Orlando PTR - September 2016

[peep]

Oh boy, I never finished my report in 2012, lets see if I ever finish this beast...

Saturday 10th

I met up with Nic (who was crazy excited as it was her first time to WDW) at Gatwick airport in the early afternoon. With an empty security we had a silly amount of time to waste among the shops and that. Oh well, time passed and we were soon on our long haul flight to Orlando with Norwegian. Because low cost airlines going to America is now a thing. A good thing? Umm, seat was comfortable enough, entertainment selection was slim and food was ok (you pay extra when booking for food). Staff were ok, didn't really see much of them.

We finally landed in Florida about 8pm. We managed to get off the plane and through security super quick only for our suitcases to be some of the last off the plane! Bums.

Finally out into the really dated airport we found our way to the Disney magical express bus with several overly ecstatic cast members welcoming us and waving from afar with giant Mickey mouse gloves. It took about 30 minutes to get to our hotel, Disney's Caribbean Beach Resort. When we were booking I thought it looked a little vulgar in style but in person it looked great. The lady who checked us in was amazing and we spent forever with her as we had chats about Horror Nights, all the Disney parks and everything inbetween.

We then got on the internal shuttle bus (Disney resorts are freaking huge so walking around with suitcases isn't much of an option) to our hotel room. The room was a decent enough size for the two of us and it had lovely AC.




Sunday 11th

We started our Disney adventure with Epcot. This is one of my favourite Orlando parks so was excited to get start our trip here.



We headed straight to Test Track which had a 20 minute wait. This was my first time getting to do Test Track as it was undergoing it's transformation into it's current state on my last visit. Designing the car was quite cool and broke up the wait for the ride quite nicely.







I thought the ride was quite cool, found it bizarre that the seat belt check was at the top of a huge curved ramp, seemed like an odd place? Some of the effects were quite cool and I enjoyed seeing who's car design was the most efficient etc. It gains a great deal of speed when it goes outside, such a shame it just jets out over a blank backstage area.




Car design stuff is assigned to your ticket/magic band so everyone has to tap in just before they board the car.


Being blinded from the sun as you shoot outside isn't so fun

You exit it into a car showroom. You can create a commercial for your car design and race it against others. So some of the interactive stuff is pretty neat.






Our beautiful car

I think we grabbed a quick breakfast at Starbucks before grabbing a quick photo with Baymax (nicely themed little corner) We then headed into the Sea pavilion. We walked straight on to The Seas with Nemo and friends. I quite like this little dark ride. Some of the projection effects in the water tanks work extremely well.


Fountains







We actually had fastpasses for Nemo, we skipped an entire empty cattlepen, was so worth it



The Seas pavilion has lots of big fish tanks. I found the random man in a tank more interesting though, I can't remember why he was in there.






Manatee goes om nom nom

We then headed into the Land pavilion where we queued 15 minutes for Living with the Land. I do think this is quite an interesting and very educational attraction, just not something I'm going to re-ride during my time in Epcot.









We then met up with Peter and Rach who were on their last day of their trip. We grabbed a quick bite to eat at a fast food restaurant. It was good to catch up and a shame that's all the time we could spend having a chat. As they went off to do Test Track one last time we headed into Ellen's Nightmare Adventure, more commonly called Universe of Energy. It's in a ridiculous building...



The whole ride is also ridiculous. I still can't believe it exists (if rumours are true, not for much longer!), it's a 45 minute adventure with Ellen and Bill Nye the Science guy (with cameos from Alex Trebek and Jamie Lee Curtis for lolz). You sit in these giant trackless vehicles which after showing you part 2 of the story (part 1 is before you enter the ride station) you move slowly through a giant dinosaur-era diorama and then another two rooms with more projected action. The scale of the thing is absolutely ludicrous, I mean, each vehicle seats 80 peeps and they can run it with 6 of them at a time. It's insane!


Trebek: "What is a good way to describe these ride vehicles?"
Me: "what is... excessive"


Outside the Jammitors were jamming and they were fab. Considering it was crazy hot out these guys were still going mental and loving it.



Enough with Future World we say and we magic our ways over to Canada. I quite like the Canada area, it's small but nice. We obviously went in to watch O Canada, their circlevision film starring Martin Short (love Martin Short). The AC was a Godsend (it was so hot out, not even those that live in Florida were able to deal with the heat during our trip, it was ridiculous). After enjoying the cool air it was back outside and we caught Alberta Bound, a fiddle band from Canada, they were really good.









Next up on our World tour is the UK. It's a bit of a lame section of the park, not a lot to really see or do. Nic got the Duffy stick thing where you get it stamped in each pavilion, it was actually quite fun and added to our day as we went around. There was a random fiddle band lurking in the shadows in this area too.









We then made our way to France where we randomly found a Princess with no queue...







We skipped the circlevision film in France for our next visit so it was in to Morocco. I love the style of buildings in this area.



Next up is Japan. We spent a very long time in the big shop full of Japanese tat. We then popped into the Kawaii exhibition, we were amused when they played Kyary Pamyu Pamyu and we loved spotting all the Tokyo Disney tat. The mascot hobbies also tickled my funny bone.








Of course the duffy cards had the best decorations in Japan. They also drew a Pikachu on the back <3







The next location is America. We caught the American Music Machine performance. It's an a cappella group and they were extremely good.









Our fastpasses for Frozen (hard to get!) were nearly ready so we whizzed past the others to come back to them later. So I never really liked Maelstrom on my last visit, was a bit odd so I wasn't upset they removed it. I can sort of understand the hate of placing an IP in the World showcase but that ship sailed years ago when Donald and friends took over the Mexican ride. Anyway, the queue is quite nicely themed if very crammed in (somehow in the small area it occupies it contained a 60 minutes wait which is just gross).













The ride was actually very well executed. The animatronics were superb and it just looked really nice. The ice castle scene is actually very good too. I really liked it. Would I queue more than 20 minutes? No, but it's a good addition to a rather dated park.



Anna and Elsa have a massive meet and greet thing too and weirdly it only had a 20 minute wait so we just went for it. The queue theming was really nice.













We headed into Mexico next where we caught a Mariachi band who were sneakily taking up all the shade the area had to offer.



We then headed inside the big Aztec temple for the Grand Fiesta Tour boat ride. I quite like the Three Caballeros theme in here and I liked the old school animatronics of the trio that have been added since my last visit.













We then headed back to catch the rest of the countries we skipped earlier. Next up was China. For some reason we couldn't get into the circlevision theatre so we just had a look around the shop and the Shanghai Disney exhibition.







It was then round to Germany where we caught a bit of a group called Margret Almer & the Bavarian Band. I simply called them Bavarian Pontins. You can watch a video of them Here You clearly need to be drinking a German beer to fully enjoy their set and we were jealous of those that were clearly doing just that.





The smell from the Worthers Original sweet shop was gorgeous, just caramel in the air, beautiful. Epcot is such a beautiful park...



Next up was Italy. We caught a weird flag waving show which was just dull.





Nic got a frozen beer from Japan, Nic's Tokyo mouse ears gained the attention of the Japanese goon working the counter and they had a brief chat which was cool. We then watched the Japanese drummers (Matsuriza) which was kinda cool.





We then continued onwards and caught the Moroccan group, Musique Aramenco. Their music was a bit unusual, they gained quite a large crowd quite quickly due to the main guy's very energetic performance.



We had a little look around the Paris shops (saw Disneyland Paris tat with the Epcot logo slapped on!) before moving on to Canada for our evening meal at Le Cellier Steakhouse.



I loved this place on my last visit so was very excited to be back here. We had the dining package with Disney which let us eat in the more expensive restaurants around the Resort (I'll sum up the cost etc at the end of my report - if I remember!) and this was two dining credits each (you get one snack, one quick service and one dining credit per day). On my last visit this got you a whole three courses which was far too much food. It's now been limited down to the main and the dessert which is much more favourable.

The restaurant is quite small but has a really cosy atmosphere, the staff were all pretty awesome too. We were provided with a selection of breads - the pretzel bread was by far the best. I had a steak with all sorts below and on top of it, it was all extremely tasty but crazy filling.



We seriously couldn't decide what to get for dessert but we had already laughed with the older couple next to us who had the same problem. They ended up with the maple syrup creme brûlée which the guy highly recommended in the end so we went for that. "There's always room for creme brûlée" - well said that man. It was very tasty.





Outside the restaurant and it was now dark out. We were crazy full from our awesome meal and then we spotted a random rabbit!


Kept moving. It's that grey blur in the middle of the grass

We then went to find a spot for illuminations. I know this is a really popular show but I don't really get the love? I find a vast majority of the show is very dull and slow. Love the fire and explosions but they pretty much all happen at the beginning. Meh. Before the show even started we could see the Star Wars fireworks really easily (a common theme throughout the trip)




Star Wars















We then popped into the massive shop near the exit. Nic wanted the Maleficent jacket.



It was then time for us to temporarily say goodbye to Epcot and we made our way over to Disney Springs.



After a little nosey around Springs (which looks so much better now, more on that another day) we headed back to the hotel and crashed out from exhaustion.... it was day one.




Thanks for reading. More from this ridiculous trip soon.

 

[Crazycoaster]

I was there a similar time to you (went from the 3rd to the 16th). I was pleasantly surprised by the Frozen ride, I thought it was really well done, and has put fresh new life in that area of the park. Although my ride on it was ruined by cretins using their phone camera flashes throughout, did you experience this? Like to the point where we had a go at both the people behind us, and the family in front too.

 

[Ian]

Is it law that all females who go to a Disney park have to wear mouse ears?

 

[nadroJ]

It's the law.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[peep]

I was there a similar time to you (went from the 3rd to the 16th). I was pleasantly surprised by the Frozen ride, I thought it was really well done, and has put fresh new life in that area of the park. Although my ride on it was ruined by cretins using their phone camera flashes throughout, did you experience this? Like to the point where we had a go at both the people behind us, and the family in front too.

Yeah, I found this on a few rides too. I find it ironic that American Disney goons complain about the behaviour of the Chinese at Shanghai when lights are used on cameras by guests in dark rides so frequently in Orlando (can be a problem in Paris too). I think I go to parks enough to sort of block it out otherwise I'd just get too annoyed at everyone.



Monday 12th

We headed over to the Hollywood Studios on our second day. As we arrived at the park there were several "studio" characters out and about which was cool, wish they still had these sort of roaming characters in Paris. It was great to be able to see the Chinese Theatre at the end of the street, much better than the hat.



We headed to the corner of the park with Tower and Rock, hitting up Rock n Rollercoaster first.






Hearing other people's reactions to the removed hand gesture was amusing

I forgot how themed the station and launched area was for this one. I actually think it looks ok. I still don't like the cardboard cutouts throughout the ride though.



We then queued a whole 5 minutes for Tower of Terror. I do really like the exterior queue area for this one (gladly not in use though). I didn't like how many people they crammed into the library room, it was stupid, when it was so quiet it was really unnecessary to cram so many people into the room, it wasn't a tube train in rush hour. I also hated the way the boiler room queueline split up, there was no logic to it at all.



This is where I have to prepare for hate mail.



I hate this version of Tower of Terror. Granted the random drop sequence can be good but I loathe the separation of the show sequences and the drops. It ruins all tension that is built up from those moments. The tunnel room is also really dull and the way it faffs about at the end is really tedious. I don't get the love.

We headed over to the other side of the park for some Muppet awesomeness but they were having technical difficulties so we queued a whole 10 minutes for Star Tours II instead. Before we headed in we caught the Jedi training show where they force a huge bunch of kids to battle against some character from Star Wars Rebels and Vader. I love the show in Paris but found it amusing how difficult they were finding it to teach the kids what to do here and keep them on their spots etc. It's also plonked in a weird location, I get they wanted it near Star Tours but it just creates a huge crowd blocking the entrance to the ride - so weird.






Love the exterior theming for Star Tours, makes no sense but it looks cool

I love Star Tours and I was excited to see the new Force Awakens scenes, very excited for the Paris one to open in March.





The Force Awakens scenes were actually good, I'm still in love with the hologram effect, it's so good. We also got the final scene with the best 3D so that made me uber happy.

Next up was Frozen singalong. I was surprised at how different this was compared to the Paris show (sorry for all the comparisons, plenty more to come too). The two villagers tasked to sing along with us were amusing and I liked their script. The whole show was a bit rubbish in comparison to Paris though, I mean if you like the Frozen songs you're going to have a fun time either way but the Paris version is much more of a "show" that happens to be a singalong.



Indiana Jones stunt show was about to begin so we jumped in and completely missed the pre-show (a good thing imo). I still hate that this is the same set up as Motors Action where they're setting up to film it for "real", so they have loads of faff and just drone on for ages. I prefer my stunt shows with a story that just keeps on going (see: Waterworld at Universal or the one at Parc Asterix).

We caught a fair bit of the new Star War: a galaxy far, far away show. It's just some video montages from the films with appearances with a bunch of the characters on stage. It's a bit weird.

As we were heading back to Tower of Terror I came across this awesome street character. She was fab. I could have just sat and watched her interact with guests for ages.





Back on Tower of Terror again then. We had a much better drop sequence this time, yay for air time.



We had a lunch reservation heading up but we decided to squeeze in a ride on the Great Movie ride. We ended up waiting 25 minutes. It's very dated now so I'm not surprised there's a rumour to remove it. I love the concept, it just needs a huge overhaul.



Our lunch reservation was at the Sci-Fi dine in. It's a really cool theme where you sit in cars at a drive in theater. I had some ridiculous sandwhich and a milkshake. It was tasty. I thought the video montage was a little short though, pretty sure it went through about 3 times while we were in there.





Muppets 3D was all good now so we went in. I LOVE this show so much. The preshow is hilarious, the animatronic Muppets are cool and the 3D is pretty neat. When you consider how old this show is now it's quite amazing how well it's stood up. My boss at work kinda got to work on it when she worked for the Henson company, I've told her how jealous I am.







I was sad that the new Muppets themed restaurant wasn't ready for our visit (or all the new Muppet shows in Magic Kingdom).



Shortly after I took this photo the heavens opened so we dived into Star Tours II as it was near by. It was walk on! We then spent some time after our galactic journey being scared of water, using the exit shop for shelter. About 10-15 minutes passed and the rain gave up for the day so we made our way over to Pixar Place where we queued for about 5 minutes for Toy Story Mania (we had gained a fastpass after using up our initial 3 earlier in the day - the new system is ok if you know how to use it?).









I'm not really a fan of the theme for this ride but I do enjoy a good interactive ride experience. I managed to get a fairly good score so that made me happy. We popped into the One Man's Dream building for a bit to nosey around at the exhibit portion. Models of park stuff...



We then decided to catch the next performance of the Little Mermaid. It's ok, the water effect was quite effective. If memory serves the mic was either not working or she was a really poor singer? Meh.





We popped into the Star Wars Launch Bay. It was weird going into the old Art of Animation building and just seeing a rather empty building with the odd Star Wars model etc. We met Kylo Ren which was awkward because we couldn't understand what he was saying so he was stood there waiting for us to react and we were like *shrug*





Oh the guy in front of us also had no idea he was queuing to meet Kylo Ren. He thought he was in the queue for Star Tours. LOL. Like, how the hell do you get to that point in the building believing that's what you're queuing for? Did get to meet these awesome guys who like to rummage through bags to find stuff to trade.







We then grabbed another ride on Tower of Terror before queuing 15 minutes for Rock 'n' Rollercoaster.









We then grabbed a gigantic drink from Starbucks before finding a spot for the Star Wars fireworks show. I think we did quite well but we were waiting for a silly amount of time. The cast members decided to quiz those of that got there crazy early, if you got a question right you got a little sticker. It was quite fun.



Stormtroopers kept patrolling up and down the path in front of us which was cool. They can actually talk to you which can lead to lots of amusing moments. They tend to react to anyone wearing star wars themed t-shirts.



It was then time for the night show to begin. I thought it looked fantastic, lots of really awesome moments. Lots of fire, cool projections (super clear) and ridiculous fireworks. It's essentially just a really oddly put together montage though? Like I heard random guests throughout our stay say this so it's not me being pedantic, it's just not even in film order or anything? I mean I still really liked it but it may have worked better if there was some sort of consistent flow to it? Anyway John Williams scores blasting out around a theme park is always a good thing <3














FIRE!!





It was then an easy bus back to the hotel. It had been yet another exhausting day - the heat! - but we had fun, Studios feels really empty at the moment though, those expansions can't come quick enough!


Thanks for reading. More soon.

 

[Nic]

We flew to Orlando. It was alright. I spent the whole time staring at a wall wishing I had people to spy on instead.

As soon as I got my suitcase back, I put my ears on. Because, yes, IT IS THE LAW!

We stayed in a hotel. Here's a photo of some beds.

First up: Epcot

Giant golf ball

Test track was alright. I love the ride type, but it just can't compete with Radiator Springs Racers.

I fist-bumped Baymax. It. Was. AWESOME

The Nemo ride is alright. Some of the effects are pretty cool. I got a certificate for being a fish expert.

So, the front half of the park is pretty tired. It suffers a bit from that whole "vision of the future" thing. After a couple of years anything like that just looks totally dated and tired. A couple of the attractions are cool, but it desperately needs some work.

Oh well, doesn't matter - World Showcase is a thing!

There's pretty waterfalls

and **** tons of Downton Abbey ****

and MITSUKOSHI!!!!

and a whole room of Totoro tat with KPP on the stereo!

The frozen ride was AWESOME. The animatronics are incredible. It made me cry.

We met Anna and Elsa. Their contact lenses are scary.

The Mexican pavilion is cool inside. Mexican Small World is a thing that exists.

Frozen beer was... odd.

Le Cellier steak was TASTY

My Duffy passport thing, just in case more proof were needed that I'm just a 32 year old child.

We went to the massive shop at Springs to claim our gift voucher thing. I bought a new mug for work and MOAR EARS!

My beer has run out.

 

[peep]

Tuesday 13th

We had booked a table reservation for a breakfast at the Crystal Palace which meant we could get into the park early. This meant getting up crazy early and we got an uber to take us over to the Magic Kingdom. We had to catch the boat across the lake from where the driver dropped us off. Builds excitement up quite nicely.



The new villas at the Polynesian look ridiculous...



As there weren't many people around we got through bag checks really quickly and we soon found ourselves on Main Street USA.





There were a few others around a several large tour groups (you can pay for a guided tour of the park).







As we were waiting for our table to become available the old couple from Le Cellier at Epcot appeared. So we said hello and thanked them for the creme brulee recommendation. Considering how stupidly massive this place is I find it hilarious when you bump into the same people. The breakfast was ok, a good selection of food you'd expect at a breakfast buffet. The characters from Winnie the Pooh roamed the restaurant. Character dining isn't really my thing but at least the food was good.







By the time we exited the restaurant the park was open and there was a random Main Street show going on.



We had to head back down to the bottom of Main Street to drop some of our stuff off at the lockers. We decided to pick up some cards so we can play the Sorcerers of the Magic Kingdom game. This was introduced just in time for my last trip and I think it's a brilliant idea. It can get a bit repetitive and some times you wished the stuff happening on screen would just get to the point but it's fun. You pick up the cards and map from the Fire house..



We headed straight to Fantasyland as we had fastpasses booked for the Enchanted Tales with Belle attraction. On our way we went past some Fantasyland characters, they were quite amusing...



I got to try the Enchanted Tales with Belle back in 2012 and I didn't really like it. It relies on guest participation and it just makes me die inside. The animatronic wardrobe and Lumiere are fab though.





Nic wanted to be included in the show so she was given a picture frame.



If you participate in the show you get to have your photo taken with Belle...



By the time we exited the attraction it was nearly time for our next fastpasses on Seven Drawfs mine train. We explored the new Fantasyland area before riding.





The theming on the mine train is fantastic but the ride is just so short. Felt like this one swung a lot more than the one in Shanghai though, which was cool.











We decided to play the Sorcerers card game for a bit.



We then walked straight on the Little Mermaid dark ride. The queueline theming was amazing. It was almost a shame that it was consistently walk on throughout our trip.















I really like this ride (a clone of the one in Cali). Shows how great the music from the film is and some of the animatronics are amazing. We then decided to head over to Haunted Mansion via the Tangled toilets. So much effort just for a toilet block.





Annoyingly Haunted Mansion was partially under wraps - seemed like a bad time of year to refurb this attraction? Even most of the outdoor queue was cut off.



It had a 0 min wait but that was probably because they were cramming far too many peeps into the stretch rooms, it seemed really excessive for no reason? This obviously also results in an awful cram of people in the loading area. This happened every time we rode the Haunted Mansion, I took a photo of the chaos at some other point.

The ride is ok, I still prefer the darker tone of Phantom Manor. Some rooms it felt like the audio needed some serious work? This actually became a thing I noticed quite frequently on this trip, just some speakers felt really loud and others too quiet, and most of the time in the same scene. And people complain about the upkeep in Paris

It was far too hot outside so we dived into air-con: the experience. Otherwise known as the Hall of Presidents. I don't know why but the AC in this building always feels more extreme than everywhere else. Not a complaint! It was lovely being in the cool for like 30 mins. Speeches are boring so I usually find myself trying not to fall asleep at times but I love the ridiculous amount of animatronics on one stage and all the little touches like little nods etc. We didn't experience any random Americans cheering/booing at certain presidents which was kinda nice. Terrifying to think that either Clinton or Trump will be in there next year.



We then headed over to Splash Mountain to use our fastpass. This allowed us to bypass quite a large queue. I love Splash Mountain, it's such a massive ride. The amount of drops and the immense theming is just fantastic.





We then went into Adventureland and ended up playing The Pirates League. You essentially get one of 4(?) maps which leads you to a clue somewhere in the area. You then go on a little hunt for the next clue and the next etc. At each one the clue is revealed by something happening, it was really cool. At one point a cannon gets fired on the top of Pirates of the Caribbean. There's a lot of back and forth but it's really fun.


Turns upside down to reveal the clue hiding in the sand




Each clue is triggered by the touch of your magic band



We then went on Pirates of the Caribbean. This ranks as my third favourite after Shanghai and then Paris. The queue is more elaborate than I remember, not like we got to admire it as it was walk on.





Next up was our first try of the infamous Dole Whip! It was ok, quite refreshing. Not as amazing as people try and make it out to be.



We then headed into the Enchanted Tiki room because it's amazing.









We then headed over to Space Mountain which was our third fastpass for the day. I do quite enjoy this version of Space, it's just nuts where it keeps throwing you all over the place. Would be nice if there were more projections/effects in there but I feel like there might not be the space to squeeze anything else in.

We then headed over to the top of Main Street to get a spot for the parade. It was fine getting pics until some burden decided to turn up with a bloody iPad and shove in my view every 5 seconds. Urgh, she was the WORST! She was standing in a spot she shouldn't have done too, made me so angry.

Anyway, my first time watching this parade and it was pretty good, the dragon is obviously the highlight and I love how they play out a little story with the nettles and the Prince trying to attack the dragon.














This float is a little ridiculous, I love it



















We then headed over to Storybook Circus for the Great Goofini which we luckily walked straight on (it can get 30+min queues even on a quiet day). It's just a standard Vekoma rollerskater but it has some nice theming in the queueline. We then chose to go on Dumbo for some reason. It gave me a chance to peak into the big tent playroom thing. It's kinda a neat idea, instead of using a traditional queue kids can go play in this big play area until it's their turn to ride. It was quiet so I think most were going in just for the play area but I'd be intrigued to see if this concept actually works when it's busy.



Throughout our trip they were paining the blue tiled roofs on the castle, which was slightly annoying when taking photos of the castle but no biggie.



We watched Royal Friendship Faire which was performed on the castle stage. It was quite a fun little show and using the Halloween festival song from Paris for the Fall edition of the show (apparently the song used towards the end of the show is seasonal) was nice.



It should be noted that all of the Fab 5 could "talk" which was really neat.











After the show we spotted someone with a credbrella, it was cool...



We then faffed in some Main Street shops before catching the overly patriotic flag retreat ceremony. It's utterly ridiculous. Nic loathes patriotic stuff and after a certain amount of time I felt a bit sick too, it's just so bizarre.



We grabbed our Halloween limited edition Sorcerers of the Magic Kingdom card which has Clawhauser from Zootropolis on it <3



We then grabbed our Halloween costume stuff from the locker and got ready for the Halloween party.



The weather was feeling like it was starting to turn so we headed into Winnie the Pooh which had a 15 minute wait. Shortly after we joined the queue it started to rain fairly heavy. oh well, we were under cover now. This version of Pooh is starting to feel quite dated which is a shame.




Nic can't but help play with the interactive bits in the queue

As we got off the ride the rain had turned more into a storm, the rain was stupidly heavy. We spent ages along with a lot of other people just handing around the exit. We purchased some expensive (but durable) ponchos and decided to head over to the Pinnocchio restaurant for some food. It was fairly tasty but getting the food took forever due to about a million burdens making the life of the new guy working the till a nightmare. Afterwards we grabbed some candy from one of the trick or treat locations before heading into the queue for Peter Pan. Yay for sweets!

The Peter Pan queue was long because everyone was after shelter from the rain. I really loved the new bit of the queue which was like the bedroom from the film, lots of cool projection effects including an interactive element. The ride itself looked awful, I forgot how bad this version of the ride is.

The rain was still being gross so we just hid in shelter. Philharmagic was closed during the party hours but staff opened up the theatre to provide shelter from the rain. Joy, we'd all paid a fair bit of money for the party and we spending it on our phones while sitting in a big room. We were in there for about 30 minutes when some people made it seem like the weather was calming down. It had died down a little bit but the storm was still going on. We decided to just deal with it and we went trick or treating around the various locations around the park.

We got pretty wet despite the ponchos and all the characters had disappeared (one of the main draws for the party event) due to the lightning. It was a bit disappointing. After getting lots of sweets though we had found ourselves in Tomorrowland and we headed into an empty Buzz Lightyear's Space Ranger Spin. Woah this ride is looking awful, it feels like the sort of thing you'd find at some ghetto seaside park, not a Disney one. I really hope the long rumoured Tomorrowland update happens and this gets a complete overhaul.



We then had a little ride on the People Mover. We were heading over to watch the night entertainment (the weather was pretty dry by this point with just lightning in the distance) and we noticed Merida was out still at her fab photolocation. We ended up having a really long chat with her and was one of the better character interactions I've had. Her Scottish accent was fairly decent too.





We managed to get a fairly decent spot for the castle entertainment. Celebrate the magic went off without a hitch but then it is just a bunch of projections. It was ok. Then Hallowishes actually went ahead, it's one of my favourite soundtracks for a Disney show because it's just an awesome mix of the villains tracks. The fireworks are also huge although the castle managed to block the view for quite a lot of them. The finale is insane.



















We then waited, and waited, and then waited some more for the very delayed performance of the Hocus Pocus Villain Spelltacular. Essentially an army of peeps were having to remove all of the rain water from the stage, it took them ages. The show was slightly altered too because the cast clearly couldn't use the very slippery steps and I'm pretty sure they shortened it. The three Sanderson sisters (from the amazing Hocus Pocus) come out and invite all their villainous friends for a bit of a party but by the time everyone came out, they did a bit of a dance and then said goodbye. The peeps playing the Sanderson sisters were so on point though, they're amazing.





We then managed to get a semi decent spot for the Boo to you parade. It's also got an amazing soundtrack and has some really awesome moments. The bit with the spades being scratched along the floor causing sparks to fly is still such an amazing moment.
















Ralph was jumping up and down so much and the vehicle was just going mental







We could have stayed around a bit longer, got more sweets etc but we decided to just head back to the hotel.



Here's a pic of my huge candy haul...




It had been an exhausting day, with it being hot and then so wet for so long at night. It was really upsetting that the storm kinda ruined the party for us, seems like it's been fairly common this year. It's weird, the storms tend to happen late afternoon but this year they're happening in the evening.


Thanks for reading! Next part should be up soon.

 

[peep]

Wednesday 14th

After such a long day on the Tuesday we decided to get up a little bit later on this day. After grabbing some snack based breakfast items at the hotel food court we caught a resort bus over to Animal Kingdom. It's weird being able to see Avatar so clearly from where the buses drop off, I'm sure it'll look fantastic once completed.



I like how the entrance of the park is like a maze of deep forest with random animal enclosures hidden amongst it. It's such an unusual start to a theme park and I think it works really well, especially when it then opens up to that view of the tree.



Nic stopped by the Wilderness Explorers stop to get a book which you can fill with stickers by going to other posts around the park. Most involve an activity or talking to someone about animals or about another country. Sometimes it was quite interesting but it is obviously geared more towards those under the age of 10.



We then headed to the back of the park to start our day with the Kilimanjaro safari. We got to see one of the African band performances along our way, they were great.


I just noticed the little old lady joining in with the dancing on the right of the pic <3



Our fastpasses allowed us to skip quite a long queue. We ended up sitting at the back of the truck and we got so much air time throughout the journey. I really like this safari attraction, the scale of it is insane and the amount of animals you can see along the way is very impressive.













We then headed round to the rapids. I love the gibbon enclosure next to it, so open and just looks awesome.





The rapids are ok, they kinda faff around a bit before the huge drop - which was hilarious as some kid in our boat got totally submerged as we hit the bottom - and then it faffs a little bit more. It'd be nice if it was a bit longer or did more than just the drop.







It was rather spiteful being able to see all the seating for Rivers of Light and not being able to watch it.



After lots of faff we ended up getting a spot of lunch at the Yak and Yeti (outside). It was pretty tasty. We then headed into the cool of the Finding Nemo theatre. I'm really not a big fan of this show, the story doesn't really work as a musical but some of the puppets are cool.





It was then time to use our fastpasses for Expedition Everest. We lucked out on a back row. I love this ride, the backwards section is really intense and then the drop out of the mountain is fantastic.







We then head a wander through the Asian jungle trek. It promised dragons, Tigers and Monkeys. I don't think I saw any of those.





The jungle trek ended with a big aviary which didn't make Nic very happy because birds and Nic don't mix very well.





We then heightened Nic's fear of birds by going to watch the show where birds fly around over the audience. It was ok, some of the birds they had were very impressive.



We then headed over to the Animal Kingdom Lodge hotel for a meal at their restaurant, Boma. It's essentially a big African -style buffet. It was a nice restaurant to be in but the food on offer wasn't really to my liking.







After the meal we had a look around the hotel for a bit. There's a large outdoor area which looks out over an additional area for the safari animals to trek over to. I thought this was very cool. I really liked the style of the hotel.









We then headed back over to the park for a few more rides and to enjoy the night entertainment the park now has. We started by going to watch It's tough to be a bug. I love all the musical show references in the waiting area. Unfortunately the show was missing it's best asset - the animatronic of Hopper. I'm not the biggest fan of these types of 3D shows, back pokers etc can go away.











The night stuff was just getting started. One of the dance parties had started up, very lively and lots of dancers trying to get people involved.



We then went to check out the Paraguayan harp player who was over by the new expensive restaurant, Tiffins. He was fascinating, I can't say I've anything like it before. I need to link you guys to someone's recording of him because it's cool...

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bX61Av2FW-0[/youtube]



We then waited for the Tree of Life "awakening" but it was still too bright out. The tree lighting was still fab.





We then killed some time by going to say hi to Mickey and Minnie.



It was now dark out and the party guys were out again. It looked awesome at night. A shame the park was so dead, I imagine this sort of thing would be epic with a busy crowd.





We then headed to the back of the park for a night ride on Everest. It was walk on and fab.







We then caught the African dance party on our way to the safari.



It's so weird walking around this park at night when it's pretty empty. We ended up getting a whole safari truck ride with just us and the driver. It was EPIC. We just had a huge chat the whole way round, mockingly pointed out the African sunset (Fake. Used to be massive LED screens, it's now a mass of lights) and the African fireworks (that'll be Star Wars again, you really can see it from all over the Resort). The whole experience was awesome. We didn't see many animals but we heard several weird animal noises, several were new even to the driver! The best animal we saw was the random wild Opossum roaming the queueline!






A real Opossum!!!!

By the time we got back to the front end of the park the Tree of Life awakenings were in full swing and I have to admit I was impressed. The projections were fantastic. They're not intended as like the big show stopper to end your visit with (like the other night shows) but they're still cool.







And that was our day at the Animal Kingdom. Wish I got a few more night rides on Everest tbh but it was either that or the night safari and I'm glad we did that.




It was then back to the hotel to get some much needed rest.


Thanks for reading! Next up is Food and Wine (you'll need to be snacking on something while reading that)

 

[peep]

Thursday 15th

Yay, the day was finally upon us, we were going to Epcot for Food and Wine! I've wanted to go to this event for years so was very happy when it was announced to be opening while we were visiting. It actually opened on the Wednesday but it worked out slightly better for us to go on the second day. We decided to do a few attractions in the Land etc before heading around the World showcase throwing too much food in our faces.



We started our day with a Fastpass on Soarin', as you'll see in the below photo, it wasn't needed because the one time we booked a bloomin' fastpass there's a 10 min wait! Anyway, if you're not already aware I hate the Soarin' attractions. I don't get them or why they're popular, they're such an anomaly to me. Moving on.



Next was Journey into Imagination, which is fab because Figment <3 Oh and it stars Eric Idle which obviously makes it awesome.





In the interactive area Nic designed Bessie...



We then headed round to Spaceship Earth, otherwise known as the Dame Judi Dench ride. We ended up queuing 30 mins for this which was silly. It is a cool concept for an attraction, but like most things in Epcot it is feeling a little dated.

It was then time to prepare ourselves for Mission: Space. We opted for the Green side, I never knew what the difference between the sides were and now I do. One side spins and the other just rattles about. It's surprisingly still quite effective.



We played one of the games in the training academy area which was fun.





We then went on Test Track via single rider, we ended up in the same car!


Darkness to lightness does not make for fun times for the eyes.

That was all the rides we wanted to do so it was time for FOOD! We started by heading inside to the Festival Center. In here was a festival shop, places for presentations (wine tasting, how to make certain dishes etc) and a chocolate shop. The chocolate shop had several displays made out of chocolate and well, I'll let the pictures do the talking...
















Melty face

Outside we caught the Jammitors except this time they were dressed up as chefs and had oven units with them. They were awesome.



We decided to get a package thing with 16 tokens, a lanyard and a pin. This was over $100 which is a bit gross but we worked out it would have cost us about this much if we had just paid for everything. It also forced me to try things. Our first stop was the Greenhouse Guru where I tried the Duck Confit with Creamy Polenta and Fire-roasted salsa. It was very tasty, and *spoiler* my fav dish of the day.



We then headed over to the Craft beer area which was inside. We tried the Piggy Wings (Fried pork wings with Korean BBQ sauce). They were amazing and also very sticky. We should have got more of these on reflection.







Nic got some wine...

[tweet]https://twitter.com/coaster_chat/status/776481110385721344[/tweet]

From Hawaii Nic got the Kalua Pork Slider (topped with a Sweetand Sour Dole Pinapple chutney and Spicy Mayo). It looked gorgeous and was apparently tasty (personally off-put by the spicy mayo).



The Caribbean area looked great, as did loads of the stalls. It's crazy how much effort goes into this event.









Next up for us was the Refreshment Port, we loved the sound of the Fried Chicken chunks with Dole Pineapple sweet and sour sauce. Have to admit I was really disappointed when it was just chicken nuggets and fries with a dipping sauce (that was a bit spicy for me).


You'll see that Nic got a Dole Whip too

I grabbed a cheese soup from Canada. This is a dish served in Le Cellier as a starter and it's kinda great. Mine was a bit too peppery but the amazing pretzel roll made up for it.



You can buy an activity pack themed to Ratatouille. You go around the park finding all the hidden statues of Remy and at the end of it you get a pin. It was a bit pricey for what it was but it was fun spotting all the little Remys.



We went in the French pavilion to enjoy some much needed air con (I was dying out in the heat). Nearly fell asleep during the film. Nic grabbed some Garlic shrimp which were apparently a bit too garlic-y.

[tweet]https://twitter.com/coaster_chat/status/776507576838197248[/tweet]

We headed back to America where I grabbed a Hanson beer (I love a good pun, it just tasted like beer) and Nic got some Smoked Beef brisket (with Pimento cheese on garlic toast). We enjoyed our latest bits while watching the American Music Machine (again, because they're awesome).

[tweet]https://twitter.com/coaster_chat/status/776510679624843264[/tweet]

[tweet]https://twitter.com/coaster_chat/status/776512797874192390[/tweet]

We went inside for more air con in the American adventure. We got to see the voices of liberty who are absolutely incredible, a truly must-see performance if you visit Epcot.



I like the animatronics in American Adventure. I also like the air con. All hail the air con.



I then had two of the most filling dishes ever made (regrets, there were a few). First was from the Italian stand which was Pennete alla Parmigiana: Baked Ziti and Chicken Parmigiana, tomato sauce, mozzarella and parmesan cheeses. It was ok, the pasta had gone a bit weird like when you have a microwave dinner, sort of rubbery.



Next was from Poland, a Golabki: a pork-stuffed cabbage in tomato sauce. This actually tasted amazing but I was feeling a bit full after the chicken so didn't fully appreciate it. While we were here Tim and Jenn Tracker (popular Twitter/Youtube bloggers) were near us and got harassed by a couple of fans, I laughed as it looked a bit awkward.



We headed into the Chinese film theatre. Yay more air con. This film feels a bit dated (well, actually, they all do), would be interesting to see this one updated though because China has changed a lot.



It was then back to Japan where we caught the drummers out again.



We faffed some more in the shop and popped into the Kawaii exhibit again (just to waste time) before our dining reservation at Teppan Edo. While we were waiting there was this group of very drunk ladies, clearly attempting to drink their way around the World. A dangerous challenge and they were hilariously not doing so well. Fun times.



So Teppan Edo isn't just a meal, it's an experience. You sit down at a large table with a bunch of strangers and a chef comes out and prepares everyone's food in front of you. Our chef was hilarious and awesome and just made our time there so enjoyable. On top of that the food was fantastic (too much of it, obviously).

He broke the ice by making a volcano out of chopped up bits of an onion, everyone kept egging him on to add another layer...








Tasty

By the time we left it was night which just makes the whole place look even better...



As part of Food and Wine they have bands performing throughout the festival. They're usually known bands from the 80s. The band on this night was Wang Chung, they're famous for THIS (good memories playing Vice City)



We were stupidly full now but there was still room for alcohol. I got a Kung Fu Punch which consisted of vodka and triple sec. It was very tasty.

[tweet]https://twitter.com/coaster_chat/status/776579317815992320[/tweet]

I then got a Raspberry hard cider from Farm Fresh. It was quite nice.



[tweet]https://twitter.com/coaster_chat/status/776594192718032896[/tweet]

I had to use up one more token. I ended up at the chocolate studio and got a Ghiradelli chocolate raspberry torte. It was amazing!



We then watched illuminations before leaving the park and headed over to Boardwalk.









We headed into the new Abracadabar, a magic themed cocktail bar. It's awesome! Certain drinks on the menu can have a cast spell on them when they come over and they change colour. Nic got one which had candy floss and then it disappeared within the drink. The theming was insane, there were posters and occasionally something will disappear/reappear. It got us obsessed along with the peeps around us, it was great!









I highly recommend you check this place out if you can, it's awesome. The guys over at the DIS did a decent video at the opening link


It was then back to the hotel where we died from eating and drinking too much. Urgh. Totally worth it, would do it again.



Thanks for reading!

 

[peep]

Friday 16th

It was back for another day at the Magic Kingdom.



We started our day with a quick visit to see Tinker Bell. Her meet and greet location is actually quite nicely themed.









We caught the Dapper Dans on Main Street.



As we were walking up Main Street the dance party parade thing was making its way past us...



We had fast passes for Space Mountain so we headed over to that.




The location of the orp is stupid

It was then time for the Carousel of Progress. I really like this, it's horrifically dated in the final room but who can hate that classic Sherman brothers song?



We then headed over to Fantasyland for Seven Dwarfs. I hate the fact you have both land themes just sitting opposite each other on the same path. Makes me appreciate Paris even more.


Such a clash of themes <//3

The mine train was still a fun little ride...




The couple in front of us loving life <3

We then had a little wander around Fantasyland before heading into Be Our Guest restaurant.

















So this was for their lunch service and it's a bit poorly executed. You go to a counter where you make your order and then they're like "sit wherever". This results in a bit of a mess because it's fairly big and most people just want to sit in the ballroom (the ballroom and the library were pretty much where everyone was sitting. The other room was pretty much empty). This restaurant is hyped up as such a special thing and this just makes it feel a bit too casual? The food then "magically" finds its way to wherever you end up sitting.



So what did we go for? I went for a sandwich of some kind which came with far too many fries but was decent. We both got the cupcake that has the grey stuff on top. It was quite delicious.





After the food we had a nosey around the rest of the restaurant.













Overall I wouldn't say going for lunch is worthwhile. Maybe the dinner service is better? Either way it made Nic cry.

It's a Small World had been down for a refurb but was due to reopen on this day but they were having some technical difficulties which meant it still hadn't opened. As luck would have it it opened just as we were passing. The surge of people to the queue was intense.





No idea what was going on but stacking on an epic scale occurred.



We then made our way over to Splash Mountain for our third fastpass of the day.



Just like in Paris, Big Thunder Mountain was down for a large refurb...



We decided to go on the train as we hadn't done that yet.



We got off on Main Street and went to see Mickey Mouse. This one is cool because he can actually talk to you, he got us to be pirates.



As we got outside crowds were gathering for the afternoon parade so we grabbed a spot and watched it go by. There were two Japanese goons in front of us, camera set up on bin, mini plushes in hand and covered in tat. Actually, this was a common sight across our visit and it made us happy in the face, Japanese goons are amazing <3 At one point in the parade Chip (or Dale) got extremely excited when he saw their plush of him, it resulted in a super kawaii moment.






I'm obsessed with this float























We then headed over to Liberty Square for some Haunted Mansion goodness. The way they packed everyone in got to me again, it was unnecessary.




Pay attention to this gravestone, it's awesome


Vom

We then met Nic's friend who works as a photographer in the park (he was working in the Haunted Mansion shop - which is fab btw). He was awesome and I wish he could have spent more time with us.

We then just started wandering aimlessly. Ended up catching another performance of the show on the castle stage...



We decided to then head back to Fantasyland for some Le Fous Brew in Gastons. It was rather tasty!


Love this themed popcorn cart

There was someone in the park (for the Halloween party) dressed as Villager Belle...









The theming inside Gastons is pretty awesome. Nic got a cinnamon roll thing too and it was the size of a small house.

We then decided to go on the Little Mermaid.



Before ending our day at the Magic Kingdom on Space Mountain.


It was time to leave the park and head over to the Polynesian resort. Just as we were leaving the park the heavens opened, we got pretty wet just trying to get to the monorail. I love the Polynesian resort, we started our evening of food and alcohol with a cocktail at the Ohana bar. Mine contained a lot of alcohol.



It was then time for our evening meal in Ohanas which was great. It felt like we were forgotten about a few times but the amount of food was insane. The coconut/pineapple bread was amazing and the bread pudding for desert is to die for. They have an entertainer who sings Hawaiian songs and teaches a few words etc. It provides a really unique atmosphere.





We then headed outside to watch the Electrical river pageant or whatever its called. It's like Main Street electrical parade, but shorter and on a lake.





We then popped over to Trader Sams for more cocktails. I loved the one in Cali but was surprised when we only saw an outdoor section. This was sort of ok as we wanted to watch the Hallowishes anyway. It was pretty awesome drinking a cocktail and watching Hallowishes (they pump the music into the hotel sound systems) from afar. Makes you really appreciate the stupid scale of the finale.







It wasn't until we were leaving did we find the indoor epicness. *bangs head on wall* Oh well, I'm sure we'll be back again one day. If you do go make sure you go in and order a drink, it's a fab experience.

It was then back to our hotel for some more rest.





Thanks for reading! Next part is a mix of Animal Kingdom and Hollywood Studios.

 

[Rachel]

Great report so far peep!

You seem to spot all of the small details at parks that I tend to miss, love reading the detail in your reports.

And the point you made about the audio at Disney, totally agree. Frank and I actually commented on quite a few rides that the sound quality was really bad to the point it was actually distracting and difficult to follow what was going on.

 

[peep]

^^Glad it wasn't just me having issues with the audio!

^Thanks! Not much Disney left.



Saturday 17th

Today was more relaxed where we focused on doing anything we missed out on at Animal Kingdom and Hollywood Studios. We started with Animal Kingdom where we met Dug and Russell from Up.



It was then into the worst part of Animal Kingdom, Dinoland USA. Urgh, this is just the worst, how did this ever get built?









The only decent attraction in this area, Dinosaur, was closed for a big refurb. So it was time for Nic to get her last Disney creds. There was actually a queue which made me sad in the face.











So vile. We sat in a car with a random older guy who seemed to enjoy it. I let Nic single rider the other one while I waited around in the air con. The shop here is filled with lots of random dino-themed toys...







How the feck is this in a Disney park?



With creds now had we headed over to something better. Expedition Everest via single rider was like a 5 min wait. (still ended up in the same car )





We then grabbed some food before heading over to the Lion King show. It is quite cool how it's all set up, very lively.







I really liked the design of the new theatre..





We then met Flik from Bugs Life. I loved this overly detailed lamp post...





Hello Avatar...



It was then on a bus over to the Beach Club resort for epic ice cream. We kinda messed up here, we really should have booked a table inside. Instead I ended up with a cone with an actual mountain of melty ice cream that was almost uncontrollable in the heat.

The resort was really nice.









We then caught a boat to Hollywood Studios. We got talking to a nice local couple before boarding the boat. They were in awe of all our Disney travels. The boat ride is slow but provides some nice views of some of the other resorts.





Our first stop in Hollywood Studios was Beauty and the Beast. To me this show is just really dated and needs to be replaced with something a bit more modern (in terms of staging etc). It'd also be great if this theatre became enclosed, it's far too hot sitting in there.



I want to say it started raining just before the show finished. We ran into Starbucks for a drink before deciding to just rush over to Toy Story Mania where there was a 30 minute wait. Actually not too bad considering. They've removed the amazing Mr Potato Head animatronic for more cattlepen which felt really odd. Maybe it'll return when Toy Story Land opens in 2050.




Disabled boarding area is genius!





I then caught a full performance of the Star Wars show outside. It's a bit weird but there's fire and C3-P0 and BB8 were cool. Some photos are a bit oddly framed because the only other tall guy watching it decided to stand in front of me *le sigh*


Typical Americans and their gun loving

























We then met Olaf because there was oddly a tiny queue.



It was then time to journey again on Star Tours. We got a different ending this time which was awesome.



We then grabbed some food at the Backlot Express (after lots of debating and milling around in circles because food options in this park are limited).





We got BB8 cupcakes so it was all good.



Food was ok, nothing too special. It was then over to Fantasmic, yay!







Orlando version has a lame Pocahontus section compared to Cali's epic Peter Pan stunt show on a boat.















It was really awkward when the Star Wars fireworks were going off during Fantasmic. Who in the hell made that decision? It totally ruins the show, everyone is literally turning around to see the fireworks instead of watching the show in front of them. Disney make some totally moronic decisions at times.

Anyway it was time to leave the park at the same time as everyone else. See? Clever Disney, great idea to have two high capacity night shows ending at the same time!

 

[peep]

Sunday 18th

We decided to have an even more relaxed day with a bit of retail therapy. We headed over to the Orlando Premium Outlet via a free bus shuttle from Swan and Dolphin resort. One of the worst decisions of the trip. It went to so many hotels and took it's sweet time, took us over an hour.

We didn't think too much of the shops but we did spend too much in the Disney outlet store. We decided to then get an Uber to Disney Springs where we grabbed lunch at D-Luxe burger. This is one of the new restaurants that opened up this year. The seats were awful and too high for the wooden plank we were sitting at. The burgers were ok.







Springs looks so good...









We popped into UniQlo (which was huge) and I got a free bag of chocolate biscuits...



We popped back to the hotel for a bit to relax before heading back to Springs for some evening entertainment.





The new Coca-Cola store is pretty huge. There's a bar on the roof where you can try loads of different drinks and stuff. Unfortunately the bear meet and greet wasn't ready during our visit.













We headed into Jock Lyndseys cocktail bar which was fab. It's themed to a small character in the Indianna Jones films and is full of theming. The drinks are a little pricey but full of alcohol.





















It was then coming up to our evening dinner reservation at STK. This was a posh restaurant so actually took up two dinner credits (we needed to use them up somehow!). We were a bit early so stood around in the bar area with some more alcohol. The DJ was awesome, like he was way too good for something like this. The place felt weird because the bar didn't have much space around it and instead of there being space for casual drinkers or whatever there was just more tables. I basically couldn't work out why the DJ was even there. A woman then showed us to our table who didn't seem to understand anything. We were sat at a massive table meant for 8 peeps so then someone came along and took away most of the stuff laid out on the table, it all just seemed really unprofessional?

Our waiter then made an appearance and he seemed competent which was good. We were in a steak restaurant so obviously we both got steaks. We ordered a side to share (because everything has a ludicrous price tag) but honestly the steak alone would have been enough! We had a dessert too, I think mine was like berry sorbet and fruit. The food was all amazing but our experience was just really mixed. Considering there were several peeps walking around like they were managers everything seemed totally disogranised and lots of the staff seemed unable to do basic things (one guy filling up our water was just spilling it everywhere, wtf?).






All of the glasses


This bread was incredible!






Nic's dessert






So after that mixed experience it was time to head back to the hotel. Disney Springs looks amazing at night too.




As we got on the bus a storm decided to occur. The car park that sits between the bus stop and our room had turned into a fast moving river, it was an insane amount of rain. I proceeded to get very wet trying to get back to the room.




Thanks for reading! Next up is our last day at Disney!

 

[Crazycoaster]

I think I'm one of the only people who actually likes the purposefully tacky theming of Dinoland USA.

(People find dinosaur bones near the highway (The Dig Site play area), so the Dinosaur institute is built & Time travel discovered... Chester & Hester, owners of a small highway gas station nearby, turn their station into a souvenir shop and build the Dinorama amusement park & Concrete-osaurus (cheaply using leftover bits and pieces, such as kitchen whisks and old reg plates/tires) in order to profit off of the recent discoveries.) Granted, without Dinosaur, the rides are a bit rubbish, but I like the way they've incorporated dinosaurs into a present day park setting without resorting to Jurassic Park.

I quite like the boat ride from Epcot to Hollywood studios, but it honestly makes me hate Michael Eisner all the more for ever okaying the Swan and Dolphin resort. It's just the worst thing, the architecture is horrendous, the colours are vile, and it's just so tall you can see it from all over Disney World. I understand the reasoning behind why they had to build an outsider hotel in the centre of the parks, but why the designs or height were ever okayed just completely baffles me. Especially when imagineers go to the lengths they did designing the Tower of Terror just to fit in the background of the Moroccan pavilion.

Disney Springs does look really nice now, they've done an excellent job of it. Great report so far!

 

[peep]

What's a dinner credit? Is it like a coaster credit?

Ah, I think I was going to explain this at some point and then failed at life.

So the Disney Dining package has several tiers and the one we got with our holiday package entitled us to:

• 1 snack credit per day
• 1 quick service meal credit per day
• 1 dining service meal credit per day

3 snack credits can be combined in one transaction into 1 quick service (which we did several times in Starbucks). Each menu around the resort has a little icon next to items where you can redeem a snack credit (basically most drinks, cakes etc).

You can also combine 2 dining service meal credits for the more expensive restaurants. We did this twice, STK Orlando (Disney Springs) and Le Cellier (Canada in Epcot). The official website has everything all listed etc so it's easy to organise yourselves before you visit.

 

[Pink Cadillac]

Ah I've heard of the Dining package, but knew nothing about. Do you pay extra for it?

 

[peep]

Monday 19th

Our last day at Disney had finally arrived and yet there were still new things to see and do! We started our day with the new show that introduces Princess Elena (some Disney channel show). It was ok for what it was.


Cinderella and her bloke


Elena and some men holding flags


She played the guitar!

We then used our first fastpass for the day for a back row ride on Seven Dwarves mine train...





We then got some more LeFou's brew before meeting Gaston.



We had a quick ride on the Little mermaid. I do really love this dark ride, especially as it never has a queue. We then went over to Liberty Square and queued 10 minutes for Haunted Mansion which consistently broke down, we must have been in the graveyard for a good 15 minutes.




I still hate this with my every being

It's a small world then magically opened after it's refurb at like 11am. It was like some sort of goon radar was triggered as it felt like the entire park descended upon the famous boat ride.









STACKING!



We then used our second fastpass of the day on Peter Pan. We then continued onwards into Frontierland where we kept hiding in shops for all the air con (it was just too hot be outside). We dived into the Country Bear Jamboree show with it's fairly impressive animatronics.


Pretty



We decided to go pick up some more Sorcerers of the magic kingdom cards before grabbing some lunch in the rammed Cosmic Rays. I literally had to grab a table while Nic ordered food because it was just chaos.



We may have caught the Move it shake it parade while on the way to lunch..







After lunch I headed into Stitch's Great Escape for one last go (rumour has it that it's being replaced by something Wreck it Ralph themed).



Nic decided scary wasn't her thing so opted for the Monsters Inc Laugh Floor. It's the type of attraction I'll avoid if I can because enforced interaction is the worst. I quite enjoyed Stitch for what it is, the animatronic is AMAZING. It'll be interesting to see this unique attraction go but it was always a weird fit for Disney.

Apparently I didn't take photos for a little while. We caught the fairytale faire show again in front of the castle before catching the cool Jack Sparrow show outside Pirates of the Caribbean. We played the card game in Adventureland before queuing 25 minutes for Pirates. We then queued 30 minutes for the tedious Jungle Cruise. It was too hot to even think in this cattle pen of woe. Everyone just looked like they were gonna pass out. In fact, some groups left the queue because some people were feeling feint. Doesn't help it was for one of the worst attractions at any Disney park. I just don't get it. I love a good pun as much as the next sane person but I just find the whole attraction concept really lame.

It was then time for MOAR food. This time we had a reservation at Liberty Tree Tavern. If you go for the dinner service (like we did) you get a Thanksgiving dinner and you can ask for more items of everything. Want more Turkey? Just ask. We actually found that what they came out with was more than enough for the two of us though. It was fantastic, extremely tasty food and our waitress was awesome.




Tasty rolls and the salad had an amazing vinegerette



Just before we left the restaurant the heavens decided to open. Oh not again! We poncho'd up and headed over to Fantasyland where we ended up joining a queue for Winnie the Pooh. We then ended up meeting Rapunzel and Tiana in the Princess meet and greet building.





By the time we got to the exit the storm was in full swing (joy). We decided to run over to the carousel as something to do. There was insane lightning going on so it was rather surreal. We decided to hide in the Main Street shops after a while as the rain was just silly. After a while we then waited at the Main Street train station viewing platform for the storm to finally pass over. No idea how long we waited in the end but Wishes (the only performance we could get to) was due to start at 8pm and didn't start till 9:45!









Wishes is an ok show, some great fireworks but it is a bit dated now. After the show we dived into Tomorrowland where we managed to walk straight on to Buzz and Space Mountain.











We then grabbed a spot on Main Street for our last chance to ever see Electrical Main Street Parade in Orlando!































And with that we made our way to the very busy bus back to the hotel. That in itself was quite entertaining, lots of sleepy kids, random diversion to Hollywood Studios which caused so much confusion and just lots of chaos to get all the kids off the bus in a timely fashion without accidentally leaving any behind.

I couldn't believe we had so much spite due to the weather during the Disney portion of our trip. Fingers crossed it was better behaved for the rest of the week!



Thanks for reading!

 

[peep]

Ah I've heard of the Dining package, but knew nothing about. Do you pay extra for it?

It's a thing you can buy separately but it was included as part of a package for us as we booked directly with Disney. We paid for the hotel and got tickets, $100 gift card and the dining package. It's a great offer if you can get it included.

 

[Pink Cadillac]

Nice. I do love the Seven Dwarfs Mine ORP. It's like there is a professional photographer just sat there waiting to take a pictures of riders.