Who Turned Up The Heat?! - TR May 2011 - Page 3 - PassPorter - A Community of Walt Disney World, Disneyland, Disney Cruise Line, and General Travel Forums
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Sounds like a good time! Yeah something always snags the old to do list but seems like you were in good spirits despite the little hiccups. That's what makes a good vacation great. can't wait to hear more.
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Not long now....August 22-August 28, 2011. Fort Wilderness Cabins!
I found your TR to see if our paths did cross--and they did. We were entering MK on Monday night after 10pm Wishes (which we watched from California Grill) as you were exiting and thinking how insane it was that people were entering! And I agree--we were insane for entering! We also thought that the late night crowds were surprising and wished we'd not even tried it. A 30 minute wait for any ride at midnight is TOO LONG!
I found your TR to see if our paths did cross--and they did. We were entering MK on Monday night after 10pm Wishes (which we watched from California Grill) as you were exiting and thinking how insane it was that people were entering! And I agree--we were insane for entering! We also thought that the late night crowds were surprising and wished we'd not even tried it. A 30 minute wait for any ride at midnight is TOO LONG!
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WDW- oct/nov 2012 art of animation
WDW- sept 2013 port Orleans riverside
WDW- july 2015 beach club
we left around 12:15...and no. the wait for astro orbiter (that my mom wanted to ride) was 30 minutes at 12:14...which is why we left around 12:15! we then waited over 40 minutes for a bus back to AKL. it was the low point of our trip. you made a good decision to leave!
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I just came across your TR and I am definately hooked! I am sorry it was so hot and your DD ended up not feeling well. I was there before you but I can say even at the end of April/beginning of May it was hotter then I thought it would be. I really had to remember to drink a lot of water and we took more breaks then I expected.
I hope the rest of your trip went better! Sorry the EMH were unsuccessful, that was about the only time in our trip there were no lines.
I just came across your TR and I am definately hooked! I am sorry it was so hot and your DD ended up not feeling well. I was there before you but I can say even at the end of April/beginning of May it was hotter then I thought it would be. I really had to remember to drink a lot of water and we took more breaks then I expected.
I hope the rest of your trip went better! Sorry the EMH were unsuccessful, that was about the only time in our trip there were no lines.
I knew it had been a warmer than usual Spring, I didn't expect record high temps though. We had only had one day in the 70s back at home, and the previous 2 weeks were in the 50s and rainy. So it was a culture shock for sure! The not so hot temperatures is why we chose early May.
We missed the EMH, but we did make up for it later in the week. Stay tuned..
On our first visit in 2008 we learned a lesson about pushing too hard on a Disney vacation and we all had meltdowns on Day 3. We ended up changing our schedule to have a day of rest and it really helped. So this year we planned for it, and this was the day. We slept in till 9:00am. DD and I went down to Capt. Cook’s for breakfast while DW took her shower. We brought her back a muffin and then took our turns. At 11:30am we took a cab ($25 w/tip) to Downtown Disney Marketplace. I think shopping is my DW & DD’s favorite part of any vacation! The first thing we came upon was this fountain/flower arrangement:
Outside of World of Disney there was also this photo-op:
This was also the release date for the Lego Pirates of The Caribbean video game, which I would have pre-ordered but I didn’t want it to arrive while we were out of town. So I bought it the day after we returned and DD and I are now making our way through the movies and game.
Since we were at DHS late on Day 1, DD and I were not able to get our “tattoos” there like we had in 2008. So before we started shopping we hit the booth just outside World of Disney. I got the same Mike Wazowski tattoo I had in 2008, and added a Sully to the other arm. Alex chose to get a Stitch airbrush this time:
With that taken care of, it was time to hit the shops, starting with World of Disney. Before we left for the trip I had given DW her Mother’s Day card – I had found a perfect Mickey & Minnie card. In it I wrote that for her gift she could get her choice of Dooney & Bourke Disney purse while we were at the World. After much deliberation she chose the 40th Anniversary model:
You can see she later added the 40th Anniv. Mickey head pin. She couldn’t help but accessorize!
Other than the purse, the only things I remember we also got were some pins, charms for DW's Pandora bracelet, a hoodie for DW, some of the Mickey pretzel and Mickey goldfish snacks, and I got a hat. DW also purchased the promo beach towel. From there we headed to the recently expanded Lego store. A couple of the Lego creations outside:
The new store is definitely big, but we didn’t really see anything we haven’t seen at our local Lego stores. DD did build three mini-figures though.
After that we walked back across to the side with Team Mickey Athletic Club and Once Upon A Toy. We stuffed a box with Mr. Potato Head parts (and then bought a head back at home thanks to reading that tip here!). We also made a stop at TrenD where DW exchanged her D&B purse for the one pictured. On the first one the Mickey Ears were partially hidden by the D&B logo. and they suggested we look here. Somehow we managed to miss the magnet store and Design-a-Tee. By that point it was 3:00pm and we were hungry for lunch, so we decided to try T-Rex which wasn’t open yet when we were here before. It was not busy at all and we were seated immediately in front of the Kitchen of Fire and right next to the Ice Cave:
I am glad we weren’t actually seated in the Ice Cave, the blue lighting was hard on the eyes. But it was cool to see. DW and I both had the Paleozoic Chicken sandwiches, which were good but not remarkable. After lunch we walked through the rest of the restaurant before exiting and taking one more picture:
It was getting quite warm with all the concrete radiating heat and we had had enough shopping (for that day!), so we made our way back to the entrance and caught a cab back to the Poly ($23 w/tip). DW took DD down to the pool while I hung back in the room to enter the accumulated receipts in my expense log. I then went down to the Concierge desk to ask again about changing our Chef Mickey’s reservation time for Wed. night and ask for details on where/when we needed to go for our 8:00 Luau that night. I’m glad I did that, because I got our tickets then instead of having to wait in line later! I joined DD at the pool for a bit and then it was time to get showered for the Luau.
We arrived at Luau Cove at 7:30pm as directed, only to stand around and wait with the growing crowd. With the temperature starting to go down, the humidity was conversely going up and there was only a slight breeze that evening. DW got this picture of DD waiting, which is one of our favorites of the whole trip:
They started seating at 8:00, and we were soon at our table in Category 3 seating. We had a decent view, only obstructed by the people directly in front of us also in Cat.3:
It wasn’t a problem for me being taller, but DW & DD were a bit more blocked. It was getting dark but I was able to snap this picture of the women in my life:
The Luau dinner was good. DW enjoyed the ribs while DD and I had the chicken. The rice was tasty. I don’t like ribs, and chicken on the bone is also not something I normally eat. I am a little surprised they don’t serve a non-rib pork, but I knew the menu going in so I am not complaining. Our service was excellent the entire evening. I am always leary of meals where the gratuity is included, but our server was very attentive and always around to bring us more drinks before we needed them. I must have had 7 or 8 lemonades that night! I don’t know why, but we did notice that 90% of the servers here were older – most of them retirement age or better. They definitely earn their pay, they were hustling all night. As you have probably noticed, I don’t take many food pictures. I usually don’t think of it until I’m halfway through eating! But I did get a picture of the chocolate “mouse” volcanoes, which were delicious:
The show was very entertaining. It was a little hard to hear some of the dialogue clearly, but the music and songs were good. We were very surprised when DD went up with all the other kids unprovoked. She is normally not that outgoing and no amount of encouragement changes that. We never expected her to do it, but when the time came she jumped right up and took her place:
This picture only shows 2/3rds of the kids on stage that night. We were surprised by how many little ones were at the 8:00pm show. Before the show ended though, I noticed a lot of them sleeping in their parent’s arms. In fact, when I looked around as the fire-knife dancer was starting, almost our entire section was already empty! I got decent video of the fire-knife dance with the PlaySport, and took this screenshot:
He was amazing!
After the show we casually strolled back to the GCH where DD wanted to do a little more shopping. I ended up picking up the Kingdom Keepers II book, which I intended on starting while on the trip but didn’t. I did take this picture of some of the 40th Anniversary merchandise:
We had an enjoyable, relaxing day despite the heat. We didn’t spend as much time (or money) at DTD this trip, but we did like seeing all the new things. I was also reluctant to purchase more things as I knew we would have a hard time fitting it all in our suitcases. That is foreshadowing for later in the week. We also hadn’t shopped on Main Street yet, so I know we were holding back a little.
Ok somehow by going to DTD only once at night (when it was painfully crowded) I missed the new lego store AND the flowers. Sheesh, I am terrible lol.
I am totally jealous of your wife's new purse. I am glad you got a nice relaxing day and the luau looked very neat.
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That's what makes a good vacation great. can't wait to hear more.
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You all had had a fun day up until that point! 
You can see she later added the 40th Anniv. Mickey head pin. She couldn’t help but accessorize! 
The new store is definitely big, but we didn’t really see anything we haven’t seen at our local Lego stores. DD did build three mini-figures though.
I am glad we weren’t actually seated in the Ice Cave, the blue lighting was hard on the eyes. But it was cool to see. DW and I both had the Paleozoic Chicken sandwiches, which were good but not remarkable. After lunch we walked through the rest of the restaurant before exiting and taking one more picture:
It wasn’t a problem for me being taller, but DW & DD were a bit more blocked. It was getting dark but I was able to snap this picture of the women in my life:
This picture only shows 2/3rds of the kids on stage that night. We were surprised by how many little ones were at the 8:00pm show. Before the show ended though, I noticed a lot of them sleeping in their parent’s arms. In fact, when I looked around as the fire-knife dancer was starting, almost our entire section was already empty! I got decent video of the fire-knife dance with the PlaySport, and took this screenshot:
He was amazing!
Great pictures! 
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