The Promise of Spring: Flower & Garden Festival 4.0 -- A Cam and Luke TR COMPLETED 8/27 About This Page:

[Coop]

We love Morimoto's! Sorry your entree wasn't great. We usually get some ribs, toro, bao and then share an entree. Chuck may get some sushi too. Great pics! We haven't eaten upstairs yet.

[I live with a 'Stitch'!]

Joining in! Can't wait for more!

[3dogknight]

signing in . Great start to your trip.

[lindawdw]

Glad you were able to catch the bus before it left for Disney Springs so you could make your reservation time! Sorry your meal wasn't as good as your first visit. It really is a beautiful restaurant and your server sounded very friendly. We usually stop at Ghiraradelli for the free sample of chocolate but rarely have ice cream since it doesn't always agree with me, but I do love it! Sounds like the perfect first day!

[Cam22]

Originally Posted by cattailmarsh

I wondered about the photo of the 2 of you too...glad you found it and included it. Christopher definitely nailed that one. I also really liked the pics of the steps and the copper light fixture...definitely very artistic.

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When he started leading us to the spot, I told Luke that he must have done this before.

Originally Posted by Pris

Now that is a gorgeous location for the photo shot. Nice picture of you two.

Christopher promised us that the backdrop would be so much better than at our table, and he was right.

Originally Posted by Tara O'Hara

Great photo and beautiful backdrop!!

Christopher did us a great favor moving us to that location.

[Cam22]

Originally Posted by rhinohunter

WOW, you guys really know how to start a vacation. The view from your balcony is fantastic especially for someone who loves giraffes as much as you do. I am impressed with your look after dinner. No one would have thought that you could look so good after doing so much in your first day. Your server did a great job with the picture. We have never been to that restaurant. It looks great..k

I felt we lucked out with a giraffe immediately. We'd spent most of the day in the A/C so that kept us looking mainly fresh.

Originally Posted by DMA

Great photo of the two of you!

Originally Posted by SuperDave

Nice start to your latest WDW adventure and how cool that first thing you see from your balcony from AKL is a giraffe! Too bad your dinner was a bit off at Morimoto compared to your other times there!

In photobucket to have your photos show up in the right order. When your photos come up from the particular album. Above them on the left there is an option called order by. Click by filename and this will work.

I've tried that, but I have uploaded photos from my DSLR, my iPhone, and from Luke's phone so it has some of the phone photos out of order. I'll keep checking for those now before I post. It's odd as it will put the PhotoPass photos near where they should go.

[Cam22]

Originally Posted by Coop

We love Morimoto's! Sorry your entree wasn't great. We usually get some ribs, toro, bao and then share an entree. Chuck may get some sushi too. Great pics! We haven't eaten upstairs yet.

Luke and I neither one really like ribs, so we'll probably never get those. But there are lots of other items on the menu that I can try next time.

Originally Posted by I live with a 'Stitch'!

Joining in! Can't wait for more!

Next update coming soon!

Originally Posted by 3dogknight

signing in . Great start to your trip.

Thanks! We used to rush to a park on Day 1, but we like a more leisurely start now.

[Cam22]

Originally Posted by lindawdw

Glad you were able to catch the bus before it left for Disney Springs so you could make your reservation time! Sorry your meal wasn't as good as your first visit. It really is a beautiful restaurant and your server sounded very friendly. We usually stop at Ghiraradelli for the free sample of chocolate but rarely have ice cream since it doesn't always agree with me, but I do love it! Sounds like the perfect first day!

I'd be in sad shape if ice cream didn't agree with as it is one of my favorite foods. Our vacation was definitely off to a great start.

[Cam22]

NEXT: Kentucky Here We Come

We were up by 7:25 AM, and guess what I did first? Yep, I checked the balcony to see if any animals were hanging out below on the savanna. Initially, a few zebras were eating breakfast. Luke then took the first turn in the shower while I checked e-mails and then washed my face. I checked the balcony one more time while waiting for the shower. I was rewarded with a lone giraffe feeding on browse. Guess what I just realized, I didn’t take a single photo. We were both ready by 8:30 and made our way down to the bus stop. A Magic Kingdom bus arrived by 8:50 and we were on our way. The new bag check system moved quite quickly and efficiently, and we were soon in the AP ticket line. We grew to love this new perk over the course of our trip. At the Magic Kingdom the line is over to the left. Luckily, today it was a short line. Soon we were walking under the arches and absorbing that magical MK atmosphere. Our plan for this morning was to make a beeline for Space Mountain as we did not have a FastPass for this one. When I was undergoing occupational therapy for my frozen shoulder this winter, I had several adjustments and needling of my neck as well because it was creating part of my shoulder problems. I was cautioned then to avoid activities that put my neck under stress. Space Mountain has always been rough on my back and neck, and even my jaw since I have TMJ. So more than likely, my days of riding Space Mountain are over and done. Hence our reason for not getting FastPasses, but Luke loves this one and I didn’t want him to have a long wait for it. Unfortunately, this is one thrill ride without a single-rider line. Boo! We needed to get there ASAP so the standby wait wouldn’t be long. As we walked into Tomorrowland, the crowd thinned out considerably. Without a single detour, we arrived at Space Mountain and discovered a 15 minute wait. Success! I got the camera from Luke and sent him on his way. Initially, he was a little concerned about what I’d do while waiting. My response was take pictures, of course.





Luke had requested breakfast at the new Joffrey’s in the Magic Kingdom. So after getting a few photos of Space Mountain for the record, I wandered over there to get photos since that would be our next adventure. In the process I marveled over the size of the cinnamon buns served here.





From here I began walking clockwise around Tomorrowland, taking photos along the way. It was peaceful in this area this morning, though there were quite a few folks milling around. First up moving in this direction was Carousel of Progress.





I then moved on to Buzz Lightyear’s Space Ranger Spin where I realized that the sun was very bright, making it difficult to see what was in the photo even through the viewfinder of my camera.







Then I turned inward to the center of Tomorrowland. Luke loves the Toy Story aliens and they do look so cute on this kiosk.





Just beyond the cute little aliens was the Peoplemover. Oddly, the broken up escalator onto this attraction has still NOT been repaired or maybe it’s simply broken again.





Earlier when I had been at Carousel of Progress, there had been a family camped out in front of the sign, so I had just moved on. They were still there now, but just I decided to head off elsewhere, they walked away. So I ran over quickly to capture the sign people-free.



It was getting hot again today, so I took a couple more photos of the metal palm tree lights and the Peoplemover before I found a bench in the shade to relax. I had to see at the very edge of the bench as most of it was quite wet. In fact, an older couple headed in my direction and I could tell they planned on sharing my bench. They noticed the water quickly and veered off for another one.





Soon enough I was getting a text from Luke that he had arrived back on earth. I met him just outside the entrance to the shop, and we went back to Joffrey’s Revive for coffee and breakfast. Actually, Luke was not at all hungry, so I’m the only one who got breakfast. Can you guess what I got? You’d be right if you said one of those ginormous cinnamon rolls. It was very delicious, so delicious it didn’t last long enough for a photo. With our treats in hand, we moved over to an open table at Launch Pad where Luke got me a Fanta Orange to have with my cinnamon roll. We leisurely enjoyed our break here in the shade. Eventually, though our FastPasses were ready for Buzz Lightyear. The FastPass line had no one in front of us so we walked right up to the area with Buzz himself.





As we got the entrance to the loading room, the ride stopped completely. I took advantage of the stopped ride to get a few photos in this area, something I’ve never been able to do before as we are usually herded right onto a car. The attraction was down for several minutes, and then as suddenly as it had stopped it was moving again.









I turned back around for one more shot of Buzz himself.







Once we were in our ride vehicles, we were intense in our battle against the evil Zurg and the camera was put away. Despite our intensity and enthusiasm, the next photo documents just how poorly the two of us helped the universe defeat the evil Zurg. Oh well, we still have so much fun on this ride.



Now we explored two of the attractions I’d photographed earlier. We turned right outside of Buzz and climbed up the ramp to the Carousel of Progress. I love this attractions as I’ve mentioned so many times before. This time I think my head was on a swivel as I keep scanning to see if there was anything I’ve missed in the past. Soon we’d past through all the seasons and four decades, and exited the ride with “Great Big Beautiful Tomorrow” playing in our heads.

The queue at the Peoplemover seemed to be stalled, but as we entered the back we realized that the Cast Member at the bottom of the non-functioning up escalator was keeping too many folks from crowding up as it is a very steep walk. In spite of this, the line was moving very quickly, and soon we were touring Tomorrowland from above.

When we debarked from the TTA, I noted a tree in bloom that was just gorgeous. So that seemed photo worthy.




NEXT: Chocolate Overkill

[Tara O'Hara]

We are just the opposite here! Muffin does not ride Space Mountain or RNRC ( however, he does do EE ,Splash Mountain and BTMRR). I love both of these attractions so we always work it out where he does something else in the meanwhile. I, too, love the three eyed alien dudes!! I have been chosen!!

Muffin and I do worse and worse on Buzz Lightyear but we swear they are making it harder!!. We simply love Tomorrowland and feel this is a classic part of the MK.

[pamcarey]

Your ginormous cinnamon roll sounds yummy! Right up my alley!


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[purplegal]

Great start to your day, I also find space mountain to hard on my neck and head and don't ride it anymore.

[SuperDave]

Great start to your first park day. Nice going with so many photos, while Luke rode Space Mountain. Glad you got a few more attraction in during the am with Buzz and CoP, with the latter being one of my faves in the MK! Just love the song and tough to get out of your head as IASW is but not annoying!

[cubfancolleen]

A giant cinnamon roll sounds like the perfect start to the day!
I can't ride Space Mountain at all anymore.

[tdhc]

Sound like a great start to your trip. Look forward to hearing more!