Edited to add: The Flying Fish is absolutely amazing. It makes perfect sense for it to be the restaurant you are looking forward to most. We've eaten there three different times and it never disappoints. It's earned the top spot as my favorite signature restaurant on property.

fractal · May 10, 2011

ASJHLJ said:
Holy Moley! This isn't a pre-trip report. You're doing a 3 for the price of 1 deal!

I totally agree no the Tree of Life. It's my favorite icon. Unbelievably pretty. I was 7 when A New Hope came out, so I know where you are coming from on Star Wars.

YES! on Tree of Life and Star Wars.

fractal · May 10, 2011

mamamouse said:
omg I'm loving it,I keep checking back everyday:wave:

Thanks - I'm getting close to wrappin' this puppy up.

Callum24 said:
Really enjoyed reading this!

Thanks!

HollyBelle said:
Oh my goodness, your "flashback" trip reports are so great, I can only imagine what you'll be able to do with a trip that is super fresh in your mind! You have such a beautiful family! I hope you all have the most magical trip ever.

Edited to add: The Flying Fish is absolutely amazing. It makes perfect sense for it to be the restaurant you are looking forward to most. We've eaten there three different times and it never disappoints. It's earned the top spot as my favorite signature restaurant on property.

Thank you. I plan on taking better notes and more pics this time. I'm glad to hear you enjoy FF - we're really getting excited about eating there!

fractal · May 11, 2011

After watching the scuba diver @ the Seas we met up with Alex to go onto Mission Space.

Now Alex is pretty athletic and tough. She plays high school lacrosse and has knocked over girls twice her size. She plays tackle football with her older boy cousins and isn't afraid to take somebody down. Finally, she plays high school field hockey and doesn't think twice about mixing it up with the sticks and those rock hard field hockey balls.

Here's a picture of her from last season FH.

Looks pretty tough right?

Well -this "tough" girl has two weaknesses. Bees ( or really any flying insect ) and Mission Space. The child will run around like a crazy person and smash into walls if she sees a bee. As I pointed out earlier, during "Tough to be a Bug" she literally ended up on my lap sobbing and clutching me.

She's terrified of Mission Space. She's never been on it - she didn't go on in 2007 and every time we mention it she says " Oh, I'm not going on that ride". I even explain there are two versions and she should try the Green one - but to no avail. It's really wierd because she doesn't have a problem with any other rides. Last year she did a dive-coaster @ Busch Gardens 3 times. So when she tells us she is going to MS I was pretty exicted and looking forward to her getting over this Mission Space issue. We met up with her and headed to her "appointment with destiny".

And guess what? She chickened out! Can you believe it? I tried prodding her, bribing her, embarrassing her but in the end she couldn't do it. So Sterg and I went on with Toni staying with her sister. I did Green, Sterg did Orange. Sterg did a pretty good job of harrassing me on that but last time I tried Orange and I didn't feel right for a few hours ( bring Dramamine in August!). I think MS is a very good ride. If I were king of Disney I would upgrade and make the riders' "input" mean something. If the Navigator doesn't hit the bottom on time then something "bad" happens - which would give you a bunch of different "rides" like StarTours 2.0.

After MS I got lucky and ended up catching the monorail passing by.

After MS the kids decided to do another Kim Possible mission.

This was the most civil moment of their assignment.

Notice how both Sterg and Alex have a hold of the phone - Sterg demanded to be in charge of the phone because Alex had it last time. This quickly escalated and resulted in a very frustrated Sterg swinging and hitting his sister. Upon my intervention, he decided to bail on the mission and head back to the Beach Club.

Alex and Toni continued on...

and I took some photos...

fractal · May 11, 2011

After the KP "incident" we headed back to BC to spend some time in Storm-Along-Bay. They really took a liking to the CM manning the Pirate Ship water slide. They also enjoyed the CM that was running the "fun and games" in the pool. He had them doing goofy things and singing silly songs - it was a lot of fun. Sorry - no pictures. I do have video of the fun & games but I think my head would blow-up if I tried to figure out how to put them in this report. :veryconfu

Val and I enjoyed hanging at the pool - getting some drinks from Hurricane Hannas and just "chillin'".

After pool time we got ready for MK and dinner @ Tony's. We wanted to spend the evening @ MK and Tony's was recommended to us by a friend.

Another castle pic -

On to Tony's -

I found the check-in a bit confusing and unorganized but after about a 10 minute wait we were seated in a booth behind the Lady and the Tramp fountain.

On the way to MK an older couple on the bus was raving about Tony's to us. The gentleman recommended the NY strip steak. He said Tony's had the best NY Strip he's ever had. This caused a conflict in my mind. I have a rule that I've made after years of being in the restaurant business and eating at restaurants. The rule is - If you are in an Italian restaurant, order Italian food. If you are in a Steak House, order the Steak. If you are in a Seafood restaurant eat Fish. Likewise - if you are in a Steak House don't order the pasta dish. That's my rule on eating out.

On the other hand I love a good NY Strip Steak and this guy had me drooling.
Tony's however is an Italian Restaurant and ordering Steak would go against my rule. So what did I do? I ordered the Steak - and - it was "OK". I was somewhat dissapointed after the buildup on the bus ride. Val and I were also bummed that we couldn't order wine with dinner. I guess we knew that there was no "booze" in MK but sitting in an nice Italian restaurant one only would assume you could get wine. The meal wasn't terrible - it was ok to good but it was definately at the bottom of the list of places we ate on that trip. The kids however seemed to like it much more than we did.

fractal · May 11, 2011

After dinner we wanted to do our favorite ride in MK - Splash Mountain. So we headed over there to see how long of a wait ( we really need to do a better job of utilizing fast passes on the next trip. In hindsight, we could have had Alex and sterg run to get FPs before dinner).

Along the way Val took this pic of me and my girls...

The wait for Splash was around 40 minutes - so we got FPs for BtMRR and went on standby for Splash. Val didn't want to get wet so she decided to just walk around. Splash is my favorite at MK and in my top 3. It's a ride that you just never tire of.

We then met up with Val and went to the shooting arcade. I have to do this on every trip to WDW. I remember as a child thinking it was the coolest thing ever and begging my Dad for more money to play. I still like it and it brings back memories of my late Father.

After screwing around the park some more (can't remember what exactly we did ) we went back to "redeem" our FPs. Guess what? BTMRR was down - again! - and after talking to a CM it didn't look good for any quick reopening.

fractal · May 11, 2011

We spent some more time at MK but can't remember exactly what we did. For some reason the photos stopped (dead battery?).

Some random MK photos.

fractal · May 12, 2011

TIMELINE- Still MAY2009.

Our last full day at WDW.

Next day - same routine, but this time Alex got up early with Toni, Sterg and I.
Val slept in and was going to start packing then head to the pool.

The kids and I grabbed a quick something to eat @ Marketplace and then they all wanted to go to EPCOT.

We walked thru the International Gateway and headed over to Test Track for FPs.

Then made our way over to SSE.

SSE turned out to be Alex's favorite ride of the trip - we ended up riding twice that morning. We headed for the Land and the wait for Soaring wasn't too bad so we rode Soarin one last time and hopped on Living with the Land again. We left the land and headed over to UoE. Along the way we saw these guys jamming away.

From there we said hi to Ellen and Bill Nye. This was the first time we went on this and I thought it was worthwhile but a tad long. I also remember being impressed by how the "benches" moved through the ride. The kids enjoyed it and I was relieve nobody had to go "potty".

Next up - riding "Test Track", or did we?

fractal · May 12, 2011

After Ellen's we headed to TT, navigating and balancing through the treacherous path...

When we arrived at our destination we discovered that - TestTrack was Down. This was a bummer. Last night it was BTMM and now TT. I got the kids to pose for a pic while we decided what to do next.

The line for MS was ridiculous because everybody that wanted to go on TT headed there instead. So we decided to go do SSE one more time then grab some lunch.

We ate at Electric Umbrella and I thought it was just OK.

On the way out Alex took an apple dumpling to go from American Adventure to satisfy her sweet tooth - she raved about.

From there we made our way back to the BC for some pool time.

fractal · May 12, 2011

After another great afternoon at SAB, we got dressed up for our last night out and last dinner of the trip. We were heading for MK and then catch the monorail to Ohana's!

On the bus ride to MK we made more Disney friends - this time a young couple ( I forget where from ) with two adorable girls ( ages around 10 and 7). They were heading to MK (obviously) and then the Luau show at the Poly. Hmm, I thougth. A dinner show. Something maybe to try next time.

We arrived at Magic Kingdom - more or less to walk down Main Street and Val wanted to take some pictures. We woudn't have enough time for rides.

Outside MK - notice the sky.

Inside MK - notice the sky again.

I thought this was a neat angle.

Hello Goofy! Is this seat taken?

We browsed some shops a bit then headed to the monorail. By now the sky was really getting dark and it looked like a lot of rain was heading our way.

mamamouse · May 12, 2011

Oh no we can't be near the end!!!!!

fractal · May 12, 2011

By the time we got dropped off at the Poly it was pouring. The rain was coming down violently and thunder and lightning ripped open the sky. I was thinking about the young family on the bus that was going to the Luau. What would happen to them? We soon found out.

On the way to Ohana's we heard from the P.A. system that people from the Luau are to report to Ohana's for dinner. What this meant was that the Luau was canceled because of the weather and they were going to feed everybody @ Ohana's. It also meant that our reservations were pushed back by an hour. Sometimes that's the way the cookie crumbles. I felt bad for that family and looked around to see if I could spot them but couldn't. Anyway - we hung out at a very crowded bar for awhile, then walked around and took some pics.

From what I saw of Poly, I liked. Very lush and tropical. Maybe a future spot for a future visit?

We had somebody take this picture for us - she was very nice but I forgot to set the flash. I think it would have turned out to be a great picture with a flash and without the shadows.

mamamouse · May 13, 2011

meh flash or not I think thats a great pic,you have a beautiful family!!

fractal · May 13, 2011

mamamouse said:
meh flash or not I think thats a great pic,you have a beautiful family!!

Thanks and thanks for following along! :wave: Yes we are coming close to the end of the trip (unfortunately) but this has really helped me planning for and looking forward to our next trip.

fractal · May 14, 2011

We ended up having a great time @ Ohana's. The food was average to good - the beef was a bit tough - but the atmosphere was great. Our waitress was attentive and watching them cook the meat on those massive grills was memorable. I had the drink in the pineapple ( don't remember the name ). It was good for one but too expensive to order a second so I went to beer. Entertainment was provided by a super sweet lady ( I forget her name ) and her ukulele. She was singing songs, got all the younger kids up and marching around the room. She also explained that "Ohana" means "family". Toni loved all this. She gave a lei to all the kids and asked them to grab a parent for a special dance.

Toni with her lei...(and some bbq sauce on face).

fractal · May 16, 2011

Toni came over and grabbed me for our "special dance". We danced a few songs - the rest of the family was having a good time laughing at my dance moves. Let's just say I'm not the best dancer in the world. I don't have any pictures but do have this on video. :lookaroun Good thing for all of us that I don't know how to post it.

After our dance routine we came back to the table to finish our dinner. Then it was time for dessert. Up to that point I was very good during the entire trip with dessert. I would have a bite or two and leave the rest. After I took my first bite of the dessert @ Ohana's I knew I was going to eat the entire delicious treat. It was some kind of banana's foster/bread thing/ala mode and let me tell you I couldn't stop myself - it was that good.

We all ended up getting leis.

We had a nice view of the castle for fireworks which did go off after the rain stopped and then we watched the electric water parade which was also pretty cool.

We all had a good time and it turned out to be a memorable evening. It was a fine way to end our last night at WDW.

Our trip was a blast and I was now "hooked" on Disney World. Our trip back home went smooth and we even got home in time for our Lacrosse picnic and a picture of Sterg's team (which I coached).

Next - Back to the Future. How the "flashbacks" helped to plan our August 2011 trip.

fractal · Jun 23, 2011

Hello again! Now that we are less than 50 days away from our trip I decided to (finally) finish my PTR.

Going back through time and reviewing our previous two trips gave me a good perspective on things that worked and things that didn't; things we did and things we missed.

In planning our upcoming trip - I wanted to focus on things we've missed in the past and some tips I discovered just from reviewing our last trips. There is so much to do at WDW so I wanted to make this trip as different from the past ones as possible, but without missing our favorites.

If that sounds confusing and a bit contradictory it's probably because it is.

Anyway - the following is a list of attractions we have never gone on with comments. I'll go through each park.

MAGIC KINGDOM
in no specific order...

ASTRO ORBITOR - Something I really want to try if only for the views. I understand the lines are long and the ride is too short, but if we can hit it at the right time we will. It's on the radar.

MAD TEA PARTY - If I remember the Dramamine. I could do spinning rides all day long 20 years ago, but it's not 1990 anymore.

Monsters Inc Laugh Floor - A definate for this trip. I even downloaded an app on my phone of corny jokes. I'm looking forward to this.

Snow White - We will do this only because we will never get another chance.

Tiki Room - I REALLY want to see this. I never have and always just seem to miss it. I'm excited because of the refurb but the scheduled opening date is the day after we leave. I'm hoping we get lucky and they have an early open.

Winne the Pooh Another must see. Looking forward to checking out the queue area.

Tomorrowland Speedway - Eh. Having spent a lot of my childhood at the Jersey shore and much time behind "proper" go-karts I don't have any desire for this - nor do any of the kids.

TTA- Never even considered Peoplemover or would consider it if it wasn't for this site. Now it is a must do!

Railroad We're going to do this one in honor of Walt.

COP - Another must do and another one I would have never done with reading WDWMagic.

SPACE MOUNTAIN - Now we have done SPACE MOUNTAIN before - in 2007 - but it was closed in 2009 so we haven't ridden since the refurb so this is on our "must do" list.

That's our list for MK - the challenge will be if we can hit the ones we want on this list and still do PoTC,HM, Splash, BTMRR, an MP.

fractal · Jun 27, 2011

For those still reading this overly long PTR - sorry it's taking me forever. I will say that going through this exercise is really helping me with planning for our trip.

onto the other Parks and attractions we've never "done" before.

EPCOT

We really need to spend more time in WS. We've always walked around the loop without really exploring each country. Last time the kids explored more while embarking on two KimPossible missions but for the most part we had seen WS only from the "outside". We have never seen a movie and I never really knew what American Adventure was about - which is sad since I'm a bit of a history buff (especially American history).

So here's the somewhat embarassing list...

American Adventure and Voices of Liberty - This is a must do!

O' Canada - you mean there is more to Canada than sticking our heads in the Native American board? I want also see bridges and waterfalls.

China - Never saw the movie or the terracotta soldiers. Hard to admit.

Impressions of France I guess when the kids were younger this just never made the list.

Japan pavillion We are having dinner here so that will give us an opportunity to explore.

Journey into Imagination - That's right - have never seen Figment.

Captain EO - I have mixed feeling about this. As a child of the 80's I grew up with MJ music - but as an adult I've realized how strange the guy was. I'll leave this up to the rest of the crew.

Imageworks - Never done - We will stroll through.

Innoventions - Sum of All Thrills looks pretty cool, so this is on our must do list.

Well that's it for EPCOT - that wasn't too painful - but hey, exploring all these things will almost make it feel like we've never been there before.

fractal · Jun 28, 2011

the rest of the parks...

Disney Hollywood Studios

things we've never done and won't do

Honey I Shrunk the Kids Playground :snore:

Narnia :brick:

Sound Dangerously :dazzle:

things we've never done that we will do -

American Idol - Val is looking forward to this one.

Disney Animation Once upon a time I had dreams of drawing for comic books, so this one interests me and I've only read positives about it here. Must do.

and of course the new Star Tours! In addition to drawing comic book Superheros and I was a Star Wars geek and despite George Lucas' recent efforts, I remain one. I'm very psyched about this one.

Animal Kingdom

Cretaceous Trail - maybe

Pangani Trail - must do. It actually amazes me that we haven't done this.

Flights of Wonder - Another one with great reviews and one I'm looking forward to.

So there you have it. If we end up seeing all these attractions for the first time it will be a completely different trip than any other one. Especially the last two. This is all part of my strategy to fight any future "Not Disney again" arguments.

Next up... Other things ( or I've completely lost my mind ).

fractal · Jul 14, 2011

Another milestone!

Yesterday I received in the mail my documents from Disney;

Itinerary looked good.

My book of coupons - arcade and mini golf look like the best possibilities for use.

The yellow tags for Magical Express ( very exciting! )

and the nifty new holographic luggage tags, which my daughter Toni loved!

In the meantime, I've gone off the edge and booked the Epcot Segway tour for Val and Alex and then booked Epcot Seas Aqua Tour for Sterg, Toni and myself.

I've seen much positive feedback from those that did the Segway tour - but has anybody done the Seas Aqua Tour?