Salute To The Troops Trip Report-Part 1 May 2-7

TakeMeThere81 · May 19, 2009

Next we went over to the other side of FutureWorld to check out some of the headliners and experience new fun. Both Mission:Space and TT were 30 minute waits so we halved our tickets and got FPs for both.

Then we walked over to see Universe of Energy.

It was pretty full but once the show turned into a ride you could tell the ride vehicles weren't very full. Oh well, we enjoyed it!! Ellen is so funny and Caleb got off (surprisingly) telling me it was one of the best things he had seen so far.

** I do have to say though, that the prehistoric scene is a little scary for small kids. Mine did ok, but I'd never rode UoE before and as I was seeing the scary stuff myself, I was holding my breath before one of my kids started screaming. There are loud roars from a supposed T-Rex and a scary looking prehistoric serpent. The really crappy thing is that even if your kid gets freaked out, I'm pretty sure there is no getting off this ride because of the way it functions. So anyway, its not as scary and intense as Dinosaur, and this scene is over fairly quickly. My kids did ok, but others may not.

After UoE our FPs were up but I peaked over to Wonders of Life pavillion and saw this

According to the International Flower and Garden Festival Pamphlet, it is being used for "Garden Town Discoveries" Fri-Sun. It includes different workshops. We were there on a Tuesday though I believe.

What's the deal with the real Wonders of Life attractions? Are they ever re-opening???

So next we headed over to Mission: Space green, we always do green. Caleb and Samuel went with me first.

I have to mention there was the most obnoxious group of teenagers in front of us...I guess I don't have a ton of patience for teenagers who say and do things overly revealing in front of my kids. That's all I'll say...at least we got our own space ship for the ride

After I went, I swapped out Aaron with Ben and he took the boys again. I took Aaron over to the fun Pixie Hollow play area. I tried to experience all of the IF&G stuff that I could. Pixie Hollow was really cool and Aaron really enjoyed the playground. One problem was that it was getting hot and it felt 10X hotter at the playground because they'd used black mulch. I believe it was recycled rubber which is a really good earth-friendly idea but the playground was smokin' hot!! Aaron made the mistake of taking his crocs off for a second and immediately regretted it because the mulch burnt his feet!! Needless to say, we didn't stay too long, we went and got a cold drink instead and waited for the other boys.

Test Track:

HollyBelle · May 19, 2009

TakeMeThere81 said:
Now back in November we were here and I noticed that where there used to be a railing, now there is only vegetation. I think it looks much better. I imagine too many kids were hanging off the railing like my sons.

(Here's the hanging off the rails I was talking about-pic from November)

I didn't know they did this... and it's amazing how much of a difference a little bit of green makes. Love it... and the continuation of your trip report, of course

.

TakeMeThere81 · May 20, 2009

Once we were finished at Test Track, we headed over to World Showcase for our reservation at Biergarten in Germany, one of our favorite places! And I took a ton of pics around Germany

TakeMeThere81 · May 20, 2009

Biergarten:

DH had no problem getting into the spirit with his BIG BEER

And we came up with this fun pose

Funniest part was that after he saw Daddy pose, Samuel picked up the paper drink menu and did the pose himself, his idea-lol

Unfortunately, we only caught the tail end of the stage show, but it was still fun. I especially love the warm potato salad and the salmon. DH loves the brats and other authentically German meats.

We all took turns wearing the Sorcerer Mickey Hat! Great thing is that we bring our hats from previous trips. This one is from our June 2007 trip and the Pluto one is from November 2008. Caleb bought a big Birthday Cake hat back in January but since no one was celebrating this time, it stayed at home on his desk in his room

TakeMeThere81 · May 20, 2009

After our late lunch, and a wonderful rest, we started over and went back to Mexico.

This is at Showcase Plaza, looking back at FutureWorld near the walkway from Showcase Plaza to Test Track

Friendship Landing at Showcase Plaza

I love the views across World Showcase Lagoon. Let me give you a little tour...

Ok, so you are standing at Showcase Plaza.

Look right, toward France/International Gateway, it is a far-away shot

Look right-ish, and you'll see Morocco

Scan left and you'll see Japan and some of the American Adventure

Zoom in on the American Adventure

Continue and you'll see Italy

Zoom in between Italy and Germany

Then Germany

TakeMeThere81 · May 20, 2009

Day 3: EPCOT

Continue left and you still just see Italy and Germany. Mexico gets in the way from this view

Later, this will be a huge torch for Illuminations!

sleepybear · May 20, 2009

TakeMeThere81 said:
Look right-ish, and you'll see Morocco

I love this picture because it shows how smart the Imagineers are. Behind Morocco, you can clearly see the Tower of Terror in the distance. But it blends in so well with the Moroccan architecture that you barely notice it.

TakeMeThere81 · May 20, 2009

Day 3: EPCOT

Mexico!!!

I couldn't help but think about the guy trying to climb the stairs

Happy Cinco de Mayo!! I felt so happy to be able to celebrate in Mexico with a margarita!

Here we started to find more KidCot stops. There's one right by the woodworker inside. The art really is beautiful but rediculously expensive! Every minute we spent in there was nervewracking because I was so afraid one of my kids would break an inch-tall (yet $60) bird or something.

I had to get pics of my son's favorite characters, Donald Duck and his Fiesta Friends, Panchito

and Jose!

I managed a few pics inside, but it is tough to have them turn out with the combo of low-light/moving vehicle

TakeMeThere81 · May 20, 2009

Day 3: EPCOT

Norway!!

What happened to the Viking Ship???

Then we braved the trolls and went for an adventure!!

We'd gotten FPs for Maelstrom on our way to our late lunch at Biergarten. Man were we glad!! The line was all the way out the door! I've never seen it like that before. We walked up the FP queue and had absolutely no wait.

We waited and watched the 5 minute show about Norway also. At first it looks like a cheesy commercial, then it gets pretty interesting. It is short, so why not give it a try?

We also stopped to appreciate the large Stave Church Gallery and find our KidCot charm(a viking ship!)

TakeMeThere81 · May 20, 2009

Day 3: EPCOT

China:

We didn't really spend a lot of time in China, as we'd seen the acrobats on another trip and sampled the food last time as well. Although I'd love to see Reflections of China, my kids aren't ready to sit for those longer shows yet.

You have to shuffle the countries you experience each trip or you'll never see them all. So we walked through the Yong Feng Shangdian to get our KidCot charm, I posed for a cheesy pic with a Chinese hat(didn't turn out) and then we kept walking.

Outpost:

We crossed the bridge and let Samuel do some drumming

And we stopped to the right of the Friendship Landing (near Germany) to take a pic with the ball in the background

TakeMeThere81 · May 20, 2009

sleepybear said:
I love this picture because it shows how smart the Imagineers are. Behind Morocco, you can clearly see the Tower of Terror in the distance. But it blends in so well with the Moroccan architecture that you barely notice it.

Great observation!!! You are right, I have poured over my pics, editing and looking very closely and I never noticed it!! :wave:

popsicletrees · May 20, 2009

TakeMeThere81 said:
We waited and watched the 5 minute show about Norway also. At first it looks like a cheesy commercial, then it gets pretty interesting. It is short, so why not give it a try?

We decided to stay for the show last time too and were pleasantly surprised. Loving the report!

disneygirl1 · May 21, 2009

Awesome report! Loved the pictures!

sleepybear · May 21, 2009

TakeMeThere81 said:
Great observation!!! You are right, I have poured over my pics, editing and looking very closely and I never noticed it!! :wave:

I can't take the credit. I only noticed it after a cast member pointed it out during the Segway tour at Epcot.

TakeMeThere81 · May 22, 2009

Next was Germany, but we didn't spend much time there since we had lunch and hung out earlier. The kids did love the train exhibit though. It is a favorite.

It's NOT a pack!

It's my camera case

Moving on the Italy. It was starting to get into the evening so the lighting in my pictures was pretty unique. I enjoy this time of day because it is so relaxed in World Showcase. We also start to think about where we'll sit of Illuminations, as we realize (again) that we're not going to see every country.

TakeMeThere81 · May 22, 2009

We didn't do much In American Adventure either, except track down our KidCot charm and a pressed penny. I've gotten pretty good at finding the typical place they put these machines. And it was fun to "scavenger hunt" for the KidCot fun stops too.

On the topic of Scavenger Hunts, we saw a lot of people using the KP cell phones and it looked fun. If we had another day we'd do it. We were on a mission this day though.

We did stop for some scrumptious popcorn and I had to take this picture as a tribute to the "Grossest things in WDW" thread. lol

Japan:

We've spent a lot of time in Japan on other trips, in fact we usually take the Canada-to-Mexico route. This time we did the other way around. In Japan, we stopped for sushi and a little break. While at the sushi shop the weirdest thing happened. I was a tad buzzed from my champagne and being a little silly and having fun taking pics of Ben and stuff and some girl came up to me to ask if we had been "drinking around the world" because she and her husband were looking for a fun couple to do that with. In the fun mood I was in, I would have probably said yes had we not had our kids. But then again, I was glad we did have them because that would have been a weird memory...drinking around the world with strangers...hmmmm

Anyone ever have complete strangers ask them to "drink around the world" with them?

It was "kids day" in Japan as well and Caleb and I got our names written in Japanese. Cool!

TakeMeThere81 · May 24, 2009

Day 3: EPCOT

Well at this point, the sun was really starting to go down and we were running out of time to get the rest of the KidCot charms. I don't know why but I guess because at this point we had all but 4 charms out of all 13 had me motivated!! Caleb was just as into the game of finding all the charms so we hoofed it through Morocco and went through the marketplace to find the KidCot stop

I did take a moment to get a few pics

Then of course, we headed into France...

When we were here in November, this was a PhotoPass photoOp. They put in some flowers and there wasn't the same room to take pictures this time

THEN:

NOW: (why did they do that? I mean it looks nice but it was a neat little photoOp)

TakeMeThere81 · May 24, 2009

Day 3:EPCOT

Next I found DH who had gone ahead (not waiting for us to track down KidCot charms) and found a great spot on the International Gateway bridge to watch Illuminations.

Dusk from the bridge

Caleb and I walked toward United Kingdom and Canada to get the very last two charms. It was quite thrilling to think we'd have them all and be able to bring home a little token from each country. When we got the last one in Canada, we annouced, "We've got them all!" I'm such a dork sometimes

On our way back, I took a few evening pics from

Canada:

And UK

I was tired (understandably) at this point and excited for Illuminations. The music was starting to play and the torches were lit!!

I regretted as it got darker that I did not have my tripod but I did manage to take some pretty good pics just using the handrail on the bridge

TakeMeThere81 · May 24, 2009

Day 3:EPCOT

Then Illuminations!! (Next time I'd love to get a pic of the first firework that screams across the sky)

TakeMeThere81 · May 24, 2009

This one would have been so awesome if not for all the smoke

Our completed KidCot collections

The best part of the end of the day-Aaron didn't whisper a peep during Illuminations. Somehow it didn't bother him. He was sitting in the stroller facing the other direction and either he didn't know the fireworks were happening, or he was too tired to care.

Since we were exiting the park with everyone else, funny thing we noticed. Everyone kept setting off their car alarms to find their cars! We had to do it too-LOL

Salute To The Troops Trip Report-Part 1 May 2-7

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