Jeff & Joe's Trip Report: The Overview **ANIMAL KINGDOM ADDED!**

Day 1 (Friday, April 27)

Our first full day took us to the Magic Kingdom via the TIcket & Transportation Center

" and of course we made it for rope drop!

Our monorail ride from the TTC was on one of the Avenger monorails. They do look really cool in person! The rope drop ceremony still stirs me up inside. It's such a fun and wonderful place to be!

Before we hit the rides, we went to the Fire Station and got our Sorcerers of the MK cards and key. The line was small (2 people) and it took us < 10 minutes to get the cards and go through our "training".

We'll do a separate post on the Sorcerer game, along with a few pictures.

After that, we headed over to the Haunted Mansion:

We bypassed the new interactive queue this time and just went straight through the Entrance line to get to the ride:

There was no one around at all, so we had stretch room all to ourselves! That was different!

When finished, we went over to POTC , and were quite disappointed to learn from a few CMs that it was closed temporarily " boo! Some mechanical issues.

So we went and saw the Tiki Room show. This used to be a favorite of mine. But I really did not care for the new version. It just seemed....tame and kinda boring to me. Not nearly as raucous in my opinion.

As we walked by the Shooting Arcade, we spotted Frontier Donald! And there were only 2 people in line! So of course, I stepped up and got his autograph and picture:

Then we started the Sorcerer game and hit up a few portals.

Since it's closing, we had to ride Snow White's Scary Adventure one more time!

Joe said he ordered this car just for me!

Thanks hon! >< I decided after riding the car that this really is a scary ride for kids! But I'll certainly miss it.

We managed to also get in it's a small world, Peter Pan, Mickey's Philharmagic, all very limited wait times

With that out of the way, we crossed the park and headed over to Buzz Lightyear.

On our way, we ran into the Move It! Shake It! Parade at the hub! And guess who was right smack in front of us shaking it like there's not tomorrow!! Cast Member Barbara!!

Wow, that woman has energy!! She made us laugh. And found her way to our camera! Joe posted the video here.

We continued on to Buzz Lightyear, where it was about a 10 minute wait. And in typical fashion, Joe whooped me. Again. My score was dreadful! I blame the neck, knee and shoulder surgeries. Mainly because that's all I can come up with unless I admit I suck at the game. And we know I won't do that.....

After Buzz we made our way to the People Mover. That's always such a relaxing thing to do. And it was a gorgeous day! We stopped twice " no idea if it was loading/unloading or some other issue. No big deal, it was not for very long either time and we enjoyed sitting and watching everything.

YOU WILL NEVER GUESS WHERE WE WENT FOR LUNCH!!! NEVER!!
Go Head. Guess!

SURPRISE!!! Cosmic Rays!!! I bet nobody guessed that!! Haha.

Sonny Eclipse was playing away:

...and the lines we still short at 12:30. We ordered and had our food and a table within about 15 minutes. The bacon cheeseburger was super good! (But I seem to recall they used to have a bacon double cheeseburger, which, of course, is double good!. But I don't see it on the menu any more). Joe went a bit more healthy and had a turkey sandwich, which also looks really good.

By the time we were done with lunch, it was time to take a break and head back to the resort, where we took in some pool time and got a little sun. Joe's been reading the Hunger Games series, so he took along our handy dandy new iPad and did some reading. A very relaxed afternoon!

We headed back to the park around 5:30, but stopped first at the Contemporary for dinner at the Contempo Cafe.

Now, if you've read the boards for a bit, you know that I often site this as a sleeper favorite of mine. I may or may not change my opinion now. The service was HORRIBLE! And by service, I mean wait time from the time we ordered to the time we got our meal. It was at least 30 minutes. And this is a quick service! I was not happy. I finally went up to the counter " and joined 3-4 other people who we as mad as me about the wait. Their back line was a mess! They were behind on everything. It took another 10 minutes before I got my food. And trust me, the place was NOT packed. The food was pretty good " I had the hot open-faced roast beef sandwich with potato wedges and Joe had the Roasted Curry Vegetable Bulgur Salad. I ate half of mine before I remembered to take a pic. Maybe because I WAS FAMISHED FROM WAITING FOR 40 MINUTES!

Since we parked at the Contemporary, we took the walking path over to MK. And good news! We finally got to ride POTC!!

It was just starting to get dark, and the castle was starting to look quite spectacular:

Since we were still in need of something in the dessert category, we took a walk over to the Main Street Bakery. The building facade is still up while they do whatever work they are doing to the front of the place.

I settled on a GIANT (did I say GIANT!!!!) Chocolate Chip Cookie Ice Cream Sandwich.

This thing was HUGE! And OMG so good! One can easily share it with 2-3 other people. Unless you are JeffC. I ate the whole thing all by myself! I felt guilty for .00237 seconds afterwards, of course....).

After that, we go a spot towards the end of Main Street by the Soda Fountain Ice Cream shop to watch the Electric Parade. The show was great, except for the lady in front of me that was there with (I think) her granddaughter. She was trying to take pictures such that her granddaughter was in them with the floats, and every single time she did it, she would back right into me and hit me with her backpack. And her body, And everything else! And she did even seem to care! After about the 4th time, I started the firm foot plant and bumping her back, and saying "EXCUSE ME!". She was oblivious. She finally moved away and left us in peace. Joe got some great video of the parade, which we will post shortly.

In between the Electric Parade and Wishes, we had a real honor and pleasure " we met AJ from the Disney Food Blog! We thanked her for all her awesomeness and chatted a bit, and then went off to find out spot for Wishes. We would up more towards the entrance to the park for the show.

The new Memories castle show was very cool! They can do some amazing things with technology and lighting!!
We watched Wishes, and once it was over, we headed out of the park, and by-passed the craziness of the monorail and boat crowds and walked back to the Contemporary.

Nope, these are the camera camera pics now.

Day 2 (Saturday, April 28)

Day 2 was Hollywood Studios Day!

YAY Hollywood Studios day!! The park opened at 9:00, and we were there around 8:45. There was a bit of a line already, but it wasn't too bad.

It makes me very sad that they no longer do the rope drop opening show thingie with the movie director and Citizens of Hollywood. I always enjoyed it.

I'm calling this morning The TSM Debacle. With good reason.

I had a plan. And I thought it was a good one! And probably one many of you have done and successfully executed.

The plan was to get to TSM, get a FP, and then go over to ToT & R n Roller Coaster. Then when we did those a few times, it would be time to go back for the FP ride on TSM. Brilliant use of time, I say!

Oh, but I made a rookie mistake. I got sucked into the purported short stand-by wait time posted (20 minutes, and the line was still way far inside and not out the door. And it appears to be moving!), and made the critically erroneous decision to go off-plan and get in line to ride it while there! Oh, JeffC.....you didn't!!

The purported 20 minute wait was more like 35 minutes. We barely moved! Snail-paced! I could see my hair growing faster! (watch the bald jokes, I know who you are!).

When we finally got to our car, we made it through the first round, and then the ride stopped. Hmmmm. It was within 2 minutes and we started again. And made it 2 more rounds and stopped. Grrrrr! Then we made it all the way to where they show you your scores and the high scores for the hour. And that's where Hell Welcomed Us. The ride stopped. And stayed stopped. After about 2 minutes, the lights all came on and a CM announced that they ride was being shut down. Stay seated and a CM will be by to manually release you. MANUALLY RELEASE YOU! GAH!!

So you can see from this picture where we were when the ride shut down. Right at the end near the exit!

"This will go fast since we're so close to the end!" I thought. YAY!

Well. Whose dopey now! I was wrong! Instead of being manually released and escorted right to the exit....we were manually released and THEN had to go backwards through the entire game while they released all the other guests from their cars!

The CMS made us line up against the wall, and when guests were manually released from their car, they were told to go stand in line with us (single file, please!). And we went from car to car, all the way back to the start of the ride, releasing car by car by car. I could NOT believe it. WE WERE SO CLOSE TO THE EXIT WHEN WE WERE RELEASED!!!! NOOOoooOoooO!!!

So that whole event took another 25 minutes or so. I was able to get a few pictures off from my phone cam before a CM told everyone "No picture please!". Rats.

For our troubles, we got a one-time use FP to use anytime over next 2 days. Blegh.

Went over to RnRoller Coaster next:

The line was kinda long, but we got in line anyhow. The line moved soooooo slooooowly - took 40 minutes to get inside.

After we were done we wanted to get FPs...but because we had FPs for TSM for 10:30 " 11:30, and it was only 11:10 or so, we could not get new FPs. I told the CM that we had FPs for TSM and it was shut down and I could not use my FPs " but was told sorry, they could not cancel the TSM ones and we had to let them expire before we could get new FPs. I was not happy.

*Sigh* 2 rides in 2 hours " what a fail! I was disappointed. And embarrassed.

We went over to ToT to see if we could have any better luck. Nope. They had 1 elevator break down, and they were saying the FP wait was 40 minutes. The FP WAIT! They were turning away standby riders at that point.

We decided enough was enough, and got ourselves a Butterfinger Cupcake from Starring Rolls! Chocolate cures what ails ya, I say! In the end, we thought it was really good, but still though the Red Velvet was more to our liking.

While we were at Starring Rolls, the Citizens of Hollywood were putting on a street show:

Cupcaked up, we went and Saw the Muppets, which still makes us laugh!

By the time that was over, we needed lunch. Our choice for lunch was Studio Catering Co.

We'd eaten here before and thought it was just so-so. So when we checked out the menu, it seemed different that when we remembered. And thus we decided to check it out.

I had to say, we were both pleasantly surprised this time. The food was really really good! I had the buffalo chicken sandwich, and Joe had the Chicken Ceasar Wrap. Both were quite tasty!

We took our usual break and went back to the room after lunch, hit the pool and relaxed for about 2 hours.

We had dinner ADRs for the Sci Fi Dine In. We've always enjoyed this place, so we thought we'd hit it up again. And ever since they came out with it, I really wanted to try that All American Picnic Burger! But I was not sure if I actually would once we got there.

I'm pleased to report that I did indeed order it!

And can tell you this:

It's good!! And big! Because I'm picky and a PITA, I ordered mine without the sauerkraut and mustard. I just wanted the hot dog, burger, ketchup and bun. That's just how I am!

When it came, it looked sooooo good! But confession time....after 2 bites, I just had to separate the hot dog from the burger and eat them separately. It was just too weird for me.

But you should also know I am a food separatist. Foods should be separately and eaten individually, and you cannot more from one food to another until you've finished the one you are on. I know....maybe I was dropped on my head as a child. But I'm picky like that.

So I ate the hot dogs (note I said hot dogs, vs. hot dog. There were 2 hot dogs on that mama!!), and then I ate the burger as a regular burger.

I'm glad I tried it, and it was a lot of food in the end. But both the hot dog and the burger were grilled very nicely, and I enjoyed the whole thing!

Joe had the corned beef " something neither of us had ever had before! He really liked it.

After dinner, we took advantage of the FPs we got before dinner and rode ToT.

In retrospect, it might not have been the wisest idea to ride ToT after the All American Picnic Burger, but, well, life is short and we love adventure! And I figured the ToT drops will pack it all in, right!? Luckily I did not puke on anyone.

Then we walked around and took some pics and took in the sights.

We also planned to watch Fantasmic this evening. We got to the theater around 8:00 pm for the 8:30 show, and had no problems finding good seating.

The show was as spectacular as we remembered, and it was such a nice evening weather-wise that we forgot all about the TSM debacle (at least for a little bit).

I took some information I found online about historical crowd levels at the parks and which days which parks might be more or less crowded, but that only played a slight role in our decisions. It really came down to what I wanted to do first, and this time it was MK, with HS a close second. Once we hit all 4 parks, we just repeated the cycle.

I think the only day that I was surprised at the crowd level was our first Saturday at HS. It was alot busier than I was expecting, and with the ride breakdowns, just made everything that much worse.

It was taken with just a flash. I can't say it was because of any mad camera skillz, just lucky. We were seated in the middle section of a car:

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Hi Kristen - we have a Canon Rebel T2i, which we really like.

More trip report!

Day 3 (Sunday, April 29)

Day 3 was Epcot day!

Sadly, again, there was no opening ceremony

Our strategy was pretty simple - head right to Soarin' first, ride and get a FP when done, then move on.

Worked like a charm. Wait was 5 minutes and the FP window allowed enough time to do a few other rides.

I love Soarin'. I could ride it all day. The breeze, the feeling of flying, the scents....it just makes me happy!

After Soarin', we headed cross the park to Mission: Space. We've ridden this plenty of times before, and always on the Orange/More Intense side. This time, we decided to try something different, and do the Green/Less Intense side. Oh and we walked right on - no wait.

I have to say, we both really enjoyed the Green/Less Intense side! It was...relaxing! I'm really glad we tried that version, because I think now that's the version we will do.

Our only complaint about the ride is that cold air that blows right on your forehead the whole time. It can give you a headache!

Test Track was closed for the big refurb, but the Test Track Singers (not sure that's their real title, but it works for me), were near the entrance singing and performing. They were pretty good!

So we went over to Spaceship Earth, where we waited about 15 minutes in line. Another ride I just really enjoy.

You know how they ask you to pick a few selections towards the end to merge in with your picture at the beginning, and then create your own little video? Well, I really wanted to try and pick different answers than I normally would answer, so we would have something different this time! Apparently I tried the same thing last time, because I once again picked all the same responses and we had the exact same video again! Ha!

The next time we rode it, Joe answered all the questions and we successfully had a totally different video J

With our Soarin' FP window now open, we headed back over for another ride. And since that famished us, AND we were already at Sunshine Seasons...

...we just HAD to get the famous Strawberry Shortcake that everyone always raves about! It was on my list of Must Tries this time.

Overall, we thought it was good; but not great. Neither of us was wowed like I was expecting. Bummer!

Oh well...on to World Showcase!!

We made a bee-line for a little frozen cappuccino stand over by Canada. We have fond fond memories of those frozen cappuccinos from past trips and were really excited to try them again. And we did! And we were NOT disappointed. YAY FROZEN CAPUCCINOS!!

That lasted us just long enough to make it to...Karamell Kuche at the Germany Pavilion!

We've been dieing to try this and I had a list fo things to try here. The hardest part was deciding what to order first!
We went with the Chewy Caramel Shortbread Bar. Um. YUM!!!!

We really liked this. We found a bench overlooking the Lagoon and just sat and ate and enjoyed.

After caramel goodness, we strolled around the rest of WS, and took a trip to Mexico! And this time, I made sure we found the entrance to the Mexican River Ride (aka the Donald Duck Ride).

Since there was no wait, we went ahead and jumped on. I am now confident that (a) we had never ridden this before and (b) it's FUN! We really enjoyed, and are so glad you all pointed it out to us. So thanks!

We decided to head back to France for lunch - at Boulanger Patisserie, the little pastry and breads shop.

I went with the ham & cheese on focaccia (toasted too!)and Joe went the ham & cheese sandwich. The focaccia was sooo good! Warm and soft and full of flavor! I would get this again in a heartbeat.

After our usually afternoon pool break back at the resort, we returned to Epcot for dinner and Illuminations.
Dinner was Fish & Chips from the Yorkshire County Fish shop! So good!

Then we took another stroll around WC, and wound up in Norway.

There was no wait for Maelstrom, and we hadn't ridden that in years, so we decided to go on in! Boy, we forgot how fun this was! I thought we were doomed when we went in reverse and were about to head over the falls backwards! I may have sworn. Salty Lizzy's ears might have been burning....

But it was such fun. Another thanks to the folks on this board for the reminded about this one!

I was feeling really good at this point, and decided to test out my limberness and acrobatic skillz...I was something back in the day, you know! Little did I realize my activity would draw such a crowd....

Oh well, I guess I did my part in the name of entertainment!

More Karamel Kuche for caramel popcorn, and then we went and picked out our spot for Illuminations.

The crowds were pretty light during the day but got kinda heavy towards the evening. The World Cheerleading Championships were at Epcot and there were cheerleaders everywhere!

We really enjoyed Epcot a lot this time. There's a possibility it might become my new favorite park! I think we ended up there a good 4 times - if not more - throughout our trip.

There was a giant sand sculpture featuring Chimpanzee that was just amazing:

The Flower & Garden Festival was such an amazing collection of flowers, topiary thingies and color all over the place.

We plan on doing a separate post with more pictures of that shortly. I forgot how much I enjoyed being there for that.

I had to Google it. They are called the Test Track All Stars.

Since the refurb, they have this group of Cast Members that are singing out in front of the entrance to entertain guests.