Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party = total fun and we walked onto every ride we wanted with no wait. We went on a Thursday night and I have been told the weekends, as you would expect, are more crowded.
There were, however, enormous lines to meet with characters. This party is known for having numerous characters attend that are never in the parks except during this party. We weren't interested in an autograph from Malificent or Snow White and her dwarfs so we got to ride all the things we wanted to, most multiple times.
There is a parade during this party called Mickey's Boo to You Parade. Its alot of fun and its not very long so there is no getting bored. The characters are all dressed up in their Halloween costumes and the floats and lights are nothing short of amazing.
There is a special fireworks show during this party. We missed it. Again, we are just not a family that cares much about fireworks....but I've read and heard its an amazing show!
Leaving the park after the party is a BIG feat. Its a total mass exodus, as we expected, so we hung around for about half an hour waiting for the crowd to thin. During this time we went to Casey's Corner and had a hot dog dinner, or third meal as that taco place wants you to call it! The stores and quick restaurants stay open for a bit after midnight-so it was nice to be able to get a much needed snack, er dinner-we never actually ate dinner that night so we were all starving!
This event requires a separate ticket and in my and only my opinion, I feel its worth the extra cost. Its something to experience and it was just a whole lotta fun! If you are at the parks during the year when they have these parties (Sept-Nov 1), you should attend.
We only have one more day on our Disney Adventure. Stay tuned...and I promise I have more interesting stuff to talk about after I get this trip report finished!
Saturday, December 17, 2011
Saturday, November 19, 2011
Day 4
We slept in today (I guess I should say we never had a specific wake up time except the first morning when we had breakfast reservations.) then headed to Disney's Animal Kingdom Park.
AK is the newest park on the property. It opened in I believe 1998; so I just missed visiting it when I went on my trip in high school. The big icon of this park is the Tree of Life. Its a huge man-made tree that is just an amazement to admire. There are intricate carvings all around it with numerous types of animals carved in. It's something you just need to see.
The tree is behind the Fab 4; but this pic doesn't do it justice...
We all enjoyed this park and had a LONG list of things we wished we had done. We will go here first on our next trip now that we have "tested" it for its fun factor! Rides/activities we did:
Kilimanjaro Safaris: MUST do. The animals are amazing.
Walked through a trail outside of the Safari ride-sort of like a zoo, but again the animals are amazing.
The Bone Yard: children's playground area on steroids. M especially liked this.
Flying dinosaur ride (don't remember name): this is just like the Dumbo ride at MK. Lots of fun!!!
Play area with large dinosaur statues that were made for children to climb and play on: This was also a HUGE hit for the 6 and under crowd.
We were told that the Lion King show was something NOT to miss, however, we missed it...something to look forward to on our next trip!
We had lunch reservations at Tusker House. There is a casual outdoor section to this restaurant that included a bar with adult beverages and then they had a sit down section indoors. We ate indoors and this was hands down the WORST food eaten during the trip (and so far the worst food I've eaten anywhere). It was served buffet style, and for the size of the buffet, I was very surprised of the lack of variety. The buffet featured various African inspired dishes, none of which I recall - on purpose. The children's buffet was even horrible. They only offered PB&J sandwiches and I think some mac n cheese. No pizza or chicken nuggets; so Mac basically didn't eat. There was something on the buffet resembling french fries-some kind of potato, that he did eat. My mixed drink was even bad. It was some kind of sangria concoction and I should have known to just order a regular glass of wine...I didn't waste it, though, and I guess I could've sent it back, but the drink tasted like it was mixed right; I just didn't like the recipe. Thank goodness for that class on chugging disgusting booze in college!
The dessert section of our lunch buffet was a nice surprise! SO many tasty items-thanks to that section none of us starved.
We left AK about 3:00 p.m. to go back to our resort, take a quick nap, and get ready for Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party (MNSSHP from this point forward). We were planning to stay for the entire party, which meant staying out till after midnight!
MNSSHP takes place at the Magic Kingdom on various nights during the months of Sept and Oct. You must purchase a seperate ticket to attend this event. Visitors with park tickets only were kindly kicked out by 7:00 p.m. that night and people that had tickets to the party were admitted into the MK at 4:00 p.m. that day.
This party was well worth attending! I would love to make it an annual or traditional thing we attend each time we visit WDW. Oct is a special month in the Pearson family-M's bday is on the 5th and our wedding anniversary is on the 9th so its a great excuse to do some extra partying each year!
Coming up...BOO TO YOU!!!
Tracy
AK is the newest park on the property. It opened in I believe 1998; so I just missed visiting it when I went on my trip in high school. The big icon of this park is the Tree of Life. Its a huge man-made tree that is just an amazement to admire. There are intricate carvings all around it with numerous types of animals carved in. It's something you just need to see.
We all enjoyed this park and had a LONG list of things we wished we had done. We will go here first on our next trip now that we have "tested" it for its fun factor! Rides/activities we did:
Kilimanjaro Safaris: MUST do. The animals are amazing.
Walked through a trail outside of the Safari ride-sort of like a zoo, but again the animals are amazing.
The Bone Yard: children's playground area on steroids. M especially liked this.
Flying dinosaur ride (don't remember name): this is just like the Dumbo ride at MK. Lots of fun!!!
Play area with large dinosaur statues that were made for children to climb and play on: This was also a HUGE hit for the 6 and under crowd.
We were told that the Lion King show was something NOT to miss, however, we missed it...something to look forward to on our next trip!
We had lunch reservations at Tusker House. There is a casual outdoor section to this restaurant that included a bar with adult beverages and then they had a sit down section indoors. We ate indoors and this was hands down the WORST food eaten during the trip (and so far the worst food I've eaten anywhere). It was served buffet style, and for the size of the buffet, I was very surprised of the lack of variety. The buffet featured various African inspired dishes, none of which I recall - on purpose. The children's buffet was even horrible. They only offered PB&J sandwiches and I think some mac n cheese. No pizza or chicken nuggets; so Mac basically didn't eat. There was something on the buffet resembling french fries-some kind of potato, that he did eat. My mixed drink was even bad. It was some kind of sangria concoction and I should have known to just order a regular glass of wine...I didn't waste it, though, and I guess I could've sent it back, but the drink tasted like it was mixed right; I just didn't like the recipe. Thank goodness for that class on chugging disgusting booze in college!
The dessert section of our lunch buffet was a nice surprise! SO many tasty items-thanks to that section none of us starved.
We left AK about 3:00 p.m. to go back to our resort, take a quick nap, and get ready for Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party (MNSSHP from this point forward). We were planning to stay for the entire party, which meant staying out till after midnight!
MNSSHP takes place at the Magic Kingdom on various nights during the months of Sept and Oct. You must purchase a seperate ticket to attend this event. Visitors with park tickets only were kindly kicked out by 7:00 p.m. that night and people that had tickets to the party were admitted into the MK at 4:00 p.m. that day.
This party was well worth attending! I would love to make it an annual or traditional thing we attend each time we visit WDW. Oct is a special month in the Pearson family-M's bday is on the 5th and our wedding anniversary is on the 9th so its a great excuse to do some extra partying each year!
Coming up...BOO TO YOU!!!
Tracy
Saturday, November 12, 2011
Birthday dinner in EPCOT
We got to the Coral Reef just in time and had a brief wait before we were taken to our seats. Although they won't guarantee a particular table; I did ask for a table in the first row closest to the aquarium. Oh, I forgot to mention, the restaurant is centered around a very large aquarium that is part of an Exhibit above it.
Thanks to some Pixie Dust, we were seated in a curved booth directly in front of the aquarium window. We were given a key that showed us pictures and names of all of the fish and other sea creatures in the aquarium. We enjoyed trying to identify all of the animals that were swimming around us.
This is mainly a seafood restaurant and its on the nicer side. Kids are definitely welcome, but there are no characters walking around and there is a wine list! I had a nice glass of wine and Todd had what he said was one of the best amber beers he had ever tasted. I tried it and it and actually liked it. Our server said this particular beer had been made exclusively for WDW by one of the major beer companies-we can't remember which one. We were told this particular beer was called several different names depending on where you ordered it within WDW.
I had the salmon which was good, Todd had a steak that he said tasted good, but not better than any steak he could have made on the grill at home, and Mac had pizza that he ate with no complaints.
After dinner, it was time for cake! I had ordered this when I made the initial reservations. I was told that all of the restaurants have a basic cake you can request when you check in, but I wanted a personalized cake and the ordering couldn't have been easier. I believe the cake was 35.00. It was a round cake that could probably serve 10 people. We took the cake back to our room and ate on it the rest of the week. It was EXTREMELY tasty-I give it a big 10!!!
Tonight at EPCOT they were having "Extra Magic Hours." EMH is a perk for those staying on Disney property. Each night of the week, one of the parks opens early or stays open late. You must have your resort ID to attend these special hours. Tonight the park was closing at 12:00 a.m.
We took full advantage of these hours and had intentionally slept in a little that morning so we could hopefully last all night. The park closed at 9:00 for the commoners. Instead of watching the fireworks show again, we headed to the rides and that ended up being a great idea. Here is a run down:
Nemo: this is right outside of the Coral Reef restaurant.
The aquarium building next to the Coral Reef: lots of sea life and interactive areas. We spent a good amount of time here-there was all sorts of things to see and do.
Soarin': super duper fun. Its set up like you are boarding an airplane. The ride itself does lift you up pretty high, but its only lifting you and doesn't move any other way until the ride is over when it takes you back down. This is a simulator that makes you feel like you are flying over various areas of the country. It is one of the most, if not the most, popular ride at EPCOT. People apparently stand in line for hours to ride this or run to get fast passes as soon as the park opens. We walked right up to the gate-those Extra Magic Hours are awesome!
Imagination with Figment: WAY fun! Love that little Figment and its very good entertainment for the kids. Its about using your imagination and Figment uses his throughout the ride. *WARNING* this ride, like SO many others around WDW exits straight into a gift shop. It's very hard to say no to a tired, cranky boy on his birthday...we didn't.
Spaceship Earth: Inside the big EPCOT ball! This is another very popular ride that we just walked right up to. It was fun.
Living the Land: a slow boat ride around an area where EPCOT is doing alot of work with growing different kinds of foods hydroponically without the need for soil. It was very interesting and Mac enjoyed the boat ride and seeing all of the different fruit and vegetable trees and other plants.
The World of Coca-Cola: This was a little shop type place that had beverage stations where you could try different colas from around the world. I really liked the Mexican and German colas. Some of them tasted like spit....so weird how they taste so different in other countries!
Playing around EPCOT in general: at night, there are lots of lights to see and watch-very entertaining-you will just have to go to understand b/c I can't explain it.
We called it a night and our sweet birthday boy fell asleep on the bus ride back. We thoroughly enjoyed our day today!
See ya real soon!
Thanks to some Pixie Dust, we were seated in a curved booth directly in front of the aquarium window. We were given a key that showed us pictures and names of all of the fish and other sea creatures in the aquarium. We enjoyed trying to identify all of the animals that were swimming around us.
This is mainly a seafood restaurant and its on the nicer side. Kids are definitely welcome, but there are no characters walking around and there is a wine list! I had a nice glass of wine and Todd had what he said was one of the best amber beers he had ever tasted. I tried it and it and actually liked it. Our server said this particular beer had been made exclusively for WDW by one of the major beer companies-we can't remember which one. We were told this particular beer was called several different names depending on where you ordered it within WDW.
I had the salmon which was good, Todd had a steak that he said tasted good, but not better than any steak he could have made on the grill at home, and Mac had pizza that he ate with no complaints.
After dinner, it was time for cake! I had ordered this when I made the initial reservations. I was told that all of the restaurants have a basic cake you can request when you check in, but I wanted a personalized cake and the ordering couldn't have been easier. I believe the cake was 35.00. It was a round cake that could probably serve 10 people. We took the cake back to our room and ate on it the rest of the week. It was EXTREMELY tasty-I give it a big 10!!!
Tonight at EPCOT they were having "Extra Magic Hours." EMH is a perk for those staying on Disney property. Each night of the week, one of the parks opens early or stays open late. You must have your resort ID to attend these special hours. Tonight the park was closing at 12:00 a.m.
We took full advantage of these hours and had intentionally slept in a little that morning so we could hopefully last all night. The park closed at 9:00 for the commoners. Instead of watching the fireworks show again, we headed to the rides and that ended up being a great idea. Here is a run down:
Nemo: this is right outside of the Coral Reef restaurant.
The aquarium building next to the Coral Reef: lots of sea life and interactive areas. We spent a good amount of time here-there was all sorts of things to see and do.
Soarin': super duper fun. Its set up like you are boarding an airplane. The ride itself does lift you up pretty high, but its only lifting you and doesn't move any other way until the ride is over when it takes you back down. This is a simulator that makes you feel like you are flying over various areas of the country. It is one of the most, if not the most, popular ride at EPCOT. People apparently stand in line for hours to ride this or run to get fast passes as soon as the park opens. We walked right up to the gate-those Extra Magic Hours are awesome!
Imagination with Figment: WAY fun! Love that little Figment and its very good entertainment for the kids. Its about using your imagination and Figment uses his throughout the ride. *WARNING* this ride, like SO many others around WDW exits straight into a gift shop. It's very hard to say no to a tired, cranky boy on his birthday...we didn't.
Spaceship Earth: Inside the big EPCOT ball! This is another very popular ride that we just walked right up to. It was fun.
Living the Land: a slow boat ride around an area where EPCOT is doing alot of work with growing different kinds of foods hydroponically without the need for soil. It was very interesting and Mac enjoyed the boat ride and seeing all of the different fruit and vegetable trees and other plants.
The World of Coca-Cola: This was a little shop type place that had beverage stations where you could try different colas from around the world. I really liked the Mexican and German colas. Some of them tasted like spit....so weird how they taste so different in other countries!
Playing around EPCOT in general: at night, there are lots of lights to see and watch-very entertaining-you will just have to go to understand b/c I can't explain it.
We called it a night and our sweet birthday boy fell asleep on the bus ride back. We thoroughly enjoyed our day today!
See ya real soon!
Day 3 AKA Mac's 5th Birthday!
We started the day with a few presents and much fanfare to our sweet boy, who was officially a 5 year old! I was told prior to our trip to make sure we stopped by Town Square in Magic Kingdom on this day and get a "Birthday" button for Mac to wear. Well...in true Disney fashion, by the time we made it to his actual birthday, we had already been presented with 3 birthday buttons-no need to stop by and ask for one! 1st one came from our super awesome travel agent when she sent our final trip documents, 2nd one came as we checked into the CBR-the clerk said "oh I see you are celebrating a birthday on your trip!" He made one on the spot. Then...we get to our room and yet another one was waiting on our birthday boy!
We started our day in the Magic Kingdom-it was a beautiful day to be there. There was so much to look at and take in. We took our time walking down Main Street, stopped to look in store windows and of course take pictures of Cinderella's Castle-oh how I love her! We had lunch at Pinocchio's Village Hause. Very good quick food and we found a table next to a huge window overlooking the "It's a Small World" ride. People in the boats waved to us as they passed by-it was alot of fun.
First ride: It's a Small World. M LOVED it and although it's probably one of the oldest rides there, you can't help but love it. It was the sweetest thing to watch my child ooh and ahhh over all of the sights and sounds. The other rides we did were: (I've included my opinions of course)
Peter Pan: Your ride is a pirate ship and you "fly" over London and Neverland. Must-do!
Snow White (I hear this one is going to be replaced soon): Very old, just as I remember it from childhood.
Pirates of the Caribbean: We all wanted to ride this one until we got down to the area where you board your boat. It was very dark and Mac was a little hesitant. It didn't help that a child about his age was SCREAMING next to us b/c he did not want to go on the ride. We assured Mac, and he sat in between us on the boat. He LOVED it and so did we. The ride has been updated some since my last visit to include Capt Jack Sparrow and story lines from the recent movies. To this day I am still not sure if Capt Jack was a real person or an animatronic...he was that real looking.
Alice's Teacups: I loved these as a child, not so much as an adult. Made me dizzy.
Jungle Cruise: A TOTAL must do. Lots of cheesy jokes from the boat captain and just alot of wholesome fun!
Cinderella's Carousel: Its a carousel...
Hall of Presidents: I didn't do this one but the boys did while I looked around the Christmas Shoppe. I am told M LOVED it and I can admit he recited some information he learned from the show and he told me he liked it! I'm glad 2 out of 3 of us are cultured...
WDW BONUS: If you are wearing an "It's my Birthday" button, everyone, and I mean everyone, makes sure to give you some attention! The cast members at the rides ALL wished M a happy birthday, as did other employees, and lots of other "friends" in lines with us or just walking by! M asked us "how do they know my name?" It was fabulous!!
We had birthday dinner reservations at The Coral Reef at 5pm in EPCOT, so we hopped the monorail for the short trip over.
More birthday fun awaits...
We started our day in the Magic Kingdom-it was a beautiful day to be there. There was so much to look at and take in. We took our time walking down Main Street, stopped to look in store windows and of course take pictures of Cinderella's Castle-oh how I love her! We had lunch at Pinocchio's Village Hause. Very good quick food and we found a table next to a huge window overlooking the "It's a Small World" ride. People in the boats waved to us as they passed by-it was alot of fun.
First ride: It's a Small World. M LOVED it and although it's probably one of the oldest rides there, you can't help but love it. It was the sweetest thing to watch my child ooh and ahhh over all of the sights and sounds. The other rides we did were: (I've included my opinions of course)
Peter Pan: Your ride is a pirate ship and you "fly" over London and Neverland. Must-do!
Snow White (I hear this one is going to be replaced soon): Very old, just as I remember it from childhood.
Pirates of the Caribbean: We all wanted to ride this one until we got down to the area where you board your boat. It was very dark and Mac was a little hesitant. It didn't help that a child about his age was SCREAMING next to us b/c he did not want to go on the ride. We assured Mac, and he sat in between us on the boat. He LOVED it and so did we. The ride has been updated some since my last visit to include Capt Jack Sparrow and story lines from the recent movies. To this day I am still not sure if Capt Jack was a real person or an animatronic...he was that real looking.
Alice's Teacups: I loved these as a child, not so much as an adult. Made me dizzy.
Jungle Cruise: A TOTAL must do. Lots of cheesy jokes from the boat captain and just alot of wholesome fun!
Cinderella's Carousel: Its a carousel...
Hall of Presidents: I didn't do this one but the boys did while I looked around the Christmas Shoppe. I am told M LOVED it and I can admit he recited some information he learned from the show and he told me he liked it! I'm glad 2 out of 3 of us are cultured...
WDW BONUS: If you are wearing an "It's my Birthday" button, everyone, and I mean everyone, makes sure to give you some attention! The cast members at the rides ALL wished M a happy birthday, as did other employees, and lots of other "friends" in lines with us or just walking by! M asked us "how do they know my name?" It was fabulous!!
We had birthday dinner reservations at The Coral Reef at 5pm in EPCOT, so we hopped the monorail for the short trip over.
More birthday fun awaits...
Saturday, November 5, 2011
Day 2 continued...
We drove home after a fun day at HS and immediately went to the bus stop near our hotel room and waited for a bus going to EPCOT. It didn't take long; we never waited more than about 15 minutes for a bus to pick us up.
The EPCOT International Food and Wine Festival was going on during our trip, so we had some extra things to see and do. The first thing we came upon was the Ocean Spray Cranberry bog. There was even a cranberry farmer in the bog! He was educating everyone on what exactly the bog was-it was very neat and even M was major impressed.
We were all hungry, so we headed directly to the International Showcase area to get some food. During the festival, there are lots of station set up that serve tapas size food items and drinks that you can try from various countries and parts of the world. They also had chicken fingers-meltdowns avoided tonight!
I had beef and rice and a fruity drink from a Caribbean station-major yum. Todd tried a craft beer from another country (sorry can't recall and I'm not going to ask him or he will sit and watch me/read as I compose this post)-he said it was very good. Mac gave his nachos and cheese and chicken fingers 4 stars!
There was SO MUCH food and drink available during this festival. The Showcase is known for having the best food in WDW, so this fest is a major highlight.
We walked around and took in the sights and sounds from all of the different countries represented and located a good spot to watch the park's fireworks show called "Illuminations." Everyone we talked to about WDW had told us NOT to miss this show...I will give it a 7/10.
Not to be a crab, but first off, the music was just weird. It was a mix of techno and muzak and so repetitive-I couldn't get the tune out of my head. There was a narrator to the show, and I thought his voice was weird, too. The show is about the world and how its evolved, I think. Can you tell I was not that impressed? I will put it like this: its a fireworks show. Its definitely a more impressive show than say what my neighbors put on for the 4th of July.
After the show we joined the masses exiting and found our way to our resort's bus stop. Each resort has their own area where you wait for your personal resort bus. Its a very large waiting area...because there are alot of people waiting...and you wait...and wait...for your carriage to arrive to take you and your extremely sleepy family home. The consequence of staying at a park till closing-you are gonna have to wait. We met some nice people in line and that helped the time pass. The weather was great and we were at DISNEY WORLD...so, a line didn't get us down.
I PROMISE our trip gets more exciting...stay tuned!!
Tracy
The EPCOT International Food and Wine Festival was going on during our trip, so we had some extra things to see and do. The first thing we came upon was the Ocean Spray Cranberry bog. There was even a cranberry farmer in the bog! He was educating everyone on what exactly the bog was-it was very neat and even M was major impressed.
We were all hungry, so we headed directly to the International Showcase area to get some food. During the festival, there are lots of station set up that serve tapas size food items and drinks that you can try from various countries and parts of the world. They also had chicken fingers-meltdowns avoided tonight!
I had beef and rice and a fruity drink from a Caribbean station-major yum. Todd tried a craft beer from another country (sorry can't recall and I'm not going to ask him or he will sit and watch me/read as I compose this post)-he said it was very good. Mac gave his nachos and cheese and chicken fingers 4 stars!
There was SO MUCH food and drink available during this festival. The Showcase is known for having the best food in WDW, so this fest is a major highlight.
We walked around and took in the sights and sounds from all of the different countries represented and located a good spot to watch the park's fireworks show called "Illuminations." Everyone we talked to about WDW had told us NOT to miss this show...I will give it a 7/10.
Not to be a crab, but first off, the music was just weird. It was a mix of techno and muzak and so repetitive-I couldn't get the tune out of my head. There was a narrator to the show, and I thought his voice was weird, too. The show is about the world and how its evolved, I think. Can you tell I was not that impressed? I will put it like this: its a fireworks show. Its definitely a more impressive show than say what my neighbors put on for the 4th of July.
After the show we joined the masses exiting and found our way to our resort's bus stop. Each resort has their own area where you wait for your personal resort bus. Its a very large waiting area...because there are alot of people waiting...and you wait...and wait...for your carriage to arrive to take you and your extremely sleepy family home. The consequence of staying at a park till closing-you are gonna have to wait. We met some nice people in line and that helped the time pass. The weather was great and we were at DISNEY WORLD...so, a line didn't get us down.
I PROMISE our trip gets more exciting...stay tuned!!
Tracy
Thursday, November 3, 2011
Day 2
We had reservations for breakfast at Hollywood & Vine at Disney's Hollywood Studios, f/k/a MGM Studios. When I made these 8:30 a.m. reservations, I had the delusional hope that my usual late rising family would wake up early because we would be so "high" on Disney. I was wrong.
We were in luck again that we had our car with us. We drove to HS, which was coincidentally super close to our resort. We made it to the park without a second to spare. The park itself or their gates hadn't opened yet, as their opening time that day was 9:00 a.m. You are allowed to enter the park early if you have dining reservations. It was pretty neat to walk into the park with virtually no one in it. We didn't have time to take it in as we were running to the restaurant.
This is a buffet character meal with various stars from Disney Junior. The stars there during our visit were June from Little Einsteins,Secret Special Agent Oso, and Handy Manny. There was an emcee person that stays on the floor the entire time sort of keeping the crowd "pumped" up. Kids (of all ages I suppose) were encouraged to get up and dance and sing. It was cute at first, and got less cute the longer you stayed. None of us were awake enough to desire to participate in the dance party.
We were in luck again that we had our car with us. We drove to HS, which was coincidentally super close to our resort. We made it to the park without a second to spare. The park itself or their gates hadn't opened yet, as their opening time that day was 9:00 a.m. You are allowed to enter the park early if you have dining reservations. It was pretty neat to walk into the park with virtually no one in it. We didn't have time to take it in as we were running to the restaurant.
This is a buffet character meal with various stars from Disney Junior. The stars there during our visit were June from Little Einsteins,
Prior to agreeing to take the photo above, sweet M asked us if June had any lipstick on! After confirming she in fact did not have lipstick, I got this adorable shot.
The food was the usual items you would expect to have for breakfast. There were a few breakfast casseroles and a fritata that was yum. And of course no breakfast at WDW is complete without Mickey shaped waffles! The service was great-and I forgot to mention that the service was also great at Park Fare.
After breakfast, we set out to spend some time in the park. As we were leaving the restaurant, we noticed a herd of grown men and younger boys running in the same direction, coincidentally in our direction. A cast member (a/k/a employee for those of you not living in a constant state of WDW) was yelling "no running!" I asked someone what everyone was running for and learned that they were running to the Star Wars Jedi Academy. This is an interactive program for kids-not adults-where they get to take a Jedi class and then perform what they have learned on stage. There are a limited amount of classes, and from what I heard, the classes are full by an hour or so after opening. We watched the first performance and it was GREAT. The kids get to dress up and have light sabers, show everyone what they learned, then...Darth Vader makes a surprise appearance and the Jedi students get to try their moves on him! I can imagine this being something M will be wanting to do in a year or so. It was a really fun show to watch and I'm sure way more fun to be a participant.
There is also a ride called Star Tours next to the Jedi Academy, but M didn't want to ride, so we moved on. Our next stop was Pixar Place to ride Toy Story Midway Mania. This is probably THE most popular ride in the park. There were fast passes (I will discuss FP later) available for this ride, but the return time was already 4:30 p.m. and it was only 10:00 a.m. or so. We weren't sure if we would still be in the park that late, so we took a chance and got in line. There is a sign at every ride that tells you what the current wait time is, and it said 40 minutes. We ended breezing through in less than 20 minutes. This ride gets a 10 out of 10. Its fun for all ages and you get to compete with the person riding in the car with you, so its alot of fun to see who has a higher score at the end.
Next on to the Backstage Tour ride. Its exactly what it sounds like, and I give it a 7/10. Its more of an informative ride-partly walking and partly riding on a trolley. This ride exits conveniently into a gift shop...something that you start to notice being a trend at all of the parks. We got some Sorcerer Mickey ears and a Mickey Light Saber and had them sent to our resort.
*ON SITE RESORT PERK* You can have your purchases sent to directly to your resort so that you aren't having to carry your stuff around all day. *VERY NICE*
We then went to the "Honey, I Shrunk the Kids" movie set. This is a playground where everything is larger than life, like the movie that I hope everyone reading remembers. If you have never heard of this movie, please go find it and watch it, and show it to your kids. M's favorite part was the slide made to look like an unrolled canister of 35 millimeter camera film. Poor thing has never seen a roll of film. The Cast Member working at the slide said that none of the kids know what they are sliding down and some call it a space ship, trash can, and other random things! The set is definitely showing its age, but its still so very cool and M probably would have stayed there all day if he could.
We had lunch at Pizza Planet. This is considered a quick service restaurant. M had pizza, I had another Greek salad, and Todd had a meatball sub. The food was given 2 thumbs way up by all of us. I tried some of M's pizza and it was de-lish.
We spent the rest of the day going to shows. We went to Playhouse Disney Live, The Little Mermaid, and the Indiana Jones stunt show. All three of these experiences were super duper fun must-do's!
We decided to "hop" over to Epcot that afternoon...
Wednesday, November 2, 2011
Night 1
We had dinner reservations at 1900 Park Fare, which is located in the Grand Floridian Resort. This is a character meal that has Cinderella, Prince Charming, Lady Tremaine (Cindy's evil stepmom), and step-sisters Drizella and Anastasia. I've read that sometimes in place of one of the aforemantioned characters, they substitute with the Fairy Godmother! During our meal, we met Prince Charming, Cinderella, Lady T, and Drizella. The other sister was making rounds but we decided not to wait on her. No offense Ana-our little one was a bit traumatized by your sister and we were finished with our meal.
I was very impressed at how authentic looking and acting the characters were and loved the personal interaction they gave each table. They never acted rushed and took time to take as many pics as you wanted, have a convo, give a kiss...
I was very impressed at how authentic looking and acting the characters were and loved the personal interaction they gave each table. They never acted rushed and took time to take as many pics as you wanted, have a convo, give a kiss...
The meal itself is a buffet, which is the style for most of the character meals. The food selections were very good, including salmon and other seafood selections, roast carving station, fresh veggies, breads, salads, and of course a super cute kids' buffet with chicken nuggets, pizza, etc. I would of course check the menu online for current info before going again.
On a scale of 1-10, I give the food a 7 and the meal experience a 10. I didn't have anything on my plate that didn't taste good and the characters were beyond amazing and entertaining.
Of note, we drove to this resort b/c we had our own vehicle, and I'm very glad we did. It was a very short drive and if we hadn't driven, we would have had to take at least 2 different buses to get to the resort, and would have taken anywhere from 40 minutes to an hour or more to get there-in October!
Blogger's note: its hard to find time to blog when you have a full time job and a child. I'm beginning to think professional bloggers never sleep or in the alternative, live off of Red Bull...
Talk to ya...as real soon as I can,
Tracy
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