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!

 

[pumpkin7]

We watched some more monkeys while the men drank their beers



Next up, we decided to head over to Din0soaur as the sky was looking evil.



EVIL SKIES!!



We decided to skip Chester and Hesters area because I'm just not interested in going to cheap, tacky sideshow rides and games, so we walked straight past it and over to Dinosaur.

Go away Dinorama, nobody likes you!



BLEUGH





So, we got over to Dinosaur and there were about 5 CMs at the entrance saying the ride was down due to technical difficulties. Bum. We decided to go and get FPs for later.



And take some pics.





While we were getting FPs, the CMs all of a sudden retreated back into the ride. We went over to the entrance, where the CM was now telling people it should be opening momentarily! Fab! Plus, it was good timing as it had just started raining. So we were pretty much at the front of the queue. After about 2 minutes they let us into the show building and then we went straight into load.













Weirdo





Again, thoroughly enjoyed this, even my mom did! Considering she gets motion sickness, I was surprised. Portions of the ride were in complete darkness though. Not sure this was correct but I'm not sure.

 

[pumpkin7]

The rain had passed by the time we exited. Well, it wouldn't be a day at AK without a bit of rain.



I spotted another character area that had no queue, so me and James headed down the long and winding path.



And who was at the bottom? Pooh and Tigger of course!





Next, I wanted to do Tough to be a Bug which had a wait time of 5 minutes. Score! I'm not sure where everyone was today!





I love all the animals carved into the tree





Giant ball of poo!



Love these posters



Mandatory glasses shot





Hi Flik!



It was nice to see this had had some love since our last visit. Last time, Flik looked a bit worse for wear. His one eye had run out of fluid and was stationary, so he looked a bit drunk. But everything was working, even Hopper. Lots of screaming when the spiders came down, ah, it just looked so good. We all really enjoyed it.

Next, we headed into one of the stores as my mom had seen someone with a brolly and wanted to get one.



I admired the plushes, and got my dad to try on a hat. Aha!



James bought me some earrings, and a charm for my pandora bracelet. I don't have a picture though! And mom got her brolly.

Next, we wanted to catch Festival of the Lion King, another new for all of us, and also our first time in Camp Minnie Mickey (which needs to be renamed as neither are now here?!?!)



WANT!!

 

[pumpkin7]

Unlucky Donald





Most of the characters were out meeting and greeting, apart from King Louie, and Pocahontas who had gone fishing. We first queued up to meet Balou, who had no queue at all.



I have to say, he was the best character interaction of them all.



He greeted me with a big, BEAR hug, and then, turned around and started pointing at his back. He wanted me to scratch his back! So of course, I did!



In hindsight, I should have asked him to scratch my back too but I didn't think of this until after. Darn.







Now, that is how a character interaction should be. I was totally buzzing after that.

Next, we decided to go and see Chip n Dale. I was worried they were all going to go in, and I really love Chip n Dale. But it turned out Donald had the shorter queue, and he seemed to allude me all holiday. So I saw him here, once, and I saw him in MK, once. Very weird.



Here are my Mickey Earrings. I have them in this colour, black and purple.



Ch,ch,ch, Chip and Dale!







After meeting them, we thought we best go and get in the queue for FotLK, but it was only 10 minutes before the show started so most people had gone in.
Upon approach, a CM came up to us and said, 'Hey guys, how would you like to have VIP seating for the show?'. We of course said, yes! He then said 'Well, on behalf of Disney, I am creating a magical moment for you all. If you would like to follow me, I will escort you to your seats.' We were like WOW! We'd never had a magical moment before!
So we got pretty good seats. For the first 10 minutes, we were at the front.



Unfortunately a family were then sat infront of us, but we still had great seats.

Then, my poor Dad was picked to go up and show everyone how to be a warthog! When the lady came over and asked for his name for some reason, he said 'Bob!'... we were like, what? If you haven't read my first few posts, my Dads name is Clive. We found out later that he didn't think 'americans' would understand Clive so he went with Bob... ahaha! Oh dear.

So, Bob got to show everyone how to be a warthog.




The show was absolutely fantastic.

 

[pumpkin7]

They all just seemed to really, really enjoy being there and performing. It was full of energy, and we thoroughly enjoyed it.

After we'd done that, we'd done everything we wanted to. There was a storm in the air too, and I wanted to go and see Donald but he and all the other characters had gone in I was gutted. So, we were getting hungry and my Mom had some vouchers for Planet Hollywood so we decided to head to DTD.

By the time we got off the bus in DTD, it was proper crapping it down. We were soaked so just headed straight over to PH. It sucked because every time we went to DTD, it ended up raining so I never got to take any pictures of the Lego sculptures outside, and we didn't really get to enjoy the area.

Still, we headed into PH and were seated straight away as we had priority seating with our voucher. We were seated right next to the IRON PATRIOT!



While we were waiting for our food, we had a wonder around.



Terminators bike



Squashed Christopher Lloyd from Who Framed Roger Rabbit?



A giant woody doll which frankly just freaked me out.



Cousin It!



Turbo man!



And here's James with his cocktail.



I never took a picture of the burgers but we all had the normal burger and fries. They were huge these burgers, I had to take mine to pieces to eat it, but it was super yummy. We left with our complimentary glasses, and headed for the bus to Epcot. We got caught up because of the rain and almost missed our shuttle back, but thankfully made it just in time. I even phoned the company and told them we were just on the hotel resort loop monorail, and even then he was like 'well, you have 10 minutes!'. Thankfully the guy who picked us up was going to wait anyway since he knew we were so close.
We got back, went to Chilis... you know the rest.

Next up Day 10 US/IOA

 

[DisSplash]

Loved the cell phone photos -- and I loved that your plane over was named "Jersey Girl!" I used to be one of those .... the nice kind, not the "Jersey Shore" kind! Awesome report on AK too. It looks like you guys had a really good day there. I will say that we have never run into so many characters during our visits to AK, although we did catch Baloo and King Louie the last time. We will have to pay more attention to those this time around. We also saw the Lion King for the first time during our last trip there in 2011, and wow, was I amazed. I cannot believe that missed it all of the other times! That show was so awesome and really outshines, IMHO, all of the other live shows at the World. The Energy in that room is so infectious!! I even cried when the one cast member sang "Circle of Life." I just thought that the power and emotion in her voice - and that song - was so moving. I also have to say that I burst out laughing at your dad calling himself "Bob!" OMG, so funny! For the record, I've heard of "Clives" before, but never a "brolly." Is that an umbrella?

 

[bow0303]

I am really enjoying your TR. Looking forward to catching up on it.

I too did the shark reef years ago and thought it was the coldest water I had ever gotten into. So cold it took my breath away. It was hard to focus even. I am a good swimmer so it was hard not to want to swim across. But I managed ok I guess. I moved too fast and couldn't keep water out of the googles so I didn't have the best experience but hoping to do it again next visit.

 

[pumpkin7]

Loved the cell phone photos -- and I loved that your plane over was named "Jersey Girl!" I used to be one of those .... the nice kind, not the "Jersey Shore" kind! Awesome report on AK too. It looks like you guys had a really good day there. I will say that we have never run into so many characters during our visits to AK, although we did catch Baloo and King Louie the last time. We will have to pay more attention to those this time around. We also saw the Lion King for the first time during our last trip there in 2011, and wow, was I amazed. I cannot believe that missed it all of the other times! That show was so awesome and really outshines, IMHO, all of the other live shows at the World. The Energy in that room is so infectious!! I even cried when the one cast member sang "Circle of Life." I just thought that the power and emotion in her voice - and that song - was so moving. I also have to say that I burst out laughing at your dad calling himself "Bob!" OMG, so funny! For the record, I've heard of "Clives" before, but never a "brolly." Is that an umbrella?

I didn't really get the Jersey Girl reference but they even announced it over the tannoy as we were about to take off... 'And today we are aboard Jersey Girl!' Hurrah!
Like I said we never really experienced AK before, so it was nice to get to see all we didn't last time, and to see all the characters. They're pretty much all over in Camp Minnie Mickey, Chip n Dale, Donald, Pocahontas, Baloo, King Louie, but we also met last trip over at Rafiki's Planet Watch Jiminy Cricket (which I thought was a bit odd...), and Pocahontas was meeting. Plus you can meet Mickey and Minnie over in the outpost now, and Tigger and Pooh too (again, odd thing... but I suppose they live in Hundred Acre Wood....
Yeah, we met a CM called Clive, so I don't know why he went for Bob. I guess he was just nervous about having a microphone shoved in his face! And yeah, brolly = umbrella ha. It's a bit of a British slang term hehe.

I am really enjoying your TR. Looking forward to catching up on it.

I too did the shark reef years ago and thought it was the coldest water I had ever gotten into. So cold it took my breath away. It was hard to focus even. I am a good swimmer so it was hard not to want to swim across. But I managed ok I guess. I moved too fast and couldn't keep water out of the googles so I didn't have the best experience but hoping to do it again next visit.

Bejebus that water was cold! But it was ok once we'd got in the water and been in a few minutes. James was more panicking because he's not a strong swimmer and we was told not to kick his legs or arms but we both really enjoyed it. Can't believe we thought you had to pay for it last time.

Glad you're enjoying it! There's still a few days left yet

 

[beautybutafunnygirl]

I love the trip report! You're very good at writing it, you're keeping it interesting! (not that it can't be, it is Disney after all!) You're getting me excited for my trip, 22 days to go!

 

[jkl2000]

Great stuff. Have to agree, your Dad calling himself Bob is the funniest part yet! I would be nervous too though. Wow, seems like you did everything good at AK. Great photos, this is the best view I've had of AK yet!

 

[GoalieGirl16]

I have to say I am really enjoying your trip report! Thanks for entertaining me in the run up to our WDW wedding and honeymoon trip.

 

[Disney80]

Again, great trip reporting... cannot wait to read the rest of it!

 

[skellitterixx]

I'm glad you had a great time so far! sorry for the weather, it has been overly rainy here in Florida this summer :C Just give the rain a few minutes, and it should clear up Watch out for the humidity!

 

[pumpkin7]

Great stuff. Have to agree, your Dad calling himself Bob is the funniest part yet! I would be nervous too though. Wow, seems like you did everything good at AK. Great photos, this is the best view I've had of AK yet!

Well my Dad isn't the most confident public speaker so I can't blame him. It was quite funny.
We probably could have stayed in AK for a while longer. I'm sure there's plenty we missed. We never went on the Rapids either because it was threatening rain all day, and we didn't want to get soaked like last time. Plus my rentals aren't spring chickens any more and they were getting tired, and we were getting hungry!

I have to say I am really enjoying your trip report! Thanks for entertaining me in the run up to our WDW wedding and honeymoon trip.

Ahhh Wedding AND Honeymoon trip? I've got to say, Disneymooning in the World is the best. We had our 'just married' badges on and all the CMs were saying Congratulations and we had some special moments, like an elderly CM sent us through the exit to Splash Mountain, he said it was his wedding gift to us. The CM at unload wasn't very impressed but he did let us on after we explained the elderly CM sent us through. I hope you have a great Disneymoon!

Again, great trip reporting... cannot wait to read the rest of it!

Thanks! I'm really enjoying reliving our trip. It's just a shame I never got round to doing our Disneymoon fully. I didn't find this area of the site until it was 6 months later and I only took about 1000 pictures... aha!

I'm glad you had a great time so far! sorry for the weather, it has been overly rainy here in Florida this summer :C Just give the rain a few minutes, and it should clear up Watch out for the humidity!

Well, you can never predict the weather! To be honest, it was quite refreshing the second week. We found that it was still hot, but not so hot as though you couldn't enjoy the parks. I think thats one major issue over in Florida. It can be too hot. So we were kind of relieved, after we figured it is actually possible to wear flip flops around the park!

Next installment coming up!

 

[pumpkin7]

Day 10: IOA and US

For some reason I don't have many photos of this day. I think it was because it was quite miserable and wet, so ponchos were the order of the day.
Today we were going to IOA with my rentals so we could take my Dad on all the big rides my Mom wouldn't ride.

The day started out nice and sunny and hot. We headed straight over to IoA to ride Hulk and HPatFJ.

We entered the Hulk queue, sun blazing, left my Mom on a bench outside. It started spitting while we were in the queue, but we'd decided to do single rider as so my Mom wasn't left on her own too long.
Thankfully we all got on the same car. As we boarded, I heard one of the CMs yell out 'This is the last car for now!'. So I thought a storm must be approaching.
Well, you know the speed in which you are hurtled out the hatch on that ride? Try doing it in the RAIN. OMG it was like I was being pelted with a load of really sharp sticks. It was absolutely crapping it down. It hurt like heck and we got absolutely drenched. Our car was the last to run. Either they hadn't realised it was raining, or they just wanted to cause us some serious pain!
Here's me and my Dad after, what James described, as the greatest water ride in Florida...



Ya, so that was us all a bit damp for the day!

We decided to skip the other water rides, not that they were running at the moment because of the storm. I would have liked to have gone on them again but my Dad didn't really want to get any more damp.





We were heading toward HP to ride the Forbidden Journey.







Right as we entered the queue, the heavens once again opened, and a massive thunderstorm ensued. Wow, I was so thankful for our ponchos, but I thought it was pretty fitting for the WWoHP.



After dropping off the bags, we got in the main queue. We would have done single rider again but my Mom didn't want to go on, on her own. But the time listed was only 60 minutes, and I wanted to experience the queue.





I've got to say, it has been done very, very well. You enter through underneath Hogwarts. I don't think the bag check area is in a particularly great place, as you have a lot of people standing around, getting confused as to where the queue is, and losing friends and relatives, plus having the exit queue next door to collect your bags... it's all a bit of a mess.
You then go through a portion of the castle where you see the Mirror of Erised (I have no idea how you spell these things..!) and I think the statue that leads to Hogsmeade? You then go into the greenhouses, which are fun as they have many of the plants from the films, including those little shrieking plants.



I also love how they've done the paintings inside. They move, but they have the texture of paintings. It's so good. Plus, it snows in one of the rooms! You see Harry, Hermione and Ron , and the sorting hat, the Fat Lady has a painting. It's so well done. And then at load, you have all the floating candles. The ride itself is also very well done. You go flying on a broom, and almost lose your soul to a Dementor!
Now, even my Mom enjoyed this. I was so surprised! She doesn't like anything that's even like a rollercoaster, or that threatens to go upside down. But she really enjoyed it as well.

After HP, we left Ma and Pa to go and explore Hogsmeade, and we headed toward the Jurassic Park area to go and get some nibbles. Thankfully we got there just before a massive group of Brazillians got into the restaurant.

We ordered chicken strips and a coke, and a beer... of course.

 

[pumpkin7]

Flippin' $17 for that!

We had a wonder around the visitors centre.



I totally didn't understand the reason behind these moving dinosaurs but they were good fun.



James doing the Dino Dance.



Evil rains were a comin' so we decided to head toward US, as we figured that has more indoor stuff and we'd done everything here that we'd wanted to.



I thought it was cool that you could buy the costumes.



Cute!



Also cute!



Uhm, these remind me of something else...



Though ET was pretty cool



After wondering around the store for a bit, we became trapped by the rain!



Everybody HUDDLE



Once the rain had died down a bit, we made a run for it.



And back to the Studios! For all it's theming and white knuckledness, I still prefer the studios.



Our first, and pretty much only port of call, was the Despicable Me attraction... which had a 90 minute wait. WTH



The queue had some interesting posters, though I did get stick of watching the same video on the overheads.

 

[pumpkin7]

After about 40 minutes, we entered the show building. Another major over estimation of the queue line.... WTH!!



Blurry 3D glasses.





Soooo, I totally get why the ride queue moves as slow as it does.... ONE AUDITORIUM!! And the ride was almost exactly the same as The Simpsons! Come on already! I mean, it was good fun but I wouldn't have queued for it as long as we did if I'd had known that.
Anyway, it had started raining, AGAIN when we came out, so we decided to get a taxi back to the hotel. Somehow it was 4.45. I'm not sure where the day went as we didn't really go on that much... Meh.

Ma and Pa were already back aswell, so after a quick freshen up, we decided to head for dinner at Wild Jacks. My rentals decided to go and try the Shalimar Indian Restaurant next door.

Now, I love Wild Jacks. I've been to eat here every year since we started going. I LOVE THEIR RIBS OM NOM NOM NOM. Best Ribs EVAAA!!

Plus, the have giant beers for James!



MMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM RIBS



And James had a giant steak. BEEF!!



Oh, notice his new T shirt from Univ. I have a better shot in a minute. Trust James to want the $30 white t shirt... meh!!

After stuffing our faces with beautiful ribs and steak, we had a wonder down I-Drive. James wanted to go and have a look in the local Offie. (Off Licence, or I guess a Liquor Store in the good ole US)

We were shocked at the cheapness of teh vodka. $19... about £14. For that sized bottle in the UK you'd be looking around £30. CHEAP.



And of course, we ended up in Chilis!





I had a strawberry lemonade. Super yummy.



We met up with my rentals, who unfortunately did not enjoy their food at the Shalimar. I can't say I'm surprised. No offence, but you go to the USA for BEEF and CHICKEN and BEEF. Not curry! We live in Birmingham for pete's sake... the HOME of the Balti! Saying that, the restaurant was neither owned, run, or served by floridians so I'll let you all off.

After sharing stories of our epic Ribs and BEEF, we retired to prepare to head back to the WORLD <3

Next up: Day 11 Epcot and HS.

 

[beautybutafunnygirl]

I love the Universal aspect to this trip report, but I'm excited to hear more about your time in WDW!

 

[Englebabies]

 

[pumpkin7]

I love the Universal aspect to this trip report, but I'm excited to hear more about your time in WDW!

Well I couldn't not include Univ! I much prefer Disney, and there are 2 epic Disney days coming up.

 

[jkl2000]

Actually, this trip report is making me think that the next time we go to WDW (2014?) I want to include IoA and/or US. I really hadn't seen much of either park before. Oh, I want to go to Chili's too!