Trip Report Movin' In? Two Weeks in the World!

Hello! My husband (Brad) and I (Amy) just got back from a 2 week trip to Walt Disney World, and had a blast! We are frequent visitors and last year we decided to stay at WDW for 2 weeks so we could take touring slow and do things we've wanted to do but never had time to put in the schedule. It was heavenly to have so much time to play with, and of course in the end when it came time to leave we weren't quite ready (although our wallets were!).

I hope you enjoy a recap of our adventures, please share any thoughts or questions you might have! It will be full of pictures too (including food!).

I am going to take a brief break to tag a few people here on the boards that have expressed interest in my travels and some that might be. If I missed anyone sorry, but everyone is welcome!
@figmentfan423 @Songbird76 @betty rose @donaldtoo @PacNWTigger @MouseDreaming @Tuvalu @JenniferS @StarWarsGirl @MinnieM123 @PUSH @Mr Ferret 88 @MOXOMUMD @Gabe1 @BuddyThomas @Cesar R M

Here are also some links to the other trip reports I've done.
http://forums.wdwmagic.com/threads/back-to-disneyland-ringin-in-2016.909039/
http://forums.wdwmagic.com/threads/...ts-wdw-november-2015-lots-of-pictures.907613/
http://forums.wdwmagic.com/threads/springin-into-wdw-solo-march-2016.911995/

 

[fractal]

On board!

Disney Springs is looking more and more appealing.

 

[ajrwdwgirl]

So after we got all cleaned up we headed to Animal Kingdom to check out the new night time offerings. Before going we (meaning me) had been in a tizzy if we should do a dining package or fast pass for the Jungle Book show. I had a breakfast, a dinner, and a fast pass reserved. In the end we went with the fast pass, which we were glad of that choice.

I always seem to take a picture of the Tree of Life, just like the castle it is very impressive. I like that there is always a new carving I noticed that I haven't noticed before.

So since we had cancelled the dining package we still needed to eat right? So we veered to the left and tried the new Nomad Lounge. I am reluctant to share this because I don't want the word to get out at how amazing it was. There was a lot of seating, and the design was really cool. Had it not been so hot out we would have sat on the deck, but inside was where we stayed. We got a brief look at Pandora before going into the lounge.

Inside the lounge.

The deck area.

I think this was a beer from Singapore, it was pretty good. I liked that it made me feel like a tiger....ok I lied it didn't but the tiger in the title made it sound exotic.

We shared the ribs and the Indian butter wings. Both were so good. The ribs had a really bright corriander type of flavor. It also came with a little side of forbidden rice (it was fried and tasted like a nutty popcorn). They should seriously think of selling the rice on its own, it was great I could have eaten a couple cups of it.

The lounge was really mellow and relaxing, a nice change of pace. We were reluctant to leave but we also wanted to try the Harambe market ribs so we sadly left. We did run into the drum area, and Brad never passes up a chance to show off his skills.

The ribs here were interesting. Nice and tender, but it didn't leave us wanting more. The slaw was okay and back in March I really liked the tomato/chick pea salad when I tried the curry sausage, but this time it didn't have much flavor.

It was coming close to the time to use a fast pass for Everest so we went over there. Everest is one of my favorite rides, although I really get irritated with all the hairbands up at the top. I just don't understand it. I wish I could get out and sweep them up.

 

[prfctlyximprct]

Enjoying living vicariously through your photos! It's making me so excited for my November trip! Wish I could experience blizzard beach but it's going to be closed oh well I loved typhoon lagoon and will just have to go back! Following along

 

[KikoKea]

Fun!

 

[ajrwdwgirl]

After Everest we got a little dessert, some soft serve from a nearby vendor. I was really diggin' the Disney soft serve this trip. Anyway, we used our fast pass and got settled into our seats for the Jungle Book show. I had read and listened to some reviews before going but hadn't watched any video. I wanted to give the show a fair shake, I'm not a huge Jungle Book fan but I do enjoy the music. I think if you are going this summer and are even mildly interested you should see it and decide for yourself about it.

There were good parts to it and bad parts. The music was good, the singers and dancers did a fantastic job. The bad was it was hard to see the main performers, and the water screens were just pathetic (the images were so bad most of the time I didn't know what it was showing). I really don't get that the water screens were so bad, Disney has used them for years and couldn't get these right? I could understand if it was windy but it wasn't. I had also read that the benches were close together and very hot after being in the sun all day. The benches were a little close but the bench we sat on wasn't hot or burning our butt or anything. One of the main thing that bothered me was at the end...there was about 5-6 minutes left of the show when all of a sudden two pontoon boats zoom up to the floats that some of the dancers are on and just dock waiting for the performers. It just seemed really awkward and bad show. Our seating area had a lot of people fleeing the area by then and when the show ended the lady next to my husband said, "What the "expletive" was that?!".

In the end I'm glad we saw it, but I'm glad I didn't get the dining package for it. We were both glad that we did the fast pass and had the meal we did with Nomad Lounge and the market. I knew that they were trying to highlight the live action movie over the animated version but I think the show would have been improved with some Balloo, Louie, and Mogawli out on stage.

So after all that here are some pictures of the show. Those dancers and muscians moved fast, I had a hard time getting decent pictures.

After the Jungle Book we had a fast pass for the night safari. I was pretty excited by this and felt feeling disappointed by this too. I had already expected not to see as many animals as during the day so that wasn't the let down. We did however see very few animals. Sometimes it is the driver that can make or break the safari and this time it broke. We had a decent amount of down time on the journey but he didn't seem to into providing any information or talking in general. Although he did like to tell us to keep looking in the bushes for any action.

Here are a couple pictures, I knew not many would turn out so I only attempted a few.'
This is the "sunset" on the safari. It actually looks better in my picture than it did in person.

The lion, lying around....

After the safari we went back over to ride Everest in the dark. It was fun, and the hair bands weren't as noticable so that was nice. I wanted to ride again, but hubby gets motion sick and wanted to move on. So we went to the last new night offering the awakening of the Tree of Life.

The awakenings of the Tree of Life were amazing! This did not disappoint and exceeded our expectations. I just wish there were some benches in the area to sit and relax to watch it. If you haven't noticed yet, we are big fans of benches and relaxing!

 

[ajrwdwgirl]

On board!

Disney Springs is looking more and more appealing.

Yes Disney Springs is a lot nicer now. I read an article that called it Disney's new food theme park, and I kind of think that is true.

 

[ajrwdwgirl]

Enjoying living vicariously through your photos! It's making me so excited for my November trip! Wish I could experience blizzard beach but it's going to be closed oh well I loved typhoon lagoon and will just have to go back! Following along

Thanks! November should be a good time to go. Will you be there during Food and Wine? That is always fun as are the Christmas parties. Too bad about Blizzard Beach, but I guess that just means you'll have to go back right?!

 

[Figgy1]

THNX for all the pics of the new places we need to try!

 

[Tuvalu]

A few random thoughts ~

I haven't stayed at All Star Music in years. Have stayed in all the buildings except Broadway, which is the one I really wanted. Never knew about Goofy in the ticket booth!

Your chicken biscuit breakfast sandwich looked really good!

Thanks for the Star Wars projection pics. Don't know if Em and I will get to see the show in our upcoming trip or not, so it was fun to see your photos.

The Toboggan racers at BB are my absolute fave! Unlike you, I much prefer going down a water slide head first!

Funny, Em made the EXACT comment about the sudden pontoon boat appearance in the Jungle Book...bad show!!

 

[steviej]

Awesome report! following along!

 

[ajrwdwgirl]

A few random thoughts ~

I haven't stayed at All Star Music in years. Have stayed in all the buildings except Broadway, which is the one I really wanted. Never knew about Goofy in the ticket booth!

Your chicken biscuit breakfast sandwich looked really good!

Thanks for the Star Wars projection pics. Don't know if Em and I will get to see the show in our upcoming trip or not, so it was fun to see your photos.

The Toboggan racers at BB are my absolute fave! Unlike you, I much prefer going down a water slide head first!

Funny, Em made the EXACT comment about the sudden pontoon boat appearance in the Jungle Book...bad show!!

I have a picture of Goofy in the ticket booth, I will try to remember to post that one when I come to it. My husband was really pleased with the Broadway building, as he loves Broadway music.

And I was kind of hoping the pontoon thing was a one time situation (like maybe something went wrong or something), that is even more disappointing to hear it happens frequently. Or at least at at more than just my show.

Awesome report! following along!

Thanks and welcome!

 

[ajrwdwgirl]

THNX for all the pics of the new places we need to try!

No problems, hopefully you'll post some of yours when you return. After all you have that nice new camera!

 

[ajrwdwgirl]

Day 4: June 24....It's Friday and that means it's FRONTIERLAND FRIDAY!!!

A little backstory, last summer we went to Disneyland and while in a shop we saw Mickey sheriff badge pins what had our names on them. We thought it would be fun to wear them with our Big Thunder Mountain tee-shirts and we could be sheriffs of Disneyland. So we bought them and wore them on what happened to be a Friday. I nicknamed it Frontierland Friday. We had so much fun with that we wanted to bring that fun to WDW. So Brad made us tee-shirts through zazzle with a cowboy Mickey and I guess because of a copyright we couldn't have them say Frontierland so they said Frontier Friday. And of course we wore our badges. The security guard even called me sheriff!

So our plan was to spend the morning/early afternoon to do all the Frontierland based attractions. We even did Splash, which we have a love/hate relationship. Love the characters and the scenery, hate the getting wet part. We even explored Tom Sawyer island and Brad stayed awake in the Country Bears.

It was a EMH morning so we couldn't go right to Frontierland so we went to Fantasyland (after all it still starts with an F). No Tomorrowland though, cowboys can't go to space!

Leaving the Music was really quiet this morning.

Luckily we got to see the Welcome show. I love this, the first time I see it on my trip, someone would think I was upset to be there as I'm crying but it is tears of joy!

There was a strange mist in front of the castle for a bit but by the time we hit the hub it was gone.

.

We went to Peter Pan, I hadn't seen the new queue yet. It is cute with fun touches.

And we flew on Dumbo

Did a little Barnstorming

Then started our way over to Frontierland....

 

[ajrwdwgirl]

So 9am comes and Frontierland Friday can begin!

First stop....Big Thunder Mountain of course

Then a little Shootin' at the Arcade and checkers before Splash.

We had ponchos for Splash but only used them to cover our laps as we don't like our shorts wet and to cover my purse which is cloth from getting wet. And wouldn't you know it we barely got wet. And that was fine!

Then exploration at Tom Sawyer's, the barrel bridge was closed. So we couldn't cross, we wondered if it had something to do with the gator attack.

And with our love of benches we found some rocking chairs we loved too.

Then it was time to rustle up some grub. We stayed in Frontierland and went to Pecos Bill's. We hadn't tried their new menu yet and were very pleased with our lunches. I got the fajita plate and he got the taco burger. With all the fixin's my fajita plate turned out to be a large meal. We certainly got our money's worth with this meal.

Then to Brad's favorite attraction...just kidding. He always falls asleep in it. This time he stayed awake, mostly because a janitor thought that it was a good idea to change the garbage can in the middle of the show and they were clanking around loudly. Brad also said it wasn't too bad because there was a lot of people in the show and that brought a lot of energy. We usually watch it later at night.

 

[prfctlyximprct]

Thanks! November should be a good time to go. Will you be there during Food and Wine? That is always fun as are the Christmas parties. Too bad about Blizzard Beach, but I guess that just means you'll have to go back right?!

Yes will be there until November 13th so I will definitely get some food and wine in! I am trying to forbid myself from looking at the menus... I am crazy. And yes I must go back, I'm not a true Disney girl if I've never been to blizzard beach!

 

[MinnieM123]

Also, I didn't mind the slides on the tube, but I didn't care for the tobbaggon slides that had me going face first down the slide!

I don't like the face-first toboggan slide either. Tube slides RULE!!

The Toboggan racers at BB are my absolute fave! Unlike you, I much prefer going down a water slide head first!

Head first? (Were you drinking margaritas prior to going on that thing?!) I went up there years ago, took one look around, and left--never to return. NO thanks to any face-first rides!

 

[ajrwdwgirl]

After the Bears we started heading out of the park, for an afternoon break at the resort. We did have a fast pass for the 7 Dwarfs Mine Train, we both agreed it could fit our Frontier theme as it is a mine. Our train got stuck in the mine and I was able to grab a couple decent pictures.

We caught a little of the new castle show, we weren't going to stop but it was in the Tangled scene. And I love me some Tangled!

We did a little shopping on Main Street

I absolutely adore the tea cups, and I always try to get green as my cup so the green home was coming home with me.

We went in the glass shop and I loved these, but they weren't in the budget as I was already eyeing up the mini Partners and Storytellers statues.

So back to the hotel and we got a rest. Then continued our Frontierland theme to Fort Wilderness and the Hoop de Doo Revue. Brad had never done it and the last time I had seen it was I think in 1988 or 1989! We were seated at a table up front by the piano player. We had a good view of the show, but would have preferred a table just a little bit further away from the stage. We both enjoyed the show and the food, so we will do it again someday.

Our boat ride took us past the old River Country, it was sad to see it decaying away.

 

[ajrwdwgirl]

Yes will be there until November 13th so I will definitely get some food and wine in! I am trying to forbid myself from looking at the menus... I am crazy. And yes I must go back, I'm not a true Disney girl if I've never been to blizzard beach!

I don't think I could stop myself from looking at the menus, I would want to make a game plan. In fact we were given some free tickets that expire at the end of September, so we are thinking about a quick trip so I have already taken a quick glance at the menu.

I don't like the face-first toboggan slide either. Tube slides RULE!!



Head first? (Were you drinking margaritas prior to going on that thing?!) I went up there years ago, took one look around, and left--never to return. NO thanks to any face-first rides!

Too funny Minnie! I don't like chickening out when I get to the start of those rides, because in the end they are usually fun. But there isn't a rush to re-ride!

 

[PUSH]

Finally had a chance to sit down and read your TR! Looking forward to the rest!

 

[ajrwdwgirl]

The show was very entertaining, we do like corny humor. In fact one of my students this past year (who also knows my husband) told me in the middle of class that we are the corniest people she knows. I told her that was high praise!

Here is the salad/salads, we couldn't quite figure out why there were two. They looked and tasted the same to us. But we were there for the ribs and chicken so we didn't spend much time on it.

All the rest of the people behind us.

Part of the show

And here they are....chicken and ribs!

After the Hoop De Doo, we went over to Hollywood Studios, hubby wanted to watch the Star Wars fireworks again. We had snagged a Toy Story fast pass. One of the Toy Story cm's saw our shirts and told us we were lost toys. We figured Toy Story still worked into the Frontier theme because of Wood and the Rootin' Tootin' Shootin' Gallery part of the game. We didn't really find a way to rope in the Star Wars fireworks though...