Photo TR: Dan Does Disney, 8/21 - 8/30

Hey all! Just got back from another great WDW vacation, complete with free dining, tropical storm action, and three full days at Epcot! Our main intent was to drop my sister back off at college in the Tampa-St. Pete area, but this was also supposed to be regarding my college choice for next year as well. Unfortunately, both of my prospective schools (Florida Tech in Melbourne and Embry-Riddle Aeronautical in Daytona) were essentially under about a foot of water and above on our scheduled tour dates earlier in the trip. Disappointing obviously, but the irony is that I want to major in meteorology, so it's all good. I'll probably get the chance to go back in October or thereabouts, also, so it‘s not a total educational loss.

Anyway, after the long-winded opening paragraph comes an even longer prelude extravaganza of stuff around Orlando in the first few days of our visit. Because of our tour cancellations, we basically just toted around the Orlando area for a couple of days, so the aforementioned WDW pics will most certainly appear tomorrow afternoon. (I do have a job, folks.)

So, without further adieu or complaints, I present to you in amazing RectangleVision format, the Dan Smith tourist extravaganza!

We open this vacation with a special preview of Soarin' over Detroit! (Polluted rivers, construction and mayoral corruption can now be enjoyed from high altitudes.)

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The lighting scattered over the clouds made the sky look remarkably like a glassy lake with mist rising all across.

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It even comes complete with its own ghost ship!

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I only kept this because it very accurately describes our descent into Orlando. Just our luck that Tropical Storm Fay was unleashing her worst yet on the central Florida area the same night of our intended landing. I'm quite surprised that we managed to land at ALL... I mean, I love wild rides as much as the next guy, but I was damned scared of those crosswinds when we dropped like a rock onto the runway!)

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Indeed we are! (As much as I love the Simpsons, I love BTTF with a passion rivalled perhaps only by that one guy who hand-built an exact Delorean time machine replica.)

From what I recall, we ate at Olive Garden this night. Minestrone soup + breadsticks = Italian awesomeness.
 

dandaman

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
I more or less only had to wait a couple of minutes to get that. I think it was a 2-second exposure with my tripod on the 4th-floor balcony at the Pop. (Oh, and for the record, we got back early that night, so the time stamp was 10:04. :D)
 

Nicole220

Well-Known Member
Daniel! This is great. I love it. :lol:

And awesome pictures!

I want some of that chocolate orgy, er, wave dessert. :slurp:
 

dandaman

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Day 4: Kindavazu

Mears was employed to help with the bussing service this morning. Nothing beats getting to a park in five minutes with cushioned seats and footrests. (When it costs something off-property, however, Mears service generally sucks.)

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OMG, there's people in this shot! This is unacceptable!

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I've heard AK described once as "the best Disney park... before 11 a.m.". The heat was certainly turned on yet again today, with relative humidity around 95%.

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One thing I didn't like about today was all the glare there seemed to be in 75% of my shots. If the sky was lit up nicely, the objects around it were shadowed (as pictured above). Vice versa, if the objects being photographed looked all right, the sky seemed to possess some ungodly gamma radiation. Not much I can do about it now.

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I can't even escape to a forest on the other side of the world without being assaulted by advertisements!

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If you glanced at this and thought of new construction... you might be a theme park enthusiast!

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Yakkin' Yeti... attached to Germany's Kaufhaus, no doubt.

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Kilimanjaro Safaris… yeah, when you see a mountain anywhere near there, let me know. (Everest notwithstanding.)

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Like I said... no happy medium.

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This, however, wasn't half-bad.

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dandaman

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Eastern Star Railway < WDW Railroad

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You know that giant mural inside Conservation Station? Well, it has about a bajillion Hidden Mickeys painted into the artwork. Like this one…

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Or this one…

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Or these two…

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Or, my personal favourite!

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The well-trained staff appear to be playing a very serious game of "Got Your Nose" here…

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Finally from the Station, the smallest known Hidden Mickey on property. It's literally about half the width of my little finger.

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Random plant

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Harambe Jambo! (Obscure Disney Sing-Along reference. Don‘t lie, at least one of you readers own it!)

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dandaman

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Some Everest action before the main onslaught.

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The extinction of the world... sponsored by fast food!

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"Come now... to a land before television... a land before Jesus... a land after John McCain..."

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“I don't know why we built it, either!”

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Rode it. Done. NEXT.

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Ate at not-McDonald's just because Pizzafari was on the other side of the park.

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"Hey ladies... you know what they say about big necks... seriously, I don‘t know, help me out here."

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It was all right, but I still like Festival of the Lion King better. (I still believe that Tim Burton should direct Pixar's next film, "Finding Emo".)
 

dandaman

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Time for some REAL coaster action!

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Just realized the next 4 photos have a sort of zoom effect to them...

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It's even authentic right down to the translation typos! "Theses mountains"...

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Ze goggles, they do NOTHING!

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The pocket-sized map will inevitably place one of the least-popular but newer attractions on its cover. "Chakranadi Chicken Shop: voted best chicken in Asia by Theme Parks Magazine!"

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dandaman

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
"Guys, I've got an idea... let's all look really unsure about whatever lies ahead."

"Like a politician faking his vision for the future?"

"Exactly!"

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"As usual, everything is perfect on Asia's Super Skyway..." LIES!

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OK, so for the next hour or so I was wandering around... and I discovered TONS of paths that little to no people were using. This is actually the Maharaja Jungle Trek, which can usually see a lot of people thanks to Kilimanjaro Safaris exiting out into the area. Not so much at 4 p.m.!

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"Because he's the hero that Asia deserves, but not the one it needs right now... and so we'll hunt him... because he can take it... because he's not a hero... he's a silent guardian, a watchful protector... a bat of some sort..."

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Uh... well, that's the main reason I went on the Trek, but hey, I'm flexible.

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What can I say? Guy’s got style.

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dandaman

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
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Fibreglass tree photo montage!

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Right down there is where I took that last picture. Please note that there are hundreds of people behind me on the main path, and ZERO in front!

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dandaman

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
“Lovebirds”

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And so concludes the day at Animal Kingdom...

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…But so does not conclude the day! Tune in later for some Downtown Disney action!

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dandaman

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Day 3, Part II: Uptown Lower East Side Disney

Since Animal Kingdom closes at 5:00, we made a reservation at a Downtown Disney restaurant. (No, it wasn't Rainforest Cafe.)

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Cap'n Jack's had some good New York strip, my standard meal for most of the vacation.

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...But it was all about hot fudge-filled chocolate cake with ice cream and raspberry/caramel sauce! Tied the Chocolate Wave as best dessert of the vacation. (Yeah, they're similar... but this one has ice cream!)

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Totally not planned. Yep.

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Personally, I'd never buy a figurine that requires a second mortgage. (Yes, that does say $37,500.)

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“My Little Pony, Apocalypse Pony…”

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Thankfully, these horses are NOT apocalypse-related. (Do those count as Hidden Mickeys?)

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Ghost train! (Fun Fact: This was my first-ever Disney ride back in 1994.)

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"RAWR, I'm crazy Lego Ness Monster, now GIMME SOME BRICK HUMANS!"

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dandaman

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Once again, Disney fails at merchandising by neglecting to sell valuable "I got crabs at..." paraphernalia.

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I see the FOX Network's fall lineup is running previews.

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R.I.P.

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Is this locale overrated, with cool looks but subpar-quality food?

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...Who knows, Highlander?

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I never really find anything worthwhile on the West Side, and I don't think tonight will be any diff...

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HOLY CRAP YES! And only $450! (I bought the smaller $20 version... the last one, no less!) My souvenir shopping so far is pretty much non-Disney, but totally worth it.

And I leave you good people with a crappy shot of DisneyQuest. The next two days will be pure Epcot action, so stick around! (P.S. I hope you all read the Animal Kingdom portion just prior to this! Without responses I have no idea who‘s reading what. Customer feedback is actually greatly appreciated here!)

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Monty

Brilliant...and Canadian
In the Parks
No
Dan!

How did I not know you would be there the same time [roughly] as we were! :eek:

DS13 and I were there 23-31 August. A golden opportunity to finally meet, wasted. :(
 

MicheleK

Member
Superb TR so far, Dan, I'm loving it. I never got around to doing a TR after my trip in July (as my camera broke :() and I had no picutures to share so I didn't bother.

Keep it coming :wave:.
 

dandaman

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Dan!

How did I not know you would be there the same time [roughly] as we were! :eek:

DS13 and I were there 23-31 August. A golden opportunity to finally meet, wasted. :(

I was thinking that as soon as I saw your TR and the dates therein. I missed you in MK by one day. :(

Thanks again, guys. Epcot Part II should be up within the next couple of days.
 

disneymoc

Active Member
^I thought I already admitted to that! ("DMC-12" actually posted over at TPR as well.) :lol:

I post most all of my trip reports (especially Disney-related) on both sites, though I sometimes lean towards completing it at Theme Park Review first because their upload system is much easier (i.e. directly on the site). After it's done, I upload the aforementioned pics with a few changes in arrangement here and there on Photobucket. I use a Works document to then copy and paste the codes from Photobucket and the captions from TPR. :wave:

I don't want anyone to feel like it's a secondhand trip report, though, because many of the captions obviously still hold true in transfer. (That's why I've gotta re-browse my captions to get rid of inside jokes from Trip Report 1.0 and insert some new ones as per the site. :o)

P.S. With any luck, Epcot (Day 1) will be up by tonight![/quote]

Dan, you shouldn't be embarrassed. I was only giving you a hard time. I am happy that I get to see them both places. :sohappy:
 

MattyFresh

Well-Known Member
Great TR so far, can't wait for the rest and see how the trip ended.

One question, the picture of the building upside down.....where and what is that??
 

dandaman

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Dan, you shouldn't be embarrassed. I was only giving you a hard time. I am happy that I get to see them both places. :sohappy:

I think you and a couple of other people deserve my heartfelt sympathies for trudging through my twisted trip report TWICE. :lol:

One question, the picture of the building upside down.....where and what is that??

Wonderworks on I-Drive in downtown (OK, "tourist downtown" :lol: ) Orlando. Just snapped it as I was going by, only because I'd instantly thought of the Fay caption/hurricane damage thing. A lot more of my captions are on the fly than you might think!
 

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