Graduation Celebration: HOT days, fun times, and plenty of food

I have only been home for 20 hours, and I am already missing the most magical place on earth, ESPECIALLY the weather. When I left Florida it was 95, and now I'm stuck with a high of 67. What's with mother nature? Anyway, I had an awesome 10 days at WDW, and I am excited to share my vacation with the wdwmagic family!

If any of you haven't read my pre-trip report, you can read it at this link: http://forums.wdwmagic.com/showthread.php?t=750730

WARNING: There may be some grammar mistakes in this report. I am a very fast typer, and I sometimes skip words or make spelling mistakes. I'm only human. Also, I am no Tom Bricker (WDWFigment), which means my photos aren't fantastic, but I try.

After 5 months of planning, June 11th was finally here. I was supposed to wake up at 4:30 am, but I hit the snooze which caused me to sleep in till 5:30. After getting all of our stuff together, we hit the road. Goodbye boring/cold Illinois! Hello warm/tropical Florida!

Here is a fantastic (sarcasm) photo of me and my disney girls. Don't I just look so alive? At least I'm representing my team.


IMG_0251 by jessicamanning19, on Flickr

Here is our crazy amount of luggage, but hey were women! We need a lot of stuff!


IMG_0253 by jessicamanning19, on Flickr
At 6 am, we hit the road. Because everyone in our group has their license, we were all able to take turns driving. And guess who drove first? The one who has the least experience driving! My 16 year old sister, Jodi. I will admit, she is a pretty decent driver, but she scares me sometimes. With that said, my mom watched her very closely. She drove about 5 hours. Then, my mom took over until the middle of Tennessee.

AHHHHHHHH

IMG_0255 by jessicamanning19, on Flickr

Goofing off in the car:

IMG_0958 by jessicamanning19, on Flickr

Rock on!

IMG_0260 by jessicamanning19, on Flickr

I'm so glad Katie was excited for the car ride. Good thing she doesn't know about this website, or she probably would kill me.

DSC_0447 by jessicamanning19, on Flickr

YAY for Kentucky!

DSC_0462 by jessicamanning19, on Flickr

Hello Nashville! Sadly, I fell asleep, and was not able to take a picture of "Welcome to Tennessee!".

DSC_0469 by jessicamanning19, on Flickr

After driving through Kentucky and a little bit of Tennessee, my mom needed to rest her back, so I took over. I have a fear of driving in the mountains, and I was a tad freaked out about driving through them. Even though there not that bad, the mountains still freak me out. My mom talked me through, and I successfully drove through them. Phew! That was a relief.

Hello Atlanta! Katie took the picture because I was driving. Yes, I missed the Georgia welcome sign, but I was driving.

IMG_0267 by jessicamanning19, on Flickr

After Atlanta, I got tired, so my mom took over. We made it to the border of Georgia at about 11:00. We decided to stay in a hotel for the night. We made our exit in Valdosta, GA. Finding a hotel was a NIGHTMARE. Every hotel was booked because Lady Antebellum was in town for a concert. WOW, we would choose to stay in a town with every hotel booked. It was insane! We were so desperate we even tried staying in this crack motel...


IMG_0959 by jessicamanning19, on Flickr

HA! You gotta love the name. Unfortunately, they were booked, but the guy offered that we could stay downstairs... Oh my gosh. I don't even want to know what goes on downstairs. So we got the heck away from that place. Luckily, the sleep inn had one room left. It was a "suite" with a whirlpool. Woohoo! How fancy! You should have seen this place. It was no suite. Jodi and Katie were forced to sleep on the pull out couch, but they survived.

Stay tuned!!!!

 

[Disneygal1]

im in the market for a better digital camera. the one i have is just an entry level sony, with i think, 8 megapixels....we went to wdw in april 0f 2010 and were going in april/early may for 8 days and i would like to upgrade. the pics came out ok, but i can tell i could do better...and your pics are amazing looking! when you said you saturated the colors, how exactly? because those castle pics i would easily buy they looked sweet...
thanks
matt
north carolina

Hi Matt! I own a Nikon D5100 16mp. It's a DSLR. It may be a pain to drag around the parks, but it is definitely worth it. On the saturated subject, you can do it on any computer. I have a mac, so I edit all of my photos on iPhoto. You can saturate the colors by going through edit. You should be able to "play" with the colors through the edit section. I believe you can do this on many websites such as picnik.com or phototbucket.com etc. Thanks!

Very cool about the special seating for Illuminations!

We're not fans of San Angel Inn...I still remember getting something small, a sort of shrimp cocktail that was horrible and hubby's wasn't that great either...the kids was soemthing I could have made at home, it was dry chicken fingers, mexi rice and (literally) cooked up frozen carrots, peas, and corn. Like the kind you buy in the frozen food section at the grocery store. :shrug: Anyway, the ambiance is really fun, but next time we'll probably head straight for the ride instead.

I LOVE the Mexico Mickey ears your mom found! The fringe rocks!

I've seen a lot of negative reviews on here. Now I know why a lot of people don't like it. The food did taste like it came out of the freezer section, especially the rice! It was very disappointing, I'm glad I'm not the only one who was disappointed by it. I totally agree with you on the ambience. The restaurant is beautiful. Too bad the food isn't as good as the atmosphere...Also, I love the ride! I kind of miss the old version, but the three callebreros (I'm pretty sure I spelled that wrong) is cute.

That hat was so cute! My mom was so tempted to buy it. There is also a German version too, which is very cute as well!

 

[Disneygal1]

Epcot: Coming to an end...

After the amazing show of Illuminations, we began to head out. My mom and I were taking in the atmosphere by walking around and singing the soundtrack of Illuminations. We own the soundtrack and absolutely love it! I'm pretty sure we were getting some pretty weird looks, but we could not resist!

Trying to take pictures of Spaceship Earth was very challenging. I don't know why, but a lot of my photos turned out blurry.:brick: I guess I'm going to have to figure out how to use the darn thing with that kind of lighting. Well, here's the outcome...

We then headed back to the parking lot. The trams weren't running. I'm not sure why, but it wasn't a long walk. While walking back, it began to hit me that we were not coming back . Farewell Epcot, hopefully I will see you real soon! We then arrived at Pop and went straight to bed. We had another long, but fun day ahead of us. Animal Kingdom here we come!!!

 

[fbp]

More to come!!![/QUOTE]

I think this is the best fireworks shot I've ever seen.

Sweet!

 

[PartOfYourWorld]

Still loving your pictures!

I agree with you on the San Angel Inn, the restaurant just stinks now, I used to like that place, but now they have alot of different stuff on the menu and I just don't like it, but the ambiance is still really nice! I have to suggest if you guys do quick service the next time your there the new quick service place right outside of Mexico pavillion (La Cantina de San Angel) is really really good!! I loved it when we went there in January.

And I love how your mom gave in with the Duffy bear :lol:

 

[Disneygal1]

I think this is the best fireworks shot I've ever seen.

Sweet!

Thanks!! It's definitely my favorite shot from Illuminations.

Still loving your pictures!

I agree with you on the San Angel Inn, the restaurant just stinks now, I used to like that place, but now they have alot of different stuff on the menu and I just don't like it, but the ambiance is still really nice! I have to suggest if you guys do quick service the next time your there the new quick service place right outside of Mexico pavillion (La Cantina de San Angel) is really really good!! I loved it when we went there in January.

And I love how your mom gave in with the Duffy bear :lol:

Thanks!

It's too bad that it's not that good anymore. It's got so much going for it. I'm surprised that they get so much business. I will have to try the QS. I've seen a lot of food pictures on the forums from there. It is on my to do list for my next wdw trip.

Haha. I could not believe she bought it! My sister can convince my parents easily. I think it's because she's the youngest...

 

[PartOfYourWorld]

It's too bad that it's not that good anymore. It's got so much going for it. I'm surprised that they get so much business. I will have to try the QS. I've seen a lot of food pictures on the forums from there. It is on my to do list for my next wdw trip.

Haha. I could not believe she bought it! My sister can convince my parents easily. I think it's because she's the youngest...

I know, its disappointing. But alot of people probably go there because of the ambiance in sitting near the Mexico boat ride, but still surprises me like you said because the food itsn't all that great.

 

[HouCuseChickie]

OK- finally caught up!!!

So, this is now 2 negative reviews of the Cali Grill dish with the foam. I don't know why restaurants do it. It became trendy and more common b/c of Top Chef. No clue why though b/c it just doesn't look appetizing. Crazy about that guy claiming he'd reserved the table, but even more awesome about what they took off your bill. Also good to see the timing of it all in your TR. Now I know for sure that we should keep our ADR on the early side. We're going next month, but we're hoping to be finishing up shortly before so we can watch outside and then go to bed. Maybe we'll be lucky to get a window seat for sunset. Also good to see the review on the filet...I'm torn between that and one other thing.

Awesome about your "LOST" reservation at Chef Mickey's!!! :lol: My luck- that would never work for me.

Your pics of the kitchen sink totally make me want to make our way over to Beaches & Cream. :slurp:

Nice tip on the Illuminations viewing. If we get out of dinner early enough, we may just head that way and try to see if we can get down there. Then again- we may be denied (or maybe best skipping it) since we'd have to find a good place to park the stroller in the crowd.

Your Spaceship Earth pics still aren't bad, but I know what you mean about fighting the blur. I bought a cheap tripod and remote for my camera for our trip next month- but I still have to find the time and energy to test it all out before the trip to try work out some of these issues.

Can't wait to read more!!! :wave:

 

[me_stitch]

awesome trip report, love your pictures. you guys are adorable.

 

[sweetpee_1993]

Still soakin' it up when I can. This week has been Cinderella-duty...literally...on the hardwood scrubbing with a toothbrush...don't ask...

Soooooo, I didn't take notes. I'm bad. Let's see what I remember.

Cali Grill. Y'all look so pretty. Pooh on the 'reserved table' jerkasaurus. Some people need to get over themselves. And what about the karma he creates for himself??? Not so smart. I would love to eat here sometime just for the views but, I'll be honest, I think my utter lack of sophistication renders Cali's menu pretty unappealing. Gimme a big ol' slab o'steak and a cold beer. Now that impresses me.

Lookit y'all stickin' it out super-late at the MK! Every trip I tell myself and the hubby that when he craps-out early (he's the type that goes to bed when the sun sets) I'm gonna stay the distance (I'm a night owl). I never do it, tho. I should. Maybe next trip.

Cape May Cafe's clam bake. I wasn't impressed either. Of course, I don't care for crab or shrimp or fish so much so that shoots down quite a bit. Tracey & Chandler can put a hurtin' on the crab legs, tho. I guess it's kinda sad that when I reflect I can honestly say the thing I liked best was the rolls w/butter. Those were some pricey rolls. :lol: I thought the desserts were lacking, too. I just wasn't impressed. I'm with ya on the flan. I cannot stand the texture of that stuff. When we go to Mexican restaurants with my in-laws they always order it and I make gaggy-faces at what I call their "flem-flan". Tasty, huh? :lol:

The $37,500 crystal encrusted castle. Yeah, I look at that and it's like "Dang. That's a car." Or a really pretty pink diamond. The princess in me never gives up.

Oh there was other stuff I thought of but I forgot. I have such a pitiful memory anymore. Just call me "toasty". What a fun report to follow, tho. I know I'm thoroughly enjoying the ride with just the girls! :wave:

 

[Disneygal1]

I know, its disappointing. But alot of people probably go there because of the ambiance in sitting near the Mexico boat ride, but still surprises me like you said because the food itsn't all that great.

I totally I agree with on the ambience. The restaurant is beautiful, which is probably the reason why. Hopefully they will update the menu and it will be better.

OK- finally caught up!!!

So, this is now 2 negative reviews of the Cali Grill dish with the foam. I don't know why restaurants do it. It became trendy and more common b/c of Top Chef. No clue why though b/c it just doesn't look appetizing. Crazy about that guy claiming he'd reserved the table, but even more awesome about what they took off your bill. Also good to see the timing of it all in your TR. Now I know for sure that we should keep our ADR on the early side. We're going next month, but we're hoping to be finishing up shortly before so we can watch outside and then go to bed. Maybe we'll be lucky to get a window seat for sunset. Also good to see the review on the filet...I'm torn between that and one other thing.

Awesome about your "LOST" reservation at Chef Mickey's!!! :lol: My luck- that would never work for me.

Your pics of the kitchen sink totally make me want to make our way over to Beaches & Cream. :slurp:

Nice tip on the Illuminations viewing. If we get out of dinner early enough, we may just head that way and try to see if we can get down there. Then again- we may be denied (or maybe best skipping it) since we'd have to find a good place to park the stroller in the crowd.

Your Spaceship Earth pics still aren't bad, but I know what you mean about fighting the blur. I bought a cheap tripod and remote for my camera for our trip next month- but I still have to find the time and energy to test it all out before the trip to try work out some of these issues.

Can't wait to read more!!! :wave:

I never knew that! You're probably right. That must be the reason why they started doing the parmesan foam. It's just weird. Our timing for Cali Grill was perfect. We wanted to see the fireworks while were dining, and we loved it. I have also seen the fireworks from the deck outside. The view is awesome! That would be awesome to have a sunset during your meal. It would be an added plus. On the filet note, I loved it. It was so tender. I definitely recommend it!

We got so lucky with getting in! I'm sure you could as well! It seems like they do walk-ins often.

I'm sure you could go down there! Especially with the little ones. Their cuteness will convince the cast member. You also may get lucky with finding an area to park your stroller.

I will definitely have to check out your future tr, and see how your Spaceship Earth pictures turn out. I may have to buy a tripod...

awesome trip report, love your pictures. you guys are adorable.

Aww thank you! I'm glad you're enjoying!

Still soakin' it up when I can. This week has been Cinderella-duty...literally...on the hardwood scrubbing with a toothbrush...don't ask...

Soooooo, I didn't take notes. I'm bad. Let's see what I remember.

Cali Grill. Y'all look so pretty. Pooh on the 'reserved table' jerkasaurus. Some people need to get over themselves. And what about the karma he creates for himself??? Not so smart. I would love to eat here sometime just for the views but, I'll be honest, I think my utter lack of sophistication renders Cali's menu pretty unappealing. Gimme a big ol' slab o'steak and a cold beer. Now that impresses me.

Lookit y'all stickin' it out super-late at the MK! Every trip I tell myself and the hubby that when he craps-out early (he's the type that goes to bed when the sun sets) I'm gonna stay the distance (I'm a night owl). I never do it, tho. I should. Maybe next trip.

Cape May Cafe's clam bake. I wasn't impressed either. Of course, I don't care for crab or shrimp or fish so much so that shoots down quite a bit. Tracey & Chandler can put a hurtin' on the crab legs, tho. I guess it's kinda sad that when I reflect I can honestly say the thing I liked best was the rolls w/butter. Those were some pricey rolls. :lol: I thought the desserts were lacking, too. I just wasn't impressed. I'm with ya on the flan. I cannot stand the texture of that stuff. When we go to Mexican restaurants with my in-laws they always order it and I make gaggy-faces at what I call their "flem-flan". Tasty, huh? :lol:

The $37,500 crystal encrusted castle. Yeah, I look at that and it's like "Dang. That's a car." Or a really pretty pink diamond. The princess in me never gives up.

Oh there was other stuff I thought of but I forgot. I have such a pitiful memory anymore. Just call me "toasty". What a fun report to follow, tho. I know I'm thoroughly enjoying the ride with just the girls!

Oh geez! I feel bad for you. I have to start cleaning my basement. I am not looking forward to it...

Aww thanks! Haha, oh yes. That man was quite odd. He knew that reserving lounge tables could not be reserved. I just wish he didn't lie in the first place... The views are so worth it, but I can totally agree with you on a "chill" restaurant!

Yes, we were real troopers that night. It was definitely worth it with all the rides being a less than a 5 minute wait. You should do it! Just drink a lot of coffee before you go.:lol:

Cape May was not impressive. Haha! At least your sons at the crab legs. I totally agree with you on the bread. It was good, but that was basically the only thing that was good... The flan was not good. My mom liked it though. Ew. I love your name for it! It makes it sound so appetizing .

I can't believe people actually buy those crystal castles. It is the price of a car! I think I would choose the pink diamond...haha

I'm so glad you're enjoying!

 

[Disneygal1]

June 21st: Animal Kingdom and Dinner at Boma. Our park day ending early...

There were extra magic hours, which started at 8. We got there at 8:45.

We first saw a black swan!

We first got fastpasses for Kilimanjaro's Safari. Then, Jodi and Katie took our key cards, and ran over to Mount Everest to get fastpasses. As we waited for them, my mom and I decided to get a snack for breakfast. After they got the fastpasses, our fastpass time for Kilimanjaro's Safari came up so we headed to the safari.

Our tour was awesome. There were so many animals out. My mom claimed it was the best Kilimanjaro's Safari "tour" she had experienced.

This guy walked right up to us.

 

[Disneygal1]

He got tired...

After Kilimanjaro's, we saw a guy at a stand where you could play mancala. Jodi has an obsession with this game, so she could not resist...

After that, Jodi, Katie, and my mom went on Mount Everest. I was suffering from really bad back pain. I think I injured it a couple days ago from Typhoon Lagoon (I think the waves was hit my pack pretty hard), so I laid on a bench. I kind of felt bad for taking up the bench, but I was in a lot of pain. I eventually took some medicine, which helped.

When they got off, I got some ice cream. This little place, or truck, has some really good ice cream.:slurp:

Jodi, Katie, and I decided to go on Dinosaur!, while my mom went shopping. Katie has a big fear of dinosaurs, but went on it anyway. She was so scared. I don't think she has ever been so scared, but we had a good time anyway. After we got out of the ride, we called my mom to meet up. Little did we know, that my moms phone was not getting a signal, and we couldn't get a hold of her. We decided to walk around the park to try to find her, but we had no luck. We kept on calling, but it just went straight to voicemail. We got so discouraged that we ended up sitting on the ground in one of the stores hoping she would find us or call us. About 30 minutes later after leaving the store and walking around, Jodi got a call from a random number. She answered, and it was a cast member letting us know our mom was looking for us! So we went over to a store where she was. Ahh finally! We were so relieved to find her. After we found her, we went over to It's a Bugs Life.

 

[sweetpee_1993]

When they got off, I got some ice cream. This little place, or truck, has some really good ice cream.:slurp:

I sooooo looooove the Anandapur ice cream truck. Sooooo ---> :slurp:

 

[Disneygal1]

I sooooo looooove the Anandapur ice cream truck. Sooooo ---> :slurp:

It has some awesome ice cream! Yum yum yum

 

[Disneygal1]

Animal Kingdom Continued...

I apologize for the long delay betweent posts. I have been very busy lately. Alright, on to the TR!


After It's a Bugs Life, I really wanted to check out Rafiki's Planet Watch. I had never been there, except the train. The wait didn't seem long, but lines can be deceiving. We waited for a good thirty minutes. It was getting pretty hot. I had never waited in the line for more than 10 minutes for this ride. We were almost tempted to bail, but we couldn't turn back. As we were waiting, we had some odd people waiting in line behind us. Odd, I mean as in a lady taking out her spray deodorant and spraying her armpits in the line. Then she sprayed her friend's armpits.:lookaroun People never cease to amaze me... The deodorant actually got sprayed on us, EW. Finally after smelling like deodorant, our train came. We were so hot that we decided not to get off and just go back to where we started. So much for waiting in line and getting sprayed with deodorant.:brick: On the bright side, the train ride was nice.

We then decided that we were so hot that we needed to go on Kali River Rapids. I checked my handy dandy iPhone app and saw that the wait was 80 minutes long. We were hot, but not that hot to wait in a line just to get wet. So we got fastpasses. Our fastpasses were for 6:10. It was one o'clock. I could not believe the fastpass time was so late. It was most likey because of the crowds and the heat.

Well, the rest of the girls were gettin a tad bit moody. I think the heat was getting to their heads... I couldn't blame them though. This had to have been our hottest day in wdw. We all decided that we couldn't take the heat anymore, so we decided to end our day at AK early. We told ourselves that we would come back to go on Kali River Rapids, but I knew that was most likely not going to happen. I later found I was right.

Although it was short and very hot, we had a great time at AK.

Oh and I cannot forget some photos we took on our way out!

 

[Disneygal1]

Since we were so hot, we decided to go back to pop and take a dip in the pool. Before the pool, my mom had to go to the front desk and pay a bill. So I tagged along and took some pictures of the resort...


I noticed them doing a paint job to the walkman. They had just started doing this.

Gnarly dudeeeee!

The view from our room.

After my photoshoot, we went straight to the pool. Unfortunately, the pool wasn't very cool. It was actually warm, so it wasn't quite refreshing. While we were swimming, my mom met a family and spoke to the about the parks. The lady told us how Animal Kingdom is one of the parks that gets the hottest. Maybe that's why we couldn't handle the heat...

After that, we headed back to our room to get ready for dinner. Boma here we comeeeee!

Our ride to the Animal Kingdom Lodge was quite amusing with Jodi and Katie making faces.

 

[Disneygal1]

Dinner

Background: Initially, we had reservations for Sanaa. Someone on the boards recommended it, and it sounded really good. When I read the menu to the girls, they were not likin the menu, but they like Boma's so we changed it to Boma. In the future, I would love to try Jiko or Sanaa.

We arrived at the Animal Kingdom lodge at 6:30. Our ADR was for 8:10, so we were hoping to get in early.

We checked in and literally waited two minutes before our buzzers went off. The wait was so quick!

Our waitress was awesome. We had never been to Boma before, so she pointed out where everything was and mentioned how there was "american" food as well just in case anybody didn't want to try the "exotic" foods. Katie visited that area a lot:lol:

My plate: I loved everything on the plate, except for the coucous, but Jodi liked it.

I decided I wanted to try the soups. As I was pondering on which "exotic" soup I should try, one of the chefs came up to me and explained what was in each soup and what he liked the best. He was very helpful because I was completely lost on what I should try. I chose the mulagatani, mostly because of Seinfeld. If anyone is an avid Seinfeld watcher you know why I chose it!:lol:

It was pretty good. It was also very similar to chicken noodle soup, but the broth was somewhat different.

On to the dessert! I loved the dessert. Everything was so good.

My thoughts on Boma: I loved it. It had to be one of my favorite meals during our trip. I am not usually keen on trying new things, but I am so glad I gave Boma a chance. I will definitely be going there again.

 

[Disneygal1]

As we were leaving, I noticed the mickey in our chair.

After being stuffed with great food, we decided to get some cardio lol by walking around the resort.

Awwwwwww

We then headed back to get a good night sleep for the next day ahead of us.

As we were drving back, I could not resist taking some photos of Disney's Art of Animation Resort. The turned out pretty crappy.

 

[Disneygal1]

I also could not stop myself from taking pictures of the resort...

This describes me when I'm not in Disney....

Did I mention how loud it is at pop????????? Oh my! It is so loud. We had some crazy neighbors. At one point in the middle of the night they decided to go out in front of our room and blast some music. My mom is the kind of person who likes it to be quiet when she is trying to fall asleep, so she wasn't really enjoying it. Another thing to add, people like to swim till 3 am at pop. No, I am not exaggerating this. I believe the pool closes at 11, but no one follows this rule. I woke up at 2am to find my mom unable to sleep. Now, I don't mind people swimming till 3am, but when kids are screaming and yelling, and the parents are in the pool and simply don't care. That is rude.


Next Up! Our last day

 

[spectromagic04]

Loving the trip report, also enjoying the awesome pictures!!