Archive for the ‘Vacation’ CategoryWild Africa TrekSunday, July 3rd, 2011
On September 29th I have a reservation to go on Disney’s Animal Kingdom’s Wild Africa Trek. You get to experience the African savanna it the theme park in a different way. Instead of riding in a vehicle, like you do on Kilimanjaro Safaris, you actually get to walk through the Savanna and see the animals from a different view. I will write up my own experience on this experience when I get back but here is a great review of it don by the folks over at TouringPlans.com. WDW Dining Resevations Are InWednesday, April 6th, 2011Alright, now it feels official. I have my dining reservations set and and booked my flight this morning. Here are the table service restaurants I’m going to be trying this trip, gotta love free dining: September 28th – Artist Point for dinner September 29th – Sanaa for dinner September 30 – Kouzzina for dinner October 2nd – Kona Cafe for breakfast October 4th – California Grill for dinner If anyone has eaten at any of these restaurants I’d like to hear about it. Leave your comments below. I have been waiting to book my flight to see if I could get a good deal through Southwest. I’ve been checking every day since my flight days became available and last night they lowered their fairs. I’ll be flying out of Columbus because they had better flight times than Indianapolis so I’ll be getting down to Orlando on the 28th at 10:15 a.m. and leaving on the 5th at 3:30. I want to spend as much time down there as I can. Also, now that Southwest has partnered with Disney, I can take Magical Express from the airport to the resort and back and not rent a car.
Walt Disney World Here I Come.Tuesday, September 28th, 2010
Today was the one year mark till my next trip to Walt Disney World. I have already made my reservation with Mouse Fan Travel, thanks Coleen, and now I can’t wait. This will be my first trip on my own so it’s going to be an experience. Now I can’t say I’m going to be completely by myself because I will be going down during Walt Disney World’s 40th anniversary so there should be a lot of Disney fans from the different podcasts that I listen to. My vacation package does include free dining so I’m going to have to start thinking about where I will want to eat and at what time. I’m also kicking around the idea of going to Mickey’s Not so Scary Halloween Party. I’ve heard that everyone should do it at least once and I do have a costume in mind. Can you guess what it is? Walt Disney World to build, or finish, a 2,000 room resortWednesday, May 12th, 2010
Disney’s Art of Animation Resort is going to be built in what was know for a long time as the legendary years of the Pop Century Resort. It is going to be built by 2012 with 864 standard rooms and 1,120 much needed family suites. The resort is going to be themed to 4 of Disney’s most popular animated films, The Little Mermaid, The Lion King, Finding Nemo and Cars. Like the other value resorts, this one will have 10 wings with a separate building for the check-in lobby, restaurant and gift shop. Each wing will have it’s own courtyard that is decorated with characters from their respective films. By adding more family suites to the mix of suites over at All-Star Music, Walt Disney world has finally given what I believe is a much needed boost in that area. The Nickelodeon Suites, over at Universal, have had 777 family suites since 2005 and they have been extremely popular. If these were around for my trip last year there is no doubt I would have booked a room at one of them and I will be looking at these for my next family trip in 2013. Our Animal Kingdom DayWednesday, August 19th, 2009June 12th was the day we had planned to go to Animal Kingdom. We noticed that this was going to be the hottest day since we got there so we got there at rope drop. I again grabbed my dad’s and Wyatt’s tickets and made my way over to Expedition Everest to get fast passes while they headed over to Kilimanjaro Safari. I ran to meet up with them and we all got in line. the kids and I really like the safari and we did get to see a lot of animals but I think we were rushed through it. Of course I have no bases for this so I’ll have to go on it again and see. It was time to use our fast passes so we all headed over to Asia. I did not know what to expect with this coaster so I was telling Wyatt that it was like Big Thunder Mountain. Boy was I wrong. That was a great coaster. The point where you start rolling backwards through the dark was one of the most intense moments on any coaster I have been on because you cannot see a thing. You almost feel like you won’t stop going down the hill. The only real complaint that I have is that the Yeti was still not working and it made it hard to see him. He was in B mode which means he is not moving and there is a strobe light going off. You are passing by so fast and if the strobe switches off when you go past you miss him entirely. Luckily I knew where to look and pointed it out to Wyatt so both of us got to see him for a brief second but my dad missed him completely. (more…) Our day at EpcotThursday, July 23rd, 2009Our Epcot day, on June 11th, turned out to be a great day. I was really worried that the kids would get bored but they seemed to really enjoy themselves. We started out the day with me going over to Test Track and getting fast passes while everyone else headed over to Soarin. I made my way over to them and we got in line. While in line though Brooklyn needed to go to the restroom so the both of us headed out so she could go. On the way back in I noticed that she was actually not tall enough to ride so we both went over to Sunshine Seasons and picked up a little breakfast. After we fished up the two of us waited for the rest of the family at Soarin’s exit. They all really liked it. It was time to use our fast passes so we all headed over to Test Track. Brooklyn couldn’t ride this either but Samantha doesn’t do too well on fast attractions so she decided to wait this one out with Brooklyn. The fast pass line was nearly walk on. Wyatt and I got to sit in the front seats so he got to see everything that was about to happen and we all really liked this. It probably wouldn’t have been worth it though if we had to go through the standby line. (more…) Our parkless day at WDWWednesday, July 15th, 2009Wednesday the 10th was supposed to be our easy going day. I think I over planned it. For starters our breakfast reservations were for 7:30 at Chef Mickey’s so we did get to sleep in. When I say we I mean my mom, sister, Wyatt, Brooklyn and myself. My dad was beat so he decided to sleep in and forgo the character breakfast. We got on the bus to the Magic Kingdom with a few other people and when we arrived everyone got off. On the way out I asked what would be the quickest way to get over to the Contemporary resort and the driver said that walking over would be the quickest. I told her thank you and as we were about to get off of the bus she told us that she could just drive us over. I was surprised, thinking that the buses have to stay on a tight schedule, that she was able to do that. I wish I could remember her name so that I could right a letter to WDW. Breakfast was really nice. The food was really good and the kids actually ate, even with the characters coming around. They were able to get autographs from Mickey, Minnie, Donald, Goofy and Pluto. (more…) Our Tuesday at Disney’s Hollywood StudiosTuesday, July 7th, 2009On July 9th we planned to go to Disney’s Hollywood Studios for the day. We decided to sleep in a bit and headed to the park a little later in the morning. We got there around 10:00 and of course had some pictures taken in front of the Sorcerer Mickey hat, you know the one they need to get rid of ;^) We made our way back to Pixar Place and got fast passes for Toy Story Midway Mania. The time we got was a bit later in the day, 2:15, so we decided to head on over to The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror. Since Brooklyn couldn’t ride and my mom and sister wouldn’t ride they took a stroll around some of the shops and then headed over to Beauty and the Beast – Live on Stage. My dad, Wyatt and I got in line and Wyatt seemed a bit nervous, of course my dad messing with him didn’t help. This was his first ride on anything that just drops you. We got down into the boiler room and he grabbed my hand and wouldn’t let go. The bellhops got us buckled into our car and away we went. I forgot how cool that rise was and when it left one shaft and moved across to the other shaft but once we got there, we heard the locks engage and I told Wyatt to hold on and SCREAM! Our ride took us up and down, I think, five times. Each time Wyatt’s feet came up and he started shaking them wildly. I’m not sure if it really scared him or he was just having a good time but when we got off he had a big smile on his face. On the way out Wyatt wanted to get something from the gift shop with his own money and he picked out a key pin that had HTH on it. (more…) Our first full day at the Magic KingdomMonday, June 29th, 2009June 8th got off to a rocky start. I ended up waking my parents up when I went over to see if they were ready to go. No biggie though this gave us time to eat a little breakfast and have some coffee before we headed out. Once we got there, we got some photos taken and noticed that the Dream-Along With Mickey show was starting in front of the castle. Right here was my second choke up moment. At one point in the show, Mickey and the gang asked everyone to yell “Dreams Come True”. My daughter is not one to get overly excited about this kind of stuff but at that moment she had her hands cupped around her mouth yelling dreams come true. I couldn’t have asked for a better moment. When the show was over we noticed Storytime With Bell was starting next to the castle but decided to catch that at another time. We ended up taking a path over to Fantasyland and hit a few shops behind the castle, Sir Mickey’s and Tinker Bell’s Treasures. Now I thought that you had to be the fist person into Tinker Bell’s Treasures to be able to wake her up in the morning but my parents saw someone do it while they were in line to pay for their items and asked if Brooklyn could do it as well. By that time there were a lot of people that wanted to, so as a group we all called for Tinker Bell and saw her show up . That was really cool how they pulled that off and I highly recommend asking to call for Tink. (more…) Arriving at Walt Disney WorldTuesday, June 23rd, 2009Sunday the 7th was going to be a big day. We got up somewhat early, picked up some breakfast at Starbucks and left Valdosta. My parents wanted to stop at the visitors center at the Florida border but come to find out we got there an hour before they opened. Needless to say they were just a bit disappointed since we generally stop there every time we go to Florida. We got onto the turnpike and we were going to go down to I4 and then into WDW but the GPS had us going to 429 and getting off at Western Way. Boy am I glad we took 429. Not only was it shorter but it put us onto the western side of the property where we were staying, the All-Star Sports Resort. We got there about 10:30 and got checked in. My room was ready but my parents was not so we unloaded the cars into my room grabbed what we needed to walk around the parks for a while and headed off to the Magic Kingdom after we got a bite to eat at the resorts food court. When we got there I picked up my annual pass and Tables in Wonderland card at guest services so we were set. We were supposed to meet up with Lou Mongello, author of The Walt Disney World Trivia Books and host of the WDW Radio podcast, unfortunately he had to cut his weekend short and we were not able to meet him. Maybe next time. (more…) |
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