Oh there you are Perry: A Sept/Oct 2011 TR

It is so hard to believe that this time a week ago I was still running around Main Street USA but alas, it is back to reality, for the next 407 days :fork:

I'll stop my pity party and get right down to reliving the magic!

The Who:

:wave: Here we are! Our cast is made of of myself, Nicole(27) and the Disney loving boyfriend of almost 3 years, Ryan (22). This was our 4th time in the world together since our 1 year anniversary trip in February 2010!

The When
September 28, 2011 - October 3, 2011

The Where
Disney's All Star Sports Resort

Now that we have all the basics out of the way..let's get moving!

September 28 2011

Ryan had class all afternoon and I had work until 2:45 so unfortunately it was a light flight out for us . I would have loved to call out that day but I was already taking one day for the trip so I couldn't (School was closed 2 days for the Jewish holiday and your not "suppose" to call out before or after a long weekend...oh well!)

I had ants in my pants all day long. Partially because I am a terrible flyer and partially because I just wanted to be there already! I found myself checking the flight status over and over again. Low and behold, around noon it happened; flight status: DELAYED! For the time being it was only delayed for about 45 minutes so we stuck with the plan and headed to the airport around 4. I had done the on-line check in with Jet Blue and we had checked our bags and were through security in ab out 20 minutes, now all we had to do was wait.

We decided to grab something to eat at none other than..

THE EARL! Yes, we are lucky enough to have one in Newark Airport! I was really looking forward to a BLT but alas it wasn't even on the menu! I had the original with Cheddar not Swiss which was pretty good. Ryan devoured the BBQ chicken sandwich and than the rest of mine.

By the time we boarded it was about 7:40, I knew this was NOT good news. The flight was quick, 2 hours and 2 minutes...if only it had left on time! Happy to see this as I made my way through the terminal!

Bad new was by the time we landed it was after 10pm and we had to go get our own luggage before we made our way over to...

The other stinker about arriving late was that we were missing EMH's at Epcot..boo!

We hoped the bus and we were on our way! Before we knew it we were arriving at All Star Sports

I had also used online check in but because it was almost midnight there was only 1 person behind the desk and the family in front of us was having some trouble. We got a room in the Home Run Hotel section, we requested a king bed, but didn't get one and by this time all I wanted to do was sleep!! But who can sleep when there are so many things to take pictures of!

(Just a side note..I did take 525pictures on this trip)

 

[LuLaSue]

:sohappy:
looking forward to your trip report!

 

[WDW_Princess24]

I know people feel like there is not a lot of room in the value rooms but for two people, it is more than enough! The rooms are always neat and clean, as are the grounds, and I happen to like the larger than life icons all around the resort. Makes me feel like a kid again! Up until this point Sports was the only value resort we had not stayed at, previously we had been at Movies and Music and Pop, twice.

Now as I'm sure you can see by the time on the clock in that last picture it was now almost 1am! AM EMH's were calling my name at the Magic Kingdom so I knew we better get to bed!

We set the alarm for 7am and called it a night.

We're just getting started so stayed tuned for WDW's 40th Anniversary, Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party, and Epcot's Food & Wine Festival!

 

[HollyBelle]

Ugghhh... we too, were still living the magic last week at this time. I'll be looking for myself in the background of all your photos, Nicole!

Hooray for starting the trip report so quickly - can't wait for more. :sohappy:

 

[WDW_Princess24]

September 29 2011

You better believe I was up and out that door with the quickness this morning. Ryan has never been a morning person, I like to consider myself an anytime of day person. For whatever reason, I am always bouncing off the walls! Even more so when I have EMHs to get to!

Of coarse, I couldn't help myself from snapping this on our way to the bus stop

Magic Kingdom here we come!!

We have seen the opening show before today and we made it to the gates of MK with seconds to spare!

MICKEY'S HERE!

It's time to...

It's only 8am and we are charging up Main Street so we can grab a few pictures before the crowds come

Since I had him up so early I let Ryan decide what we would do first..Space Mountain of coarse! Nothing says WAKE UP like a blast through space at 8am!

Afterwards we walked our way over towards Fantasyland. It's amazing how far the construction has come since our last visit in April

 

[WDW_Princess24]

It was time to visit the 100 acre wood

I'm not sure if I ever noticed these bee's before loading.

Heffalumps and Wozzle's steal honey!

after we made sure Pooh had his honey we took our last ride on Snow

and we both made the attempt to pull the sword from the stone

No luck..boo!

we hoped on the carousel and took a quick spin

By this time Ryan was starving and begging for food. He takes down breakfast like it's no one's business. I on the other hand, would be perfectly fine not eating until 9pm LOL

We were headed to the bakery on Main Street but of coarse I had to stop along the way

 

[WDW_Princess24]

We made it to the bakery and it was packed! I'm talking line out the door on Main Street packed! We made our way through and we were luckily able to find a table. Ryan devoured his breakfast croissant sandwich and the majority of my apple turnover!

Run run run was the theme of this trip, I felt like we were so short on time with some much to do and we were constantly on the move! The current move was lap 2 on Space Mountain (we had grabbed fast passes on lap 1)! This was followed up by one of my personal favorites, the Haunted Mansion.

I should probably note that I never actually opened my eyes in here until I was 18 years old! Up until that point as soon as the pictures would start to stretch I would put my head in my fathers arm, squeeze my eyes closed as tight as I could...and cried!! Such a scaredy cat!

The photopass of this pic is actually pretty funny since it was the ghost driver. The photographer told us to so our best scared faces, mine is hilarious, Ry..not so much! As soon as I get the photopass CD i'll have to post them!

Poor Mister Toad may he RIP!

As the morning stretched on it began to get hot...and I mean HOT . We decided to make the voyage over to Tom Sawyer Island and do some discovering, this was a first for us!

Here is the HM from TSI

We bounced along the barrel bridges!

I was able to get some great shots of BTMR

 

[fractal]

Great start to the TR-
I love the pictures in Space Mountain!

looking forward to more.

 

[jhoff3405]

I'm in!
Love the pic with you alone in front of the castle!

 

[PolynesianPrincess]

Yay for a new TR!! Looks like you and Ryan are having a blast so far!! Sorry your flight was delayed. We have a late flight next month (leaving Portland, Maine at 7pm - landing in MCO at 12:15am!!!!!) so I feel your pain!!

Can't wait to read more! Woo hooo!!!!! :sohappy:

 

[Lynn1030]

I wish we had an Earl of Sandwich near us! Looking forward to the rest of your report!

 

[SpectroPhoenix]

As always, I'm loving your trip report. Can't wait for the next part!

 

[WDW_Princess24]

:sohappy:
looking forward to your trip report!

Thank you, thank you!!

Ugghhh... we too, were still living the magic last week at this time. I'll be looking for myself in the background of all your photos, Nicole!

Hooray for starting the trip report so quickly - can't wait for more. :sohappy:

Thanks Holly! Keep your eyes peeled for mirror shots too :ROFLOL: I think most of us now have a new found appreciation for WDW mirrors bc of you!

Great start to the TR-
I love the pictures in Space Mountain!

looking forward to more.

:wave: Thanks, obviously inspired by our own Figment, it took me a while to get it right but by the end of the trip I got one!

I'm in!
Love the pic with you alone in front of the castle!

Thank you!! I love jumping in front of it before the crowds come or after they leave, makes me feel like it's alll mine:ROFLOL:

Yay for a new TR!! Looks like you and Ryan are having a blast so far!! Sorry your flight was delayed. We have a late flight next month (leaving Portland, Maine at 7pm - landing in MCO at 12:15am!!!!!) so I feel your pain!!

Can't wait to read more! Woo hooo!!!!! :sohappy:

Boo for late flights!! I'll be sending good vibes your way next month for an on time delivery!

As always, I'm loving your trip report. Can't wait for the next part!

Thanks for joining in:sohappy:

 

[WDW_Princess24]

Ah let's see now, where were we?? Oh yes..

September 29 2011 cont..
By around 11:30 we were done exploring and we headed back to the dock. LORD WAS IT HOT!! When I say hot, I mean the "real feel" temp was listed at 107!! How could this be?? It was almost October right? So we melted our faces off, hoped on our raft and headed back towards the main land!

Our lunch ADR today was at Sanaa. Leading up to it I kept asking Ryan if he was sure he wanted to go there, secretly wishing the whole time he would say no and we could go somewhere else. I booked the reservation based on everyone's recommendations, but I was a nervous wreck!

It was our first time at AKL and both of us were blown away by how beautiful it is! Here are some pics of the inside of Sanaa

For appetizer we had the Indian style bread service; the Naan, Onion Kulcha, Papadum breads were all delish with Roasted Red Bell Pepper Hummus, Garlic Pickle, and another accompaniment I cant remember right now

All of the breads were great without the accompaniments. I actually wasn't too fond of them although the hummus wasn't too bad.

For lunch I had the spicy Durban chicken and the shrimp in green curry sauce with rice pilaf

Ryan had the beef short ribs and the chicken in red curry sauce with the Basmati rice

I must say, I was so glad we went. Neither of us have ever had Indian/African food before. I'm a pick pain in the @$$ when it comes to food but the shrimp was fresh and yummy and the chicken was tender and had a good kick to it! Our server was amazing and the place was beautiful!!

Even the bathrooms were gorgeous!
A mirror shot for HollyBelle!

I forgot to mention we were seated right by the windows and I was amazed that so many giraffes were just chilling eating leaves outside! As soon as we finished I bolted outside to see the Jeffries <3

We looked around the resort for a little and than headed to get the bus back to MK while we considered our next move

 

[WDW_Princess24]

Once we got to MK we decided we would take the monorail over to Epcot. On our way we passed this, which we were both seeing for the first time

keep dreaming Nic..

At about 3pm we arrived here

First stop..Spaceship Earth! So excited to see this on the big map afterwards

Next up we had to go looking for Nemo but spotted some jellyfish along the way

We wanted to go check out the wait for Soarin so we headed into the pavilion. The wait was over an hour and the fast passes were obviously all gone so we lived with the land instead and this not so hidden Mickey

I love me some F-I-G-M-E-N-T

We never even made it into World Showcase, we were running on 5 hours of sleep in 100 degree weather. I was exhausted and felt disgusting so we decided to head back to the resort and rest a bit.

As soon as we got back I couldn't resist the temptation of walking around and snapping some pics around the resort

We arrived back at the room to find an adorable surprise from mousekeeping

Coming up: Dinner at Kona and a night at Poly

 

[PartOfYourWorld]

Now I see why you were jealous of me having the BLT sandwich :lol:

It's funny how our Thursday's were kind of opposite...we headed to MK in the later portion of the day..and I have to agree it was crazy hot out! But I'll take that any day over the cold we had when we went in January!!

Can't wait to read more!!

 

[WDW_Princess24]

Now I see why you were jealous of me having the BLT sandwich :lol:

It's funny how our Thursday's were kind of opposite...we headed to MK in the later portion of the day..and I have to agree it was crazy hot out! But I'll take that any day over the cold we had when we went in January!!

Can't wait to read more!!

Thanks for jumping on board, it's good to have ya here! I kept my eyes peeled for you too while I was down there but no such luck..hmp!! I'm still holding my grudge about that BLT ! :ROFLOL:

 

[WDW_Princess24]

September 29 2011 cont..

This is turning out to be one hell of a long day here huh??

So after a morning at MK, lunch at AKL, and a spin around Epcot we headed back to the resort to get ready for the night. We had an ADR at Kona Cafe so we got cleaned up and all pretty and to the Poly we went!

This was our first time at Poly and...WOW..swoon! It's like being in another world, I swear, if you didn't know any better you would swear you were on an island somewhere! We had taken the monorail in from MK and checked in, we did have to wait about 20 min past our reservation time and of coarse me being a worry wart, I started to worry we wouldn't finish dinner in time for Wishes!

It wasn't long after we were seated that our waiter ( I can't remember his name but he was from Cuba and he had crystal blue eyes..loves it!) brought us this...

OH MY GOD! This bread was pure crack I swear, how else could it be explained!! I literally had to beg our waiter to take it away for fear I would devour the entire loaf! The Kona bread and macadamia nut butter is worth the trip alone..yummy!!

I wasn't too hungry and didn't want a giant meal so I had the crab cake appetizer which I really enjoyed

and the Kona salad appetizer

Now...don't shoot but...I wasn't a fan of the Kona salad. Blasphemy, I know! Fruit in salad is a no for me so I ordered without but there was still something about the taste I wasn't loving (I'm even picky about lettuce, ridiculous, I know)

Ryan had the coconut almond chicken which he said was awesome

I really wanted to try the Kona cone but there was no way I was going to able to eat that so we skipped dessert and headed for the beach! I had been reading for months that you have to watch Wishes from the beach at the Poly so it was on my agenda, of coarse on my way there I stopped to check out the volcano pool!

We found a lounge chair right by the water, I was so excited to get my feet in the sand! We arrived about 10 minutes before 9pm and before we knew it, it was showtime!

As luck would have it right as Wishes was about to start my camera died..boo :fork:

The view did not disappoint, but although they had the music coming through the speakers it sounded kind of far away and muffled, I only wish it could have been louder. The whole time Ryan kept looking to our right and asking me what "that" was. "That" I told him, was sunset point.

After the fireworks we were getting ourselves together and the people who were up on sunset point left, so we ran up. I think I was on a cloud up there, we both just stood there looking at the castle and I started to cry uncontrollably. I thought of Holly and Brett and now I understood the way she felt about that spot. It was so calm and peaceful and just one of the most beautiful things I have ever seen. We stayed there for what seemed like forever, or about 15 minutes just happy and in love, it was a feeling, a moment, a night neither of will ever forget...THANK YOU POLY!

We knew we had to get the monorail back to MK We before it stopped running so as much as we didn't want to leave, we had to. Standing at the platform waiting we both just kept shaking our heads about what had just happened. Neither of us have ever had a rush of emotions the way we did up there. It wasn't long before the monorail arrived and we jumped on board, headed to MK, grabbed our bus back to ______ and called it a night! We were both exhausted, running on 5 hours of sleep, and we knew it was going to be another early morning!

Up next: A quick spin around AK and a platypus nearly has a heat stroke at HS!

 

[disneyny]

Enjoying your trip report! I love to read these and live vicariously through everyone. Very neat about sunset point and I need some of that bread!

 

[WDW_Princess24]

September 30 2011

By 730am we were up and out trying to make it to EMH at AK. When we got there it was a zoo..(ba-da-bum)

It actually took us about 15 minutes to get through the turnstiles. Partially because of the crowds and partially because they had about 5 turnstiles open. Once we finally got through we were on a mission, finish what we wanted to do in under 2hours..gasp!

We zoomed past the tree of life, skipping a bugs life which we normally do

Before long the mountain came into view

I may be crucified for this too but neither of us like EE, at all. In fact we both think it is terrible. Yes, the theme is spectacular, but the ride itself is less than exciting. Keep in mind that where we are in the northeast we have access to so many coasters at so many different parks that this just doesn't stack up for us, especially without the yeti. Never the less, here we are ready for our "forbidden journey"

Oh no! What happened to the track??

The projection yeti was out in full swing, no disco though. I don't see them ever fixing that thing..lame!

We jumped off and ran over to Dinoland to do Dinosaur, without any wait, and hit up Primeval Whirl.

Mirror shot + bunny ears...HollyBelle!!

By the time we got off the whirl it was almost time for the park to open to everyone so we high tailed it out of there and over to Africa to head out on our two week safari! This is one of my favorite things to do in the world! I love animals and I love being so close to them! Our guide was GREAT! She was so funny and enthusiastic.

GIRAFFE!!

The baby elephant was our with it's mama..too cute!

I was hoping because it was still early in the morning that we would see the line awake since he is normally just sleeping but neither of them were out let alone awake! After we caught the poachers and returned we decided to make our way out but not without stopping for a photopass pic of coarse!