TikiGoddess
08-30-2009, 09:13 PM
Sunday, Aug 16th:
We actually slept in this morning – 6:30am! No EMH or character breakfasts… just normal park opening at DHS. We had breakfast in the concierge lounge (can I just tell you… I LOVE the lounge. How am I going to get my husband to splurge on concierge next trip so we can have the convenience of the lounge…)
We arrived in the DHS parking lot at about 8:50am… which unfortunately got us into the park a little after opening. By the time we got to Toy Story Mania, it had a 40 min wait. So we shrugged our shoulders and decided to try and use our FPs from Friday a little later. We walked around to Star Tours and rode… Katie thought it was too loud and the robot was ‘a bad driver’. We started towards Muppets and Tim walked ahead to see what else was in the area. We quickly discovered the Cars meet and greet area, with one family waiting in line and a CM about to introduce Lightning and Mater! Julie was in awe – she’s a huge Cars fan. We got our pictures taken and enjoyed watching Julie smile. :)
After that we headed over to Playhouse Disney, which was just okay. In the past this has been one of our favorite shows, as the girls loved the characters, the music, and the bubbles. But this time we were seated so close to the stage that we couldn’t see the characters. Who designed this stage? There must be a better way to do this so kids can actually see.
Time for our 2nd viewing of Little Mermaid, just for my Katie. We sat in the very first row and got quite wet! You know how you feel a little mist during parts of the show? Well, the first few rows get doused, not misted. Ariel’s singing was a little behind this time… we couldn’t decide whether she was trying to be artistic (must be hard to sing the same stuff day after day…) or if she was just plain behind. Either way, we still did enjoy the show – and Katie’s smiles. That’s what it’s all about, right?
Lunch was at Pizza Planet! The kids liked the fact that we were eating in Buzz and Woody’s place. Tim and I enjoyed the pizza and the Mickey head rice crispie treats for dessert. I don’t know why this place gets knocked… I think the pizza is pretty tasty, and we had a fairly quiet table upstairs.
But if the girls thought eating at Pizza Planet was cool…. They were about to be really impressed! We walked back to Pixar Place for our attempt to ride TSM when we noticed that the Buzz and Woody meet and greet had NO line. When we had walked through that morning there were tons of people waiting… so this was a real treat. We really lucked out with meeting characters on this trip. I think I was as excited as the girls to meet ‘the guys’.
And we got lucky at TSM --- the CM took one look at our overdue FPs and let us in. I breathed a sigh of relief and silently promised to make it up to someone, someday. TSM was AWESOME. I love how fast paced the ride is… how it spins you around from screen to screen… and the theming! So COOL! Disney really hit it out of the park on this one.
We left DHS after that, as we had a special treat waiting for us. We drove over to the Yacht Club as Capt. Mike Scibetta had graciously consented to take us out on Breathless II!! Lou had arranged it with him for us. We took our time and looked around the Yacht Club beforehand, and my husband said, “Can we stay here next time?” I agreed with him as it is a beautiful resort.
Unfortunately we never got our ride on Breathless. We did get to meet Capt. Mike, who was the nicest guy. Breathless was having some mechanical problems but we did get to climb in and get a closer look (and some pictures). I hope we get a chance to try her out on our next trip!
To make up for the missed boat ride, we walked over to Beaches and Cream for ice cream, all the while looking longingly at Stormalong Bay. We were all very happy for the cold ice cream and the beautiful surroundings.
We took a break at our hotel after that. The kids watched some of Aladdin on TV while Tim and I started packing. We were moving over to the AKL the next day… I was so sad to see this part of our stay end! But we were all interested to see what AKL had in store for us.
One last treat before we left WL though… a short boat ride over to Fort Wilderness for Hoop-Dee-Doo! I had never been over to FW, or seen the show. We arrived a couple minutes late (as we had to wait for a boat) but in plenty of time for the show. Our table was in the 2nd row directly in front of the stage. The room is not big, so all the seats look like good seats, but I was glad we had paid for Category 1. Nothing like being right up front! We started off with drinks, salad, and very yummy cornbread. The ribs were a bit tough but the fried chicken was delicious! Everyone in the family agreed that the show was fabulous. The girls laughed so hard at Six Bits’ antics. It was a pleasure to see, all around – I myself haven’t laughed that hard in a long while!
We returned to the WL for some pool time (Tim and the girls) and packing (me!). After the kids went to bed I took a long walk around the resort, trying to take everything in. It had been our home for a week and who knows when we’ll be back here again. It is such a gorgeous resort – the lobby with its high rafters… the water flowing from the lobby to the pool… the pool itself… the view of Bay Lake…
We actually slept in this morning – 6:30am! No EMH or character breakfasts… just normal park opening at DHS. We had breakfast in the concierge lounge (can I just tell you… I LOVE the lounge. How am I going to get my husband to splurge on concierge next trip so we can have the convenience of the lounge…)
We arrived in the DHS parking lot at about 8:50am… which unfortunately got us into the park a little after opening. By the time we got to Toy Story Mania, it had a 40 min wait. So we shrugged our shoulders and decided to try and use our FPs from Friday a little later. We walked around to Star Tours and rode… Katie thought it was too loud and the robot was ‘a bad driver’. We started towards Muppets and Tim walked ahead to see what else was in the area. We quickly discovered the Cars meet and greet area, with one family waiting in line and a CM about to introduce Lightning and Mater! Julie was in awe – she’s a huge Cars fan. We got our pictures taken and enjoyed watching Julie smile. :)
After that we headed over to Playhouse Disney, which was just okay. In the past this has been one of our favorite shows, as the girls loved the characters, the music, and the bubbles. But this time we were seated so close to the stage that we couldn’t see the characters. Who designed this stage? There must be a better way to do this so kids can actually see.
Time for our 2nd viewing of Little Mermaid, just for my Katie. We sat in the very first row and got quite wet! You know how you feel a little mist during parts of the show? Well, the first few rows get doused, not misted. Ariel’s singing was a little behind this time… we couldn’t decide whether she was trying to be artistic (must be hard to sing the same stuff day after day…) or if she was just plain behind. Either way, we still did enjoy the show – and Katie’s smiles. That’s what it’s all about, right?
Lunch was at Pizza Planet! The kids liked the fact that we were eating in Buzz and Woody’s place. Tim and I enjoyed the pizza and the Mickey head rice crispie treats for dessert. I don’t know why this place gets knocked… I think the pizza is pretty tasty, and we had a fairly quiet table upstairs.
But if the girls thought eating at Pizza Planet was cool…. They were about to be really impressed! We walked back to Pixar Place for our attempt to ride TSM when we noticed that the Buzz and Woody meet and greet had NO line. When we had walked through that morning there were tons of people waiting… so this was a real treat. We really lucked out with meeting characters on this trip. I think I was as excited as the girls to meet ‘the guys’.
And we got lucky at TSM --- the CM took one look at our overdue FPs and let us in. I breathed a sigh of relief and silently promised to make it up to someone, someday. TSM was AWESOME. I love how fast paced the ride is… how it spins you around from screen to screen… and the theming! So COOL! Disney really hit it out of the park on this one.
We left DHS after that, as we had a special treat waiting for us. We drove over to the Yacht Club as Capt. Mike Scibetta had graciously consented to take us out on Breathless II!! Lou had arranged it with him for us. We took our time and looked around the Yacht Club beforehand, and my husband said, “Can we stay here next time?” I agreed with him as it is a beautiful resort.
Unfortunately we never got our ride on Breathless. We did get to meet Capt. Mike, who was the nicest guy. Breathless was having some mechanical problems but we did get to climb in and get a closer look (and some pictures). I hope we get a chance to try her out on our next trip!
To make up for the missed boat ride, we walked over to Beaches and Cream for ice cream, all the while looking longingly at Stormalong Bay. We were all very happy for the cold ice cream and the beautiful surroundings.
We took a break at our hotel after that. The kids watched some of Aladdin on TV while Tim and I started packing. We were moving over to the AKL the next day… I was so sad to see this part of our stay end! But we were all interested to see what AKL had in store for us.
One last treat before we left WL though… a short boat ride over to Fort Wilderness for Hoop-Dee-Doo! I had never been over to FW, or seen the show. We arrived a couple minutes late (as we had to wait for a boat) but in plenty of time for the show. Our table was in the 2nd row directly in front of the stage. The room is not big, so all the seats look like good seats, but I was glad we had paid for Category 1. Nothing like being right up front! We started off with drinks, salad, and very yummy cornbread. The ribs were a bit tough but the fried chicken was delicious! Everyone in the family agreed that the show was fabulous. The girls laughed so hard at Six Bits’ antics. It was a pleasure to see, all around – I myself haven’t laughed that hard in a long while!
We returned to the WL for some pool time (Tim and the girls) and packing (me!). After the kids went to bed I took a long walk around the resort, trying to take everything in. It had been our home for a week and who knows when we’ll be back here again. It is such a gorgeous resort – the lobby with its high rafters… the water flowing from the lobby to the pool… the pool itself… the view of Bay Lake…