Dougchelle's Destination Disney Doozie-Paloozie (updated!)

Allie, here's what we had at Kona. I loved the noodles, Michelle loved the pot stickers. We were really hungry though, so it mightn't have been as good as it seemed

Drinks
Lapu Lapu
Magical Star

Apps
Pot Stickers
Crab Cakes

Entrees
Pork Taco
Pan Friend Noodles w/ Shrimp

Desserts
Kilahuea Torte
Pineapple Cake
(the Torte was pretty good.... The upside-down pineapple cake was meh)

Actually, I think it was some other drink that included the lighted ice cube.. she did have a magical star one somewhere later, and it was in the shorter glass. My notes aren't perfect. Or even good. (Just finished editing the remaining days, adding photos, will post soon)

Day 2 - Hollywood Studios Day - 5/20/2013

We get there a little late and hoof it to Toy Story Mania to get a fastpass. After we pick that up we mill around Pixar Place. Where's the Up themed stuff? They really could do some wonderful things with some of the other Pixar properties. We eventually make our way down to Tower of Terror and Rock'n Roller Coaster. The 40-minute wait in line for Rock'n Roller Coaster was the longest we stood in line this trip. Afterwards we go use our fastpass and it's time for lunch.

Lunch was at 50s Prime Time

Our server was overly busy, and not really all that interactive at first. I had Mom's Favorites (the Meatloaf, Chicken, Pot Roast combo) and a PB&J Milkshake. Michelle had a pot pie. She hadn't quite eaten all of it, and Aunt Sue gathered all the peas left onto her fork, announced to the room that our "cousin" needed a little help, and lead them in a sing along of Give Peas a Chance as she forced my wife to eat the bite of 10 or so peas. The Onion Rings were pretty darned good too.

We hit Star Tours and then, finally, MuppetVision - We get there right before a show starts, and as we are about to head in, I ask the Cast Member if I can just hang back and peruse the queueing area until the next one. Of course he said yes, and we had almost 10 solid minutes alone with hundreds of Muppet props and puns. 'twas heavenly. The show itself was great too. I didn't realize Statler and Waldorf were there, or that it was basically a recreation of the theatre. I really loved this

We go over and snag another fastpass to Toy Story, and it's not usable until 6:45. We have 4 hours to spend, which is fine by us. We go through Art of Animation and draw Ray from The Princess and The Frog. The movie we watch, with MuShu is okay, but I'd have rather spent the 15 minutes looking at the shelves of knickknacks in the room.

We go for another Tower of Terror ride. And another Star Tours ride. Some more shopping. Michelle picks up a $35 Maleficent T-shirt. It's pretty spiffy though. So I only tease her a little.

Then the heavens open up. We still have an hour or so until our 6:45 Toy Story fast pass. We mostly get drenched going around the park.

It stopped raining after Toy Story Midway Mania, so we did our original plan. Boating through the Epcot resorts, and going through Epcot for a bit. Then Monorail back to The Poly to change clothes and do dinner at Ohana. We did not realize just how *long* that boat ride was, so we didn't really get to appreciate anything at Epcot, other than the fact that *some* of the topiary's had survived the night, but large swaths of the grounds were already blocked off or changed completely.

'Ohana for dinner.

The food was magnificent. I loved everything they brought to our table, and ate way too much. We had a window seat for Wishes, and enjoyed it immensely. Thinking we would miss it completely on the trip, it was really a lovely evening.

Slept like the dead.

It rained on us pretty hard... when we were at the dock waiting on the boat to Epcot this lovely rainbow appeared.

5/21/2013

Animal Kingdom Day

We do what all the touring plans say; immediately head back to the Safari. Afterwards we walk through Pangani, take a ton of photos, head to Expedition Everest. I snagged a couple of fastpasses for it, for after our wait in standby line while Michelle smoked. After, we realized we had to get to Sanaa just a few minutes after we could use the passes, so we gave them to a random couple walking into line. My good deed for the day done.

Lunch at Sanaa, the driver said we'd go to Jambo first, but pulls up to Kidani first. I'm glad Michelle was watching.

That was some delicious food. Michelle got some sammich. I had Butter & Durban chicken. It was very lightly spiced, I could have handled more heat, but I can appreciate a restaurant erring on the safe side. We'd done 3 pieces of naan with all 9 sauces, they really should bump that to more bread. Michelle is still giddy that she got to eat with a Giraffe watching her... while he was also eating.

We head back and hit Festival of The Lion King. It was like Cirque lite! Perfectly well done. I found myself mostly amazed at how animated and involved the giant animatronic Simba was... even though no one would notice if he weren't. Details like that throughout the week made me smile.

When we get out it's raining again. But we're better prepared this time and not nearly as miserable. It's also not raining anywhere nearly as hard. We meander up through the Tree of Life exploration trails and find quite a few roped off. We eventually make our way to It's Tough to be a Bug. I didn't know what to expect and was completely entertained. Michelle had actually seen it 15 years ago but didn't spoil the effect parts to me. So I was giggling like a little kid when I got sprayed and goosed by the bugs.

It's stopped raining when we're done, so we decide to go through Asia, and man am I glad we made time for that. The details and atmosphere in Asia are so, so good. I would totally fight someone who said AK was a bad park after that.

We are going the long way out and realize the Finding Nemo musical is actually seating right in front of us. So we decide to do it, even though it didn't really fit the schedule. It was pretty entertaining, though nowhere near as engaging as The Lion King. I really would appreciate that approach more (i.e. something additive to the story. not just a retelling).

A few more pictures on the way out and back to the Bus to the Poly. For a REALLY quick change of clothes and then the Spirit of Aloha.

Our crossest moment of the week was that walk from our Hotel to the Luau. Michelle wanted another cigarette, we were already at nearly 8PM. (I hate to be late, she's never on time...it's our only source of frustration.) All was resolved quickly and we went to stand in line for 20 minutes... (I really should have let her smoke)

We get our pics made and get our seats. The food's good, not spectacular, but they are serving several hundred people in a fairly tight timeframe. And really the food's not why we're there. I get the coconut drink solely for the souvenir. The dancing is entertaining, the 'story' is cheesy and completely what I'd expect from a Disney special in the 70s.

Sanaa

My Dessert came on a plate with a Guinea'n proverb. I loved these things around the restaurant. This one read, "Knowledge is like a garden: if it is not cultivated, it cannot be harvested." (and the desert was..uhh ridiculously delicious chocolate on chocolate, not really african or indian themed, but holy cow was this meal wonderful)

Michelle loves Giraffes. So this made her ridiculously giddy.

My wish came true.

My favorite view we got of the Tree of Life. I wish it hadn't been raining and I'd gotten more Tree pics with my real camera. I bet any photographer could spend a day or two just looking for awesome shots of that thing.

My mom collects old Coke stuff. Even though this is undoubtedly fake, she'd still appreciate it.

Michelle's biggest memory of her trip to Animal Kingdom the year it opened was the Gorillas. I can see why.

This little guy was having a great time entertaining people on the bridge.

I *loved* the theming through the Asia part of Animal Kingdom. I liked Africa too, but I thought Asia was just out of this world.

Really beautiful sentiment.

5/22/2013

Magic Kingdom Day

We again miss Rope Drop by a few minutes.

We immediately head to Haunted Mansion. It was Michelle's favorite from her earlier trips, so it was her biggest TODO. After the ride (which was great) we walk around to Big Thunder Mountain.. get a fastpass and decide to head to Tom Sawyer Island. No one ever talks about this area, but I found it absolutely great. Low density crowds, not at all themed on anything an 8 year old cares about. It was heartening to hear some parents explaining it to their kids. It was less remarkable how much of these stories I'd forgotten.

We got a nifty panorama from the backside of the Haunted Mansion

Used our fastpass for the Big Thunder Mountain Railroad. Fun ride, but I do feel for the goat. (http://www.freethedisneygoat.com)

Michelle smokes while I dash down to Jungle Cruise to get a fastpass and meet her in front of Pirates. After Pirates, where the PhotoPass person was also from Louisville (Yay home!), we have a few minutes to blow, and decide to walk through the Swiss Family Robinson treehouse, another story I've mostly forgotten, and enjoyed listening to parents try to explain to kids raised on Disney XD and Disney Junior hyperactivity stimulators.

We do Jungle Cruise, and ... boy the puns. It was painful.

It's time for lunch! We had ADRs at Liberty Tree Tavern for no reason other than I like history. And there were reservations available. Lunch was fine. Nothing remarkable. I got a bit o' Thanksgiving, Michelle got a burger or something. However, she got the Ooey Gooey Toffee Cake and did quite enjoy that.

Philharmagic called our names and we both smiled widely through the entire show. After that is a stroll through New Fantasy Land, just appreciating the new land and marvelling at the length of the line to BOG for lunch. Then, it's off to Tomorrowland and Space Mountain fastpasses are secured.

Waiting for our turn on the roller coaster, we went to Monsters Inc. Laugh Floor and had the most surprisingly delightful moment of the trip. I was picked to play the role of 'Sulley' in their quick retelling of Monsters Inc. Making a scare face and screwing up my one other instruction. But MI is what I still tell people my favorite Pixar flick is (even though as an adult it's really Up). Mikey's cousin found a kid with mouse ears on, and when he asked why he had them, the boy said, "So I can hear better!" So the little mikey monster tells a joke only he'll hear..and mouths words, but no sound. Super cute. I loved this little show, and they'd better not change a thing about it for Monsters University!

We changed our minds about waiting for Buzz Lightyear, both scared off by "Spin" in the title, and wanting to keep our lunches down. So we ride PeopleMover (where when we saw in the Buzz Lightyear ride, we realized our fears were unfounded, but still just skipped that ride). Then we used our Space Mountain fastpasses and the rain started. We decided to skip the train ride around the park in the rain, as it was a bit windy and we'd end up getting soaked again. So, we meander back through to Main Street and enjoy ourselves as we head back to the hotel early and enjoy a nap before dinner.

Dinner at Narcoossee's
When I made plans this was our last night, so I wanted to go somewhere relaxing and pleasant, preferably close.

What we got at Narcoossee's was all of that, and was easily the best meal of the trip. It was superior to Le Cellier in everyway (except the bread). The steak I ordered was roughly the same, but the added lobster tail was a nice touch. Michelle's food was tasty, and the server suggested a glass of wine I had that was really really great. This is the recommendation I'm giving to anyone and everyone. This was the meal I was hoping for with our trip. Phenomenal food, a wonderful, un-re-creatable atmosphere at home and just a lovely, lovely night. Oh, and we ate desert about 3 minutes before Wishes started, so we joined half the restaurant out on the dock to watch the fireworks for the 3rd time (Oh yeah, they started right as we were leaving The Luau, so we watched from the sidewalks). For some reason the sound wasn't on, but it was still very nice.

My wife's new facebook pic.

Taken by the Louisville Photopass photographer... sadly the flash shadows makes it not a SUPERB pic.

The Graveyard into Haunted Mansion was super cool

The Tangled Tower makes a pretty backdrop

I hate Windmills (long story. I pretend to hate them..this pic makes me happy)

Forced Perspective is nifty.

Lens flare added by camera, not photoshop!

I would have paid for a video tape of me as Sulley. I'd have thrown money at someone for less than 20 seconds of that video!

5/23/2013

Epcot Day

Soarin' fastpass. Then a quick wander through both Innoventions. Skip the crazy line for Sum of All Thrills. Totally forgot about Club Cool. Test Track was also too long, and neither of us cared enough to do it. So, we did Ellen's Energy Adventure and wander around a bit.

Then, lunch time at Coral Reef. It's only 12:30ish, but two of the four tables surrounding us have kids who'd rather be elsewhere. And they're letting everyone know. The food was pretty good. It seemed a little vicious to eat fish IN FRONT OF FISH, but they sure are tasty. I was very happy with the meal. It also seemed a lot less painfully filling than the other lunches we'd had, but that could be we were just getting the hang of things. You know, on our last day.

We use our fastpasses for Soarin' and then do the Living Seas ride. Enjoy strolling through the post ride stuff, and then, it's time to hit The World! We bought the Epcot passport, and decided we'd drink around the world together, alternating so we're not hammered.

Michelle smokes once again, while I run up to Norway and get Maelstrom fastpasses. Then we meet back up in front of Mexico, get a frozen margarita and head in to the pyramid. When told we'd have to pitch the drink to ride the Gran Fiesta thing, we just head back out. Decided against buying all my 4-year-old nieces and nephews maracas, since their parents know where we live.

Norway offers a great photo op with a Troll before the ride. I get some shot of booze that tasted medicinal.

China is gorgeous, and we could have spent tons of money in the shops there. We were trying to finish relatively quickly, so we skipped the films. Michelle gets a plum wine.

As we're heading to Germany there's a raised drawbridge up, and they're moving the world into the lake/lagoon/bay. Germany is a quick stop. But I did learn Snow White is German. I get a shot of Appel something. It was like the Norway one, but with an apple taste, not medicine. (Definite trade up)

Italy is a glass of wine. Pleasant, and a smoking area inside.

America is a Sam Adams beer for me and a quick snack at Liberty Inn. As we were leaving a Cast Member comes in and announces the visitation of a recently married Canadian couple, the room applauds. It was cute.

Japan is STUNNING. And the fact that there was no PhotoPass photographer on site is one of my biggest annoyances of the trip. I get a cold sake, and we stroll through the shops making plans for how we'll spend lottery winnings when they come to fruition (despite never buying a ticket).

Morocco is unfairly truncated by construction... but quite pretty. And the Arabic in our passport is really spiffy looking. Michelle got some fake Moroccan drink, a Habibi Daiquiri. The guy signing the passport warned her to be careful with those.

France, we're in for a while. Michelle wants to show off her new Maleficent purse to Aurora. And I get our passport signed and buy her a glass of champagne. The wait isn't too bad, and the pictures/interaction with Aurora are great.

We make it to the UK, and I'm in line to get a Bass when Michelle yells at me from the Alice line that they don't have a PhotoPass person there, so I need to head over to take the picture. Then she's out of line, and we just go get our pics taken with Pooh and Tigger. I wish the photographer there had gotten me off to the side shaking my belly fat with pooh in explanation of why WE didn't bounce. Thankfully we go out the back door and I don't spend a ton on Beatles paraphenalia.

The light at the end of the tunnel is so close, Canada. We grab a drink, get the passport signed and make our way to the front of the park.

I want to ride Spaceship Earth as we head out... it's 7pm. And the universe has decided to remind us we should have been home by now.

We hop on the monorail, then hop on the MK express. Our goal at Magic Kingdom is ride Haunted Mansion, do the Hall of Presidents, grab a quick service bite to eat, and pick up my sketch at the Art of Disney, then get our bags at the Poly and head to Hyatt Place for a few hours of sleep before our flight. That's a lot of steps. Quite a few opportunities for failure. We hit them all! (Yay us!)

The parade starts soon, so the entrance to MK is really crowded. We make our way through the crowds up to Haunted Mansion and get in line. We get into the building, through the dropping room, and into the line inside. As we get about 50 people deep, we see the ride is stopped. It stays that way for about 10 minutes. When we're about 6 people deep, the ride stops again. And this time we see what's going on. A family of 5 is spread across 3 cars, and the lone kid is freaked out and crying, the dad is arguing with the attendant to let his wife move into the car with the kid. I see her get out and back, and eventually the ride starts back up. This was a 5-6 minute stoppage. I can't imagine how often it happens, but man it sure seems like a crappy thing to do to hundreds of people behind you. To be fair, I don't know how badly freaked out the kid was, and there's not a lot of time to make decisions boarding the ride. While we're on the ride, it stops AGAIN. This isn't so bad as it gave Michelle and I time to look for details we'd miss. That stoppage was mercifully short, maybe 2-3 minutes.

It is 9:15 when we get off the ride. We got to the park a couple of minutes before 8.

We fight through the crowds up to The Hall of Presidents, to learn it closes at 9. So, we decide to just hit the Harbor House for some food. It also closes at 9. I talk to a CM to find out what might still be open that we can hit without trying to cross the mass of people. She says, Pinocchio, Pecos Bill, Casey's and Cosmic Ray's are all open until close. So we choose to hit Pinocchio's...which also closed at 9. Casey's is on Main Street, and Pecos Bill is clear across the park. We're cutting through Tomorrowland and decide to just bite the bullet and get Cosmic Rays, which is supremely crowded.

We use 2 of our final 3 credits (remember we had plans for real dinner here) on a chili dog and a cheeseburger. They weren't good. But they were food. We are still heading back to the Polynesian to pick up our bags... I really should have just pushed for Kona, or even Captain Cook's. Originally we wanted to do something we hadn't done yet, but the mess we made of MK made us forget some options, and I our tiredness and hunger made for poor choices.

We still have to pick up the drawing on Main Street. And Celebrate The Magic has started. Every time I start to get annoyed by crowds, I just look at the mass of people looking at the castle and smiling. It helped provide some perspective to see all the joy around me. My minor inconvenience and run of bad luck wasn't really that bad. We had had a marvelous time for several days, and this was just bad timing. Nothing more.

We get the drawing. And head to The Polynesian. The pineapple dole whip has run out, so I have to just have vanilla. Woe is I. The pineapple is fixed about the time Michelle's done with her cigarette, but I don't go back for another. That would have been purely gluttonous!

I tell the cabbie we need to go to The Hyatt Place Airport Northwest. He says OK... Twice more during the trip, I stress it's the Hyatt Place, not the Airport Hyatt. I see the credit card machine and say it makes me happy, since we have like $80 cash left, I'd prefer to pay by card. The driver says it sometimes doesn't work.

He, of course, takes us to the airport. I show him my phone GPS, as he stops the meter and apologizes profusely. The CM at the Poly told me the cab ride should cost around $50-55 to this place, the cabbie stopped the fare at $66.60 (OMEN!). He gets us to the hotel, he didn't know existed (it's one of 5 in this little cluster north of the airport). He's helping Michelle get the bags on the cart, and I just decide to run my card and go through paying while they're negotiating luggage. It won't let me NOT tip. So he gets 15%, the minimal selection amount. (There was probably an "other" button, but I was very tired) He gets back in, and I tell him I paid on the card. He says, "but without the paper slip, I don't get paid", pointing at the broken printer. "Yeah, that sucks, but it charged me. What do we do?" He calls to get the charge voided, and we wait on hold for 20 minutes. It's 11:45, my flight leaves at 5:30AM. They eventually answer, relatively quickly void the charge, and I give him $67 cash. He's super apologetic.

Michelle has no idea why I'm still out there 20 minutes later, but never comes out to grab the card to get the final check-in done, she probably couldn't anyway, since it was in my name. We get that done, go up to the WAY NICER than we need room for 4 friggin' hours, and repack the bags and additional junk. Hit the pillow for 3.5 hours

3:30 AM wake up call.

In the dark and sleepily, Michelle can't get the phone hung back up. It's pretty funny, or would be if we weren't insane.

Our flights are quiet, peaceful and un-delayed. The leg from ATL to SDF has a special guest 2 rows in front of us, none other than Richard Petty. He was harassed the whole flight by people between us, and I didn't want to add to that. So I never got a chance to yell to him, "I loved you in Cars!" He was completely nice to everyone, and probably didn't consider it harassment at all. I'm sure he'd had a full night's sleep. Our luggage arrives and the mother-in-law picks us up. The dog's super happy to see us, but it's his sleep time in the middle of the day too. So we all crash out, sleep from 11ish until 3.

My only character meet. And it was forced ( I channel Eeyore a lot )

France is photogenic.

Even from afar.

Almost a good pic.

Coral Reef was pretty spiffy.

Michelle trying to scare Aurora with her Maleficent purse...

However they quickly made up and became friends.

No photos taken during the hair pulling remainder of the night.

Yeah. I got kinda lucky with her.