" Visiting Mickey's (WET!!!) Neighborhood" Update 7-17Completed w/ final thoughts About This Page:

[MAria R]

<font color="blue"> <u>Sunday, June 18th- I would like to go in a store.......</u>

[img]/ubb/images/graemlins/rain.gif[/img] Rain, Rain, Go Away, Come Again Another Day [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/rain.gif[/img]
We woke up today to dark clouds and rain. But it almost seemed fitting. And for once I wasn't getting (WET!!!) from a ride but from the skies. I had to start the day with a presentation to my father- Happy Father's Day!!!. I had purchased a card and gift prior to leaving so he was shocked and surprised when he received his gift. I was really glad that I was able to spend father's day with him especially with him now living in Florida.

The rain finally stopped in the late afternoon, although it would remain overcast, but that's okay up to this point I have gotten a lot of sun.

So it is off to Downtown Disney we go and boy am I getting excited. As we pass the hotels in Downtown Disney my father asks me if this is where Antonio and I stayed the last time we were there. I explained [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/082502no_prv.gif[/img] we didn't and got to use some of my expertise about Disney (that I learned from all you guys) in telling him where we stayed and the difference. So we park and once again it is up to Antonio to remember where (Lot C) and we enter the Marketplace. It is quite crowded and it throws me alittle because it is the first real crowds that we have seen, but than again we are on Disney property now. This would become photo heaven for my father who loves taking pictures. I however was itching to go in a store. But at last it was not to be [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/pout.gif[/img]. After walking around taking pictures my father was ready to move on to the West Side.

Now here is where I digress. At this point I realized why I enjoyed Antonio's and my last trip so much. Other than the obvious, being at Disney, we were free to go and see and do everything we wanted without having to clear with anyone else. Does this make me selfish? [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/ukid.gif[/img] Well in anycase I think that that is why we had such a great time at Universal and though I was not going to be a baby about it, at that point I knew that next year when we came down we would do our whole week at Disney, on site, so we could do our thing and than afterwards we would spend a couple of days with the family.

Okay so we head to the West Side and I really can't recall having ever really spent any time over here so I was quite interested in soaking it all in. At some point my father says that we should probable stop in at least one store[img]/ubb/images/graemlins/eek.gif[/img]
Okay I wish he would have made that suggestion when we were on the other side. So I quickly pulled him into the candy store. I couldn't help it those apples were calling my name. Thanks to Sharon's trip reports I really wanted one [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/yuma.gif[/img] but my father suggested we all split a piece of fudge and though I really didn't want it, I wanted that apple I agreed and put the apple on my next time list. I must say that fudge was really good and very sweet!! So compromise can be good. [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/082502yes_prv.gif[/img]

Up next: Pleasure Island and International Drive [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/crazy.gif[/img] </font>

[lauren-roxy]

Another great update Maria!!! Sorry you didn't get to shop like you would have liked to. Can't wait for more!!!

[Meggera]

Isn't nice to have a list of things to do next time? I have a list 2 miles long now just from reading these boards. [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/rofl2.gif[/img]

Great report. Looking forward to more.

Laura

[MAria R]

<font color="blue"> As we left the West Side we decided to walk briefly through Pleasure Island. Now it has been years and years since I have been to Pleasure Island. The last time I wasn't even old enough yet to get into all the clubs but still had fun none the less. Things have changed since than and there was a lot of remodeling going on as well. Having seen everything we wanted we made our way towards Lot C when we saw a Disney bus. My father commented on how neat they were and once again I got to share with him my new expertise. I explained how the buses will transport you to the theme parks and that Antonio and I used them the whole time we were down there. He seemed impressed and for the first time I felt a bit of sadness. [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/frown.gif[/img] How I longed to be climbing onto one of those busses right now and being transported back to the resort. I had always felt that nothing beat staying on property and after having finally done that and now going back like this I realize I was right. Nothing beats being there on property totally immersed in the magic. Once we located the car we decided to head down International Drive. My father really wanted to show me the areas that have been added recently that I have not seen. So after some site seeing and driving around it was back to the house. By this time evening had set in and so it was shower, dinner, and the Spanish soaps. Finally the night I had been waiting for. I knew that tomorrow we would be going to the Animal Kingdom and I could not wait. This would be our only Disney theme park for this trip and I was so ready for it.

Coming up: Animal Kingdom at last!
</font>

[kimkdmm]

Just got caught up, sorry that you didn't get to experience Downtown Disney in your own way...but it sounds like your getting fun ideas for next time!![img]/ubb/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img]
Looking forward to hearing all about Animal Kingdom [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/love.gif[/img]

[Meggera]

Looking forward to hearing about AK!

Laura

[Colexis Mom]

More great updates Maria [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/zwavin.gif[/img] Can't wait to hear about AK [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/laugh.gif[/img]

[luvnwdwgal]

Looking forward to your visit to AK! [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

[Jillybean]

Traveling with extended family (even staying onsite) is fun, but I love the freedom of just being with my little family. Hope that AK is everything that you want it to be! [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

Jill

[MAria R]

<font color="blue"> <u>Monday, June 19- Animal Kingdom</u>

The day has finally arrived where I will finally get to step onto Disney porperty and boy was I excited [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/woot.gif[/img]. My aunt would be joining myself, Antonio, my dad, and my younger brother on this outing. As it stands Antonio and I were the only two to have gone to Animal Kingdom before so I knew I would have many opportunities to show my stuff. We dressed and were at the park at 9:00 on the dot. We parked in the Unicorn section not too far but as we unloaded a tram was approaching so we all squeezed our way on. Antonio on my lap which i think is a no,no. We purchased our tickets and promptly decided which line to get in. At this point there are three huge lines extending off to the sides of the building where you purchase tickets. And everyone is just waiting [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/whistling2.gif[/img]. Now I know that there are more turnstiles beyond that building and am curious as to how long they are. Well of course they are not long at all so I gather the clan. And a mother and child who hears me report that yes there are smaller lines. And within 5 minutes we are in. Now the first order of business, get Everest fastpasses. So we take off and I am sure that I take the longest route possible. This is only my second time at the AK and the layout still has me somewhat confused. But my family follows me faithfully. We finally reach our destination and I gather the tickets and proceed to get fastpasses for everyone but my aunt. She is not into the roller coasters. So I than explain that we can go do something else until out window of time opens up. I knew that my father and aunt really wanted to see the Safari so we head there. We had a 20- 30 minute wait but it wasn't too bad. Before you know it we were traveling through Africa and there were a lot of animals out. Everyone gave it a thumbs up and we were now ready to face the Yeti. I was so excited I didn't know what to do with myself. My brother, not so much, this would begin what would happen for the remainder of the day. Whining, crying, complaining about every single ride. I found it quite aggrevating and used the opportunity to thank God that he gave me an adventurous child who at 7 likes to do it all. And my brother who is 10 didn't want to do anything. Well my father made him go on Everest and yes he survived but that would be his last trip on that mountain. As for the rest of us, holy cow, that ride for lack of a better word is the bomb!!!! I loved it, so great in fact that upon exiting I promptly got 4 more fast passes because we knew that we wanted to do this again.

At this time we begin to head towards Dinoland because my aunt wants to ride Dinosaur. As we enter we see Primeval Whirl. Now the last time we went Antonio wasn't tall enough to ride so I really wanted to give it a try. Well I knew my aunt wouldn't and sure enough my brother almost started crying at the thought [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/zcry.gif[/img]. I was going to bypass it because the wait was pretty long and than as we were walking by they changed it. So we gave it a whirl and I will never again, [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/eek.gif[/img] [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/ouch.gif[/img], this ride hurts. My father and Antonio sat together so I was all alone and everytime we whirled or jerked I would be rammed up against the rubber wedge seperating the seats. It did not feel to good. My father describes this ride as being in a car accident. Well at least I can say we did it. On to Dinosaur where my brother started the waterworks [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/zcry.gif[/img] as soon as he saw the big dinosaur outside of the ride. My father wasn't letting him out of this one so I did my best to calm his fears, it went something like this:
DB: Is it really daek?
Me: No, not at all!
DB: Do the dinosaurs jump out at you?
Me: Of course not, they are just standing around so that you can see them.

He, he, insert evil laugh here. It may have been very wrong at the amount of joy I received from dupping him but he was really getting on everyone's nerves and taking away from us being able to enjoy ourselves. I did have to get Antonio to go along with me. I told Antonio to wait till he was strapped in and than we could tell him the truth (ha, ha). I still probable get just a little too much pleasure out of that. [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/jester.gif[/img] Well we journeyed back in time and had a blast, I do believe my brother covered his face the whole time and of course he would never believe me ever again.

We had some time for lunch before hitting Everest again. I chose Tusker House because last time we ate at Flame Tree and I wanted to try something new. We enjoyed out lunch and heading to the mountain. I must say there is nothing like going on a rollercoaster with a full stomach [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/dizzy.gif[/img] but I managed to hold everything in and I enjoyed Everest even more the second time around. My brother did not join us on this ride so I suggested we give away that extra fast pass because I knew we wouldn't use it. My father found someone to give it to and now it was off to figure out what to do. I really wanted to catch a show. I knew my father would love the bird show but I saw that last time and would have rather revisited the Lion King. So we agreed we would split up for the shows since they were at the same time. Well it figures that we didn't make it to any shows. No matter how hard I tried things just didn't fall into place.

Has that ever happened to you? The first time we went to AK everything just fell into place. Everytime we turned around there characters everywhere. We saw three shows, Tarzan, that bird show, and Lion King. It just so happened that would be walking by while they were letting people in so we got to all those shows and we got to ride everything we wanted. This time we couldn't make it into a show to save our lives and I saw no characters. It wasn't the perfect day by any means but we still had a lot of fun.

The last must see ride was Kali River Rapids and I suggested we save that for the end because I knew we would get wet. We got fastpasses but realized with 4:00 fast approaching we couldn't wait to use them so, we waited in the standby line, the longest line of the day. We had to leave by 4:30 in order to pick up my grandma so we knew we were getting crunched on time. Finally we boarded the boat and we all got a taste of that water but my aunt got soaked [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/roflmao.gif[/img], boy did I get a good laugh about that. Don't worry for all my evilness I would get paid back tomorrow. I decided to make a stop for ice cream so Antonio and I relaxed with some sweet stuff. I must say it felt good to just relax. The others went on the Jungle Trek and than we slowly made our way out of the park.

As we were waiting for the tram to come give us a lift I couldn't help but look wistfully at the resort buses, but knowing that that will be me next year made me feel better. We made it to the unicorn and it was time to say farewell to Disney [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/bye.gif[/img]. Though I only got a taste of what I have grown to love, I couldn't help but be happy. Up until this past May I had no intentions of even coming to Florida this year much less visit any theme parks. So even if this wasn't my ideal way to visit the world. I know that I was so lucky to even have this one day. I had waited two years to come back, so I guess I can handle waiting one year to visit again.

Well we made it to the house and settled in to our nightly routine. You guys know what it is now. Tomorrow would be our last day at a theme park. Antonio and I were headed to Islands of Adventure. My father decided not to come based on my brothers behavior that day and not wanting to ride anything. As I got some sleep I had no idea what tomorrow would bring.

Up next: Islands of Adventure, I think not!!! </font>

[Meggera]

Great report. I'm sorry you didn't get to see any of the shows. But, you have a wonderful attitude about the whole thing...next year!

Waiting for more...

Laura

[Colexis Mom]

Another great update Maria [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/zwavin.gif[/img] Glad you enjoyed EE and the rest of AK [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/laugh.gif[/img]

[lauren-roxy]

Great update Maria!!! Sounds like a great time at AK!! More please!!

[Jillybean]

Maria,

You guys hit all of the big rides - - EE twice, Dinosaur, Primeval Whirl, Kali River Rapids and the Safari! That really is a lot for one day! [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img]

Jill

[Nala]

I agree about Primeval Whirl. I always feel like I have been beat up after a ride on that one! And I also agree that EE is the bomb!

Sorry you missed the shows but glad you have a plan to catch them on a future trip.