Trip Report I'll stop the World and Melt with you.

It's been two years since my family and I visited WDW. Two long years. Thankfully, my son Sterg and I got a three day Disney fix last summer at Disneyland.

Curiously, this trip report is being written at a time when a lot of negative Disney vibe is emanating from other regions of WDWMagic - as it was two years ago. The Doom & Gloom is running free and wild. I'm just thankful I stayed clear of most of it before our trip because I may have cancelled what turned out to be an amazing time. It is also fortunate that we got this trip in because from the sound of things there may not be a WDW to go to in a few years.

To be truthful, some things that Disney has done has me scratching my head; but this is neither the time nor place to discuss it. Putting that aside - let's get on with the trip report!

We left on Sunday July 21st. Maybe the longest day of my life. The night before, my oldest daughter Alex went to see Taylor Swift in Philadelphia ( about 50 miles away ) and due to a long rain delay she didn't make it home until 2 am. This meant that she would not go to sleep since we were being picked up at 3 am for the drive to Philly airport for our 6 am flight. At least we were supposed to be picked up at 3am.

Here is my Mom ( Yia-Yia )and my youngest daughter Antonia ( Toni ) up and ready at 3 in the morning waiting for our ride. Yia-Yia ( grandmother in Greek ) is 77 years old and joining us for the first time on a Disney adventure. Toni is now almost 12 and the little Yorki-poo in the front is Prince. Prince is short for Prince Charming ( named by Toni ).

When the driver didn't show up by 3:15 I started to worry. I called the limo company at the same time he called me to tell me he was lost. I reeled him in and we were on our way by 3:30. The drive down was nerve wracking as I kept watching the clock and praying for no delays. That is until our driver eased my tension by telling us his son works for Disney and he goes down to the World 4 or 5 times a year. The resulting Disney conversation lasted until we hit the airport around 4:30.

More tension as we went through security. My carry on was stopped in the machine and I was pulled aside. I had put a container of Vitamin C powder in my bag that garnered some attention. Of course, my Mom came over as I was being held and my bag inspected.

"Why didn't you put that in your suitcase, Christo?" she said to me in her Greek accented voice.

"Mom, please go wait over there" I responded.

"No, I want to see what they are doing" Then she followed with this one for the TSA officer.

"It's not drugs, my son doesn't do cocaine!"

OK, I thought. I'm definitely going to be held in some prison cell for the next week.

After the chemical test proved my Mother correct, I was allowed to go on my way. We had time to grab coffee and some food and make it on the Southwest plane to Orlando. A plane full of smiling happy faces! Including these;

This is my wife Val ( not the biggest of Disney fans ), with Yia-Yia in the middle and Alex by the window.

On the other side was yours truly sporting a Hawaiian shirt ( since we were staying at the Poly ), Toni and Sterg.

Before we knew it we were up in the clouds...

 

[docdebbi]

i am enjoying all of your trip report, but i gotta say, i LOVE your son. he is one funny kid, i have no doubt he keeps your trips interesting!

 

[fractal]

More dessert pictures from Citricos. This was Alex's; I think it was some kind of sorbet on a cone sampler.

This was mine. Very tasty and fancy.

Finally, Yia-Yia's. It was fruit over a creme brulee.

Overall assessment of Citricos. Everybody enjoyed their meal. Although Alex believes she got a bad mussel that made her feel sick later. Nobody else get sick so it's hard to tell. Yia-Yia enjoyed the mussels.

The food was great, the service was very good, and the atmosphere was pleasant. If this were a 1 dinning credit restaurant I would give it a A+, but I hold Signature restaurants to a higher standard. I thought California Grill was a step above Citricos and I enjoyed Flying Fish more. After eating at the other restaurants in our trip I know that it will be awhile to go back to Citricos and spend the 2 credits. I'm glad we ate there and experienced it, but there are other Signature places to conquer.

We made our way to the balcony to enjoy some more Disney music classical style.

We then decided to go to Hollywood Studios, but Yia-Yia was tired and wanted to go back to the room. I offered to take her back then meet the gang at DHS, but she insisted that she go on her own and she would call me when she got to the room. After I quizzed her on how she would get back we walked her to the monorail. This was the subject of another "Vine" by Sterg. He walked her the last 10 yards or so and kept saying things like.

"OK, now you be careful Yia-Yia", "Call us when you get back" all in his "baby" sarcastic voice. Finally she pushed him away, to which he replied;

"Oh, they grow up so fast".

A couple of pictures on the kiddie furniture downstairs before we went looking for a bus.

It should be know that around this time I was feeling pretty good. I had a few beers on top of the drinks I had in the room before we headed out. I also had a glass of wine to help finish off the bottle. As we walk out of the front of the GF, a bus is pulling in from our left with the Hollywood Studios sign all lit up for us.

"Quick Sterg!" I yelled instinctively. Likely much louder than I intended. "Run down that bus!"

For one of the few times on this trip he actually listened to me and sprinted off - right through where the cars drop off. He dodged a few bell hops and valets and had a car hit the brakes as it pulled in. Of course this garnered much attention amongst the guest coming in and mingling around as they all looked back at me. 10 minutes before I felt very comfortable in the GF. I had staked it out, I had dinner there, took pictures, etc; it was like I owned the place. At that moment however, with Sterg causing all sorts of chaos and commotion on my behalf, I literally felt like Jed Clampett. What made matters worse was that the bus never slowed down. The bus stop is about 50 yards to the right of the entrance ( as you walk out ). So we had to made that walk of shame.

Before long, however, we were at DHS! Man, it was crowded.

Tot was 60 minutes wait and out of FPs - pretty much the same for RRRC.

OK - let's go to Star Tours. We zigged zagged our way to the other side of the park...

 

[fractal]

Alex wanted to see Muppets 3D so we did. Val isn't a big fan of the Muppets so Sterg was cheering her up during the pre-show.

"Oh Mommy, I love you soooo much!!"

Alex and I have a dry sense of humor, so we love the Muppets. There was also enough slap stick to keep everyone else entertained. Val ended up enjoying the show.

Another photobomb by Sterg as I was lining up a shot of the fountain.

Next up was Star Tours! Quick update: I am a SW junkie. Came out when I was 10 years old and I literally saw it 50 times in the theater, back in the days you could hide and watch three showings in a row. Sterg also likes his SW, Toni is a thrill ride junkie and Alex is good for a few. Val has zero interest in Star Wars. They say opposites attract and that is Val and I in many ways. SW is one of them. Val loves shows like "Glee" and girl flicks, while I'm your typical action movie and sports guy. She grudgingly went on Star Tours, almost like we were dragging her.

Val felt a bit like c-3po. "We seem to be made to suffer..."

This guy here may be the funniest show in WDW. When ST2 first opened during our 2011 trip, I spent much time in the queue listening to his schpeel. It is hilarious. Now with the lines moving so fast I don't get a chance to hear it.

Ready for the jump to light-speed.

As we climbed in our seats, everybody ( and I do mean everybody ) could hear Val complaining. "I don't know why I'm doing this, I don't even like Star Wars, etc, etc."

Before long our Star Tours ship had taken off, only to be stopped by the Sith Lord Darth Vader. "We know you have this rebel spy on board!!"

Take one guess who the spy was. Yep, Val was the rebel spy. The kids and I couldn't stop laughing for a good few minutes. Even Val thought it was funny! Talk about being undercover.

After another thrilling ride through the SW universe we headed back to Tot.

Well, our timing was really bad that evening. We got there right after Fantasmic! was letting out, and now Alex wasn't feeling too well. We called it a night and made our way out of the park.

Photopass time!

Love the Pluto neon;

Another day down in WDW.

 

[Tuvalu]

"Quick Sterg!" I yelled instinctively. Likely much louder than I intended. "Run down that bus!"

For one of the few times on this trip he actually listened to me and sprinted off - right through where the cars drop off. He dodged a few bell hops and valets and had a car hit the brakes as it pulled in. Off course this garnered much attention amongst the guest coming in and mingling around as they all looked back at me. 10 minutes before I felt very comfortable in the GF. I had staked it out, I had dinner there, took pictures, etc; it was like I owned the place. At that moment however, with Sterg causing all sorts of chaos and commotion on my behalf, I literally felt like Jed Clampett. What made matters worse was that the bus never slowed down. The bus stop is about 50 yards to the right of the entrance ( as you walk out ). So we had to made that walk of shame.

This made me laugh so hard I cried!

 

[Tuvalu]

BTW, completely agree with your Poly bathroom hook complaint...what WERE they thinking when they placed the only hook on the opposite wall of the shower?! You have to be a contortionist to reach your towel.

 

[WDW_Princess24]

Sterg keeps me cracking up, he is such a character! Too funny Val was the rebel spy!

 

[plaz10]

OMG loved that Val was the rebel spy! I hope the kids tried to get her to buy the tshirt that said "I AM THE REBEL SPY"

And I can't hate on Sterg too much for embarrassing you guys - I am 25 and do it to my Mom all the time. I'll be about 30 feet from my mom in a quiet place and be like MOM...I'M OVER HERE. MOM RIGHT HERE!

She loves it...

 

[Ellen Ripley]

This report and photos rule!

 

[fractal]

Your family is beautiful! I'm loving all the pictures and your kids seem like a lot of fun.

Thanks! We did have a bunch of fun.

Great pictures and report as always.

Thank you me stitch!

Chris, I am beyond impressed with your photography! I was impressed last time when you jumped into manual without practice! Now it's awesome! And don't give the camera too much credit. I know several people with mirrorless cameras who don't take pictures like yours.
Setting up behind the carousel may have been a bust for fireworks, but I love the picture of the carousel! It's awesome!
And I think some of the pictures with Beast Castle are great too!
The fisheye at Animal Kingdom was perfect!
Grand Floridian! I like the way Val thinks...
Citricos is one of my favorites now. It's awesome!

Thanks Tammy! Yeah, when I started it was a lot of trail and even more "error". I appreciate the kind words!

Sometimes my wallet doesn't like the way Val thinks.
She really did enjoy herself - I just need to sneak in a relaxing "beach" vacation in before we go to WDW again.

Really nice shots with the Rokinon fisheye. I had my mind made up to get the fisheye adapter for the 16/30 macro, but you've got me rethinking buying the Rokinon instead.


Here's a link that might be able to help you with the purple corner fringing on the 7

Thanks for the link gsrjedi! I really do like the Rokinon - even when I have to do some hard cropping I'm happy with it.

Nothing could "class" up Citricos like seeing a Mickey bendy straw in a glass of red wine. At that point I'll expect to see the red wine being poured out of a box.

Hey, we buy boxed wine; but the good boxed wine. Heck, for what I paid for a bottle at Citricos I could have stocked up for months!

I totally agree. I have actually made that pic my background on my work computer.

Wow! Thanks for that compliment!

Oh man! That camera is killin' me! This morning I mentioned to Tracey I wanted one. In fact, I approached it in such a fantastic way, "Babe, I'm selling 5 of my dolls. Probably will have enough to buy this awesome mirrorless camera I've been looking at. I won't get it unless I can cover the cost from my dolls, though."

Him: "How many cameras do you need? What's wrong with the Pentax?"

Me: "Nothing. It's an underwater camera. Takes great underwater pics & video. I want something that does really amazing dry air pictures."

Him: "Can't we buy another lens for Chandler's Canon (Rebel, DSLR) and buy that from him? He never uses it."

Me: "I suppose but I don't know how to use all those settings and stuff in manual. It scares me and I'll mess everything up."

Him: "It's not hard. You just gotta try it."

Sooooo, maybe I'll give Chandler's Canon a try in the next few days to see how much of a train wreck I am with it. I'm scared to death of the settings and stuff because there's **gasp** numbers involved. Maybe I can take it with me on the girls cruise and get @Disneyfalcon to give me a crash course. I'm pathetic, aren't I? I want to have killer pics like you but of the ships and the ports and all that jazz!!!! But, Tracey does have a point. All the P&S cameras I've had over the years that I thought sucked...I'm kinda the common denominator.

I think the bendy straws were awesome! Serious. I think I'll have to find me a couple and take them with me to some of the fine dining places on the ships. Just for fun. We'll call it an ode to the Fractal Family! And I totally agree with taking the kiddos to fine restaurants. We've approached all restaurants that way from the time they were toddlers. If you never take them, how will the learn how to act? Right????

So looking forward to more of your pics. Man, they're soooooo good!

Thanks again Kelly! Practice on that Canon and please have a "Mickey straw" drink for me!

@sweetpea_1993 I say just buy the camera lol!! Also I'm dying for a noodle bowl from Capt. Cooks now!! Thanks Sterg!! LOL

I heard some bad things about Capt Cooks but I must say that we thought the food was very good - except one day Yia-Yia didn't like her burger. She said it was like shoe leather. Everything else was "thumbs up". Thanks again for following!

Wonderful report! We felt as if we were in your group since we have a Yia-Yia, Disney lovers as well as Disney smartalecs in our blended Greek family. Your family is beautiful! We had to miss our yearly WDW trip so thanks for "having us along"! Why is it I drive 5 miles for 5 cents less a gallon of gas but at WDW it's "GO FOR IT"!

Oh yes - you know exactly how we roll! Yia-yia keep things in order and keep you on a "relatively" straight line, or else. Thanks! I hope you get back to WDW sooner rather than later. Yasou!

Maybe time for a DVC at GF ? - It looks amazing so far !

My wallet just let out a painful groan. The villas do look beautiful, however.

Yowza ! Nex 7's >> $$$ ! Think I'll start at NEX-3 before next trip They are around the same $$ as SLR's I am looking at. Are those like 10mb for each picture? (Quality) ... Keep the updates coming !

The NEX-3 is a great camera. Actually same sized sensor as the "7" but with 16mp vs. 24. You also don't get the viewfinder - the NEX-6 has a viewfinder and some people like that camera more than the 7 and it's about 30% cheaper. The file sizes for the "3" will be around 10-15mb per pic. With the 7 I'm getting 20-30+ mb ( crazy resolution ). I will say that with a "7" you almost have to get a program like Lightroom. In the low light shots my images have a lot of noise because of the resolution, but it also has amazing detail in the shadow which you can pull out with LR and then eliminate the noise. Good luck!

Genius! Chris, this could be your golden ticket, buddy!!!!

Or a ticket towards a second job.

 

[fractal]

i am enjoying all of your trip report, but i gotta say, i LOVE your son. he is one funny kid, i have no doubt he keeps your trips interesting!

Interesting to say the least. Thanks docdebbi, and thanks for following!

 

[fractal]

This made me laugh so hard I cried!

It was funny, but embarrassing.

BTW, completely agree with your Poly bathroom hook complaint...what WERE they thinking when they placed the only hook on the opposite wall of the shower?! You have to be a contortionist to reach your towel.

I know, right? Pretty dumb.

Sterg keeps me cracking up, he is such a character! Too funny Val was the rebel spy!

I almost forgot about the rebel spy story. The kids reminded me the other day; "You have to put when Mom was the rebel spy in your report".

OMG loved that Val was the rebel spy! I hope the kids tried to get her to buy the tshirt that said "I AM THE REBEL SPY"

And I can't hate on Sterg too much for embarrassing you guys - I am 25 and do it to my Mom all the time. I'll be about 30 feet from my mom in a quiet place and be like MOM...I'M OVER HERE. MOM RIGHT HERE!

She loves it...

It was hilarious! I think actually they did try, but she didn't. She was really a good sport, though. I get that she's not a big fan of WDW and I do appreciate that she goes with us and makes the most of it.

Does that mean we have at least another 10 years of his antics??

This report and photos rule!

Thanks mansionmaiden!

 

[fractal]

The next morning, Toni was like a shark that got a taste of blood. She actually woke me up! C'mon Dad, let's go to Hollywood Studios! After missing out on Tot and RRRC the night before, she wanted to go back.

"Ok,ok, I'm up, I'm up" I said feeling like Mufassa being wakened by Simba.

A quick nudge and check on the rest of the crew and "they chose poorly" and decided to sleep in. Yia-yia was up but was reading her book ( or playing games on her Itouch ). She was content staying in the room so Toni and I were out the door. We grabbed our usually breakfast at Capt Cooks and made it to DHS right after it opened. We got FPs for RRRC then went on ToT. ToT may be my favorite ride at WDW - everything from the building itself, to the queue, to the CM playing the part, the story and effects and of course the thrill of the drops. It is about as perfect attraction that exists ( as far as I know ).

I love the music outside and all the detail;

Toni was starting to get a bit scared, which made that first ride even better.

Black and White shots helps make details you may never have noticed before stand out.

More detail...

Somebody get a Swifter or something...

At this point, Toni was holding on to me pretty tight. The anticipation was building as we boarded the "doomed" elevator;

 

[Zipadeelady]

Awww! What a cliffhanger! What happened...did she love it????

 

[sweetpee_1993]

I saw that video on Vine about Yia-Yia "growing up so fast". Seeing the ones that were obviously from your trip was cool because I either knew a little bit of what was behind them or had a little peek into what's to come. Seriously, Sterg is a character unto himself! He's funny as hell. His creativity with the composition of some of his vids is pretty aparent. Two thumbs up for Sterg's Vine. I may appreciate him a bit too much having 2 boys so close to the same age, tho.

Jed Clampett. Classic. I know this feeling.

Freakin' awesome that Val was the Rebel Spy. Couldn't have been a better a choice, I'm sure.

I'm lovin' how you and Toni are having the early morning fun again this trip. I bet that makes for some awesome daddy/daughter time for just the 2 of you. It's tough sometimes to get that 1-on-1 with each kid. Really cool that you're scoring the quality time in such a killer place. Seriously, she's going to treasure that time for the rest of her life. Prob'ly gush to her children about it someday. Way to go, Daddy-O!

 

[Disney80]

You had to stop there?

*LOL*

 

[TheMouseFan]

I completely agree about ToT! Love all of the ToT pics, but especially the black and whites! Can't wait for more!

 

[minnie2000]

Great report! I am really enjoying it and your photos are fantastic.

We've just returned today from two weeks at the Polynesian, so it's lovely to see the photos there. It's my favourite place apart from home.

 

[38053WDW]

Thanks! We did have a bunch of fun.



Thank you me stitch!




Thanks Tammy! Yeah, when I started it was a lot of trail and even more "error". I appreciate the kind words!

Sometimes my wallet doesn't like the way Val thinks.
She really did enjoy herself - I just need to sneak in a relaxing "beach" vacation in before we go to WDW again.



Thanks for the link gsrjedi! I really do like the Rokinon - even when I have to do some hard cropping I'm happy with it.



Hey, we buy boxed wine; but the good boxed wine. Heck, for what I paid for a bottle at Citricos I could have stocked up for months!



Wow! Thanks for that compliment!



Thanks again Kelly! Practice on that Canon and please have a "Mickey straw" drink for me!



I heard some bad things about Capt Cooks but I must say that we thought the food was very good - except one day Yia-Yia didn't like her burger. She said it was like shoe leather. Everything else was "thumbs up". Thanks again for following!



Oh yes - you know exactly how we roll! Yia-yia keep things in order and keep you on a "relatively" straight line, or else. Thanks! I hope you get back to WDW sooner rather than later. Yasou!



My wallet just let out a painful groan. The villas do look beautiful, however.




The NEX-3 is a great camera. Actually same sized sensor as the "7" but with 16mp vs. 24. You also don't get the viewfinder - the NEX-6 has a viewfinder and some people like that camera more than the 7 and it's about 30% cheaper. The file sizes for the "3" will be around 10-15mb per pic. With the 7 I'm getting 20-30+ mb ( crazy resolution ). I will say that with a "7" you almost have to get a program like Lightroom. In the low light shots my images have a lot of noise because of the resolution, but it also has amazing detail in the shadow which you can pull out with LR and then eliminate the noise. Good luck!



Or a ticket towards a second job.

My wife and I go back and forth on DVC @BLT ... If we added up the expense we've spent on rooms at Disney it would have been paid in full by now ! (160 points) I can only imagine what your total cost was .... We go to have fun and more fun .. this is why we only go around every 3 years! (air/room/tickets/food for 5 ) adds up quick so we have to save, save, save but it teaches our kids a lesson too. This is also why we do a limo ... for as much as we spend .. it's not going to break us .. No Starbucks for a month should cover it

 

[fractal]

We had entered the Twighlight Zone.

Even though it was only two years ago, Toni forgot much of the ride. Sometime I wish you could take a pill to forget rides as you enter the parks. How exciting would it be to go on ToT as if it's your first time!

The drops were great and Toni absolutely loved it. She was asking for more, but still clutching my arm.

With time until our FP, Toni wanted to go on Star Tours. Sounds good to me!

I switched lenses to the fisheye as we walked to the other side of the park.

As I've said before, fisheye can take some really neat shots but also some goofy/terrible ones. The following shot is what I consider a terrible one.
It just looks strange and the severe angle took away from the shot vs. enhancing it. I spent some time looking at this picture and trying to determine why it didn't work. I remember at the time thinking it would look pretty cool, but I think now that it doesn't work because you have too many lines converging towards the middle of the frame. Wide angle shots seems to work better with big things/lines moving towards the edges of the frame with some subject in the middle. That's just my amateur analysis.

Ugly fisheye:

This was another fisheye that I wasn't crazy about until a cropped it down by about 50%.

Last trip I got Sterg on this, this time it was Toni's turn;

I believe that many people take the full size Imperial Walker in front of ST for granted. It is an awesome prop! As much as I liked Disneyland last year, their boring entrance to ST can't hold a candle to Florida's.

Now this picture works! At least I think so.

I showed the kids this picture and they laughed hysterically and told me "You have to put that in your report!" Except for the fact that I look like a goofball, I don't know what's so funny.

After riding ST two times, we started to head back to ride RRRC. Toni was on the move!

Walking down Sunset Blvd;

Then make a hard left, you can't miss it...

 

[fractal]

It was tough to beat the morning we were having.

All those backpacks were from a tour group. I'm glad we had Fastpasses!

I had to explain to Toni who Aerosmith was. Lol!

Another incredibly themed ride by Disney.

For some reason, RRRC was much better for me than the last time I rode it. The launch is awesome, the music was great and the ride itself is just a ton of fun (as you can see from our faces)!

Toni loved it! She just wanted to go on again, so we just grabbed fastpasses for later.

We'll be back!

Time for another Photopass shot.

I decided to slow things down a bit and take Toni to something we have never done before.

I've always loved to draw and I do have a creative side to me buried by decades of the real world. This was exciting. Toni seemed interested but I did have to drag her a bit.

My own animator's table! I was ready to draw. Our intructor was very good and our subject was Mike Wazowski. He turned out to be surprisingly challenging to draw.

Toni was also game.

As the drawing went on I could see that Toni was falling behind and getting frustrated. She was doing pretty well, but was getting mad that her drawing didn't look exactly like the one being drawn upfront.

Hang in there kid, you're doing fine.

As for me, I didn't think it was half bad...

I wanted to spend some more time looking at the exhibits, but Toni was antsy. Impressive amount of Oscars!

Next we experience another attraction for the first time. Honey I shrunk the Kids playgroud. Alex would be terrified to go in because she hates bees!