What do all those things have in common? They all happened in a mere 4 days worth of Disney fun and frivolity.
As usual for the Yoda household the trip started way early. We left the house at 4:45 AM. By 5:30 I was the only one left awake. I was however kept quite entertained by my oldest daughter who was sitting next to me. She had gotten home late from work the night before and instead of grabbing 3 or 4 hours of sleep she elected to go with the "I'll just stay up all night!" logic. She was slumped over, held up only by the seat belt, and would jerk herself up about every ten minutes only to slump back down moments later. We made it to WDW without incident about 7:00 AM and made our ritual stop at the IHOP just outside of DTD on 535. I do not know what it is about this place but the wait staff has a Disney quality about them.
From there we made our way to Pop Century to pick up our package. We did the online check in and it worked quite well. For some reason we always seem to time our resort arrivals exactly ten minutes after a full DME bus drops off and this trip would be no different. The regular check in line was packed and the online check in line was empty. We were in and out in 5 minutes.
The obligatory Pop century the road warrior years picture.
Next stop DHS......
We made it there just before opening and met up with my big brother and his family. First stop was of course TSMM. We caught one of Luxo's shows while waiting in the line outside.
My middle daughter's boyfriend, Neal, got the high score for the day. I am not sure I like him anymore. Not only can he kick my a$$ in real life but he can do it on TSMM as well.:lol:
From there we went to ToT.
This is the face of a first time ToT rider.
This is the face of a ToT veteran.
We of course could not go to DHS and not see Mulch, Sweat and Shears. My oldest daughter decided they needed a bit more cowbell.
The day at DHS with the family was finished up at Indy. I have seen this show a million times and it never gets old. Apparently I am not the only one because even though the park was deserted Indy was around 80% full.
We went back to the Pop to hit the pool for a little while and get ready for a 9:00 PM dinner at T-rex. I went back to DHS to meet up with Marie (wannabebelle) about 5:30 to catch the finally of American Idol. Marie loves the show and I was there solely for research purposes.:lookaroun I have to be honest though. In spite of all the negative flack this attraction got before they even so much as the first refurb wall was in place it is a very well done attraction. I am a casual fan of the AI and it replicates the show incredibly well. The stone cold truth is that if you like AI, even a little, you will like this attraction. If you do not like AI you will hate it. The only criticism I really have for the attraction is that is should have been build years earlier.
The night finished up at T-Rex. I have to say I really like this place. Like it's not so identical twin, RFC, it is a bit loud and very busy but I really like the theme much better than RFC. Food and service is on par with what RFC use to be before it's downward slide a few years ago. We got to sit in the ice cave which was very cool but it has one major flaw....the lighting. You are bathed in this blue light which in itself is not bad but it removes the color red from your food. This became an issue when 3 of us ordered medium rare steaks. When we cut into them the looked well done. When they brought out a flash light it was clear that they were done correctly but under that blue light they looked burnt to a crisp. I seriously doubt that this was the first time that this happened and the problem could easily be solved by giving the wait staff a mini flash light and a little explanation. As expected my 8 year old suckered me into a build a dino. Thank god they were regular build a bear prices. I was able to get out of there for around $35.
The Ice Cave
The Chocolate Extinction. A simple but very good desert.
As usual for the Yoda household the trip started way early. We left the house at 4:45 AM. By 5:30 I was the only one left awake. I was however kept quite entertained by my oldest daughter who was sitting next to me. She had gotten home late from work the night before and instead of grabbing 3 or 4 hours of sleep she elected to go with the "I'll just stay up all night!" logic. She was slumped over, held up only by the seat belt, and would jerk herself up about every ten minutes only to slump back down moments later. We made it to WDW without incident about 7:00 AM and made our ritual stop at the IHOP just outside of DTD on 535. I do not know what it is about this place but the wait staff has a Disney quality about them.
From there we made our way to Pop Century to pick up our package. We did the online check in and it worked quite well. For some reason we always seem to time our resort arrivals exactly ten minutes after a full DME bus drops off and this trip would be no different. The regular check in line was packed and the online check in line was empty. We were in and out in 5 minutes.
The obligatory Pop century the road warrior years picture.
Next stop DHS......
We made it there just before opening and met up with my big brother and his family. First stop was of course TSMM. We caught one of Luxo's shows while waiting in the line outside.
My middle daughter's boyfriend, Neal, got the high score for the day. I am not sure I like him anymore. Not only can he kick my a$$ in real life but he can do it on TSMM as well.:lol:
From there we went to ToT.
This is the face of a first time ToT rider.
This is the face of a ToT veteran.
We of course could not go to DHS and not see Mulch, Sweat and Shears. My oldest daughter decided they needed a bit more cowbell.
The day at DHS with the family was finished up at Indy. I have seen this show a million times and it never gets old. Apparently I am not the only one because even though the park was deserted Indy was around 80% full.
We went back to the Pop to hit the pool for a little while and get ready for a 9:00 PM dinner at T-rex. I went back to DHS to meet up with Marie (wannabebelle) about 5:30 to catch the finally of American Idol. Marie loves the show and I was there solely for research purposes.:lookaroun I have to be honest though. In spite of all the negative flack this attraction got before they even so much as the first refurb wall was in place it is a very well done attraction. I am a casual fan of the AI and it replicates the show incredibly well. The stone cold truth is that if you like AI, even a little, you will like this attraction. If you do not like AI you will hate it. The only criticism I really have for the attraction is that is should have been build years earlier.
The night finished up at T-Rex. I have to say I really like this place. Like it's not so identical twin, RFC, it is a bit loud and very busy but I really like the theme much better than RFC. Food and service is on par with what RFC use to be before it's downward slide a few years ago. We got to sit in the ice cave which was very cool but it has one major flaw....the lighting. You are bathed in this blue light which in itself is not bad but it removes the color red from your food. This became an issue when 3 of us ordered medium rare steaks. When we cut into them the looked well done. When they brought out a flash light it was clear that they were done correctly but under that blue light they looked burnt to a crisp. I seriously doubt that this was the first time that this happened and the problem could easily be solved by giving the wait staff a mini flash light and a little explanation. As expected my 8 year old suckered me into a build a dino. Thank god they were regular build a bear prices. I was able to get out of there for around $35.
The Ice Cave
The Chocolate Extinction. A simple but very good desert.
