The We NEEDED This Vacation TR!! 9/18 - 9/27 - UPDATED 7/5 About This Page:

[Coop]

Originally Posted by Wolfy6688

It's true though To really freak Pat out I told him that when I went on my first Disney trip with my parents when I was 4 years old, he was already driving and had a job. Creepy!

:

HAHAHA. I know what you mean. DH and I have a 10 year gap (he is 10 years my senior) and every once in a while I have to remind him that when he was a corpsman in the Marines - I was in 6th grade!

Anyway - great TR so far!

[Wolfy6688]

Originally Posted by twogirlsmom

Great report!
And I loved Russ' response to the snotty lady. That would totally be something I'd say too! LOL

I LOVED it! Usually he doesn't talk to other people unless it's friendly conversation, but she really rubbed him the wrong way!

Originally Posted by disney_duke

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!

I found out that same night about the boat! I remember thinking as we were leaving from the TTC to the bus that there was an easier way, so I checked my Passporter that night and found out We did get to try out the boat for the first time later in the trip .

Originally Posted by mojjo

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.

I really like Atlantic City airport. It's very small, but also very clean. There's never really a long line at security - well, not as long as some of the larger airports. I would definitely prefer AC over Newark.

Originally Posted by Cam22

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!

I can't imagine forgetting the bitter one either! I'd read about it in Passporter before I tried it the first time, but of course I had to try it for myself anyway Either way, I never forgot it!

Originally Posted by islandgirl

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!

Thank you! We LOVE Columbia Harbour House and make sure it's our first stop. The first floor is pretty noisy but the second floor has a quieter dining room with windows looking out over Fantasyland, so you can people-watch as you eat. It's really nice and much quieter We also love Planet Hollywood, but like I said, don't go there if you have a headache. It's VERY loud, but the food is oh so worth it

Originally Posted by Nimros

Excellent day! Love all the 'firsts' for Russ.

We love Teppan Edo; it is a bit of the luck of the draw of who you get to sit with, but looks like you all handled it quite well.

Sorry about the grasshopper. Maybe he was confused about which park he was in (Animal Kingdom is thaaaat way...)

More gorgeous photos, too. So glad your gamble paid off and you got to see F!

That's so true! He must've been confused as to which park was which.

Originally Posted by nalexander

Just found your TR.

Sounds like you had a great time.

We had SUCH a great time!

Originally Posted by OCEANGRLLG

Great first two days! Yall got alot done! Cant wait for the next update!

I didn't realize how much we did get done! For the first 3 days I wrote down what we did in order (and then kind of forgot to do that ) and when I was going through my Passporter a few days ago I read one of the days to Russ. When I got to "and then we went to Planet Hollywood for dinner", he said, "Wait, that's just the first day?! I thought you meant the whole trip!"

Originally Posted by KMB733

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!

!! I can't imagine getting attacked by a locust! I wouldn't have minded the attack really, but since he was so big, he was HEAVY! And his "skin" was very hard and thick, so it was like getting hit in the throat with a sharp rock.

Originally Posted by emvenable77

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!

Good luck! We LOVE Fantasmic, but I know one of these days my luck will run out with that trick. I'd never try it during the very busy times of the year. If you do try it, where I've found the most empty seats is all the way to the left of the amphitheater. So when you enter, just walk left almost all the way to the end and start looking for seats toward the bottom, or really wherever you can see them. But we've had the most luck finding lots of empties toward the left, and you can still see everything very clearly. :goodluck:!

Originally Posted by goofysdtr

I'm just joining. Russ sounds like a hoot! Love his response to rude lady.

He is! I'm so glad he enjoyed himself. I know it sounds crazy to think that someone might not like Disney, but I wanted him to love it as much as the rest of us do.

Originally Posted by Colexis Mom

What a great day! Love the pictures!

Thank you!

Originally Posted by ilovedisney247

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!

That would've been GREAT if I could've gotten it on film! The poor chef was trying so hard not to laugh but she couldn't help it

Originally Posted by cubfancolleen

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!

Normally I don't mind grasshoppers, but now I might have to rethink my opinion!!

Originally Posted by Coop

HAHAHA. I know what you mean. DH and I have a 10 year gap (he is 10 years my senior) and every once in a while I have to remind him that when he was a corpsman in the Marines - I was in 6th grade!

Anyway - great TR so far!

I love doing that! It's so funny

[Wolfy6688]

Thanks for following along, everybody! I'm sorry that I haven't updated in a few days. Layla and I went to Massachusetts for our first time ever for 3 days. We went to 7 HOURS of intense obedience lessons with a world-renowned trainer - well, only 2 of the 7 hours were for Layla and I, but we observed the other 5; they were for our regular instructor and another woman in class. Then we went to an obedience trial yesterday.



My good girl got third place!

I'm very proud of her - obedience trials aren't as fun for her (and most dogs) as agility trials because at least in agility, they can run and jump. In obedience, it's more about self-control, precision and discipline. But she did it!

When we get settled back home I'll continue my trip report, hopefully tomorrow evening.

Happy Easter everyone!

[nconover]

Great we'll be waiting bated breath. Beautiful dog by the way.

[Cam22]

Congrats to you and Layla both!

[cubfancolleen]

Congratulations to you and Layla!
I don't know they have a low enough place for my dog, should he ever do obedience showings!!

[OCEANGRLLG]

Congrats Layla!

[disneydeva]

Loving your trip reports. How were the crowds while you were there? I am going the exact same time frame this year and I was just wondering.

[KMB733]

Congrats to Layla We'll be here when you have another update ready to go!!

[Colexis Mom]

Congrats to Layla!

[mojjo]

Way to go Layla!!!

[Wolfy6688]

Wow...have I been gone for awhile!! Sorry!!

I've had a crazy few months. I've sprained my foot something awful (I do have pictures, but won't include them for the consideration of others ) and have been stuck in one of those air cast boots since the first weekend of April. Layla's been keeping me busy and I haven't really been on Passporter.

Now, though, I'm having another bout of Disney withdrawals, and I've been stalking the boards again

Without further ado, here is:

Day 3 - Disney's Hollywood Studios

We got up a little late. Well, not what I would consider late, but we weren't at park opening.

We did not eat at POP. We went to DHS and immediately saw the FP were gone for Toy Story (surprise, surprise!) and the stand by line was super long. We headed over to Studio Catering Company for an early lunch.



Sorry, no pictures of the sandwiches we got. I didn't even write down which ones each person got. I'm almost certain, looking at the menu on AllEars, that we all got the "Pressed Tuscan Deli", but it doesn't say what was on it I'm pretty sure we enjoyed it though!

Since we had the basic dining plan, it was just one counter-service credit for each of us, but the total would have been $43.57

After our lunch we headed to Drew Carey's Sounds Dangerous. I really don't enjoy this attraction. Once was enough, but Pat thought it wasn't that bad and wanted Russ to experience it. So we sat through it and Russ was less than impressed. Pat said I influenced him, but really I just think it's not that great. Sorry!

After that amazingly fun time , we went to the Muppet Vision 3-D. I wasn't crazy about this the first time we did it. I'm not a big muppet fan. But this time it was better Russ liked it too. We both think Sam Eagle is the funniest.

We spent a little more time looking at the stuff before the show, all the little jokes and stuff. Some of them aren't funny (IMHO) and some of them were cute.

One of the funny ones (Well, I think so )

After Muppets, we went to the Studio Backlot Tour. I like this one a lot, and I'm glad that Russ and Pat do too. It was hot standing around, but we liked it a lot.

I've been waiting for about 8 months for Russ to upload his photos that HE took from the trip, and he hasn't yet He has some awesome pictures too, particularly one of the Backlot tour.

I took this picture of the first volunteer, but you can't see her. Russ has a perfect picture of her face, after her "volunteering" was finished. It's priceless!!

You can kind of make out the tint of her blue poncho

The cages that were in Pirates 2, my favorite Pirates movie out of the series

I love this plane

Catastrophe Canyon

This is Russ behind the wall of water. It was really cool!!

After our Studio Tour, we were just in time (well, a little late ) for the Lights, Motor, Action! show. Since Russ had never seen it before, and he likes movie explosions as much as I do, I figured he'd enjoy it.



We all thought it was a good show. I probably wouldn't feel the need to see it every trip - or at least, purposely schedule it - but it was cool.

I also got to snap a picture from the stairwell of my plane:

Then we headed to Indiana Jones. It was definitely a "see the shows" kind of day. I don't have any pictures, but we all enjoyed it. As has become our habit when we see Indiana Jones, Pat went out to Min & Bill's Dockside Diner to get us all milkshakes. They're really very good but super thick! It's almost like soft serve ice cream instead of a milk shake. But they're delicious

Then we rode The Great Movie Ride again. I don't get sick of that ride, really. I love it.

Then we were able to catch the final part of the American Idol Experience. We'd never seen it before, and didn't get to see any of the judging. We were able to get in to the judging portion of it. Good timing was our friend on this trip

We all didn't really know what to expect, but we all liked it. The person we wanted to win was an older (well, for me anyway; he was early 50's or so) man from a town in NJ that we're familiar with. My family and I go camping once a year and he was from the town that we do our shopping in, since the "town" we camp in doesn't have a store. We REALLY wanted him to win, but he didn't

We loved the show though - but we found the judges super annoying! They were so much more annoying than the ones on the real TV show.

Overall, I'm really glad we got to see it. It was very cool and very...I don't know the word. It truly was a big, showy production. You wouldn't think it was a Disney attraction, it could've been the real thing!

Then we headed over to Aerosmith's Rock'n Roller Coaster. I did not ride it. Something about that ride just gives me such a headache. I love roller coasters, but I bang my head around on this one or something.

I waited outside and called my dad while Pat and Russ rode it. I'm not sure if they went on the Single Rider line or if they waited to ride together, but they were out in less than 20 minutes. They both loved it. I told them they could ride again because I didn't mind waiting, but they said they didn't want to.

Not sure why it's blurry

We had enough time to ride Tower of Terror twice, and then we went to 50's Prime Time for our dinner.

50's is one of Pat's favorites. I had a really great time the first year. Last year (2009) our waitress was a little blah, but it was still basically enjoyable. This year, our waiter wasn't just not in the mood, but he was downright grumpy!

Our waiter was "Uncle Tim". His name tag said he was from China. He wasn't Asian though. At some point in the meal, Pat asked, "So, you're really from China?" - because Pat was going to say what a beautiful country he thinks it is, and how cool it is that "Uncle Tim" is from there. But "Uncle Tim" interrupted him and said, "Why, are you going to say that I don't look Chinese? You don't look like you're American."

.... !

Maybe I was being overly sensitive, but come on!

Anyway, Uncle Tim aside, the food was kind of sub-par too. I did not like my salmon at all. Russ and I love salmon and neither of us finished ours.

Pat had his steak and liked it. Next time I'll go with the steak again.

Russ looking at the TV behind him - we didn't get a TV table

Chicken Noodle Soup - it's soooo good. I pay OOP for it since appetizers aren't on the dining plan and it's worth every penny.

According to our receipt, Pat had the Brownie Sundae, Sirloin steak and an Oreo shake. Russ had the Brownie Sundae, cherry coke and Salmon. I had S'mores (sooo good , Cherry Coke, Salmon and the chicken noodle soup. Not in that order, of course

This was one Table Service credit apiece, and the total bill came to $101.50 After paying the $6.49 for my soup and $17 for tip, we'd only paid $24.07 total. Not bad!!

I took this as we were leaving 50's - I just like Disney's little added touch:

Echo Lake is the section of DHS that we were in, and they make it look like an apartment complex

The park had closed by the time we were done eating, so we headed back to POP. It was much less crowded than dealing with the traffic jam after Fantasmic the night before!!

Blurry ( I was having random camera issues that disappeared as inexplicably as they came), but you can see how empty the park is!

When we got back to POP, we stayed in the arcade for a bit. Pat and Russ were almost constantly playing the basketball game (there were two hoops side by side so they would have contests to see who scored better) and I mostly played skeeball.

And that was our third day!!

The weather today was... hot but bearable
The best thing today was...Russ: Miley Cyrus's Chicken Coop at the Backlot Tour ; Indiana Jones Show; Pat: dinner at 50's Prime Time; Amy: the look on the girl's face on the Backlot Tour
The worst thing today was...Drew Carey show
The funniest thing today was...(I have NO idea what this is about!!): "Quick, he's not looking, get the hatchet!"
Today we tried...American Idol and the result was... better than expected, but horribly annoying judges - worse than TV
The most magic moment today was...Studio Backlot Tour. We learned a lot of tricks we didn't know!

Next Day...Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party!!

[Nimros]

Heyy - I missed you!

So sorry to hear about your foot. Hope you are healed and back to normal in no time.

Great update - sounds like a perfect day at the Studios. You got a lot done. I love 50sPT but sorry your visit wasn't so good. I think the CMs really make it a hit-or-miss experience. But that Chicken Noodle Soup did look good!

Can't wait to hear about MNSSHP!

And I just saw this - congrats to you and Miss Layla. Job well done.

[OCEANGRLLG]

Great update....Glad to see that you are back!

[cubfancolleen]

Glad you are back, and hope your foot heals quickly!
50's PT is really all about how good your server is, I think. So sorry to hear Uncle Tim was such a grump!