The We NEEDED This Vacation TR!! 9/18 - 9/27 - UPDATED 7/5 - Page 2 - PassPorter - A Community of Walt Disney World, Disneyland, Disney Cruise Line, and General Travel Forums
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We slept pretty well through the night. When we woke up in the morning, I realized - it was pretty quiet. We originally were going to switch rooms because I thought we were too close to the pool, but it was fine When we'd heard the noise yesterday it was closer to 3 pm - when people are most likely to be taking "swim breaks" from the parks. We decided that we liked our room location and called the front desk to cancel the room change, because we're out of the room fairly early and don't come back to the room until well past "bed time".
Our room was on the furthermost corner of the 4th floor, so we only had 1 neighbor. I'm not even sure if the room was occupied because I didn't see or hear them at all.
The view from our corner of the balcony to the right - doesn't even look like Disney!
Lake to the right
And, our view to the left:
Now that looks a little more Disney
Before the trip, I was worrying about breakfast. Pat and I usually don't eat breakfast unless we have the day off, but Russ always eats breakfast. Plus, he's hypoglycemic; if he doesn't eat on a normal schedule, he could pass out and/or have a seizure.
I didn't want to continually waste table service credits on breakfast at the hotel, so we took a smaller suitcase and filled it with lots of breakfast bars, cereal bars, snacks, etc. We had no issue checking it on the plane (all the food WAS sealed, anyway) and it worked out perfectly for us the full trip. We even had some extra little things to take into the park with us. I definitely recommend it!
So we had our breakfast (some cereal bars I assume) at the room and headed off to Epcot.
Our first picture of Spaceship Earth
Spaceship Earth is one of Pat's all-time favorites, and I really enjoy it as well. I knew Russ would like it because he's big into history. He loved it too!
After we returned to modern day, we played around in Innoventions. My favorite game is that driving game.
After the ride, waiting to see when we came on the screen (not in this picture though)
People playing the games
I finally got up to Super Agent on the driving game!
After Innoventions, we went over to Club Cool.
I told Russ how awesome it is; you get to sample Coke products from around the world.
I did not mention that there might be one particular flavor that he might not like
This would be Pat's third time there. He should remember which one is the bitter one. I would never forget after the first time! But he didn't remember which of the group was the bad tasting one. Whoops
Which one could it be??
So, like any good sister, I just let Russ try them all. Who am I to influence what he might like?!
PLUS, I still was surprised that he insisted he liked Airborne at the airport. The taste of Airborne almost makes me dry heave. I had a feeling that if I pre-warned him of Beverly, he would pretend it's delicious.
Of course I made sure I had my camera handy as Pat and Russ tasted it
You can pretty clearly see Pat's disgust
Unfortunately as soon as Pat tasted it, he tried to tell Russ that THAT was the bitter one, Italy, the Beverly. He almost ruined my evil plan!
But, Russ tried it anyway:
He tried to hide it better, but I see the turned down corners of his mouth. I'll take it!!!
By the way, Russ made my life miserable up until 2006. One day he just turned almost normal. After all he put me through, I deserved this one little chance to make him suffer
Russ pretending to drink "a huge Coke". It's really just a piggy bank, but nobody has to know that
After Club Cool, we headed over to The Land pavilion. I desperate wanted to ride Soarin;. It's one of my favorite rides EVER and I knew Russ would love it too.
The stand-by line was a little long so we grabbed Fast Passes and then went to ride Living with the Land. I love this ride! It was under refurb when we were there last year, but I absolutely love it. I wanted to do the Behind the Seeds tour, but nobody else was into it, so I had to be happy with the ride. It was great though!
Can you imagine?
After that we went upstairs to watch the Circle of Life video. It's not a favorite, but it's worth seeing once, and it would be Russ's first time.
On the walls nearing the theater they have little Timon & Pumbaa signs with the distance. Russ was taking pictures of all of them. As he got right to the entrance of the theater he took another one, and a CM came up to him and said, "I'm sorry, it's a $5 surcharge to take pictures in this theater."
He looked SO scared! I wish I had my camera ready He started to apologize and say he didn't know but she told him that she was only kidding. I think that little conversation made his day
We saw the video - as always, sad. Some parts make me teary eyed
After we saw the video, our Fast Passes were up and off we were to ride Soarin
When we got to the end, where we were just about to queue up in our little lines and watch the video, I asked the CM if we could wait until the next "flight". I told her it was Russ's first trip to Disney and first ride on Soarin, and I wanted him to have a front/center seat. She was fine with it and we waited.
It was worth it! The ride is just as amazing as I remembered, and Russ absolutely loved it.
It was starting to get close to our late lunch/early dinner ADR at Teppan Edo, so we headed off to the World Showcase.
I think I can easily say this is the only fountain I've ever seen where the water goes up, and not down
Pat and I had eaten at Teppan Edo the year before, but that was my only time ever eating hibachi. This year was Russ's first time eating hibachi, so I was excited to see how he'd like it.
There was hardly a wait at all to get our table. The other family we were sharing the table with was a little late, but they let us sit down and get a drink.
The big empty grill. On the far side, you can see the basket of warm towels they give you in the beginning
The other family arrived and they were...well, they were pretty rude. I don't know if the woman realized that they'd be sharing the table with another family, but she came into the room, looked at the three of us and said, "Ugh, really?"
The chef we had was really good. She was very friendly and happy. She tried talking to the rude family and they gave very short snippy answers, so she talked to us mostly.
She was talking as she was making the food, and asked everyone if we knew how to say "goodbye" in Japanese. Not a single person said anything, and then she said "Sayonara!" and we all felt sooooo dumb! We knew that! That's the one word in Japanese that we DO know. Oh well. That was our "Ohhhhh " moment of the day
The food was absolutely fantastic. We ordered a California Roll (paid OOP) and then we each ordered a combination entree. We ordered 1- steak & shrimp, 1- steak & chicken and 1- chicken and shrimp. If I had to guess, I'd say Pat had the steak and shrimp, I had the steak and chicken, and Russ had the chicken and shrimp. Either way, it was amazingly good, and there wasn't a thing left on our plates
For dessert, we each had vanilla soft ice cream.
On the dining plan, it was 3 table service credits. If we paid out of pocket (including the $7.50 california roll) the total would have been $122.16
For us, we always get our money's worth on the Dining Plan. I'm very glad to use it.
After we were done, we stopped to see the koi pond. I missed it last time, probably because it was dark. I could've stayed all day at the koi pond!
We started walking back toward the entrance, but stopped at Canada for a few minutes to take some pictures, and to see the O Canada! film. We all liked the film - but personally, I wish they talked less about the Canadian cities and more about the Canadian wilderness. I suppose they don't because that's a stereotype, but if I go to Canada it won't be to a major city. It was fun though! As Russ put it, who knew Martin Short could be entertaining?
One of my favorite pictures of the whole trip I'd live there in a heartbeat!
As we were leaving Canada, I noticed a huge grasshopper right in the middle of the path. I didn't want to see him get hurt, either intentionally or on accident by a stroller, I thought I'd be nice and move him out of the way.
I had no way of knowing that he'd be so offended he would decide to ATTACK me!
I didn't try to pick him up with my hand, but more tried to guide him over to the grass with the back of my hand. And what did he do?
He lunged at my throat!
I'm not even kidding! I had a HUGE red mark on my neck because he's a GIANT FREAK MONSTER.
That isn't zoomed in - he's really that big. And don't let his beady little eyes fool you. He's full of rage.
While I was dealing with the attack, he hopped away unscathed. Next time, he won't be so lucky
After getting attacked by the grasshopper, we rode Soarin' one more time (how can you resist?) and then Nemo. I still haven't seen the movie, but the ride is cool. I like going through the aquarium.
I never get to spend enough time in that building to see all the animals This particular time, we had to head to Hollywood Studios because this was our only night to see Fantasmic, which I could NOT let Russ miss!
I completely forgot that there's a direct bus from Epcot to DHS
We wound up taking the monorail to the TTC, then a bus to DHS. Oh well. Now I know At least Russ got to try his first Monorail ride
Our first ride was the Great Movie Ride. I really enjoy it, and it's just so convenient to hop right on.
Then we saw Voyage of the Little Mermaid - also a big favorite of mine Little Mermaid is one of my favorite Disney movies ever, and I really enjoy the show.
Up next was Tower of Terror, another favorite of ours. I was curious to see how Russ would handle it. He rides crazy roller coasters, but this is a totally different type of ride. I don't know how he'd handle drops because he hasn't been on a ride like that. Luckily there was nothing to worry about, he loved it as much as we do! We rode it twice. Our record is something like 8 times in a row, but we had to catch Fantasmic!
There were two showings of Fantasmic that night, and I opted for the second showing because I was told it's usually less crowded.
When we got to DHS, there already was a HUGE line lined up for the first show
I had been debating how to handle this. It was our only night to see Fantasmic, and I absolutely needed to see it, and to show it to Russ. Fantasmic is my favorite show at Disney. BUT I did not want to wait in line for 2 hours! :
I decided to take a gamble - the same one that worked for us the past two years. I decided not to wait on line at all. Last year, we walked in with hardly any time to spare and got a decent seat. I just hoped that luck would continue.
When we got to the park, Russ asked me what everyone was standing for. I told him they were waiting for the first showing of Fantasmic. He looked kind of apprehensive. I don't blame him, I was second guessing my decision too!
As we were getting off our second ToT ride, we had just about 5 minutes until the show was about to start. ToT is pretty close to the ampitheater, but there is a long walk from the main boulevard to the seating itself.
I'm so glad to say that our luck DID happen again! We got a 3rd row seat. Not dead center, but close enough to see everything perfectly
I don't have any pictures of the show - my camera doesn't take good pictures of it. Pat has some good ones but I can't find them on the computer right now But Russ thought it was amazing, and I'm glad he likes it!
The park closed while we were at the second Fantasmic show, so we had a loooong wait for a bus.
We headed back to Pop Century and had pizza. I LOVE their pizza, I look forward to it all year. We refilled our mugs, got dessert and went back to the room to watch TV and relax.
It was another great day!!!
Memories of Our Second Day
- The weather today washot when the breeze wasn't blowing. - The best thing today was Russ: Soarin, Tower of Terror, Fantasmic; Amy: showing up for Fantasmic with less than 5 minutes to spare and getting a 3rd row seat - The worst thing today wasgetting mauled by a grasshopper and line cutters at the bus stop (I don't remember specifically what happened, but I have a good guess; it happened several times this trip. People would pretend to be catching up with someone, and it turns out they were just cutting ahead to get on the bus. Not cool )
- The funniest thing today was: Okay, this gets a little story too. We were at Teppan Edo with the very rude, snotty family. The chef was trying to make conversation with everyone. She asked us where we're from and told her (New Jersey). Then she asked the snotty mom where they're from. The mom says, "We're from WEST Palm Beach." Russ turns to her and says, "Well, la-di-da." The woman just gave him a dirty look, but the chef laughed pretty hard, and we were laughing very hard. - Today we tried(Russ): hibachi (but really, every single thing for Russ was trying something new today; he'd never been to Epcot or DHS before) and the result wasfreakin' amazing! - The most magical moment today wasFantasmic
Up next - Day 3 - Hollywood Studios and 50's Prime Time
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Last edited by Wolfy6688; 04-18-2011 at 05:16 PM..
Ahhh - that grasshopper!!! That's such a funny story, even though it wasn't funny at the time... But see? You remembered it!!!
You guys had a great day. Lots more firsts for Russ and good foods too. Glad you're able to pack your breakfasts, that's $$ saving right there. Soarin' twice? Awesome. And I'm so glad you scored those great last minute seats to Fantasmic! That's a great tip to remember, thanks!
BTW, did you know you can take a boat from Epcot to DHS? You exit through Epcot's back door (the International gateway between UK and France) and hop on a boat! It may or may not stop at a few hotels, I don't recall, but then it goes to DHS!
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I remember your PTR so I'm so glad you had such a great first couple of days. I can't wait to hear the rest. I'm outside of Trenton so I'm always tempted to try the AC airport.
First of all, that is a very big, scary grasshopper! Looks like you all had a great time at Epcot! Love the Beverly pictures! I can't imagine forgetting which was the bitter one. So glad you lucked out and got decent seats at Fantasmic!
Ok, so I'm all caught up! Great start to your TR!! Love your pictures- beautiful! I just have to see the castle first too! Your dining choices so far....Columbia Harbour House...SOLD!...Planet Hollywood...SOLD!.....Teppan Edo....SOLD!!! You make everything sound so yummy!!! We saw VotLM for the first time last trip...so cute!! One of my fav Disney movies! Glad you got to see Fantasmic! Great TR!!! More please!
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What a great time at Epcot and DHS. How lucky that you were able to get such great seats for Fantasmic!!
That grasshopper is huge!! The story about you getting attacked reminded me of when my friend got attacked by a locust on Jungle Cruise a few years ago!
Great update! I sooo want to go to Fantasmic this trip but cannot get dinner reservations and I am worried about that long wait prior to the show. We may try your little trick and hope for the best otherwise it might have to wait for another trip!
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Wow! Attack of the Killer Grasshoppers . . . coming soon to a theatre near you! Sorry about the rude woman at Teppan Edo--it sounds like you had a good meal anyway and Russ's reaction to her was priceless--bet you wish you had a video camera for that one!
Yikes! That was a killer grasshopper! You're lucky you got away alive!! (I HATE grasshoppers, and would not have been as nice as you in trying to move him)
Can't believe how rude the woman at Tepan Edo was! Loved Russ's response to where she lived!
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When we'd heard the noise yesterday it was closer to 3 pm - when people are most likely to be taking "swim breaks" from the parks. We decided that we liked our room location and called the front desk to cancel the room change, because we're out of the room fairly early and don't come back to the room until well past "bed time".
" moment of the day 
I'd live there in a heartbeat! 
This particular time, we had to head to Hollywood Studios because this was our only night to see Fantasmic, which I could NOT let Russ miss!
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