Trip Report from 3/7 - 3/16

Hi everyone!

We just got back from Walt Disney World and I want to share my trip with all my fellow Disney fans. We were there for 10 days, March 7 – March 16. It was our 7th time going to Walt Disney World and we had the best time of our lives, as we fully expected from the happiest place on Earth. The group was my wife and I and my twin brother and his fiancé. I will post a condensed trip recap below and if anyone wants to read more in depth, I’ll post a day by day report below that tomorrow. Enjoy!

Day 1 – Travel from Cape Cod Massachusetts to Orlando Florida
Day 2 – Magic Kingdom
Day 3 – Disney’s Hollywood Studios
Day 4 – Day Off
Day 5 – Epcot
Day 6 – Disney’s Animal Kingdom / Magic Kingdom
Day 7 – Day Off
Day 8 – Disney’s Hollywood Studios / Epcot
Day 9 – Magic Kingdom
Day 10 – Travel home to Cape Cod

Total attractions tally = 111
Total time spent in parks = 85 hours
Total attractions that broke down = 5
Total new or enhanced attractions experienced = 13
Total pictures taken = 298
Total video clips taken = 60
Total burgers eaten = 23
Total hotdogs eaten = 9
Total slices of pizza eaten = 23
(Not to mention all the fries, pretzels, ice cream, cotton candy, turkey legs, bakery goods, and soda)
Total healthy food eaten = Some

I will post a day by day trip report tomorrow. In the meantime, here is a picture of us at the Magic Kingdom...notice my WDW Magic shirt! Enjoy!

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Hauntdmansion79
 
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hauntdmansion79

hauntdmansion79

Active Member
Original Poster
DAY #5 – Tuesday March 11th 2008
“Epcot”
  • Woke up at 7am and got to Epcot at 9am. Weather was warm and sunny…yeah!
  • It was SO GOOD to see Spaceship Earth without the wand on it. Me and my group have always been against the wand and this was the first time seeing “the ball” in its original form since our New Years 1997-1998 trip. Spaceship Earth never looked so good. I couldn’t take my eyes off it all day.
1) Spaceship Earth (We feel mixed about the redo of this attraction. We miss Jeremy Irons’ narration and most certainly the musical score. Entering the top of the attraction does not seem as grand and moving as it has in the past. The first half of the ride has amazing updates and looks better than ever. But the descent is so disappointing, it’s inexcusable. The touch screen is fun the first time you experience it, but needs to be changed as soon as possible to something better.)
2) Living with the Land
3) Circle of Life (never had seen this, it’s moving and well done)
4) Journey into Your Imagination with Figment (got picture with Figment afterwards)
5) Soarin’ (a first for all of us, and we loved it!)
6) Honey I Shrunk the Audience
7) The Seas with Nemo and Friends (A first for all of us. It was a lot better than we all expected. Well done, good length, great queue area, good effects, and a good catchy song. This is where I think video screen effects work well.)
8) Turtle Talk with Crush (We like this attraction a lot. It should be experienced by everyone; it’s not just for kids. This time we got a spot on perfect Crush impersonator)
9) Test Track
  • Lunch at “Seasons” at The Land, everyone got something different. I bit my lip during my meal, so mine tasty kind of bloody…I guess I was too excited to eat!
10) Spaceship Earth (2nd time)
11) Mission: Space – Team Orange (last time we vacationed to WDW, we rode this 4 times. We only had time for it once this year, but it was better than we remembered.)
  • Shopping in Future World (The guys bought our retro Disney World T-shirts, and the girls bought Minnie ears and sandals.)
  • Heading to World Showcase at 5:30pm. We spent over 8 hours in Future World…lots to do!
12) Mexico – Grand Fiestas Tour (Still good, not too much changed, but we still miss the old song)
13) Norway – Maelstrom (found 3 hidden Mickey’s in the queue area). Stopped for a snack and a rest in Norway (cookies and dessert.)
14) China – Outdoor acrobatic show and the 360 degree China movie
15) Germany
16) Italy – Cappuccino and a cineole
  • Dinner at Liberty Inn at America pavilion. Big yummy hotdogs! It’s fun to watch the hustle and bustle of World Showcase while enjoying your meal.
17) Illuminations (We watched it from Japan. As amazing as always. It brought us to tears. A true staple of Walt Disney World)
  • Shopipng in Future World before leaving the park.
  • Home at 11pm. Tomorrow Animal Kingdom / Magic Kingdom!
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hauntdmansion79

hauntdmansion79

Active Member
Original Poster
DAY #6 – Wednesday March 12th 2008
“Animal Kingdom / Magic Kingdom”
  • We woke up to beautiful warm and sunny skies. Today’s forecast is 80 degrees and clear…NOW THAT’S MORE LIKE IT!
  • Arrived at Animal Kingdom at 9:10am (man we really slept in today, we’re very late!)
1) Kilimanjaro Safari (great ride in the morning, almost every animal was out and about)
  • We waited in line for Everest for about 20 minutes. Then the ride broke down and they asked everyone to leave the queue. We were very nervous because we have never been on this ride, it’s the one we wanted to experience the most, and we are only spending one day at the Animal Kingdom. Let’s hope they fix it….and FAST!
2) It’s Tough to be a Bug
3) Dinosaur (Now we have been on this ride many times, but we have totally under-appreciated how great and thrilling this ride is. We all decided that due to this trip, this ride is going way up near the top of our list. I really think people don’t talk about this ride enough. Now with Everest in the picture, I hope people don’t forget they have one great thrill ride right next door.)
4) Expedition Everest (first time ever riding it and we liked it a lot. A-mode Yeti too! Yeah Baby!)
  • Lunch at Flame Tree BBQ (ribs, smoked turkey, pulled pork, and corn muffins…mad good!)
5) Finding Nemo: The Musical (we got standing room only. The show was impressive with all the puppetry, but the music is nowhere even close to Disney’s caliber of song writing)
6) Primevil Whirl (thought we’d try it out, probably wouldn’t do it again)
7) Dinosaur (2nd time) this ride is a wiggly jiggly’ good time!
8) Expedition Everest (2nd time) we were glad we got to ride it twice, you notice and appreciate a lot more the second time through, especially the Yeti (who was in A-mode again!)
9) Mickey’s Jammin’ in the Jungle Parade (got Mickey ice cream bars while we watched)
10) Kilimanjaro Safari (2nd time) our driver looked like Frankie Muniz and sounded like a slurry drunk surfer. We saw a lion stand right up by our vehicle and walk around and yawn, it was amazing!
  • Left the Animal Kingdom at 5:30pm and headed back to Magic Kingdom!
  • Arrived at Magic Kingdom. Parked in Pluto, trammed it to TTC, and took ferry to entrance. It’s great to be back!
11) Dream Along with Mickey show in front of Castle. Mickey is quite the ladies man! People who have seen it will know exactly what I mean.
12) Pirates (3rd time)
13) Country Bears Jamboree (sat up front and had a blast, as usual. Such a classic)
14) Splash Mountain (2nd time) yet again…wet, wet, wet. Next time, we’re bringing an umbrella.
  • Headed to Main Street for hot dogs at Casey’s for dinner. Everyone was lined up for SpectroMagic. We took our food and ate at the Noodle Terrace in Tomorrowland while watching the parade go by in the distance.
15) Peter Pan (glad to see it back open, it was closed our first day. Looked nice and clean)
16) Pooh (2nd time)
17) Stich’s Great Escape (three words, “Alien Encounter please”)
18) Carousel of Progress (2nd time) so close to our hearts.
19) Haunted Mansion (3rd time) hopefully everyone knows by now that this is me and Dan’s favorite attraction. The outdoor effects at night are so awesome now. The music playing outside the entrance, the good-old howling dog, the lightning and thunder, the lights in the windows, the ghosts in the windows, and the moonlight. It’s all so sweet. The only thing is the blue lights look really bad when viewed from Frontierland, they glare and look artificial. We had some GREAT cast members on this ride that night. It was late, around 11pm and my brother and I were literally the last 2 people on the attraction that day. The first butler targeted Faith (probably because of her Minnie ears and because she looked totally uncomfortable with him hounding her). He followed her all over the foyer and stretching room and after the lights went out, he ended up nose to nose with her. She yelped very loudly. Then the butler loading the doombuggies jumped on the cart behind us without us knowing. While going past the lighting windows and entering the library scene he poked his head around our cart and scared us. My brother yelped and jumped over to my side of the doombuggy and stayed there until probably the ballroom scene. The ride had never REALLY scared us until this. Its things like that which separates Disney from the rest. They did a great job!
  • Iced honey buns, cherry turnovers, and milk at the “Sweet Treats” bakery on Main Street USA.
  • Watched the “Kiss Goodnight” and left the park at 12 midnight.
  • Home at 12:30am. We are ready for another day off. We have never had days off before in Disney World and we thought we would stay a few extra days so we could add in some days of rest. So far it’s helping a lot. Hey, we’re not as young as we once were.
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Got to go to bed, it's past midnight. I'm so sorry I can't get the whole trip in this post at once. I don't have the lifestyle that allows me to be at the computer for more than a few minutes at a time. I'm home from Disney now, so it's back to the real world...sorry. I'll post the rest ASAP. See Ya' All Real Soon!
 
Mikester71

Mikester71

Well-Known Member
Great trip report and love the pics! Sounds like you guys had a blast. So was the weather that cold down there that you only wore shorts a couple of days? We have been twice during our March Break (Spring Break in Canada - middle of March), last year and 2 years ago and it was mostly warm (high 70's to mid 80's) both trips, say for a day or two both times. :shrug:
 
disney21

disney21

New Member
(i'll also add that it truly is an AMAZING picture of wishes). your trip report is great because it is so easy to read ! great job!
 
hauntdmansion79

hauntdmansion79

Active Member
Original Poster
Hi everyone! Thank you all for your nice compliments on my trip report. I hope you all will forgive me for taking so long on posting the rest of my report, but I have been very busy. I hope you hang in there because I promise to finish it as soon as I can.

Secondly, I have to say that I cannot take any credit for the Wishes picture that everyone has liked so much because it's the only picture I posted so far that I did not take myself. I found it online and posted it just to represent that we went back to Magic Kingdom that day. To make up for it, I am posting a picture of the castle at night that I actually did take myself. Sorry for misleading anyone.

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cymbaldiva

cymbaldiva

Active Member
Absolutely loving your report! The "off day" concept sounds like an excellent idea - I'll have to try to incorporate at least one into the next trip. :)
 
hauntdmansion79

hauntdmansion79

Active Member
Original Poster
I'm back. Thanks for waiting. Well Easter is over, we had a great day with the family and I am so tired from the huge meal. But I promise tonight I'll finish this report. I hope you enjoy the rest. I am enjoying it so much because it forces me to relive my trip moment by moment. So I've got my park audio playing in the background and my trip notebook in front of me. Here we go.

DAY #7 – Thursday March 13th 2008
“Day Off / Pool and International Drive”

  • The ladies got up first and went down to the pool to get some sun. It was a gorgeous day out, hot and sunny.
  • Dan and I slept in until noon time. Our bodies were feeling the mileage by this point, but that’s what these days off were planned for.
  • We went down to the pool to get the girls to go out for lunch on International Drive (so many choices for food and entertainment on I-drive, we were glad we took a day to spend time exploring it).
  • We had pizza and salads for lunch.
  • We headed back to the hotel to spend the afternoon by the pool. We swam and napped until it started to get dark.
  • Florida temperature = 80 degrees. Home temperature = 40 degrees. We’ll take Florida thank you very much.
  • Had to do another grocery shopping trip to Publix, because supplies were getting low.
  • Called home to check on the family, cats, and houses. All is good and that made us happy.
  • Set out for a night on the town on International Drive. We stopped at so many restaurants to see what we liked. Many of them had very long waits (some up to 2 ½ hours….sounds like Cape Cod in the summer time).
  • We chose the Red Rock Canyon Grille. It was very good food, very large portions, rich food, and a little bit pricey. It was nice to sit down and have a great meal though.
  • We got back to the hotel at 11:30pm. Back to the parks tomorrow for more fun and Disney magic. On tomorrows bill…Hollywood Studios and Epcot.
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hauntdmansion79

hauntdmansion79

Active Member
Original Poster
DAY #8 – Friday March 14th 2008
“Disney’s Hollywood Studios / Epcot”
  • Dan and Jeff woke up at 7am to go to Burger King for breakfast (hey, what can we say, we love BK, had a craving, and plus it was something we used to do back when we used to go with our Mom). The girls opted for something healthier.
  • Weather was cloudy and cool but predicted to get warm and sunny. Jeff and Carisa chose to make the backpack a little lighter by not packing the ponchos and umbrella due to the stellar weather forecast. Dan and Faith packed theirs. This is an important piece of info for later in the day report.
  • Headed to “MGM” for the morning. We parked in “Stage” and “Trammed it” the entrance. We totally LOVE “Trammin’ it”, we consider it one of Disney World’s greatest attractions and think it deserves a Fast Pass!
  • Our plan was to only do the attractions we feel need to be done and then spend the majority of the day at Epcot. So let’s hit it!
1) Tower of Terror (3rd time)
2) Muppets 3D (2nd time)
3) Star Tours (2nd time)
4) Rockin’ Rollercoaster (3rd time)
5) Indiana Jones Epic Stunt Spectacular
6) Great Movie Ride (3rd time) – It was so GREAT to see it busy, they were running both the gangster scene and the bank robbery scene because it was so busy. That’s awesome because in our opinion this is the Studio’s PREMIER attraction.
  • Park hopped to Epcot at 1:30pm. Parked in “Discover” and “Trammed it” to entrance. Great to be back!
  • The park was packed with people because Spring break was picking up, Epcot was open the latest out of all the parks by far, and Epcot had evening extra magic hours. We could tell it was going to be a challenge.
  • First things first, to secure a Fast Pass for Soarin’.
  • Lunch in Future World (Turkey legs and pretzels)
7) Universe of Energy
8) The Seas with Nemo and Friends (2nd time)
9) Spaceship Earth (3rd time)
  • Headed over to World Showcase. It was raining and everyone had their ponchos and umbrellas. It’s the first time we’ve seen it rain in Walt Disney World in at least 15 years. We’ve been lucky. But we’re not made of sugar and it wasn’t raining bad enough to constitute ponchos, that’s for sure, so we continued as is.
10) Morocco
11) The American Adventure (this is such a moving show and is one of Walt Disney Worlds greatest achievements in music, storytelling, and animatronics. It is so grand and epic, that it makes you very proud. Walt would have absolutely loved this attraction.)
12) Grand Fiestas Tour (2nd time)
13) Soarin’ (2nd time) – Top row this time, we liked that more.
14) Living with the Land (2nd time)
  • Dinner at “The Electric Umbrella”
  • Started raining harder so Dan and Faith put on their ponchos. Jeff and Carisa….well refer to the beginning of this day report.
15) Canada
16) Illuminations (2nd time) – Watched it from Canada in the rain, but it didn’t make it any less wonderful. One thing we love is how they play the Tapestry of Nations score right after Illuminations every night! Many people probably don’t notice this as they are exiting the World Showcase. It’s such a great song and I’m glad they have found a way to still incorporate it.
  • Walked World Showcase one last time. Walked Future World one last time. Said goodbye to Spaceship Earth “the ball” one last time. We were sad to go.
  • Late night meal at the hotel and in bed by 12 midnight.
  • Last day in the parks tomorrow. How are we ending it? Like we began, at the Magic Kingdom!
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Well, I lied. I said I would get this done tonight. But I have to work tomorrow and I need to spend some quality time with the wife. This takes longer than you might think. I could do it quicker, but thought you all would like a detailed report with pictures and stuff. So I'll finish tomorrow. Good night!

-Hauntdmansion79
 

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