March 2009 All Star Music Honeymoon Trip - Page 3 - PassPorter - A Community of Walt Disney World, Disneyland, Disney Cruise Line, and General Travel Forums
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Originally I had this scheduled as “Just Shopping” Day, for Downtown Disney. That didn’t happen, because we felt like we wanted some more time at AK, and after lunch, DHS.
So we headed to AK after eating a quick breakfast in the hotel food court, and headed straight to Everest (of course) and rode three or four times before it really started to get busy. Then we walked around and looked at some of the shops, rode Primeval Whirl, and walked one of the trails where they have the animals you can look at, although I’m not sure which one. (It had tigers, that’s all I know!)
We went on It's Tough to Be a Bug, and I have to say, I hated it. The show itself was cute, but when those stingers came out of the back of the seat, it hit me right in the spine and left a huge bruise on my back. I don't understand why Disney thought that was a good idea...but a nice man outside took a picture of David and I with the giant monkey thing.
We wanted to see Finding Nemo, but we kept missing the show times. We weren’t sure how long it would take to get to Downtown Disney for our Planet Hollywood lunch reservation, so we took off.
We still had some time to kill when we got there, so we actually DID get a little bit of shopping done. I found something for my dad and my mom, and something for my brothers.
I was so irritated when we got to Planet Hollywood, because I realized we had left the free meal voucher at the hotel, which meant we had to pay for both of our meals. I have to say, it wasn’t worth the cost of the meal, or the time we spent eating it. The air conditioning was up so high I was shivering even with a jacket on, my burger was overcooked, David’s food was cold, and the service was slow. We DID enjoy walking around looking at the movie stuff, and the music was good. So I guess it wasn’t a total waste.
After lunch, we caught a bus to Hollywood Studios so we could go on Toy Story Mania. LOVED that ride, let me tell ya! And I love the queue area, with all of Andy’s drawings, and the giant toys, and of course Mr. Potato Head, talking to you! Very fun. We would have gone on it again, except for the line and no FPs were left, plus we had a limited amount of time before Cirque du Soleil.
We hit Tower of Terror and Rock ‘n’ Rollercoaster one more time, did the animation thing again, and headed back to Downtown Disney for our dinner reservation at the House of Blues.
We were a little late getting there, and when we did arrive, there was this huge line that went all the way out the door and down the steps. I left David waiting in line, in case we needed to, and then went in to ask the ladies inside if they could still find us a table even though we were about fifteen minutes late. They said sure, so I texted David to come inside, and we were seated right away. Very cool!
I don’t remember what I ordered, but I remember I wanted to try something new and discovered that this “something new” wasn’t my cup of tea. But the portions were very big, so David and I split his, and his was VERY good. I liked this restaurant, and the service was very good. There wasn’t anyone performing while we were there, which is a bummer, because our table was right by the stage.
We headed straight over to Cirque du Soleil after this. This is possibly the most amazing show I’ve ever seen in my life. The tickets were spendy, but our seats were awesome, and I was absolutely fascinated by some of the stuff those folks were doing! We bought the DVD and program on the way out. We have watched it since coming home, and it is fun to watch even on a TV. We loved pointing out the differences between the show we saw and the one on DVD. There were four little girls in the show who were absolutely amazing! I don’t want to say more here, because ya’ll really need to go see it!
We left talking excitedly about what we had just seen, and going over our favorite parts of the show. We had bought sodas while we were there, and they came in these souvenir cups, so we had a nifty memory to take home with us.
Back to the hotel we went, watching some TV before falling asleep.
Fun fun fun!
Last edited by Jessie092408; 10-07-2018 at 02:49 AM..
Now, we had been on the BDP but hardly used any of our meal credits, so we still had 12 left or some such like that, and I didn’t want to waste it, so I walked up to the counter at the hotel and asked for help. The cast member there was very friendly and helpful. He asked “I’m assuming you want to use as many as possible today," and I was like, “Yes, please!” So he switched our dinner reservation at Mama Melrose’s to a lunch time reservation, and then got us reservations for the Yachtsmen Steakhouse for dinner, so instead of having 10 left over (good GRIEF), we would only have 6 left over. Which was still way too many, but we figured it was better than before. (Most of our reservations were not on the dining plan. NOT making that mistake this time!)
We wanted to eat breakfast at Epcot, at that little bakery in France? So we headed straight there and waited behind the rope at the bridge to World Showcase. When the rope dropped, we weren’t the only ones high tailing it to the bakery…we SPRINTED…and made it there first! Hehehe, suckers! (Just kidding, just kidding!)
After a wonderful breakfast of nutrition filled chocolate croissants and other yummy warm flaky goodness, and after licking our fingers and wondering if we should get more (and deciding against it because a tired looking woman with three young kids in tow politely asked if we were through so she could please have our table) we wandered over and did Soarin’ again, with minimal wait. On this trip we were in the bottom row and the top row of Soarin’. I’d like to ride in the middle, just because I’m convinced it would be more all encompassing.... You know, like you’re not really seeing the edges of that giant screen thing? Fully immersed. Any comments on that thought?
We headed over to Hollywood Studios for our lunch reservation, and checked out Muppet Vision one more time, sitting further back from the screen. Very cute. I wanted to try to go on TOT and Rock ‘n’ and TSM, but the lines were all way too long. We wanted some chill time, so we went back to the hotel, figuring we’d get showers and put on some nicer clothes for our dinner reservation.
The only time we had problems with the Disney Transportation system was that night trying to make it to Hollywood Studios so we could catch the boat to the boardwalk. (That was how we were told to get there. Now, I know I probably should have done DTD since DHS was so close to closing…but anyway, here’s what happened….)
Our reservation was for 8:00, and DHS CLOSED at 8:00. We started trying to catch that bus at 6:30. None were coming, and then, when one finally showed at 7, the driver told us he wasn’t going back to the parks…same with the next one! So we never made it on to a bus until about 7:30. By 7:15, I was on the phone with dining reservations, or at least on hold, but it was five to eight by the time I finally got a live human being…He thankfully found a table for us at 10:00, so I could stop panicking. (He’s the one who told us we should have gone to DTD. Oh well…)
Since we weren’t in a hurry anymore, I stopped sitting on the edge of my seat and freaking out, and David could stop telling me to calm down (I HATE missing reservations, especially when it’s not something I have any control over…), and the evening began to get fun again.
We couldn’t believe how long (and short) it seemed like we had been at the parks. I don’t know if that makes sense….on the one hand, it had a been a whirlwind, with us rushing from one thing to the next, but on the other, the real world DISAPPEARS when you’re in Disney World. At least for me, work was a distant memory, bills not in my mind at all, and stress minimal and not related to outside events at all. The next day, we’d be flying home, and it would all come crashing down again, especially considering the school quarter started the day after we got home!
We were reminiscing about our favorite moments of the trip as we got off the bus and then walked over to where the boat would pick us up. There were some ducks there, which we warily avoided after the earlier incident at Flame Tree BBQ. I hadn’t been on the boats before, so I was kind of excited, and it was fun to talk to some of the people waiting there.
When we got to the boardwalk, it was about 9:30 already. I don’t know WHY Disney Transportation was so slow that night….but anyway. We walked into the Yachtsman Resort and immediately felt out of place…We were the youngest people in the lobby, and they were all dressed up for dinner or whatever, and we were in khakis and felt like we stuck out like sore thumbs…It wasn’t the cast members fault at all…but I swear it was one of those moments where you walk in and everyone gets really quiet? It was very weird and uncomfortable.
We asked the lady at the check in desk where to go, since we weren’t sure, and she told us how to get to the restaurant. Once we were there, it was fine. Everyone was really nice, and we used our extra meal credits to sample an extra dish. That way we ended up only having 4 left! Much better than ten! Anyway, we loved our dinner. We both ordered steak and scalloped potatoes, and they were WONDERFUL, and then I ordered a salad that sounded really good, and that was our extra dish. Oh, and David ordered some sort of cheese sampler thing, which was wonderful as well. We had tea with dinner, probably an odd choice for steak, but we weren’t twenty one yet, so we couldn’t order wine.
David had some sort of chocolate thing for desert, which was to die for, and I had some ice cream which was very good. There was an oddly flavored ice cream in my trio, I can’t remember..basil and something. I never would have thought about putting that in ice cream. I ate the whole scoop of that flavor before I really decided if I liked it or not. It was different.
Us looking pretty wiped on our last day...I felt like I could sleep for a week!
Anyway, after dinner, we caught a bus back to the hotel, and then we started packing. We SHOULD have done that earlier, but we are procrastinators, at least on the way home.
We each only got about an hour of sleep before we had to be downstairs at 3:30 or some other odd time because our flight was so early.
We had a TON of luggage too, because we had bought a lot of stuff, and it was kind of crazy. We each had a carry on and then we each had a big ole checked bag. There were families of three with less luggage. Weird. Anyway…
DME back to the airport, and then the whole travel thing to get home. David slept the whole way. I read. And plotted in mind’s eye how best to get back to my favorite place on earth, as soon as possible…
I really appreciate all the comments on my first TR. I hope it was okay, and I'd love to hear what I could change next time if you thought something was annoying or something...
I was going to wait to post my PTR for September because I thought it was too early, but I guess I should have known better, because I'm seeing them for October already, so I'll probably get mine started here pretty soon!
Thanks again for taking the time to read this! It was really fun to write, I remembered stuff I had forgotten. For example, this bird:
Kept puffing up in front of the mirror one day. TOO cute. He thought it was another bird! (It was at one of the facepainting stations at the All Star Music.)
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Great last two dates at WDW! You all cramped a whole lot into each day! so much for sharing your trip with us! And I'll enjoy reading the new TR for your September trip!
I just read from start to finish - that was quick!! I know what you mean that it's never enough time!!! Another key lime pie lover here, I'm with David on that one. We missed Flame Tree on our last trip and I feel like we missed a ride or something. I'm so glad you enjoyed your ride on Jungle Cruise too, and that you made the skipper laugh! One of my favorites and it's always better with participation.... speaking of... how that you were picked for Indiana Jones!! Overall it sounded like one heck of a honeymoon. Happy planning for September!
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Tanya
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