RSoxNo1's 11/29-12/10 Trip Report

Hello everyone, I just plunked down $39.95 for 7 days of internet access while I'm staying at the Polynesian Isle Timeshare complex with some friends. My girlfriend and I are regular visitors to the world, but we brought along some newbies with us that going into the trip had varying levels of optimism. My best friend Ethan would be joining us, he didn't want to know anything before hand so that each attraction could be a new experience. My girlfriend's (Marie) sister Britt would also be joining us, she seemed anxious for the days leading up to the trip, and was nervous about doing any roller coasters or too thrilling. Her boyfriend Jeff C had been to Disney in the past, but it had been around 5 years. Britt and Jeff C will be leaving on Wednesday 12/3, while a friend of ours from college Jeff H will be joining us that night for the remainder of the trip.

11/29:
We first arrived into the Magic Kingdom at around 4:30. For the bulk of the day I was giving Ethan as much information as possible, pointing out details like the names on the buildings, hidden mickeys, etc. Marie was doing the same thing for Britt and Jeff C. We get to the tip board and see the following waits:
Splash Mountain: 60 minutes
Thunder Mountain: 60 minutes
Haunted Mansion: 40 minutes
Pirates of the Caribbean: 10 minutes
Jungle Cruise: 40 minutes
We knew that today's crowds would probably be the busiest of our entire trip. We immediately headed over to Frontierland to grab a fastpass for Splash Mountain, and to our surprise the distribution window was something like 5:35-6:35. Closer than actually waiting line.

We started out with Pirates of the Caribbean first, and waited 10-15 minutes. The Davey Jones fog screen effect wasn't working, and as we got off the ride, Ethan's comment was that he was underwhelmed. He wasn't expecting a ride like that too be that short.

We headed over to Jungle Cruise and got in line at around 5:25, and as we got there, the wait had just shifted to 35 minutes. However, due to a ride stop (which I don't recall ever seeing on the Jungle Cruise) we waited closer to 50 minutes. We sat in the front, with Ethan right next to the skipper (I believe his name was David, and he had a thick accent). He was one of the best skippers I've had, and everyone loved it. He did the "How do you know they're an African Elephant... they're from Africa" joke. And then later followed it up with, "How do you know they're Asian Elephants." Ethan responded with, "we're in Asia." and the Skipper made fun of his lack of elephant knowledge and then waited for someone else to mention the size of their ears. He enjoyed being made fun of, and involved, and I think from that point on everyone was in a good mood.

We headed over to Pecos Bill after that, I gave Marie my order, and then went to get Thunder Mountain fastpasses for Ethan, Marie and myself. Britt and Jeff C got stuck behind a big family, so I was almost done eating by the time they got to the table. I ran off to get Glazed Almonds for everyone in Adventureland. There was no line when I got to the stand, but she didn't have any bags. I guess each back makes 7 bags (although admittedly, 2 of the 5 bags I got were much larger than the other 3). I bought 5 bags, and the accumulating line behind me got pretty agitated by my emptying them out of almonds again (although another batch was on the way out).

After dinner we went on Splash Mountain, and we weren't sure how Britt was gonna do on a thrill ride. She, and everyone else loved it. Most of the effects seem to be working, although the animation of some of the faces was a bit off, and the Brer Rabbit/Fox/Bear projection going over the hill was faint. The hopping Brer Rabbit was working fine, but I rememer there being a bush in the center for him to circle, and that appears to have been removed.

After Splash Mountain, Ethan, Marie and I went over to Thunder Mountain while Britt and Jeff C went to the Shootin' Arcade. We met up with them after wards at the Haunted Mansion. Marie was able to find the hidden Mickey behind the singing opera singer in the graveyard that I have yet to find. I wasn't in her doombuggy as I was pointing things out to Ethan in ours.

It was getting closer to 9 (Fireworks) at this time, and Jeff C had been pushing for getting over to Buzz Lightyear. We walked in that direction, but we saw that PhilHarmagic was just being let in, so we walked right in, got a seat kinda towards the edge (which made the animation somewhat worse), but everyone seemed to love the show. We had just enough time to get a fastpass for Buzz, and then head back to Main Street for Wishes. After one of the pseudo endings for Wishes we heard someone say, "That better not be it" resulting in some laughs from our group. As it ended, Ethan was quick to retort, "Now that's more like it."

Like a salmon swimming upstream we headed back over to Tomorrowland for Buzz Lightyear, but first we got another fast pass. The rest of the night included 2 trips on Buzz, a trip in the TTA, a showing of Monster's Inc, and back to main street to watch the 10 PM Spectromagic. Marie was quite proud of the idea that we should go on the TTA. Her hope was that Britt would see Space Mountain and maybe be intrigued. Although she hasn't admitted this to us yet, we heard he say to Jeff C, "that doesn't look so bad." Perhaps on the return trip to the Magic Kingdom on Tuesday she'll be interested in trying it out. We're off to Animal Kingdom on 11/30 (probably finishing at Epcot). We plan on leaving the timeshare by 9:00 AM. It's 7:59 right now, and I think I'm the only one awake.

 

[nepalostparks]

Thanks for sharing your trip... day by day to boot!

We last went in September, and I'm already dieing to get back to the World.

Enjoy the rest of your trip, I look forward to reading about it :sohappy:

 

[RSoxNo1]

Today we went over to Sea World. If I've been, I don't remember it. As a result, this portion of the report may be a bit convoluted. This was Jeff H's first day (I'll call him Jeff from now on).

We walked through the gates right at 9:00, and slowly wandered the park. Our first stop was the Sting Ray area where you can pet them. They felt somewhat slimy. I mentioned that Disney had spectacled Sting Rays in the Seas pavilion. Ethan was quick to ask if they wore glasses. I then clarified that they have the speckled Sting Rays not the spectacled Sting Rays.

We continued on to the dolphin enclosure. We didn't feed them, but we watched the 9:15 feeding frenzy, and occasionally they would approach the edge that we were at. They were more firm, and less slimy than the rays.

The next stop was the Alligator exhibit (they seemed to be the mini/baby gators like the ones in Living with the Land). Right next door was the manatee exhibit so we stopped there as well.

The timing of the rest of the day was somewhat muddled so I'll just try and go through the other things we did.

We saw three shows. One was pirate themed, and featured Sea Lions and a Walrus. I enjoyed this show, it had some dry humor, and wasn't too corny.

The next show we saw was the Shamu show (I think it was called "Believe"). Aside from Ethan and Jeff doing the Shamu "dance" for the remainder of the day, we all seemed somewhat underwhelmed by this. Most of the tricks involved splashing the audience. The whales were very graceful, but for some reason we expected more from this show.

The last show we saw was the Dolphin show (Blue Horizons or New Horizons). This one seemed to have more of a back story, like most theme park rides it's a simple good/evil battle. The acrobatics of both the dolphins and the performers were very entertaining. We had to rush to get to this show (it didn't help that we got lost), but I enjoyed this show the most.

We walked through the Shark Encounter twice. Hopefully my pictures came out well, but anything in an aquarium is gonna be tough, even though my camera has an aquarium setting. We all seemed to enjoy this. There was a big swordfish in the tank as well, but it was hiding behind a rock.

In front of the Penguin Encounter exhibit, they had a bunch of Flamingos standing out there and a wall of people standing around them to contain them. They could have conceivably escaped (as they weren't enclosed). It was impressive how they didn't peck at people. The cast members were telling people not to pet them, so you could argue this entire approach was probably ill conceived. Either way, it was cool to get that close to the flamingos. The penguin encounter was kept very cold, and I believe that was the first time I have seen Emperor/King Penguins live. Again, I hope my pictures came out well.

There were a few other tanks/exhibits here and there, and one major one attached to the Polar Express ride. First the ride, it was horrible. I never saw the movie, but I read the book. The pre-show was nothing more than playing the beginning of the DVD. I know this because at the end of the pre-show it went to a blue screen and we saw the display, "DVD Stop". The ride is a holiday makeover of a simulator ride. The screen cover went up to reveal the screen, unfortunately the screen cover hovered near the top of the screen throughout the entire show, and would cut into the top inch or two of the image the entire ride. It was meant to be a first person simulator, except they just took the video directly from the CGI movie, and only about 50% of it was in 1st person. The rest was just scenes, so we were moving arbitrarily. The 1st person portion was decent, but it just didn't make any sense to me whatsoever. After the ride, there are a few walk through exhibits for beluga whales, Walruses and Polar Bears. The lighting was low, so it was difficult to see the Beluga Whales, or take pictures of any of the animals. With that said, I enjoyed seeing them as they're not animals I get to see at my local zoos.

The Kraken was a fantastic coaster, but much better sitting in the front. We went on it twice, once in the morning, and again towards the end of our day at Sea World. It's floorless, and that makes it better than the Hulk. Take that away, and they're pretty similar in thrill. The Hulk has the launch, but aside from that, both coasters are largely based on speed and inversions. I really like the back to back Zero-G rolls in the Kraken. It's kind of a weird thing to have a favorite of, but I think my favorite type of roller coaster inversion is the Zero-G roll. I believe this may have supplanted Tower of Terror as Ethan's favorite ride.

The last ride we went on was Journey to Atlantis. I had low expectations for this after going on Escape from Pompei in Busch Gardens Williamsburg. I know I had read somewhere that there was a coaster element to this ride, but I had forgotten about it, and it was a pleasant surprise. We were done with the park by 4, saw some of the Manta construction (including putting a track piece in place, the track appears close to finished), and were satisfied with the park. Then it was off to Epcot to burn one of the extra days we had on our pass.

We were hoping to get dinner at Le Celliar. Oh to be ignorant tourists. We got Test Track fast passes (Soarin' was gone). Once again, the crowds were heavier than we expected. It seems that it's largely British tourists. This is based on seemingly 75% of the volunteers at shows being from England.

We went to see O Canada, Ethan continued his dislike of World Showcase (which I'm kinda with him on). I do like this show though, and Jeff enjoyed it (as well as any little thing that was going on on the streets or in a pavilions post show).

Jeff, Marie and I went to ride the Gran Fiesta Tour, while Ethan went to get a beer in Germany. Jeff is distracted by anything shiny, noisy, or that moves. He's 25 years old, and we're thinking about getting him a child's leash. Needless to say we stopped to watch some Mariachi Performers before going on the ride.

After this we continued on to Norway, where all 4 of us waited about 15 minutes to ride Maelstrom. Despite our protests, Jeff also insisted we stay and watch the Spirit of Norway. That's twice on this trip. 2 more times that my previous 10 trips combined. That's a major deterrent to bringing newbies. There was a stage performance in Norway that once again distracted Jeff so we stopped to watch. I decided then would be a good time to go get Glazed Almonds. They didn't have any ready, so I got Pecans instead. They were pretty good, a little softer than the Almonds, I guess I'm indifferent towards which one I like better. I got back to the Norway pavilion. Ethan was ed at me for leaving them to watch the Norweigen Santa Claus and what looked like the Swiss Miss Girl.

We went to Lotus Blossom for dinner, and on the way out there were Chinese Acrobats that were absolutely amazing. Ethan and I were quick to shout out our timeshare, and room numbers. I'm expecting a knock any minute (Don't tell Marie).

After Dinner we went over to Test Track, got in the fastpass line, and then the ride broke down. We still had a fastpass tickets, so we hopped over into the single riders line to leave the queue. We went over to Mission Space. Marie and I were on the Green Team (Less Intense), Jeff and Ethan were on the Orange Team (More Intense). I think it's safe to call this ride a failure. I enjoy it, as do others, but it never reached the status it should based on the investment that was made into it. After the ride, Jeff was once again distracted by the games in the post show. I shouldn't complain because he's thoroughly enjoying himself, and is captivated by everything Disney.

We went back to Test Track after Mission Space and it was up and running again. The fastpass line was backed up, but they prioritized it so we got in pretty quickly. Fortunately the on board video was working correctly this time. Jeff seemed to enjoy this more than the other two big rides at Epcot as our next stop was Soarin'.

We got over there at around 8:50, the posted wait time was 30 minutes, we waited about 25, and this is the first time I had any substantial wait in the standby queue. I have been in the fastpass line all but one other time (a few days ago when we arrived at 9:25 and wait all of 5 minutes). On an old episode of WDW Today they mentioned a surprise in the Hang glider scene. For those of you that don't know there's a rainbow on the bottom of the screen. The ocean scents didn't seem to be working in either the Ocean crashing over the rocks scene or the surfing scene. It was a few minutes until Illuminations so we rushed over to an area between Canada and the International Gateway. After the main show finale, Jeff turned to me and said, "that was incredible" I told him to keep watching, there's an additional holiday tag that uses as many shells as the previous 15 minutes (not sure if that's true, I heard it on one of the many Disney Podcasts I listen to). I love the feeling of the ground shaking at the very end. As we walked towards Mouse Gear, Jeff said that Illuminations blew away any fireworks show he'd ever scene, including Boston on the 4th of July (which is typically like 25 minutes long).

We did some shopping (although I think only Jeff bought anything), and then we headed back to the timeshare. Tomorrow we're going back to Universal in hopes of avoiding the crowds again, and then the rest of the trip will be Disney.

 

[RSoxNo1]

Friday 12/5

The plan for today was to mirror Wednesday's day at Universal/Islands of Adventure. We went back before the Macy's Day Parade/Grinchmas started (it starts tomorrow), in an attempt to save time with lines. The lines were heavier today. We waited close to 40 minutes for Jaws, and that was the longest wait of the day.

Some other thoughts. The level of international people was noticeable. I know people on here have mentioned Brazilian tour groups as being problematic in the past. We really only noticed it in shows, but unfortunately there was a group in front of us at almost every ride causing us to have longer waits. It definitely seems that the theme parks are relying on international tourism more than domestic tourism right now. Additionally, the entrance to Islands of Adventure/Lost city of Atlantis theming, seems similar to the Adventure's Club exterior. Having never been to the Adventurer's club, I can't really compare, but if someone has been there, they may also see similarities. I know that several imagineers were lifted for the creation of Islands of Adventure, hence Dueling Dragons stemming from Dragon Towers. Incidentally, we saw a rat in the queue of Dueling Dragons today.

Before we get into the attractions, the surveyors were relentless today. Some were outright rude when we tried to ignore them. We were stopped by 1 or 2 on Wednesday, and we warned the easily distracted Jeff that they'll rope you into a conversation very quickly. Of course, he fell victim to the first one that approached us, and learned his lesson. Throughout the day, we were approached by at least ten people with surveys. We tried to come up with different ways to say no, but after a while it got to being beyond excessive.

So we started at Universal Studios, and the crowds were heavier from the start. What's frustrating is that they don't operate the parks anywhere near capacity. The Simpsons ride was running at most 50% of capacity, Jaws had at most 3 boats running, The Hulk, Fire and Ice, each only had one car running. The water rides were also running at a lower capacity, but that didn't really affect lines. It took us until around 3:00 to get through Universal Studios this time, compared to aroudn 1:00-1:30 on Wednesday. We skipped the Animal Actors Show, and replaced it with Shrek 4D, everything else was the same as Wednesday. For Jeff, Ethan and I, the warm weather was inviting as there were several attractive women in the park. We made Marie wait with us on a bench, while we waited for a particularly "blessed" girl to walk by us again. I'm a good boyfriend. We initially planned on getting over to Islands of Adventure in time to eat at Mythos, but their operational hours of 11:30-2:30 wasn't gonna happen. We wound up eating at a quick service restaurant (one of a handful that was open), and the line moved quite slowly. One line for a cafeteria style set up as opposed to the multiple line set up that Disney employs. As I'm writing this, we're watching the Celtics game, Sam Cassell would be proud that we saved his home planet (The Green Planet) today.

We went over to Islands of Adventure where the lines were lighter. We started with The Hulk, Ethan and Jeff then went on Storm Force (t-cups), then Ethan, Jeff and I went on Spiderman, while Marie went to get some Ice Cream.

Afterwards, Ethan, Jeff and I went on Popeye and Bluto's Bilge Raft Barge, we all took off our shoes and socks, and wore ponchos. Ethan and I didn't get too wet as a result, however Jeff got soaked. Ethan and Jeff followed this up with a trip on Dudley Do-Right, I got a Duff Beer/Energy Drink, and Marie and I tried to hit them with the hoses after the big drop.

We all went on Jurassic Park, then stopped to get some fudge in Seuss Land before Ethan, Jeff and I went on the Cat and the Hat. We left at park closing (6:00) and stopped at NBA City for dinner. Jeff is a big basketball fan, apparently our waiter wasn't, which made his choice of jobs somewhat interesting. The food was pretty good, and most entrees were under $18.00.

All in all, a good day despite the increased crowds. We're headed to the Animal Kingdom and Magic Kingdom tomorrow for a very long day.

 

[thrupaytonseyes]

I have really enjoyed reading your trip report. Great details! I can only picture my mother in law being the same was as Jeff in the world showcase. Maybe we should pick up a child leash before we leave:lol::lookaroun! Enjoy the rest of your trip. Can't wait to read about it!!!!


BTW, I was at the Celtics game you were watching while typing your trip report !!!

 

[RSoxNo1]

Saturday 12/6

We started the day at the Animal Kingdom, and we arrived by 9:15. It was established early on in the day that Jeff was not allowed to learn anything on this trip, so Ethan and I took the responsibility of knocking “tracker guides” from his hand, as well as pull him away from any information boards that might tell him information about an animal. I was wearing a Trent Durrington t-shirt as a silent protest to the Animal Kingdom not having an Australia section. When we got to the area in front of the Tree of Life, there were some cameras set up. We asked some cast members what was going on, and they seemed as confused as us. I suggested that it was related to the parade tapings going on at the Magic Kingdom, one didn’t know what was going on, the other said, that’s probably likely. She also suggested that the guy being filmed was an extra in movies like Men in Black. Personally I think she was just making that part up. As for the parade at the Magic Kingdom, rumor has it that Miley and Billy Ray Cyrus were there, which certainly explains the largest crowds we’ve seen when we wound up in the Magic Kingdom at night.

So, after making our way through the opening exhibits (No Anteater so far on this trip). We headed over to Everest to grab a fast pass. We followed this up with a walk through the Maharajah Jungle Trek. All 6 tigers were out, and I got some good pictures (albeit behind glass).

The timing was right so we headed over to Flights of Wonder. It had been years since I’ve seen this show, and I think they changed it for the better. We all really enjoyed the show.

Around then it was time for us to hit up Everest. We got another fastpass before riding, The Yeti wasn’t working, and near the exit area break run, the waterfall was misting on us.

After Everest we went to Africa, passed DeVine, and went on Kilimanjaro Safaris and walked through the Pangani Forest. Both had quite a bit of animal activity. We saw 5 white rhinos by the flamingo pool, and a hippo on land in the Pangani Forest. My photos on the safari weren’t great, but were better for the walking portion.

We walked through the tree of life exhibits (the turn by the bridge in Africa, that runs by the exit to It’s Tough to be a Bug) and hit up flame tree BBQ for lunch. While Marie picked up my sandwich, I went over to Dinosaur to grab fastpasses for that.

After lunch we went to It’s Tough to be a Bug, and went left (away from the crowds) out of the exit, and back through the Tree of Life exhibits again. The porcupines were out this time, but we were rushing over to catch the 2:00 Lion King Show. Ethan was upset that we were in the Giraffe section again, and quoted Superbad in saying, “that looks like the most fun in the world,” in reference to the Elephant section. The good news is, the stage was working properly again so the tumble monkeys were in full force, including a new stunt I hadn’t seen before where a tumble monkey was seemingly bouncing like a metronome on his head. I don’t know how else to explain it.

After the Lion King we headed over to Dinosaur. Ethan and I had been planning on tackling Jeff for the photo, but I missed the cue, and it just looked like Ethan was giving Jeff a hug.

Jeff and Ethan wanted to go on Primeval Whirl. Only one side was opening, and fast pass wasn’t operating. The line said 20 minutes, it wound up being about twice that, and by the time they got off the ride, it was at 50 minutes. The ride was met with joint disapproval. While they were in line for Primeval Whirl, Marie and I spotted a couple take a picture of a hidden Mickey in the cracks by the parking spaces near Triceratops Spin. I checked hiddenmickeysguide and found it on there, otherwise I would have taken a photo and submitted it myself.

After Primeval Whirl we went back to Everest, and then finished off the day at the Animal Kingdom at Kali River Rapids. Despite the ponchos, Marie got soaked. We stopped at the stores, but didn’t make any purchases. I’m looking for a poster that has the Kilimanjaro Safaris logo. I really wish there were attraction posters for everything available. We were initially going to go to the Animal Kingdom Lodge, but instead we went back to the timeshare to change, and relax for a bit.

We got into the Magic Kingdom around 6:45-7:00, after parking at the Polynesian. Ethan, Marie and Jeff headed to Pecos Bill, and I headed to the Splash/Thunder Mountain area to get a fastpass. Splash Mountain only had a 10 minute wait, while Thunder Mountain had a 60 minute wait, so I grabbed a fast pass for Thunder for 9:15-10:15. The problem was a new fastpass wouldn’t be available until 9:05.

After dinner at Pecos Bill, it started to rain a little so we headed over to Pirates of the Caribbean. The Davy Jones effect was working, Jeff thought it was a waterfall that was going to dissipate when we got closer to it.

We got Dole Whips after this, although Jeff doesn’t like pineapple so he went with chocolate/vanilla swirl.

After the Dole Whips we walked right on to Jungle Cruise, and the first time ever we were on the Irrawaddy Irma. We’ve called my mother Irma for years, even though it isn’t her real name so this was exciting for me. Our Skipper was fantastic, his name was Doug, and he mixed in classic jokes along with his own spin on things.

After the Jungle Cruise we made our way to Main Street to watch Wishes. Jeff liked Wishes better than Illuminations because it didn’t have “the slow periods where we had to watch the globe.”

I ran off to get fastpasses for Space Mountain or Buzz Lightyear, Space was out for the day, so I wound up getting them for Buzz. However we wound up not using them. I met up with everyone else outside of Splash Mountain, and we went on Splash Mountain and Thunder Mountain. We went on the lower dock towards Haunted Mansion, stopping half way there at a great spot to watch Spectromagic (seemingly one of Ethan’s favorite things on this trip).

It was around 10:45 by the time we got to Haunted Mansion, I noticed that they had a new (to me) way of tagging the doombuggies that aren’t working properly. They have a thing that attached to the doombuggy that has the image of the bat on it. We were out of the ride around 11:05. Thinking the park was open until 12 we headed over to tomorrowland, and we saw that there wasn’t much of a wait for Peter Pan, we tried to get in line and they told us the park closed at 11:00. We headed out, and as we were walking out of Polynesian towards our car, Ethan and Jeff were singing Circle of Life. Jeff starting singing a voice I didn’t recognize saying “The Wheel of Fortune…” It’s a line that’s mentioned in the Elton John version and not the Lion King movie version. Anyways, I apologize that this day is late, but because of the time we got in last night and the maintenance on wdwmagic.com today, it will be posted along with Sunday’s report after we get back from Disney’s Hollywood Studios.

 

[RSoxNo1]

Sunday 12/7

We spent all day today at Disney's Hollywood Studios. We got out a little later than normal because Ethan insisted that one of us stole his entire underwear drawer. Turns out, the dresser had an empty area that didn't have a drawer in it, and he's just an idiot.

We pulled into the parking lot at 8:59, were at the Toy Story Mania fast pass machines by 9:15, and our window for fastpasses were for 11:20-12:20. We went back to Sunset Boulevard, wait about 15 minutes for Tower of Terror, and then walked right onto the single rider line for Rock 'N Roller Coaster.

We took our time getting to the back of the park, but still showed up relatively early for the 11:00 AM Lights, Motors, Action. After the show I stopped back at Toy Story Mania to get additional fastpasses for 7:30-8:00, and then we went on the Backlot Tour. They didn't run all of Harbor attack because it was in the low 60s, and we didn't get to walk through the entire prop area either.

After the tour we went on Toy Story Mania using our first fastpasses. Ethan scored in the 180K range, I was around 103K, I'm horrible at this game, I'm much better at Buzz.

Afterwards we stopped in at One Man's Dream. I hadn't been in there before, and it was cool to see all the models. We didn't have time for the show, because we wanted to get to Indiana Jones early for the 1:50 show.

After the show, Marie went to Tower of Terror to get fastpasses, while Jeff, Ethan and I went to Star Tours, but the line was too long from everyone at Indy. We all met up again at Muppets and saw that, then Jeff, Ethan and I went back to Star Tours, and got on in about 10 minutes.

We went on The Great Movie Ride, Tower of Terror, and Rock 'N Roller Coaster (Single Riders Line). It was a little after 5 at this point, so we walked around the shops, then headed into Fantasmic, got some Churros and Hot Chocolate, before settling in the center section about 15 rows up. Normally we end up on one of the far sections, so this was a nice change of pace.

After Fantasmic we went over to the Osbourne Lights. The snow was coming down on the streets of America, Jeff was quick to remark, "It's not cold enough to snow?" To top it off, as soon as they started dancing Jeff did his best impression of Sorcerer Mickey with an animated conducting of the lights. It's a shame I decided against putting together a video of this trip as this would have been gold. He was getting a lot of puzzled looks as Ethan, Marie and I were laughing hysterically at how ridiculous he looked. If anyone ever saw Elaine dance on Seinfeld, or Carlton dance on the Fresh Prince, couple that with Sorcerer Mickey and that somewhat describes Jeff's conducting. A slow motion dry heave set to music.

We finished off the night with Toy Story Mania, I continue to be horrible and finished at 106k. The plan for tomorrow is a few hours at the Animal Kingdom, then the Animal Kingdom Lodge, and then the rest of the day at Epcot.

 

[RSoxNo1]

Animal Kingdom Photos

Here's some photos from the Animal Kingdom

This is a photo of Everest taken from a lower section of Flame Tree BBQ:

And some animals. The Bengal Tiger and Hippopotamus are behind glass so you can see a bit of the dirtiness.

 

[Disneyfalcon]

Great pics! Thanks for sharing!

 

[smk]

I'm lovin it! Thanks for the details, thanks for the pictures. I think you should be a tour guide....

 

[DAKOTADISNEY]

Great trip report. Amazing animal photos!

 

[GoCamels]

One of the best TR's in recent memory...great job so far...keep it up.

 

[RSoxNo1]

Monday 12/8

Thanks for the kind words everyone. I have some more animal pictures that I'll post at the bottom of today's trip report. We left later today as there was less to do on the agenda. This meant I could sleep in until 7:45. Part of me can't wait to get back to work why I don't have to be in until 10 AM... ok that part of me is gone.

We left the timeshare around 9:15-9:30 and headed over to the Animal Kingdom. Touringplans pegged today at a 6, and we definitely noticed the crowds in the Animal Kingdom walkways and the lone Animal Walk through that we did. We started off towards Africa (after once again not seeing the anteater at the entrance). We got fastpasses for Kilimanjaro Safaris. The wait was listed at 30 minutes, and the fastpass window was only 35 minutes away. With our fastpasses in hand, we went on the Pangani Forest Trail. Keep in mind, we typically visit the week after Thanksgiving, and this was the most crowded I ever recall this particular trail being. I think it was just random timing as the waits for the Safari and Everest didn't seem to be too long. I got some good pictures of the Gorillas, but the Hippo was submerged (I think the other photos I got of the Hippo out of the water were a pretty rare site for me).

We still had some time before our fastpass hit so we went in the shop in Africa for a bit. I'd really like something subtle that has Kilimanjaro Safaris on it (a t-shirt with the small logo that I have as my avatar would be nice). I'd also like to see an attraction poster of that logo, or some of the other signs they have in the area advertising the attraction and the harambe wildlife reserve. I guess I'll have to settle for whatever I find on mousesurplus, and the print to order posters I'll be getting at the Art of Disney tomorrow.

We got onto Kilimanjaro Safaris, and our tour guide was the best of the trip through injecting some humor into the spiels that he had to go through. I know some people would discourage it here, but on rides like Living with the Land that are otherwise stale, humor could make them far more enjoyable. One of the jokes was used to describe the sign where they have the stick figures sitting, and then trying to get out of the vehicle, the guide said, "As you can see by the image, sitting is permitted, but interpretive dance is not." The safari itself was pretty good, although my pictures didn't come out that good except for the cheetahs and a Scimitar Horned Oryx. The Bontebok's haven't been on the Safari in years (or at all) and I wasn't able to get a good picture of them or the Sable Antelopes this trip. I'll be posting some of these photos as well as a photo I took of a Kangaroo earlier in the week.

After the Safari we headed over to Everest on the Single Rider Line. I guess the Single Rider line used to be with the fastpass, but they have since separated it so it's off to the left, a small roped off area that meets up with the standby/fastpass guests as they're being assigned to rows. For effects, not much has changed while we've been down here, the Yeti is still in epileptic mode. I'm sure Disney loves the fact that they paid millions for a giant stuffed animal. I really wish some light would be shed on what's going on with it. With that said, it hasn't stopped us from riding the ride. This was the 5th ride this trip, and we may hit it again on Wednesday.

After Everest we had lunch at Pizzafari before heading over to the Animal Kingdom Lodge.

We toured the grounds of the lodge, Ethan and Jeff were amazed by the lobby. Jeff was quoted as saying, "this is ridiculous." We then went over some of the prices for staying there as an explanation for why we were 15 minutes off property and not staying at Animal Kingdom Lodge. With that said, Marie and I have talked with her mother and her mother's boyfriend about a trip there doing the food and wine festival in September, so we may end up staying there soon. We walked around the grounds off the lobby, and the grounds by the pool. Most of the animals were far away, and although my camera is top of the line for a point a shoot, the optical zoom is only 10x so I didn't get too many pictures. However, we did see Zebra for the first time this trip, as well as Rowen Antelope, which I believe are only visible at the lodge. There's also a good shot of an Eland (at least that's what we determined it was) that will be posted below.

We left the lodge and headed over to Epcot. We got in around 2:15, rode Spaceship Earth, and headed to Soarin' for fast passes. The time for the fastpasses was 7:39-8:39. We got them around 2:30. We were gonna go on Living with the Land (as Jeff hadn't seen it), but the wait was 20 minutes, so we skipped it for the time being.

We went to Journey into Imagination as a bad mouthed it to Ethan and Jeff. They didn't seem too impressed, but seemed to enjoy the Figment Music thing in the post show. We missed the show for Honey I shrunk the Audience so we went to The Seas with Nemo and Friends.

We've never had to wait for the ride before, but we wound up waiting about 15 minutes. Ethan's comment, "that ride is much worse when you're huddled up in the clam with another dude." The Angler Fish and Nemo weren't movign, but the shark was moving slightly. Afterwards we saw some dolphins fighting, and some manatees doing nothing (which is pretty much their agenda). Several years ago on a trip down here, we went swimming with the manatees in some place my aunt knew of. The water was so murky that they could actually sneak up on you. One of them startled me, and I wound up kicking it as I swum away.

We saw Turtle Talk with Crush again, and it was enjoyable as usual. We went back to the Land to ride Living with the Land. We typically travel with my autistic brother and this is a must do for him, and we would typically draw argue over who would have to go on the ride with him.

The timing was decent so we went over to Honey I shrunk the audience. It had been a few years since we'd seen it. Inexplicably, the Unofficial guide rated this at 4 1/2 stars out of 5. That was more than the Haunted Mansion, and other major attractions. Although some of the effects are cool, I'm not sure the show is relevant anymore. Later in the day Ethan and Jeff would agree that they enjoyed it more than Ellen's Energy Adventure, whereas I'm of the opposite opinion.

We headed over to Ellen's Energy Adventure after that, arriving 41 seconds before show time. Ethan was upset as he had no interest in seeing it again, and was hoping we'd walk in right as the ride was boarding. As I believe I said earlier, I think the dinosaur portion is somewhat irrelevant, but I think Ellen is entertaining, Bill Nye is entertainingly awkward, and the experience itself, although long is enjoyable, albeit typically only once per trip. After this ride I asked Ethan if Epcot was his least favorite park, and he didn't hesitate to say yes. I wasn't surprised as he didn't seem to care for fireworks shows, and only seemed to really enjoy Soarin', whereas the other parks had several things that he classified as favorites.

I don't remember the exact timeline, but sometime before 7 we saw Stormstruck at Innoventions. We hadn't seen it yet. It was ok, nothing too exciting, but I did send myself something in the post show that I've posted with the other pictures.

We headed to the Mexico quick service for dinner. A note to myself if I read this before my next trip: the nachos seem to be bigger than the new combination plate.

After dinner, we continued to the American Adventure. Much to my dismay, Jeff saw the Candlelight Processional and insisted we do it. What's annoying is that we had mentioned this to him earlier in the week as something we could do with him, and he didn't express much interest. It should have been expected though because he is incredibly forgetful, to the point where it can be aggravating. While waiting for the American Adventure to begin we decided that Ethan and Jeff would see the Candlelight Processional while Marie and I go back to Future World to see what we could do there (we had gotten Test Track fast passes as well).

So after American Adventure, Ethan and Jeff watched Virginia Madsen in the Candlelight Processional while Marie and I waited 10-15 minutes in the fastpass line for Soarin'. On the walk back to future world we could see the Wishes fireworks to the left of Spaceship Earth. I never knew they were visible from Epcot, but we could see almost everything. After Soarin', we tried to hit up Test Track, we got over there at 9:05, and didn't hear anything. The cast member verified that it was closed, and probably wouldn't re-open. We got to see the cars creeping along the track, and I sent Ethan a text message warning him that Test Track would be closed.

We headed up to Mexico to get a spot for Illuminations, and as usual it blew me away. Ethan and Jeff made there way back to future world at around 9:25, got a little lost, wound up at Test Track instead of Soarin', and it just opened up for the last 5 minutes of the day, so they got right on without the pre-show. We met up at Mouse Gear, Jeff bought a few glasses for his brother, and we headed home.

We'll be at the Magic Kingdom all day tomorrow, finishing off with Dinner at Ohana for dinner and to watch the Christmas Party fireworks. And now, onto the pictures.

First off, a kangaroo being very ladylike:

A gorilla giving me a look:

Another shot of the Gorilla:

Cheetahs:

Eland (from AK Lodge):

Stormstruck:

 

[glendroid]

love this thread!

keep it up

 

[Badger Brent]

Love the kangaroo picture..Just to let you know I'm enjoying the trip report and keep them coming. Brent:wave:

 

[RSoxNo1]

Wow, today is gonna be a long one. Easily the least crowded Disney day of the trip. Weather was in the 70s. The park hours were 9-7, with the Very Merry Christmas Party going at night. I didn't realize that for regular park guests (which we were) there would be no fireworks or parade on VMCP nights.

We got into the park around 9:15 after parking at the Polynesian. They didn't give us a parking pass the entire trip for the Polynesian, but we did get a 3 hour pass when we stopped at the Animal Kingdom.

Marie and I stopped at the Art of Disney on the way in. I bought attraction posters of Splash Mountain and the Haunted Mansion, as well as a collection of 4 park lithographs that were $10 with a purchase of $40 or more. They appear to be approximately 11x14 and they highlight the individual park logos as well as the major attractions for that park (no Toy Story Mania though). I also bought a couple of imagineer books. I haven't looked through them that thoroughly, but probably will on the plane tomorrow. As we were at the Art of Disney, Ethan and Jeff went to Tomorrowland got us Space Mountain fast passes, and went on Buzz Lightyear.

Throughout the day we were able to get fast passes every 40 minutes or so. I may miss some in terms of the trip report, so in summary, we got fast passes for Space Mountain, Peter Pan, Winnie the Pooh, Thunder Mountain, Splash Mountain, Thunder Mountain again, Splash Mountain again, and Buzz Lightyear. The fastpasses stopped running at 6 as a result of the party.

In Tomorrowland, we started with Buzz Lightyear again, and I got 8600 points… no, that’s not a typo. I normally score between 100-300k, depending on if I can remember where all the big targets are. In this case, I’m claiming a faulty gun, as I think I only hit one target. Ethan and Jeff had 300K+ and 600K+ in their ride before us.

Jeff, Ethan and I went on the TTA as Ethan went to Peter Pan to get fast passes. He got back and we went on Space Mountain for the first, and only time of our trip. I rode in front, and the ride is still incredibly bumpy. That’s my biggest gripe with the ride, and I hope that if nothing else, that’s fixed with the yet to be announced refurb.

We went to the Carousel of Progress after this, and surprisingly, Ethan and Jeff enjoyed the classic attraction. They also laughed at the grandfather referencing car phones and laser discs.

After the CoP we moved on to Stitch’s Great Escape. It seems like the ride was started too early as one of the restraints didn’t go down, and the sound didn’t work for the first 45 seconds or so. Both Ethan and Jeff agreed that the Chili Dog scent was revolting. Part of the problem is that it comes back again later on for one of the other effects. They also didn’t really experience the strong scents of the stink bug or the skunk, as they didn’t seem to be working on our trip.

We went across the way to Monster’s Inc Laugh Floor after that (some time while we were in Tomorrowland, I ran up to get Winnie the Pooh fastpasses). The first time we saw the laugh floor was better, but it’s still an underrated show. We got lunch at Cosmic Rays. Marie ordered my food while I ran over to Thunder Mountain to grab a fast pass. We met back by Sunny Eclipse. After Lunch we went to Winnie the Pooh. Fantasyland was where we saw the longest waits for the day, but we had fast passes for Pooh and Pan.

In Fantasyland, we went on PhilHarmagic, Winnie the Pooh, Peter Pan, Snow White’s Scary Adventures together. Ethan didn’t go on “it’s a small world”, he was on fast pass duty (Buzz Lightyear if I remember correctly). Ethan and Jeff went on the Tea Cups while Marie went to get another fastpass for Thunder Mountain. At this point we had all but one set of the fast passes we would acquire during the day, and it was around 2. We were holding on to some of them for after 4:30 when the Christmas Party people could get into the park.

We went to the Haunted Mansion, were out by 3:18 to catch the tale end of the 3:00 parade. I forgot that it started in Frontierland, I thought we would be able to catch more of it.

Afterwards we went to Thunder Mountain and Splash Mountain. On the first lift hill Brer Frog’s lips were moving, but Thurl Ravenscroft’s voice was silenced. In the last scene of the ride Brer Road Runner was singing, but not moving his beak. We got to thinking on the ride that Brer Rabbit should have left the Briar Patch earlier. He didn’t exactly live in a good neighborhood being practically next door to Brer Fox. I didn’t mentioned this on the previous day, but the jumping water in the laughing place was working fine, but a few days ago, there was one permanent stream that went overhead, and we actually passed underneath. I’ve never experienced that before. The splashes were turned down throughout the ride, but I did get wet on the subsequent trip.

We went to the Tiki Room after this, and we all wish we hadn’t. I wasn’t a huge fan of the original show, but the Under New Management version is horrible. I think a simple compromise would be to allow the original birds to close with the Tiki, Tiki, Tiki, Tiki Room song before kicking us out.

Ethan had enough of Pirates of the Caribbean, so he went to check for a Space Mountain or Buzz Lightyear fast pass as Jeff, Marie and I went on Pirates of the Caribbean, however because they stopped the count at 6 PM, they were gone. Marie (Pineapple/Vanilla Swirl), Ethan (Pineapple) and I (Pineapple Float) got Dole Whips, and then we went on the Jungle Cruise. Our skipper was above average, but wasn’t as good as Doug the last time, or the British guy we had the first night of the trip.

We went back to Thunder Mountain again, and then Splash Mountain (using fastpasses for each of these trips as well). Marie and I were in the front, and I got some splash over the side.

We finished off the day back at Buzz Lightyear after walking across the entire park. I got up to 85,100, but still a very poor showing for myself. I believe Ethan won, with all 3 of them scoring in the 100-200k range.

I stopped at the package pick up on the way out to get the Art of Disney merchandise (not the print on demand posters, those can only be shipped), while Marie stopped at the Confectionary for some mugs for Britt and Jeff C. The four of us headed over to the Polynesian for dinner at Ohana.

People have said that the dinner has gone down hill, but we all loved it. The “announcer” that was running the stuff for kids sounded just like the lady that played Midge from that 70’s show. We sat down to eat around 7:40, and went down to the beach shortly after 9:00. We caught the end of the Electrical Water Pageant (I forgot the real name).

We closed out the night watching Holiday Wishes on the beach (It started at 9:30). It was a little shorter than Illuminations, so when we were walking back to the car we could hear (and feel) the finale for Illuminations.

We fly home tomorrow at 4:55, but before this we are going back to the Animal Kingdom for the Backstage Safari in the morning, and possibly a ride or show or two.

The next write up will be made back home in Massachusetts. I’ll also try to come up with a list of how many times everyone rode a particular attraction. Expedition Everest and Buzz Lightyear are going to be the leading candidates.

We also established some favorites for people. No real surprises for the Disney parks except that Jeff and Ethan liked Fantasmic the best of the 3 nighttime shows, and Illuminations the worst. Ethan wasn’t a fan of Pirates of the Caribbean at all, and looked at several attractions as things he only wanted to do once. Jeff seemed to enjoy just about everything, but joined us in the mocking of the Norway video and the Tiki Room.

Another point of note, Disaster would probably make my top 3 attractions in both Universal Parks, I liked the changes that much… trust me – I’m a Park Ranger.

 

[RSoxNo1]

Thanks to a 45 minute delay (so far) in our flight, I'm writing this in the Orlando Airport. All in all, we had a great trip, I'm sad it's over, but it will be good to be home, I just don't want to go to work tomorrow and go through the thousands of e-mails that await me.

Our last day was cut short by the flight home, but no less interesting. We were at the Animal Kingdom at 8:20 for our Backstage Safari Tour. Our tour guide Anita was very informative, and although she didn't have any insights into when new species have been or will be added to the Animal Kingdom (probably because nobody has the information) she was very informative. If you haven't done the tour, we started out by taking a walk up to Africa for the first Safari of the day. We caught a rare glimpse of the male lion pacing on his rock, while the female lion was sleeping below. I'll upload my pictures tonight, hopefully they came out well. We went in and out of some backstage areas, starting most of this transition after the train ride to Rafiki's Planet Watch. We walked through some of the veterinary care areas, and passed by a room where they were doing some work on a Thomson's Gazelle that was bleeding, but they couldn't identify the source of it.

After the tour of some of the care units we visited the Elephant backstage area (where two elephants were staying). Ethan got use the Elephant Trainers' bathroom. From him, "no trainers were in there, but there was an elephant in there wearing a shower cap and a towel." Some other points of note, the female elephants at the Animal Kingdom are not necessarily going to be impregnated by the Bull elephants that the Animal Kingdom has, but as part of the Species Survival Program, pairs are matched up through artificial insemination. I wouldn't be surprised if other animals at the Animal Kingdom participate in similar programs. Disney has also released two white rhinos to the wild, one of the Elephant babies is 6 months old (I believe the other ages were 3, 4 and 5), and another female is pregnant and due in 18 months. We also visited other animal houses but did not see any animals there, including the Hippo facilities as well the facilities for the Greater Kudu (which may or may not house other animals in the Ituri Forest).

We took a van ride back to the front of the park and came in behind the Rainforest Cafe, and the tour was over. We finally caught a glimpse of the Anteater (they actually have a male and a female that they alternate on show. The male has the top of a cage that he likes to sleep in, and whenever he's on stage that cage top will be in the right hand corner of the exhibit, otherwise the female is out.

We went up for one last Single Rider trip on Everest, and then back to Pizzafari for lunch (I stopped on the way for a Jalapeno Pretzel as I wanted one earlier in the trip. I was disappointed). Ethan had been complaining that we were in the Giraffe section for the Lion King show, so we showed up around 20 minutes early and sat in the Elephant section. One of the things that peopel should look out for are the Fire twirler and the Tumble Monkeys during the finale songs. They don't seem to have been involved in the choreographing so they wander around mimicking the other people and are very entertaining in the process (although the fire twirler seems somewhat awkward). Additionally, the larger male singer changes his headdress for the "Be Prepared" song, and then switches back for the rest of the show.

I may come up with some more interesting things that we did with the photo update tonight, but I can't think of anything now. Thanks to all of you that have read this, I enjoyed writing it, and I'm sure I'll look back on it in future trips.