Trip Report Hot, wet, sunny, and too much time in Chilis; a June 2013 Trip Report

Hi folks!
This is my first ever full trip report so I hope you all enjoy it.
We’ve had a fabulous 2 weeks in sunny, slightly rainy, but mostly hot Orlando. We’ve had a lot of new experiences during our trip, more probably for hubster, and most for my parents.
If you would like to read my pre trip report, it’s here:

http://forums.wdwmagic.com/threads/its-got-so-bad-theres-even-a-jar-involved-june-2013-ptr.862626/

So we’re not ones to completely focus on Disney on a holiday, but we’ve certainly done more Disney than anything else this trip. I wanted to make sure I got in as much as possible so my planning started at 380 days out, including booking reservations on Christmas and Boxing day, and plenty of scouring the forum for ideas. Sad to say I haven’t been able to fulfill them all (Push you little minx, you alluded me once again!) but have still had plenty of new experiences.

We’ve had a 2 week stay at the Enclave Suites on Carrier Drive which is just off International Drive. Oh boy do I wish we had driven this trip. $12 per person to get to and from the World. No room tax though, but still. And because of all the rain we’ve had, it would have been just swell to have had a dry pair of shoes and clothes waiting in a car on more than one occasion.

I also took 3030 photos on this trip! I said I wanted to take more, but wow, I wasn't expecting to finish with 3030. This isn't including the ones took on James' phone either! Wowza.

Incase you haven’t read my PTR, the cast is as follows:

Me, Clare. 24 years young, dental nurse and Disney nut!

DH, James, 33 years young, dental technician, prefers white knuckle rides to Disney, but is still happy to participate in the goings on in the World.

My Mom, Yvonne, 61 years young, accounts clerk, likes Disney but not so much the heat.
And finally, My Dad, Clive, 63 years young, warehouse man, goes wherever the two women want him to go!



Coming up, Day 0: Longest work day EVER and driving down to London baby!

 

[LizC]

Great report so far. Nice to see some of Universal, we rarely go there but are thinking about it for our next trip. I love how they added more to The Simpsons area, it looks awesome. I am a big Simpsons fan.

Looking forward to the rest!

 

[Tiggerish]

I, too, think you would make a fine royal.

Great report, we made our very first visit to Universal last March, so it's fun to see your pics and remember being there!

 

[Kristia]

Great trip report! I am trying to catch up on the reports as I eagerly wait for my trip to get here!

 

[pumpkin7]

Day 3
Today was our first Disney day! Hurray! As our body clocks were still a bit messed up, we were up bright and early again to watch the sunset. We went down to breakfast and went out to the gazebo out the back of the hotel. Now, the last time we were here on our honeymoon, we spotted a kitten out by the intersection. It couldn’t have been more than 2 months old. It was black with a white beard.
Now, I can’t find the picture at the moment of the kitten, but we spotted this kittor down by the gazebo. We swear it’s the same one!




Anyway, we caught our taxi at 8.30, and soon enough, we were driving towards that wonderful arch.


Now our taxi company only dropped off at Epcot, which was fine for today as that was where we were going.
Our tickets!


Infront of Spaceship Earth <3


Ooo, first shot of the monorail!


Arty shot of SE

 

[pumpkin7]

First stop was the new and improved Test Track to get a FP. I like the new signage! The queue was at some stupid time so it’s a good job we went over to get FPs.





Next we went over to Mission Space. Wait time was at about 30 minutes, but we weren’t waiting that long.










Orange team for us.

 

[pumpkin7]

Hello Horizons!





We admired the Star Wars Vinylmations in the gift shop. I’m sure James would have loved the entire collection.



Obligatory silly hat photo


Space Mickey



I’m only 5ft tall so I would have bought this T shirt if it wasn’t $30!

 

[pumpkin7]

Star Wars Mickey. More about him later



It was getting kind of warm, as per Orlando weather, so we decided to do the first of many firsts during this trip, and visit Club Cool.


But what is this? NO BEVERLEY?! NOOOOO!! I wanted to try Beverly so much! It’s all you guys talk about and I was gutted they didn’t have any, at all. We both liked the China one most. The place was rammed though. People pushing and shoving and leaving cups everywhere. Most annoying. We decided to try back the next time we visited to see if they had Beverley again.



When we left Club Cool, the fountains were doing their thing so we stayed and watched them for a bit.



Next, it was time for Spaceship Earth. 30 minute queue, but it was constantly moving.



I took this picture to try and make my work colleagues see how big SSE is. They didn't get it.





For the life of me I was trying to figure out, at the very top of the dome, what is that massive structure as you come around the corner and see earth? What is in it? IS it something to do with the old space station that was up there? Someone tell meeee!!



As we were heading toward Soarin’ and the Land, we walked passed the Epcot Character Spot. There was pretty much no queue so we went in. This was another thing I wanted to do, meet the Main Mouse! I hadn’t met him since our first trip in 1997 so I was dead excited.


This is my excited face. Can you tell? Ha!

 

[pumpkin7]

I didn't realise I was holding on so tight... haha!

Mickey! I managed to get James in on a picture too.




Next up was Pluto







And finally lovely Minnie. I told her I liked her dress and she got all embarrassed hehe.
On the way over to the land, we walked passed the Imagination Pavillion. I was saddened by the state of the upside down fountain. It looked rather sorry for itself.



Into the Land Pavillion to get Soarin’ FP. Thankfully there were some left.


5.30 to 6.30? Don’t mind if we do!




Seen as we were in the Pavillion and James hadn’t done it before, we headed towards Living with the Land. For some reason I was handed one of these... the queue was non existent so I really don’t know why they bothered!

 

[pumpkin7]

I was desperately looking out for the Mickey Tomatoes but didn’t see any. Infact there was nothing Disney about this attraction. But it was nice to get out of the heat non the less.


We had a wonder around outside the pavilion for a bit.





Then headed over to the Seas with Nemo and Friends. I asked James to get a nice picture with me infront of the characters. He’s not very good at taking photos.
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I thought it was a shame the water effects weren’t working out the front by the sign. And the Seaguls certainly sounded like they needed some oil. I’d hate to be the CMs working next to them. This time I took the time to have a look around the queue because I missed all the details last time.





The ride looked fantastic. Everything was working and lit up.
We had a wonder around the tanks and exhibitions. Managed to miss Turtle Talk AGAIN but nevermind.

 

[pumpkin7]

Nice to see this filled with water again.

Well, hi there!


Hi Nemo!




There were loads of kids queuing for pictures with Bruce so you can imagine we felt quite stupid being the only adults queuing up...


279
Heading back out, we decided to head over to Mouse Gear as I hear lots of people go on about it on the forum but again, never been in!

Hello, Monorail Blue!

I was gutted I let James by a Universal Hat when there was such a massive collection here!

I was on the lookout for a cheapish bag as carrying my camera bag around was becoming a bit of a nause. I spotted this one, and bought it later on in the day.

We had a look in the homewares section for our new house. We could have bought it all but we would struggle to get it all home.


I should have bought this T shirt. I can be very grumpy.

 

[pumpkin7]

Next I wanted to visit Ellen in her Universe of Energy. I thought this would be a good idea as the sky was looking evil.

We stopped on the way and watched these guys perform. They were very entertaining.


Then over to Energy! I love this attraction. I know most people find it a snooze fest but I just think it's so well done, and despite the dodgy Ellen animatronic half way through, it's still entertaining.



I was a bit miffed that they let us in half way through the pre show. I wanted to watch it all.


Still, we boarded the ride. Boy, did we pick a bad car. We were at the back of the middle car. Infront of us was a family of 6, two parents and 4 kids. 2 of the kids would just not keep still. The youngest kept jumping over her siblings until eventually half way through fell and smacked her head off the seat infront. Mom didn’t care that she was wailing blue murder, and Dad just sat her down next to him. All the way through the other daughter was shouting loudly, interrupting everything. I think there should be a warning that this attraction could be very boring for young children and if you have to bring them on, control them!
Then, to add to the annoyingness, to my left were two teenagers both on their phones, so had the glow of those to block out, and then the other end of the row was a man on his phone aswell! You’re in DISNEY guys! Unplug for a bit!
So as much as I enjoy the Universe of Energy, I couldn’t fully appreciate it due to the people around me ruining it. I was planning on going on again but never got the chance.
After we’d cooled down on there, we were getting peckish so decided to head over to an ice cream cart. We passed the sorry looking Wonders of Life Pavilion.



James didn’t fancy an ice cream so he had a giant prezel instead.

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He had to save some though because it was way too much for him. I settled on a Mickey Cookies and Cream sandwich. It was super yummy.


Our FP Test Track was approaching so we headed over to that. I don’t think the queue went below 90 minutes the entire time we were there. I was glad we still got to design our vehicle.




I enjoyed creating the car. It was a nice smooth process that was explained well.
The ride itself is so much better. It was getting very dated but this refurb has just done wonders for it. IT does have a very Tron feel to it though, all those neon lights etc, but we really enjoyed it.
We also enjoyed the little racing game that comes after. I thought it was very cleverly done.


We’d done pretty much everything we wanted to do in Future World so next up was World Showcase.

Of course, we couldn’t go before passing the cooling station!

 

[pumpkin7]

Our first stop was O, Canada! Something neither of us have seen.





We spotted this in Canada. I don’t understand why?

It was still working too. Though we didn’t have anyone to call!



Next up was the good old UK. I like the UK because there aren’t that many areas of the UK that look as idyllic as Epcot depicts. I wish we all did live in areas like this, or in big country mansions lol!

We’re home!

We passed the pub but never went in. :O

We enjoyed looking in the shops too! HP Sauce.. $14 a bottle? It’s only £2 at home!

Anyway we could hear the British Revolution playing so we went over to listen to them for a bit... with their strong, American accents ha!

We also liked all the Beatles Memorabilia. I’ve never seen a Beatles Monopoly set before. I would have loved to have bought that for James’ Mom who is a massive Beatles fan.


We decided to head out of the UK, but we spotted Alice! So I had to stop and have my picture with her.


Now, I’ve got to be honest, she was possibly the worst character interaction I have ever had, and ever seen. She was saying exactly the same thing to every person. They would walk up to her, and she would say ‘I hope you’re having many unexpected adventures today.’ I mean, every single person, myself included. She was so wooden, I couldn’t even bring myself to tell her that it was my unbirthday! I said to her ‘yes I am, thank you’ and she smiled and posed for the photo. I didn’t even get a goodbye. I felt as though she quite obviously wasn’t English, which is fair enough, but was only confident to say one line in an English accent. I was also wondering, why are there no photo pass photographers in World Showcase? I would have thought it was a prime spot...?
After that experience, I decided I didn’t want to queue for any more face characters, and to be honest, I only saw any around World Showcase and in the parades. Pocahontas came out in Animal Kingdom but I never got to see her. On our journey round, we saw Mary Poppins who was 100% in character and chatting away, and Belle, who had a massive queue.

 

[pumpkin7]

France


I thought this was pretty cute in Morocco.

I think it was because we were pushed for time as we had our Soarin’ FP but we didn’t enjoy World Showcase much. I wanted to do the American Adventure but never had time, but spotted the model village in Germany which was pretty cool.

As we were running out of time, we decided to catch the boat across the lagoon. Again, something we’ve never done. I’m kicking myself now because we missed out a good portion of World Showcase and never got to go back. Still, we enjoyed the boat ride back to the other side of the lagoon.




After our boat ride, it was straight over to Soarin’. I do enjoy this ride, although last trip we queued for 180 minutes for it. :O Stupid I know. It was much better this time with our 10 minute wait. We were in the middle of the middle row.




Once we’d ridden, we had 20 minutes to get to our 6.30 reservation at San Angel Inn, so we raced over there. Thankfully we got there in plenty of time and my parents were waiting for us.
Now, I picked most of the restaurants on the fact that they were relatively cheap. I was under the impression that the San Angel Inn was burritos and tacos and stuff like that. Not only was it not that, it was sooo expensive. I know many of you probably wouldn’t think so, but I was horrified. I felt so bad because we were on a budget and we’d checked the menu before hand to see if we would like everything. We decided to stay anyway as it was our first Disney Dining Experience.





We were seated pretty quickly over the right hand side. We ordered and enjoyed our complimentary chips.

Ma and Pa at the table.
The atmosphere was pretty cool. The view was awesome too.


Me, James and my Dad ordered the New York Strip. Nothing else on the menu really appealed. My Mom had something different but I can’t remember what it was. Something with chicken in, and she didn’t like it at all. I quite enjoyed mine but I felt bad because my Mom didn’t enjoy her meal. We swapped half way through and to be honest I didn’t like what she had either.
The bill came to upwards of $130, which we thought was quite a lot but I guess 3 of us did have steak.

After we ate we decided to go on the pavilion ride. I like this little ride, it’s good fun!




We only had about an hour before our pick up and Mom and Dad wanted to ride on Soarin. I said the queue would probably still be insane and sure enough it was. I did advise them to get a FP next time they came.



So instead, we paid a visit to Club Cool, as they hadn’t tried it out yet. Still no Beverley, but we enjoyed the other drinks instead. We also had a look in the art shop next to SSE. I wish I could afford some of these pictures!

 

[pumpkin7]

After, it was back onto Spaceship Earth again. It was pretty much a walk on at this point. Fab!



We also decided to go back into Mouse Gears as I wanted to get the bag I saw earlier.


I love Epcot with the neon lights.



Look at the dust on this bad boy!



I also bought him later in the holiday

I so wanted this teapot but I couldn’t get it home!
As we were leaving, Illuminations was going on.



And that was our day at Epcot. I love Epcot, I love Future World, but my parents found it to be very much a walking park. Everything is very spaced out, but they did manage to see more of Future World than we did.

Once we were back at the hotel, the men wanted to go off to Chilies for a beer. We also went here on the first night, and the second night... We were pretty much in this bar on a daily basis. James loves the two for one bud they have on tap. And they have the best cheesecake in the world! So me and Mom left the men drinking while we went back to the hotel.


Next up: Day 4: Typhoon Lagoon

 

[Tiggerish]

I love this trip report! Your pictures are great, and I love the way you write, it's just like your chatting away describing your trip as you would if we were sitting in the same room. Hope that makes sense.

I have cousins in Coventry, and some in Birmingham, too (or is it Manchester? No, I think it's B'ham)

 

[pumpkin7]

I love this trip report! Your pictures are great, and I love the way you write, it's just like your chatting away describing your trip as you would if we were sitting in the same room. Hope that makes sense.

I have cousins in Coventry, and some in Birmingham, too (or is it Manchester? No, I think it's B'ham)

Thanks! I'm glad you are enjoying it. I'm enjoying writing it. It's like reliving the holiday!

I'd love to have family in far off countries. My family is small and all in the UK. I would rather live in the states that in Birmingham though. I wonder if I know them. Wouldn't that be something?

 

[LizC]

Sounds like you had another great day. I can't believe you never got back to WS?! That is my absolute favorite in all of WDW!

I love that your father and husband are all about the 2 for 1 Bud's, I could see my family doing the same thing while I would be like "We should be IN DISNEY!" LOL

 

[jkl2000]

Just wondering, why didn't you guys use Fastpass more? I guess Epcot doesn't have that many Fastpass attractions...

 

[pumpkin7]

Sounds like you had another great day. I can't believe you never got back to WS?! That is my absolute favorite in all of WDW!

I love that your father and husband are all about the 2 for 1 Bud's, I could see my family doing the same thing while I would be like "We should be IN DISNEY!" LOL

Yeah I know. One of my plans was to really spend a bit of time in WS and go into all the pavillions and watch Pick a Pearl and stuff like that but for some reason it just never happened. Oh well, another reason to go back!
James is all about the beer. He was gutted when I told him there is no beer in the MK (except obvs, Be Our Guest). He said it was to drown out the Disney... but secretly I think he enjoys going.

Just wondering, why didn't you guys use Fastpass more? I guess Epcot doesn't have that many Fastpass attractions...

I don't know! We just didn't really need it. Most stuff was a walk on or a wait that we could tolerate. It was only TT and Soarin' that really needed one that day. We did go back another day though, that's coming up later on.

 

[LizC]

Yeah I know. One of my plans was to really spend a bit of time in WS and go into all the pavillions and watch Pick a Pearl and stuff like that but for some reason it just never happened. Oh well, another reason to go back!
James is all about the beer. He was gutted when I told him there is no beer in the MK (except obvs, Be Our Guest). He said it was to drown out the Disney... but secretly I think he enjoys going.

Exactly, start planning the next trip now. That's what I would do. Try to go during the Food and Wine Festival, definitely my favorite time to go (without the kids ) to Epcot. Plus it should be cooler!

I have a feeling my husband is the same way. He is always saying we should go somewhere else, then the time comes to plan our vacation and I get no arguments for Disney!